New Camera and Videos

I made one other notable video with my Panasonic HDC-SD9 and Jag35pro: Rod's Little Helpers (click through for HD version):




I decided to sell the SD9 and get the Canon VIXIA HF100 instead. It has a mic input jack (something I had been needing for a while now) and a superior imaging system (better low light quality.) to the SD9. I just got the HF100 today and am, so far, very pleased with the results, especially when combined with the Jag35pro DoF adapter.



Here is the test video (click through for HD):



I am really looking forward to making movies with this camera. More to come...

First Test Video With The JAG35pro

Yesterday I picked up my JAG35pro depth of field adapter and today I was able to shoot some test footage. I shot some footage of me working with the lathe at Larry's shop and also out at the LZ. The shop video is up on Vimeo:

http://vimeo.com/3315553

I have yet to do something with the footage I shot at the LZ but I plan on shooting some more tomorrow with the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens I have so I will see what I get.

Here are some pictures of my rig

Yeah, Got My Prizes!

I got the Xbox, games and cash a few days ago and the laptop just got here today.





I plan on selling a couple of the games because I have either already played them (on PC) or have no interest in (Madden.) I must say that I am really impressed with the Xbox360 as a media interface as much as a gaming machine. I have read many a good thing about all the stuff the 360 can do, but this is the first time I have actually used one. I have already downloaded several game demos (one of which has convinced me to buy the game) and have it setup to stream video and audio from my Mac file server.

As for the Aspire One, well, they sent me the new 10" version. Its pretty cool. The touch pad button is better (although still not great) and the screen is bigger. The first thing I did with it was install Ubuntu 8.10. I was disappointed to find that the WiFi card did not work on the stock install and did not really feel like monkeying with Linux drivers. So I installed Windows 7 (from an SDHC card, which worked flawlessly and fast.) Windows 7 has all the drivers except the Ethernet driver. I will have to play with it for a few days to get a final opinion.

Winter Flying

We had a break in the storms on Sunday which allowed for some flying.  There was about 8 inches of snow up at Crestline.  It was pretty compact which made setting up not too difficult. 

More images on my Flickr page.

My Camera Jib Crane

I have been working on a Jib crane the last few weeks. It is built with old hang glider parts and a few other miscellaneous things. The total cost was around $50. I have a few problems with it right now, see the video.

Here are a few pictures of the construction:

















Video is here but HD is not available yet. YouTube seems to be moving a bit slow today.

I WON!

This is somewhat old news now, but I though I should post it here anyways.

I Won first place in the Want One Contest. It was a pretty anxious couple of weeks for me but I came out on top, mostly due to the support from the Hang Gliding community. Thanks Guys!

The contest directors say they will be mailing out the prizes this week. Hopefully they use some fast shipping because I can't wait to play some co-op Halo 3 with Pat. It turns out that they are also going to be sending me one of the new 10" Aspire Ones but they don't come out for another couple of weeks so I will have to wait a bit for that.