Archive for April, 2008
Photo Fetish
Apr 26th
I’ve been admiring photographs taken with Lomo cameras for a while on Flickr and this week I bought my first Lomo – the Fisheye. I’d seen it a couple of weeks ago at the Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre shop in Gateshead, priced at £40. I got mine for just over £22 on Amazon (store/seller: gadgetepoint) on Sunday night. It arrived Tuesday morning sharp.
I bought a pack of two FUJICOLOR C200 (36 exp) 35mm film for around £3 and popped a roll in. This week I have been a bit pushed with other things so hadn’t really planned on going anywhere special to take some photos. I did manage to pop out on Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours. I must admit it all feels a bit strange to take a photo and not have immediate playback on an LCD screen to see how it turned out. Plus having to wind the film on after I’ve taken a photo is something I’m having to remember. And there was also the weird self-conscious feeling of using a camera which looks and feels a little like a Fisher Price toy!
I popped the film into ASDA Walmart yesterday lunchtime and had a few options. I didn’t necessarily want the photos printing as to be honest I had few expectations of these photos, given it was my first time with something quite different – and I’ve learned positioning is rather important for a camera with a 170 degree field of vision!! A few photos had my sleeve in, knee in and even my hair in! So, I was given the option to have the photos scanned to disc, no printouts. This suits me as it’s just going onto my Flickr stream anyway and if there was anything worth printing I have a couple of photo-printers at home. There were, as expected, some ropey shots – but a few did turn out okay. Best part is it only cost 97p to have the photos developed/scanned to disc in 1 hour.
You can check out six of my Lomo Fisheye photos, here. Those were the best out of the lot. I had to take some random shots to use up the last of the film as clearly I didn’t take many when I was out, but was keen to get it developed. This isn’t a camera I will use a whole lot, but I do like the way it really enhances the clouds in the sky. I will be taking this on some of my photo walks as it takes quite interesting shots.
If my Fuji S5700 Digital Camera was feeling out in the cold after the arrival of the Lomo Fisheye then it needn’t have. Yesterday it got some attention with a new wide angle lens.
I bought it last week for around £10.50, plus £13 shipping from Hong Kong, through eBay. It’s good to have a wide angle – really liking it’s effect. Hoping for a dry and sunny day next week to go and experiment with it.
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Wacom Bamboo
Apr 18th
Many years ago when I was a PC user I used to have a graphics tablet that I would use for touching up photos and doing intricate graphics work. Since switching to Macs I have pretty much used the Mighty Mouse for this kind of work. Most of the time I will be using three quarters of the desk to draw around an object on the screen. If I’m using the lasso tool then there’s no way I can lift off the left click to reposition the mouse – I simply have to keep going, even having to move my pot of pens so I can scroll across! I have been doing this over the past few weeks but have realised enough is enough. Let’s make life easier.
So after much looking, today I went for the Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet. This will give me far greater control and precision than I get currently with my mouse. The first ten minutes or so using the pen was very strange – it felt quite unnatural. But, after a while it started to feel second nature and I have been using it for the past hour or so. Whether I will use the pen to replace my mouse completely is something I just can’t say right now – I’ll give myself a little while longer with it.
One of the first things I did after setting things up was to open up Pixelmator and draw around an object on a photo to see how the lasso tool felt with the pen compared to the mouse. Big thumbs up there. Drawing and painting around objects also feels natural and I’m quite able to do this on a small A6 size pad instead of using half my physical desk! Yesterday, prior to buying the graphics tablet, I drew around an object in a photo with my mouse and had to keep going over certain areas with the lasso tool to touch up the bits I missed. The look I was going for was this…
A few people have asked how I did this. It was created in Pixelmator by simply drawing around the fire engine with the lasso tool then going to Edit > Inverse, then Image > Desaturate. Done 
Must admit I am quite pleased with this as it’s the first time I’ve done it…and the red looks even more vibrant against the black and white background.
Apart from the Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet being very functional, it looks great aswell – even the unboxing was pleasant with quite a nice design and layout! There’s only one other company that puts as much thought into the packaging as they do the hardware itself…wonder who that could be… 
The tablet itself is a lovely classy black with blue lights on the express keys and a touch ring which enables you to zoom in and out of an image. I’m really looking forward to getting to grips with this in future for graphics work, touching up photos or even simply signing my name…
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Evernote Giveaway
Apr 17th
I have 10 1 invitation for Evernote to give away. Simply respond to this entry and one will wing it’s way to the e-mail address you comment with.
Okay, so what’s Evernote? It allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at anytime, from anywhere.
Sorry I can’t give my own thoughts on it but I’ve just recently received an invitation myself. I hear they’re hot property so wanted to offer the invites to others. You can find out more about it all, here. Evernote is available in desktop versions for Mac OS X Leopard and Windows XP/Vista. A Mobile version is currently compatible with Windows Mobile.
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Aiptek AHD200
Apr 17th
Last month I bought the Aiptek AHD200 High Definition Digital Camcorder. I was ill at the time of receiving my new toy so didn’t get any proper time with it to give my thoughts. I have been playing with it over recent weeks and yesterday I was in various environments which meant I could test out how it copes with going from light conditions to dark and vice versa.
