Ian's Tech Ramblings. (Posts about whateverworks)

Neewer Ultra Bright Mini LED Video Light

Ian Barton. — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 16:34:23 GMT

I have been looking for a small LED light that can be mounted on a camera cold shoe to use with my GoPro. I mostly use it to illuminate small objects in front of the camera, but you could also put it on a mini tripod instead of mounting directly on the camera. I already have a larger Neewer LED light and have been very satisfied with it. At the moment this mini light costs £9.99 on Amazon.

This small light comes with a standard quarter inch thread on the bottom and a cold shoe, so it can be attached to most cameras that have a hot shoe adaptor, or anything like a tripod that has a quarter inch screw mount. All four sides have slots for cold shoe adaptors and you can use these to link panels together, creating a bigger light array. The unit I ave comes fitted with a diffuser panel in front of the LED's.

The light requires two AA batteries (not supplied) to power it. The on/off switch also acts as a dimmer. The LED's output daylight balanced light at 6000K It only weighs around 100g, so you won't notice the weight in your gadget bag. The light is available with 36, 49 and 81 LED's. The angle of illumination is around 60 degrees. I have the 49 LED version, which is small enough to fit into most pockets. I don't know what the battery life is, but since it uses AA cells you can always carry around a couple of spares in case you run out of power.

Amazon link

LED Fluorescent Lights

Ian Barton. — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 13:18:21 GMT

We have a lot of old fluorescent tubes in outside buildings. The fittings for most of these are decades old and really need replacing. I have bought a couple of these LED fittings to see if we can use them as replacements. The one linked is a direct replacement for a 5ft tube.

They have a three-year warranty and subjectively the level of illumination is much better than the equivalent tube. Claimed electricity consumption (not checked yet) is less than the 90W tubes they are replacing. An important factor if you have nearly a hundred of the old ones!

Unlike the old tubes, which struggle to start if they are old, or it's cold these come on instantly.

Amazon link

LED Outdoor Lights

Ian Barton. — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 13:18:21 GMT

I bought a couple of these to illuminate outside areas where it would be difficult to run a mains supply.

I have had these a couple of weeks. Illumination is good and they seem to be well-constructed and are IP65 water resistant. Solar recharging seems to be working, given the current short daylight hours and overcast sky.

Amazon link.

SJ Cam 8 Pro Review.

Ian Barton. — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 16:42:10 GMT

In my search for a new action camera I decided to buy the SJ Cam 8 Pro from Amazon. The specifications looked good including optical image stabilization and better battery life than its competitors. However, on the three cameras I received from Amazon, the front display never worked on two and on the third it failed after a couple of days.

I have heard that there have been problems with copies of the SJ Cam being distributed. I have no idea if the three cameras I received were illegal copies or not. The packaging and included accessories appeared to be genuine. Whatever the reason, the three cameras I received were unreliable, so I decided not to buy a camera made by SJ Cam again.

Firefly 8SE Action Camera.

Ian Barton. — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 14:59:22 GMT

I am a keen cyclist who rides mainly on country lanes. However, I do cycle through some of the local small towns. Most of the motorists are considerate and I usually get a cheery wave when I pull over to let them past on single track roads. Unfortunately, there are an increasing number of inconsiderate/incompetent motorists. In the last couple of weeks I have had a couple of very close shaves, which would have resulted in serious injury if I had been hit. So I decided to get some sort of action camera to record my rides. This won't prevent me from being injured, but at least I will have some sort of record of what happened. Also I can gather evidence of the small proportion of drivers who think passing you a few inches away at 60mph is good driving.

