kite nikon

I want to take pictures using a kite for archaeological surveys in a

variety of conditions.

 

I want to know the best setup for this. The end product will be

digital but i am leaning towarsd using my nikon manual gear because

i need high quality results- and i can neither afford or wish to put

a £2000 camera up in the air....

 

the critical factors are an Auto exposure body, high resolution lens

and a motordrive

 

my choices boil down to using my FE or EM. they are both auto

exposure. the em is small and light, the fe is more relaible (and

with an MD12 easy to wire a remote up to)

if i get an MDE/MD14 for the EM will there still be a huge wieght

differential between the EM and the FE with MD12?

 

which is the best lens for this purpose?- i was thinking about a

35mm or 50mm (needs to be low distortion, 35mm a bonus due to

hyperfocalness)- but both my 35mm f2 and 50mm 1.4 seem a bit on the

heavy side-is there a big wieght difference between them and the

slower lenses? the 50mm 1.8E is really small and light, but i have

heard that the optical perfomance isnt too hot-this is relly

important because i need to get the maximun amount of detail

possible on the film.

 

is there any way to get more than 36 shots from a film (could i, for

example spool my own bulk film to get a couple more frames per roll?)

 

any thoughts?

(would i be better off trying to find a point and shoot with a

really good prime-any suggestions?)

For weight's sake an F80 with 50mm f1.8 would be hard to beat (24 oz

together plus whatever your remote trigger weighs -what are you going

to use for that, by the way?................

Check out this <a href="http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/">Kite Aerial

Photography page</a> for lots of suggestions on equipment

and techniques. I recommend reading the whole site, if you

haven't already.

<p>

This may be heresy, but I think that, when stopped down to

f5.6 or f8, there are several lightweight P&S cameras that can

virtually equal the Nikon SLRs in image quality. An Olympus

Stylus Epic 35mm f2.8 would be one. Even if it's not quite

as good, camera motion issues will render the differences moot.

When every ounce counts, it seems a shame to lift both the

heavy prism you can't use, and the fast heavy glass that will be

stopped down.

<p>

If you insist on the SLR route, check out either of the

the 45mm f2.8 lenses. The old GN version or the new AI-P

version are both sharp, lightweight, and small.

I highly recommend you get something as light as possible, and an old metal

manual camera doesn't fit the bill. Kite photography is hard to do as it is, let

alone if you need to hoist a really heavy rig.

 

I've built a small radio-control rig with a cheap point and shoot camera (Fuji

Mini Tiara II) and my 16 square-foot Sutton Flowform has difficulty lifting it.

Obviously I'm wrong about the F80, the 55 is a whole five ounces

lighter and offers manual, aperture priority, and shutter priority,

which is probably what you would want most of the time due to motion

issues......

Have you considered a tethered balloon with full remote

control? I have no idea of the cost but Ive seen a setup in

action. The photographer used a Nikon FE2. There was a B&W

video camera on the viewfinder. The balloon was also used to lift

video and police surveillance cameras. I would think this would

be much safer than using a kite. You might try searching <a

href="http://www.google.com/" target="_new">http://www.google.com/</a> <br>

<br>

Hope this helps,

For weight (and cost) savings, you might look at the FM-10.

<cite>For weight (and cost) savings, you might look at the FM-10.</cite>

<p>

But the FM-10 lacks autoexposure and motordrive provision, two of

the critical factors David listed. It also lacks an electrical

remote release provision, though it's probably possible to work

around that using a solenoid or servo to actuate a mechanical cable

release. I gather from David's desire to get more than

36 exposures per roll that the motordrive issue is critical. I

suspect that retrieving the kite, advancing the film,

and launching again for every single frame would get old very

quickly.

thanks for the links.

 

would the listed point and shoots give me equal resolution to the nikkors? they would be ideal, but the optical stuff is critical! (if only the voightlander bessa L had a motor drive)

 

as for balloons the guy i work for has some very entertaining shots taken from a meteorlogical balloon with an OM and a motordrive and with video- they spin as the baloon goes up. i have toyed with the idea though- the huge downside is that helium is EXPENSIVE and difficult to get to places like Turkmenistan. my colleuges didnt take my suggestion of using hydrogen too seriously for some strange reason.... i am entirley up for the idea (it was the rubberised fabric on the hindemburg, honest guv..........)

 

cheers,

Hmm- just read about the yashica t4 on this site....and those fuji 645 p&s jobs could be even better (but horrificly expensive)

 

the nikon are what i happen to have kickin around, however.

Good point, Richard - excuse my inattention.

I believe that the Ricoh GR-1V (28mm) and GR-21 (21mm) have an electronic cable release port that would allow you to use PocketWizards to trigger them - they are smaller and lighter than the Nikon rigs that you are considering. You can also pre-set the focus at infinity, set the aperture where you want, enjoy AE, etc.