CNC mill

• Research and preparation  - this posting
• Assembly
  
• Software setup
• 4th axis - TODO 
• RS485 spindle control

Just ordered myself a chinese CNC mill. Model "YOOCNC 6040Z+S80" from "carving-cnc".
I thought GoCNC first but they use threaded rods instead of even trapezoidal spindles and employ Dremel and Proxxon as spindles. This one used a ballscrew and comes with a water cooled 1.5KW drive.

I know, it won't be a high end device. It can barely do metal but it should be sufficient for light wood, acrylic and wax with it's supplied 1.5KW spindle.

So far I found out that I have to check the following:

1. Check for loose bolts and righten everything down.
2. Mill a perfectly flat bed. 
3. Check grounding and cooling on all electronics.
4. Replace stepper-wires with shielded ones.  Test all stepper wires for broken ones.
5. Add 2 end stops for each axis. (pins 11,12,13) with a 500 Ohm resistor from +5V to pin 15
6. Add a probe input (pin 15)
7. Insulate the spindle from the case to avoir random interference into the x,y,z steppers. 
8. Check heatsinke for the possibility of them creating shorts due to not being deburred. 
9. "I then read the download manual that came from site and all configurations seemed correct, until I downloaded a Mach3 manual which show that in the configurations the dir pulse is active high and should be active low, note when you change this you will need to reverse direction of motor, as it changes direction." 
10. Add a connector for a probe. 
11. Replace the water hose and pump. Check the original hose for kinks.

The plan is to  use this for parts that are difficult to do on the 3D printers or require materials I can't print or print molds for.
I'll post about the progress and issues with this machine under the tag "CNC", so others can read up on how these machines perform and where they fall short.

• manufacturer website
• Video of a YooCNC at Nottingham hacker space 
• Wiki of Nottingham hacker space 
• Software (g-code to; steps via parallel port) I should read up on 

• CamBam looks line to start with but doesn't support the 4th (rotation) axis.
• deskcnc (how to buy just the software?) and
• deskproto (995eur for multi-axis version) have a 30 day trial and can do this 
• MecSoft FreeMILL seems to be limited to carthesian 3 axis but is free
• PyCAM also 
• GcodeGenerator runs from inside Blender 
• maybe enhance this Java software to create 4 axis g-code for following the surface normal 

• added end switches
• Videos about modding the 6040 control box  
• Blog post leading to a solution for the random stepper movements. 
• settings 300steps/rev. 1500mm/min(Z=500mm/min), 300mm/s^2(Z=150), 10us steps/pulse, derr/puls=5
• Video about using a probe with the PCB
• jewelers forum 
• line card analysed for shortcomings. 
• spindle controller manual

Things to get:

• PC with parallel port (maybe a touchscreen pc) and RS485 port for spindle control
• some more milling bits (here or here or here)
• planar metal milling bit to even the work-surface
• flexible, thick, shielded 4-core wire for the steppers (ebay may be cheaper despite customs). steppers=1mm/18 gauge 4 core, spindle=1,5mm/16 gauge 3 core (perhaps these and these or from here)
• additional fans
• stable 4-pin connectors for the steppers
• Gecko G540 and a power supply. 
• machinable wax for first low-risk tests ( here or here or this with this with some more tools)

timeline:
2012-08-08 ordered and payed via paypal (so I can dispute and get my money back if they don't ship)
2012-08-08 no order confirmation but a hand written email with details about the shipping process and customs
2012-08-16 Machine arrived !!!

specs:

X,Y,Z Working area：	580×380×60mm
Max. Feeding height：	≤100mm
Outside dimension：	880×660×520mm
Table size：	745×480mm
Lathe structure：	6061/6063 Aluminium alloy
Stepping motor：	two-phase 57/3A (2.2-2.5mH inductance)
Drive unit：	1605 Ball screw
Sliding unit:：	Chromeplate shaft
Maximum speed：	0-4000mm/min
Engraving speed：	300-3000mm/min
Repeat positioning Accuracy：	0.05mm
Spindle：	1500W VFD spindle motor
Spindle speed：	24000rpm
Cutting tool-holder：	ER11-A: 6mm and 3.175mm( =1/8" )
Interface：	Parallel port
Software Compatability：	Mach3/Emc2,(Type3,Wentai, ArtCAM)
Command code：	G code/.nc/.ncc/.tab/.txt
Weight：	55kg

  

Where Google Latitude fails

Just a quick list about Google Latitude and in just how many ways it fails:

• The Android App can send but not receive or accept/decline friend-requests.
• You receive Friend-Requests in Gmail. Talk about mixed media.
• Clicking on the link in Gmail shows "Your browser is not supported by our webpage" (It's a mobile Firefox).
• Clicking on the link in Gmail and selecting to open it with Latitude brings up an empty Google maps. Nothing about accepting a friend request.  Not even opening the Latitude part of Google Maps.
• Checking in, you get a top-10 of your G+ contacts. You can't add or even click any of them.
• You can't add them manually *at all* because you can only add people by email and you don't get their email adresses.
• After checking in... you don't see who of your friends checked in too. So you can't go looking for them wich is *the point* of Latitude. You're not checking in to add reviews and stuff. That works fine without Latitude.
• 3 phones of 3 people next to each other. Each phone shows a different combination of each one's checkin-status. None of the 3 phones is right.
• New friends don't apear when you click "update". They suddenly apear when you close and re-open the Latitude part of Google Maps.

Thing-o-Matic rant

DAMN THIS CURSED ABDOMINATION OF A -O-MATIC !!!
3 prints failed 6 times. That darn extruder stopping to extrude any more plastic. I damn need these parts until tomorrow.

IF you happen to be in front of the device and notice it, you can lower and then raise the pressure mid print but if you missed it because it's serveral 30-45 minute prints, you are ****.
There is no real pause+resume where the head is raised. No way to decrease speed, go back a few skipped layers, alter the extruder-RPM and/or temperature mid-print. You are just **** .

With the Replicator out there is no hope that Makerbot industries will ever release a bugfixed upgrade/version of the hotend (huge thermal issues with the PLA expanding) and extruder (can't keep the pressure with the non-locking bolt, too much friction with that PTFE-block instead of anything wheel-shaped, too little force transfered to the filament to overcome any minor added friction in the system.)
No this is not a product for professionals. It's a product for consumers. A *product*! Not an experiment, pre-release or beta-version. A product is supposed to work.
I buy a saw, I expect it to part things. I buy a drill, I expect it to drill holes.
I buy a 3d printer, I expect it to 3d print. Maybe not the super-fine details of th really expensive machines. Maybe very slow. But it's supposed to be at the established state of the are of the time it was released at (The certainly was not. It has huge design flaws that countless others had already fixed) and most of all I expect it *to work at all*.
This isn't 8+ hour prints like I did on my old printer. These are small parts that take 30-90 minutes to print. They are simple. They are small. They are as printable as it gets.