I have got an old GoPro Hero3, which is a decent enough camera. However, battery life is very short at around 1hr and it can't be charged while in use. Also it doesn't have any image stabilization, so on our potholed roads it records very shaky footage. After doing some searching and looking at lots of YouTube reviews I decided to buy the Firefly 8SE. The Firefly has a couple of features that I required:

Can be used while recharging the battery.
Optical image stabilization

I bought my camera from Amazon, although you can buy it direct slightly cheaper from places like Gearbest. The box contains a waterproof case

Microphone. Package includes a separate usb microphone (there is an internal one too).
Battery life at around 100 minutes at 1080P.
Can be used whilst it is being recharged.
Can be set to record videos in short segments. If the memory card fills up, the oldest clips will be deleted. So, it can be used as a dashcam.
Lots of clips, buckles and mounts included.
Can record in 4k
Software image stabilization at 1080P.
Minor niggle: recharging is via mini USB (presumably to be compatible with GoPro)
HDMI output
Various modes: car mode, timelapse, can save photos in RAW.

The camera can't be recharged while it is in the waterproof case. New cases are inexpensive, so I intend to cut a small slot in the case so I can plug in the USB cable to recharge while riding. In anything except torrential rain this should be adequately water resistant.

The image stabilization worked very well on our roads. Footage taken when the handlebars were juddering over badly surface road looked quite stable on the video. Most important I could easily read the number plates on passing cars.

Some more minor niggles:

Touch screen can require a few prods to work.
Some button actions not very intuitive: you have to work out which of the small buttons on the side you need to long press for 3 seconds to toggle the wifi.
Some of the included mounts and brackets are a bit fragile. You probably need to buy some decent ones if you use them on a regular basis. I snapped one bracket the second time I used it.
Some people complain about whining on the audio when the screen is turned on. I haven't noticed this, but I don't really need to record audio.

https://amzn.to/2CM9sBe

Amazon Smart Plugs.

Ian Barton. — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 17:59:11 GMT

We have had a couple of Echo Dots and an Echo speaker for a couple of years. However, we don't have any "Smart gadgets". Something to turn off the lights would be useful, as other family members think that lights have an "On" switch, but it has no "Off" function. However, all our switches are brass and most of the bulbs are candles, for which there don't seem to be any aesthetically pleasing smart versions.

However, we do have quite a few power strips with things like computer charging bricks and TV's plugged in, which don't need to be powered up overnight. The TECKIN WiFi Smart Plug works both with Alexa and Google Home (not tested as I don't have a Google Home device). You can control the sockets either by using Alexa, or via the app. The app also allows you to turn the sockets on and off and depending on your Internet setup you can do this if you only have a mobile connection. You can also set up schedules and timers for the plug.

So far they have been very reliable and easy to set up. My only concern is that the Smart Life app does require quite a few permissions and wants to know your location.

Amazon link.

Timelapse Photography Using a DSLR, GoPro or Osmo Pocket

Ian Barton. — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 16:52:35 GMT

I recently bought a DJI Osmo, which has a built in Interval Timer mode, which re-ignited my interest in making time lapse videos. The Osmo makes this very easy: you just set the timer interval, which determines the interval at which the Osmo takes a JPEG and the length of time you want it to continue taking pictures. At the end of the elapsed time (you can interrupt it earlier if you wish) it combines the individual JPEG files into an mp4 video. It also saves the individual JPEG files, so you can process them separately.

Previously I have used a GoPro (built in interval timer), a RaspberryPi (uses cron as an interval timer), or a DSLR with an external Interval Timer to make time lapses. Interval timers are available for a variety of cameras and are relatively cheap (around £13). The Amazon link shows the one I use with my Canon DSLR. Amazon link to interval timer

You will also require some sort of stable mount for the camera. Traditionally this would be a tripod. However, I like making time lapses in the mountains and don't really want to lug 10kg of tripod for several hours up a mountain in addition to all my camping gear. If the terrain is rocky you can usually find a convenient rock or trig point which you can use to perch a mini tripod. If the ground is grassy I have a lash up of various GoPro adaptors attached to a walking pole, which I push into the ground.

Making a time lapse of a sunset or sunrise requires quite a lot of planning and a lot of luck with the weather. First you need to work out what time the sun rises and sets. Most smartphone weather apps will have this information. Secondly you will need to find a location that provides an unobstructed view of the horizon. Bear in mind that the sunrise and sunset will move across the horizon between the two equinoxes according to the date.

