Sunset Time Lapse 4k

Our New Robot Overlords

Just a quick post about my latest project. For many years I've wanted to create an autonomous wheeled robot but only recently have I had the time and cheap parts to try and pull it off. That and I needed a project for my Raspberry Pi.

I've bought so far:

• Raspberry Pi
• 4WD Robot
• Two driver modules to power the DC motors on the robots platform
• USB Wifi dongle for remote control
• Optical sensors to detect wheel speed from the wheel encoders that came with the platform  

What I've assembled so far is:

• Mounted motors onto platform
• Mounter driver modules onto platform
• Wired up motors to the modules
• Wired up one pair of motors to the Pi
• Wired up the batteries for the motors
• Mounted the optical sensor onto one encoder disk
• Tested PWM output to the motors. Slowest value is 40/255. Any lower any the motor won't turn with no load.  Motors need a value of around 85/255 to start turning at all but can then be dropped down. Of course with load it takes about 128/255 (50% Duty) to push. 

Lots more to do. Next up, sensing speed with the optical sensor. 

iPhone Slow Motion (240fps)

My new iPhone6 has arrived and one of the first things I wanted to try out was the slow motion. It can record at 240 fps or 120 fps although only at 720p. It can do 60 fps at 1080p which is impressive for a phone.

Here's a video of some flames and sparklers slowed down by various amounts. Unfortunately, the phone had trouble focusing on the sparklers due to the low light so they're a bit fuzzy but it's still useful to see how slow we can get things.

The other issue also was that I used iMovie to slow down the video but iMovie only allows 50% 25% and 10%. Unfortunately, 240fps represents 8x slower if you use 30fps as the base rate. 8x slower would require 12.5% setting in iMovie. This means the 10% is actually a little slower than the iPhone recorded and implies there is some frame interpolation going on.

One of these days I'll upgrade to Final Cut Pro X so that I can do things properly.

A New Drive - Canon 40mm STM f/2.8

Step by step I get closer to my goal of being able to create short films on a DSLR. Over the weekend I ordered my first STM lens. From the research I've done these seem to be better suited to creating smooth focus transitions when in video mode. UCM can be too fast even though you can dial back the focus speed in the 70D I don't think it's enough and you don't get the same control you would with a stepper motor drive like ease-in and ease-out. These parameters define how quickly the focus goes from standing still to changing and can really change the feel of the focusing to make it look more like someone doing it by hand.

It is also my first pancake lens (and Canons also) and if you don't know why it earns that name, just take a look at it. It's probably going to look like a toy on my camera but hey from the reviews I've read it looks good, nice and sharp across the whole frame.

 
You can buy it here: Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Lens

Canon 40mm STM F/2.8

I'll post more when I get it in the post. Looking forward to it.

Jury rigged jib

In my understanding, to jury rig something is to temporarily construct something to achieve a purpose and in photography, a jib is a construction designed to hold a camera usually for the purpose of moving the camera in some fashion. To this end I have managed to put together a rig for my iPhone to enable me to create tracking shots. 

For those that are not familiar with that term, a tracking shot is one where the camera moves sideways as opposed to rotating on a tripod but staying in the one spot. Having recently bought a Belkin Lego case for my iPhone the possibility came to me that I could rig something up to hold my phone to enable tracking shots. Turns out you need reasonably smooth wheels, whilst most Lego wheels are nobbled to some extent. 

The other thing that is useful is three points of contact with the surface that you are tracking across. Unfortunately, I could only find two smooth wheels so I improvised for the third point of contact as you will see. 

Lastly, you need to ensure smooth motion and that turned out to be the hard part. I can understand now why people would want motorized jigs as getting smooth motion via just your hands is tricky especially when your camera is inches from the floor or surface.

So without further delay, here is my jib that I've jury rigged.

In using it I've found it to work quite well. Here is a video of one of my tracking shots.

 

Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom

Joby Gorillapod SLR-Zoom

Greetings Internet.

I've just recieved my Gorillapod SLR Zoom by Joby via my friendly delivery man. When I get a chance I'll do a review of it and put another post up here.

I've puchased this with the long term aim of supporting my shooting on the Canon 70D but in the near time, supporting my iPhone with the use of my handy Glif.

That means I've bought the biggest Gorillapod that Joby make. They have smaller ones.

For now, here's a pic of mine so you can get the idea. I should have ordered a ball head as well but I'll live without for now. If you would like to get one you can order via Amazon here:

Joby GP3 GorillaPod SLR-Zoom Flexible Tripod
 
Thanks for readying and hopefuly I'll have a full review up once I've had a chance to play with it and see how it goes.

SDXC or bust

SD Cards for Video

Since the Canon 70D has been announced, I have realized that I need to learn about a new card format: Secure Digital (SD). Not that I knew much about the CF card format other than what it looks like but the SD card space is rich in options. Firstly there are three main variants:

• SD - The original specification, capacities up to 2GB.
• SDHC - Updated specification to allow for sized up to 32GB
• SDXC - Recent specification to allow for theoretical sizes up to 2TB but requires the use of a new filesystem (exFAT).

