Archive for February, 2009
24th February 2009
There are many times when I’m trying to take video of the cats playing, but they are in the dark bedroom in the evening, so all I get is a reddish tinted video that shows little if any of the action. ProdMod has made a super bright LED camera light that attaches to your tripod mount and gives you more than enough light to catch the action.
You can attach it to any camera or camcorder or even a tripod for more professional looking steady recording.
It projects a roughly 100 degree wide beam of light so you wont see a spotlight effect or dark circles around your subjects and hot spots are limited. With a few nuts and bolts you can mount this to your tripod for macro photography too.
Here is a video that was filmed in a dark room:
They don’t sell the camera light fully assembled. It’s a kit that you put together. Here is a video telling you how to put the kit together:
If you like to take a lot of video in the house or other poorly lit areas, then this camera LED light from ProdMod might be just the thing for you!
24th February 2009
The very excellent Ms. Jen got a hold of a Nokia N85 and compared it to her N82. She took TONS of photos with both cameras in several situations and posted her findings here:
You might think that the N85 MUST be better than the N82 just because it’s newer, but that wasn’t always the case.
The N82 has a better flash and a better focal range than the N85, but the N85 takes the photos as you click, it does not focus and then capture. At times this is much more satisfactory as one is not frustrated as the camera focuses, but as you can see from the photos above the N82 takes much clearer and sharper photos than the N85. I conclude that it is worth it to wait for the N82 to focus rather than have the immediate satisfaction that the N85 is fast.
Dark situations are the bane of the camera phone, so she tested in that situation. The N85 won that round.
As for night and difficult lighting situations, I purposely took the camera phones to the badly lit red interior of Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, California, which is the bane of rock photographers LA wide for the lack of spotlights and the red walls which eat light right on up before your camera can sense it. The N85 won in this situation when I turned off its flash and just had it shoot. It was fast, captured warm colors and made the most of the dim lighting, but the N85 failed miserably when I turned the flash on as it was dark and dim. The N82 was blurry and a bit darkish with no flash inside of Alex’s, but with the lovely Zenon flash really lit the band right on up.
Next time you curse your cameraphone for not taking great pictures, remember that Nokia is making cameras… err… PHONES especially for you!
24th February 2009
Since there were so few crowds at CES, it was shocking to see one. The biggest crowds EVERY day at the Sands Expo Center were surrounding the Mattel booth.
It was all because of a game called Mind Flex.
You wear a band around your head and you try to guide a small ball through an obstacle course using the power of your mind.
We never saw anyone master the technique of moving the ball through the course, but EVERYONE was interested in seeing people try.
Here is a video from The Guardian showing how the game works:
Here’s another video from CBS that shows it in MUCH more detail:
At a convention that was as empty and quiet as CES was this year, it was surprising to see so many people interested in one thing. Mike and I were never able to get close enough to it to try to play because it was so popular. Mike supposed that it was a form of biofeedback used as a controller for the game, but we weren’t able to test that theory.
Kudos to Mattel for being able to draw a crowd of people during a CES that was void of crowds!
24th February 2009
At the recent Outdoor Retailer show in Salt lake City, Utah, I picked up a GorillaPod Go-Go to review. I was excited to get my hands on one of these babies.
If you don’t know what a GorillaPod is, check them out here:
What you’ll find is a unique tripod with dozens of ball joins, giving you the ability to mount the tripod just about anywhere without making it permanent. Each ball has a rubber ring, and the feet have rubber boots so you’re not going to scratch an surfaces.
The Go-Go version, which is basically the smallest of all the GorillaPods, and is marketed towards the iPhone and point and shoot camera market.
The packaging include the tripod and several pieces that allow you too mount your iPhone or camera.
My first use was to affix the adapter to the back of my iPhone. It has a lever and suction that sticks to you device, but is easily removed and leaves no marks.
What I found useful was getting my iPhone up off the flat desk so I could see my application easier. I like to see the album art on Pandora, my calendar, and even the digital clock.
My next use was screwing on the clip to the bottom of my point and shoot camera. I was able to attach the tripod to all sorts of surfaces and object, like poles, handles, and or course just simply three legs on a flat surface. But as you can see from the photos below, I was able to attach the Go-Go to my iMac so I can shoot simple video and take picture.
This is a must have gadget for anyone who has an MP3 device or small point and shoot camera. You could spend hours trying to find the weirdest places to wrap the Go-Go.
Thom Allen is also the writer of Digital Thom.
24th February 2009
The product on my Most Wanted List from CES is the WebAround.
It is a portable and lightweight disk that hooks to the back of your chair that provides you with privacy when you use your webcam. Whether it’s for video blogging or video conferencing, it is a great product. Here is a video from their website describing how to use it:
It could also be used for green screen effects or use it with iMovie to easily put yourself in front of whatever image or video you want. I would go with the Ocean Blue color if you want to do any green screen effects (unless your entire wardrobe is blue).
For only , the WebAround is a great product. You can order them directly from their website here:
