By David Hague   Tue, Nov 15, 2011

For a full review of the Kymera Wand and its magic, click here. It's magical! Harry would want one! And Merlin ...

By David Hague   Fri, Feb 26, 2010

You know those fictional quizzes that ask "if you were on a desert island what couldn't you do without?" Or the one about the "most important invention ever"? Well the correct answer is probably electricity. In this day and age if we have no power, there is not a lot we can do.

Imagine no music or shock, horror, no mobile phone! Or you are videoing a wedding for a family member and you suddenly realise your battery only has 30 seconds left and they are about to "I do". Nightmare stuff.

Not everywhere has a power point handy - the three pronged type not the pie chart one. The aforementioned wedding for example could be on the beach, so what is a person to do? Spare batteries for everything are an obvious solution, but this can be unwieldy, heavy and expensive. Check the price of a replacement Sony battery for anything for example.

So the alternative is well, alternative. And there are three very good ways to minimise electricity interruptus; inverters, solar and storage battery sourced.

Targus APV14AU Inverter

The Targus Inverter is itself powered from a 12v source such as a car cigarette lighter, and through the magic of electronics, turns the 12v DC power going to in, to AC power coming out t'other end; 150W continuous or 200W peak in fact.  Fitting snugly into a car's cup holder (although it is rectangular and not round) this makes it useful for such things as re-charging (or powering) laptops, re- charging batteries in cradles for cameras and camcorders and so on. At a pinch, although you have to be careful to not flatten the car's battery, it could be used to run domestic 240v appliances. There have been cases where in an emergency they have powered lights on a video shoot when the ambience got too dark. Audio had to be cut later obviously as the noise of the car engine intruded. You wouldn't want to make a habit of this though.

As well as conventional 3 pin plugs, USB and tip based devices can simultaneously be plugged in to the APV14AU. The average price we found was around the $100 mark.

www.targus.com.au

Solar

Solar panels have come a long, long way. They used to be very expensive too, but the SolarGorilla is an A4 sized box of tricks that flips open to reveal two solar panels that have enough wallop to run a notebook, hand held game consoles and mobile phones. It can even be used to charge up its battery based brethren (see below), so with one of each, you need never ruin out of power - as long as the sun is shining of course! A standard kit comes with a number of common "tips" to plug into the device(s) to supply the power as well as USB connectors for devices so powered.

For the technical minded, the SolarGorilla can output 20v at 500mAh and has a USB 5v 1000mAh port. The retail price is $374.99

www.powertraveller.com.au

Storage Battery

The PowerGorilla is a high density Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery capable of pumping out 24 volts. This means you can simultaneously be running a laptop from the unit while charging say, a mobile phone. And similar to solar panels, battery technology advances means you are not humping a brick with you as the PowerGorilla only weighs 700 grams all up. If you add the 800 or so to also pack a SolarGorilla, that is not too much to lug around to almost guarantee continuous power.

For those that just must know the technical ins and outs, the PowerGorilla contains six 3500mAh polymer batteries and can output a range of power options from 8.4v to 24v and has a 5v USB port as well. It can be being charging and be charging other devices at the same time.

The RRP is $324.99

www.powertraveller.com.au

By David Hague   Thu, Feb 18, 2010

If the iPhone and iPod were the fads of the noughties, Fujifilm may well be betting on and hoping for the current decade embraces 3D.  And so far, with the enormous boot up the bum 3D gained from Avatar, it appears they may be on the right track.

All the major TV manufacturers are telling us 3D is coming, every new movie announced is later re-spruiked as now being in 3D and we have here leaping on the wagon train is a 3D still-cum-video camera from Fujifilm.

It's not the prettiest thing on the planet, and it's not svelte. It would fit in a pocket but leave you a little lopsided and as in most cameras with an LCD screen instead of a viewfinder, in bright sunlight it becomes about as useful as a fur lined spa, but it does have two beautiful Fujinon lenses to capture the action in either 2D or 3D.

Unlike the sophisticated cameras used to get Sam Worthington in 3D celluloid, in which a complicated array of cameras, angles and mirrors is used, the Fuji 3D uses these twin lenses and a configurable parallax system to obtain the images. In effect, for most it is simply point and shoot. But to get the very best out say, close up macro shots of flowers etc, some experimentation with the parallax - which is not as hard as it sounds - is in order.

It is a little disconcerting though as the image shown in the LCD is what you see, say, if watching a 3D movie you take the glasses off! You get used to it and finding a comfortable angle to view it from is the trick.

To switch from 3D to 2D and back, there is a simple rocker switch on the back. Other controls are plus and minus for the parallax - effectively drifting the two separate images further apart or closer together - video or  still mode, menu, 4 arrow keys with sub commands as is usual these days (timer, macro, flash, delete) and a display switch. The top of the camera simply has a shutter release and tele/wide rocker. To turn the camera on, a panel is pulled down to reveal the lenses and flash - Sony has a similar system on one of their cameras.