Then there comes the speed specification. For use in a digital SLR recording 1080p video, you want Class 10 which specifies a minimum write speed of 10MB/s. Then there is Ultra High Speed cards.

After that comes the form factors of mini and micro but for most cameras, the standard size is the one you want though the smaller ones can be used with an adapter.

So after all that research, I've decided to go for a pair of 64GB SDXC Class 10 UHS-I cards.

Looking at the cards below, note that the 45MB/s is the read speed whilst the write speed is given a minimum by the class rating, in this case Class 10 = 10MB/s minimum. They are also UHS Type I, the number 1 inside the cup (supposed to be a U). Lastly the try to give an estimate on the amount of video that can be recording with the given capacity but obviously that varies with things like compression and resolution.

You can get yours by clicking on the picture!

Now of course I'm tempted to buy mine now instead of waiting until I have the camera.

Canon 70D Preorder

Greetings Internet.

I've been waiting for the release of the 70D for almost a year now and I'm so excited that it appears to be everything I've been looking for.

Whilst I'm still waiting for reviews of a production Canon 70D to come through, you can pre-order yours with Amazon Today.

Click on the image to go to Amazon and pre-order.

 
Looking forward to getting mine when I've saved up and they're released in Australia.

Neat Glif Review

Recently I decided to try and make some YouTube Videos. Since I don't have a DSLR that will do video my only option was to use my iPhone. The trick with the iPhone is getting nice steady video. Searching the interwebs quickly came up with the StudioNeat Glif which I have reviewed in this video:



You can get the Glif from Amazon using these links:

Studio Neat Glif Tripod Mount & Stand for iPhone 4 and 4S
Glif Plus: A deluxe Glif package, iPhone 4 / 4S Tripod Mount and Stand The Glif: iPhone 5 Tripod Mount & Stand
Glif Plus: A deluxe Glif package, iPhone 5 Tripod Mount and Stand

Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any questions.

What a Neat Glif

Hey people's. long time no posting I now.

But I just found an awesome product for my iPhone that acts as a holder so I can mount my iphone onto a tripod to record videos. I've just ordered one. You should too. When I get it it will post up a review video.

I plan on using this to make HD videos until I can afford my Canon 70D!


If you want one use this link.
There's also an iphone5 version.

  Studio Neat Glif Tripod Mount and Stand for iPhone 4 and 4S
The Glif: iPhone 5 Tripod Mount and Stand
Cheers.

School Holidays

Yep, it's that time of year again, where I lament the change in my lifestyle. Previously, I had no idea when school holidays were other than by the changes in traffic getting to work.

Now though, my life rotates around them.

And it's a nightmare of scheduling. How on earth are parents supposed to look after kids that have more holidays than any parent on the planet? Is it still the assumption that one parent is at home looking after the kids full time? Certainly not in Sydney. Who can afford to buy property on an average income in Sydney with only a single parent working?

Lucky for me, my wife works, but not full time so I only have to cover the days that she does work and so I can stretch out my leave to last the whole year. This still requires taking long service leave to make it work so I still don't know how people do it other than farm their kids out to other places (can you say vacation care?) to make it work. Whilst I know that's sometimes the only solution, I really don't like the thought of it and so far (only my second school holidays) I've managed to avoid it.

I really do want to spend time with my son during the holidays if it can be possible. Sure there will be camps and the like to go on down the track but I can still recall the joy of school holidays of spending time with my family and doing 'stuff'.

Here's hoping I can make it through at least primary school.

Lighting Experiment

IMG_7931, a photo by ToneDuff on Flickr.

This was a shot done to test the lighting kit I bought on eBay. That or I was just messing around and happened onto this awsome shot. You choose.

GeoTrax Mega Magic

I'm getting back into video and had a go at editing with iMovie. Here are the results.

Waterfall 101

This is not going to turn into a photography blog but I was in the Blue Mountains on the weekend with all my camera gear (it's just easier to take it all) and with limited time thought I would try my hand at a waterfall.

So ok, I'm at the top not at the bottom, first mistake. 2nd was no tripod (no time to go fetch it, toddler falling asleep). 3rd was no ND filter so I had to make do with a small aperture of F22 (that's the right word small?) and a slow ISO of 100 which managed to push the exposure out to 1.6s.

I've seen examples where the aim is for 30s exposure but you definitely need the ND filter for that (and usually the super bad ND400).  So this was my quick attempt at dreamy water. I think for hand held, balanced on a railing at 1.6s it turned out not too bad.

A little bit of post processing in Aperture to clean it up and whalla. All this with the poorly reviewed 20mm F2.8 lens!

I promise, next time, I will make the effort, go down the bottom and do a post card worth waterfall!