KAP Equipment

Here’s a rundown of our equipment and various settings that we’re using.

Kites:
Sutton Flowform 16
G-kites Dopero
Peter Lynn Pilot 50

Other kite bits:
Horizontal Brooxes AutoKAP Kit
A plastic winding halo
200 and 250 lb test string

Cameras and accessories:
Canon S70
Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi
Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, aka the Nifty Fifty
GentLED infrared LEDs for setting off the camera by remote
Tower Hobbies RC FM transmitter and receiver

Software:
the GIMP (Free image manipulation)
UFRAW (includes a GIMP plugin for reading RAW images)

General camera settings:
Manual focus, set to infinity
Tv mode (shutter priority) set to 1/800 or 1/1000
RAW mode (RAW+640×480 on the S70, RAW on the XTi)
ISO 100 (200 or 400 if it’s not sunny, though noise can sneak in at ISO higher than 400)
Bracketed down 1/3 stop
Zoomed out as much as possible (50mm on the XTi [doesn’t zoom anyway, as it’s a prime lens), ~28mm on the S70)
Remote-driven mode

Other bits:
Wooden ground markers (details soon, including images)
Paint