Mark's Blog

Analysis of Fader ND (mark I) filter image quality

2010-06-28T22:44:00.010+10:00

In February 2010, I purchased an 82mm Fader ND Filter (ND2 to ND400) from the official eBay store for Light Craft Workshop. The label on the filter reads "82mm Fader ND [W] HL-OPTICS".

The purpose of a Neutral Density (ND) filter is to reduce the amount of light, therefore allowing for slower shutter speeds. A variable ND filter allows you to vary the amount of light by rotating the front of the filter.

When shooting video, the shutter speed is normally fixed - it is tied to the frame rate giving the required Shutter Angle (e.g. 180 degrees) controlling motion blur. When shooting video, the only way to prevent over exposure in bright light is to Stop Down the aperture. This limits your ability to use the aperture to control depth of field.

A variable ND filter is particularly useful for video, since it allows you to control exposure independently of the aperture and ISO. Specifically you set your fixed shutter speed, choose your depth of field, then set exposure using a variable ND filter or ISO gain (for bright or dim light respectively).

Variable ND filters can be constructed by stacking a Circular Polariser (CPL) filter and a Linear Polariser (LP) filter. However I heard some people had issues with colour shifts, and I preferred to just buy a variable ND filter ready to use.

I believed that I would be able to use the variable ND filter for normal photography and not just video. I've found though that image sharpness is severely affected, and out-of-focus (Bokeh) areas of the image have a crazing pattern.

Note, I've only tested the Light Craft Workshop Fader ND filter, and not the Vari-ND filter sold by Singh-Ray. Additionally Light Craft Workshop now no longer sell this model of variable ND filter, the new one is named Fader ND mark II.

These test images were taken under these conditions:

Camera mounted on a good tripod.
Shutter release using a cable.
Photos were taken using live-view, silent shooting mode 2.
The lighting varies for the first couple since the light source is light from the windows.
Three images in each set are using the ND filter (low, medium, high) and the remaining image is taken without a filter.
Photos are taken in raw, and converted to jpg typically using the default settings. That is, they are un-processed.
Crops are displayed at 100%.

Basically don't try to judge the images for sharpness, white balance or quality. Instead the only purpose of these images is to simply compare the images within a set.

Test 1
Canon 7D with Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 HSM. ISO 100, f/8, 45mm. Manual focus on the front corner of the battery.

This was just supposed to be a general photo which should be reasonably sharp for most of the objects. The image sharpness is degraded across the whole image, and the bokeh on the lens appears like a ghosted double image.

	Shutter: 2 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 4 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 8 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 30 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 2 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 4 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 8 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 30 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 2 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 4 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 8 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 30 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

Test 2
Canon 7D with Canon 70-200 f/4 L USM. ISO 100, f/4, 70mm. Manual focus on the front corner of the battery.

For this image I've use a shallow depth of field (f/4). Image sharpness is again degraded and shows ghosting.

	Shutter: 0.7 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 2 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 3 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 10 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 0.7 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 2 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 3 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 10 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 0.7 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 2 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 3 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 10 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

Test 3
Canon 7D with Canon 70-200 f/4 L USM. ISO 100, f/11, 70mm. Manual focus on the front corner of the battery.

In this image, I've increased the aperture to f/11 to see if things improve when bokeh is taken out of the equation. Sharpness is better but still far from the original image. Chromatic aberration is more apparent on the lens hood.

	Shutter: 4 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 10 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 15 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 30 sec (pushed 1 stop) Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 4 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 10 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 15 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 30 sec (pushed 1 stop) Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 4 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 10 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 15 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 30 sec (pushed 1 stop) Fader ND (high) Original Image

Test 4
Canon 7D with Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 HSM. ISO 400, f/2.8, 70mm. Manual focus on the pencil label. All images have the same white balance applied (photos were taken under consistent downlight lighting).

In this image, I've tried to create lots of bokeh with an aperture of f/2.8. Now the Sigma 24-70 doesn't have the most pleasant bokeh because the circles have a hard circle edge. In this case the bokeh has a strange noise pattern which clearly demonstrates the problem of the ND filter.

	Shutter: 1/15 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 1/4 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 1/3 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 1.5 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

	Shutter: 1/15 sec No filter Original Image
	Shutter: 1/4 sec Fader ND (low) Original Image
	Shutter: 1/3 sec Fader ND (mid) Original Image
	Shutter: 1.5 sec Fader ND (high) Original Image

Conclusion

This model Fader ND filter is unsuitable for true photographic work. It is questionable whether it is entirely suitable for video work. Specifically the times you'll use a ND filter for video are when you want to use a large aperture to create large/pleasant bokeh. This filter will result in harsh ugly noise patterns in the bokeh even at the reduced resolution of video.

