There is one Miscellany Category to this Blog.
From time to time, I will explain how I did a particular shot and what gear was used to do it. This applies equally to the methods and tools used to build my site and any special things acquired to make the trip more comfortable. I know this will only be of interest to the Geeks out there, but Hey, I’m a Geek too!
So this first post is about the little VadoHD video camera I’m using for my trip. I love the thing. It’s tiny, has a fixed focus, non-zooming wide angle lens and 8 Gigs of internal memory. It shoots very good to excellent HD video, especially once I mounted a polarizer and lens hood to it. My one major complaint is, it has no front lens threads to take filters, lens hoods or auxiliary lenses. I have one other minor complaint.. that is the fact that the tripod socket is offset to the extreme side of the little VidCam. I like wide angle… most of my work is wide angle. So I set about to build a housing that would allow me to add filters, hoods and wider lenses, plus add a more robust foot. Yes, this whole thing weighs several times more than the VadoHD, but I feel safe now using it under extreme conditions. It was cobbled together from pieces of aluminum from Lowes, the brass foot was acquired from a metal shop in Anchorage. I had a small funky drill press and only hand tools to build it with. I have used it from my bike several times now as well as clamped to the windshield wipers of my van. I can easily remove it from the housing to down-load images and charge it up.
As can be seen from the photos, its pretty well protected from abuse, but NOT weather-proof. All in all, I’ve spent about 12 hours building it, once I had all the parts. I do have ideas for an upgraded version, but it will work just fine for this trip to PR. I use it in tandem with a Manfrotto Ball head (#308) mounted to a Manfrotto Super-Clamp. Its also very rugged. I’ve had the SuperClamp/BallHead assembly for a long time, it always goes with me when I travel.
Arrg…
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