A "hackable" Nikon point and shoot??

Ok, this is going to sound nuts, but I try to explain what I mean.

I want to do some aerial photography. The platform will likely be a custom multi-rotor aircraft. A quad, hex, octocopter, depends on weight of the payload. The camera is going to sit on a 2D gimbal below the copter and remove the pitch and roll effect of the craft, and be tilt-able via RC control. What I am looking for is a small point and shoot (or other inexpensive options) that either has native, or hackable to have a remote shutter release and will not auto turn off. Live video out would be cool as well, but I can work around if needed. There is some 3rd party firmware for some of the Canons that can do this, but I am a Nikon type of guy
Does Nikon have such a thing?

Have you looked into a Go Pro?

Mike d90 said:

Have you looked into a Go Pro?

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Yes, but not not sure abot it, might be too wide angled. And wouldn't the lens be better in a P&S?

Rusty Jones said:

Yes, but not not sure about it, might be too wide angled. And wouldn't the lens be better in a P&S?

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I doubt it. The Go Pro has a very good lens system and takes excellent video at least. My Fuji S4000 P&S took awful pictures but had decent video. Even so the go Pro wouldn't likely have any remote release system for still shots.

My GoPro2 (I suspect the later 3's are the same if not better) can change the view from wide to a smaller angle. They do have remote releases now but I've never used one and I suspect the range isn't what you're looking for. They have a GoPro "ready" quad out now I think made by Dji. It doesn't get much lighter than GoPro as far as payload and some point and shoots can get pretty heavy.

Why not just get one of those drones which are operated by iphone and already have video cameras in them?

Scott Murray said:

Why not just get one of those drones which are operated by iphone and already have video cameras in them?

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Judging from the tone of the OP, I think the answer would be "Where's the fun in that?"!

Drone is .... such a harsh word.

It is just a quadcopter with a camera gimbal. Better quality can be had by NOT buying one of the premade units. The big manufacture is DJI, and they don't have the best reliability when it comes to flights. Their Phantoms have a nasty habit of flying away on their own, and being a closed source system, DJI has been slow to address. But enough about that. I'll post mine later tonight when I get home.

I did a little more searching, and the Canon A620 with the CHDK firmware hack will work. Outside of a firmware hack I would be willing to do a little hardware modding, and bringing out the actual shutter release electrical contacts to a external switch that I can remote actuate with a servo switch. Any recomendations on a small Nikon P&S that is easy to disassemble and get to the shutter release?

ok, Basically this.

I have to remount the flight controller to get it a little more protected, but this should give an idea. A 2D gimbal would hang from the center.