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Fuji and JVC desktop images
Fuji S5600 photos to compare the JVC HD3 photos below to. The JVC has a slightly less saturated green than the Fuji that does add a bit more colour depth for some subjects. The JVC's 'macro' mode is much better than the S5600 default but overall, with it being a camcorder, there isn't anywhere near that amount of manual control a still image camera has. Click on the images below to view or download full 1920x1080 HD desktop background images, using these image on wide screen rather than 'HD' resolution desktops will means the image might squish slightly.
Raindrops on leaves
Rain captured on grass
Raindrops
Photographs taken with the JVC HD3 in photo mode.
Cactus prickles
Grape leaf, Autumn colours
Grape leaf, red
Raindrop in grass
Raindrops and Autumn colours
Posted 27 Oct 2009 • kenb • link to this article
Hot shoe mics for video cameras
Picked up a Hama RMZ-14 stereo microphone yesterday (ordered online, came in the post) that slots into the hot shoe socket that JVC thankfully included on the top of the HD3EK camcorder (it's not powered so technically its a 'cold' shoe). It cost £35 (excl. postage, SRP is £60 ex.VAT). It's worth, 99p. Seriously. I don't know if I got a unit from a bad batch but it has the same kind of build quality you'd expect from one of those cheap, nasty, brightly coloured toy microphones for kids, the ones that can be picked up in a cheap 'n' cheerful 'pound' shop; junk that doesn't even admit to where it was manufactured for fear of putting the rest of the countries sweatshops to shame. Where the European "CE" compliance logos are badly printed vinyl stickers denoting the fact that they took "CE" compliance very seriously indeed.
It rattles as well, not exactly sure how useful 'Hama' thought the RMZ-14 "Zoom-electronic" microphone was as a recording device in that instance, keeping a baby in a pram happy, yes, the noise would make one of those gurgle for hours. Pro Am video production, hmm, have to talk to the wise ones and consult the bones on that me thinks. It's all rather surprising considering the company behind the RMZ mic is German(?). What happened to that ever efficient German engineering they're so famous for? Unless it's German design, Chinese manufacture, as most things seem to be these days?
I would send the thing back to the place I ordered it from (no reflection on the good service I got from them by the way), except that would end up costing me half the recoup of the item itself, especially with the postal strikes on at the moment. Go figure. So now I'm looking for a video camera hot shoe microphone to replace the junk Hama produce. What's annoying is that I searched the Internet for a couple of days to find something (it's harder than it looks, no-one seem to use the phrase "hot shoe" to describe what the intended use/destination for a mic is) and not once did any 'review' info crop up. Which shoulder does your conscience sit on? The left or right? Anyway, he's saying "I told you so" right now.
Posted 16 Oct 2009 • kenb • link to this article
JVC GD-HD3EK photos
A couple of shots using the JVC Everio HD3's photo settings. The one advantage is that it takes photos in 1080i (or is that "p") so there's no need to edit the photos in Corel Photopaint or Photoshop!. The photo features operate a bit more like a point and shoot camera so you don't really have that much manual control over the image; there are some settings but they're limited by the capabilities of the main camera - ISO only goes to 400 or so, and aperture it limited to f2.2, so low light photography is going to be a bit tricky without the 'night vision' setting being used.
Quality wise, there's the usual slight colour blooming to the outer edges of the image space (does this not happen when using digital cameras?) but everything else is certainly on a par with the S5600; will probably take a series of shots with both the HD3 and the S5600 at some point for a more direct comparison. I'll post some commentary on the HD3's camcorder abilities at some point soon.
As always, right-click "Save As.." any of the larger images for use as Desktop Backgrounds.
Full HD wide-screen format
Note the slight difference in height/width with 1440 wide screen
Blue Sky - Towards Sunset
Old Rose Bush
Posted 14 Oct 2009 • kenb • link to this article
Geeks Rule!
