bmp4k adventures

[leslie]

Dipping my toes into the lighting department. I bought a cheap wifi dimmable mirrabella led bulb. Then found out i needed a wifi controller for it. So maybe not so cheap. Payed jaycar a visit, picked up  one of their powertech 4 way smart wifi powerboards. it also has provision for two usb outputs which could be advantageous later on i'm thinking.

Had an issue getting everything playing together nicely, however that could be a slow internet out here i'm thinking. Took half a dozen attempts to get the first bulb working, i have since bought another lighting mount, and bulb and got it working, only took   3 attempts this time. To be honest i dont think i did anything any different.

This wifi stuff is about as close to magic as one can get, i expect 🤔

With two bulbs you need add two instances or one  button for each light, inside the mirrabella phone app and you  switch buttons to make changes to either light, its not too tedious.  

The led bulbs are 9 watts, not a lot i guess but hopefully enough to either help light a background or shoot some product videos perhaps. Some very quick testing indicated if i use the bmp4k i need to set the shutter  to 1/50 to avoid flicker or banding. The mounts came with 150 watt bulbs. So i'm thinking i can swap out the bulbs if i want more light. i do have some rather large reflectors that could also be adapted to control the light but that's another project later on. The cat also seems to dig the orange, teal look. 😉

[leslie]

Just for giggles, i set up the gopro 9 on the mavic 2 pro. I have seen some videos of the mavics lifting stuff and wondered how they'd handle something mounted on top. Surprisingly well actually, didn't seem to be any tendency to tip. Although i flew it slowly to be safe. I think further testing is warranted, however i'll be ditching the mic and cabling as that was a bit of stunt for the camera.  I reckon if i mount the camera backwards i can get some for and aft shots that might give an interesting perspective.

I did flatten a battery getting it up in the air. First off  the mount attachment and strap that secures it is fiddly to install, more practice may help solve that. Then i had sensor problems i think maybe the mavic sensor was picking up the gopro, so i turned them all off, then had magnetic interference issues perhaps i was to close to the house, trying to keep in the shade. In the end had to turn drone, controller and phone on and off three times. 

[leslie]

Nearly a week ago I joined the 4k viewing universe. Lashed out on a sony bravia 4k tv. Having a bmd p4k and not being able view all that goodness is just wrong. Well that's how i justified the purchase 😉 It may or may not be the best 4k viewing tool out there. However the local store had one in stock at a price i was happy enough with, so it came home with me.

Was actually there to get a gps for my mom as  dad had to head down to the big smoke  for a medical procedure, which ended up going well. Been eyeing of this particular model for 6 months or more. Till now a combination of no stock and or no funds has prevented me from acquiring one.

Pretty impressed with a 4k picture so far, although at the moment it does sit at the back of my desk, so my eyeballs are less than three feet away from it lol. I downloaded the first bm p4k short i could find which happened to be bubbles shot in 4k which looked really nice but then the model is quite pretty which probably helps lol. I'd like to find that picnic in romania short again and watch it in 4k. I thought that was almost sublime and probably what made me a happy chappy, that i preordered the p4k. 

I got the 4k display with the intent of using it to force me to pick up the bmp4k again its kinda been languishing on the desk, the mavic 2 pro and gopro 9, not to forget the olympus e-m10 have all been getting the love. Having said that all the above, do 4k as well although i can only do 4k timelapses with the Olympus.  but thats ok, its all part of the plan.  

I did watch a dvd from the laptop thought the 4k display last night and to be honest i thought it was a bit soft. Not sure i'll be getting a blueray or 4k player, been pretty happy watching DVDs on a hd display till now. With youtube, it really is unwatchable at lower resolutions. Not that i am complaining, i did buy it to do 4k. I thought it was a good idea to throw all sorts of resolutions at it, to get an appreciation of what i like and do not like. 

I probably won't be watching a lot of tv on it, Most channels are 575 lines, there's a couple of  1080 hd channels and that's it. The internet is too slow to watch stuff on sadly and i can't see that changing any time soon. So for the most part, it may be doing duty as one big editing monitor.  We'll see how it all develops. 

[leslie]

Not seeing much action down in the lenses forum, I have however continued doing my bit for someone's else's economy,  the Japanese economy actually. Bought a cheap nikon lens. The nikon 43-68 zoom, supposable the worst lens in the history of nikon lenses,  if the internet is to believed. You may ask what possessed me to do that ?  and i'm glad you asked, one reason, it was cheap 🙄 the main reason, was the flares it produces. Which i'm kinda partial to.  there is a type 1 with the lens details on the inside of the filter ring. Thats supposedly the soft version, mine is type 2 with the lens detail on the outside of the filter ring. 

today has been  the coldest day of the year so far,  frozen water pipes till about 9 am . I think  yesterday was pretty cold as well. i did take a few shots with the nikon attached to the olympus e-m10 this morning however i'm having trouble uploading them, maybe the cold has frozen the internet as well.  🤔  I'll try uploading them again later. I will say it's nice to be able to mount full frame lenses on a variety of cameras. 

