Build Your Own KiteCam

wally writes "Paul Mutton successfully managed to kill an expensive digital camera taking aerial photos using a kite, parcel tape and some bubble wrap. The geek explains the ups and downs (excuse the pun) of his attempt to take some aerial photographs with a friend using a Casio EX-Z3 digital camera attached to a kite in good ol' Blue Peter style bubble wrap and parcel tape. Paul did however manage to take 2 or 3 pretty photos of Kent University before his precious camera speed to the ground at a speed with enough force to render it quite unusable. Out of bits left intact was the flash card and a 30 second clip leading up to the crash. Remember children: Don't try this at home!"

camera fund

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate to be a dick, but I'm not going to donate money to this guy's "camera fund". If it had been stolen or something, that might generate some sympathy - but the dude damaged his own camera in an idiotic "Tim the Tool-Man Taylor" sort of way... Next time... well... don't do that.

Re:camera fund

[GoRK]

Not to mention that he's trying to raise the money to replace the camera. The last time I dropped an $800 digital camera from a kite, it only cost $100 to have repaired and it was equally as trashed as this dude's.

Popular Science Magazine

[armyturtle]

Do they always post all of the popular science magazine articles in here? This was in this months issue. Just curious.

Re:there's MUCH better work out there.

[Burstwave]

Haefer's work is superb and contains a wonderfully crafted tutorial on the professional methods used to craft these impressive images.

Re:camera fund

[MBCook]

See, that's odd. I am MORE willing to donate to this guy's fund than if it was stolen. He did something interesting and a little bit humorous. I could see myself giving the guy a pound or a dollar or two.

On the other hand, if it was stollen, I get a whole "poor me someone help me" feeling from it, and I wouldn't donate.

He damanged it doing something cool. I won't give him 150 pounds, but I could give him one or two.

PS: No, I won't actually be donating because I'm broke and cheap.

Re:camera fund

[stienman]

I could give him one or two.

PS: No, I won't actually be donating because I'm broke and cheap.

Typical response - "I'm more likely to donate to X than Y but I'm not donating to either because of Z"

You could be infinitely more likely to donate to one than the other and still have the same result if you didn't plan on donating to either in the first place.

It's always easier said than done, isn't it?

Not to pick on you personally, but it is disheartening to see this lack of action that is so common on message boards such as slashdot.

-Adam

Re:camera fund

[GoRK]

Yes. Actually it wasn't my own camera but a friend's Canon PowerShot G2 (back when that camera was still worth $800). We were both getting into the hobby together.

I had trusted the bridle knot that was already tied on the kite when I bought it and never retied it myself. It gave way and dropped the camera rig about 150 feet, and the kite folded and landed about 1/4 mile away. Luckily it was not a frame kite or I probably never would have seen that again either.

Everyone who does KAP accepts the risk that sending up their equipment entails. Most of us choose to either minimize the risk itself or minimize the cost of the equipment that goes up.

In my case, I was going for option #1. The rig I was using was designed to take the brunt of the impact off of the camera. Despite the fact that the camera fell 150ft onto hard, dry dirt and gravel (construction area), repairs were limited to a thorough cleaning, refit of the lens assembly, and new plastic outer housing. The rig did its job and completely mangled itself in the fall.

This fellow really did neither. He was using the wrong kind of kite (power kites are not designed for lifting), the wrong kind of rig (big unaerodynamic sphere of bubblewrap that tumbles uncontrollably), and the wrong kind of shock absorbsion in the event of a disaster. Bubble wrap cannot take much of an impact at all without a hard outer shell (ie cardboard box). A couple of pounds will easily compress a few layers of bubble wrap as this article clearly indicates. He would have had much better protection with a few inches of closed cell rubber padding instead.