XCam2 Video Camera/Transmitter For Video KAP Use

Kevin Flynn - Pebble Beach, California, USA        June 28, 2000

Photos above courtesy of X10.
Photos below by Kevin Flynn.

Ed.- For those that are new to Kite Aerial Photography, video equipment like that mentioned in this article is used to help the photographer aim a still camera using radio control while hanging from a kite line several hundred feet in the air. It is not generally used to capture images, which would be of lesser quality to that of film or digital cameras, but a video recording device could be connected to the receiver if one so desired.

Figure 1. The monitor attached to Kevin's RC transmitter (Figure 1.) is the Citizen M329 Mark II LCD color video monitor. It is an after market LCD screen designed to be added to video cameras that did not come with a LCD screen. Cost is about $140 US and includes, a battery pack (that clips to the back of the unit with the option of using 4 or 6 AA batteries), mounting hardware, cables, and a sun screen. With 6 batteries the unit weighs 11 oz. (311 g) and will run for 3.5 hours. The signal from the video receiver is connected directly to the LCD monitor with a cable supplied with the monitor. The Citizen unit can be purchased at B&H Photo.

The following is compiled from several email messages from Kevin Flynn -

Check this out on the web www.x10.com. It is a complete system color camera and transmitter for $49US plus they give you a 20 dollar gift voucher that you can buy the power converter with.The whole system weighs about three and a half ounces (99 grams), and is so small I have it mounted on top of my Picavet cross. The power converter is about an inch long quarter inch around and weighs one quarter of an oz (7 grams). I took the power converter out of it's little case so it is very tiny.

Figure 2. I told my friend Brooks Leffler about it and he now is the proud owner of the unit. The nice thing is that the lens in the camera covers approximately the same area as a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera. They sell a complete unit camera, transmitter, receiver and power supply for $80US and they give you a $40US gift voucher. I did not need the receiver as I [have] one from radio shack.

To give you an idea of the weight savings, the airborne unit using the Radio Shack unit was around 10oz (283g). The [Xcam2] complete airborne unit is 4 to 4.5 oz (113g-128g) depending on batteries used (triple AA's or double AA's) so as you can see it is a big improvement. The battery life with this unit using 4AA NiCd's is about two and a half hours with constant use. Figure 3. On one of my rigs the unit is used just as it comes, I just screwed it to the bottom of my Canon [SLR] rig and it works very well
(Figure 2.). It has never given me any reception problems. On the other unit I removed the camera from the transmitter unit and mounted it above the 35mm [P&S] camera (Figure 3.). The transmitter is mounted on the Picavet cross.

I have a friend I fly with, and one day we tried to range test his X10 unit. He had 1000ft of line and we let it all out. The rig must have been at least 700ft from us and the receiver, and we had no problems at all receiving the signal. The X10 unit has a built in mike on the side of the camera and he likes to hear what is going on up there (you can hear the shutter click). The wind noise is horrendous, much more than I expected. This fellow uses a 12 inch Sony TV in the back of his station wagon and the rig really puts on quite a show. We did this for a test and quickly brought the rig down. I am sure my rig flies between 100 and 400 ft most of the time and I have had no reception problems whatever, although I was concerned when I read the ad.
[Ed.- Kevin has since tested his rig out to 800 ft or 244m.]