Really been meaning to do spend some time with p4k lately. However since i came back from my roadtrip ( 2600k's in 5 days ) i put the t5 in a safe place and haven't been able to find it since. 

Warning cuteness overload below...

 

[leslie]

Still looking for a ssd 🙄 so not much action on the p4k front. Had some nice sunsets the last couple of days, so the olumpus e-m10 has been out and about with the nikon 43-83 zoom for some experience. Heres a couple of instances from closed down to wide open. May google sunsets and see if i cant improve on them in some way. I'm fairly confident there must be plenty of options to pursue. I think i have already said i dont mind a sunset and im quite happy with the sunstars, i'm also fond of the blooming in the second photo. For me at least i'm not sure i'd call this lens the worst that nikon has produced.

I also bought Andrew Reids Dynamic Range Enhancer. I think i have 2 cameras that do .264 and one that does .265, so it will be interesting to see if there's any issues. Cant complain about the price for it either. 

[leslie]

Made  couple of cheap brackets for the neewer slider. Also bought  two pa speaker stands. The brackets don't add as much stability as i would have liked. Not sure how everyone else does it. There will a mark two type bracket in the near future.  However they should do ok for a few sessions with the camera.

I bought another t5 so i'm up and running with the p4k again. Its just a bit frustrating to have a t5 lying round somewhere. I swear somewhere in my room is a micro black hole that randomly swallow's objects and spits them back out months later 🙄

Its almost spring here, there's some early flowers about. Being a Saturday tomorrow i intend to spend some time with the p4k. There's also car races on as well at carnells raceway, so might get to that as well. Only problem is a snap covid lockdown in qld, not sure if the races will be on.  

[leslie]

Ok, i really did buy nikons worst zoom, if the internet is to be believed . The original nikon 43-83mm f3.5 zoom serial no in the 580311. The originals ( Bad bad lenses 🙄 ) have all the info on the inside of the filter ring. The later corrected lens Have the info on the outside of the  filter ring. 

Hadn't been able to replicate the lens flares, that i have seen online. Since price wise i thought it was cheap enough, i bought the original as well. i did take a few photos this afternoon, however the sun wasn't very obliging, so not much flare happening. I can see quite alot of internal reflections looking down the lens. So there is potential there i think.

My last photo doesn't really do it alot of justice, the metal round  the lens, looks pretty ordinary. The lens looks kinda sad as well, it is clean and mint looking.

[leslie]

Nikons worst zoom lens.

Part Two.

Sorry for the click baaity title,  just trying to fit in. 😉   

Here's a few images from this morning and late yesterday. A set of twins nearly a week old. Also a roll of chicken wire. there's a full picture and a 100% crop. This lens is definitely soft. I leave it up too your own judgement, whether its ok or not. On the upside it should take the edge off any digital sensor connected to it.  Just trying to keep it positive  🤔 

I wonder with the 2x crop of the Olympus plus the 43-86 zoom and inherent softness if it is any good at portraiture ? or interviews perhaps? 86 mm is pretty close to the popular 85mm of portraiture lenses. Food for thought.  

Last photo is for the bokeh, With a f of 3.5  wide open its not the fastest out there, but i think it did ok. Theres about a meter of separation between the two fruit trees. 

Tomorrow i'll get a few photos with each of the lenses for some comparisons. May even get some footage with the p4k. 

 

[imazop]

Has to do with something about the Metadata. Pretty much the only thing Explorer is looking at I would guess.

[leslie]

Took a different tack today. Broke out the x, y, bed for the drill press. Bolted the letus gopro anamorphic to it, and proceeded to mill away. The letus anamorphic is made for the gopro 3+ and 4. I'm attempting to drag it into 2021 and fit it to the gopro 9.

lining everything up by eye, it seemed doable so i have milled the edges closer. I still need to take a little of the right hand side and radius the corners so that it fits the new, only used once lens housing 😉. I should mention, i had two layers of masking tape on the front lens and one on the back to keep thing clean.

Not sure if that glass is bullet proof, however it took a bunch of blows of increasing vigor  to actually break it. there is a thin layer of some type of rubber cement holding the glass in and probably sealing it as well . Once the glass is broken it cleaned up pretty easily. 

Starting up the gopro and lining it all, again by eye, i get a slight vignette on super wide. Its clear with all the other lens settings. Since narrow and linear are my modes of choice, i should be ok i reckon. 

Once everything fits i'll mix up some 2 part epoxy and glue it to the 9 lens housing. I probably need to set up a jig of some sort, so the i can ensure the flares are horizontal before the glue hardens.

