Flexifoil Camera Kite Kit Review - good for Kite Enthusiasts, not so useful for Aerial Video
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2018
- I saw this Flexifoil Camera kite Kit advertised on facebook so was interested to try it as I like quadcopter aerial photography and kites, so it seemed a good match.
It wasn't clear from facebook or Amazon listings, but downloading the manual I could see this comes with a single axis brushless gimbal (a Wewow Sport X1 rebranded Flexifoil), so I figured that would give smooth video from a kite which sounded like fun.
I couldn't find any reviews on youtube, and my original plan was to use this for aerial video and stills where its not safe, legal or practical to fly a camera quadcopter drone, such as national trust monuments etc, but having tried this I realised this is aimed at kite enthusiasts who on the right day can get some aerial photos around the flying area, not to take photos of a specific feature or object which is what I was hoping for.
Hope this doesn't come across as overly negative, this is a real quality package, the kite, reel etc are all really nicely made, my issues with it are that you can't point the camera where you choose, only two fixed positions either side of the lines which will always point downwind, and that its unusable for video - which I mistakenly assumed as it had a stabilising brushless gimbal it would be useful for.
Thanks to Harry for camera work and Richard for kite assistance/expertise.
Hope this is useful, any questions please comment below as always, and I will try to answer. - Věda a technologie
Thumbs up ere' James, great honest review! Something I had been looking out for a few years but not for me. Many thanks for sharing the info :)
Thanks for the useful information 👍
I wouldn't write this kite off entirely. Of course a proper sled kite, the type they use to hoist weather instrumentation aloft in Antarctica would be a far more capable filming platform if you were serious about it, but I suspect that your choice of camera is dictating the result. A 360 camera such as the GoPro Max will automatically level the horizon for both video and photos and you can capture from any direction in post.
Definitely agree a 360 camera would be ideal for kite video - much lighter/simpler than gimbal/camera. The kite is very nice just slightly small due to weight of gimbal/camera, its really the gimbal/mounting which was the issue.
Thanks ! Best Review !
Hi there, thank you for taking your time for this video. i have one question in particular: the bungee cord that can be attached to the kite's line...does it make filming smoother or is it a "Gimmick".Best regards, Lars
HI Lars, my impression is the bungee chord is just to hold the camera bracket tight to pole to stop is 'shaking' from free play - however as the whole kite is flapping/shaking anyway, it doesn't really do much. For fast shutter speeds on bright days, the pictures will still be sharp, but if light isn't so good, I think you'd get a lot of blurry pics anyway - a simple picavet mount hanging from the line below the kite I think would be simpler and smoother.
@@jamesb72 thanks for your reply :-)
I'd quite like the gimble on a pendulum, hung from the string under the kite. The key is to have the movement in the plane the gamble stabilises, which that rig doesn't give. Also, hanging the camera under the kite then allows shooting downwind - no more string-in-picture.
Thanks for comment, my gut feeling was the gimbal wasn't really needed and I checked this by hanging camera from kite line using a simple picavet cross, which worked really well both for stills and even fairly smooth video shots. I made a video about it here czcams.com/video/0VIBMEewpJ8/video.html skip to 3m45s for the camera mounting - I am pretty convinced the gimbal is just extra weight which isn't needed at all.
Thanks you just saved me a ton of money
Glad its useful, I did a cheap KAP rig here czcams.com/video/0VIBMEewpJ8/video.html
@@jamesb72 Flexifoils not what it used to be when I was flaying blades and sky tigers. I'll stick with my normal KAP rig,
A Really good and worthwhile review.
Like you, I thought the basic kite form was not the one to base this idea on.
They should have consulted you, prior to marketing.
Thank you James for your honest review. You video made it very clear that we need to make a few more instructional video's to explain the users how to secure the stabiliser (gimbal) correctly to the kite. This should prevent the gimbal from moving away of the kitespar as it was designed for.
We will add these additional instructional videos on this play list: bit.ly/2RPJg1n
Feel free to let us know if you would like to see any other specific details in our upcoming instructional videos.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks Peter, I am pretty sure I mounted the stabiliser to the kite as instructions show (I just checked those video's and I did put the bungee round the stabiliser exactly as shown for flying). To me the gimbal weight/bouncyness and camera angles being too limited make the gimbal not really useful. I wondered if you will try to offer a picavet or a hanging pole either as an option or in a future camera kite v2. I do appreciate the excellent quality of everything in kit, and this design does make it really easy for one person to launch without tethering etc. I am still using the fantastic reel, lovely rucksack and accessory bag, stake, straps etc with the cheap picavet/foil setup I switched to having been inspired by the flexifoil set, so it was still good experience for me.
I've noticed that bungee tend to stretch sometimes, so I'm wrapping it twice around the thumbscrew to add some extra tension, this has avoid the gimbal from coming loose from the spar. It is correct that our current product provides you 4 shooting angles, as being the left or right side of the kite and ground or horizon angle. I always pick the side away from the sun to avoid overexposure due to the sunlight, the choice of angle depends what I would like to shoot.
A picavet, light-wind camkite and a few other accessories are scheduled to be released this year as individual add-ons to our current Camera Kite package.
Thanks for video. May I ask the max altitude of this kite that can rise aprox. What is your opinion. How many meters can it rise up to.
You should check the legal limit in your country, in the UK kites are restricted to 60M altitude, in USA I think its 150ft, obviously you can use slightly longer lines than this as kite doesn't fly with lines straight up. For gopro style camera's with wide angle lens this is plenty for most things though, so not really an issue.
