How to do Kite Aerial Photography

[@tjonesauto]

Bought a 12ft delta kite from The Kite Loft. One jerk on the line and it's 20ft off the ground. Been wanting to add a camera - thanks for posting!

[@kishascape]

Delta's are far better at this for sure. Specially with a nice tail it's very stable and you can get up high instantly by letting a lot of line out and just walking backwards a little bit. Don't even have to run.

[@barriejames7732]

Hi, I have now bought one and I am thrilled to bits. I have carried out Aerial photography since 1966 when I first got my pilots licence. In later years I filmed from RC aircraft then along came the drone... It really is an amazing piece of technology and the best aerial platform I have ever used, especially when used with a modern 3 axis stabilising gimbal. Alas, the drone, in its short life seems to have earned a shocking reputation. Now 80 I am a CAA approved UAV flyer and have carried out much work for various authorities. Unfortunately, when folks learned that I have used a drone, they became disapproving, even hostile. It is not surprising when one reads of some of the irresponsible ways the people are using them. However, back to the happy bit, since seeing the above video by quedecee, have had a great deal of fun flying the kite recommended. No licence, no worries, no CAA regs to abide by, just fun. Kind Regards Barrie. P.S. No wind and you are jiggered! B.

[@quedecree]

Cheers Barrie! You can also use a 3 axis gimbal underneath a picavet mount to give stable footage from a kite. I've used a Fei-Yu tech wearable gimbal that works really well.

[@bentstrider]

Crashing a UAV is like losing a month's pay. Crashing this kite? No biggie.

[@chris-terrell-liveactive]

Really helpful video, thank you! I'm totally new to this kind of kite flying, I've got to do some low aerial video in the hill here in Scotland for a project, so your thorough and practical procedure is much appreciated. I also have a use for various bits of climbing gear I didn't expect to be using again! I like the cleat with krab gadget. Thanks again and best wishes.

[@sailingwithbernard]

Thanks for this great video! lots of great ideas and love your little ways to rig up the kite. Just bought a started KAP kit to attempt some shots and videos of our sailboat under sail. bought a slightly smaller parafoil, but hope it'll still work OK. wish us luck!

[@quedecree]

Sounds great! All the best - let us know when you post some vids. Cheers J.

[@sailingwithbernard]

@@quedecree will do!! Cheers! 😊

[@anzaeria]

I managed to do my first KAP session yesterday with my GoPro and 9ft Levitation Delta. The photography / flying took place on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. I got a number of keepers. I think my home made picavet did an okay job.

[@quedecree]

Excellent! Nice part of the world too.

[@MARKLINMAN1]

AWESOME video, going to pick up an ULTRAFOIL 30 right now and get a rig going. This is the best video explaining how to do it. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

[@quedecree]

+MARKLINMAN1 many thanks!! If you want some really stable footage, add a gimbal to the rig.

[@navigator902]

Very nice, enjoyed your video... nothing better than the wide open spaces

[@photomoco6629]

Great kite-wrangling tutorial! I learned a lot, thanks so much!

[@СергейКовзиков-е1о]

Hi John! I didn't know you except kiting tow more and do aerial photography with a kite flowform! Wow! I'm into that, too! Great, John!

[@anzaeria]

I tied my kite line off today for the first time with a rock climbing strap and carabiner. Though when I put the reel down, the line started unwinding by itself! Looks like I need a cleat!

[@quedecree]

You can never have too many cleats! I have at least one in every shed/house around home holding something up including my clothes drying rack inside :)

[@Pete0062]

Great instructive video, really helped me get my set up right when starting out, Thank you.

[@geezerpleasers_OG]

Seems like a pretty decent way to do aerial photography in places where drones are forbidden. (Except around airports, of course).

[@bernardobohorquez4272]

Gran trabajo. Felicitaciones

[@HEKOT77]

Free hint: just use a fishing rod with an inertial reel. Much easier to control the kite, especially start from the ground with no wind and limited space. Once I successfully used a kite to rescue a quadrocopter from the school roof.

[@fabfab89]

Have you considered using a small ground screw(dog anchor/camping type) for when there are no fence post around?

[@quedecree]

Good idea. I have on occasion used some large plastic tent pegs - sometimes even connecting two or more together, but the screw is a better idea.

[@chrisyerp174]

Love this .... I will build this rig for my 3200 foot flying delta

[@quedecree]

Thanks! Is your delta really really big or are you flying it really really high?

[@robertmoore2527]

Will you have permission from CASA to go beyond 400 ft? /

[@chrisyerp174]

@@quedecree 12 foot and a 16

[@barriejames7732]

Thanks' I'll can't wait to buy one... Barrie

[@anzaeria]

Great KAP setup. I haven't tried this yet but I do have a delta kite and Ive built a picavet. I attached a cheap ball head to the picavet for adjusting the camera angle but at times, it's incredibly stiff and hard to move. I think I'll have to remove it and replace it with another ball head. Like you, I like the 45 degree angle when shooting from above. Despite the theory that a picavet should keep the camera level, I see many KAP images that have severely tilted horizons. Oh and I had some bad luck with the delta. On it's very first flight, the middle spar flexed and snapped. Definitely a weak point in the design. I wonder if I could replace it with bamboo.