Seriously, what good is a 3d printer that only prints more or less reliably for 10 minutes at a time and only if you take out the filament, cut off the expanded part and observe very, very carefully if the first 2 layers on the warping and flexing Automated Build Platform are printed. If not, abort at once and do it again. Is that calles an MK6 nowadays? They had YEARS with the Cupcakt to fix these kind of bugs!

The whole *point of this machine* is to reliably print multiple objects, one after anothr, all night long and eject them using it's Automated Build Platform.

Umbrella flash holder

This time I modified an umbrella holder designed for 2 E27 lamps.
With the adapter linked below you can insert 4 lamps.
With the 3d printed part I designed you can now also mount a flash in the center via a hot shoe.
This way I can use my umbrellas for really strong video lights AND for battery or mains power operated flashes. Depending on the need.

• Dual lamp socket umbrella holder being modified here.
• 1 to 2  E27 adapter
• Design files on Thingiverse

3d printed GoPro lens cap

The lens of the GoPro is well protected inside it's water tight case.
However the case also has a lens and that one has no protection at all.
To make sure it doesn't get all scratched in the bag, I designed myself a lens cap that friction fits onto the GoPro.
Of cause that cursed Thing-o-Matic failed during the print...twice. So 2x4 layers in the middle of the print are more or less missing.

• Design files on Thingiverse

Joining 3d printed parts

Nophead posted a link to a video about a simple connector to connect 3d printed parts via friction.
I suggest a tried and true method that requires even less precision: a Tusk Tenon

Why?
Because with the proposed locking joint hole and pluig have to highly very similar dimensions and shape. If one is wider, longer or deeper, the other will either not fit at all, have too little friction to stay put even under stress and vibration or will fit but both parts will have a tiny gap between them.
With a Tusk Tenon all 3 parts can have any tollerance in any direction. You just choose an allowance wide enough so they still fit into each other. No matter how large the gap created by the allowance is, they will always align and lock in the same position, orientation and strength.
Why create something new if we already have a solution that has proven to work very well for 500 years?

• Description of a Tusk Tenon 
• Wikipedia
• The dovetail joint we used up to now
• The Video  that got me thinking

No 5DtoRGB anymore

Looks like we have a fix for the AVCHD problems (incorrectly mapping 0-255 to 16-235 color space) on the Mac issue with footage from 5D Sony FS100 and GH1/GH2 that doesn't involve transcoding in 5DtoRGB .

I linked to the comment with the numbers for . The posting itself has the numbers for .
 

• http://www.eoshd.com/comments/topic/1002-mac-avchd-gamma-issues-the-fix/#entry14586

YN460II modification with 3d printed parts

Brainstorming 

1. Replace both front and back. 
2. Make it slightly longer to have a hole for an umbrella mounting between battery compartment and electronics.
   Use the free space left of the umbrella for a 12V DC plug and on the right for a battery/mains power switch.
3. That power level LED mod looks great. Better integrate that into the case right away.
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/malow/5948108074/in/photostream
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/malow/5948112440/in/photostream
4. Integrate the PCB of a remote trigger. Later to be replaced by an Arduino Nano+RF (to not only trigger the flash but also remote control the power.)
1. Looks like thee are 3.3V and 5V for the RF-trigger PCB already present:
   http://www.dslr-forum.de/showthread.php?t=819870
   http://www.dslr-forum.de/showthread.php?t=967445&page=2

• Google+ posting

Design

TODO

Final object

TODO

• Design files on Thingiverse (coming soon)
• Photos (coming soon)
• Video (coming soon)
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Mapping again

 Due to the fact that I am a Mentor in Google Summer of Code for a student improving Vespucci (and doign a great job at it),

I finally found my way back to doing some actual mapping.

Should have done this much more often. There are so many small details not present in OpenStreetMap...

• Google Summer of Code - student Jan Schejbal
• Vespucci
• OpenStreetMap

3d printing again

 After a long time of having the printers sitting in the corner I'm  back to designing and printing again.
Will do the upgrade to Alibre Design 2012 in the next days and am currently constructing some special purpose GoPro mounts.
(Yes, there are thousands of them but all just uneditable STL files and none of them do what.)
I'll of cause publish technical drawings too. So other then the many STL-only versions you can look up the dimensions comfortably to design your own without using a tool like Netfabb Studio to meassure inside an STL or get a GoPro first.

• Design files on Thingiverse (coming soon)
• Photos (coming soon)

7/16 inch imperial ********

Needed a 7/16" pipe fitting for a vacuum pump yesterday.
Nobody seems to have something like that.
Certainly not one with a seal made to work fine with very low pressures.

Luckily 7/16" seems to be a "standard" pipe fitting for beer kegs...

The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them.
I want my SI back!

Paid reviews

I advise to ignore androidmag.de and other such publications of the cda-verlag like ANDROID MAGAZIN and ANDROID APPS.
They just cold called me and offered to make Vespucci (the OpenStreetMap editor) an app of the week for  490,- euro plus taxes including a video review.
I have to assume all their existing reviews and apps of the week are paid for as well.

• Google+ posting

Rebuilding an existing camera

I recently found an announcement and later a story about the final product on EOSHD.
The product is a modification to the NEX 5N camera. Producing an entirely new case for this camera with active cooling (because the camera has overheating issues),  locking HDMI sockets, reinforced USB connector, huge monitor,...
This fascinated me. Having taken apart one Panasonic GH2 already in the past, I though about what it takes to do such a thing for this camera too and what options this provides.
In the end I settled to do an alternative case for something much simpler first. For the YN460 II flashes. The point being to integrate umbrella holder, external power socket, and my existing radio triggers into one flash body.
Then I found a posting on DVXUsers.  It seems that back in april a user named "rigs" got the idea of a custom machined new body for the GH2 with an incredible array of planned features. So it seems like someone else not only though of this but actually started for the GH2. The discussion is still going on, so the project seems to have not died in the last few month.
I'm not sure if I should do such a think. Printing objects of that size is ...difficult on the ThingOMatic lately. In a month the GH3 will be relased. I'm selling my two GH1 to replace one of them with a  GH3 and the other with a second GH2. Difficult to decide on a project.

I guess I'll offer Rigs my help but all on my own I'll work on these modified flashes and cool mounting options for the GoPro.  ...and on actually editing the video clips I already made.

• EOSHD posting
• DVXUsers posting

Got a GoPro

Having already 3 DSLR bodies and an expensive collection of lenses for them, I convinced myself to not get an action cam myself.
....until I just got the chance to help myself to a GoPro Hd Hero II outdoor edition for much less then the usual retail price.
Having a huge number of cool mounting options on Thingiverse to 3d print for this helped a lot to justify the expense. After all, this caters to two of my hobbys. Filming and 3D printing/CAD.

So here it is...my fourth and (as my wallet tells me) hopefully last simultanous camera angle.

Panasonic GH2 powered via USB battery

I'm already using a 3600mAh external cellphone battery that outputs 5V USB power to run my Zoom H4n audio recorder for extended recording times.
Recently I found a 10'000mAh battery that not only has 2 USB outputs but also a third output that can be switched to 12V or....9V.
Perfect to run the GH2 camera!
It turns out that even the proper adapters are already included and have the polarity required.
Here is what I used:

• XTPower MP-10000 Powerbank
• cheap power supply including a DMC-DCC8 like battery-dummy

The original batteries are 7.4V 1200mAh. The power bank is 5V 10000mAh.
This is about 5.6x the capacity of a Panasonic battery for this camera.
Of cause it will be significatly less of this device also powers the Zoom H4n and 1-2 phantom powered microphones through it.
...or multiple GH2 cameras from one power bank.
...or something else that runs on 5V USB power from the second USB port. (Arduino? Video light? ...) 

• Google+ posting about this

Rode Stereo Video Mic Pro - evaluating the most ugly microphone ever

When I started doing video with a DSLR (actually with EVIL cameras), I quickly found the in-camera sound to be unacceptable and got myself a Sennheiser MKE400. I wanted to have a tiny shotgun that would get me the sound of whatever was in front of the camera and ignore everything else. It seemed a reasonable choice at that time. However it turned out that very often I find myself in one of two situations:

• Having the time to prepare the right kind of equipment to record one special kind of event using as much and as specialized gear as I find necessary and practical.
• Recording ambiance and B-roll with whatever I have in my pocket at that time.

For the first occation I have my trusted Zoom H4n and a small collection of micropones. A large diaphragm and a headset for voice overs and commentary, a pair of shotguns for stages and booming, dynamic handmics for interviews.
It would seem natural to use the H4n with it's great internal microphones to collect B-roll. It it nearly perfectly suited for this job. Just place it in a corner or on a camera with a wide angle lens and keep rolling.
Why would I choose not to?
Because it is inpractical and with time you tend to avoid inpractical things.

• It is large and heavy.
• When used before, it's batterys are often quite down already.
• You need to sync the sound to the camera later. (Syncing is trivial but identifying what sound belongs to what picture takes time and organisational effort.)

So here I am, evaluating the Rode Stereo Video Mic Pro.
The purpose being to have it on camera for wide shots to capture ambience right in the camera. This need not be B-Roll. It can very well be a sound performance or a groups of people standing close together. Anything that does not require a directional pattern.
So what did I find?

• It is lightweight and small enough to just keep it on the camera. It doesn't even affect the center of gravity even of a small mirrorless camera like the GH1 and GH2.
• Contrary to the H4n it is practically unaffected by wind. The 2 microphones are mounted inside a round blimp below a foam cover. I did not even feel the need to unpack the deadcat I got for it.
• It picks up lower frequencies much better then the H4n. I'm not sure yet that this is a good thing or if they are overrepresented.
• The low-cut is useless. Even the lowest frequency rumbling of a bus you're sitting it are reduced at all.
• I still have to test the +20dB gain on the GH2 and GH1 cameras.
• The hotshoe has an incompatible threading. It's 1/2" microphone threading and not 1/4" as for camera equipment. This would be fine for booming except that an purely omnidirectional on-camera microphone with a 3.5mm stereo-jack is not reasonable for booming at all.

• Photos (coming soon)

Mounting a camera to a camera

Why did I post about doing heavy multicam work in Final Cut last night?
Because this is what I did:

With the upper camera on full-auto with a 14mm (x1.86 crop at 16:9) I operated the lower camera on full manual to get some great closeups and medium shots.The upper camera gave me a wide shot of the same scene. The slight movement of the lower camera to frame the detail I want to show isn't noticable in the far wider shot of the upper camera.

This way in editing the video I can now show the closeup of insecure, shaky feet on a tightrope. Then cut to the wide shot to show that this is happening at the equivalent of a third floor between 2 tall trees. Then cut to the concentrated and freightened face of the person because in between I turned the rig ever so slightly.

Multicam in Final Cut Pro X - lessons learned

Lessons learned regarding multicam editing in FCPX so far (regarding an efficient workflow):

Preparation:

• Sync your camera+sound recorder clocks to the second before shooting. FC will do the syncing for you but this helps to identify clips that belong together.
• If possible, also record the same clock simultanously. e.g. have a clock visible on a slate.  This way you can adjust any remaining timecode differences later.
• For short, overlaping clips having one continous master recording is not needed but could help. A long sound recording to get some ambience is helpful anyway.
• Too many compound clips and multicam clips make FCPX crash. ...very often and repeatable
• Do color correction after all the edits especially with multicam clips. It slows down FCPX a great deal.

Importing SD cards:

• Keep the SD cards in the cameras/sound recorders until that one card gets imported maintain the relationship between camera and clips on the card
• Right after importing one card, tag all these clips with the name of the camera (and possibly also an "untagged" to find clips that need further tagging later)
• Also set the camera-name (in the inspector) for these clips. These will become our track-names within the multicam clips.FCPX will use the volume name of the SD-card as default.
• Tag clips that belong to multicam recordings as "multicam_input". This way you can find them between all the singlecam recordings

Syncing:

•  Start from the top of the "multicam_input" collection and mark the clips for the first multicam clip.
• For "camera assignment" (DE: "Kamera zuweisen") select "camera name". "auto" doesn't work and  "clip" creates a mess of tracks if you have multiple clips from one of the cameras.
• FCPX will jump to the new multicam-clip. You'll loose your position in the Event Browser and the new clip will have no tags. Click that clip to quickly check. Unmatched clips are put at the beginning of the multicam clip.
• Go back to "multicam_input", mark the clips you used, tag them "multicam_done" and then remove "multicam_input" from these clips. You can still see the clip-names in the timeline.

Final Cut Pro X "Camera Clips Selected" / "Kamera-Clips ausgewählt"

Final Cut Pro X did crash a few times during importing a large number of SD cards and moving the event to an external drive.
Now there are 8 clips in my Event Browser showing a little camera symbol.
I can't analyse them because of a message:

"Kamera-Clips ausgewählt" (I have the German version of FCPX.)
"Kamera-Clips können nicht verarbeitet werden. Sie müssen zuerst diese Dateien importieren/erneut importieren, um sie zu verarbeiten."

I found the proper original term by guessing:
"Camera Clips Selected"
"Camera clips cannot be processed. You must import/reimport these first in order to process."

These clips are only shown if the SD-card with these clips is inserted while FCPX starts up and stays mounted.

Problem is: FCPX doesn't do anything when I select these clips and import them because they are already imported.
The help-system doesn't even know the term "Kamera-Clip", so it is either inconsistently translated or there simply is no documentation what this is and how to deal with it.

• Same error message in english, similar issue, no solution

LogicKeyboard LKB-FCPX-AM89-GR is NOT for FCPX

I got myself the "LKB-FCPX-AM89-GR" model keyboard fron LogicKeyboard to make it easier to learn the keyboard-bindings of Final Cut Pro X (without having to put up with the rubbery feeling of a silicone keyboard cover).

Just as a warning to everyone else out there.
Do not be fooled by the "FCPX" in the name.
The keyboard-bindings it contains are not for FCP X but for FCP 7.

For example:

• P is labeled as "pen tool". While it is "Position".
• Z is not labeled at all while it is "Zoom". One of the 7 major tools in the timeline.
• K is only labeled as pause for J,K,L while CMD+K is the all-important keyword-tool.
• S is labeled "Slip/Slide" while it enables/disables "Skimming" instead.
• F is labeled "MatchFrame" instead of "Favorites"
• ...

I'm currently working through a tutorial that finaly explains the intended workflow instead of just hyping about how great some new features are. What I'm still looking for is

1. a way to read the help-file while offline in a train to lean and understand this tool and
2. some documentation or tutorial explaining the UI- and workflow- concepts. (Why some things apply to a whole clip and others only to segments of a clip. When clip A is selected, where in the UI to look for what kind of operation or information. What the concept of multicam vs. synchronised clips vs. compound clips are. ...)

Modding my shoulder rig

I just modded my foldable shoulder rig some more.
I already rebuild it to fold asymatrically like the original dv_tec MultiRigPro it tries to immitate.
(It sits on one shoulder. It has no right to be symmetrical and is much more comfortable this way.)
This allowed me to add a front support in the past.
Another thing I already did was to add a holder for the remote control to the Zoom H4n audio recorder to my left and buttons for start/stop recording and to force autofocus to the right handle.

What I did now was to add a monitor with peaking and 1:1 crop and to add holes for mounting a 15mm rod system and thus a follow focus in a very, very compact way.

• Photos 

 

new lenses

I didn't get to do any new stuff in the workshop, let alone record it.
But I did get me some new lenses in the last weeks.
(Not much else to spend budget on while waiting for the Panasonic GH3 to be announces in autum.)


The Panasonic 14-42mm X-lens. Only a fraction of the size of the 14-42mm kit lens, yet optically even a bit better.

It's a pancake. Meaning it's so small, that the GH2 or GH1 camera with this lens mounted fits inside a coat pocket and I can have it with me all the time. It's so small, there is no zoom-ring and no focus ring. It has 2 levers and does a motorized power zoom.
Formerly having the camera in my pocket was only possible with the (very bad) 3D pancake lens or...


the 14mm f2.5 wide angle pancake.

Finally a lens that is wide enough, so I can make unstabilized shots handheld and film in close quarters. It is also much faster then simply using the 14-42 at 14mm and thus a good wide angle companion to my beloved PanLeica 25mm f1.4 and the Voightländer 25mm f0.95.
(Yes, I regularly do shots in light conditions that required lenses this fast. Contrary to photography you can't use a flash for filming and the situation doesn't allow setting up off-camera lights.)


And finaly the third one...the 45-175mm X tele.

 Concentrating on normal and wide angle ranges there are situations where I can't go on without a tele. I thought about this a long time since I don't need a tele very often but when I do, there's no alternative. Manual, old FD-lenses are too slow to use and too bulky and I can't get any closer.
Formerly I used a fair sized collection of old Canon-FD mount lenses. ...very old ones.
Very bulky, unstabilized, manual focus, hard to use. (The FD-bajonett is a nightmare. I once lost one of only 2 camera angles I had recording a 3 hour show that is only performed once due to an FD lens not sitting tight because I had to mount it in the dark in just a few seconds.)

I just compared the new 45-175 with my longest lenses. A Tokina and a Tamron.
These go up to 210 and 300mm and to compare them I zoomed all 3 to 175mm, used the new lens wide open and the old ones stopped down to minium to give the old glass an edge and the new one a disadvantage.
....Looking through the 1:1 crop magnification I couldn't believe how much detail, contrast and saturation where possible with modern glass. How could I ever have thought of the old lenses image are "fairly good, if uncomfortable to handle".

Two other things I got pretty much transform the way I record too:
A boom-pole with a large blimp for my 50mm long T.Bone EM9900 shotgun microphones.
With these I can record way better sound and have the microphone off screen when there is even a slight wind outside. Up to now the only option had been the lower quality dynamic hand-microphones that are less effected by wind.

The second thing is a camera monitor. This may not sound like much but they do a lot more then just display an HDMI or SDI feed. With 4 user defined buttons I can select to view the center of the frame in 1:1 or any other magnification. (You record FullHD but can't watch it in that resolution until you are done.)
I can select peaking. Meaning the highest contrasts get a red border. Thus I can pull focus while filming.
2 Other things are false-colors to show over- and underexposure and showing the overexposed areas with a pattern (the only thing the camera already does on it's own.).

How LEE filters are made

Like a great many photographers I am using LEE filters on my flashes and lenses.
The 200+ sample pack has pretty much become a standard item for strobists.
What I just watched is a video about how they are made.
I'd never have expected this to be a 2.5 day purely manual process done in the UK.
My guess would be some kind of highly automated manufacturing plant somewhere in asia.
You don't see much of that kind of manual work anymore.

Ich rate von Elektroshop Wagner ab.
Küche nicht bin 2ter Stock sondern nur Erdgeschoss geliefert und erst als ich ratlos vor dem Kühlschrank stand hat der Fahrer daran gedacht mit anzupacken.
Zitat:
"1-Mann Service (+29€): Wenn Sie selbst mit anpacken können (und wollen), dann empfiehlt sich der günstigere 1-Mann Service. Hierbei trägt der Fahrer die Geräte mit Ihnen zusammen bis zum Verwendungsort. Dieser Service steht nur bei Geräten unter 50kg zur Verfügung."
Na gut, kann man noch mit leben. War weniger schwer als gedacht.
Problem: Die Hälfte fehlt obwohl per Email zugesagt.
Ich hatte extra gefragt ob Wasserhahn und dessen Schläuche dabei sind und es hieß:
"Im Lieferumfang sind die Schläuche sowie der Wasserhahn enthalten."
Was ist? Nicht mal das Loch in der Platte um einen Wasserhahn einzubauen ist vorhanden.
Von Amaturen und Warm+Kaltwasser -Schläuchen natürlich keine Spur.

Bin gerade dabei das per Email zu klären. Mache mir da aber keine großen Hoffnungen.

• Elektroshop Wagner 
• Bestellte Küche

Implemented H4n remote control protocol

After I reversed the protocol used between the Zoom H4n and it's RC04 remote control, I now implemented it in an ATTiny13 (yes, no UART).
I just need to fetch some small parts this weekend to actually test it....

Added new feature to LimeChat for MacOS

Me learning Objective C vor iOS programming pays off.
I just added a new feature I wanted to the LimeChat desktop application for MacOS in a matter of minutes.
(The feature being the ability to execute a user defined command uppon joining/rejoining a channel.)

•  GitHub pull request
• Me requesting and later announcing the feature on the mailing list

improvised teleprompter for GH2

I just had a strange idea and ...improvised myself a teleprompter for video podcasting.
There are scores of teleprompter-apps out there for Android but it's hard to get a beamsplitter in any size like 300x400mm without shelling out >100 Euro.
("Free Teleprompter" doesn't change the font-size on IceCreamSandwich and is thus unusable. Sorry.)

What I did was to use my Nexus Galaxy in it's Otterbox outdoor case.
The case has an extremely sturdy belt clip that can even rotate the phone.
So I combined a short strip of wood that has the exact maximum width of the belt, the belt clip and securely hook on to.
This way the belt clip securely gribs all around the wood and cannot move.
Then I drilled a 1/4 inch hole and positioned this piece of wood using a magic arm (chinese clone)  attached to the hot shoe of the camera.

Result: It works very very well and takes up virtually no space at all.
With the PanLeica 25mm lens (slightly less then 50mm without crop) the eye movement and direction of viewing works well when the shot covers head and upper body.
With a closeup covering only the head you notice that I am actually looking towards a point above the lens.
You'd need a longer lens (like 50mm or 85mm) and position the camera further away to do this.
...or an actual beamsplitter mirror to have the text in front of the lens.

• Photos
• Teleprompter apps

CCC Freiburg

CCC meeting was great.
Had to pick up the workshop tools they borrowed from me to create a lockable wall to lock away expensive equipment.

The Hackerspace is half way done and there are enough people interested in getting our radio show going again.
I do have all the technology but work demands that I leave Freiburg for about two years.
So I can't help much except in doing interviews on CCC events.
All that talking about the podcasts makes me want to do another show on my sleeping YouTube channel myself....
I'm unsure about standing on front of a camera again because of my imperfect English...

My GSoC student made it

Looks like my Google Summer of Code student made it.
He'll have two mentors including me and I hope this works out well.
Haven't done this before.

• Vespucci Open Street Map editor (I'm that lazy bastard of a maintainer after the last maintainer gave up due to time constraints.)
• my short announcement on the mailing list

PCB holder for Prusa 3d printer

 Looks like a user called "Atntias" found the PCB holder platform I designed for the ThingOMatic usefull enough to design a similar platform for the Prusa Mendels.

• Design files on Thingiverse 

iOS translations

I'm currently playing around with iOS software development.
Having done Java half of my life and Android for the last 2+ years it sounded like a sensible thing to look at...
The thing I'm currently looking at is localisation.
I'm quite underwelmed.

It really looks like the current way to design UIs are storyboard files.
They are a newly introduced mechanism. So I can expect Apple to have learned from any past mistakes.
They are graphically edited XML files that contain the UI elements, their connection to the Code and all strings.
...They don't support any localisation.
From what I figured out the way to translate them it so basically let XCode (the IDE) create a full copy of that file and you replace all texts in there.
This means that any added, moved or otherwise modified UI-element needs to be done again and again for every language your project features.
Dumb!
Just plain dumb!
No one but an american could have come up with such nonsense in localisation.

Show Firefox Passwords for Android updated

On the Chaos Computer Club meeting today I updated the free version of ShowFirefoxPasswords.
It now has a menu to allow filtering the lists on devices that have no menu-button anymore.
(Formerly you long-pressed the menu button to filter lists that implement the Filterable interface.)
I also added support for GoogleTV. It should appear in the market on the TV any time now.
(No sideload nonsense.) 

• ShowFirefoxPasswords(lite) on Android Market

YN460 II flash on external power

As planned I converted 2 Yongnuo YN460 II to external power.
The plug on the first one is a bit shaky because I had to resolder it multiple times until I found that there was a hidden second ground cable from the battery-contacts to the flash head.
So I was wondering why it would charge and everything but not flash when switching from the battery contacts to external power and thus accidentally having the flash head itself float without ground.

I'm using a 6V 2.25mAh wall wart style universal power supply with overload protection.
Others have used 1.4A and 2.8A and it seems that you can go way higher then 2.8A to get even faster recycle times.
I am not sure I want to go there as I find this more then fast enough and don't want to overheat my flash head.

• Photos

Lee filters on a flash variation

Using the sample catalog of Lee Filters to change the color of your hotshoe camera flash is pretty much standard.
I changed that theme a bit by using a stapler.
I took off the filtes I wanted to use most often and their description sheet.
Then I turned around the filter (because the puch holes are not perfectly centered) and stapled on the description to the filter, so it would be visible.
This way it's easy to identify a specific filter even though many of the colors look alike when you don't have a direct comparison.

YN460 II on external power

I couldn't sleep, so I took a PH00 screwdriver and  started experimenting if an YN460 II flash can be powered by 230V mains.
A 2.2A 6V wall wart seems to work just fine.
I guess I'll get another such wall wart, some power-sockets and switches to switch between external power and battery on monday, then modify both my flashes.
There also seems to be enough space in there to integrate my 4 channel RF remote triggers directly into the body of these.

• Photos (coming soon)
• Video (coming soon)
• All Videos (please subscribe)

Playing with DIY light modifiers

I thought about buying some light modifiers to play around with.
...then it occured to me that I do have a workshop downstairs.
So I started building some 2cm and 5cm grid lights for my 2 YN460-II slave flashes.
(Need to do the same for my Metz 58 AF-2 since it's bigger and they don't fit on both kinds of flashes.) 

• Howto
• Beauty Dish 

unmodified YN460-II at 1/128

with 2cm grid added

with 5cm grid added

Me as a Google Summer of Code mentor for Android OSM apps

After Graham Jones asked me,
I volunteered to be a mentor for one a possible student working on Android apps for OpenStreetMap.
There seems to be a proposal to create something more geared towards inexperienced mappers based on the Vespucci code of which I took over for the retired maintainer years ago.


"Hi,

Your request to become a Mentor for has been accepted.

Greetings,
The Google Open Source Programs Team" 

• Vescpucci OpenStreetMap geo- editor for Android 
• OpenStreetMap
• Google Summer of Code (German)

ported aLogcat to GoogleTV and Android 4

I just commited the required changes to make the popular development tool "aLogcat" work well on GoogleTV and apear for such devices in Android Market and to make good use of the ActionBar on Android 3.x and Android 4.x.
I guess the next release will feature these changes.

• aLogCat in Android Market

EasterHegg Basel 2012 - Decoded the Zoom H4n remote control protocol!!!

(Update: I'm doing the same for the new Zoom H5 too.)

For the next 4 days I am on EasterHegg and reverse engeneering the protocol spoken between the RC04 remote and the Zoom H4n audio recorder.
This posting is constantly being updated and rewritten with details as they come up.
Newsticker:

• Friday
• So far no luck with the OpenBench logic sniffer. 
• Can't figure out if the buffered inputs support 3.3V signals or only 5V signals. We are trying to verify this by connecting and disconnecting the on-board 3.3V supply to an input-pin to get a known signal.
• But we are out of chocolate and coffee!!!
• Saturday
• I fetched my pocket-oscilloscope from home but forgot 2 cables.
• Contacted "Nussgipfel" for an oscilloscope because he holds an oscilloscope-workshop tonight. So he must have a working device. Hope to verify that the signal is 3.3V and count it's frequency/bitrate to get the OpenBench to work on decoding it. 
• Hacked my pocket-Oscilloscope. Found a 5V signal (-0.5 to 4.5V and -1 to 4V) in the 600-800Hz range.

