The video was shot at AOI’s office in Minneapolis and the above photograph was taken in my office by Amanda.  Bill is one of the lead authors; he is the one in green.

Go have a laugh at my expense and watch the video

Click here to view the embedded video.

There are still some critical issues to overcome – for example parsing images to tell what people are talking about is a major challenge.  Services like TinEye may be able to help with that but the core concept is still valid.  People talk about products, influence their friends, and create value.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(For reference, here is a demo video we made for Rovrr.  More can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Rovrr/videos)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

http://www.tubeclockdb.com/non-clocks/312-nixie-spl-review.html

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Show as slideshow]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video review of the DecadeCouter.com YS-950 single digit numitron clock.  Enjoy!

[Show as slideshow]

Full review here: http://www.tubeclockdb.com/

Video after the jump:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Be sure to check out: http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com/us/

Video after the jump

Click here to view the embedded video.

Be sure to check out http://www.thinkwithportals.com/

A Chief Ink Maker shows how colour and ink is created from the raw ingredients–powder, varnish, and passion. Everything designers and printers need to know about the process, the challenges and joy of ink making.

http://www.theprintinginkcompany.ca/

Tubes: IN-12 Nixie tubes, 18 mm digit height, decimal points with flashing LEDs.
Background lighting: brightness adjustable.
Alarm: adjustable time, snooze and tone.
Time format: 12- or 24 hour mode.
Display: time / alarm / date / or alternating time – date.
Effects: scrolling date, display fading, digit cycling in different styles.
Power: 12VDC 350mA max.
DC Power consumption: ca. 3VA (full tubes and background LED brightness).
Timekeeping: more than 1h with 1F SuperCap in the event of mains failure.
Time accuracy: internal 4 MHz crystal, adjustable with buttons for minimal deviation.
Dimension (w x h x d): app. 200 x 50 x 80 mm (incl. tubes)
Weight: app. 450 g

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The net effect: this process takes a lot longer than dealing with JPEG images.  @21 Megapixels, there is plenty of data to play with, especially if the final video will be 1080P or smaller.  However, processing the images takes, on my machine, nearly 5 times as long.  If I was producing footage to be used in an IMAX theater I would still use this process, but for every conceivable circumstance, I can’t see any practical benefits to using raw files over JPEG.

Feel free to tell me I’m wrong in the comments

(If you don’t know why this is funny, watch this.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Action Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

Vimeo link: http://vimeo.com/11954196

Downloads

• Nexus One users, get the official ROM here: http://android.clients.google.com/packages/passion/signed-passion-FRF50-from-ERE27.1e519a24.zip
• Flash Plugin here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

How To

1. Download the rom, save it to your SD card, rename to “update.zip”
2. Power off
3. Power on & hold down volume down
4. Wait for the phone to load, then use the volume down button to select Recovery, hit the power button to select it
5. Now, wait for the ! logo and then press power and volume up
6. Select Apply sdcard update.zip with the trackball
7. Wait  (about 5 minutes…)
8. Reboot – and you’re done
9. (Now go get Flash!)

Why would Apple use a different material for these keys?  (My wired Apple Keyboard does the exact same thing.)  Does anyone know why there is this difference?

The unusual keys:

• J
• F
• Cap Lock
• Fn
• Control
• Alt / Option
• Enter / Return
• arrow keys

Click here to view the embedded video.

• The Flashlight: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10709
• The Keyboard: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC184LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA1Mg&mco=MTMzNzg5MDM

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’ve been experimenting with ways to take the best time lapse using the Canon 5d Mark II and I’ve come up with two distinct methods that are worth sharing.  The first method involves shooting normal video and speeding it up while the second involves a more traditional approach of shooting frames and combining them to a final video.  Each method has its benefits and I’ve tried to summarize them below.

In general, I prefer to shoot with an intervalometer and combine the frames in posts.  1080p video is about 2 megapixel.  My camera can shoot 21 megapixel native and this extra resolution allows for pans and zooms around a moving frame that you really can’t do when shooting at 1080p. A time lapse alone is interesting but I really like adding additional motion in post.

My workflow consists of shooting the image as 21mp JPEGs* and processing them against a common preset in Aperture 3.  The resulting images are exported and imported in to either Premiere or After Effects as an image sequence.  From there, the final pan/zoom effects are added.  The extra resolution of the 21mp images allows for subtle movement without causing the blur normally associated with pan/tilt/zooming video.

* I prefer JPEGs when shooting a time lapse because the resulting images process faster and take up less space.  When the images are scaled down to 1/10 the original number of pixels, the added benefits of RAW become negligible, in my opinion.  If I were shooting a video for National Geographic I would use RAW…but I’m not.

Method one: Use the HD Video recording  feature and speed up the clip in post processing to the desired speed.

Pros:

• It is easy to do
• you can see the images as they are being taken
• Produces fluid motion
• Allow for multiple output speeds

Cons:

• Resulting video size is limited to 4GB ~15 minutes
• Final results dependent on the software you are using
• Limited to 1080P video

Method Two: Use an intervalometer to shoot individual frames

Pros:

• The final images are much larger allowing for more manipulation in post (such as pan, zoom, etc.)
• It is easier to achieve the desired video look – you can batch process videos in Photoshop, Aperture, etc.
• There is no flicker in the final video output if manual mode is used

Cons:

• You need to reset your counter if you will be crossing the 10k image mark (on Canons, at least..)
• If you shoot RAW, you will need to process all of the images
• You need to carry either a laptop or an intervalometer to time the shots

Video Notes:

Scene 1: Method 2

Scene 2: Method 2

Scene 3: Method 1

Scene 4: Method 1

Sam: The words “big” and “large” only begin to describe this thing.
Max: I think “stupid” and “inane” would be useful additions.
Sam: Not to mention “grotesque.”