The reduced sharpness makes it more difficult to manually focus - even when using live-view.

I can only assume the Mark II version of the Fader ND filter, and the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter both perform better. However at this point I'm unable to test them.

More chickens

2010-06-13T20:10:00.011+10:00

We've now got five chickens, having purchased another two today.

This is our family of hens.

"Beatrice" is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, purchased 13th June 2010.

"Snowball" is a White Wyandotte Bantam, purchased 13th June 2010.

"Dotty" is a Cuckoo Pekin Bantam, purchased 1st November 2009. Sadly she had to be put-down on 7th March 2011 after developing paralysis from a virus.

"Edna" is an Isa Brown, purchased 1st November 2009.

"Dora" is an Australorp, purchased 1st November 2009.

Click here to view more photos of our hens.

New chicken coop

2010-06-12T20:35:00.005+10:00

Recently I wrote about how I had designed an automatic door opener for our chicken coop by modifying an alarm clock. Refer to this posting for more details of the design:

http://blog.stead.id.au/2010/01/building-automatic-chicken-door-opener.html

We've now replaced the old chicken coop with a much larger one.

Note the chicken coop is a one-off, home-made design purchased off eBay, which we've then modified to suit our needs.

There's plenty of space in the nesting boxes for our hens. In fact it's probably too big now, so we'll definitely have to get some more girls.

Plus the most important thing, I've converted my automatic door opener to suit. Now it operates vertically, and hence why the clock is on a 90 degree angle.

The operating mechanism is much less prone to error. Specifically there is less friction, and dirt/grit doesn't collect in the tracks. It may also be less prone to forced entry by cunning animals (e.g. raccoons) that you have in other countries.

Here's a video of the automatic door opener in action. Our three hens come out in the order Dora first, then Dotty the bantam and then finally Edna pushes past.

Resolving FOSCAM connection dropouts

2010-06-03T00:30:00.005+10:00

I bought a FOSCAM FI8908W wireless IP webcam off eBay recently. It has lots of features for the price.

However, I've had problems with being unable to connect to the camera after a period of time (an hour or so). Power cycling the camera would fix the problem.

I've tried upgrading to the latest firmware (version 11.14.2.17 is supposed to fix WiFi disconnection problems), but it did not fix my problem.

The problem is not related to my browser or the wireless network. I've tried disabling DHCP (router based static IP). It turns out the problem is that the webcam simply ceases to respond to ARP requests (once in this broken state).

The ARP protocol is a mechanism to translate between IP addresses and Ethernet MAC addresses. Without ARP, you cannot perform IP communications over Ethernet (since all Ethernet traffic must be destined to MAC addresses). The ARP protocol allows network devices to discover the MAC addresses of the designated IP address.

Simply adding a static ARP entry on your PC will restore communications. This show how on Windows to determine the MAC address of your webcam (e.g. IP address 192.168.1.20) and then create a static ARP entry:

c:\> ping 192.168.1.20

Pinging 192.168.1.20 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.20: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.20: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.20: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.20: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.20:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 3ms, Maximum = 7ms, Average = 4ms

c:\> arp -a

Interface: 192.168.1.1 --- 0x10003
Internet Address Physical Address Type
192.168.1.20 01-12-23-34-45-56 dynamic

c:\> arp -s 192.168.1.20 01-12-23-34-45-56

c:\> arp -a
Interface: 192.168.1.1 --- 0x10003
Internet Address Physical Address Type
192.168.1.20 01-12-23-34-45-56 static

To make this change persist after rebooting, simply add the "arp -s" command to a batch file that you run from your Windows startup folder.

How to fold a photographic light tent

2010-04-01T00:25:00.008+11:00

A photographic light tent or cube is invaluable for product photography. It allows you to light a photographic subject with soft shadows and a non-distracting background such that a photograph will look its best. It is ideal for product photography such as when you're selling things on eBay. These eggs were photographed using the light tent:

The tent is sold in a folded/collapsed shape, but when you open the package it springs open. It is very difficult to collapse back into the original shape - if you don't know the technique.

I purchased my light tent from DealExtreme here:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5224

Many of the customer comments say that they can't figure out how to collapse the light tent for storage or transportation. Taking note of this, I was very careful when I first opened the light tent.
I've created a YouTube video showing my technique of folding it back up.

If that's unclear, this animation shows how the structure is bent so that it collapses flat.

The same technique probably applies to light tents sold by other companies. Although if it is a larger size, then it would be difficult.