  Aus 2012-04-07_EasterHegg

• Decoded the signal

  Aus 2012-04-07_EasterHegg

• Batteries died while decoding the LED signals. Buttons are decoded.
• Sunday
• Trying to find Nussgipfel again to make screenshots of the undistorted waveforms and document my findings below.
• Found a second signal being transmitted with >100ms delay after the first signal. Need help analysing it.

  Aus 2012-04-07_EasterHegg

• checked the signal using a larger scope. Seems I had GND and Signal confused on the small one. Low<->High. May be RS232 after all? With start+stop -bit the signal checks out. 2.400 = 417 µs per bit seems to match our 0,4ms per bit.
• Making a break to eat some fondue down in the huuuuuuge bunker below this building. Planning to use a larger logic analyser later.
• ...
• Monday
• ...

---

Aus 2012-01-22_RC04

Observations:

The 4 connections between RC04 remote and H4n are labeled 3.3V, RX, TX and GND.

The single chip on the remote is labeled "D78f0500A"
It could be an NEC microcontroller µPD78f0500.
The number of pins and the pins connected to RX, TX and SCK seem to match.
The datasheet is in Korean but what I can make out is that this should be a 5MHz microcontroller that can run on 3.3V and 5V. No details from the datasheet cast and light on the strange encoding used(described below).

What I found out about the protocol being transmitted by the RC04 remote on the 2 lines "RX" and "TX" when certain buttons are pressed on the remote or the Zoom H4n lights up certain LEDs is as follows:

Findings:


 The protocoll is RS232 at 3.3V with 2400bps 8n1
The remote sends 2 sequences of 2 bytes with a small delay:
Record: 0x81 0x00 | 0x80 0x00
Play:   0x82 0x00 | 0x80 0x00
Stop:   0x84 0x00 | 0x80 0x00
ffwd:   0x88 0x00 | 0x80 0x00
rwd:    0x90 0x00 | 0x80 0x00
vol+:   0x80 0x08 | 0x80 0x00
vol-:   0x80 0x10 | 0x80 0x00
rec+:   0x80 0x20 | 0x80 0x00
rec-:   0x80 0x40 | 0x80 0x00
mic :   0x80 0x01 | 0x80 0x00
ch1 :   0x80 0x02 | 0x80 0x00
ch2 :   0x80 0x04 | 0x80 0x00

It receives a single byte that is a bitmask of the LEDs to light up:



? && 0x01 = record LED
? && 0x10 = MIC LED
? && 0x60 == CH1+CH2 LED = 0x20 + 0x40
? && 0x20 = CH1 green
? && 0x40 = CH2 green
? && 0x04 = CH1 red 0x16?
? && 0x08 = CH2 red


? && 0x24 = CH1 yellow (red+green)
? && 0x48 = CH2 yellow (red+green)




Links

• Easterhegg
• OpenBench
• DS0201  "DSO Nano" pocket oscilloscope (manual)
• µPD78f0500
• Photos (Sorry, rejected photos where uploaded too for some reason)
• Photos of the RC04 for the H4n
• All Videos (please subscribe)
• Andreas made a radio remote for the Zoom H4n based on these findings.

Next step: implement this in an ATTiny13 using a softUart. Maybe use a CMOS 4019 /
4052 or MAX4619 to trigger something else too.

OpenBench

I'm currently checking out the OpenBench logic sniffer.
What I plan to do is to play with one on EasterHegg in Basel this weekend and reverse engeneer the serial protocoll used by the RC04 remote control of the Zoom H4n audio recorder.
With that information I should be able to program a Microcontroller to start not only 1-3 cameras but also the sound recording in perfect sync with one button on the right handle of my camera rig.
(2 cameras for 3D, 3 cameras for interviews, usually only 1 camera+1x4 channels of sound)

• OpenBench
• EasterHegg (CCC event. This time in Basel, Switzerland) 

CCC Hackerspace Freiburg

I was away for15 month due to an Android project that got extended again and again.
During this time the Chaos Computer Club Freiburg (of which I am a founding member) managed to create it's own Hackerspace.
Now for the first time I get to see it...
It is located in a former subterran walkway that has been extended and fittet with ventilation, power, internet, security system,...

Developing for Samsung SmartTV

After a glimpse of how to develop for GoogleTV,
I'm now downloading the Samsung SmartTV SDK 3.1.1.

Download 
Let's see how difficult it is to develop apps for my own TV set and get them into Samsung's market.
The nearly 300MB are still downloading...done.

Well...it's a 300MB ZIP-file containing.... an exe file.
Nowhere did it state that Windows was required.
On the contrary. "Specs &Features" says "Linux 2.6".
Looks like apps for a Samsung TV are not actually apps but downloaded websites with Javascript and optinal flash content that can make use of special API calls.

Installer
Quote of the day:
"If you want to make sync between TV and SDK, check and install apache server"
Not only does it install a full blown Apache server.
It does not let you choose to install only SmartTV 2011 and not 2010 and 2012.
It clutters the desktop with  4 new icons. One for each emulator and one for an "Apps Editor" that ...requires administrator priviliges.

 App Editor
The dialog says: "Manufacturer: Unknown" but I have to give it admin permissions.
Next dialog: Windows firewall complains about it.
The screen resembles XCode pretty much.
No example projects to open. ...this could make it hard to get a grip on how things should work.
I can create 3 trypes of project: Basic, Javascript and Flash.
In the next step it asks me a number of settings without any help as to their meaning and useless names like "cpname", "cplogo", "mgrver" or "dcont"="y".
The language is definately Javascript.  I'm not terribly exited about that given the state of javascript development and debuging tools I've seen so far. Or better the absense of them.
There is a UI designer and it does reflect simple changes of the code in the UI.
I can create buttons and other UI elements. What I can't do it double-click or right-click on a button to get to the code that handles the click.
I can run it in an emulator and debug in an emulator.
No setting to run this on my Samsung TV.

Emulator
Also triggers a Windows Firewall warning....twice.
I wonder why I did not get a choice as to what emulator to run. It just opens the 2012 one even if I want to test on a 2011 TV set.
There is a menu "Run Active Project...". Apart from the wrong capitalisation the elipsis ("...") should indicate that a dialog will open. ...doesn't happen. Just the 212 emulator again.

 Uploading
The documentation tells me how to package my app. Aparently separate packages need to be created for Europe, America, Asia, Africa and "Others".
It does not tell me how to instal and run that package on my TV.
However I did find a blog posting about it: here
Problem is: That seems to be for 2010 TV sets. My 2011 TV does have a completely different menu and no "server" or "development" setting in there.
Found it!
You need to loose all stored passwords on your TV (not again...50+ character passwords are a PAIN to type on a TV remote). Instructions are here.
Looks like you have to create a new account with the special name "develop" that no one cared to tell you about. Then a special menu will suddenly apear.
In the menu you can set your development PC as the server. You have to enter an IPv4. There is no space if your network uses IPv6 .