[leslie]

On bit of a crusade at the moment. Got a 3 week 4wd road trip coming up in a month with the brother. So playing with cameras and gear, finetuning everything for an easier time of it. Well thats the plan. Some time ago i had a bracket made up that has two 1/4 holes in it that match up with the handy little m2 crane i have. Revision 1.1 had one slot  machined into each 1/4 inch bolt and a circlip attached. Now the 1/4 inch bolts live on the bracket and attaching the m2 to the bracket is reduced to minute. the bottom of bracket has two bolts through it, that connect to to a painters pole, which give me about 11 feet of reach.

revision 1.2 will include machining a slot into the back face so that i can connect the usb and get a finger on the wide/tele button. As i didn't think that through as i should have 🙄

[imazop]

I have sworn of lenses till i can put some dollars together for a fvd16a for the elmoscope type 1. Got a confirmation email from rapido this morning that the fvd16a will fit. I'll just buy the front adapter / clamp thing as well, i have the rear mounting already sorted. Roblox Guides get-mobdrovip.com

[leslie]

imazop is a spammer. your all been warned

[leslie]

Quick update, got the gopro lens housing sorted and the letus anamorphic is milled down till it fits. Not pretty, but it works. Now for some epoxy. 

[leslie]

Ok round 1,  did not go to selleys powergrip, better than superglue. If you believe the hype. Made a bit of a mess actually, took some acetone and rag to both the letus anamorphic and gopro lens mount. Not sure what the lens housing is made of, however acetone does take the shine of it somewhat. Round two will be to leave it next to the stove overnight in the hopes heat may help it adhere properly failing that I'll buy some 2 part epoxy in town tomorrow .

[leslie]

Don't worry the p4k has been getting some love too. bought a cheap shade box that fits on the 15mm rails. Also purchased the smallrig cage and the associated base clamp with the arri dovetail which lead to more expense with a second hand 8sin 5 inch dovetail from b&h photo in the good ol usa. hopefully it turns up before i head off.

One last purchase was a large plastic hard case. I plan to dig some large cavernous holes in the foam to sit the p4k in as well as a few other bits and pieces.  

[leslie]

Round two, did go to the selleys power grip. Perhaps the application of acetone and combination of me restraining myself from touching it for 12 hours and leaving next to the slow combustion stove overnight seemed to do the trick. 

The anamorphic does vignette on the wide setting. Using it in the narrow and linear setting is fine. On wide it doesn't look so bad but once you take a photo or video it shows quite alot of vignetting. 

 

 

[leslie]

Did a timelapse of a sunset a couple of nights ago. Gopro 9 used.  Created in resolve, i used jpegs for a quick turn around. I do like the flicker reduction tool in resolve seems to do an admirable job. It does get a bit noisy on dusk that could be jpegs's or my iso settings, something to check. I did take raw photos as well and after watching a few youtubes i have worked out how to convert raw gopro images to adobes dng. So the next timelapse should be a step up in quality.

 

Next sunset i do, will have the letus anamorphic lens attached to the gopro and probably 4k. 

[leslie]

So i have the gopro 9 setup with the letus anamorphic attached, timelapsing a sunset. I bought a 10 000 mah power bank to run longer timelapses with the gopro. A side door with accessories slot for the gopro 9 has been ordered to make things a bit more convenient. 

The first time i used the gopro9 letus anamorphic, was a sunset and i had some weird lens reflections/aberrations. I know with anamorphics , we embrace the character/faults, however they did look odd or too much for me anyway. I have since made a trip to carnell raceway and shot some footage with the same setup and i didn't notice anything untoward. I suspect it might be shooting into the light and the fact that the lens isn't flush to the letus anamorphic. i'm withholding judgement till after sunset. Once i can make a timelapse and inspect it  i will consider my options.

I am confident there is room on both the gopro lens housing and the back of the letus anamorphic to machine each a little thinner allowing the gopro lens to sit closer to the back of the letus anamorphic. Acetone also took the shine of the lens housing, not sure if that is part of the problem. A can of matt black should help fix that. Getting both parts apart again may be an issue, but i think some time soaking the lens housing in acetone will help with that, the trick will be keeping the acetone flush to the height of the lens housing.

[leslie]

I have to fess up. I stuffed up with my cheap acquisition of the 8 sin arri dovetail baseplate. So not such a cheap outcome as i would have liked. I bought a smallrig cage, the quick release plate and baseplate with the arri standard dovetail on the bottom. With my understanding of standards, i figured anything made to an arri dovetail standard would automatically fit any other arri standard dovetail. However this proves not to be the case between 8sin and smallrig at least. the smallrig  dovetail has a huge metal block right in the middle of the dovetail plate. The 8sin dovetail  doesn't clear that huge metal block. So er.. i quickly ordered the smallrig 8" dovetail plate. The smallrig dovetail is extra tall and does clear the block. i guess its smallrigs way of keeping everything in the family. Lesson learned.