Next you need to decide on the time interval at which you want to take a photograph. I have found around 5 seconds to work for me. It doesn't matter if you take too many photographs, but it does if you don't take enough! I would suggest that you start recording at least an hour before sunset. It's also worth continuing to take photos for at least an hour after the official sunset time. Once the sun has gone below the horizon you will often get an alpenglow effect, which can last quite some time.

You should now have an SD card with hundreds of images on it. There are a number of methods of creating an mp4 file from the images. I use a combination of ffmpeg and mencoder. I think these are available for most platforms, they definitely work on Linux and Mac OS. Ffmpeg is the Swiss Army knife of video processing tools. It's under constant development and the developer has been known to change the syntax of the command line options at a whim.

This is a link to "FFMPEG An Intermediate Guide/image sequence":

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FFMPEG_An_Intermediate_Guide/image_sequence

I use ffmpeg to combine the individual jpegs into an mp4 video. Your jpegs will almost certainly be numbered with a suffix that increases by one for each successive photo, so you can automate the process using a script or batch file.

Once you have created the mp4 you will probably find the mp4 file created from several hundred jpeg images is only a few seconds long. You can use mencoder to create a slow motion version of the mp4 video. Finally, you may want to add some background music to your video. You can use ffmpeg to add an mp3 track which adds the audio, but stops when it runs out of video to process.

For full details about creating mp4 files from individual JPEGs, slowing down the video and adding an audio track see my blog post at:

Concatenating JPEG Files Into an mp4 File.

Tools required:

ffmpeg
mencoder
sox

If your JPEG file names end in a number, you can use the "-start_number" command line option:
```
  ffmpeg -start_number n -i test_%d.jpg -vcodec mpeg4 test.mp4
```

G0010024.JPG

  ffmpeg  -start_number 10024 -i G00%d.JPG   -vcodec mpeg4 test.mp4

Note, this will work as long as the sequence is unbroken once it starts. If there are gaps and you want all of the stills included, then renumbering may be necessary to fill the gaps.

GoPro ffmpeg Command Line.

This is the script I use with my GoPro. It creates a 1080p file from a JPEG. The %d is a placeholder for a number, so files starting from G0017096.JPG will be concatenated to make the video.

   ffmpeg -f image2 -r 1 -start_number 17096 -i G00%d.JPG   -s hd1080 -vcodec libx264 timelapse_1080P.mp4

Using mencoder to Create a "Slow" Version of the Video.

This example slows the video down by 50% at 25 frames per second.

 mencoder -speed 0.5 -ofps 25 -ovc copy Flapse_25fps.mp4 -o slower.mp4

Adding Background Music.

There are several ways to do this. If your video is longer than the background music track, you probably want the music to loop until it reaches the end of the video.

I'd recommend sox and the -shortest option for ffmpeg as a solution.

 sox -i short_audio.mp3 looped_audio.mp3 repeat 1000 # adjust count as necessary
 ffmpeg -i input_video.mp4 -i looped_audio.mp3 -shortest output_video.mp4

The sox command will loop the input, and the ffmpeg command will use it for the audio, but stop when it runs out of video to process.

-i parameter is deprecated in sox. Is is properly to use -e ima-adpcm instead.

There are several sources of free background music on the Internet. For example: background music

Manfrotto Mini Pixi Tripod

Ian Barton. — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 11:00:33 GMT

I have recently bought a Osmo Pocket and want to make some videos that require the Osmo to be mounted on a tripod. I already have a Velbon full sized tripod, that belonged to my father, which I could use. I want to use the Osmo on some mountain walks and to record some climbing. In the past I have carted the Velbon strapped to the outside of my rucksack, but the extra weight has put me off taking it with me on a regular basis. I have also got a Gorilla Pod clone, which is good on uneven ground, but isn't particularly stable.

