Doing a quick search reveals you can buy weather baloons for ~$140
Also found a place that sells 8ft latex baloons...good to under-fill to compensate for expansion as altitude increases. Also, if you want ot get very crafty, it wouldn't be hard to attach a parachute that deploys after the balloon ruptures (The MIT students did this as well, most articles don't seem to say this though)
Don't forget to include some kinda of heating devices as the air at only 40,000ft is -70*F or so...imagine what it can be at nearly 100k ft.
Don't forget to check the location of the jetstream when deciding on a time to launch as you may have to drive over into one of our lovely neighboring states to our west lol
You could use lithium batteries to reduce weight and increase bettery life (if the camera used uses standard AA or AAA betteries).
I'm sure you've thought of some, if not all, of these factors...but it never hurts to try and help!
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