KAP introduction in KAP

KAP means Kite Aerial Photography. That is the taking of photographys from the air with the help of kites.

You can say: "KAP is the aerial photography for the small purse." In the difference to pictures, taken out of a plane, the alitude of the camera is much lower. In Germany, the kiteline mustn´t be longer than 100 meters, so the alitude of the camera is max. 60-70 meters. But sometimes you can take wonderfoul pictures in an alitude of a few meters, pictures that you can never see from that perspective.

The equipment for KAP, you have to build self or a friend do it for you. There are, of course, different ways how to do that. The first thing is the choice of the camera, the possibility to turn and tilt the camera in the air, the different kites and so on.

You have many choices to select a camera. In fact it is possible to use any camera for KAP. Especially automatic cameras with winder, autofocus and autoexposure are good for KAP, because you needn´t to pull the kite down after a picture is shoot, to wind the film or adjust the camera. In my first KAP-Rigg, I used an older Olympus AF-1 with good sucsess.

There are KAPers, which take a very simple cheap pocketcamera, but most of them use an automatic point and shot-camera. Some KAPers use a SLR-camera and some use big cameras to produce pictures in poster-size. How ever, the lens of the camera should always be a wideangle, because the risk of blurr is lower. The KAPer can´t see what object the camera will shoot, so a wideangle is better, too.

Of course, some people use the new digital-cameras for KAP. At KAP there is a lot of waste, so this type of camera is a good choiche for KAP. In my second Rigg, I use the SONY Cybershot DSC-F505.

A typical point and shoot camera
for KAP: Olympus AF-1
Camera: SONY DSC-F505
Cyber-shot, 1600 x 1200 fine

The camera or better the KAP-Rigg must be mounted to the kiteline. There you have to look at something, too. The camera always has to hang horizontal, so that the horizont is not crooked. The camera mustn´t swing, so that the pictures are not blurred. As we were children, we often put the ear at the kiteline to hear the wind sing. That is because the line is vibrating by the wind. That will bring blurr to the pictures, too. All this reflections have brought the result to a suspension gear, which is taken from most of the KAPers, the Picavet.

The KAP-Rigg is mounted at the crosspoint of an aluminium- or wooden-cross. At the four corners of the cross, there are for linerolls, which can be moved inevery direction. At the kiteline you also must mount two double-linerolls in a space of 1 - 2 meters from each other. Now you have to pull a line in a special way throu the rolls and hang the KAP-Rigg at the kiteline. This suspension enabels, that the camera, when the kite goes up and down, always is hanging horizontal. The complete construction permanently rolls to and fro and compensates the movements of the kite. Because, that the mounting is out of a string and not a pipe, the vibrations of the kiteline are damped.

At the choice of kites for KAP, there are different possibilities again. Every KAPer must find out his own favorite model. At first, the kite must have enough line-pull to carry the rigg with the camera. Some kites fly very quiet and save in greater heights, but in a low alitude and at the start, they stagger.
By the transport of the complete KAP-equipment you have to carry enough. So the kite should be small in size when it is packed. If there is not always the same wind, you must have different kites in different sizes with different pull.
A kite for KAPing should have the following quality:

At fist time, the weather must be good for KAP. Ideal is a blue, sunny sky with litte white clouds. With good, bright light, the automatic of the camera adjustes a short triggertime, so that the danger of blurr is smaller than at low light. In addition, I think, that the pictures look better if the sun is shining. The wind should be constant and strong enough for the selected kite. I prefer windspeeds from 4 to 6 m/s.

	The KAP-rigg is the chief ingredient at the aerial photograpy with kites. The camera is mounted in the rigg. It depends to the rigg, that you can turn and tilt the camera in the air and, of course, trigger it. Some KAPers build a mechanism to rotate the camera, so that they can do portrait- or landscape pictures. The movements of an electronic controlled rigg is done by servos, which are built for remote controlled toys. This servos are plugged to a receiver and do the motion, that the KAPer on the ground controlles with the transmitter.
	At the three pictures you can see the components. The inner frame takes the camera and can be tilt by a servo. At the top picture you also can see the receiver and the accumulator. The grey servo, to turn the complete rigg, has a gear-box. Most servos only can turn 90 degrees, so a gearbox has to translate the rotation to 360 degrees.
	My first KAP-Rigg with the Olympus AF-1 consists of aluminium-profiles. Camera: SONY DSC-F505 Cyber-shot, 1600 x 1200 fine


Servo at the side, to tilt the camera	This servo is to trigger the camera
Camera: SONY DSC-F505 Cyber-shot, 1600 x 1200 fine


Leineroll at the corner of the aluminium-cross	Doubbleroll and karabiner to hang into the kiteline
Camera: SONY DSC-F505 Cyber-shot, 1600 x 1200 fine


Complete Picavet, ready for transport. The karabiner are mounted on a woodenstick. Also you can see the savety pen to mount the rigg. Camera: SONY DSC-F505 Cyber-shot, 1600 x 1200 fine	Picavet in action with the new KAP-Rigg # 2 (Jun.06.2000) Camera: Canon EOS 500

KAP, what´s that? A little introduction in Kite Aerial Photography.

KAP, what´s that?
A little introduction in Kite Aerial Photography.