[@quedecree]

You could use fiberglass or carbon too. And a fuzzy tail if it needs some stabilizing. Using a picavet, you can expect to get dozens of badly tilted pics for every straight-ish one. The only way I've found around this is to use a small 3 axis gimbal attached to the picavet similar to the ones on drones. In Aus, it would seem it's illegal to use drones in a national park without a permit. However, I didn't see anything banning kites...... :)

[@anzaeria]

@@quedecree Thanks for the suggestions on fibreglass or carbon replacement spar. I'm not exactly sure what the broken spar is made of (might be one of those materials) but I hope I can select something that is stronger than it. I'm in South Australia and yea the banning of drones in national parks here is widespread. Very strict. Though in Queensland, they have no issues with flying drones in national parks. And I believe some states require special permission or a permit or something like that.

[@theonethatgotbullyed]

wow, this is amazing! thanks!

[@anzaeria]

I'll be starting my first KAP session fairly soon. I'll be using a GoPro as well and I like the 45 degree angle. Out of curiosity, do you use center weighted metering for KAP or do you let the GoPro meter the whole scene evenly?

[@quedecree]

I think I usually leave it on auto - I'm not even sure the gopro I was using has a choice in metering options. You can always try both and see what works out best in different situations.

[@anzaeria]

@@quedecree Ah so it sounds like the default metering option works fine for KAP. Though yea it's good to experiment. Today, I headed out to a local oval / sports field in South Australia about 20 minutes ago - intending to have my first KAP session. Due to the direction of the wind, I planned to set up and tie off the line in a specific corner of the oval but there was a sprinkler in that exact same spot - spraying water into the air. Unbelievable. I didn't want a wet, soggy Levitation Delta so I headed home.

[@7wt]

What line weight is your kite line? Awesome BTW!

[@quedecree]

Cheers! I've been running the ultra foil on 250 pound line - pretty sure I could get away with 150 but having the stronger line allows me to put other kites like the 2m flow form up.

[@davidbevan2334]

I picked up so many tips. So refreshing to hear a straight talking Aussie farmer. Pity Big Johnny is missing his steering knob! Thanks. Dave from Tassie.

[@kenweller2032]

Many years ago, I built box and bow kites with poly and hardware store dowel. I used fishing monofilament line and I'd send them up a couple thousand feet for three or more hours. My first question is why not use mono fishing line? You'd have far less drag (more actual altitude for line used) and a deep sea reel makes a fine kite reel, plus the line is cheap.

[@quedecree]

+Ken Weller 150lb mono is pretty stiff and springy from memory - hard to deal with and hard to tie knots in. Pound for pound, I think Spectra/Dyneema is thinner and has no stretch. Although a bit of stretch wouldn't be a bad thing in kap to reduce any shock. Still, if you've got the setup for it and you can get along with mono in the strength you want, there's no reason not to use it.

[@bentstrider]

I wonder how a remote, FPV system and a gymbal would work on a kite like this? Nice for when you want some UAV type, aerial footage, but don't want someone getting hard over the usage.

[@quedecree]

I haven't had any experience with FPV systems. But you could probably wirelessly link something like an Osmo Pocket or similar to a phone so you could see what was going on from the ground while recording on the Osmo. I would imagine there's now a few different ways to do this.

[@dimitristripakis7364]

Great! Do you have any control over the GoPro, i.e. when it shoots?

[@johnholgate1088]

No, that one is a gopro 2. I think later models can be controlled via wifi but I'm not sure of the range. Cheers - J.

[@markallanfox]

Approximately how much line do you have on that reel, and what weight/test is the line? (I'm trying to size a similar reel that I'm putting together.)

[@quedecree]

+Mark Fox I think there's about 1000ft on there - I've probably only ever used half of that and it's 150lb. I've got some 500lb line that I use for the HQ Kap Foil 5.

[@marqriley9460]

Trying to figure out a way to get the go pro to be a little more stable to possibly get a few seconds of video. Since the tail stabilises the kite, would there be any sense in putting some sort of small drogue on the gopro, or perhaps weigh down the pica vet with some lead on fishline perhaps?

[@quedecree]

Marq Riley Probably don't want to add too much more weight to the system, but I have seen a vertical 'fin' stabilizer type setup on a picavet somewhere that keeps the camera pointed into the wind. You could also try something like an arrow attached to the picavet - light weight and should keep the mount pointed into the wind perhaps mounted with the arrow balanced on top of the picavet? Drogue could work too... let us know how you go.