Learnings (Part 3): Using Predictive Autofocus

2010-02-14T11:32:00.008+11:00

Any modern DSLR camera supports (or should support) predictive autofocus tracking. While they might have this capability, there is an art to using it effectively, and therefore getting in-focus shots of moving subjects.

This is actually something I only learnt on the 19th of August, 2009. Yes, I remember the date, it's an important date. This is after having a DSLR many years, and never being able to effectively shoot moving subjects. I would resort to doing things like:

Stopping down, therefore increasing the depth of field, such that the moving subject might still be in focus.
Increasing the shutter speed ('cause clearly I didn't understand the difference between motion blur and just plain out-of-focus).
Pre-focusing in front of a moving subject.

These can give acceptable results, but why not get the camera do what it's supposed to do.

To use predictive autofocus, you need to understand how it works. Then you need to modify the way you shoot images to give it a chance of working.

These images show the results you can achieve - in this case with the Canon 20D (a camera released in 2004) and a Canon 70-200 f/4 L USM lens. My daughter was riding on a merry-go-round, and was (very) grumpy because she couldn't get the seat she wanted. I pity the other child - but then I guess her photos will be out of focus anyway.

"Grumpy Leia with 'Friend' on the Merry-go-round", Canon 20D, 81mm f/4, 1/500s, ISO 400

"Grumpy Leia on the Merry-go-round", Canon 20D, 188mm f/4, 1/500s, ISO 400

100% crop of same image

At 188mm focal length, an aperture of f/4, and a distance of less than 2 metres, that's a depth of field of around 2cm.

The "magical" solution is simply to give the cameras focusing engine time to track the subject. If the camera can track the subjects movement for a second or so, then at the point when you release the shutter it will be able to predict where the subject will be when the shutter opens.

To get your camera to track movement, you may need to refer to your user manual. On Canon camera, this mode is known as AI Servo, and is automatically selected if you choose Sports mode. While the shutter is half pressed (i.e. autofocus activated), then the camera will attempt to keep the subject in focus, and learn the movement of the subject.

If you take the first shot quickly, then the behavior of the camera might be for "release priority" instead of "focus priority", meaning that it takes the shot as soon as possible, instead of trying to lock the focus. Of course if you release the shutter, and press again then it will be considered another first shot. Furthermore once you release the shutter, the learned subject movement is forgotten.

Using continuous shooting mode will allow you to keep tracking the subject while the shutter is activated, and you can fire off multiple shots. You'll quickly fill your buffer and may actually miss the best shots.

What you need to do is separate autofocus from the shutter button, allowing you to focus continually and take each shot when you want to.

On some cameras there is a dedicated autofocus button (named AF-ON on my Canon 7D). You should hold this down continually, and then release the shutter whenever you want to take a photo. If desired you can still use continuous shooting drive mode. When using the dedicated autofocus button, the shutter button will perform metering (exposure evaluation) and then release the shutter.

Other cameras do not have an autofocus button, but you may be able to modify the camera configuration. This is the case with the Canon 20D which can be modified through custom functions as described on Ken Rockwell site. Custom Function 4, allows you to configure the functions assigned to the shutter button and AE lock button (the * button). Mode 1 is the one you want; this will configure AE Lock to activate autofocus, and the shutter button will lock exposure (and release the shutter). Once you've finished your sports photography, you'll probably want to switch back to mode 0 which is the default.

Now that you understand how to use predictive autofocus, you'll also need to check these things:

Using a single autofocus point may give more consistent results (if you can keep that point on the subject). On a Canon 7D, you can also choose AF Point Expansion.
Consider using the centre autofocus point. This may be more sensitive (depends on the camera).
Use an appropriate shutter speed based on lens focal length and the degree of subject movement.
Where possible use lenses with better autofocus motors - like the Canon USM (ultrasonic motor) lenses.
Use the correct depth of field for your subject.
Ensure the lighting is good for accurate focusing.

Additional References:

Read about other things I've learnt here.

Music of Manolo Camp

2010-02-13T01:11:00.002+11:00

I've been looking at Creative Commons licensed music for use with my videos. There are a number of licenses, but typically they allow sharing and use in non-commercial products.

There is a lot of web sites dedicated to free music, and I've found some music by Manolo Camp that I really like. Here's two web sites with his music for download:

For example try Morning Coffee or Ships in the fog. I'm already picturing some video that I can shoot for that second track. Anyway, hope you like it.

Update 11/12/10: I've published my first video using Manolo Camp's music "Medieval". I think the music really adds polish to the video.

