As I write this, pika sleep. Probably under a couple feet of snow. We captured, or I should say my wife captured this video of pika quickly finishing summer's business. See, pika only live in alpine environments. These pika are residents of Rocky Mountain National Park, so visiting hours are over for this year. Come summer you can see these cute varmints up close right on the side of Trail Ridge Road at a place they call "Rock Cut". You can see them all over the place above the tree line, but if your touring, this is one of the easiest places to take in the show. Another advantage of "Rock Cut", parking and porta-lets.
If you don't see them right off the bat, don't give up they have great camouflage. You have to sit and wait.
They zip and zoom, back and forth between rocks. Shooting them is a bit of a challenge, they look like rocks with little black eyes. And the best part, they are constantly chirping back and forth. Silly and fun, well worth the price of admission. Enjoy the video and remember shhhhhhhhhh pika are sleeping.
On Sunday I had the chance to go to the Sarasota Chalk Festival. I took the opportunity to shoot my fourth
Pan Left short with my new GoPro Hero2. If you can, watch the video in HD. The new GoPro creates a
much sharper image then previous models, but with that you blow through the memory cards much faster.
I shot between seven and eight thousand still images to make the time lapses. The camera was panned using
my homemade time lapse panning unit. I mounted the camera on a light stand which had a ten foot reach.
In some of the shots you can see movement, luckily I was only bumped in the crowd about four times.
My lovely wife shot some great still photos, scroll down to see a few of them. If you get a chance to go
see this or another street chalk festival, GO! The work is amazing and the experience of watching artist
create is always a joy.
I got the new GoPro Hero2 last week and then I got really busy, isn't that always the way?
I will have a first thoughts review coming and a trickle of test videos soon.
I drove over to North Tampa Photography Saturday to pick up a used lens and figured it would be
a good drive to test the new Hero2 on my time lapse panning rig.
The interval was set to 1 frame every 2 seconds.
Here is the result.
and the second shot would be a panning time lapse from the roof of the car.
Well, the panning shot did not work. It was supposed to slowly pan left showing the car and the view. Instead it panned a little then slipped, panned a little, slip. Why? Who knows. It may be the spring was too weak, something broke, the wind pushed it around. I have had these things run fine on top of a car for an hour at 60-70mph. To be transparent and allow my readers to share in the failures as well as the successes, here is one of the time lapses that did not work. It is still an interesting piece of video with breathtaking views, too bad Murphy was along for the ride.
The funny thing about Gopro cameras, is the infection. Oh yea, the infection you get trying to figure out
what you can do with them, where you can mount them. If you are reading this you probably drive your
friends crazy with talk of Gopro everything, but I say too bad. Its good clean fun ...... most of the time.
One of my first home brewed Gopro mounts was my magnet mount, it sure is ugly but it worked like a charm.
Well, recently it started to come apart so I started hunting for a new model to build. I am a big
fan of Gopro free forums, it is a great community resource for everything Gopro. A couple users there
made magnet mounts using a 25 pound pull antenna magnet, so when I found them cheap at Harbor Freight Tools I figured I'd give it a try. Here is my DIY video so you can make one yourself.
Parts List
25 pound pull antenna magnet
1/2 inch 1/4 20 machine screw
1/4 inch washer
It's an easy build and a must for your Gopro kit. If you build this DIY be careful, the magnet
is strong enough to keep the camera on a car, it's also strong enough to damage a paint job.
I always use a tether, if your camera fly's off and hurts someone or causes an accident that would
be very bad.
Here are a couple fun videos to remind you that no mount is perfect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z527_fVzW8U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfg8zDJvAfk
DIY Chickens
I found two places where you can buy a magnet mount for your Gopro. Check them out. Eye of Mine Rage Cams
$10
That was all it cost to drive on the highest paved road in the lower forty-eight.
What do you get for your ten bucks?
How about an amazing view and a nail biting, no guard rail thrill ride up and down a fourteener.
14,265 feet to be exact.
If you spend any time in the Denver area you need to make this drive, it's well worth it.
The mountain goats are easy to spot, but don't miss the pika. They are the funny little fur balls
running around among the boulders.
On your way up or down stop at the Echo Lake Lodge and watch the humming birds feed under
the breeze way. Very cool.
Drink plenty of water and don't stay on top too long or you'll get altitude sickness. We were
hurting half of the next day. Ouch, that's what happens when sea level folks go alpine.
I shot the drive down with my GoPro Hero HD in video mode 3 720 @60fps.
Enjoy.
