I think this is my first successfully stitched panorama using the KAP rig:

Best viewed Huge

Alameda Oakland Ferry

Originally uploaded by blp1979.

Trying my hand at shooting at the ferry terminal. The wind was crazy, a little too high, but with maybe 30-40 degrees of shift within it.

I had been trying to shoot over at the old crane, but the wind was too variable for me to get over to it without risking kite and camera.

I drew up some cutting plans for the FF12 — actually a 12.8sf, so I’m calling it a FF13.  I have yet to build from these plans, so use at your own risk. These don’t include all the details, but you can find the rest of what you need from Harald Prinzler’s plans.

Available in three formats:

• PDF (1MB)
• Autocad DWG (120KB)
• Autocad DXF (140KB)

The DWG is Acad2004 format, the DXF is R12– just about anything can open that. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions on the plans.  The first three pages of the PDF are 11×17, the last page is a funny sized 24×60.  It could be printed as small as 12×60, there are guides for that.

So I decided that I was writing enough on my photo blog about KAP, so I moved everything here. There’s plenty of info about KAP on the web, but I figured I’d throw my hat in the ring.

Just putting some notes out here so I’ll remember them later.

My plan for my KAP kit is to create basically a mini-packable kit (which will be a soft kite, hoop winder + BEAK*), and a big not-so-packable kit (Rok + soft kite + big winder + RC kit + maybe video downlink eventually). This is somewhat in parallel to my mini-packable camera gear– Camera + 2 lenses + 2 flashes + triggers, or even smaller Camera + CLS triggered SB-600… which gets me off-camera lighting in one small bag) vs. big gear (Camera + buncha lenses + 2 Alien Bees + Softboxes + etc. etc. etc.)

BEAK: “Brooxes Easy Auto-KAP” — basically one servo that rotates the rig, and another that triggers the shutter. You set the tilt on the ground, then it just rotates about 30 degrees and snaps a picture. No real control, but you get a whole lot of pictures. My current rig is like this, but without the rotation. Most of the parts from this can be converted to a full RC rig. Although I might just get a 2nd frame for the full RC model.

KIF 0346

Originally uploaded by blp1979.

First images from today’s playing with KAP. See this set on flickr for more. (Nothing stunning, but neat stuff)

Kite Aerial Photography

Originally uploaded by blp1979.

I’ve started into the rather exciting field of Kite Aerial Photography. Well, exciting when you have the bits and there’s wind. Anyway, I’ve been having a few really excellent discoveries:

For incredibly beautiful pictures, there’s this guy, who also has a site here, with lots of info.

For much of the hardware you need to pull this off, there’s Brooxes.com, Brooks is also incredibly helpful and patient when you have questions.

And for the kites themselves, there’s Into the Wind for complete kites, and KiteBuilder for parts. And KB just expedited my ground shipment so I could get my 8-foot Rokkaku built in time for when I’m in Mendocino.