Archive for October, 2008

DIY Steadicam + Nikon D90 Video

/ October 30, 2008 / Photography, Video / 8 Comments

DIY Steadicam Years ago, I built this do-it-yourself poor man’s steadicam (which you can buy preassembled here) for about $20. It was for use with my mini-dv camcorder at the time. It worked pretty well and like that camcorder, has unfortunately been collecting dust in my garage for a few years now.

I thought it might be fun to see how it worked with the D90 in video mode. There has been a lot of discussion about using the VR mode (vibration reduction) on the D90 when shooting video (whether it hurts or helps stabilizing the video) so let’s try both ways. The video clips aren’t that exciting – I would have preferred to shoot it outdoors on some wider steps but if was raining out and the game was on…they should still convey the differences…I also thought they show the low light to brighter light transitions as well in video mode.

I’ll let the results speak for themselves but the $20 rig definitely makes a difference:

Handheld 18-105mm lens (no steadicam, VR mode on):

VR mode turned on with 18-105mm lens:

VR mode turned off with 18-105mm lens:

10.5mm fisheye (no VR – just for fun):

Bonus video – throwing the Zi6 on the steadicam (balance is way off):

D-Link DNS-323 Network Storage Device Mini-review

/ October 26, 2008 / Hardware, Reviews / 10 Comments

D-Link DNS-323
I picked up this little guy (aka the Toaster) recently after seeing Peter’s success with it.

It’s a network connected storage device. What does that mean? It means that you can put two SATA hard drives inside it, plug it into your network and access those drives anywhere on your local network.

Until recently, I had two 500gb SATA drives inside my PowerMac G5 tower that I was using as a file server. Unfortunately, the videocard (among other things) seems to be dying and a replacement is pretty expensive. I can’t even remote into the box anymore. Actually the replacement seems to be about the price of the DNS-323 (around $150 Cdn which doesn’t include any drives) so it seemed like a sensible way to upgrade. You can setup the drives to work as one giant drive or in a number of other Raid configurations. I’m currently only using one drive in there until I get a chance to clean off the other 500gb drive I have. I haven’t read any limitations on drive size but I’m sure they exist.

D-Link DNS-323

The main (big) selling point for me is the fact that it has a built in bit torrent client with a web based interface that you can interact with from any device on your network. This completely replaces the PowerMac for me – at least how I was using that machine as primarily a file server and bit torrent client box.

Unfortunately, the downsides I’ve come across so far include crappy Safari support so I have to use Firefox to initiate torrents. Also, the firmware likes to forget some settings when you reboot the device. Fortunately, the firmware seems to be actively updated and the settings bug is an acknowledged issue that will be addressed soon. The initial setup also required a PC to configure. I did this via VMWare but had to tweak my network settings so that the bridged connection could actually see the DNS-323.

Once it was all setup though, it worked like a charm. It just pops up as a network server on all my Macs and fully accessible. I’m not currently using it as my Time Machine backup system but I could easily set it up to do it.

The device also has a USB port but that’s reserved to function as a wireless printer port only so you can’t plug the toaster into your computer and access files via USB.

I haven’t set it up yet, but it also can run as an iTunes server which might be handy for those with multiple computers and one giant library.

Overall, I’m very happy with the DNS-323. It does what it says it will do and after a little setup, can literally be left alone like a toaster. Check out the manual, driver and firmware details on the D-Link support site.

Kodak Zi6 HD Camera: First Impressions

/ October 18, 2008 / Photography, Video / 5 Comments

Kodak Zi6 HD Video CameraI’ve been anxiously waiting for this camera to be released since I first heard about it during the summer.

Previously, I commented about the fact that most point and shoot cameras do a great job of capturing video so didn’t really see a need for a dedicated video camera on the low end of the quality spectrum (I’m talking to you Flip).

The Zi6 takes things to the next level by being one of the first pocket cameras to shoot in HD (720p) up to 60 frames per second. An added bonus is that it captures this video in H.264 format so it’s Mac compatible out of the gate. Unlike the Flip, the Zi6 has a SD memory card slot that supports up to 32gb cards and allows you to easily swap cards when you fill one up.


Zi6 HD Video Test #1 from John Biehler on Vimeo.

Here’s a few of my initial impressions of the camera:

Positives:

  • nice solid build quality of the device that fits nicely in your hand and pocket
  • included rechargeable AA batteries are a nice touch
  • big and bright 2.5″ LCD display
  • very simple and intuitive buttons and UI
  • great macro mode

Negatives:

  • startup/shutdown/record sounds can’t be muted
  • would really benefit from some kind of stabilization as the video seems overly shaky even with a steady hand
  • still pictures are pretty poor (but why would you use this for that?)
  • doesn’t do well in low light
  • playback buttons seem a little cheap


Zi6 HD Video Test #2 from John Biehler on Vimeo.

Check out the source video (25mb Quicktime) if you want to see the full resolution version straight from the camera. For some reason, Vimeo and Flickr both seem to over compress the Zi6′s video compared to what they do with HD video from my D90. Playback out of the camera directly to a HDTV is pretty decent using the supplied component cables.

I’ve got this review unit for a couple of weeks so I’ll be putting it through it’s paces pretty quickly. So far, it’s a nice little camera to take places I wouldn’t necessarily want to take the Nikon.

LensBaby Composer + Nikon D90 Video

/ October 13, 2008 / Photography / 5 Comments

I can’t wait for the LensBaby Composer to be released…check out this unfortunately low quality YouTube video of the co-founder of LensBaby demostrating the Composer attached to a Nikon D90 in video mode:

One of the first things I thought about when I heard about the D90′s video capabilities was the ability to do tilt shift video and other types of creative things that would simply be too expensive to play with on a traditional videocamera.

While not shot with a DSLR, here’s a great example of the possibilities this can bring:


Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

I’m very excited about being able to play with this kind of stuff…stay tuned!

Nikon D90 HD Video Samples

/ October 1, 2008 / Photography, Video / 9 Comments

I’ve only barely had time to play with the D90 video mode – let alone even get familiar with all the controls and options but here’s a couple videos taken with in HD mode (720p, 24fps, 1280×720) – nothing remotely fantastic, just what I’ve had time to do so far:

A tripod would have been useful:

D90 test: Seabus Arriving from John Biehler on Vimeo.

Peter shooting me in black & white with the 50mm lens…while I’m eating dinner:

Watch it in HD on Vimeo.


D90 HD Video: Lonsdale Quay from John Biehler on Vimeo.

I’m still playing with the different video upload providers…if you have any favorites, that support HD, drop them in the comments. The Vimeo uploads look a bit washed out upon conversion for the web….the Flickr upload looks great (and was alot faster to upload compared to Vimeo) but isn’t in HD.

I’ll reserve judgement on the video mode until I’ve had more time with the camera and with better conditions to shoot under…but so far, this is pretty damn cool…but lots to learn/figure out still.