Specification
- Digital video camcorder (video resolution): HD 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) / up to 30fps, 16:9 ratio
- Digital still camera: 8M (3200 x 2400 pixels)
- Sensor resolution: 5 mega pixels
- File format: MOV (AVC MPEG4) / JPEG / WAV
- Internal memory: 6MB for storage
- External memory: SD card (Min. 256MB up to 32GB SDHC)
- LCD Display: 2.4″ TFT panel
- Digital Zoom 4X
- HDTV (Component out) / NTSC/PAL colour system supported
- Voice Recorder
- Built-in microphone and speaker
Video and Audio Quality
For a camera that cost me £109 (usually around £150 on Amazon.co.uk) I am blown away by the video quality. Of course, the demonstrations I’d watched before purchase were the very reason I went for this as it was so unlike regular camcorder footage. Going from a dark spot in a room to a light one didn’t give this any trouble in adjusting. This is one of the stills from the footage I took. This image was captured in iMovie by freezing the frame and taking a screengrab.
The audio is fine although I do find that the microphone can be quite sensitive at times. I took some video in my relatively quiet home office and there was a bit of a hum which I couldn’t identify. With most of the videos I take and plan to take, I will almost always be taking the original sound out and putting music over the top, so that aspect doesn’t really worry me too much. But, in some environments the sound is absolutely fine.
Samples
I put five videos onto Vimeo last night. I didn’t fiddle with them too much as I didn’t have the time, but I have been asked by a few people to show them some examples as they are interested in picking one of these up. So, I’ll let these speak for themselves…
The Noisy Purple Room (3s) Original audio.
The Baltic Art Centre (54s) Original audio.
Chavs on Macs (13s)
Outside the Baltic (14s)
Newcastle upon Tyne (1m 10s)
Final thoughts
I was never going to be in line for a top-of-the-range HD camcorder simply because I don’t take any serious video. I am definitely more of a still photography girl and I was having to juggle the two yesterday. This particular camcorder is very easy to use and that’s one of the things I like about it most. Just simply pull out the screen and it switches on so you’re ready to shoot in an instant. I am more than happy with the results of the Aiptek AHD200.
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Apr 15th
Usually I’d put a shout out like this on Twitter as there’s a lot of knowledgeable folk on there who no doubt would be able to point me in the right direction. But since this would go way beyond 140 characters I think the best place to ask is here.
Does anyone know of a way to speed up a video I’ve captured – to make it look like a time lapse thing? The video will be captured on my high definition camcorder and not via iSight, so that rules out the likes of Gawker which was used by my mate Nathan when he created this bit of marvel.
I edit movies in iMovie 08. I have had a look through the help files and I don’t think that speeding up a clip is something that can be done in there. How about Final Cut Express 4.0? If anyone can help then you’ll get a virtual hai-five!
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Joby Gorillapod
Apr 14th
Today I bought a Joby Gorillapod tripod for my digital camera and HD digital camcorder. Gone are the days when I shove a bunch of books under my camera to get a little more height when taking shots on a flat surface.
I bought it from PC World (I know, sorry!) for £19-99. The maximum weight load for this particular Joby is 275g. I searched through my digital camera manual and discovered the total weight of my Fuji S5700 is 400g. My camera is a bridge, so physically it’s more like a DSLR – but the Joby Gorillapod SLR (max weight load 800g) is more expensive and I didn’t want to pay too much for something that is only for occasional light useage. It takes the weight of my Aiptek High Definition digital camcorder no problem and it will be very useful for that as that won’t happily stand or balance on any surface.
You can check out the Gorillapod range, here.
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Apr 9th
All day I’ve been thinking about what I was going to write about Flickr and it’s brand new feature which allows it’s Pro members to upload a 90 second video clip. I think it’s a good idea and personally it’s been rather nice to see some of my overseas friends in all their animated glory as they, like me, are testing out the new feature with a quick upload to say hi. It’s not something I will use on any regular basis as I have Vimeo with their HD support for that, plus I don’t take a lot of video, but it’s good to have the option, just as those who are against the idea have the option to click or not click
So like I said, I was going to write a lengthy one on this but I’ve just seen my feelings already expressed excellently by my Twitter and Flickr contact Michael Mistretta – and I think he’s done a better job of it than I would have
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Skitch
Apr 1st
Last June I received an invite to try out Skitch by Plasq. It wasn’t long before I was hooked on it, randomly creating sketches such as this one…
There’s a bunch more here.
Because I’ve been playing with this for a while I’ve wrongly assumed that everyone on the tubes already knows about this fantastic app. Skitch is now public beta (Mac) so you can grab a download without an invite, here. So, what does it do? This from the Skitch site…
- Snap a website
- Capture a chat moment
- Screenshot an application
- iSight snap your bad hair day
- Quickly sketch an idea
- Tap into your iPhoto Library
- Re-open images from your Skitch History
- Annotate with circles and gorgeous arrows
- Add text that always stands out
- Scribble and jot… it’s automatically smoothed
- Re-size and crop by simply dragging a corner
- Drag the file to wherever you like, no need to save
- Return to what you were doing — in seconds — not minutes!
You can also upload your creations in one-click via the Skitch interface so you can put it directly on Skitch.com, Flickr, .Mac account or your own webspace. If all that wasn’t enough you can now post your creations to Twitter via your Skitch.com page *and* e-mail pictures via your iPhone, Blackberry, Gmail, Hotmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, Entourage and more, using MailDrop.
Another of Plasq’s creations that I am currently using with a 30-day trial is Comic Life. This is available for Mac and PC. It’s a very cool app to quickly create comic strips, picture albums and basically as much as your imagination will let you. You can check out this little creation of mine. I think it’s likely I will purchase it after the trial as I can think of many occasions that this will be very useful.
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