[@marqriley9460]

Ah, an arrow on the picavet, interesting thought. All good suggestions, thanks, will play around. In any case your carabiners to anchor and pull down the line are great tips.

[@nanettebarling1222]

hi! I liked the video and your ideas. Instead of using a cleat, wouldn't just another carabener or two work?

[@quedecree]

Thanks Nanette. The carabiner works well mid-line when there's tension on both sides. I'm not sure how I could easily tie off at the end of the line like I can with a cleat - there's probably an easy way to do it, but I do find the cleat easy and practical to use.

[@droprelease4820]

So basically is this like a drone with string?

[@MARKLINMAN1]

What type of gimbal would work? and where can i get one? thanks again, picked up the Ultrafoil 15, the 30 they ran out of stock on it and will have to wait until they are back in stock to buy one.

[@quedecree]

+MARKLINMAN1 I got a Fei Yutech wearable gimbal - I put a vid on my channel - How to Kite Aerial Video - that shows what it can do with video. It would also be excellent with photographs as you wouldn't have 100 crooked photos to delete! Hobby King have them as well as various retailers. I got mine at Skytech innovations. I found a double length fuzzy tail also helps the Ultrafoil when the wind starts to get 18 - 20 knots - reduces the tendency of the kite going side to side. Let us know how you get on.

[@karslake10]

Man I got to do this.!!!!

[@HopeFullSpiritFlyer1]

hello. nice idea... how is the "name" of the self level mount, to see how it works ans create one? thank you.

[@quedecree]

The wooden self leveling mount is called a Picavet mount - you can google this to find the plans to build one which is quite easy. By itself, it's not enough to keep a video camera level, which is why I added a Feiyu-Tech WG gimbal (WG stands for Wearable Gimbal). It's a few years old now so there are probably some new models. Feiyu-Tech has it's own web shop where you can purchase them.

[@aquafan1491]

Where is the film the camera did make? All that work for 1 second film? Where is the rest?

[@meteorytypl]

what kite it is ? What size and where to get it ? Thanks You inspired me :)

[@quedecree]

It's an Ultrafoil 15. You can get it at Cobra Kites in the USA or the KAPshop, or intothewind kite shop. Thanks!

[@kiezmann1]

Nice 🌞 🙏🏻 🌻

[@kishascape]

Mounting direct to the picavet plate is unreliable and rarely works well. Using a rod to drop the camera lower mounted for more leverage is more effective. I just use the one KAPtery makes that already does this by default and it's great.

[@dandas1000]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you T.T

[@Nappyfox]

Why didn't you show video from the kite line?

[@strong8705]

Watch till the end?

[@EleanorPeterson]

@@strong8705 - I think Hakim was hoping for some moving footage to show how stable the rig was. The still shot is beautiful, but it's hard to gauge whether you could use the setup to record usable moving video. I've done a bit of this kind of thing, and you CAN get good moving video footage from a kite, but it can be a bit complicated if the wind's gusty and your camera has no image stabilisation. But that's half the fun! Incidentally, flying 2 stacked kites (homemade Peter Lynn Pilot kites [6 or 8m²] are great) can double the line's stability. I use a Firefly 8S camera with a 90° zero-distortion lens, and it works well for both video and stills. KAP is a lot more difficult than using a sophisticated camera drone, but it's incredibly cheap. Another plus point is you don't have to worry about CAA/FAA drone registration schemes and rules and licences and weight limits and all that nonsense. Great fun. :-)

[@oialaganoliveira6812]

Muito bom ... gostei ...

[@javieruriel]

where did you get it?

[@quedecree]

It was a few years ago now and I can't find the invoice - I'm pretty sure it was a Sydney store that specialized in gimbals and drones. However, a quick search of Feiyu Tech gimbals reveals a lot of retailers now including Feiyu's own web store.

[@speedracer3491]

genius!

[@DarrylLearie]

I don't trust the locks head knot to connect the kite in the method of connecting double loops - I make one loop with my string and thread it through the kite and pass the string spool through the loop in a locks head and guaranteed it's simpler and that kite will not disconnect from the string!

[@quedecree]

I use Larks Head knots on all my power kites too - in nearly 10,000km of buggying I can say that I have never had a single failure of the knot but I do remember being a bit dubious about them when I first started using them. While your method wouldn't work well with a power kite (4 lines) it is fool proof on a single line and the less we have to worry about, the better.

[@chris-terrell-liveactive]

@@quedecree yes, if a knot like that's under tension, no chance of slippage I reckon.

[@MrWnw]

I am suprised that the line is not on the photo :O

[@quedecree]

All depends which way you point the camera :)

[@MrWnw]

Omg :D this is so clear. I cant understand how I could miss this. TY! :)

[@sethsunday2364]

Deez nuts

[@wickedleeloopy2115]

Google Earth is cheating ...there's no satellite 😂🤣😂