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Great Idea For A Tb!


YodaDoe

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I recently found out about a neat idea for travel bugs. There is a website called BandyCams.com for people who want to release a disposable camera into the world to collect pictures. I don't know much about the BookCrossing thing, but it appears to be much like that. You attach a mission to the camera, then go leave it somewhere for someone to find. Then the person who takes the last picture would contact you to send it back for developing. The pictures are then put up at the Bandycams website.

 

Or you can stick a TB dogtag to it and have it travel around in geocaches (which sound much more promising to me than simply leaving it somewhere). I just created a bug called Silly Walks whose mission is to move from cache to cache like any other TB collecting pictures of the geocachers who found it.

 

Once the camera's full, I'll send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the person and have the film developed, which will be uploaded to the BandyCams.com website for all to see.

 

YodaDoe

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Hey, bandycams.com is my website! It's brand new. The basic functionality is there, but I'll be adding more features in the future. I'd say this is a combination between bookcrossing.com and phototag.org. From the beginning, I considered the potential of using bandycams with geocaching.com. Travel bugs would be a way to track it in both, and leverage what geocaching.com has to offer. I've also released a bandycam in a cache without a travel bug, just to see how that goes. There are only a few bandycams registered on it right now. Feel free to check it out, join, and release your own bandycams!

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As I understand it, film developing places like Eckerd Drugs, get all sorts of crazy pictures and don't really pay much attention. Most of these places have a machine that takes care of the whole process for them anyway.

 

Now that you have brought it up, it occurs to me that some people might think it funny to take a picture of their butt, or something worse. Those people are out there. But I'm guessing not many of these people would be Geocachers. Assuming they logged their grab and drop of the camera, they would be up for public embarrasment once the pictures are posted, as one would be able to correlate each picture with each participant. I'll probably make all of my future Bandycam cameras combination travel bugs, since I trust geocachers to be decent.

 

YodaDoe

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Ya know, I've always been a bit uncomfortable getting cache cameras (and now TB cameras) developed.

 

What do you tell the clerk? "Uh well..I really don't know for certain who all had this camera, so if there's anything...weird.....on it, don't blame me. Ok?"

That's what mail away film labs are for...

And if you're really concerned they might get lucky and know you even though they're 14 states away, pay in money order and use a fake name. :o

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You're right, you never know what you might get when a camera has been passed around. But the cheapest way to get a Bandycam returned is to attach a postage-paid envelope to an outfit like photoworks.com or ofoto.com. That would also prove to be the least embarassing, if someone decides it would be fun to moon the camera. I just posted an article on how to set up a Bandycam. It describes the best method I've come up with. There are probably better minds that can devise other schemes.

 

Here's the article: http://bandycams.com/about.php?req=own

 

Cheers,

Ed Neely

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Assuming they logged their grab and drop of the camera, they would be up for public embarrasment once the pictures are posted, as one would be able to correlate each picture with each participant.

Not really, unless each person (or most) logs what picture number(s) they took. How do you know if I took 1, 2, 10 or NO pictures between the time I picked it up and when I dropped it off?

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Hi Everyone,

There are five TB's with Bandycam hitchhikers now. Here are the links for those interested. It can give you an idea of what's possible, but really, your imagination is the only limits.

 

Silly Walks

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.as...34-f29e1ae580e5

 

Grand Canyon - Bandycams TB1

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=86871

 

Melvin Schmedlapp - Bandycams TB2

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=87670

 

Val-deri,Val-dera! - Bandycams TB3

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=88245

 

Another Roadside Attraction - Bandycams TB4

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=95317

 

Cheers,

Ed

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Snapfish.com has a feature where you get stickers with your account number already on it. You could stick it onto the camera and then all people need to do is go online and print a free mailing label. Or you could even include one of the pre-addressed mailers that gets passed around with it. This way there is no charge to the last user, your prints get developed, imaged and put online and get mailed back to you faster.

 

- Michael

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Michael,

You're right. I haven't gotten the complete scoop on Snapfish.com, but there are several other companies out there that do something similar. Attaching an envelope is the easiest way for the last finder to return the camera. In fact, I attached a folded envelope from either Photoworks.com or Ofoto.com to the bottom of every bandycam I've released so far.

 

You can read more about how to set up your own bandycam, and read about how Photoworks and Ofoto can be used, at: http://bandycams.com/about.php?req=own. I'm not affiliated with these companies or any others, by the way. There are some photos on this article, showing the labels and envelopes I attached.

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Hey felix, I like the idea and have already signed up. I would like to have a perpetual camera though. When the camera is filled I want to replace it and keep the next one going. Is that possible?

 

I will have one released before the week is out called... Those Crazy Clevelanders. Its mission will be to simply get crazy pictures of Cleveland area folks. It will start out with a geocacher of course.

 

Edited to keep my post geocaching related :D

Edited by 4agers
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Interesting idea. I'm not sure how to make it perpetual. Is this going to be a Travel Bug? I included a second envelope (stamped, self-addressed to me) with the Photoworks/Ofoto envelope so that the travel bug could be sent back to me. I could release another camera with the same TB and mission, sort of doing the perpetual thing that way. Or I could give it another mission. Without a TB, you could just release another camera. Or do you want it to start with the last finder? You could say, email me and I'll send you another camera. So long as people don't use that as a way to obtain free cameras.

 

On second thought, Bandycams.com prompts you to do things in sequence: create, free, travel, return, upload. If you sent out another camera, the sequence would have to cycle through again, and the website doesn't support that at this point. You could just keep uploading new photos, but you wouldn't have the logging to track it.

 

Maybe it would be better to do a Crazy Clevelanders 1, Crazy Clevelanders 2, etc.

 

Thanks for giving this a try. You're a member of the Bandycams Founding Members Club. :D (For what that's worth.)

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I just took the cardboard cover off a disposable camera, and used it foir a template to make a new cover of my own design.

That is such a cool idea. I'm going to give that a shot on my next Bandycam. Turns out the cheapest cameras I've found (Jazz from WalMart) have an easily removed outer carton.

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For what its worth I think its a COOL :rolleyes: idea. I just signed up and plan on turning one loose soon. Not sure about attaching a travel bug to it yet though...

Rainwater,

I saw that on the website. Thanks for giving it a try. I have released one camera into a cache without a travel bug, and 4 with. Of course, I've released quite a few outside of geocaching altogether. My thoughts are that even without a TB, geocachers are just more into doing the right thing when they find one. But I also like the idea of tying in with the formal TB system. It's worth a try either way, though. Good Luck!

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Ya know, I've always been a bit uncomfortable getting cache cameras (and now TB cameras) developed.

 

What do you tell the clerk? "Uh well..I really don't know for certain who all had this camera, so if there's anything...weird.....on it, don't blame me. Ok?"

As a veteran of several Mardi Gras' I can assure you that photo labs like Walgreens or Wal-Mart simply don't print objectionable photos(unless you're in New Orleans). You get a slip of paper tucked in with your photos saying that they didn't print all the negatives--but you still get the negatives. The person ringing you up probably won't even know it's in there...

 

The website looks great--I'm glad people are continuing to come up with fresh twists on old ideas...

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Professional photo labs will develop whatever you send them, unless it's obviously illegal (kiddie porn). Typically drug-store labs won't develop nudie pictures.

 

What you have to be wary of is the ever-growing "let's all be the police" mentality. A girl in a photo lab here in CA found photos of a guy posing with all his guns and pipe bombs and called it into the police, delayed him at the drug store until they got there, and basically was instrumental in him getting arrested. Granted, this stopped the plot, if there was one, to blow up a local community college, but.... vigilanteism turns my stomach.

 

So what happens when a geocacher takes a photo of themselves with their licensed firearm? Shooting a deer in hunting season? Around here, people don't hunt, so the photos would be highly suspicious. Worse, since some geocaches can be mistaken for bombs (hey, if you don't know what an ammo container looks like, you really don't know it's not a bomb), a series of photos of people holding up these suspicious-looking boxes and smiling, intermingled with pictures of, say, the Grand Canyon, or the Golden Gate Bridge.... Next thing you know, you're on an express plane to Guantanamo Bay for "detention."

 

It's not just naked butts and boobies out there, people.

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Any updates on this idea? 

 

Been thinking about releasing one, but it looks like only one camera has ever made it back.  Is it too soon to know if it is successful?

Patience is a virtue. I've released 4 Bandycams/TB combos, and they still moving. 27 exposures per camera means that a lot of passing around has to be done before they are complete. Here are my bandycams/TBs:

 

Grand Canyon - Bandycams TB 1

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=86871

 

Melvin Schmedlapp - Bandycams TB2

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=87670

 

Val-deri,Val-dera! - Bandycams TB3

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=88245

 

Another Roadside Attraction - Bandycams TB4

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=95317

 

-felix80

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As I understand it, film developing places like Eckerd Drugs, get all sorts of crazy pictures and don't really pay much attention. Most of these places have a machine that takes care of the whole process for them anyway.

