So many things work against sharp images while hanging a camera under a kite. Kite motion, line vibration, impact of wind directly on the rig and camera. Add to this a multitude of variables introduced by the camera, including focus (auto / manual), shutter speed (fixed or auto), exposure (fixed, bracket or auto), ISO (fixed or auto), lens choices, sensor choices…… KAP rig choices (pendulum vs. picavet, vs. adhoc camera on a string), type and color of kite line used…the list of variables is long each playing a role in the overall image sharpness obtained from cameras lifted by kites.The following is a report on a long but rewarding day with 3 separate KAP sessions with fellow KAPer Frank Deho in the skies above the port of Antwerp Belgium. The goal of these KAP sessions was to have some fun and search for KAP image sharpness from two new Sony cameras (the Sony NEX-5t and the Sony A7R). Antwerp is becoming one of my favorite places to fly kites and take pictures. The day started with a 15 hour red eye flight Philadelphia to Frankfurt Germany to Brussels Belgium. Next up was collection of a checked bag and a rental car followed by a 45 minute drive to North Antwerp and a planned KAP meetup with fellow KAPer Frank Dehu for some exciting KAPing above the Antwerp harbor. The river Scheldt flows by the city Antwerp which is linked to the North Sea by the estuary Westerschelde. Antwerp harbor is one of the biggest shipping centers in Europe. Hundreds of ships and barges plow the waterways of Antwerp….a perfect place to fly kites…..for experienced kite fliers.Thankfully the forecasted rain and clouds did not show up and instead a soft winter sun greeted us as we hopped into my rental car for a short drive to our first of three KAP locations in the port of Antwerp on this fine day. The wind was frisky blowing 20-25 mph out of the south west. Perfect for flying kites. Frank pulled a small version of his modified Rokkaku kite that is out fitted with 5 bridles (the standard 4 lines plus a 5th line from the center of the kite. The kite also features twin NACA intake vents (triangle shaped holes) in the lower third of the kite. The modified Levitation Light delta fitted with a dynamic spreader was my kite of choice for this first of 3 KAP sessions.The two kites were quickly up in the sky. Frank fed the kite line quickly from his 1 meter bobbin winder. My modified WW Startospool spun quickly as the delta kite pulled the line into the sky above. A few minutes later both kites were in the sky above Antwerp harbor.The main event was next. Taking pictures from kites in search of sharp images. The KAP sessions on this day were all about the cameras and lens. Frank and I both had new cameras and lens to test in the skies above Antwerp. This was a planned head to head comparison of two fine Sony cameras.Frank's camera of choice was his the new Sony A7R 36 MP, full frame sensor, mirrorless camera fitted out with an older Zeiss Normal 50mm f/2 Planar T* ZM Manual Focus Lens with a Leica M Mount. The Zeiss lens was attached to the Sony A7R camera body with a Novoflex Adapter for Leica M Lens to Sony NEX Camera E mounts. A very nice setup indeed. I had previously tested and returned my Sony A7R….see my initial review here. I was looking forward to a second go at seeing what the Sony A7R could do….but this time from high above hanging on a kite line above Antwerp.I selected my new Sony NEX-5t fitted with a new 3rd party Sigma 30mm f/2.8 DN Lens for Sony E-mount Cameras. This was a replacement lens for an identical Sigma 30mm lens that malfunctioned at some point and would no longer be recognized by the camera. The Sony NEX-5t was a recent addition to my collection of KAP cameras and had performed well in the skies above Washington DC earlier in the year. The camera set up included shutter priority set at 1/2500 second and auto ISO. Most of the automatically set f stops were in the f4 range (near wide open).The Sony A7R was mounted in Frank’s unique auto panning pendulum rig with built in 90 degree limiter. The pan function sweeps the KAP rig back and forth across 90 degree angle approximately every 10 seconds. A fixed tilt angle is set prior to launching the KAP rig. The shutter is triggered via a dedicated IR trigger that fires the shutter about every 18 seconds. The Zeiss 50mm lens is all old school design with manual focus and f-stop. The focus is set to infinity and held in place with black tape directly on the camera and lens. Frank