Seems quite badly thought out given that it's purpose is as a camera kite. That reel looks very cool though
The reel is amazing, I even looked to see if it is sold on its own, but it isn't ;(
Surprising its not been supplied with a fuzzy tail which might have stabilised it a bit more
Found this because I am seeking a way to put my Insta360 One X2 up in the air in places where I can't mount it on a drone. I'm wondering if the built-in stabilization of the Insta360 cameras would compensate for the apparent shakiness that your GoPro seems to suffer. Has anyone tried this kite with an Insta360 camera?
I'm pretty sure the Insta360 stabilisation would work brilliantly for this, and am sure someone else will have tried it. I did another video of a cheap/simple kite setup with the camera mounted on the line which is much smoother than this, so would be ideal. I'd suggest using pole mount for camera as easy/simple (selfie stick hanging off the kite line) and will give you maximum field of view. Other video is here: czcams.com/video/0VIBMEewpJ8/video.html
I had given this some thought years ago, same with a balloon but concluded that it wouldn't work for me.
I did look at this, but you'd need a huge balloon ;) I am planning to make a simple diy rig to hang from normal kite string with gopro on a rotating mount to see how that works.
They really didn't design a new kite, the Delta Conyne kite has been around for many decades.
As far as the line or bridle showing, that's part of the appeal, so you know it was taken from a kite & not a drone.
Have you sold this setup or considered selling it?!?
Did you ever look into KAP (Kite Aireal Photography) before buying this set?!? I'm thinking if you had, you wouldn't have purchased this kit. The Picavet suspension mount is the way to go if you use a gimble or not. Flexifoil is going after the millennial crowd with this stuff, not the person who wants great quality pictures!
Thanks - no I didn't look into KAP, before I got this - an advert on facebook just caught my eye - but it sparked my interest so I did end up making picavet rigs and trying a few different foils/sleds/reels, and made a video about that czcams.com/video/0VIBMEewpJ8/video.html
good review but what a crap idea I fly foils with a mobius cam git n miss shots get the quadcopter out for photography
I'm working on a DIY KAP setup, I am using the reel/bag from this set which I really like, and have a DIY picavet and a selfie stick pendulum mount, also an electronic rotating panoramic mount, so the gopro can rotate slowly under the kite to take pictures/video from all directions, I've also got some cheap kites to fly them under, a couple of foils in 1m and 1.5m and a couple of sleds in 1.7m and 2.4m so plan to do a follow up video once I've tried the various combinations with what I get best results with, I am pretty sure I can get it to work and will be a nice setup. The other thing I've realised from how few views this has is KAP is a super niche market, the fact you can't even buy a picavet rig easily and have to make your own makes me realise there isn't a market big enough to support a full product, which I'm guessing is what Flexifoil found out hence selling these off cheap. Still the reel/bag/tether/handle are superb quality items, and I will be using them with the new setup.
jamesb72 thats going to be a hell of a set up if you iron out the kinks.BECAUSE the DRONE LAWS WONT APPLY. im toying with the idea of PUTTING MY DJI SPARK 300g quadcopter minus the props under my 3mtr foil that way I can take video footage and stills and get the shots I want by looking at my phone so I can position the kite in the right place
You can do much the same with a gopro (or a clone) as they have wifi so you can view/control from smartphone, but spark is no heavier and has big advantage of being able to adjust camera angle from remote without landing kite/adjusting a manual mount, and the gimbal will keep horizon level, sounds like a good idea though, let us know how you get on if you try it.
jamesb72 will do I like to re invent plus theres lots of places you can fly a kite and not a quad.and once you have your kite in the zone its as stable as a quad
If drones were not available this might have been a good idea. Cant see what the market is.
Here we can't use drones in our parks anymore but we can fly kites still. As a commercial drone pilot I'm here watching this because I need a solution to take pictures where drones can't. I'm sure kites are the next freedom to be taken away here in the states
£349? You can buy a DJI spark for that much and a spark comes with a camera
£149.99 on offer at the moment. Not the control of a drone granted but no noise, less restrictions on areas, unlimited flight time. Once its up nobody will notice the camera, see/hear a drone and you know it's got a camera onboard. Possible option of upgrading to a WG2 type gimbal? Use a WG2 and an action camera and you could use over water and survive a dunking. So it has a certain attraction.
£120 on Amazon now.
Dude what did you expect it to do? It's a kite not a drone. You don't have control over a kite like you do a drone.
I didn't expect to steer the kite, but did expect kite to fly smoothly and it can't be that hard to be able to point the camera in any direction. If you search KAP video's there are lots of people using home made picavet mounts which are smooth enough for video and camera can point in any direction steadily.
Compare those gimbals and their cost to what the Flexifoil costs and any idiot could see that is not what you are getting. The directions from Flexifoil tell you to put your camera in timelapse mode and take stills. It never claims to be good for video. You ate trying to use the kite for things it's not designed to do then give it a bad review based on that.
@@Munkey990 His review was good. This isn't fit for purpose due to lazy design. Unusual for a FF product.
Back in the 1980s I did a lot of KAP and I made a 2 meter wingspan flair kite that was quite powerful and attached the camera to a homemade wooden gimbal which was attached to the line and not the kite. Adding a tail for stability and I managed to get some great pictures
@jamesb72 >>> Great video...👍