You will need a decent size SD card as the internal memory is a miserable 42MB. I filled up memory with 4 shots!

In use, the Fuji 3D is a cinch to use. Select the mode(s), point and shoot. The only thing you have to be aware of is due to the location of the lenses, it is very easy to get fingers in the way, and the tele / wide can be a little stiff.

To view 3D images and footage you have taken requires a 3D viewer. The Fuji viewer is actually more an up-to-date LCD photo frame that can play back in 3D as well as 2D. At $699 it's not exactly bargain basement, but I assume the prices of all this kit will drop as it becomes more popular.

The Fuji 3D camera is $899.

Vendor: Fujifilm Australia

Web: www.fujifilm.com.au

Price: $899.00

We liked: the lenses, imagery, ease of use, interchangeable 2D and 3D for stills and movies

We didn't like: doesn't come with SD card, easy to get fingers in the way, needs a dedicated player

By Press Release   Tue, Feb 16, 2010

Sydney - 16 February, 2010 - Sony Australia is expanding its line of solid state camcorders with the introduction of an AVCHD model, the high-end HDRAX2000, designed to broaden the shooting capabilities for semi-professionals.

AVCHD technology has been widely adopted in Sony's consumer camcorder line up and with the HDRAX2000, skilled consumer videographers can achieve a deep cinematic look with film-like movie quality and advanced colour settings.

High-end shooting for the passionate prosumer
Recording full 1920x1080/50i high definition video at up to 24Mbps, the HDRAX2000 features progressive scan at 1080/24p and 25p, giving video film-quality motion for brilliant scene reproduction. This high-end semi-professional camcorder delivers HD quality images with the convenience of a non-linear recording format and dual-use card slots for both Memory Stick PRO Duo^TM and SDHC media for editing and playback. CinemaTone Gamma^TM and CinemaTone colour settings complement the 25p capabilities by providing the colour and gamma range for a high-end feel and extra control over image expression.

The HDRAX2000 uses three 1/3" Exmor^TM CMOS Sensors to improve the colour reproduction of video recordings and capture sharp, detailed images, even in low light shooting situations. Noise reduction is also accomplished via the unique column-parallel analog-to-digital conversion technique and grid arrangement of the photo diodes, which are designed to provide high sensitivity, deep resolution, high-speed reading, and a wider dynamic range. The Exmor technologies combine to allow the new camcorder to perform significantly better in low light environments with minimum illumination of 1.5 lux.

The Enhanced Imaging Processor is able to rapidly process the vast amounts of pixel data read from the three 1/3" Exmor CMOS Sensors, and record beautiful HD and colourful video. They handle video data in 1920 x 1080p and 4:2:2 colour sampling for high quality signal processing.  Using Sony's 3.2" (16:9) Xtra Fine LCD^TM screen (921K) and Xtra Fine LCD electronic viewfinder (1,226k) ensures high resolution and high contrast images with remarkable colour reproduction. 

Professional quality features incorporated throughout
For a refined level of optical performance, the HDRAX2000 is equipped with a 20x, 29.5mm to 590mm G-Series lens, incorporating extra-low dispersion glass and compound aspherical elements. The fixed lens is optimised to complement the camera's advanced image sensor and image processing technology.

The added feature of Active Mode improves on existing Optical SteadyShot^TM image stabilisation by allowing the camera lens to shift over a greater range of motion, allowing the camcorder to compensate for a greater degree of camera shake and delivering stunningly, smooth footage.

The HDRAX2000 features professional quality audio with the dual XLR 3-pin audio jacks providing +48V phantom power to external microphones.  Additionally, the grounded connection allows insertion/removal of connectors in live equipment without picking up external signals.

By David Hague   Wed, Nov 09, 2011

I am an enormous fan of the TV show Dragon’s Den. For those that don’t know, it is a BBC UK show that has a panel of self-made millionaires who judge the worthiness of ideas, products and services from aspiring entrepreneurs. If they see one they like, they bid for the right to invest in it. (an earlier series is being shown on ABC1 and ABC2 at the moment - check it out).

Dragon’s Den is entertaining, inspirational and contains many gems of business wisdom such as make sure you have a business plan, know your numbers, have a marketing strategy and more. The books each of the panel has written (including Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden, Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones) are worth a read in their own right. They are all available on Kindle, and I confess, along with similar books from Lord Alan Sugar (of UK Apprentice fame), I have used their ideas and advice to form what is the new incarnation of Auscam.