Learnings (Part 2): Time-lapse battery, shutter and aperture life

2010-02-04T00:38:00.007+11:00

Time-lapse movies are cool. Especially when they are really professional looking. Some of my favourite time-lapse movies are made by these people:

I've made a couple of time-lapse movies which you can find in high-definition on YouTube. Perhaps not in the same league as those guys, but it's still fun and rewarding anyway.

I hope to do a lot more, and have recently learnt some new techniques to maximise battery life and minimise wear on the camera.

On a SLR camera, every photo causes the mirror to flip up, the shutter opens and closes, then the mirror flips back down. Being moving components, the mirror and shutter have a finite lifetime. During a time-lapse you may be taking thousands of photos, therefore reducing the life expectancy of your camera.

These techniques can be used with the Canon 7D and 5D mk II cameras (and possibly others) to reduce mirror and shutter activations.

Live View mode eliminates the mirror flapping since the viewfinder is disabled. Unfortunately as I found out here, under normal Live View operation (Silent shooting Mode 1) the shutter is activated twice for every photo. If you select Silent shooting Mode 2, then a sensor reset is used instead of a first-curtain shutter meaning that only a single shutter activation occurs. Eliminating mirror flapping not only extends the life of the mirror mechanism, but also saves on battery power consumption.

Using Live View in itself does use more power because the LCD is lit between each photo. Here is a technique to turn off the LCD, simply connect the supplied A/V cable to the AV Out/Digital socket (the weird USB socket) on the side of the camera. This will trick the camera into thinking you're using an external monitor instead of the LCD monitor and switch it (permanently) off. Note using a HDMI cable doesn't work.

The battery life is (apparently) very long when the camera is used in this manner. But, I'm yet to try it.

For every photo, the camera will also switch the aperture between two positions (except if you are using your lens wide open). Surprisingly, people report success by half unscrewing their lens which results in the aperture staying in the desired position. Instead, a better solution is to operate in Movie mode instead of traditional Live View. This might result in a longer aperture life and/or some power saving. The real gain from this technique though is to reduce flicker in the time-lapse image sequence. Flicker can occur where the aperture does not open to the exact same position every time.

I hope these techniques work for you. Please post links to your time-lapse movies.

Read about other things I've learnt here.

Learnings Index

2010-02-03T22:14:00.006+11:00

Remember when you were young and you used to know everything. Yeah, me too!

Now, even when I'm an expert on a subject, I'm constantly learning new things. I guess it seems more profound or gratifying when you do have an in-depth subject knowledge, and then discover a new dimension.

This is a collection of things that I've learnt, and hopefully they're things you'll find interesting too.

I'll add to this post when/if I learn anything else.

The index:

Part 1: Fractional ISO
Part 2: Time-lapse battery, shutter and aperture life
Part 3: Using Predictive Autofocus

That's it for now. Check back later.

Learnings (Part 1): Fractional ISO

2010-02-03T22:06:00.008+11:00

The ISO setting on a digital camera controls the gain applied to a digital sensor (making it appear more sensitive to light) - in the same way that ASA film speed specified the film sensitivity.

Having previously owned a Canon 20D, I was familiar with traditional ISO values (associated with powers of two), for example: ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600.

Due to my computer background I had assumed that boosting the ISO was achieved through bit-shifting - or digital amplification/gain. It turns out that this is wrong. ISO gain is achieved by analog means prior to analog/digital conversion. That said, ISO expansion modes such as ISO 12800 on the Canon 7D and ISO 3200 on the Canon 20D are achieved by digital gain (bit shifting).

My Canon 7D supports fractional ISO values such as 125, 160, 250, 320 etc. There has been discussions circulating on the Internet saying that the 2/3 of a stop values result in less noise. While there is an apparent loss of noise, this actually a result of over exposing the photo. Specifically:

ISO 160 is actually photographed as ISO 200 (therefore with analog overexposing) before digitally underexposing by 1/3 of a stop. In this case you are more likely to have hard clipping of highlights.
ISO 125 is actually photographed as ISO 100 (therefore with analog underexposing) before digitally overexposing by 1/3 of a stop. In this case you are likely to lose some shadow detail and dynamic range.

Highlight Tone Priority (or HTP) is a another camera feature which alters ISO behavior. This is enabled through Custom Function II-3 (on the 7D) and is often recommended for video work. In this mode, camera will intentionally underexpose (analog) by one stop. For example if you choose ISO 200 (the minimum), then the camera actually shoots at ISO 100 (therefore halving the exposure). In a (digital) post processing step, the image has digital gain applied (normalising the histogram), but this time with smarts to better handle highlight clipping. Or as Canon says "The graduation between greys and highlights becomes smoother".

