Just some random photos...

As the title says, just some random photos from a random walk with the camera before work the other day.

Unboxing: iOptron Skytracker V2

I've decided to explore widefield astro photography a bit more this year. So to get past the limitations of a fixed tripod I invested in an iOptron Skytracker V2 with the intention to make both still photos and time lapse videos. Just got it yesterday but the weather forecast doesn't look too great for the time being. So I'll have to wait for a while to be able to try it out. But at least I made a silly little unboxing video just for the hell of it. :)

Astro Time Lapse

It's been a long while since I've made a video, at least for this blog. About time! I've been concentrating on my (swedish) photo blog lately, so this one has been a bit neglected unfortunately. But I will try to keep it somewhat alive at least.
And the video? Well, I'm very hooked on astronomy and that's something I've been for a few years now. Last night I rigged my DSLR to shoot images continuously in an attempt to get some of the Perseids (meteor shower) on fram. Unfortunately this didn't go as planned. I did see eight Perseids, but they were not in the direction where the camera was pointed and after three hours the clouds came rolling in and pretty much ruined the attempt. However I thought I'd try to make a time lapse video with the 342 images I got during the night. There are quite alot of activity in the sky anyway such as aircraft and satellites (and those cursed clouds of course).

Oh and beware of the "ghost"!

 

Venus Transit 2012!

I stayed up late last night to make filters to view and photograph the Venus Transit. Made filters for my binoculars and 100-400mm zoom lens, using Baader AstroSolar Safety Film. Messed up a bit when I made the filter for the camera lens by getting glue on it. Tried to clean it as best as I could before it dried, but didn't manage to get it all off. The pics didn't turn out that bad anyway. Had a blast watching the event, which was prio number one. The pictures are a bonus. Please click on them for a larger version.
Will post a filter making video soon. Now I'm back to bed!

Unboxing the Skywatcher Heritage 130P

What? Another unboxing video?! Oh well I can't help myself. Havn't made a video for quite some time now so I thought this one had to do. ;) I've spent this past autumn and winter gazing at the stars, moon and planets using a pair of inexpensive 10x50 binoculars (Celestron UpClose). In fact I've also been able to see the Orion Nebula and the Andomeda Galaxy as well as the comet Garradd. Although very, very faint. To me, that's really amazing. Anyway, I thought it was time to get a first telescope and I chose the Skywatcher Heritage 130P since it's got really good rep. I've read lots of good stuff at stargazerslounge.com, my now absolutely favorite astronomy forum. Great people over there, lots of knowledge and eager to help out noobs like myself. By going there, it got alot easier to decide which telescope to get.

TractionMan goes Geocaching!
Geocaching is another hobby mine. So I brought the camcorder on a little cache hunt last week right after work. With the goal of finding a particular cache called "Double bridge" that I've been wanting to find for a while. It's not a difficult one, just hidden in an odd but fun place. Yeah, yeah I know, I'm not a hardcore geocacher. :)
Anyway, don't worry about spoilers in the video. I won't show the actual hiding spot of the cache.
If you're curious about geocaching, just visit www.geocaching.com and find out all about it.

Panasonic HDC SD90 - Random Test Footage!
Have to admit that I've been a bit lazy with the video editing lately. But here it is at last, the random test footage video, shot with the Panasonic HDC SD90, all shot in 1080p mode. Not an extensive test video, just a few quick test shots slapped together to see the video quality of this nice camcorder. Had to slow down a couple of clips because they were too short. Most was shot in automatic mode as well. I've shot a bit more since this footage though and so far I'm very happy with it. Great camera for the money in my opinion.

Unboxing the Panasonic HDC SD90!
Got my new camcorder quite a few weeks ago, but I havn't had time to edit this video until now, sorry about the delay.
Have never really understood the purpose of making "unboxing videos" so I thought I'd make one myself just for the hell of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing all you folks who make them. After all, making videos is supposed to be fun, so I guess it really doesn't matter what they're about. And yes, I had fun making this video. Mission accomplished!
Have a nice day!

Spring flowers in the garden!
Ah! Nice weather at last. Got my camera and macro lens out to explore the garden. Didn't bring my tripod this time so these pics were all hand held. Not easy to shoot macro hand held with the narrow depth of field that comes with it. Had fun though and that's what's important.

 

 

 

 

 

Murphy's Effing Law!
When I decided to start making videos again, I got struck by Murphy's law. Something just HAD to go wrong. Take a look at this clip to see what that was. However, it's not all bad news, it actually brought something good with it. That's also in the clip...
Go ahead watch it! Unless you don't want to of course. I'm not forcing you to watch it. Oh well, you do as you please.