Some information on the ball of twine from the official website:

Darwin, Minnesota is the home of a the largest Twine Ball in the World made by one man, Francis A. Johnson.

The Twine Ball is 4 meters (13 ft) in diameter, 40 ft in circumference, and weighs 17,400 pounds (7,900 kg).

Francis A. Johnson started his obsession in March of 1950 and wrapped for 4 hours every day for 23 weeks.

Francis lifted it with a crane to continue proper wrapping as he went along. For 39 years, this magnificent sphere evolved at Johnson’s farm. Eventually the ball was moved to a circular open air shed on his front lawn.

When Francis died in 1989, the city of Darwin moved the ball onto a special city lot across from the park on Main Street.

The gazebo that shelters it today allows viewing from all sides through Plexiglas panels.

The museum is a volunteer-run museum and gift shop that offers key information on the ball’s history as well many unique souvenirs.

The official website, complete with misspellings http://www.darwintwineball.com/

Short crappy video of the ball

Click here to view the embedded video.

And if you are so motivated, here is where it is located:

View Larger Map

Photos of the ball of twine

[Show as slideshow]

The controls are pretty simple – the knob controls the brightness and power.  The switch has three positions.  In the center position, the numitron counts through the digits.  In the upper position it illuminates all of the segments of the display while in the bottom position, it only illuminates the decimal point on the display.

The power supply itself is odd.  I cannot tell what type of cells it uses.  The internal mechanism supports 5 cells that seem to be narrower and longer than a C sized cell.  To make it work, I wired a 9V battery to the internal terminals.  (Oddly, this thing draws so much current that a single 9V battery cannot actually power the device.  As the display begins counting, it seems to reset at the 8 position.  To get around this, I had to wire three batteries in parallel to support the load.)

Click to enlarge

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is a video I made while out taking photos this evening.  The original duration was about 14 minutes and was sped up by 3,000% to a final duration of just under 30 seconds.  It was filmed with my canon 5D Mark II and Sigma 1.4 50mm and post processing was done in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3.

In this shot are the 10th Avenue Bridge, Interstate 35W (Blue) and the Stone Arch Bridge.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video was shot between 10:30PM and 1:30AM starting on 3/3/2010 from the Minneapolis Grain Exchanging looking east. Shots were taken at 10 second intervals and the final playback speed is 30fps.  A Sigma 50mm 1:1.4 was used at about f/2.8 allowing for 1/40th second exposures.  The frames were rendered in to a high quality H264 video and uploaded to Vimeo.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As far as the video capture goes, I opted to film a 30 FPS and speed up the video in Premiere. (The other method is to use an intervalometer and combine the photos in post.)  This method works great when the source footage is short (less than 10 minutes long) and generally gives smoother results.  The only downside is that you generate significantly more footage than you will use and it takes a long time to process in post.  All of the source clips in this film are played at 5x to 50x their real time speed.

If you are interested in using the source footage, you may be able to find it on iStockPhoto or you may contact me directly.

Macro Photo of a 2.5 Inch Hard Drive

I disassembled the drive and I simply wanted to take a photo of the hard drive internals.  I was surprised that the drive spun up with the cover removed- and was completely shocked that it still worked without errors.  I managed to keep it working for several hours without fail while I took a few photos and more importantly video.  I used the same reverse lens mount and cheap Canon EF 35-80 1:4 as in my previous macro experiments.  See the results below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are interested in using the source footage, you may be able to find it on iStockPhoto or you may contact me directly.

Check out a few more images and a video of a $20 close up after the jump.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Show as slideshow]

Gallery

[Show as slideshow]

Video

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/uncategorized/hennepin-avenue-bridge-at-night/feed/ 0 http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/uncategorized/gold-medal-park-time-lapse/ http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/uncategorized/gold-medal-park-time-lapse/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:11:53 +0000 Brian Stuckey http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/?p=1605 Last night I created a time lapse of Gold Medal Park between about 9PM and 11PM.  I used a Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon EOS Utilities software to control the interval exposures.  In the clips below, exposures were set at 5 second intervals and the final frame rate was 30FPS.   So, 1 second of footage  represents 2 minutes 30 seconds.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lessons learned:

Even a small breeze can make shooting a time lapse a headache.  The jitter in the frame was caused from the wind.  I tried using After Effects to stabilize the motion but the nature of the frame make this difficult.  I’ve successfully used this method on bright daylight videos but I couldn’t get a good tracking on most of this footage.

Second, all of the frames were 21 megapixel JPEG images.  The average file size was about 7MB per frame which meant that After Effects did not like processing them.  It worked – but slowly.  To speed up the process, I used QuickTime Pro to import the frames, scale them down to 3000 x 2000 pixels and compress it as an Apple Intermediate Codec file.  This seemed to speed up the process quite a bit.

Lastly, use manual mode.  The camera will automatically adjust exposure for each frame which will cause a subtle but noticeable flicker in the image.  What I did to resolve this was to take a few test shots to measure the exposure.  Once I found a set of values I liked, I switched to manual mode and started the capture.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The total duration of this film is about 2:30.  I have removed the music that was originally in the video so it is currently MOS.  If you know of any Creative Commons songs that would work, please let me know!