Conditions couldn't have been better for it really. We had planned to fly at Dunorlan Park in Tunbridge Wells and Gerty had given directions to park in Bayhall Road. When I got there, Bill and Gert were already there, and there was the gentlest of breezes. So it seemed an obvious choice to give the dopero an outing. At the time, I wasn't sure that I would get any KAP done, as I didn't think there was enough wind. But the dopero launched easily and climbed steadily into the sky, and there was sufficient pull on the line to make me determined to get some KAP.
After last weeks problems, I had spent some time during the week playing with camera settings and getting some test shots. I hoped I had got the camera configured in a way that would give me some decent output.
So with the rig fixed about 100 feet below the kite, I let out line until the rig was about 50 feet off the ground, and wandered off to see what we could see. I was determined to get some photos of the lake, but I had no idea what else was around (I haven't been to Dunorlan Park before).After getting some low level shots, I decided to allow some more lineout to see if we could get some more shots from on high, and to see how the kite reacted. The kite was absolutely brilliant. It did tend to clmb overhead, and a couple of times when the wind dropped away to nothing, the kite was floating on thermals whiile the camera stayed suspended, gently coming down, then a sight breeze would add tension to the line, the camera would start to climb and then so would the kite.
A very successful afternoon KAP. I will go to Dunorlan Park again, but next time I go, I will try to get into the carpark on Hall Hollow Road. The event field is great for general kite flying, but the field on the other side of the hedge near the lake seems to have plenty of space between the trees, is accessible from the carpark, and offers a far greater range of photographic subjects. As usual, the photos are on my flickr stream, but below is a sample:
2 comments:
Garth,
I have been flying kites for 15 years and just picked up the KAP bug early in 2007. I have been using small deltas with a very simple (and light) rig for a small digital camera. I just ordered my first dopero (G-Kites) and hope to put it into the air this weekend. What has been your experience with the dopero since you posted this. How often do you use it for KAP. Where I fly three is very little room for flowform type kites (low angle of flight gets caught in surrounding high trees. Thus my hope is to use dopero for high angle of attack for KAP. Any words of wisdom? What happens when the wind picks up over 15 MPH to say 20-25? You can pick up some of my photos on flicker (look under KAP and screen name "Wind Watcher".
Hi Jim, The Dopero is great for high angle KAP, definitely much better than the flowform. Mine is a maxi dopero, so is for the lightest of winds, when the wind picks up a bit, I use a rokkaku. Both have similar flight characteristics, but the dopero is much lighter. It is a big beast so takes a little while to set up. The G-kites version is I think smaller and heavier so will handle more wind better.
I don't kap when the wind picks up anything above about 10mph. I've tried it a couple of times, but where I am, when the wind gets much higher it gets very blustery and turbulent. So teh camera stays on the ground, and I play with the kites.
Nice photos btw. especially the camera spin. Sorry to hear about the camera swimming lessons ;(
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