Adam Juniper dot com

There is a great blog out there called Fat Cyclist. I’d urge all cyclists to read it because it’s so clearly the work of a man who cares deeply for his riding. Of course like all good blogs it’s become a commercial success too, with everything from the inevitable self-published compilation book to the rather less common cycle jersey and figure-huging shorts. Say what? They can’t look good on a fat cyclist can they?

Aye, well there’s the rub. The “fat” cyclist’s own figures show that he started weighing 183lbs in American-speak or 83kg (a smidgen over 13 stone). Now, to be honest, that isn’t that fat in any serious sense. It might be fat compared to other cyclists (the gold standard, Bradley Wiggins, weighs 69kg / 150lbs / 10.9st for his 1.9m (6ft 3) according to wikipedia), but in comparison with overweight people looking for a little inspiration

Assuming “Fat” has the average US male height of 1.78m (5ft10) – and he looks taller in his pictures – that gives him a BMI of 26.1 – a smidgen over the 18.5-25 “normal weight” range (and Wiggins at 18.7, for what it’s worth). He was down to 169.2lbs / 76.75kg (24.1 BMI with the same assumption) in well under 2 months.

What’s my point? Well what about real fatties? With over 34% of the US population clinically obese (BMI over 30) and the UK average BMI at 29 – just under the obesity line – “Fat” is already a lightweight when he starts. He’s not fooling anyone.

Now my BMI is a rather more depressing 36.3 – 180cm (5ft 11) against a fairly shocking 116.6kg (257lbs, 18.4st) and I’ve barely touched my bike for a year to boot (blaming the rain a lot has been depressingly easy in 2012, the second-wettest year on record) so my levels of fitness are what you might expect. Here begins, I hope, a story of redemption that began when I found I couldn’t fit into the suit I was meant to be a best-ish (is it still best if you’re sharing the role?) man in.

The wedding is this weekend. There’s not much I can do about that. But I can attempt to be good a little longer. Let’s see how I do.

Wow, haven’t things moved on since last I deigned to type on here? I’ll bet you’ve all given up on me?

One of the most interesting things of late has been the debate springing up about the benefits of compact system cameras over those of what are becoming known as HDSLRs. Now me, I like the meaty feel of an SLR in my hands, but it’s got to be said that mere traditionalism might be a bit of a flaw. Because it came up on a book I’m working on, I know that a number of shots from an Olympus Pen made it into Hollywood feature Secretariat (a horse-racing flick). Now, whatever you might think about the steaming pile of Disney family movie that it was, that a ‘pocket’ camera can capture images good enough for a studio cinematographer is no mean feat.

I don’t know if anyone’s used a HD camcorder from Sony’s HDR-SR11/12E range. These are AVCHD cameras that record 1080i (proper 1920 at that) with all the trimmings, and in my time using them as a stand-in for a pro camera server perfectly, right up to the point you want to do anything creative with the focus (a nice focus pull, for example).

For reasons best known to Sony they’ve dispensed with a “manual” control ring in favour of a much fiddlier knob beneath the lens which means any manually adjusted focus mid shot requires the camera to be welded onto a 50-ton tripod. Anything less and you’re bound to cause enough shake to make the shot unuseable.

Which got me thinking… it’s not a physical control mechanism anyway, it’s just a digital dial, like the focusing ring on other compact camcorders, or the jog-dial on phones and SLRs. So there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be a mechanism to control it via IR-remote, just as you can the zoom. I’ve never come across this on a camcorder, but why not? Or, failing that, make the Fold out LCD (which also has all these controls via touchscreen) removable with a short cable so that creative controls can be made without moving the camera?

It’d be brilliant. Simple and brilliant. I’d buy that camera straight away.

The Canon 5D MkII (5DM2) was only the second digital SLR to offer video, after Nikon’s D90, and the first to offer serious features like the vital external microphone socket. Since then a firmware update has given it the ability to set the exposure manually when shooting, hugely boosting the creative possibilities.