• download the SDK 
• Running your app on an actual TV set
• Running on a 2011 TV set
• Stackoverflow postings 

My first GoogleTV app

I just updated my dropbox account type and my dropbox file manager app to run on GoogleTV too.
It works really well to navigate through the local file system and multiple Dropbox accounts using the large GoogleTV remote.
The password is only entered once per account and the large screen can support the existing tablet-UI showing local and remote side at the same time.

• App in Android Market

3D photos in Photoshop CS6 BETA

I played around with 3D photos lately.
What I found missing was a program to do basic editing of 3D photos.
I need:

• white balance
• saturation, levels, brightness, contrast,...
• crop, scale and rotate to make some horizontal/vertical line in the photo truely horizontal/vertical
• save in the original MPO-format as well as SideBySide+Red/Cyan-Anaglyph.

Extremely basic operations.

After someone commented that Photoshop CS6 spports MPO files (containers with 2 JPEG-images used for 3D photos), I check it out.

Bridge CS6 doesn't offer "Photoshop" or "Camera Raw" as "open with...".
Bummer. I can only open it with the Preview -app of MacOS from within Bridge.

Then I opened the MPO -files in the Photoshop CS6 trial.
They open in a "3D-layer" where I can switch between Anaglyph and SideBySide.
However apart form HDR-toning I can't do anything.
No brightness/contrast,
no levels,
nothing involving colors at all.
I am offered to crop+turn the image but for turning a) I need to input the rotation in degrees instead of marking a horizontal/vertical line b) it asks me to convert from 3D into a SmartObject. I can't convert back to 3D.
Trimming a 3D image displayed as side-by-side trims the SBS-image, not the left+the right image, so it destroys the image.

So yes, it can open them but I can't DO anything with it once I opened it.

First experiences with GoogleTV

I just got a free GoogleTV from Google as part of a congress and wand to write my experiences as I give it a test...
The device is a Logitech Revue.

The plastic feels cheap and the first thing I noticed was that I got shipped a unit  with a US power plug (This is Germany and it was a German conference and we are just a few month away from the all-Europe launch of GoogleTV).
The power supply however is 100-240V and I found a compatible cable around the house.

Switching it on I noticed it having HDMI in and out.  However there is no connector for my satelite dish. I wonder how I'm supposed to watch TV with it. For the time being the TV signal stays connected to by buggy Samsung SmartTV.

Next issue: I removed the strip and powered on the remote keyboard. The box says it cannot find it's remote and that I am supposed to switch it on. What it does not say is that the remote is only ever detected if I press a button on it too. (Took a while of waiting to find that out by accident.)

Next step: This is the first HDMI device ever that wants me to define the edges of the screen in a manual 4 step process. I though HDMI was digital and never needed this crap.

Nest stop: Internet. It can do Ethernet and Wifi. Wifi however apparently only in 2.4GHz and not in the less crowded 5GHz band. I hope it's at least 802.11n and not 11g.
Entering the password is very easy with the keyboard but it feels super cheap. Quite a turndown from a company that has a name of building good keyboards.
BTW, as I guessed after that US power plug...the keyboard has a US layout. At least, being a developer, I'm used to use this layout every once in a while.
All the UI up to this point is also in english and there is no language selection before the setup.

Next step: Installing updates. Quite fast. No surprises. Reboots multiple times but at least it shows progress bars that actually move.
For a few seconds I noticed that the device actually has a fan and that it can be very loud. But only for a few seconds.

Looks like after the updates I have to do all the setup steps again. Screen size, looking up and typing the Wifi password,... I suddenly however see new options like selecting to not use DHCP in Wifi.

Then it's entering my Google account password.
It can backup and restore my data to that account and automatically installed at least the OIFileManager. I'll have to check what other apps from my Android cellphone and tablet have found their way onto the GoogleTV.

After accepting the EULA, be careful not to accidentaly check [X] Send me SPAM about logitech products.

Then it wants my ZIP-code...but not the country. It thinks the German ZIP-code of 79110 is in Amarillo, Texas. I guess I won't get any "accurate programming information".

Next step: TV...this is going to get interesting.
It asks me if I have a set-top box.  No, I haven't.  Like every TV I know the Samsung SmartTV has the tuner build-in and connects to dish, cable and/or terrestrial TV itself. Else it would not BE a TV but just a dumb monitor.

Remote..it wants to know my TV brand and model. It does know the Samsung UE40D8090  and it looks like my GoogleTV-remote can be a remote for my TV.
Given the rather advanced functionality of the TV I guess I'll continue to use my Android-phone and the original remote for that job.
It asks me what input-port my GoogleTV is on my TV. I guess that's needed for the remote-control part.
Setup tells me that I can: Turn the TV on/off, Switch input to Google-TV and control the volume. ...I expected a BIT more but In guess that's enough to grab just that one remote and the one from the stereo to use GoogleTV instead of jougling 3 remote controls.
Later I found out that pressing "TV" on the remote does not switch the input channel of the TV back from the GoogleTV -input to live-TV but instead turns off the TV set.

Now it asks me for my VCR. I can't select the already chosen Samsung SmartTV that has a build in VCR (like more modern TV-sets nowadays).

The following advertisement video is not 16:9 and does not use the full screen. It has black borders on all 4 edges. Why did I have to set this up again?

Then it's automatically shutting down.  WTF?

Oh, BTW: it's 60HZ.  I fear that I'll get artifacts watching normal, european 50HZ and 25Hz footage due to the 3:2 pulldown to get them to americal 60Hz. At least the TV-set does support both natively.

Done...let's see what apps we have..
My expectation is to find either very few apps at all or many apps that don't work outside the US.
First thing: YouTube. The obvious choice.
I can select it, then click "My YouTube" to see my own channel's videos....however it is sitting at "signing in" for minutes now and nothing happens.
Oh...that is not a notifcation that it is currently signing in, that's a button!!!
(Why does it say "signing in" and not "press to sign in" then?)  I can select an account.
Great!! I didn't hope for multi-account capabilities. I guess families or >1 did complain. ;)

Next app: "live TV".  It tells me that I have no set-top box but allows to choose "generic video source" instead. Well..this is rediculus. I guess it only ever supports video via HDMI-in. Didn't the website say it supports satelite TV? Whatever should I do with a GoogleTV that does not support TV?

Next: "Music"  ..."Please go to http://music.google.com/ on your PC to sync your music library".
Hello? Didn't you hear that Google Music it not avaliable in Germany yet? In fact it's not avaliable anywhere except the US and canada!
Aparently I cannot add music to my device except by using a service that is not even announced to become avaliable some day anywhere on my continent.

