So I’ve got this shockproof and waterproof camera to bring on sailing trips, but there should be more fun uses…
I figured attaching it to a kite to make aerial pictures would be a neat trick. Before the rise of digital photography I’ve seen systems using a large kite and a servo-operated SLR camera. Using a small, digital camera on interval function should make all of this a lot easier.
And it is! With the camera rig construction plans from the KAPtery you can easily assemble a self-levelling and adjustable camera mounting. The camera is mounted using a Picavet rig, a clever designed cross-shaped platform, suspended beneath the kite’s line. In this build I 3D printed the blue and yellow parts and found the rest of the components at the nearby DIY store. With some fantasy, they have all the missing components for a kite-aerial-photography rig on stock.
The Picavet rig with camera in flight
The first flight test at Bloemendaal beach went better than expected, the kite could very stably lift the camera and provided some nice shots, even though aiming the camera was just a lucky guess. With a longer line and some modifications to make the rig lighter, I intend to get an even higher view of the landscape.
Flying at Bloemendaal, IJmuiden in the back of the picture
Link:
The KAPtery – Provided me with the plans to make my own Picavet camera rig.