About
[ Update: We are now shipping worldwide. ]
What is DropArt Kit?
DropArt kit is an advanced electronics kit for photography that allows you to capture stunning high-speed water drop collisions. Liquid drop collisions are really amazing, but they happen so fast that it is practically impossible to capture perfect shots without the use of an electronic device.
DropArt kit is a simple, elegant and modern device that will help you take these amazing photographs.
What is different about our kit?
We observed that most of the kits currently available in the market are very complex to use and have a lot of cable clutter. Most of them still rely on analog knobs and dot matrix LCD screens which makes them difficult to use. This additional use of hardware also makes them bulky and expensive.
DropArt kit eliminates this extra hardware and cables by the use of Wi-Fi module in the circuit and allows the control of the kit using a Mobile Application.
This helps us do three things:
- Reduce cost by eliminating hardware components
- Eliminate cable clutter
- Make it easy to use via a mobile phone instead of using remote controls or analog knobs.
What does the kit look like?
After making a couple of working prototypes, we finally got everything worked out to fit in a very small box. This reduces the product footprint to the minimum and also makes carrying the kit around super easy.
Overall we have tried to greatly minimise the number of hardware parts required.
Here is the picture of what the DropArt kit looks like. Please note that we are currently using off the shelf case for the prototype. The final version will be housed in a much nicer looking case with screen printed design.
We will keep you posted on the progress as soon as we get the box samples which are currently being prepared.
DropArt in Slow Motion
In this video, you can see how the drop collisions occur.
Assembly
DropArt kit is very easy to assemble.
1. Hardware Assembly
1.1 Connect the valve to the reservoir tube.
1.2 Connect the clamp to the metal strip.
1.3 Connect the Reservoir to the clamp.
1.4 Fix the Metal strip to a tripod.
2. Cable connections
Connect the following to the DropArt box:
2.1 Valve cable
2.2 Camera Cable
2.3 Jack splitter to connect multiple flashes.
3. Mobile App
Once you set up the kit:
3.1 Power on the DropArt box.
3.2 Connect your phone to DropArt Wi-Fi
3.3 Launch the DropArt app.
3.4 Set your drop sizes and interval.
3.5 Start capturing amazing photographs.
DropArt kit in action
Below are pictures of drop collisions captured using the kit that you see above.
How to trigger the drops
By default, the app is set to drop a single drop of 60ms size. You can add more drops by pressing the + button. As soon as you add the second drop, the "Gap" duration needs to be specified. Likewise, you can add as many drops as you want.
But for most collisions, you will not need more than two drops. You will hardly need to go up to three drops unless you are trying out something very different.
Where are we right now?
At this moment, the kit is fully working and has been tested extensively. Now all we need to do is take the kit into full production phase and start shipping.
We are utilising this campaign to generate money for the first production run that requires us to manufacture about 350 to 400 sets to remain cost effective.
We have already sourced our manufacturers and have produced a few prototypes to check everything is working perfectly.
Project Timeline
Rewards
Risks and challenges
Currently our risks are very minimum.
The kit has been tried and tested a number of times and it works perfectly.
We have multiple manufacturers who are capable of building the electronics, so if just in case one of them is not able to fulfill the order, we have other manufacturers who can support.
We have maintained the timeline considering any delays that may happen during manufacturing.
Most likely we should be ready to ship at an earlier date if everything goes smooth.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterQuestions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (30 days)