I got sucked into a thread that John Holgate started on XK on Kite Aerial Photography. He shared a vid with a simple set up for mounting and shooting
with a GoPro, and I thought "... Hey! I gotta try that!..." So I did.
I took my only suitable kite (which is a big cellular number) and gave it a first attempt with very minimal luck. I had my second go today and fared
about as well as I possibly could!
The conditions were just right today. The wind around here is so lull infused, that I really have to wait for days where the forecast is above 11-12
mph (though the low end of my kite is 10 mph) and wait for the gusts to get it up over the tree tops. I made several attempts to get the kite high
enough and on the 3rd try had partial success. I was about to pack it up but decided to give it one last try and viola... I was able to let the line
all the way out. I have been using the only thing I have available to me which is only about an 80 lb test, and I think its about 300 ft, but it was
ALL the way out, and the camera was probably a good 30 meters below the kite.
With my wind conditions, I really can't do like John did in his video because the kite just won't stay in the air unless I've paid out a good hundred
feet of line. This would leave me with very little altitude to gain... I'm finding what works best for me is to attach the camera to the line with
30-40 m of line out then launch the kite with the camera already mounted and hope for the best... Of course I ended up with a bunch of very similar
shots so I'm sharing a selfie (for proof and posterity :D ) and the best of my highest altitude shots. I may try mounting the camera closer to the
kite next time.
Not sure if that was reeling it in or sending it up....
I'm really pleased with how it turned out and hope to delve a little deeper with possibly building a Rokkaku.
Nice one Spencer but you need to water your lawn. The great advantage of using kites over drones is their lifting power. I know that they use sled
kites in Antarctica to lift scientific instruments hundreds of feet into the air. A sled kite is the most stable platform for this kind of work.
The lift power of a kite should mean you can use heavier better image quality camera's too.
Here is a picture my friend took from 130ft. This was before HD and taken from video.
In a very basic form, KAP can be VERY easy. If you have a GoPro camera and a kite that has good lifting capability, it can be done without much
trouble.
Here is the vid John shared on XK that inspired me to give it a try:
And there are tons of how to's on making the mount which is called a Picavet mount... This is the one I found most helpful as it has a good diagram
for stringing the Picavet... http://m.instructables.com/id/Kite-Aerial-Photography-Picave...
A smaller mount is better for a GoPro, but that link had the best diagram for stringing it.
Then just follow John's lead and cull through the 150+ pics you end up with.
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I have a friend that likes to do that with his single liners.
Gives a new perspective on places you've visited before.
