Red Means Go; Photos to Audio

Don't put your recorder in your pocket

Posted by Ryan.McK Monday, March 29, 2010 at 2:27 AM 0 Comments

I finally took my Tascam DR-07 out for a test run at the men's lacrosse game Saturday versus Lasell College, thinking it would be cool to put together an audio slideshow, not just to keep my skill sharp, but also to prove my worth even more to work.

Well listening to the audio, it didn't work out as I planned.

I need to figure out a better system for one. Lacrosse isn't one of those sports that I can just put the recorder behind the goal and feel safe knowing that it won't get run over. No, lacrosse they get to run AROUND the goal. So there goes getting up close audio like that, of course nobody has the great black bottom to their goal like field hockey...makes for epic audio when there's a goal.

Anyways, back to the situation I have found myself in. I put my recorder on the sidelines, and stepped back a few feet behind it, so that it wouldn't pick up the shutter of my camera. Nope. I guess it is more a stereo recorder than directional. Oh well. There is one lesson learned. So some of my audio has the click, click, click, repeated when the action was close, just when I also could be getting hopefully prime field audio. Go figure.

So I made my way to the Keene State College sideline and tried to get some audio there. Did better, but not great. This time around, I had the recorder in my back pocket, so every time I moved, guess what it picked up. So as I listened to 15 seconds of decent audio, I all of a sudden hear 5 minutes of talking, yelling, and my ass rubbing against the microphone of my recorder. AWESOME!

The recorder is awesome. I love the fact that I can take out the SD card and put it right into my computer, not have to worry about a card reader or cables. If only Apple could put a CF slot on their Macbook Pro laptops, than I would be the happiest person. One less 2.0 USB port taking up space. I need a to have my mouse and 1 TB external hard drive in!

I guess I am stuck with this audio until the 10th when the next home game is. Hopefully I can have figured out something by then. Pay some random freshman or sophomore in beer or something to hold my recorder where I say to and not do anything for an entire game. I'm sure they would love that.

Just a thought.

Houston, we've got a problem

Posted by Ryan.McK Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 11:56 PM 0 Comments

Being down a camera sucks.

When you sell your back up camera to your Dad to get money for a new camera to realize your primary is all of a sudden out of commission, sucks.

That happened a few weeks ago to me during basketball season. I had to ship it off to Canon to have it fixed. I was getting the Error 99 message. One of the few banes of my existence when it comes to Canon cameras. I love them, but I hate getting that message. Turn it on, then off. Take the battery out, and then put it back in again. It's annoying.

Managed to work through the rest of the season though, and got the rig back fixed, just in time for spring sports...well sorta fixed.

You see, I treat my gear with the best care possible, I don't want it to look like it fell down a cliff face and still works, unless it fell down a cliff face and still works.

That is exactly how it was returned to me. Looked great when I sent it, looks like hell now. If only I had a photo before it got shipped off.

The worst thing about it all is when it came back. I don't really mind the exterior as much as whoever was the numb nuts that worked on my camera did to it. I can't shoot on high burst anymore like I used to. My images are all coming out soft. Too soft to do anything with sharpening. I can shoot on burst and get the results I was getting before to reasonable, but when I'm shooting high action sports, I can't shoot three frames per second, I need that 6.5 frames per second. At least everything else seems to be holding up well.

Lacrosse, softball, and baseball all are now starting up too, so I can't send it off again. Looks like I have to wait until after May 8th, that's the last baseball game I believe at home, but there may be some games still afterwards, so it is all a toss up.

Maybe I can afford a 7D by the end of the semester. HA! That will be the day.

The best camera is the one you got

Posted by Ryan.McK Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 6:51 PM 0 Comments

Nikon photographer Chase Jarvis has opened me up to a new way of looking at photography...using your camera phone as a legit way of creating art and capturing life as it happens.

Jarvis wrote a book called "The Best Camera: Is the One That's With You" and even though I haven't read it, or even had a chance to even look at it, browsing the website and the Apple iPhone application that he created with it is remarkable. It makes me jealous at one point, but then stop and realize that regardless of what is happening, there is always something to take a photo of.

LG Env3

I was sitting in my school's dining commons, bored, and so I pulled out my phone and started playing with it just as most college students would, but instead of texting someone, I decided to take photos. This isn't the greatest photo in the world, but the 3 megapixel camera on a cell phone isn't suppose to go up against a Canon 5D Mk II robust 21 megapixels.

SLRs are by far the most superior cameras that are on the market for there ability to let the photographer create the best possible image with the best possible accessories available; lenses, flashes, etc. Point and shoots are getting exceptional quality photos now though thanks to new technology, but nothing like SLRs. The camera phone on the other hand, is a fun addition to a tool we use for communication everyday, but has become much more than that.

Thanks to new smart phone applications and the ability to do edits on our cellphones and then upload them to our computers, the way photo creating and sharing has drastically jumped. Everywhere on Twitter and Facebook there are people with Mobile Uploads from the scene out of a car window to group of friends at a restaurant. They are the gateway to everyone getting into digital photography.