Both Fractional ISO and Highlight Tone Priority are particularly useful for shooting movies, and JPGs where the image bit-depth is being reduced (in camera) from 14 bits to 8 bits. On the other hand when shooting RAW you want the extra latitude (i.e. bits) to do manual adjustments.

By combining Fractional ISO and Highlight Tone Priority you can get the benefits of extra highlight headroom, and also some reduction of noise. For example, consider shooting at ISO 320 with Highlight Tone Priority enabled. In this scenario the camera will effectively take the shot with ISO set at 200, so it is (analog) underexposing by 2/3 of a stop, then apply the digital gain increase (and avoid highlight clipping).

I believe the Canon 5D mk II behaves the same, but other Canon models or other brands may not. You need to do your own research.

If your camera does behave this way, then by understanding how fractional ISO works, it can help you use it effectively or when appropriate not use it.

Additional References:

Unfortunately this link is dead: http://www.cryptobola.com/PhotoBola/Canon7D_ISO.htm
However a Google Search will find many informative pages linking to that site

Read about other things I've learnt here.

TVersity support for Canon 7D raw files

2010-01-31T22:47:00.003+11:00

TVersity has built-in support for photographic raw files, using dcraw to perform transcoding/conversion on the fly.

Unfortunately the dcraw (version 8.88) included in TVersity version 1.7.4, does not support the Canon 7D camera.

Pukkita's Digital Darkroom Corner has more recent builds of dcraw. There are actually two versions, and type which works on my system (the file dcrawMS.exe) still does not contain Canon 7D support.

Instead, I've got a version from LibRaw. This is not exactly the same. The file dcraw_emu.exe is mostly compatible - but does not support the -c option (which TVersity uses). This option is used to force output to stdout. I've modified dcraw.bat to handle this incompatibility:

@echo off
echo TVersity is converting a raw digital camera image ...
dcraw_emu.exe -w -h %1
move %1.ppm %2

Of course, once TVersity is updated, then this will no longer be necessary.

TVersity media serving to the Astone AP-300

2010-01-28T22:45:00.149+11:00

TVersity is a digital media server that can share media over your home network using UPnP/DNLA.

This is kind-of like Windows file sharing/SMB, except that a digital media server can be a lot smarter. You get access to traditional media such as picture, audio or movie files, like you would through network file sharing. TVersity though can take things further, supporting:

On-the-fly transcoding of media into a format suitable for your media player,
Downloading content from the Internet,
Streaming media as it is being downloaded or transcoded,
Tagging of media to present a smarter content view instead of just a traditional directory structure,
Improved network performance compared with normal network file sharing. I'm able to stream 1080p video rather than having to copy it to the internal HDD

My media player is a Astone AP-300 and is similar to many others in that it has network connectivity, HD video support, and of-course acts as a UPnP Media Player/Renderer.

It supports many video and audio formats, including H.264 video, FLAC/AC3/DTS/AAC audio and MKV/MP4/MOV containers. As such I don't really need the transcoding capability of TVersity. What I'm interested in is the content that TVersity can access from the Internet, including:

YouTube
Picasa Web Albums (like I did for my BeyonWiz DP-DP1 PVR)
Flickr
RSS feeds of music
Internet radio stations
and plenty more

Configuring TVersity was a bit tricky because it didn't recognise the capabilities of my media player and was initially attempting to transcode pretty much everything.

I had to modify the configuration file profiles.xml in the TVersity installation directory. I've uploaded the additions here. Insert the new section at the end of your existing file before the line </profileList>. Make sure to backup first.

This defines a new profile for the Astone media player. Specifically this entry defines the HTTP Header used to identify the AP-300:

<HTTPHeader inUASubstr="DLNADOC/1.50|RealtekVOD neon/0.27.2"/>

You'll note there are two separate headers defined, since the RealTek chip appears to change the header during communications. This is described here.

The remaining entries define the Internet Media Types or MIME Types and the codec's associated with each. I've tried to fully define the capabilities of the AP-300, but I'm sure there are things missing.

There is also an thumbnail image I created for the AP-300 - which you can download here:

Once you connect via UPnP, the Astone Media Player should now be identified on the TVersity Status screen:

Try playing back existing media on your computer. If that is successful, then you can try to add some Internet feeds to TVersity - you do this from the Library menu.

