As any guitarist/musician who has to on occasion perform outside will know playing with cold fingers is no fun apart from being difficult to actually play it can be rather uncomfortable.
In the past I have tried re-usable gel packs that can be obtained at most hiking/camping shops. These do work but have a couple of annoying drawbacks, firstly they don't last very long and secondly they are a bit of a fiddle to 'recharge'. The process involves boiling in pans of water whilst taking care to keep them off the bottom of the pan, which may not seem so bad but I never seem to have one ready when I need it.
Step in the Zippo Hand Warmer! It is powered by lighter fuel and on a full 'tank' it will stay warm for up to 12 hours!!! On top of that it will keep a pretty much constant temperature during that time, (not rapidly heating up and then after 40mins rapidly cooling down like the gel packs).
I must admit the idea of carrying burning lighter fuel in my pocket sounded mad at first, but over the past few weeks I have used it at various outdoor gigs and not burned to death!
As it is made by Zippo I think we can assume it doesn't have a track recorded of dooming its owners to a fiery demise - they wouldn't be selling them if this were the case.
It is easy enough to use.
Filling it takes moments.
Fairly stylish in its simple construction (though picks up finger prints like a cop in CSI Miami... YEAAAAAAHHHHHH)
Long run time and you could carry more fuel if you are camping etc.
Sunday 30 October 2011
Tuesday 25 October 2011
Graffiti Time-Lapse
A few weeks ago I was getting my hair cut and my stylist (yeah I have a stylist...) mentioned that he was opening a place of his own and that they were going to get a couple of artists to paint a graffiti mural. Long story short I wanted to shoot a timelapse of it and this is the result -
Setup everything very carefully as always to avoid flickering. So I couldn't work out where the flickering in some shots came from! Turns out the sun shining on cars driving past the window caused the light shifts and therefore flicker....
The Salon is called Ko and it is on Suffolk Road in Cheltenham.
www.kohairdressing.co.uk
Setup everything very carefully as always to avoid flickering. So I couldn't work out where the flickering in some shots came from! Turns out the sun shining on cars driving past the window caused the light shifts and therefore flicker....
The Salon is called Ko and it is on Suffolk Road in Cheltenham.
www.kohairdressing.co.uk
Sunday 16 October 2011
Canon Powershot A480 Infrared Mod Review
Over the past few years I have been vaguely aware that you could load infrared films into cameras, though I had never tried it.
During a family get together recently my wife's uncle, (a professional photographer) showed me a modified micro 4/3rds camera. I believe it was a Panasonic DMC GF3.
Turns out that leaves, grass etc. turn a vivd white in IR (infra-red) photos and clouds become very well defined as the sky looks somewhat darker. People are also affected eyes look a little 'ghostly' and clothes/hair can take on a different tone.
I really wanted to try out an IR modded camera on a timelapse shoot, after scouring ebay I found a seller who mods them himself - infraready
He was extremely helpful and rushed out a Canon Powershot A480 which arrived just in time for my Japan trip.
The A480 came out in 2009 so its a couple of years old and was never the best camera around, but it is cheap and for the purposes of modding with a view to making some IR time-lapses it was fine.
It has a 10mp sensor and shooting at the highest resolution is more than sufficient for even 1080p HD video.
On most digital cameras there is a permanent filter in place which blocks light in the infrared spectrum. On these modded cameras the filters are removed.
It was my intention to install the CHDK firmware hack which would enable time-lapse shooting. There was precious little time to attempt this before I left for Japan and although I installed the firmware successfully I could not get the time-lapse scripts working.
This scuppered my plans of shooting infrared time-lapses until I came up with the idea of using a clamp to hold the shutter button down in continuous shooting mode.
This gave me no control over the interval but it was quick and it worked!
I'm sure I'll get all the firmware working now I'm but I just didn't have time to spends playing with settings etc. whilst in Japan with lots of other things to do.
On some of the shots in the video below I ran the camera with the CHDK hack active for control of focus and some other parameters. In the last shot I used the camera with standard firmware.
During a family get together recently my wife's uncle, (a professional photographer) showed me a modified micro 4/3rds camera. I believe it was a Panasonic DMC GF3.
Turns out that leaves, grass etc. turn a vivd white in IR (infra-red) photos and clouds become very well defined as the sky looks somewhat darker. People are also affected eyes look a little 'ghostly' and clothes/hair can take on a different tone.
My friends in the photo have very dark hair in real life!
In this shot Hiro is actually wearing a black t-shirt
And another example of IR eyes courtesy of Mijonju Check out his Blog
I really wanted to try out an IR modded camera on a timelapse shoot, after scouring ebay I found a seller who mods them himself - infraready
He was extremely helpful and rushed out a Canon Powershot A480 which arrived just in time for my Japan trip.
The A480 came out in 2009 so its a couple of years old and was never the best camera around, but it is cheap and for the purposes of modding with a view to making some IR time-lapses it was fine.It has a 10mp sensor and shooting at the highest resolution is more than sufficient for even 1080p HD video.
On most digital cameras there is a permanent filter in place which blocks light in the infrared spectrum. On these modded cameras the filters are removed.
It was my intention to install the CHDK firmware hack which would enable time-lapse shooting. There was precious little time to attempt this before I left for Japan and although I installed the firmware successfully I could not get the time-lapse scripts working.
This scuppered my plans of shooting infrared time-lapses until I came up with the idea of using a clamp to hold the shutter button down in continuous shooting mode.
This gave me no control over the interval but it was quick and it worked!
