Video With A Bang

Casting about the other day for some sort of a handle to attach my mobile phone to for video work, I came across a couple of German accessories. Unfortunately they were not fitted with gimbals on the top for the camera , nor with a clamp, nor a 1/4" tripod screw. In fact, I don't think they were intended for modern video filming at all. They did have a pull-string at the bottom of the wooden bit so I pulled one but nothing happened. I threw it in the bin after a couple of seconds...

Note: The neighbours in this suburb are a nervous lot. Loud noises seem to make them very angry. I just found this out.

Well I should have gone down to the new Camera Electronic shop near the corner of Murray and Queen Street in the city. They've got a new cabinet with drone camera systems and accessories in it and one of the displays has a handle called an Osmo Mobile. THIS is what I needed.

DJI, the drone people, make it. It clamps your mobile phone and then lets it turn to follow you - automatically - as you move. It makes all the camera movements that you wish to do smooth and steady - like a professional mounting and crew would do.

It also has time-lapse capability as well as the facility to stream live video out to the world.

The business of moving with a video or motion picture camera has always been a two-edged sword - you get more drama by following or coming into the action, but you pay the price of jerky and disruptive movements with the camera - and these come out on-screen as jumps and bounces that spoil the effect. We can all remember the home movies of the 50's when the camera operator got excited and jumped up and down.

The Osmo Mobile smooths these out - you can walk through a sequence and it looks as though you have been moving the camera on a smooth track. You have become a dolly system that can go anywhere!

But here's another feature of this device - if it can steady out moving pictures, it can also steady out still ones. You can take still images with the mobile phone and hand-hold them for up to 1 second exposures. The results are streak-free.

More - Take panorama photos with automatic internal blending of up to 9 images.

Even more! Prop it onto a tripod and let the tracking facility help you make start trails.

Note: Some mobile phones may be unsuitable for these functions. Make this simple test; if you pick up your phone and girl's voice says " Hello, Central. Number Pleee-uz " you probably won't be able to use the Osmo Mobile.

Everyone else come into the new Murray Street shop and have a look at the gear.

2/324 Murray St, Perth. Click here for details on extended December trading hours.

Let There Be Licht - Metz And Your Mobile Phone

I do not own a smart phone. Mine is a rather stupid one - it can summon the police or a pizza, but cannot take pictures of them as they arrive. I do not repine - I have mirror-less cameras for that. I have a album of 8 x 10's of Neapolitan pepperoni surprise.

For those of you who do have the photophones and who insist on videoing themselves and others, there is a useful accessory just now on the market.

The Metz LED - 72 smart is an add-on LED array with 51 of the little glowing nubbins mounted on a metal mount. It plugs into the socket on your mobile phone and draws power from its own internal Li-ion battery.

It has several power settings starting at a full 72 Lux rating and then going down to a blinking mode. More than enough light to video with the phone or to light up a Subbuteo tabletop football game. The battery will go for some four hours on a full charge - and you charge it from a USB port on your computer in about 165 minutes.

Those of you who will be artists with this light will be artists and those of you who will be party pests with it will be party pests - the equipment does not make the person. But at least you will be brightly illuminated.

Sun Power Battery - Sirix

If you are a person who uses your tablet, mobile phone, or other modern communication device a lot, you will eventually run out of electricity and place to recharge it. Then you will either have to revert to smoke and drum signals or find some more juice.

Here's the answer - a solar-powered storage battery that can feed the volts out through normal and mini-USB ports. In from the sun, out to your phone - how cool is that!

Still won't pay for the credits on the phone and still won't protect you from the rexting pests, but at least you won't be out of touch.

The basic battery in there is a Li Polymer type that contains 5000mAh. It will let out 5VDC from the two USB ports at 1A. the solar charging is done at 5V and 200MA.

You get three cords and a carabiner with it. All in a rubber-coated brick. With an LED torch built-in.

Now you're even more independent on holiday.

Self Absorbed With Go Pro And Your Mobile Phone

Have you ever wanted to send a picture of yourself in a nightclub toilet to prove that you are having a good time...? Or a picture of yourself on a beach that isn't just City or Cottesloe to prove that you have been on a holiday...? Or just a complete family picture with you in it instead of sitting behind the viewfinder of the DSLR...to prove that you exist...?

Here is your chance.

These complete selfie kits have attachments for action cams, compact cameras, and mobile phones so that you can hold them out in front of yourself. Then you make your mouth look strange and away you go.

You can use them to bat strangers in the back of the head in a mall while taking your selfie and for some reason they accept it. Expect them to bomb your photos in return - in Japan they use two fingers to wave at you and in other places they use one, but expect the unexpected.

Oh, go on. Buy one. You know you are going to take selfies so you might as well do it on a semi-professional basis. If nothing else you can use it to put your phone under the bed to see if you can find where the other shoe went.