Success!

After a great deal of experimentation and a lot of trial and error, I’ve finally figured out how to do aerial photography from a kite!

Yesterday, M. and I went to Fort DeSoto Park, and tried a test-flight of a radio-operated kite-mounted camera. The camera is a cheap $19 Vivitar 35mm automatic point-n-shoot; it was mounted to a double-delta kite with tape, and a small servo from my radio-controlled plane was used to trigger the shutter.

Result:

Ft. DeSoto is an old Civil-War era fortress used to defend the western coast of Florida from navel attack. In these pics, you can see the canon that would fire on incoming navies:

The southern side of the fort:

Florida beaches:

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do this for a VERY long time…

10 thoughts on “Success!

  1. This reminds me of the balloon sat program I do with my gf ‘cept we fly much higher, of course. Kudos on the creativity!!! It’s a bitch to get intermittent shots. Not too many digitals come with that option.

    • In this case, I didn’t even try for intermittent shots; instead, I took a servomotor from an RC airplane and taped it to the top of the camera so that when I pushed a button on the transmitter it would press the shutter button on the camera.

      Funny thing–my sweetie M was with me, and she was working the transmitter while I was flying the kite. A bunch of folks walked up to us and asked “Is that a radio-controlled kite?” *headdesk*

  2. This reminds me of the balloon sat program I do with my gf ‘cept we fly much higher, of course. Kudos on the creativity!!! It’s a bitch to get intermittent shots. Not too many digitals come with that option.

  3. In this case, I didn’t even try for intermittent shots; instead, I took a servomotor from an RC airplane and taped it to the top of the camera so that when I pushed a button on the transmitter it would press the shutter button on the camera.

    Funny thing–my sweetie M was with me, and she was working the transmitter while I was flying the kite. A bunch of folks walked up to us and asked “Is that a radio-controlled kite?” *headdesk*

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