typings of a random clicker

Today evening tried some time lapse shots.. didnt have tripod handy so keeping camera steady at an angle was an issue.. and holding the shutter button in clicked position. for 20mins was another pain.. took about 2000 shots in 640×480 mode.. in about 30mins.. and weaved into a video using ffmpeg.

the beauty of capturing the evening (or morning) sky is the change of colours seen.. in a period of 30-50mins..

This one is abt 5sec intervals..

rest at at about 2fps shooting mode.

if noticed a tiny white spot looking fixed in frame is moon.

more of clouds moving and colours changing

Notice the colour changes towards the end.

Most of sarai folk seem to be going on a holiday…i am one of the few left not going anywhere..or with no new year plans.. though have a long trip coming in Jan ’07 something like Delhi -> Bangalore -> Hampi -> bangalore -> pune -> mumbai -> delhi !!

Also started studying the trips i could make in the coming year.. top in the list are hill train trips – Darjeeling, Ooty, Kangra valley (pathankot – joginder nagar ).. already did matheran in 2004 & shimla in april 2006. Next in line are to be narrow/meter gauge trips.. to cover the narrow/meter gauge rail network.. which might get converted to BG or scrapped in time..!

For a while was thinking if i sell off the A630 & get a A640.. but now decided will keep it.. for one it brings back memories of ever faithful A70… & I just dont like a shiny black digicam!..

As for the remote capture.. had been doing some searching..

* a shutter release cable is available.. this one is kind of wire through a tube…one side is put on the shutter & you press the other side to click.. it simply moves through the tube and clicks the shutter..main purpose being to avoid the camera shake.. obviously camera is to be on a tripod.

* Now need to make some magnetic device which can say do the action of pressing the wire end.

One plan is like this

Much of it looks obvious .. how it will work… there will be an electromagnet with a iron bar which can move sideways… on one end will be the shutter release cable.. and other end a magnet.. in sleep mode.. the bar will stick to the magnet.., when activated by pressing the switch.. electromagnet activates.. in a way such that the polarity of it is opposite of the magnet… so it will basically pull in the bar and magnet repelling it!!..

Looks quite possible theoretically.. will have to check the practicality.

Issues with above model

• need to know whats the real force required to do a full click.
• how to incorporate a half click (used by the camera to autofocus)

Seems several months without a camera has taken a toll of my photograpic instincts…:-(

This morning had this rare shot of sun in middle of a hole in the layer of clouds.. with sun in middle..  I was onway to home, when saw this.. while it hit me.. that i take out my camera and shoot it.. there was an initial hesitation..&..laziness.. didnt shoot it at the moment..  this shot later one.. once the clouds had moved away..! See the hole in the center..

While it looks quite odinary…since its not rare that sun peeps out of clouds.. but I thought the speciality in this one would be… imagining the sheet of clouds as snow/ice.. with the area around sun melted..so the hole.. & some of it vaporising and forming another set of thin clouds..!)..

Time to get over the hibernation & self doubt.

after some digging around reviews it seems that A630 doesnt support remote capture.. while A640 does… probably a firmware lock.. which disables it!.. a kind of standard arbitarary practice by canon & most vendors..propreitry hardware!!… Is there any open camera project?..

This was kind of shock.. since i got this model just to do time lapse shots! 

So my options now.. in the easier order..

• sell this one off.. can sell it & recover my money still!..
• be happy still got a cheap digicam!… next better buy DSLR & do some ‘real’ photography!
• build a electromechanical contraption..to do the shutter clicking remotely… looks interesting to attempt!
• hack firmware.. some googling shows..firmware could be hacked only after an update has been released!..

for time being will explore #3!

thanks to dalfry i am proud owner of Canon Powershot A630

whats cool

* 8MP, 4X optical zoom, vari-angle LCD.. etc

* improved manual focus.. gives u a more accurate elarged view of focus area.

* creative modes.. where you can set various settings as per your choice..

* grid lines & 3:2 view indicators on LCD – good for learning composition better & taking for print
shots.

* better flash modes.. slow sync, 1st curtain, 2nd curtain…etc

whats not cool!

* not able to get it working in linux….gphoto2 finds it but unable to download..

* remote capture s/w seems not available on the CD..!

* being a new model.. i guess there must be some firmware bugs!…

I avoided buying A640 (10mp).. since it was 100$ more expensize!..

Also got couple of 2GB Kingston elite pro 50x SD cards.. speed does matter

Never came across this before!