Try these:

Type: Audio RSS
Audio RSS: http://instrumental.podomatic.com/rss2.xml
Title: Dreamweaver's Instrumental Music Podcast

Type: Photo RSS
Image RSS: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?format=rss_200_enc&ids=30814434%40N03
Title: Mark's Cat pics on Flickr

Type: Photo RSS

Image RSS: http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/MarkStead.and.Family/albumid/5423834418197093601?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_US
Title: Mark's Chicken pics on Picasa

Type: YouTube
youtube Type: Top Rated Today
Tile: Top Rated YouTube

Type: YouTube
youtube Type: By User
User: MarkSteadandFamily
Title: Mark's YouTube

Note for the YouTube videos in particular, I had to retry playback a couple of times. The first time it starts trying to download, and the AP-300 times out before any content is streamed. Be careful not to start too many downloads or your Internet connection will slow down. I'm not sure at this stage how to playback HD videos from YouTube - does anyone know.

For Internet radio, I found I had to strip the URL from within a playlist file (*.pls):
For example, the playlist on this page contains URL's I would plug into TVersity like this:

Type: Internet Audio
Audio URL: http://scfire-ntc-aa01.stream.aol.com:80/stream/1035
Tile: Digitally Imported: Chillout

I've found the transcoding function of TVersity to be useful at least for Monkey Audio (*.ape) files. These are not supported naively by the AP-300, and transcoding/streaming occurs very quickly (unlike for video).

TVersity runs on Windows only. There are alternatives, check out this list:

List of UPnP AV Media Servers

You'll find a lot of NAS devices (like from QNAP, Thecus etc) come with TwonkyMedia support.

Additional references:

Building an automatic chicken door opener

2010-01-07T15:32:00.016+11:00

We recently got chickens and found them to be noisy in the morning because they wanted to be let out of their coop. Of course, we just wanted to sleep in. What we needed was an automatic door opener.

Here's our 3 hens (Edna, Dora and the bantam Dotty). Click for more photos.

Here's the chicken coop, with the addition of an automatic door opener. The chicken coop was purchased from Pets Station.

There are some (expensive) automatic chicken doors that are available for purchase, but I decided to design and make my own. You are welcome to copy or adapt the design to suit your own requirements.

Our chicken coop has a sideways opening door - this design could be applied to a vertical opening door. My plan was to use an alarm clock as a timer to trigger opening of the door. I found a suitable (cheap) clock at a home wares store. My requirements were simply that it was battery operated, and had a mechanical alarm - that is, it must physically ring bells. I assumed I could modify the mechanical mechanism to release a spring loaded door.

On opening the clock, I find that it uses a motor with an off-centre axle to actuate the bell ringer.

The alarm clock used two 1.5V AA batteries, one was for the clock, the other was used to drive the alarm motor (obviously switched by the alarm activation). Since there was switched power source, maybe I could replace the motor with a solenoid. It turns out that the available solenoids (e.g. this one) require a higher voltage (12V) and this would complicate things.

Instead I decided to go with a motor, and have it pull the door open using a string. The existing motor was suitable, but would require a gearing system to reduce the speed and increase torque. The gears I found already include a motor - which coincidentally is exactly the same model. Apparently it can operate at 3V or 1.5V - so I have the option of putting the batteries in series if I require more power. I decided with a bit of re-engineering the clock body could be used to house the automatic door opener. Here's the motor and gears attached to the back panel of the clock (note the gearing ratio needed some later mods).

The alarm clock rings the alarm for a very long time (an hour or so), and normally you would manually switch the alarm off. I'll add a micro switch to stop the motor once the door has opened fully. This shows the micro switch attached to the back panel.

That will cover opening the door, but how do I close the door. Due to the motor gearing it will be near-impossible to physically close the door. Instead I'll add a switch to reverse the motor. Taking it further, I add a three position switch, with manual open, close and auto (open) positions. This photo also shows the opening for the micro switch, and the door string.

Now it was ready to be wired up, here's the before and after shot. Not exactly neat, but it works.

Here's a circuit diagram showing what I've done - click to access a PDF version.
Update 5/9/10: The diagram now shows the wiring of the rotary switch.

Now I attach a fishing line to the motor (after referring to fishing web sites for instructions on tying knots).

I also modify the gearing ratio since the string was being pulled too fast. When the micro switch activated to stop the motor, there was too much travel and the switch would have been damaged. This image also shows mounting holes that will be used to attach the clock to the chicken coop.

This shows the door opener attached to the front of the chicken coop.

The string attaches to the door as shown. I've also got an adjustable screw to press the door stop micro switch.

This shows the door stop activated.

To protect from weather, I've modified a plastic container to fit snugly around the clock.

I've also added a large shield to prevent water getting down the back, or through the holes I use to mount the plastic container. Here's the completed door opener.

