KAP Flight over Pacifica State Beach, CA

by MicheleTobias on February 20, 2012 - 13:41

Alex Mandel, Michele Tobias, and a couple of others photographed the foredunes at Pacifica State Beach in Pacifica, CA, using a kite aerial photography rig. The kite was a Skyhook 30 outfitted with an SLR camera. The wind was strong - about 25-30 miles an hour - which allowed the kite to lift the heavier camera. The flight went well, but there were some minor concerns. The biggest concern was that this kite needs a more substantial tail than we had (a home-made drogue tail about 15 inches long) in higher winds to keep it from waggling back and forth, swinging the camera. The results were better than we hoped, given the swing. Most of the photos were usable. These photos were stitched with an open source panorama stitching program called Hugin. Hopefully, more can be stitched together later.

PDF version

Comments

Submitted by warren on February 20, 2012 - 15:50.

Wow - do you have any photos of the SLR support system? Did you use a picavet or any kind of enclosure?

Great map.

Submitted by MicheleTobias on February 20, 2012 - 18:59.

I do have photos of the camera rig. I should post those. It's pretty similar to the plastic bottle rig, but it uses a plastic bathroom trashcan instead. The top of the rig has a picavet and the camera attaches to the bottom of the picavet structure. I'm not sure that explains it very well. I'll post the pictures and then link it.

Submitted by MicheleTobias on February 20, 2012 - 20:04.

I posted a diagram and photos of the camera rig I use here:
Trash Can Rig

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