;-)

it’s been a while since i shot my last time lapse clip and i am happy to finally present the candle clip that i intended to shoot for a very long time:

the clip consists of 3100 jpgs combined using virtualdub and exported as an xvid avi file. it runs at 36 frames per second with the pictures being taken each one second apart.
the equipment I used was:

• canon eos 5d mkii @ iso 100
• tokina at-x pro 100 f/2.8 @ f/8.0
• tc-80n3 timer remote @ 1second intervals
• manfrotto tripod & head

the pictures were taken in jpg form to save space, then imported to lightroom, resized to 1280×853 and then exported. virtualdub was used to merge the jpg files into a video clip with the nine inch nails song “36 ghosts iv” as atmospheric background.

total working time (shooting and post processing): about 3 hours.

i might produce a full hd version of the clip later down the line and release it via bittorrent.

har 2009 is right around the corner.

i just backed up the macbook pro using time machine and i am doing a clean install of macosx to make sure that no password or login data might fall in the wrong hands if it should get compromised or stolen (i will do so when i get back from har2009, too).

something i am also packing for the trip will be the eos 5d mkii. yes, this is expensive equipment, but since i am there among fellow geeks  there might be some others who use it as well and would enjoy some chit-chat.

pictures and details will follow when i am back.

holding your breath for a minute and a half.

that’s what you learn when you chose to update the firmware on a 2400€ camera.
the update 1.1.0 for my canon eos 5d mk ii just finished and the whole process went fine.
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on friday i got the camera back which had been sent to salzburg two weeks earlier for repairs.

in case anyone else is having problems with an error 20 popping up sometimes when taking pictures – send it out for a repair.
it was indeed the mirrorbox which seems to cause some problems under certain conditions.
they replaced the mirrorbox and now it’s working again.

yesterday i have taken a couple of shots and a few video clips – everything seems to be fine.

since i have been hit by the really nasty “error 20″ on my canon eos 5d mkii it had to be taken back to the shop.
the guys at digicamabholshop were really nice and told me that the camera would be on it’s way to a repair shop as soon as possible.

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yesterday i spent the evening (and eventually a good part of the night) at a campfire up in the hills of the wienerwald, enjoying a cold heineken beer and snapping a couple of shots of the people around.
well, it didn’t work out as planned.
the eos 5d mkii locked up after two shots displaying an “error 20″ with a quite audible, ugly “cluck” from the shutter mechanism. you know that feeling if you have a car and manage to shift badly and the gearbox makes this spine-chilling squeal? it felt exactly like that when the camera locked up. i was advised to remove the battery and turn the camera off and on again. i did that, but the error persisted. changed the lens – to no avail.

what a great night – looking like a dork with a 2.5k € camera in hand that doesn’t even work.

what is a dork supposed to do when this happens? remove the item in question and replace it with an even dorkier one.
well, i did just that and started to play my didgeridoo.

i’ll spare you the details of that night. the camera is now working again, but i am really not comfortable with it. i am thinking about sending it in for service just to make sure.

i ran into some troubles yesterday as i was trying to convert some full hd video footage of the canon eos 5d mkii to be used on youtube in high definition.
on the mac i used imovie hd which performed quite well when it came to editing, though it lacks some editing features which is why i chose to try out some other editing tools.

it came down to this:
adobe premiere elements 7 (trial) versus apple imovie hd (ilife suite that came bundled with my macbook pro in 2007)

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today i’ve added a review for my new canon eos 5d mkii.

since i haven’t been taking that many pictures yet it is a rather basic review. a more detailed version will be online soon.

you can read the review here.

the last two days i had some time getting to know the canon eos 5d mkii, how it handles, what works well and what i would further wish for.

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today i want to talk about two things:

first: the new canon eos 5d mkii

a couple of hours ago i bought the eos 5d mkii at “digicamabholshop” for 2399€.
as of now, the battery is charging so i can’t tell anything yet about the menu or actually shooting it, but after i mounted my 24-105f4l onto it and looked through the viewfinder i started smiling and giggling like a little kid. it’s incredible how much more you see now compared to the eos 350d.

don’t get me wrong, the eos 350d is still an incredible piece of engineering, but the 5d mkii is a different class.

it is quite heavy, the plastic coating on the grip is fabulous and it just feels great to hold it.

look out for pictures that will be coming soon.

second: some stuff about the blog

i know that people don’t come here to read my narrow minded insights of the world around me. i fired up the stats for the website and took a look at why people actually end up looking at my blog at all since it keeps generating a lot of hits but no comments or trackbacks.

to sum it up in two words: “macbook wallpapers”.

wait. “macbook wallpapers”?
yes, “macbook wallpapers”.
since i couldn’t believe it myself i fired up google and typed in “macbook wallpapers”, changed to picture search and – damn – there it is!
on the first page.
a picture from me.
the one i took of the grasshopper in greyscale with the heavy vignetting.

this tells me something rather profound:
there is demand for macbook wallpapers, obviously. and people come here to my blog to look for them.

today i announce the opening of a new page: a wallpaper section.
the last couple of days i have been going through my favorite pictures and prepared them as wallpapers for the macbook pro (1440×900) and my new eizo monitor (1920×1200).

take a look at them here: all wallpapers

any comments and suggestions are welcome. please let me know using the comments or use trackbacks/pingbacks.

since all the pictures are licensed under creative commons you are free to give them away to others, just bare in mind not to give them away as “your own”.