This video shows the door opener active. I'm starting it manually here, but under normal operation it will be triggered by the alarm timer.

We've currently set the door to open at 5:30AM. We did an investigation shown in the following video and found that the chickens are waking before 5AM - when it is still very dark. They don't seem too fussed with being forced to sleep in a bit longer. They also don't mind the sound of the motor.

Update: The wooden door frame has been replaced with aluminium to reduce the sliding friction (and avoid risk of the door expanding due to rain). I also intended to replace the door with a plastic one, but have not yet done so. The wooden door seems to slide alright, even with the dirt and muck that can collect there.

This photo also shows how I've spring loaded the door. This reduces door bounce when opening, plus helps when closing the door. The springs are only light, since I don't want to strain the motor. Battery life seems good so far, with 2 months on the same battery.

Update 1/4/10: I've replaced the first AA battery after almost 4 months of operation. The battery wasn't flat, I just didn't want to risk it not opening in the morning. Of course, I've only replaced the door motor battery, the clock is operating on the other battery.

Update 12/6/10: This chicken coop has now been replaced with a larger one. We're still using the same automatic door opener however it now operates vertically, see this posting for more details.

http://blog.stead.id.au/2010/06/new-chicken-coop.html

BeyonWiz PVR Picasa Web Album viewer active

2009-04-27T00:20:00.017+10:00

I wrote an interface to Picasa Web Albums for the BeyonWiz PVR range (DP-P1, DP-S1, DP-H1 and DP-P2).

This allows you to view Picasa Web Albums on your TV without needing you to switch your computer on. Instead it directly accesses Picasa Web Albums through your Internet connection so you are always getting the latest photos your family and friends have uploaded.

Here's some images of the user interface. Note these are photos of the TV screen, so are not representative of the actual picture quality.

This software is open source under a New BSD license. You can view, download or contribute to the code on the Google Code project WizTV-modules. Please ask questions or provide feedback on the BeyonWiz Forum.

The company must be happy with it. They are now promoting their hardware based on the Picasa viewer capability:

Kemp believes the latest Beyonwiz range is the most feature packed PVR on the market. In addition to having dual tuners and access to Freeview’s EPG, these models double as media centres, with users able to access videos through internet connectivity. Picasa is currently available, and YouTube could be coming in the near future.

Future plans for the project are:

Slideshows - when that capability is available
Display image information (e.g. EXIF)
Larger image sizes (full 720p width/height, or even "overscan") - subject to memory limitations

Tasmanian Holiday Map View

2008-11-07T00:05:00.008+11:00

Map view for this posting.

View Tasmanian Holiday 2008 in a larger map

Tasmanian Holiday 2008

2008-10-28T13:10:00.035+11:00

We recently had a week long holiday in Tasmania. Here's what we did and what we saw. Make sure you click on the photo links - there are almost 200 photos. I've created a map you can view here.

Our journey started with an overnight ferry ride from Port Melbourne to Devonport. I was surprised and impressed with how much the ferry was buffeted by the waves. It was quite a rocky ride once we left the Port Phillip heads, and we had some trouble sleeping.

In Devonport we had no time to waste, having to rush to Corinna to catch a cruise along the Pieman River.

Corinna

Corinna was an old mining town, but is now a wilderness village on the edge of the Tarkine Rainforest. It is somewhat remote, being almost an hours drive to neighboring towns.

Pieman River Cruise - all photos

We managed to make our river cruise - after some upsets along the way, and thanks to the cruise operators waiting for us.

The cruise takes place on the Arcadia II - built of Huon pine in 1939.

The cruise takes you to the rugged beach on the west coast of Tasmania. It is a very scenic trip viewing the rainforest bordering the Pieman river.

This photo is a sea eagle we saw on the way back.

Corinna Township - all photos

In Corinna, we stayed in a self contained cottage. Since Corinna is so remote, the township relies on rainwater collection and solar electricity generation. We didn't have to rough it though, the accommodation is very cosy.

Walks - photos & more photos

There are beautiful rainforest walks leaving from the Corinna township. The Huon Pine walk is a short (20 minute) boardwalk following the Pieman river downstream. The Whyte River walk leads upstream, and is much longer so with a young child we could not go very far.

Parts of the walk felt like you were in Middle Earth.

Flora & Fauna - all photos

The locals were not to shy either. This is a Tasmanian Pademelon, a bit smaller than a Wallaby.

Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village - all photos

At Cradle Mountain, we stayed at the Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village. The accommodation was very nice, and I would certainly recommend it to others.

