Kite aerial photography is already a trodden path in DIY land - there's even at least one Instructable on a rig. But we'd like to show how to make one with professional applications on a very tight budget. This rig is well tested in a construction site in a rural village in Cambodia. And with geo-tagging enabled on your camera, the rig could help fill out 3D models of buildings or almost anything that's tall.
Wil Cao, a structural engineer at Parsons Brinckerhoff in New York City, and a member of the New York Professionals chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA, brought us this guide to building a remote-controlled camera rig for a kite.
In 2005, Wil and the Engineers Without Borders team were repairing an embankment on a river near a rural village in Cambodia and they needed aerial photos of the site. Google Earth didn't have good shots of the region, and renting a helicopter was out of the budget.
Wearing their thinking caps and their sweaty shirts, the engineers decided to make a kite rig. Actually, they had several kinds of images and the shots from the kite filled in the gaps. They had a blurry satellite photo from a predecessor of Google Earth, which they overlaid with Cambodian military topographical maps and filled in holes with shots from anywhere they could get them, including helicopter passes, satellite photos from private firms, and, relevant to this Instructable, a camera on a kite.
The kite rig went through two phases. The one shown here is a fancier second version, but, at the risk of false advertisement, this Instructable is on the first, homemade, truly DIY rig that Wil made at home. (We don't photos of the camera in the original rig because that camera was the only one available at the time... sorry!)
Our design here is highly customizable. We'll draw lines around how to assemble it, and you can fill in your own measurements and other details. Here's how to make it.
Wil Cao, a structural engineer at Parsons Brinckerhoff in New York City, and a member of the New York Professionals chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA, brought us this guide to building a remote-controlled camera rig for a kite.
In 2005, Wil and the Engineers Without Borders team were repairing an embankment on a river near a rural village in Cambodia and they needed aerial photos of the site. Google Earth didn't have good shots of the region, and renting a helicopter was out of the budget.
Wearing their thinking caps and their sweaty shirts, the engineers decided to make a kite rig. Actually, they had several kinds of images and the shots from the kite filled in the gaps. They had a blurry satellite photo from a predecessor of Google Earth, which they overlaid with Cambodian military topographical maps and filled in holes with shots from anywhere they could get them, including helicopter passes, satellite photos from private firms, and, relevant to this Instructable, a camera on a kite.
The kite rig went through two phases. The one shown here is a fancier second version, but, at the risk of false advertisement, this Instructable is on the first, homemade, truly DIY rig that Wil made at home. (We don't photos of the camera in the original rig because that camera was the only one available at the time... sorry!)
Our design here is highly customizable. We'll draw lines around how to assemble it, and you can fill in your own measurements and other details. Here's how to make it.
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Signing UpStep 1: Specs & Parts
Specs
The rig rotates the camera 270 degrees and tilts 180 degrees. The remote control is from an RC plane and it has a range of 2000 ft. (Wil's kite string was 1000 ft, so it was always in range).
What you'll need
Aluminum flat plates (Home Depot)
Servo equipment, can come in a package: (Servocity)
-Hand-held controller (transmitter)
-Receiver
-Three servos
Gears (salvaged parts from an old printer)
Epoxy and Super Glue
Coat hangers (optional)
Fiber mesh for strength (optional)
A fancy kite
Cost: About $200, depending on what parts you can salvage
The rig rotates the camera 270 degrees and tilts 180 degrees. The remote control is from an RC plane and it has a range of 2000 ft. (Wil's kite string was 1000 ft, so it was always in range).
What you'll need
Aluminum flat plates (Home Depot)
Servo equipment, can come in a package: (Servocity)
-Hand-held controller (transmitter)
-Receiver
-Three servos
Gears (salvaged parts from an old printer)
Epoxy and Super Glue
Coat hangers (optional)
Fiber mesh for strength (optional)
A fancy kite
Cost: About $200, depending on what parts you can salvage
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What a wonderful ethos.
In that vein, I'd like to share with you how I managed to steer a single line lifter Kite.
http://youtu.be/Q1o4mw0ug14
I'm looking at doing something similar in or around Phnom Penh within the next month or so.
Aluminum hardware and pop rivits to save more weight.
Perhaps some aluminum screen mesh hoops instead of coat hangers. Chicken wire maybe?
And in strong winds, a servo setup as a dead mans switch for a parachute drop of the camera, if / when the kite string breaks.