Making a Picavet for KAP - Kite Aerial Photography

[@tomgeorge3726]

Looks really good, considering the amount of buffeting, the aim is to keep the horizon basically central to the screen and it does that. Great job.👍👍👍

[@anzaeria]

The amount of camera tilt you have determines the position of the horizon in the frame. The job of the picavet is to keep the camera level. If you get a level horizon at least some of the time, then that is considered a success. And that is certainly the case here. Though a picavet on it's own is really more suited to still photographs. A gimbal + picavet combination gives a huge boost to kite video.

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

I'm working on the skill - hopefully I'll get better footage in the future

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

My aim was to record in 4k and pull frames later, which I've had good success with. The primary goal of this project is to provide me with a cheap, license free method of getting some reconnaissance for my 8x8 amphibious vehicle. As I operate a lot of the time in military controlled airspace - kites are far less likely to attract negative attention - and not susceptible to electronic countermeasures, meaning I'm much more likely to get my gear back if I happen to get geographically embarrassed when filming. that being said, I'm open to any suggestion for improvements - I'm looking at longer tail options to help reduce the buffeting.

[@anzaeria]

@@TheAussieRepairGuy Very interesting to hear about your approach. With regards to extracting frames from the video footage, were there any issues with motion blur? For KAP, people recommend fast shutter speeds - usually over 1/1000th. Whereas with video, the shutter speeds are generally pretty slow.

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

@@anzaeria gopro has pretty decent software stabilization. 4k at 60fps gives me plenty of frames to choose from. But overall very little blur

[@danokitemanotoo1791]

You may need to add a bit more weight to the mount. What size kite are you using? Also check out Evan Reinheimer on YT, he has some good KAP Info!

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

I'm out in the field at present, will look it up on my return

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

At about 09:30 in this video: FWIW, I call that a _"snap swivel"._

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

yeah I have all but abandoned this project after I had a chat with the base commander of a nearby RAAF base. they aren't fans of kites at 300+ meters in most of the areas I want to fly. My drone is a bit more respectful of the rules and has an ADS-B receiver. I could fit one to the kite, but then I have a host of other complications.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@TheAussieRepairGuy >>> You have to fly your kite THAT HIGH {300 meters} for KAP? {I know enough _'metric'_ to know 300 meters is OVER 900 imperial feet.}

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

@@Allan_aka_RocKITEman 300m of line, not 300m vertically. The complaint was more that I couldn't be 100% sure of my altitude, and the buffer zone in that airspace is very important.

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

@@Allan_aka_RocKITEman the second complaint was yhe time it took me to recover the kite, not fast enough for the RAAF.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@TheAussieRepairGuy >>> WOW. Well, _GOOD LUCK_ to you in the future ..👍