First Post of the New Year, Decade....

Posted by Ryan.McK Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 9:03 PM 0 Comments

Happy New Year two and a half weeks into the next decade. Expecting a lot to happen in the coming months, all of which is out of budget but is all really cool to read, form an unbiased opinion, and blog about anyways.

Ok, so I thought that I would have done a field test with the Tascam DR-07 audio recorder like I said I would in my pervious post. This thing called "work" sort of got in the way of it and I haven't been able to put together my story. I have the story all set, but getting to it has been back burner.

The idea was to go to the local skate park, which happens to be Rye Airfield in Rye, New Hampshire. It is a massive indoor skate park in what used to be an airplane hanger. The concept I have worked up is what do kids that go to skate parks when it's warm out do when the "season" changes? So this is briefly what I came up with. I want to take my camera and recorder and capture images of BMX bikers and skateboarders doing tricks and interacting, as well as capturing natural sound from the bikes and skateboards grinding on metal rails and ledges to landing on ramps and maybe a crash too.

Then come the interviews... My favorite part. Finding someone that will talk to me, but not just talk to me, go to a quiet part of the park and answer a few questions. I mean they aren't hard questions, it is just hard when there is music blaring or someone is speaking over the loud speaker. It may have its challenges, but I'm confident, once I can figure out work and school and getting back here.

It's an interesting project, and I can't wait to put into practice. I've used everything so far, except the biggie, the audio recorder. Then, I'll be able to put together a nice multimedia slideshow of the transition from summer to winter for BMX bikers and skateboarders.

Should be exciting.

X-mas, a time for new gizmos and gadgets

Posted by Ryan.McK Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 7:59 PM 0 Comments

The holiday season, well now post holiday season. What a wonderful time, snow on the ground for the fortunate, or unfortunate bunch that live where it falls all the time, freezing temps with sometimes blistering wind chills but got to go and get those awesome sales. NOPE. Not today. I stayed in and played with the new stuff I got to use in my quest for taking better photos, creating better photo essays, and just having a hell of a lot more fun taking photos.

I finally got a good recorder to use, the Tascam DR-07, and it records directly in .wav or mp3 files, none of this .voc file crap that my previous recorder did. It is so much better than anything I could ever have expected. I can't wait to use it in the field and come back and say, "This is an amazing audio recorder." I have played around with it capturing birds at a bird feeder close to a window, talking to family members, and just recording random crap around the house, and this recorder is amazing. It is much bigger than the previous one too, and it came with a wind screen...what a difference it makes!! If on a budget and want a quality audio recorder but want to be able to see levels, then check out this one.

RCA VR5220 vs Tascam DR-07

Next was a 1 terabyte external hard drive. I love external hard drives, and it's a bummer that this is a portable, but at least I can back up one of my Mac only externals. Got to mess around with the Windows only. That's what sucks about some companies, why can't they make these cross compatible? It makes more sense to me and would save me a hell of a lot of money and time. Well now with 1 TB of space, I basically don't have to for a very long time have to worry about space on my computer. The only worry I have is just I need another 1 TB external hard drive, as security for the first and for me. I don't want to accidentally delete something, and it be gone forever, but oh wait, there is a second copy! That is the best feeling in the world...when there is that second copy. Having that kind of space though is something that is awesome, and I highly suggest having an external hard drive. This makes four for me.

A 77mm circular polarizing filter. I have honestly really never used a polarizing filter. I bought one for the 18-55mm that came with my Canon XTi, and used it maybe twice, but never really got into the nitty gritty of understanding it, so now is my turn at it. All I have used is UV filters because I shoot mostly sports, live entertainment, and protest/community actions. Basically, as long as I have something on the front that will protect my front element, then I am all set. With this new filter, it is a new ball game, and I can't wait to use it.

Finally, a Sandisk Extreme III 4 GB compactflash card, the card of choice. The write fast, and at ISO 100 on the Canon 40D they hold 305 RAW images no problem, or 925 large fine JPEGs. They hold up under the worst weather conditions as well, so the Extreme compactflash cards are the cards to use. When shooting sports, a photographer needs something reliable and can write the images fast so they can continue shooting, but also hold a lot so they aren't always changing cards, especially at the key moments of the game. With a card like the Extreme III 4 GB, that isn't really an issue, shooting RAW or JPEG.

I'm sorry if I sounded like, "this is what I got for Christmas," but I like to think of it is as informational consumerism. I have them now, and I want to share what get out of it with you. I know some of them don't directly relate to photography and photojournalism, but think about it. They do, they do. Hopefully I will learn how to use a circular polarizing filter pretty well in the next couple of days and I'll be able post how they turn out.

Pages

Red Means Go; Photos to Audio

It isn't just about DSLRs anymore... Multimedia, it's a whole new ball game

Don't put your recorder in your pocket

Houston, we've got a problem

The best camera is the one you got

First Post of the New Year, Decade....

X-mas, a time for new gizmos and gadgets

About Me

Essential Equipment List

Twitter / r_mckernan

Blog Archive

Followers