Showing posts with label Gadgets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gadgets. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Sunday, 19 October 2008
StickPic the camera attachment
Sometimes when we are out walking, we come across a great view or landscape that we wish to take a picture of; and sometimes this picture can look a bit disappointing because we don't have anything in the foreground to give it scale.
If we are walking with a partner; we can ask them to be in the picture or ask them to take one with you in it but its unlikely that both will be in the picture unless it's one of those taken at arms length and normally ends up with just two heads and no scenery.
But now there is a gadget on the market that helps to overcome these problems. The gadget is called The StickPic. The StickPic is a little plastic device that attaches to the tripod mount on a compact camera and the end of a trekking pole.
The StickPic
The StickPic weighs in at only 11 grams and is tiny; in fact so tiny that it would be easy to mislay in a pack or camera bag; that I think I will leave it attached to my camera at all times.
It really is small
Attaching to the camera is just a matter of screwing the thread into the tripod socket on the camera and making sure that it is tight. Attaching to the trekking pole is done by pushing the StickPic onto the spike end of the pole and giving a little twist to secure it.
On the Pole
Camera attached
It is recommended that a strap is attached to the camera and pole as a safety link; I will have to look for the strap to my camera as I don't normally have it on there.
Having only just received the StickPic and only having one try of it so far, I must said the I am impressed with it.
Below is a picture I took using the arm's length method and one using the StickPic attached to my trekking pole. The pole was set at its closed position which is about 80 cm (31 in)
To see the second picture roll your mouse over the picture.
Rollover
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Tuesday, 1 April 2008
C-C-C-Changes
One of the reasons I moved back to Blogger was that I find it easier to work with.
Over the last few days I've been adding bits and pieces and exploring what else I can do with Blogger.
One of the major things I have found is that Flickr will allow me to add pictures via email or my mobile phone to the blog. The only problem with this, is that flickr set the size of the picture. These sizes are thumbnail 100x75, small 240x180 and medium 500x375.
The first two I found to small for my taste and the medium one wouldn't fit correctly in the blog; it overlapped into the sidebar.
So I played about with the setting on the blog and have come up with a new setting that works with the 500x375 pictures.
Hopefully now I with be able to send pictures from my phone to the blog and they will look O.K.
The phone has a 2mp camera so the quailty should be fairly good on here.
Now if only I could find a way to connect my digital camera to the phone via bluetooth I could upload them as well.
Over the last few days I've been adding bits and pieces and exploring what else I can do with Blogger.
One of the major things I have found is that Flickr will allow me to add pictures via email or my mobile phone to the blog. The only problem with this, is that flickr set the size of the picture. These sizes are thumbnail 100x75, small 240x180 and medium 500x375.
The first two I found to small for my taste and the medium one wouldn't fit correctly in the blog; it overlapped into the sidebar.
So I played about with the setting on the blog and have come up with a new setting that works with the 500x375 pictures.
Hopefully now I with be able to send pictures from my phone to the blog and they will look O.K.
The phone has a 2mp camera so the quailty should be fairly good on here.
Now if only I could find a way to connect my digital camera to the phone via bluetooth I could upload them as well.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
OS outdoor purchase
So what did I buy at the OS outdoor show.
Well; I looked at the PacerPoles, and some of the books on the Cicerone stand, I couldn't justify the cost of the PacerPoles and there wasn't any books that really grabbed my attention this year.
Last year I bought a solar charger to use when on backpacking, which I used with some success last May. The battery pack charged up most of the time even in bad light; although took a lot longer to get the full charge which should take about 8 hours.
One of the problems though was that it's not water/weather proof so using in the rain meant having to put in a plastic bag and then in a side mesh pocket.
But now the freeloader people had come out with the SuperCharger, which charges the freeloader 2x faster so should give a full charge in only 4 hours (in good light).
The SuperCharger weights 200g and comes in a nice lime green weather resistant pouch, which has two crocodile like clips at one end and a longish Velcro strap at the other. This allow you to strap the solar panel to all kinds of luggage especially backpacks. It also means that the battery pack doesn't need to be on the outside anymore, as can be used even when raining.
So this is the only piece of equipment bought at the Outdoors Show but hopefully I'll get plenty of use out of it.
Well; I looked at the PacerPoles, and some of the books on the Cicerone stand, I couldn't justify the cost of the PacerPoles and there wasn't any books that really grabbed my attention this year.
Last year I bought a solar charger to use when on backpacking, which I used with some success last May. The battery pack charged up most of the time even in bad light; although took a lot longer to get the full charge which should take about 8 hours.
One of the problems though was that it's not water/weather proof so using in the rain meant having to put in a plastic bag and then in a side mesh pocket.
But now the freeloader people had come out with the SuperCharger, which charges the freeloader 2x faster so should give a full charge in only 4 hours (in good light).
The SuperCharger weights 200g and comes in a nice lime green weather resistant pouch, which has two crocodile like clips at one end and a longish Velcro strap at the other. This allow you to strap the solar panel to all kinds of luggage especially backpacks. It also means that the battery pack doesn't need to be on the outside anymore, as can be used even when raining.
So this is the only piece of equipment bought at the Outdoors Show but hopefully I'll get plenty of use out of it.
Friday, 18 January 2008
I`m Free, EEE PC
Well not exactly free but wireless.
I`ve finally gotten around to buying a router and setting the home PC to a wireless connection.
The main reason for this is so I can connect my latest gadget to the internet, and the latest gadget is the Asus EEE PC.
The EEE is small and very portable; it's about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, weighs about a kilo, has wifi and looks great. It even has a 0.3 mp webcam built-in.
I'm typing this blog entry on it and the keyboard is big enough even for my large fingers.
The OS is linux but it can run windows XP, I'll have to look into the ways to run that but at present the linux OS works fine.
There's no HD but a 4GB solid-state flash storage 'disk', there are 3 USB ports and VGA port and a combined SD/MMC card slot, so memory cards from a digital camera can be accessed.
A big step up from my old psion Revo.
Saturday, 5 May 2007
Saturday, 6 May 2006
Gadgets on the trail
The two main gadgets I take when walking are my camera and mp3 player.
The camera is a Canon A40 which although a bit heavier than the newer point and shot cameras; is a great little camera. It takes 4 AA batteries which seem to last for ages.
The only problem with these cameras are that they don't take a filter straight to the lens, which means that I have to have an adaptor on the camera and this then makes it a bit bulky.
All the pictures on the blog and photo gallery are taken with the A40.
I like to be able to listen to music when I`m in camp and for this I use an Iriver iFP790. This player is only 256mb but does have a FM radio built-in and I can normally get 6 hours or so of music on it. The Player takes 1 AA and the bettery life is pretty good too.
The camera is a Canon A40 which although a bit heavier than the newer point and shot cameras; is a great little camera. It takes 4 AA batteries which seem to last for ages.
The only problem with these cameras are that they don't take a filter straight to the lens, which means that I have to have an adaptor on the camera and this then makes it a bit bulky.
All the pictures on the blog and photo gallery are taken with the A40.
I like to be able to listen to music when I`m in camp and for this I use an Iriver iFP790. This player is only 256mb but does have a FM radio built-in and I can normally get 6 hours or so of music on it. The Player takes 1 AA and the bettery life is pretty good too.
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