Quad/Multi or Blimp

[waruta]

Need some advice from all you super RC gods...closest I've come to any real flying is a microcopter and electric foam plane.
I've been looking all around rcgroups and a few other forums, including ready-built commercial device for a Quad or Blimp that can carry a DSLR, namely a Canon Mark 2.
Most of the commercial kits will run from $5,000-$10,000. I don't mind assembly or even building one from scratch, but I need to know what to begin with.

As a budget, I'm allowed to use $1,500 which is a far cry from an optimal/deluxe budget, but that's the way it is.
In the beginning, I was thinking about a blimp for the nice smooth aerial shots, but any wind whatsoever tends to push them around, no matter what size props you have on them. Also, relative to the load it carries, blimps tend to grow exponentially, and according to a popular site: 15 foot (4.6m!) blimp or an 8 foot (2.44m) Kingfisher (balloon) is needed for a Mark II DSLR.

So then I tried to look at Quad/Multi Rotor systems, but price, quality and availability vary wildly from system to system. So if you RC guys had a tight budget constraint and had to build a system as described above, what components/system/kit would you chose?

[Hammer]

You mean a Canon 5D Mark II?

That's a pretty big camera ...

Have a looky here: http://www.dji-innovations.com/

These guys (Chinese company, I think) have quite a few models that people are using for AP. Not too expensive, and the Naza controller is considered to be one of the best for hobby applications. They also have higher end stuff with GPS waypoints and auto return home and all kinds of stuff that will be appreciated when you have a nice expensive camera hanging off an airborne projectile like this.