The Expensive Hobby Of Kite Aerial Photography

GoneGaryT writes "The BBC is running a cool article - strapping your digital camera to a kite and doing D.I.Y. aerial photography. Examples of suitable kites can be found here. Anyone want to try this from the top of an apartment building in London or NY? A pretty accessible pastime, so long as you can afford to lose the lot in a sudden gust!" High-res digital cameras have come down somewhat in price since the last time we mentioned this.

Comments

Kite photo gallery

[linuxwrangler]

Check out Charles C. Benton's Site for collections from years of kite photography.

what about strapping camera's to rc cars?

[narkotix]

we sometimes strap one of those x10 type wireless cams to rc cars...can be an interesting view especially when your chasing your dog/cat/annoying neighbourhood kid.

a friend did do that

[jeffy124]

a friend of mine during college did something like that for his senior engineering project. his team (composed of a few mech eng's, EE's, and some graphic design majors) basically hooked a camera to a kite and then did some processing on the images to generate some simple 3D imagery of the landscape.

if i find links i'll post 'em, but it's going back several years and the webpages have probably been purged.

Re:a friend did do that

[jeffy124]

found it! http://prism.mem.drexel.edu/projects/kite/index.ht ml

IIRC, they had to develop a business case for the project (in other words, what engineers developed had to have a practical usage), and there was also some sort of entrpreneurial business plan competition sponsored by the business school going on at about the same time, so they also entered that contest using their kite project as a product and got an honorable mention. the page linked is what they submitted to that contest.

Or you could use a balloon

[gotr00t]

This was featured earlier on /. about creating a Linux powered balloon that had a camera on it. Quite an amazing feat, even though the pictures were a little low resolution.

http://vpizza.org/~jmeehan/balloon/

Rocket cameras are much cheaper and easier

[weeble]

I got a rocket camera for Christmas from my brother :-)

estes rockets

It uses a couple of explosive packs and takes a picture at its apex.

helium balloons

[actiondan]

We did some aerial shooting using a bunch of helium ballons to carry a cheap,light wireless camera.

We then attached the receiever to a camcorder video in to record the results.

You could just as well use a corded camera (we used the wireless one because we had it) but you would have to allwo for the weight of the wire with an extra balloon or two.

The biggest problem is keeping the camera stable but when there isn't too much wind, the balloons provide a nice platform to hang the camera from.

Don't loose the kite

[Charles Gaudette]

The way to not loose the kite is to use a deep sea fishing reel. A good modern high-test deep sea fishing line will not break unless your out in weather that would break the kite first anyway.

Amateur Radio Groups Having Done This For Years

[gpmidi256]

Loudoun Amateur Radio Group has been launhing balloons with both still and video camera's on them for years. Info and pics on all 8 of LARG's fights are avalible here here.

Solution: Breakable Link and parachute

[G4from128k]

If one is worried about losing the kite and camera, then clever use of a weak link could help. Strong kite string would lead to the camera and weaker string would bind the camera to the kite. Excessive force from the wind would severe the link between the kite and camera, not the camera and owner. A parachute tied to a light tertiary line (a rip cord) would yank the camera's parachute when the kite breaks away. (An even better design would design a failure mode into the kite itself so that the kite loses its aerodynamic shape if the wind load becomes too high).

Although there is still a chance of the camera being caught in a kite-eating tree, wind gusts and line breaks need not lead to loss of the camera.

When I was a lad...

[CmdrWiggle]

Does anybody remember doing this with model rockets? There was one model that came with a Plexiglas payload and a specially fitted camera. The camera took 110 film (I think), and snapped a single shot at the moment when the engine's ejection charge blew off the nose cone.

See, e.g., here.

Inevitably, everyone I knew would pull out the camera and launch lizards (frogs, bugs, etc.) instead.

I've strapped cameras to airplanes..

[mumblestheclown]

my two hobbies are aviation and photography. As a small airplane owner and a fairly experienced pilot, I have the luxury of being able to and knowing where I can safely attach a camera to the outside of the airplane to get some interesting shots. however, to date I've only attached a video camera (using duct tape--seriously) to the outside of the airplane and never a still camera. Why? because I don't have a digital camera that supports a remote shutter like i would like.

I am desperately looking for recommendations for a digital camera that supports a remote shutter. A cable assembly is fine, as long as I can get a cable preferably longer than 10-15 feet, though a wireless setup would be ideal. even more ideal would be if this is available in Sony, as all my gear is Sony (in fact, my current digital camera is a well-worn DSC-S75 which is about at its retirement age).

The one piece of advice that I can give for aerial photographers, be they of the kite, airplane, or helicopter variety is this: invest in a wide angle lens. I bought the most expensive and "best quality" wide angle lens for my dsc-s75 that I found on ebay - a .38 lens with adapter for about $70. It opens up a WORLD of possibiltiies for photos taken of the ground from the air. for example, I've taken photos from right above skyscrapers (well, the legal limit above) with the macro and I get some really superb shots that way.

Remote-shutter digital camera recommendations really appreciated. Preferably of the "normal price range" of 500 +- a few hundred at the most.

Re:on the other hand

[freeweed]

Read the article, learn basic math, and buy yourself a scale.

These guys are taking pictures at incredibly high altitudes for what you suggest. 100 metres is considered LOW. That's 300 feet, in case you're a yank. Ever pick up 300 feet of RCA cabling? These guys use 6 foot wide kites just to handle the weight of the camera, which is probably 1/5th of the weight of that much wiring, if that.

Now just try it with 2, 3, or 400 metres of wire. Yup, that's sure clever.