Posts tagged software
A bag full of digital goodies
Nov 1st
Yesterday was Halloween and I didn’t get any candy, but UPS delivered an early birthday package from my wife. The box came from B&H Photo Video and contained a wide-angle Nikon zoom lens. Wow! This gift is now the highest priced item in my arsenal of photo equipment!
My last camera was a Holga and I bought it for $22. I’ve been told, and I’ve been repeating, that back in the 1940’s Holgas sold for $2 at five and dime stores as toy cameras.
I decided last year I wanted to move up from the plastic camera, and get away from dealing with loading medium format film and dealing with electrical tape in the dark. (The tape is used to stop the light leaks). It was time to go digital.
My digital camera bag is filling up one piece at a time. It now includes:
Nikon D200
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR ED-IF 17-35mm 1:28D lens
Nikon AF ED NIKKOR 50mm 1.8 lens
Nikon SB 800 speedlight (wireless flash)
Nikon MB-D200 Multi Power Battery Pack (vertical grip)
I’ve been posting photos to flickr.com but I’ve slowed down a little since I started using Apple’s Aperture because I still have two books to finish reading on what I’m doing. Adobe Photoshop and Apple’s iPhoto were working just fine before. (The recent photos all look desaturated and flat coming out of the new program).
I’m also recording RAW files, because I heard that is what Sports Illustrated does and figure they know what they are doing. Right? The RAW files on this camera are 15 Mb each, so my little 2 Gb card only holds 120 images at a time now.
I have two more items on my camera wish list. I would like to save up for a Nikon 105 mm f/1.8 micro, a Nikon 400 mm f/2.8 and a Nikon 70-200 mm f/2.8 VR zoom lens. Oops, that was three things!
Now that I think about it, while I’m at it, I may need an extra body to hold one of those new pieces of glass and probably a mono-pod!
VideoBlog software for OS X
Oct 28th
One morning in late 2003 I walked in to the newsroom at Fredericksburg.com and said, “We need to use this iSight. Do something fun.”
Brian Baer and Alex Russell recorded and posted “The Baer Facts” videoblog within hours. They continued on somewhat regularly and invited in guests to comment on sports, features and weather reports. Volunteers from the FUG community, (“FredTalk Users Group“) were regulars on the show.
“The Baer Facts” was recorded on most mornings through early 2005. Someone decided that it was too much work and killed the idea. Today, the only remaining evidence I can find are a few videos which include a few classic outtakes.
We hacked together freeware for the recording and taped scripts to the side of the monitor. Just this week I was reminded of that show when I was pointed to a video recording program that would have been perfect.
If you are contemplating a simple videoblog, check out VideoCue 2 from Vara Software. There are two versions and prices. One comes with a full-screen teleprompter.
I’m downloading a copy now. I’ll let you know how it goes. Next week I’m going to walk into my office and say, “We need to use this software for something”.