 

Now that you have brought it up, it occurs to me that some people might think it funny to take a picture of their butt, or something worse. Those people are out there. But I'm guessing not many of these people would be Geocachers. Assuming they logged their grab and drop of the camera, they would be up for public embarrasment once the pictures are posted, as one would be able to correlate each picture with each participant. I'll probably make all of my future Bandycam cameras combination travel bugs, since I trust geocachers to be decent.

 

YodaDoe

People look at them, I took three pictures of TB's and my GPS on my dashboard while I was getting gas one day with a cameria, when I went to pick up my pictures the girl was like, you had three odd pictures, which turned out to be the three I took of the TB and GPS, so I explained to her about geocaching, was giving a blank stare in return, oh well.

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Hi All,

It has taken a while, but one of my bandycams with a travel bug has been returned and the photos are uploaded to Bandycams.com. See them here: http://bandycams.com/photos.php?camid=11

 

Feel free to add captions on the photos. I'd like to know what you think. I think some of the photos are pretty good. You'll need to sign up to comment, but it's free.

 

I also want to invite the geocaching community to participate in Bandycams.com. I've had 2 geocaching-related cameras returned, one with a TB and one without. I believe that once we have a certain number of cameras out there, Bandycams will really take off.

 

Thanks,

 

-Ed

 

Any updates on this idea? 

 

Been thinking about releasing one, but it looks like only one camera has ever made it back.  Is it too soon to know if it is successful?

Patience is a virtue. I've released 4 Bandycams/TB combos, and they still moving. 27 exposures per camera means that a lot of passing around has to be done before they are complete. Here are my bandycams/TBs:

 

Grand Canyon - Bandycams TB 1

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=86871

 

Melvin Schmedlapp - Bandycams TB2

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=87670

 

Val-deri,Val-dera! - Bandycams TB3

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=88245

 

Another Roadside Attraction - Bandycams TB4

http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=95317

 

-felix80

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With the cost of disposable camera and developing something like this can run about $10 per set of photos.

 

I was thinking of using a really cheap ($19) digital I saw for sale at wal-mart that charges it's own internal battery off the power from the USB port when you download the pictures. No muss, no fuss, no developing, and every cacher can download the current pictures to the TB page when they log it.

 

The only risk is losing the camera to the greedy few.

 

AR_kayaker

Edited by ar_kayaker
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The Melvin Schedlapp camera cost me $3.95 to develop using http://KodakGallery.com. This was for developing only. The negatives were mailed back to me, and I could buy prints online. But I don't need prints. I just saved the low-res photos from their website, which was all I needed for the Bandycams website.

 

http://bandycams.com/photos.php?camid=11

 

A cheap digital camera could work, but you have a few things working against you.

 

First, like you mentioned, this sort of camera could be too tempting for the unscrupulous bugsnatchers out there. In some ways, the cheaper the camera, the less appealing it is for anything other than taking a photo and leaving in another cache.

 

Also, with each photo taken, the value of a one-use camera goes down. If someone's going to steal it, they can only use the exposures left. And they'll have to pay to process all the exposures. With a digital, they can erase what is taken, and start over.

 

The last consideration is, you only have to pay developing charges if the camera is returned to you. As with any TB, there is no guarantee of that.

 

Also consider that, with the Bandycams.com website, you don't absolutely have to use a TB tag. But I think it helps.

 

-Ed

 

I was thinking of using a really cheap ($19) digital I saw for sale at wal-mart that charges it's own internal battery off the power from the USB port when you download the pictures.

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Ya know, I've always been a bit uncomfortable getting cache cameras (and now TB cameras) developed.

 

What do you tell the clerk? "Uh well..I really don't know for certain who all had this camera, so if there's anything...weird.....on it, don't blame me. Ok?"

Kinda my thoughts too...

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Ya know, I've always been a bit uncomfortable getting cache cameras (and now TB cameras) developed.

 

What do you tell the clerk? "Uh well..I really don't know for certain who all had this camera, so if there's anything...weird.....on it, don't blame me. Ok?"

Kinda my thoughts too...

 

Me too. :grin:

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My feeling is, I didn't take them, so what do I care?

 

Besides, if someone at KodakGallery.com sees some weird photos on my camera, I'll never meet him. There's also http://www.photoworks.com/ and http://www.shutterfly.com/ and probably a lot of others. Take your pick.

 

I'm sure there will be some inapropriate photos eventually, but so far, there have been none.

 

-Ed

 

Ya know, I've always been a bit uncomfortable getting cache cameras (and now TB cameras) developed.

 

What do you tell the clerk? "Uh well..I really don't know for certain who all had this camera, so if there's anything...weird.....on it, don't blame me. Ok?"

Kinda my thoughts too...

 

Me too. :grin:

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