Dove Lake - all photos

We didn't go on the longer walks that set off from Dove Lake however I did make it down to the lake to take some photos. This photo shows an old boat shed on the lake.

You can just see the last remnants of snow on Cradle Mountain in the distance.

Fauna - all photos

There was lots of wildlife at Cradle Mountain - literally on the side of the road.

Walks - photos & more photos

The Ronny Creek to Snake Hill walk is around 45 minutes and shows the sometimes harsh landscape of Cradle Mountain. It is all boardwalk, though there are stairs in parts.

The Enchanted Walk more closely resembles the rainforest we saw in Corinna.

Marakoopa Cave - all photos

On the way to Westbury, we stopped at the Marakoopa Cave near Mole Creek. The guided tour runs for almost an hour and is interesting and informative.

Westbury
Elm Wood B & B - all photos

We stayed at the Elm Wood B & B. It was very relaxing accommodation and the hosts were helpful.

The gardens were great with lots of pretty flowers.

We ate at the Fitzpatrick's Inn and the food was beautiful.

Westbury Village Green - all photos

Our B & B fronted onto the Westbury Village Green. This large park is surrounded by historic buildings, and lovely old trees.

The town of Westbury dates back to the 1820's and the Village Green is apparently the only traditional village green in Australia.

Cataract Gorge, Launceston - all photos

I guess we found this a bit average compared with some of the other places we had been. That said, we didn't have time to do any of the longer walks.

Bicheno - all photos

We now head down the east coast towards Swansea. The coast is extremely pretty, making you think it is somewhere tropical.

In Bicheno we find rock formations that have lichen which gives them a bright red colour.

Swansea

Meredith House B & B - all photos

We now stay in the Meridith House B & B in Swansea. Swansea doesn't seem to have the wow factor of Bicheno, nor the history of Westbury - but it is overlooking Coles Bay and the Freycinet Peninsula.

Nine Mile Beach & Dolphin Sands - all photos

Much too cold to swim. You can see the mountains of Freycinet on the horizon.

Freycinet National Park

Cape Tourville Lighthouse - all photos

We had to backtrack from Swansea to get to the Freycinet National Park. When we arrived it was raining lightly (the first bad weather for our holiday). Lucky for us the weather was clearing by the time we got to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was a bit disappointing - I guess I thought you could at least climb up and read about some of the history.

The rocky coastline was impressive.

Sleepy Bay - all photos

We went to Sleepy Bay, based on a recommendation from the National Parks officer.

Sleepy Bay was stunning and beautiful. It certainly made our visit to Freycinet worth it.

It's a pity we couldn't see more of the Freycinet National Park - but other sights (like Wineglass Bay) were too far for our young child and my back.

Richmond

On the way down to Hobart we stopped in to the historic town of Richmond.

Richmond Bridge - all photos

The Richmond Bridge was built in 1825 by convict labour. It is the oldest bridge still in use in Australia.

Old Hobart Town Model Village - all photos

Old Hobart Town is a model village of Hobart based on plans from 1820.

As a photographer, I'm aware of a technique whereby people distort real photos so that they appear to be of miniature models. For example, photographing a real train so it looks like it is actually a toy train set. A friend of mine has some great photos showing the effect.

Anyway, I couldn't decide on how I should shoot these photos of actual miniatures. Some have a shallow depth of field and look down from above therefore accentuating the miniature model effect. While others have a larger depth of field where I've tried to make them look real(ish).

Tahune Forest Airwalk, Geeveston - all photos

The Tahune Forest Airwalk is just a big promotion for Forestry Tasmania. While it certainly demonstrates the ability of the forest to regenerate even after clearfelling, I don't think it is then justification for them to have access to old-growth forests. They don't take into account the loss of diversification of species after regrowth, or the impact on wildlife.

This 597m walk amongst the trees gets you 20m above the ground. A cantilever section that is 48m above the river level, provides views of the forests and the junction of the Picton and Huon Rivers.

Mount Wellington

Mount Wellington is 1271m high and is a great panoramic view over Hobart. Make sure you bring some warm clothes, since it dropped from 17 degrees to 8 degrees at the top - and it was blowing a gale too.

Here's a stitched panorama produced by joining multiple photos together:

Ross - all photos

Now driving back to Devonport through the midland route, we stop off in the historic town of Ross.

Similar to the town of Richmond, Ross also has a old bridge built by convict labour - this one built in 1836 (being the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia).

Clarendon Homestead - all photos

Clarendon Homestead in Evandale is a Georgian mansion built in 1838. It is now restored and owned by the National Trust. It has large formal gardens and beautiful parklands.