But if Canon can change the firmware, why not anyone else? Well, because it’ll invalidate your warranty, that’s why, but if that doesn’t put you off the open platform Magic Lantern Firmware have been busy adding extra features like on-screen audio meters, on-screen crop marks for 16:9, cinemascope, and 4:3.

Only for the brave at the moment, but it’s a good bet that Canon are keeping their eye on developments here too.

Having been playing with QuickTime’s Image Sequence feature for the time-lapse vids I’ve posted recently, I found myself wondering if the same trick could be used to replace a dolly for shots without moving subjects. In other words, stop motion by moving the camera rather than the subject.

I placed a tape measure along a line in the floor, set up the tripod with two legs touching the measure, and took a shot. I then lifted the pod an camera and placed it down carefully, with the same two legs touching the measure, and took another. I repeated this reasonably quickly until I got to the end of the room.

After this I copied the pictures to the computer and assembled them in QuickTime as I’ve described in the past. While results are unsurprisingly jerky straight out of QuickTime, I had hope that Final Cut Pro’s Smooth Cam filter (it’s in Video Filters > Video) would do the trick.

And it sort of does…

I tried another time-lapse this evening, pointing the camera from my window at the sky rather than the ground. Cloud formations are a classic in this genre, though I was a little unlucky that the best one escaped the frame without replacement following or forming. I also tried auto this time – rather than manual exposure settings. The result is a little poppy in brightness terms, but at least it doesn’t fall off as soon as the sky darkens. A word of caution thoug – don’t leave the camera in Auto – Auto without flash is the key. I’ll keep trying though.

There was a lot of talk of the new iPhone being called “iPhone HD”, which would have been great. The iPhone, after all, is the ultimate convergence device – not only does it handle all the things other smart phones do, but it actually has a thriving 3rd party software market so that it can deliver more to different users. I’ve even got an app, Slate, that acts as a clapper-board.

The problem is that it now seems to being hampered by its on-board equipment. The 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera in the 3G was only incremented to 3 megapixels this time. Auto-focus though, which is a massive improvement, and video-capable finally. I ought to be cheering, but for some reason it can only manage to record video at what is a slightly retro 640 x 480 at 30fps. Now 720p (1280 x 720) is only one megapixel, so on the face of it I can’t see why such an allegedly powerful device cannot be adapted to shoot in 720p HD.

Obviously there are storage and quality issues, and it’d be a bit of a gimmick, but it might actually prove very useful from time to time. And from Apple’s perspective – given they seem to leave the phone for a whole year without updates – it will put them a long way behind the competition by the time they correct this. Samsung have already got their OMNIA HD phone performing this trick.

All that said, Apple’s ability to get features discussed and used means that a lot more people might be getting involved in video. The on board trimming tool (editing is too grand a term) looks very accessible, and hopefully it will encourage people to do a bit more editing when they get back to their Macs. Or PCs, of course.

If you’ve ever had to work with on-screen talent too busy to learn their lines, but haven’t had the budget for a teleprompter (or autocue), then why not build your own? And I don’t just mean having the laptop propped up near the lens displaying the words in sequence. While you can do this (and indeed there is browser-based app at CuePrompter which achieves this on Mac and PC), it’s much better to reflect the words the presenter needs directly in front of the lens using glass, just as a studio prompter does.

Teleprompter cutout

All that is required to pull this off is a sheet of glass, which you can swipe from a spare clip frame, and a sheet of thick cardboard to cut and fold to form the box. The card should be black on the inside to ensure no light is reflected onto the lens-side of the glass. Score the card along the fold lines (the outside), then put gaffer tape over them so they don’t tear when you fold them.

Note that the diagonal, the point at which the piece of glass will be attached (again, gaffer tape should do the trick), must be as tall as your screen, and wide enough to accommodate its reflection at 45 degrees. You can measure it, or do the maths yourself (this site is helpful) if you know your screen’s aspect ratio (most TVs are 16:9, most computer monitors 16:10, most old TV’s and monitors, 4:3). It flows like this:

1) Take diagonal measurement (this has always been the manufacturers’ favourite as it sounds bigger).

