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Saturday, October 17, 2015

KAP ( Kite Aerial photography ) let it blow

I have been waiting all summer for wind which here in Florida sucks except maybe for a. Hurricane but then that's too much wind 
I'm trying to set myself up for aerial photography so in order to do that looking over not many websites in the US
But I did find some in the Netherlands ( Europe) 
So basically what I've come across is a French design called a picavet  something it was invented back in the late 1887 for  aerial photography
Some history

The first kite aerial photographs were taken by British meteorologist Douglas Archibaldin 1887[and Arthur Batut in Labruguière (France) in 1888.[3][4]

Manned kite flying and aerial photography was advanced also by French Marcel Maillot, British Robert Baden-Powell, Americans Charles Lamson and William Abner Eddy, Australian Lawrence Hargrave (inventor of box kite in 1893 and kite train in 1884) and French Captain Saconney.

The famous kite image of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake was taken by an early pioneer in KAP, George Lawrence using a large panoramic camera and stabilizing rig he designed


The contraption is very simple and the concept is even simpler

So how does it work pretty sample you allow your kite to fly out to at least 100 feet attach the kite to a fixed object walk your line down until you find a good spot to attach the picavet and then you let it lift up then you can extend as much lying out as you feel comfortable with and that's it

Reverse the process to retrieve

However unlike the guy in this photo I would like to take a picture of the front of the Windmill  he's happy taken a photo of the back that's his thing

One of the things I want to say thank you to two websites that actually have more information then I can absorb so if you're thinking about building something  like this please visit these two sites

http://www.gentles.info/KAP/index.htm

http://andrewnewtonkap.blogspot.com/search/label/lines

Thank you guys for the informative emails and your websites


So following the plans that I picked up online I was able to come up with a similar but more modern contraption


I started out making a large one that  was 12 x 12 between pulleys but after receiving emails from KAP Enthusiast and builders from Europe I remodeled my plans after B as seen in the photo so now it is 12 x 4.5
You can hang almost any camera you like off of these type of units however I'm not about to put my Canon D 60 on this type of unit
The unit that you're looking at is a motorized set up
Which has servos to change the angle uptown right or left also it has a set up where you could view Wi-Fi to your Smart phone

The second rig here is a fixed position rig set up with the timer

What I'm going to hang is my Go-Pro 3  I managed to find an expensive one on eBay
The cost of making-this picavet was really inexpensive compared to buying them over-the-counter from Netherlands the wood I got for nothing which is Birch really hard the swivels I got from a kite board surf shop at eight dollars each as for the string it is 200 pound test for one of my sled kite 

The advantage of using a go Pro 3 is the fact that I could set it up as a time exposure to take pictures as a timers  anywhere from one every second to one every five minutes I'm thinking of setting it up at one every five seconds this seems to be what most photographers use
Now all I have to do is find the right wind and the right location and no airplanes
I'm really thinking that the beach would really be nice I just have to remember that there's a  advertising  banner  airplane that likes to fly up and down the beach 
Technically I'm not allowed to go over 400 feet vertically but I have equivalent of 1300 feet of 200 pound test kite line string so if that sucker ain,t flying we're going try for some altitude
There is one gentleman up on Cape Cod that let his out to 1200 feet so basically I may put another few feet on my 1300
Just to try to top that but I have to remember one thing I have to Real it in
So before I do that I think I'm going to have to build a special Winder if I do that that's going to be for a 2000 feet job  
One would be similar to the photo however it would have to be larger and attached to my truck or a stationary object
The set up that they use across the pond basically straps to your waist depending on the wind they have an attachment that will strapped to their car or a rock or post 
The vantage of using the body attachment would be to walk up or down the beach or where you think you're going to get good photography



    So somewhere along the line will get this all straightened out and get it to fly
Even so I'm not a rocket science i'm really hoping this will become a lot of fun so stay tuned

This is an added update 


I can't find anybody that has a 3-D printer I've managed to secure the plans for this type of revolving platform for my go Pro but to build it I haven't found anybody to do it one of the things it's going to be interesting I understand that Barnes & Noble's has a  mini maker fair
I never knew what they were until the other day when my son told me about it we're by his wife works for Barnes & Noble's it's a national thing and being in every Barnes & Noble's throughout the United States the first week in November so armed with that information there's going to be a people there that have that expertise knowledge to teach the younger kids with hands-on experience so they be our new better prepared scientis
So are armed with The software  I may be able to find somebody that might be able to help me make one
What it does  up there the windmill cups turn the gears which in turn allows the bottom portion of the apparatus to turn so therefore it makes one revolution now if I set my camera and one photo every five seconds I will probably overlap a bit but it's not that bad it should give a good panoramic view
My biggest problem is where I want to fly at which down by the beach legally I can only go for 100 however I do have 1300 feet on a Spool
My biggest problem is going to be the banner planes

I'm just hoping that 1300ft the dip shit can see this thing The private  airports only. 12 miles away so I'm going to take some time and talk to them

The kites a power sled at 5 x 8 mostly used for hanging laundry as well as dragon my little ass across the beach
Although in Europe it seems like a lot of people use a rok type kite 
The history lesson 
In Japanese  a KAKU  is a kite with corners. ROK  is the word for the number six 
The one that I have is too finicky to set up,,,, it just looks pretty by itself
 Although it is a one-of-a-kind design by gentleman up on the Oregon coast
I'm looking to inquire a real Japanese KAKU






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