Anyway, approximately two years ago, a product appeared on Dragon’s Den that is an absolute game changer. A pair of technical whizzes had created a device that replaced the remote control for almost any device you’d like to name; it was a magic wand a la Harry Potter!

It could be waved, rotated, flicked, tapped (once or twice), swished, pushed forward or backward and more – 13 operations in total – to replicate the commands from your remote control(s).

I have resisted for a long time to order one, but a few weeks ago caved in. I have just added an XBOX Kinetic to my home theatre system and to perform the basic functions I do, whilst I have a Logitech Universal control and it is very functional, the Wand – called a Kymera– looked far more fun!

It finally arrived today in its elegant display box and instructions on Olde English parchment. Firstly you have to learn the various actions to perform commands, and this takes about 10 minutes. Next, you “teach” the commands you want to assign to each of the Wand’s options.

For example, to turn my Sony 52” Bravia on, I wanted to use the “flick up” command, and to turn it off, the “flick down”. It’s really very easy; you tap the side of the Wand twice while it is vertical to put it in learning mode, perform the required action and then point the sharp end at your remote’s infra red sender and press the button for that action. The Wand will respond with a vibration (every action has a specific vibration code to signify what is has done or it understands) and voila! Done.

In truth, it took me a few goes to get it just right, but this was down more to my ham fistedness than any error on the Wand’s behalf.

Once I had the knack of programming the wand, it was only a short time before I had the whole system setup; the Denon receiver/amp volume was controlled by rotate right and left, flicking between HDMI devices was flick left/right, XBOX options were taps and so on. The piece de resistance – the BIG SWISH was reserved for putting my Sony Blu-Ray player into play mode with something that starts with a bang!

When you use the Wand to perform an action, especially if there are others present, you simply cannot help but to ham it up a little – or a lot! And I confess, when I got the first command working, I burst into laughter. It’s just one of those gadgets that is a must have, for no other reason that it is Great Fun! You’ll want to turn things on and off, switch between devices or whatever you have programmed it for (lights, heating, iPod dock or whatever uses an IR remote) just for the sheer delight of it!

At $79.95 it makes a fantastic present. The Kymera is beautifully presented in its box, the instructions are almost worth laminating and framing and well… what more can I say. They even provide the AAA batteries it uses in the price.

In fact, I am so impressed that I have negotiated that Auscam can sell the Kymera Wand to our readers for AUD$79.95 including freight. Simply click on "STORE" in the menu bar above to order.

Or email us at david@auscamonline.com  and you can call on 08 94675922 or 0413 632286

By David Hague   Wed, Feb 24, 2010

Born Stelios (Stan) Georgiadis in Melbourne Australia, Stan Harrington has mastered the art of Guerilla film making, producing 8 films with 2 more currently in production. His book, A Guerilla in the Midst published by the Sundance Media Group in April of 2007, is a how-to manual on low-no budget film making using his first feature "Bred In The Bone", as a blueprint. "Bred" also won Best in Show at the Action On Film Festival in 2005.

His affiliation with the Stella Adler Theater, Los Angeles has also provided his Xristos Productions with talented, young actors as well as solid veterans like Holland Taylor of Two and a Half Men, Adrian Zmed of GREASE 2 and John Saxon, from Enter The Dragon who plays Stan's father in his second feature The Craving Heart, which once again, despite it's budget, garnered twenty three nominations, and ten awards.

A huge 2010 sees the release of KERBEROS, a crime feature Stan stars in for Atlanta based genius, Kely McClung. SMALL DAYS, another film Stan directs and acts in, is produced together with Moonhill Productions and is in final post. Originally a critically acclaimed play that Timothy McNeil wrote and starred in with Christopher Thornton, Small Days was also the (stage) directorial debut of Mark Ruffalo. And finally,Stan is currently shooting CREED, a horror movie garnering an awful lot of underground attention which Stan believes is due to the raw approach he has to shooting coupled with the fact that the story is inspired by actual events. He calls this Vampire flick (with a difference), violent and sexy with an awesome story.

By Press Release   Tue, Feb 23, 2010

London – Broadcast Video Expo –February 16, 2010 – Matrox Video Products Group today announced Matrox Vetura Playback, a new application on the Mac for convenient playback of H.264 and .mov files using any of the Matrox MXO2 I/O devices.  Field journalists equipped with a Matrox MXO2 device that includes the Matrox MAX H.264 encoding accelerator can shoot and edit their stories, then quickly encode to a very high quality H.264 file faster then realtime. Via any internet connection, the small H.264 file can be efficiently uploaded to headquarters then ingested to a video server or played directly to air using another MXO2 device and the Matrox Vetura Playback application. 

“The new Matrox Vetura Playback application lets broadcasters leverage the power of Matrox MAX H.264 encoding acceleration to deliver breaking news stories to air in HD faster than ever before,” said Wayne Andrews, Matrox product manager. “Matrox gives them the tools they need to scoop their competition.”