also uses a manual camera setup with fixed shutter speeds and f-stop to maximize the image sharpness. Today Frank selected a fixed f5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/1600 second on his Zeiss 50mm lens.The Sony NEX-5t was mounted on my auto KAP rig configured with a CAMremote controller driving the pan and tilt servos. The KAP rig included a new nano (lighter) continuous rotation pan servo which replaced an older (and heavier) standard pan servo. The camera shutter was fired by an IR emitter fitted to the CAMremote controller.The fun came next. Flying kites high above Antwerp Belgium. The wind was lumpy and increasing in speed from 20 to 25 mph. The KAP rigs were swinging around a bit as the kites moved around as the wind changed direction. The dynamic spreader in the Levitation Light delta was working great. As gust of wind >25 mph hit the kite the wings of the delta kite compressed back reducing the effective sail area and overall lift / pull on the kite line. This helped to keep the kite in position even under wind conditions that exceeded the upper range of the standard Levitation Light delta. This is a good thing when flying with expensive cameras on the line! Frank’s Rokkaku was doing a bit of dancing in the sky and was pulling hard. The amount of pull supplied by this kite was impressive and it easily lifted the heavier Sony A7R.The main subject for this first of three KAP sessions was two huge floating maritime cranes, named Brabo and Titan, docked next to a bridge in the Antwerp harbor. The surrounding ships, docks, industrial, chemical and oil refining factories provided a wonderfully rich panorama of photographic subjects.The KAP rigs, cameras and kites were pulled from the sky after a rewarding 45 minute KAP flights. Frank uses his innovative meter long bobbin kite winder for speedy line retrieval. The WW Stratospool kept pace and quickly recovered a bunch of line under a fair amount of tension.We both had smiles on our faces….and were hungry for more. We quickly packed up the kites and piled into the rental car for a short drive into the heart of the port of Antwerp….for our second of 3 KAP sessions. The port is thick with maritime commercial operations. Every meter of shore line is occupied with shipping docks, chemical factories and waterways. There are very limited public access, parks or open areas in the heart of the Antwerp port. It is hard to find a small sliver of space free to put a kite into the air. Frank’s local knowledge of the port of Antwerp was a great asset on this day. Frank helped us navigate to a small shard of open space on a point where the main river traffic passes by. The space was constrained by a few tall trees and tall factory structures nearby. The space was so small that we decided it was best to fly only one kite at a time.The Levitation Light delta with the dynamic spreader was first up. The safety box was the canal connecting the river Scheldt to the North Sea by the estuary Westerschelde. The wind was lumpy and now blowing 20-30 mph. The ground turbulence was moderate and the delta kite jumped back and forth as it clawed it’s way higher into the sky. The wind speeds remained frisky but less lumpy high up in the sky. The dynamic spreader was getting a full and constant workout. The Sony NEX-5t and KAP rig were quickly pulled into the sky above and a fun KAP session followed for approximately 30 minutes. Ships and barges were constantly flowing by. The Stratospool quickly pulled the KAP rig and kite from the sky above to make room for Frank and his Rokkaku and Sony A7R. Frank’s 2nd KAP session followed for an entertaining 30 minute KAP session and included a few shots of one of the large maritime cranes sailing by our location. Care was need to keep the kite line angle high so the large ships could pass underneath the kites. A fun and interesting KAP session.The winter light was fading and clouds from the sea were moving in on this crisp February afternoon. We both were a bit tired (especially for me as I had not slept in over 30 hours)….but the wind was still blowing and the light was sufficient…..we quickly decided to go for a 3rd and final KAP session in a different part of the harbor near where a new lock for ships was under construction and a very large container port was actively unloading multiple large container ships. The area was large enough to put both kites into the air and a short time latter two kites and KAP rigs were swaying in the