2) Find out the width and height using trig. To help, the angles for a 16:10 screen are 32 and 58 (and 90, obviously). For a 15inch screen, the base measurement is 12.72 inches.

3) With the base measurement as one of the shorter sides of a 90:45:45-degree triangle, you’ll need to work out the long one. This is the square root of 2(base*base) , or in the case of the 15-inch screen as close to 17 inches as makes no difference.

Now you’ve got your measurements, you can draw out the net onto a piece of card, cut it on the edges and score it on the fold lines.

Once constructed, it can be placed atop a laptop and keyboard (some Blue Tac to keep it above the keys is a good idea). The laptop, running your choice of prompter program that can do horizontal mirroring (Presentation Prompter is free for use up to 3 minutes, so a good choice if you’re getting started). You can copy-paste text straight from a script, edit it in normal view, then switch to mirrored playback. You can use the keyboard or a mouse to alter the speed, so it’s a good idea to have a quiet external keyboard  to hand.

I’ll publish a photo soon, but I’ve got to admit that my first version, though it did the trick, was less than attractive to look at.

Is it possible to shoot video with a Canon 350D (or Digital Rebel, 400D, 450D, or any number of pre-video SLRs)? Yes. They are all supplied with the necessary software and cabling to shoot time-lapse films.

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Is it fun? Yes. For the sake of a couple of hours not really being able to use your computer or camera you’ll be presented with a really neat little video clip that helps bring any project to life. In the example I admit that I just pointed the camera out of my window at my local corner shop, but even then the effect is enthralling; watching the shadows slowly creep across the ground, the vehicles shoot by, and — near the end — someone deciding to have a sit down next to the cake shop.

How is all this achieved? It’s actually terribly simple. All you’ll need is Canon’s original software, your USB cable, and the camera:

1) Fully charge your camera’s battery – sadly it doesn’t take it’s power from the USB.

2) Connect the camera and computer using the USB cable.

3) Set up the camera pointing towards your subject and launch the Canon EOS Utility. (If this is your download app, it might be wise to set a different target folder in Preferences.)

4) Use the mock LCD display to adjust your camera’s settings; click once on a setting icon, then use the left and right buttons beneath to pick a setting. (The camera’s physical control dial is set on Manual). Remember as you do this that the light will likely change over time – manual settings mean that you’ll see this reflected in your video getting brighter or darker.

5) Take a test shot by clicking on the Shutter icon big round one). You can then preview the file on your computer screen.

6) Choose Tool > Timer Shooting from the menu and set up the speed of your sequence. The delay time lets you set a pause (in minutes and seconds) before the first shot is taken. The Shooting interval, is the number of seconds between each shot. I went for 20, and 500 shots (though as it turned out my camera’s battery didn’t quite have that in it). When you’re ready, click start.

7) Click Start. A small delay time will allow you to retire without knocking your camera.

8) When you’re done, open QuickTime Pro (yes, sorry, Pro), and choose File > Open Image Sequence. Pick the first file and click OK. You’ll then be asked to choose a frame rate. 25 for Europeans, 30 for Americans, and 24 for film-lovers!

9) To create a movie file, click File > Export and allow QuickTime Pro to create one to your specifications. Use the options button to make advanced choices, including that to either crop or letterbox to preserve the aspect ratio, otherwise you’ll end up with a squashed picture (as I did here!).

And there you go, QuickTime automatically opens files that are sequentially numbered, and the camera automatically numbers it’s files sequentially. Until they’re exported, however, they’re not compressed into a traditional video format, so very hard to play on anything less than a supercomputer.

My site has been more static than a balloon that’s been rubbed against a jumper for four hours, but it’s time things changed. Rather than just advertising my services, it’s time for this site to offer something of use to everyone (well, everyone with a camera, camcorder, or who shares any other of my passions). To that end I’m going to start putting some fun tutorials upon this site, as well as my YouTube channel, starting with the world’s easiest and cheapest Teleprompter (or Auto Cue).