I'm sure I'll get all the firmware working now I'm but I just didn't have time to spends playing with settings etc. whilst in Japan with lots of other things to do.
On some of the shots in the video below I ran the camera with the CHDK hack active for control of focus and some other parameters. In the last shot I used the camera with standard firmware.
Thursday 13 October 2011
So what was I doing in Japan?!
For most of September I was touring in Japan, for those who don't know I am actually an acoustic guitarist as well as a camera/technology addict.
This year alongside my playing I though that it would be fun to do a big timelapse project so I lugged about 30KG of photographic equipment to Japan along with me, the mac and my guitar.
This included a few pieces of equipment I had for review - some video lights, white balance cards, audio recorder etc. (those should be coming out very soon...)
So when I wasn't playing gigs with Japanese metal, pop punk bands....
...and chilling with fans
:o
I was sitting or standing for hours listening to a camera shutter fire every few seconds, perhaps with the added twist of the motorised dolly moving.
This year alongside my playing I though that it would be fun to do a big timelapse project so I lugged about 30KG of photographic equipment to Japan along with me, the mac and my guitar.
This included a few pieces of equipment I had for review - some video lights, white balance cards, audio recorder etc. (those should be coming out very soon...)
So when I wasn't playing gigs with Japanese metal, pop punk bands....
...and chilling with fans
:o
I was sitting or standing for hours listening to a camera shutter fire every few seconds, perhaps with the added twist of the motorised dolly moving.
Youtube Collaborations with Hanafubuki / Yokomaririn
I can't remember exactly how I first found Yoko's videos, perhaps it was a fortuitous related video I followed from the video of another jvlogger I was subbed to.... However it happened I am very glad it did because under the Hanafubuki banner Shibata Yoko and Tohdo Naoki have made some stunning videos.
On previous visits to Japan I have been fortunate enough to meet them and I have been mentioned in a few videos which you can view below.
This year we actually set out to make a collaboration video which is still being edited but is nearing completion...
it was a fun shoot around Umeda in Osaka despite some heavy rain forcing changes to planned locations.
Later in the trip I visited Kyoto and we spontaneously met up when I was out shooting more time-lapses around the city. Ate some great Tempura and Noodles, after which I actually got to feature in a 'Snack time' video featured on the Yokomaririn Channel
I look tired and slightly scruffy as I had only planned to be behind the camera that day!
Here are more videos from Yoko sans channels which feature me in some way ; )
On previous visits to Japan I have been fortunate enough to meet them and I have been mentioned in a few videos which you can view below.
This year we actually set out to make a collaboration video which is still being edited but is nearing completion...
it was a fun shoot around Umeda in Osaka despite some heavy rain forcing changes to planned locations.
Later in the trip I visited Kyoto and we spontaneously met up when I was out shooting more time-lapses around the city. Ate some great Tempura and Noodles, after which I actually got to feature in a 'Snack time' video featured on the Yokomaririn Channel
I look tired and slightly scruffy as I had only planned to be behind the camera that day!
Here are more videos from Yoko sans channels which feature me in some way ; )
Meeting Youtubers at the Lomography Store in Tokyo!
Whilst I was in Japan I had the honour of meeting several fellow youtubers and I even made a couple of collaboration videos with one of them!
First up Minjonju
We share an interest in cameras and photography though my knowledge and skill pales in comparison to his!
I have actually featured in a couple of his videos before which you can view below, I owe him a big thanks for helping set up my gig at the Tokyo Lomography Store in Harajuku.
It was a very enjoyable gig surrounded by all the Lomo finery and I also got to meet Japanese techblogging legend Jetdaisuke!
First up Minjonju
We share an interest in cameras and photography though my knowledge and skill pales in comparison to his!
I have actually featured in a couple of his videos before which you can view below, I owe him a big thanks for helping set up my gig at the Tokyo Lomography Store in Harajuku.
It was a very enjoyable gig surrounded by all the Lomo finery and I also got to meet Japanese techblogging legend Jetdaisuke!
Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2011
I decided to head down to Bristols annual Hot Air Balloon extravaganza and shoot some timelapse videos of the Balloons inflating and taking off.
I had enquired before hand about getting access to the press/media area in order to get better shots as the spectators are not allowed in the arena where all the balloons inflate. Unfortunately they had filled the quota etc. for the event..... not to be discourage I got up bright and early for one of the 6am launches arriving on site before 5am.
Through the use of Jedi mind tricks and an ability of being able to act like I'm meant to be 'backstage' gleaned from countless concerts/festivals etc. I managed to get into the arena and capture the following timelapses with the use of various cameras, lenses and a Kessler Crane PB Dolly.
The weather was not ideal for the launch, also the clouds were 'boring' from a timelapse point of view for most of the morning.
The following day I returned with my family and shot this sequence from a hill at the side of the arena that I had scoped out the previous day.
I had enquired before hand about getting access to the press/media area in order to get better shots as the spectators are not allowed in the arena where all the balloons inflate. Unfortunately they had filled the quota etc. for the event..... not to be discourage I got up bright and early for one of the 6am launches arriving on site before 5am.
Through the use of Jedi mind tricks and an ability of being able to act like I'm meant to be 'backstage' gleaned from countless concerts/festivals etc. I managed to get into the arena and capture the following timelapses with the use of various cameras, lenses and a Kessler Crane PB Dolly.
The weather was not ideal for the launch, also the clouds were 'boring' from a timelapse point of view for most of the morning.
The following day I returned with my family and shot this sequence from a hill at the side of the arena that I had scoped out the previous day.
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