Skinny multihull aerial view

[Canibul]

We finally got our snakebit catamaran off the dock for the day yesterday. Went out to a small local cay where we like to dodge coral heads, snorkel, and picnic, and dropped the hook. This is only the second time away from the dock in six months, but it's getting to the point where we'll be doing a few little two and three day shakedowns pretty soon. Still some issues to work out, but a day anchored here sure gave us a taste of good times to come. We hated to pull the hook and head home, but the lights, refrigeration, electronics, windlass and one of the big bilge pumps still have issues. Ah, but sooon!!!.

put a kite up for some photos. This is what a 17 ft. beam cat looks like from above.

[colemj]

That is a small world you live on - you could do a circumnavigation of it in a day!

Mark

[RKsailsolo]

Awesome photo

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by colemj

That is a small world you live on - you could do a circumnavigation of it in a day!

Mark

The parabolic lens threw me off I had to do a double take.


Beautiful picture though I am definitely a little jealous

[Pirate999]

Great pic!

[a64pilot]

What kind of camera, Go Pro?

[Canibul]

Yeah, that's from a White edition GoPro Hero3. Only 5 mp resolution, but it's been a good camera. It was a bit interesting deploying and then retrieveing a 9 ft. kite from our transom under the hard top and between the dinghy davits, but obviously manageable.

I've also got Sony and Pentax POV cameras, but keep going back to GoPro. Not great, but it's kinda like continuing to use Google Sketchup for my 3D printer projects...I keep using it because I'm familiar with it and haven't found anything better enough to justify starting a new learning curve.

I do plan to buy a new GoPro Hero 3 Black edition when my Kickstarte r"Pocket Drone" gets to me later this month. Hopefully. I think those are a lot higher res. This is my second GoPro. The original finally gave up the ghost.

It's hard to beat the cost, simplicity, ruggedness of this kite setup. I can drop this in the ocean, and it doesn't hurt anything. Plus I have a 100 lb. test nylon string tied to my camera. Hard to lose it. I have a hanging camera mount on a set of gears that i 3D printed, that translates pendulum motions into rotary camera movement. A gravity powered pan mechanism.

I'm looking forward to the UAV but I don't think "drones" are going to be with us for long before regulations take over. The kite is a good way to go, but it does take some effort. And totally unsuitable for video. Too much platform motion.

We've been doing this kite aerial photography (KAP) thing for about a year now, mostly images for this blog we write.

[Blue Skye]

Nice pic!!

[SaltyMonkey]

awwesome photo. Loved being there in it!

[Canibul]

Glad y'all like it. This was our first time deploying the kite off the sailboat. Got roughly 250 images, through 360 degrees, and of course the height of the kite varied. Here's one from much lower. I liked the larger field of view better myself, but this one isn't bad if we wanted to focus more on the boat.

That's our 41 x 17 ft. Catalac 12M. I think you can start to see why the 3 ft. draft was of some importance to us, living here. The water was 8 ft. deep at that point. Some of the coral heads here are 4-5 ft. deep. Dangerous for some monohulls. And of course most of the really fun stuff a few miles away from Providenciales is almost totally uncharted.

[belizesailor]

Awesome shot. Yet another excuse for me to get a GoPro or similar.

[a64pilot]

I cave dive with a Go Pro black, couple of things that are great about it is it's WiFi remote control by an Apple product, and it's low light level sensitivity is much better.
I thought the WiFi thing would be a gimmick, but turned out that was what I liked the most.

[JohnGleadle]

Any change you could add a little info on the kite system. I have a GoPro and would like to do the same thing.
Thanks

[Canibul]

The white gopro has the same wireless capability. I haven't used it with the kites but can see some obvious uses for it. I don' think it's good for very much range, though. Fifty feet?

The most troublesome thing about the GoPros for me has been condensation inside the sealed case. This probably isn't an issue underwater, but in the sun as in on a kite or mast, it fogs up in about 20 min whether I use timed shots or video. I've tried the little GoPro dessicant strips, useless. I bought an extended battery pack primarily to get the deeper case cover. I built a little spacer to hold the camera in without the piggyback battery, and stuffed the space for the extra battery with better dessicant packs. Got me another few minutes of time before that, too, fogged.
By the way, the Piggyback battery failed without ever even being used.

I'm not overjoyed with the quality of the camera. It's just that it's kinda the industry standard right now, such as it is. For KAP I need interval shot capability. I do a lot of time lapse with that, too. I look around often for an alternative, and as mentioned I've already purchased a Sony Steadi Shot and Pentax WGIII, but neither of them get much use. They're in a drawer along with an OLympus Tough 8000. More junk. I've owned five Olympus cameras over the years, and I'll NEVER buy another Olympus product. I won't even read the reviews any more. Been fooled too many times.

[Canibul]

Originally Posted by JohnGleadle

Any change you could add a little info on the kite system. I have a GoPro and would like to do the same thing.
Thanks

I've got three kites for various wind conditions. Wind is just about always an issue here. I fought it for a while, until I realized I could use it instead.

I have a 9 ft. Delta design that I use most of the time. It's good for winds between about 8 and 15 knots. It will fly in 5 knots but won't lift the camera. For reliable use in winds less than 10 knots I have a 12 ft. Delta, similar design.
For winds over 18-20 knots, up to about 26-28 knots, I have a parafoil type kite.

I found a device online for rotating the camera using pendulum motion, and I modified it and printed it using a 3D printer. I don't think they're commercially available. this thing attaches to the string and uses a pendulum to stabilize the camera and also t rotate it.

You could put a radio controlled pan and tilt on any of these kites, and with sufficient wind it would work okay. But kite motion can be extreme. I have a nice pan and tilt and RC setup with video downlink that I bought years ago for a helium balloon rig I was trying to use, but I wouldn't put it on a kite.

everything I do along these lines leads me back toward the simplicity, ruggedness, and cost. If it can't survive being dunked in sea water, hard, then I can't afford it.

There are some photos of the ratcheting pan mechanism at 2 Gringos in the Caribbean: New Camera Thingamajig

Also, do some internet searches on KAP or kite aerial photography. It's really DIY stuff.