The Matrox MXO2 products will be demonstrated on stand D66 at Broadcast Video Expo being held February 16-18, Earls Court 2, London.

Key features of the Matrox MXO2 family for Mac

• Convenient form factors for use in studio, on set, in the field, and in OB vans
• Works with Intel-based MacBook Pros, Mac Pros, and Apple Xserve systems
• Broadcast-quality HD/SD video and audio input/output
• Flexible support for leading codecs, file formats, cameras, and workflows
• Extensive application support including Final Cut Pro, Apple Color, Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, and many more
• 10-bit HDMI input, output, and monitoring with calibration controls including blue-only
• 10-bit realtime hardware up/down/cross conversion on capture and output
• Hardware acceleration of Final Cut Pro Dynamic RT segments, HDV, and DVCPRO
• Matrox Vetura Playback application for convenient playback of H.264 and .mov files
• Also available with Matrox MAX for faster than realtime H.264 encoding
• Three-year hardware warranty and complimentary telephone support
•  

Price and availability

Matrox MXO2 products are available through the Australian and New Zealand network of authorized New Magic /  Matrox dealers. The 1.9 release, which includes the Matrox Vetura Playback application, will be available free of charge within 10 days from the Matrox website for registered owners of Matrox MXO2 Mini, Matrox MXO2 LE, Matrox MXO2 and Matrox MXO2 Rack. Other features of the 1.9 release include Active Format Description (AFD) support in the SDI video signal using the patent-pending Matrox 4VANC method, support for 16 channels of embedded SDI audio, and support for Apple’s Core Audio.

By   Fri, Feb 19, 2010

I got my first iPhone this week and have been trying out all the apps to see how well they run, and one of the things I tried was downloading a vodcast from the ABC Website to watch.

A Vodcast, for those not familiar, is simply a video which has been formatted, or rendered if you prefer, to a format which can be watched on iPods, PSP Game consoles, Zunes etc. It's the video version of a Podcast.

Vodcasts are great to watch when you've got a spare half hour and would like to catch up with your favourite show, and so easy to carry on your person since most of us have got our phones with us most of the time.

Naturally I wondered if I could make my own vodcasts from my own videos.

The first attempt through Sony Vegas failed, now I'm certain Vegas can do it, it's just a matter of finding out which setting was wrong and fixing it. Then I searched online to try to find out what the settings should be, but this led nowhere... Though I did find a few forums where others were looking for exactly the same answer.

My video players were not going to devulge all the secret information either. But, then I found a program who's sole purpose is to make videos which are watchable on your portable player, whichever you own.

It's called Videora iPhone Converter, and it's completely free, although when you open it, there's ads, including the hated "Secret of a small belly" ad.

But still, it's easy to use.

About all that's needed is to select the device you use, a iPhone3gs in My case, tell it where to save the file and let it rip. I fed a one hour TV show, downloaded from the internet *coughs*, through Videora

I was happy, it installed on my iPhone without any trouble (iTunes won't let you install videos which are in the wrong format) and I watched it, It was perfect, and no lipsync problems either.

This morning I was sent a link to this place, which has further details on iPhone videos, Thankyou @LukethDragon on Twitter:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_format_of_video_does_the_iphone_play

By David Hague   Wed, Feb 03, 2010

You certainly won't miss the Sanyo VPC-WH1! It is a bright canary yellow with black highlights on it. But this gaudiness is for very good reason seeing as this specific Xacti model is designed for more than just taking hi-def video (albeit at 1280 x 720 not the full hi-def spec). You see it is also fully waterproof to 3 metres with proper grown up rubber seals and locks covering all the sensitive bits.

Sanyo cunningly market it as a "duo camera" meaning it can also take stills - which really is no big deal as the majority of camcorders can. However, sadly this is no megapixel behemoth as at its best, these stills are only 2 megapixel - hardly worth crowing about.

The layout of the VPC-WH1 is pretty conventional with transport controls on the back,  zoom rocker and on/off on top, a duplicate record button on the right side toward the front and the cubby hole for the USB and HDMU ports and SD card slot under the flip out LCD and behind a waterproof sealed and locked flap.

The first time you try and open this is frustrating; it is very small and by its nature you tend to put a bit of downward pressure on it and this automatically makes the lock and seal grasp tighter! Trust me, it is a two handed affair to get this open.

And get it open you will have to, as the VPC-WH1 only comes with 43Mb of RAM which is a sneeze in hi-def terms. The slot will take SD cards up to 32GB.

At $749 for the market it is aimed, it is a great little camcorder, but no substitute for a real hi-def one and a decent megapixel still camera for land based use if that is more your thing.