skies above Antwerp port as the wind continued to stiffen. We placed the kites in the sky near one of the big container ships that was unloading cargo. Port security patrols drove by every 10 minutes or so but did not intervene in our fun. The pleasurable KAP sessions continued for 45 minutes before the increasing wind speed and dropping temperatures encouraged us to pull down the kites and call it a day…..a very long day for me.Tired, hungry and thirsty we pulled back into Antwerp to a local bar to download a bunch of pictures from both cameras. I pulled out my laptop and we quickly download images from both Sony cameras.Due to the large size and file format of the Sony A7R, Frank was shooting straight jpg files (no raw). The jpg files straight of the camera ranged from 20-30 Mb each! By comparison the Sony NEX-5t RAW files are in the 16-17 Mb range.The laptop was acting up a bit and the batteries were failing but the initial glimpses of the images from both cameras were impressive. The A7R definitely had the edge (even with just the jpg files). We called it quits for the day. A fun and interesting KAP session in the skies above the port of Antwerp Belgium.Two days later after completing my work week in Belgium, Frank and I met at the MAS museum in Antwerp for a more careful inspection of the KAP images retrieved a few days earlier. Frank also was lucky and squeezed in a 4th KAP session earlier in the day (while I was working) where he tested out his new Sony/Zeiss FE 35mm F2.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* lens that had just arrived the day before. We downloaded and inspected KAP images from all 4 KAP sessions. Frank set up the Sony A7R in full manual mode for his 4th KAP session with a bit slower shutter speed of 1/1000 second and the lens stopped down to f7.1. The day was overcast and thus ISO speed were in the 1000 range.My summary of the Sony A7R camera combined with the Zeiss 50mm f/2 lens…..is…..WOW…..WOW….WOW.I have not seen sharpness from a digital camera that was equivalent to film…..now I have. The sharpness of the jpg images straight off the camera with no post processing was stunning. Shot after shot after shot was full of detail, rich color and sharp as a tack. In one word - Impressive. Even at full 100% zoom the images were very sharp, edge to edge with almost no drop off in sharpness in the corners. Frank and I give an edge to the Zeiss 50mm over the Sony/Zeiss 35mm lens for overall sharpness. Given the different focal lengths it is hard to compare the image sharpness head to head.The Sony NEX-5t image quality was good and produced sharp images with the Sigma 30mm lens. Given the slight difference between the focal length of the two lenses (30mm vs. 50mm) the field of view and closeness to the subjects was different between the two cameras. The 30mm was definitely getting a wider field of view. Thus a bit hard to compare head to head.The Sony A7R puts out stunning images and is a great KAP camera…..I may have even caught a glimpse the KAP holy grail – image sharpness equivalent to film….after many years of searching.Special thanks to Frank Dehu for joining me for 3 KAP sessions and two post processing workouts with some local refreshments and for his willingness to share the images collected by his Sony A7R using both the 50mm Zeiss and 35mm Sony/Zeiss lenses. Frank and I are planning future meet ups in the skies above Belgium in the months ahead.Below are several images from both the Sony A7R (including both the Zeiss 50mm and Sony/Zeiss 35mm lenses and the Sony NEX-5t fitted with the Sigma 30mm lens) showing full frame and 100% cropped sections so you can see the full detail. Additional high resolution images from both cameras can be found in this flickr group. The description of each image as well as the EXIF data identifies the source of each image.We live in a fortunate time were the image / digital camera technology is accelerating at a rapid pace. Sony continues to push the thresholds of image quality with a promising KAP camera, the Sony a6000, just a few weeks away from its release. The journey and search for the KAP holy grail (image sharpness) continues.Enjoy the pixel peeping and some entertaining KAP images. Comments welcome!WWSony A7R 35mm Sony / Zeiss Lens - full frame:Sony A7R 35mm Sony / Zeiss Lens - 100% cropSony A7R 50mm Zeiss Lens - full frame:Sony A7R 50mm Zeiss Lens - 100% cropSony NEX-5t 30mm Sigma Lens - full frameSony NEX-5t 30mm Sigma Lens - 100% crop