What dictates 'fashion', or 'fashionable'? 'Geek' is now. Sci Fi, Comics, Fantasy. Escapism at it's best, a way to deal with current issues, like illegal wars, without necessarily talking about the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Collation Forces. Talking financial crisis without calling on Wall Street or calling out Bankers as crooks and cockney slang?
Was watching Newsnight the other night (Fridays edition), topic for discussion was why the 'Geek' aesthetic was fashionable at the present time in Hollywood. Kevin Smith was on the show, he of Silent Bob fame along with an author I'd never heard of and a comedian I didn't know. They were talking the finer philosophical points of the popularisation of niche thinking, geeks have never been popular, they never will, there aren't enough 'geeks' in positions of power to mean anything or matter, contrary to one of the posits of the conversation.
So sorry Messrs Smith and Co., that's not why there's a resurgence of comic books characters in films. And no, people don't 'want' them, people don't even know what they want. Hollywood knows this, they know that people only want what they're given, they control the thoughts and distribution of ideas to the mainstream. 'Geek' is fashionable because they say it is, or more correctly, Hollywood presents it in a package that's removed of it's birthright, of lonely spotty kids wanting to be 'super' at something, that alienation that is 'geek' is surgically detached like an infectious amorphous 'blob' that, left in place, could infect audiences, dare I say even turn them against their thought makers.
No. The only reason geek is currently cool, is because it makes Hollywood money, there's no great philosophical ponderousness behind it, no great 'story' to be told, no imagination to be fired up; if that happens it's as an indirect result of individual free spirit being awoken and not planted there.
All hail 'green', 'green' is the new 'red', the new soul eater, the new extinguisher of imaginations, the cotton pillow over the open mouth of creative expression. Green = money, money = power, power = the ability to engineer a new generations creative thinking and expressions with limitations and boundaries.
Hollywood, isn't a wrinkled prune looking to be soaked in warm water. Its not a place lacking ideas or sucked dry of original thought like the Californian sun parching the deserts and back-lots of that part of the world. No, Hollywood knows exactly what they're doing, it's a shame you don't because they'll strip you bare and leave you penniless and you'll thank them for it.
PS: apologies for neglecting the site, been preoccupied with other matters, I've also just acquired a JVC GZ-HD3EK camcorder that may or may not mean something creative at some point.
Posted 11 Oct 2009 • kenb • link to this article
Juvenile wood pigeons perched on a post
Sometimes you can't always be in the best place to get 'clean' photos of the things you're looking at, in this case a couple of juvenile common Wood Pigeons captured sitting on a street light post shot through a window. The original (below) was a little flat in contrast due to the way the glass of the window tended to refract and reflect ambient light and objects, especially when it's at an angle (acts like a prism in some ways); it doesn't necessarily need to do this in obvious ways (so you actually see the reflection of something).
That meant getting the photo on a photo editing app; I use Corel PhotoPaint for any and everything 2D. The corrected original is bottom of the two shots. The thing is though, it can be tricky to 'correct' shots like this without blowing out the darks because the image is already high contrast in the sense that it has some strong light and dark areas; add too much image contrast and you kill detail in the shadows. Bottom version is 1440x900 for those looking for desktop backgrounds.
Original photo of the to juvenile wood pigeons, a bit washed out due to being taken through a window
The corrected photo of the wood pigeons with adjusted contrast and slight colour tweak
Some other photos
Desktop: white flowers
Foxes Whiskers - Foxglove (Digitalis)
Yellow garden flower
A series of photographs of a juvenile (young) Blackbird, not quite sure at this point if its male or female as it still has a fair bit of it 'baby' colouring that camouflages it in the nest. I was standing about 6 feet away and had to zoom the 5600 almost all the way out to get the close up, and anyone that uses a camera will tell you, that gets tricky to shoot with because zooming like that 'amplifies' camera shake so you have to compensate with a faster shutter speed or lower F-stop (open aperture). It was also sitting in the shade.
Blackbird sitting still in a redcurrent bush
Close-up of the Blackbird resting in the redcurrent bush
Blackbird standing in the sun
Posted 30 Jun 2009 • kenb • link to this article