The mini kite kit is an effort to curate a cheap, easy, and very portable kit for kite photography for under $50. It's similar to the [mini balloon kit](/wiki/mini-balloon-kit), but is based around a large “octopus” kite that’s a beautiful and stable flyer in medium winds, and packs down into a small nylon bag for easy travel. It won’t fly in as light wind conditions, or carry as much as larger kites might, but you can throw it in your backpack or in a tote, and honestly the octopus is just a lot of fun to fly. Just like the [Mini Balloon Kit](/wiki/mini-balloon-kit), this is a #prototyping-kit and you'll be collaboratively working on improving it with us at PublicLab.org: ### Materials We have a prototyping kit available here: https://store.publiclab.org/products/mini-kite-mapping-kit But to get the parts yourself: * 1 [~$11 squid kite](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B014NMGEQO/) * 1000 feet of 50-pound kite string * carabiners, zip-ties, other clips and such to attach it all together * a camera that [weighs less than 60 grams](/q/14219) ### Lightweight We’ve [collected a list range of cameras](/q/14219) -- like the Mobius camera we already sell -- light enough to work with 2-3 of these. With a lighter option, that means you'll have a spare balloon. But there are remaining questions and refinements to make on this kit -- that’s why we’re calling it a Prototyping Kit -- and, just like the original Balloon Mapping Kit, we’re going to collaboratively work on these issues by sharing knowledge on the Public Lab website. ## Questions [questions:mini-kite-kit] **** ## Activities [activities:mini-kite-kit] ...
Author | Comment | Last activity | Moderation | ||
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jhondue123456 | "https://www.google.com/ " | Read more » | 9 months ago | |||
warren | "OK, we just did the GitUp 1 -- https://jywarren.github.io/fisheyegl/example/#a=0.989&b=0.98&Fx=0.05&Fy=0.14&scale=1.036&x=1.00..." | Read more » | over 5 years ago | |||
stevie | "This is Awesome!!! Just getting to test it out now. Thanks so much for putting this together and posting the walk through :) " | Read more » | over 6 years ago | |||
warren | "Folks on the #nasa #aren project sent in this image and we corrected it on the call: Lightdow LD6000 WiFi 1080P HD Sports Action Camera https://w..." | Read more » | over 7 years ago | |||
warren | "Ah! And i realized another feature i forgot to mention -- you can now see the model of camera used to take the photos, which is extracted from the ..." | Read more » | over 7 years ago | |||
warren | "Thanks, Pat. Also, I found a good example of lens distortion with straight lines (a parking lot) on MapKnitter just now: https://mapknitter.org/ma..." | Read more » | over 7 years ago | |||
patcoyle | "Thanks Jeff, I did my test on iMac (24-inch, Early 2009) with Graphics shown as: NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 256 MB. " | Read more » | over 7 years ago | |||
warren | "Awesome! I'll just copy in your notes so they're searchable on the site: I saw Jeff Warren’s note, so gave it a try. I’ve used some of the other t..." | Read more » | over 7 years ago | |||
patcoyle | "Nice Jeff. Here is a replication, but didn't think it warranted a note, see results in slides " | Read more » | over 7 years ago | |||
mathew | "I often get tripped up on the firmware upload stage; https://publiclab.org/notes/abdul/06-22-2016/infragram-plant-cam#Installing+config+file The c..." | Read more » | almost 8 years ago | |||
warren | "Hmm, i have an older one, so the firmware may have changed. Maybe best to ask about this on the main Grassroots Mapping list, as I think I remember..." | Read more » | almost 8 years ago | |||
jbreen | "You had me at "squid-shaped kite." I've been using the DIY Mini Kite Kit but for the life of me cannot seem to get the Mobius camera to go into ti..." | Read more » | almost 8 years ago | |||
warren | "Thanks for the link! So many colors :-) -- " | Read more » | about 8 years ago | |||
shanlter | "The squid looks so nice in the sky! Here is the link: https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.0.0.YLWxJc&id=44263991526&ns=1&skuI..." | Read more » | about 8 years ago | |||
liz | "The delivery was convenient too -- we bought a dozen, and they were shipped in a tape-wrapped tarp to a local mini-mart in Guangzhou where we picke..." | Read more » | about 8 years ago | |||
mathew | "omg you're kidding me that is so cheap this kite is so awesome " | Read more » | about 8 years ago | |||
liz | "The 5.5M kite was ~USD$4 on taobao in mainland China -- @shanlter can you post the link to the taobao store that you helped me buy from? " | Read more » | about 8 years ago | |||
eustatic | "sweet cup rig have you all seen that there's a waterproof case for mobius action cams that includes a heat disperser? i'm sure it costs as much ..." | Read more » | over 10 years ago | |||
warren | "I've recently used just a flag-shaped piece of foam core and a swivel to stabilize my Mobius (infragram p+s) and it worked pretty well, although I ..." | Read more » | over 10 years ago | |||
ajawitz | "Very True. In fact I'd have no other choice since my Printrbot Simple can only print about 4x4x4 anyway. Unfortunately, I won't be printing much ..." | Read more » | over 10 years ago | |||
mathew | "I flew the mobius on a redstone rig, but the rig was overkill--- weighing twice what the camera did. I bet just scaling it down to closer to the m..." | Read more » | over 10 years ago |