It seems something very useful and easy; your own personal camera hanging above you, so you and your buddies get filmed on the water. But it is a bit more complicated and compromised as you probably would expect.
The test
The Tracer Sky mount is designed to film to the outside of the kite. Filming the inside angle seems impossible since it will damage your kite. It does have a lot of freedom of positioning the angle from the outside, so it is still possible to get you (who is riding the kite with the mount) in the shot.
The second disappointment is that once you have set it up for a kite it will not be possible to set it at a bigger kite in the same set up. This is due to the fact you glue a couple of patches on the mount which can’t be removed and reused. So you set up a size for a certain kite (depending on the tube) and the mount is designed more or less to be used for this kite only.
Once set to the right sized with the patches the mount is quite easily placed on the leading edge. Either by sliding it side wise or even better to put it in place before the last few litres of air are pumped inside the kite. We do advise to put a leash on it attached to your kite (pump hook for example). There is a danger of losing it all when the kite deflates.
Filming with a kite in general
Filming from a kite means the camera’s view is depending on the movement of the kite. With little wind and/or underpowered situations the kite will move much more than with a bigger (overpowered) kite. So for a more steady shot it is wise to take a slightly bigger kite than usual. It will also influence the option to either set the cam on filming or shooting photo’s.
For filming your friends (in stead of yourself) a kite mount can be seen as an alternative to having somebody on the beach with a (big) camera or a drone. A kite mount will give you the opportunity to set a special point of view, but it does need a high degree of kite skills and communication with the one who wants to be filmed to avoid kite collisions. It will also need a couple of runs of testing the correct angle of the cam in the mount. Don’t underestimate the (extra) time this will cost, since you will need to go back to the beach, land the kite and reset the cam or mount’s angle.
Unfortunately the guys from We Test Kites are just like everybody else: they don’t like to read manuals, even though it’s only a smart Set-up-and-go Card 😉
First of all: the Skymount will NEVER damage your kite, also not when you turn the “arm” more to the inside. It’s quite simple: it clips around your leading edge, and as soon as the edge of the Skymount “grip” reaches the point where your kite’s canopy is stitched to the leading edge, that’s where the freedom of movement stops. It’s ok when the canopy itself touches the Skymount: when flying the kite the canopy is filled with wind en wil move away from the Skymount.
The testers were very creative adding an extra buckle to film 90 degrees sideways. This is a good option for the Selfie Mode but NOT advised when you want to shoot in Drone Mode, that is: filmping somebody else! Just like a drone the camera should be facing front and filmping in the direction the kite flies. So just screw your cam straight to the Skymount, point it a bit downwards and go! That way you will have a LOT more in your picture, and it’s quite easy to follow your buddy by letting your kite fly about 8-10 meters behind him (closer if you dare will make things even more immerse).
If you want to know more about this old test and what the testers could have done better, contact Dave (dave@wetestkites.com)
Hi,
Yes there is an option with Velcro removable straps.
Please email Hans (inventor of the Tracer) via Hans Haenen <info@tracermounts.com>
Dave
We Test Kites
Hi, i want to use it to film others riding or film from above the spot, someone who Sup’s etc but i want to be able to use it with different kites. My kite kite for example has very thin leading edge,free race kite but i want to able to use it with a wave kite fat leading edge ,profile. Is it an option or it wont work?