I was on the way home the other day after a long day of meetings. And as soon as I step off the train I see cops, with their guys drawn, descend on a group of guys sitting in traffic. The street was totally blocked off so of course me and about 30 other people pull out our phones and start recording. I still have no idea what the hell happened. I was just pissed that it slowed me down from getting some stuff from the store.
Mavic Air: Second flight test
First flight with my new Mavic Air
The weather has been wet and rainy for the past week, so when the sun came out I went over to the park to test out the new Mavic Air. It flies like a dream. It was smaller and much more nimble than my Spark. The size and portability of the drone can’t be beat. And the automated quickshots are fantastic. The only thing I need to do next flight is to take my time and not rush with the camera settings. In my defense, I wanted to get the drone in the sky and burn through at least a battery or two before the field got crowded. Next time I am going to drive to a better location and use my new Polar Pro filters as well.
A few hours in Bergen (360 video)
Building the Batcave
Whovians Unite!! #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
The Batcave is finally starting to look good.
Chilling Justice League Style – NY Comic Con (360)
Chilling with the whole Justice League at the 2016 NY Comic Con. #nycomiccon #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
This year I took my Ricoh Theta 360 camera to Comic Con in order to get something other than the traditional cosplay photos. I have to admit that this whole 360 immersive photo stuff is starting to grow on me.
Speedboating over the Lofoten Maelstrom (360 video)
The wife and kid took me out on the open water to explore the waters surrounding Lofoten, Norway. The speedboat (rip) that we traveled on was an interesting way to see the fish and wildlife in the area. Our guide Theresia said that the waters on this day were fairly calm and peaceful. If that is the case it must be crazy out here when the sea is rougher.
Testing the VR waters – Ricoh Theta S
The Williamsbridge Oval Park & Recreation Center in the Norwood section of the Bronx – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
I decided to finally test out my 360 degree Ricoh Theta S camera in the park near my house. I have been looking for a camera to create VR content. I am still not sure if I should ditch the Ricoh and get the Samsung Gear 360. The Ricoh is one of the easiest VR cameras to use because of the simplicity of the design. However the video quality on the Ricoh, while pretty good when running locally on my computer or mobile phone/tablet, gets totally crushed when uploaded to Facebook or YouTube.
I hear that the Gear 360, while not as user friendly, is handled much better on social media sites like YouTube. The only reasons I didn’t snag the Gear 360 it hasn’t been officially released in the US as of yet and I wanted get started shooting during my summer break. Plus my older Galaxy S5 is not supported by the software app needed to run the camera. Call me cheap but I didn’t want to also have to upgrade my phone to the newest Samsung (approximately 600 -700 bucks) in order to get the full functionality. So now I am hoping that a firmware update to the Ricoh, or future change on Facebook and YouTube will improve the upload quality.
Old Apples don’t die, they multiply!
I am throwing out my Apple 9600 Power PC. I am amazed that it still boots up after 17 years. This machine got me through my graduate school digital media program. When I bought it the system had a “huge” 9GB SCSI hard drive and 1.5GB of ram. At the time is was a beast. Now before I tossed it I was able to back it up with a small 8GB Flash drive over a first generation Continue reading “Old Apples don’t die, they multiply!”
