http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZGE1TqGPMk&feature=plcp These guys don't seem to mind using theirs around water. A couple of my mates in Auckland have had them out filming wakeboarding.
Saw an R/C Helicopter being used to survey a construction site earlier this year. Checked it out when it landed and it was fitted with a Nikon digital SLR. It didn't even have a petrol motor - it was running on batteries! You might want to contact a commercial surveying firm and ask if anyone is using a similar system and how they've gone about it/what issues they had, etc. Don't see much point in re-inventing the wheel.
Anybody interested in this subject might like to access the 7:30 Report that was shown on ABC 1, Australia tonight (8/10/12). You should be able to access online. There was a segment on drones. Drones launching missiles, drones flying through houses, drones controlled by I Phones and drones taking on passenger jets (passenger jet 1, drone nil :roll: ).
My Brother fly’s RC helis and has do some for a company here in NZ that uses RC helis to do aerial photography. also check this out if you have not seen it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojC8kRHbn3s&feature=plcp
You buy them complete from hobby city. The range from about 5k for an entry level one with a gopro to over 25k for the real pro ones