There are lots of mini tripods available on Amazon, but I noticed the Manfrotto Pixi was on sale for £12.50. Full sized Manfrotto tripods have a good reputation, so I decided to purchase the Mini Pixi. The legs are non extendable and have a small rubber pod at the ends of the feet that help to stop the tripod sliding on slippy surfaces. When the legs are closed you can use the tripod as a grip.

Like many other mini tripods there is a ball and socket joint that allows you to tilt and pan the camera. To tilt and pan you press the small button and rotate the head to the desired position than simply let the button go to lock the head. This makes it much easier to adjust the position of the head accurately unlike systems which require you to manually tighten a friction joint.

I tried the tripod my Canon DSLR with a standard lens and it was stable, so it should be OK with any compact camera or phone. It costs £19.50 on Amazon at the moment, but I was lucky enough to pick it up in a flash sale for £12.70.

Amazon link

Honor Play

Ian Barton. — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:33:23 GMT

My Lenovo P2 has been an excellent phone for the last couple of years. Decent performance and outstanding battery life. However, I am finding it's 32 GByte of internal storage a bit limiting. It's stuck on Android 7.0 with a November 2017 security update and has been abandoned by Lenovo. I decided to have a look at what was available for less than £300.

After looking at various reviews the Honor 8 with 6.5" screen seemed to fit my requirements. However, it had a micro usb port, not USBC. I now have several devices that have USBC ports and buying a new phone with micro USB connector seemed a bit "Olde school". After a bit more research I discovered the Honor 8 Play. This is basically a souped up version of the Honor 8, supposedly aimed at gamers.

Specs. include:

6.3-inch full view display LCD IPS (1080 x 2340)
16MP+2MP dual AI camera
3750mAH battery supports 1.5 days of heavy usage and includes 9V/2A quick charge
Kirin 970 AI Chipset
64 GByte on board storage with micro/usb dual SIM capability.
USBC connector

On Amazon it was priced at £240, well within my budget. Now I am not a gamer, but I thought paying a bit extra for a phone that had better performance and USBC was worth it.

Initial setup was a bit unusual. Honor has their own Phone Clone app that did an excellent job of transferring all my apps and data from the P2. The phone has a Notch, that bothered me for all of about 5 minutes before I ignored it. There is a fingerprint scanner on the back and face recognition works really well, even when I am wearing my beanie and reading glasses.

Honor's UI seemed OK, but as a long time Nova user, I just restored my saved settings from the P2. The phone is not officially water proof, but the only time this has been a problem for me was back when I had a Nokia 5800 that was inside the top pocket of my rucksack and the screen died either from moisture or the cold in a snow storm. At full brightness you can see the screen OK in bright sun, but I normally run it at about 20%. The screen aspect ratio makes it easy to reach either edge of the screen, but as I never use the phone one handed that doesn't matter to me.

Speaker is OK, but I only use it for listening to phone calls. It does have the dinosaur 3.5mm jack.

Huawei gives you an awful lot of settings to tinker with, but sometimes this makes it difficult to find a particular setting buried deep in some menu.

The phone came with Anrdoid 8.0, but immediately updated to 9.0 with November 2018 security patches.

As it's meant to be a gaming phone, it came with several pre-installed games, all of which I immediately deleted. There are a couple of other Honor apps that can be deleted if you want to.

Bluetooth connected to all my headphones and speakers without a problem. The bluetooth version is 4.2 with AptX HD.

Main camera is 16 MP, f/2.2 with the front camera being 16 MP, f/2.0. Photos are fine for me.

Battery life - I had no problem getting through a day with more than 50% available at bed time most days.

https://amzn.to/2UNNhkU

Poundland Christmas lights Mods.

Ian Barton. — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:44:13 GMT

Plus how to make them run from a usb charger instead of batteries. You need a couple of 10 ohm resistors and a soldering iron. I am definitely going to try this. One of those "I did it because I could" projects.