Driving down Mt. Evans

$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.




Photos

IPhone Panning Time Lapse of Lido Beach

It finally happened.

I managed to liberate my wife’s iphone from her custody long enough
to do a proper panning time lapse.

For months I had been plotting and planning, every time I thought I
might get a chance circumstances changed.

You see, iphone addiction is a serious issue.
My wife is an addict.
She claims I am welcome to use it. Yet every time I do I see the
reaction of a kid that has been told to share but doesn’t want to.

Marital bliss or iphone use?

Zoom forward to our recent staycation.
Beautiful location? Check
Puffy clouds? Check
Now the tricky part …..
iphone availability? Check
What?
Oh yes.
The better half was napping, sun/beach/vacation …. Out  ….. Zonked ……Gone.

So I mounted the prized tool atop one of my Ikea time lapse panning units.
And, don’t laugh …. My homemade iphone mounting rig.
It was made for another use, it's way too complicated, but it worked.
Shot at 1 frame every second over a 120 degree view.
I used TimeLapse iphone app by xyster.net
Here are the results.




It has been over a year since Phillip Bloom used one of my timers to
create the first panning egg timer time lapse with a smartphone.  Now
everyone has or is getting a smart phone, so for very low cost anyone
can create a panning time lapse unit and spin some cool timelapses.

Now I will have to admit, the GoPro panning timelapses look better
then the iphone lapses.
The wide lens of the GoPro makes the lapses very smooth.
The narrower field of view of most smart phones makes the lapses
stutter, a wider lens or a slower pan would fix this, but the results
are still very cool.

Oh, she’s awake!
Time to give back the phone.

 

 

 

Pan Left Rockies

Take three. Pan Left Rockies is the third in my series of
short films made entirely from GoPro Hero panning time lapses.
I shot 33 gigs of still frames over seven days of touring Colorado.








PHOTOS

Rocky Mountain National Park

Sprague Lake

Drive to 14,000 Feet, Edge of  Mt. Evans

Top of Mt. Evans

Clinging to the Garden of the Gods

Squirrel inspects GoPro

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Flying Time Lapse with a Twist

Its always nice to have a seat with a view.  Until about an hour later when boredom pays you a visit.
Me? I always carry my cameras and who knows what the bored mind will dream up next.
Here is my latest time killing project the Flying GoPro Time Lapse with a Twist.
I did all the moves in the camera, no editing tricks. So, how did I do it?

How to Make a Cheap and Easy Ikea Time Lapse Panning Unit Part 3

Ikea Ordning Timelapse Panning Unit

Ikea Stam Timelapse Panning Unit

Two years ago I put together the original How To Make An Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit.
I made the original timers for work back in 2008, to provide panning timelapses for extra b-roll
for projects I was shooting.  I had no idea the how popular these cheap little gadgets would
become, go figure.  I guess I'm not the only timelapse photo geek out here.
One of the constant comments I get is that they are too hard to build and they are ugly.
Frankly, I find them easy to build and I don't care how they look.  I care how well they work,
and that they are cheap enough to throw away when they break.  The original looked a little
steampunk, and that's cool right?  Well I have been listening and here are my two new designs.






Parts

Ikea Stam Timer

Ikea Ordning timer

1/4 20 set screw

3/8 to 1/4 20 bushing

One of the great things about these Ikea timers is that they are cheap.  Right now the Ordning is $5.99
here in the states.  The Stam is a crazy $1.99.   After you add a metal bushing to the Ordning you've got a tough piece of gear.  The Stam is so cheap why not try to convert it?  You do not need to take these timers apart for the conversion.  In my video I use a drill press, you do not need a drill press, you can do both of these conversions with a hand drill.
Both of these units will sit on a flat surface and spin.
Now for reality, the timers in all of these units have cheap plastic components so they will break.
That is why I build them as cheap as possible and keep a couple on hand.
When they break, I unscrew the bushing and the set screw and toss them.
You can get the set screws at any hardware store, the bushings are harder to find but most camera
stores will have them.
Finally, looks.  My original timer may have looked like junk but its product speaks for itself.
But for those of you (and we know who you are) who are fashion conscious, these new models
are stylish and functional at a bargain price.

Ikea Cheap and Easy DIY Time Lapse Panning Unit Preview

Popular Science readers here is a link to my most recent blog post about the Ikea Project


http://www.getawaymoments.com/2012/04/popular-science-simple-project-of-month.html

and here is the original DIY bog post and video on how to do it yourself.

http://www.getawaymoments.com/2011/07/how-to-make-cheap-and-easy-ikea-time.html

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Here is the Ikea DIY video.



This is a teaser video not the full DIY video.



Just finished editing my latest DIY egg timer time lapse video.
Thought it would be fun to cut a quick preview.
I had a great time shooting the colorful Ikea kitchen
timers with a IGUS Drylin slider on loan from Chad over at Canon1dm4 on youtube.
Check out his review.

The preview and DIY were shot with a Canon 7D and an EF 50mm 1.4.
The full DIY will arrive soon, I must find my photos and parts list
for a complete and thorough blog post.

Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Here is the full blog post and the Popular Science update.



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Ants take out the trash or pick up dinner

I almost stepped on this procession on the way to my car.
Quickly grabbed my little video camera (Sony sx-83)for those
who are asking, and popped off a few shots.
Not the best video I shot all week, but it is interesting.
Teamwork is amazing in its purest form.