"TV&Movies" ...a unified selection of live TV and all video rental services it has (YouTube, Amazon, ...).
I only see strange US shows that I have never even heard of.

"Netflix" Are you a Netflix member? no=>Sorry, Netflix is not available in your country.
That's one of the features top entries at the buttom of the screen. Right below a black area that is supposedly intended to show live TV. Except this box doesn't have an input for live TV.

"Market" OMG. I have never seen Android Market so empty! The only app that is not preinstalled anyway in "My Apps" is OI File Manager. Not even my K-9 mail is there.
But it does display "NBA Game Time for Google TV" wich is certainly not any of "My Apps".
WTF is the NBA anyway? Some sport stuff?
There is no Gmail here! No Google Calendar! Not even Picasa!
My regular TV has access to more Google services that this GoogleTV!!!
Searching for "mail" is supposed to show screens after screens of apps...there is not a single email app in GoogleTV.
The one video rental service I actually have an account with "maxdome"(never actually rented something) ...has no GoogleTV app.
The store is so small, it has but a front-page and 2 categories: "other apps" and "other games".
I cannot uninstall CNBC, Napster, NBA or Netflix even though they don't even work on this continent.

"Podcats" I'm surprised to find such an app. First thing: It is empty. I would have expected my podcasts from Google Reader in here. Searching for some of the top 10 German podcasts shows...no results. (Chaosradio, Lautsprecher, CRE)
I can't find an option to add a podcast by URL.

"Photos": It supports Picasa and Flickr accounts.  Looks like even more then one Google account is supported at a time. It is quite slow but at least it's finally an app to watch 3D photos from 2 Google Accounts in full screen and full resolution on my TV. (Samsung has issues with sometimes only getting 240x??? images and supports only 1 account.)

"Pandora" Nice startup-logo but nothing happens. No reaction, no menu, nothing at all.

Preliminary result: In it's current state it's useless. Both in hardware (no TV) and software (basic Google apps missing, let alone 3rd party apps).

"options": For some reason I can select "Allow mock location" in developer options. I can't imagine any more stationary device then a TV set.
"Chrome to TV". Aparently I can push links from a Crome browser to the TV. Problem is: I don't use Chrome. I'm using Firefox and DolphinHD because they sync passwords among each other.

"Storage": 520MB free internal storage and I an enable external FTP access.
1: FTP is insecure and I won't allow it on MY network. sftp is a minimum.
2: What to use FTP storage for if this device has no TV to record.
It seems this GoogleTV does not know about DLNA servers on my network. So my regular TV can watch videos, music, ... from my file server but my GoogleTV can not.

"Time and Location":  "Network provided time" puts me on GMT-5. I am however in GMT+2 here.
I cannot choose an ISO date format 2012-03-30 nor the national 30.03.2012 . Only permutations of this strange XX/YY/ZZZZ US-format.


Last quest: How to turn this thing off?

New field monitor for focus

about this blog
I haven't written here in a while.
It has been way too tempting to post 1-2 lines on Google+ instead and be done with it.
I think in a world of Twitter and G+, blogs should be about "quality content" in the sense that an entry has more then a paragraph and a single photo or link.

what recently happened
So, what have I been up to in the last days?
After having constructed and 3d-printed so much film and photo equipment last year,
I'm trying to learn how to use it properly. ;)
Working my way through books about setting up light, image composition, exposing for film, cutting video for different results,...
Experimenting with Strobist like still photography and getting experienced with pulling manual focus on a moving camera.
There lies the problem. My best lenses are the Leica/Panasonic 25mm f1.4 and the incredible Voightländer 25mm f0.95 .
These two babies can have a very shallow field of depth if you want it.
That looks great for portraits or close-ups but is impossible to focus in video on the camera display alone.


topic: field monitors for DSLRs
I have been and am still looking for an affordable field monitor that can help with this issue.
What am I'm looking for?

• At least 800x480 if not 720p. 

I tried that resolution in a shop and it allows me to see differences in focus clearly that are unnoticeable on the camera display.

• At least peaking (superimposed edge-detection, highlighting the object in focus)

Here is what I found so far:

SmallHD DP6 (too expensive)
Great! Just perfect.
Does everything you want and does it great.
The problem: The 1000eur price tag.
I would consider it very, very carefully if...it where not clear that in a few years we'll get such a monitor in FullHD. Maybe even 3D autostereoscopic.
(Looks like Lilliput has something like that)

Marshall V-LCD50 (still too expensive)
Still very expensive at 650eur.
It does  peaking AND false colors for focus.

Sony-CLM-V55 (nearly there)
300eur.
does peaking and 1:1 (zoom in to show 1 camera pixel as 1 display pixel)

Lilliput 667GL (too cheap)
This is too cheap.
170 eur is okay but there is no focus assist at all.

Calumet branded one (forget it)
Forget about this one.
380eur and no focus helping at all.
Saturation is too low even at maximum.

F&V F1 (cheap!!!)
200eur with peaking.
800x480.
Sounds great!
I would get this one if I did not find....

• Review

Lilliput 5D-II/O/P (YES!!!)
360eur (320eur including customs and 19% import sales tax)
this sounds like the PERFECT one!
The old "/o" had nothing but the newer "/o/p" model looks great.
1024x600 (600p) ...strange resolution but better then 480p.
HDMI in + out ...well...I have no use for the out part but it could be nice.
The real deal is:

• Peaking (highlighting the object in focus)
• Zebra (pattern in overexposed areas)
• False Color (coloring over+underexposed areas)
• Zoom (1x to 8x including 1:1)
• Image Freeze,...
• Specification
• Review

THAT'S the one I want to try. Then I'll update this blog posting with the result...

Don't buy Samsung!!!

Samsung SmartTV "support"  says it's perfectly normal that my TV forgets all already downloaded EPG data
and that I have to switch through each and every chanel manually every time I switch on the TV
and that it's my own fault for using satelite TV instead of cable.

HELLO? EARTH CALLING? IS THERE ANY INTELLIGENT LIFE ON PLANET SAMSUNG?

This is the latest and greatest and most expensive model they have with the most recent software.

making 3d photos in munich

Made a number of 3D photos in Munich last night.
Click the photo above to see the album.
The photos are not sorted or edited yet and a lot of them are ruined by snow getting in front of the flash.
(Photos made with a Panasonic G-series 3D lens that is limited to f11, so a flash is needed.)

30 Hackerspaces for Shanghai

"Shanghai government is going to build up the first 30 hackerspaces"
Including CNC tools and everything.
Members only cover the operating cost, not the initial cost of the machines and rooms being purchased and set up.


source

Don't use Maxspot

(Crossposted from Google+ because it annoys me so much)
I'll never book a Hotel that uses #Maxspot for Wifi again!!!
At least every 5 minutes, sometimes every few seconds they highjack a random HTTP connection to inject
"Sie müssen sich zuerst anmelden um diese Website besuchen zu können!".
Then you must enter your wifi hotspot login and click to get the intended page. Problem: This also happens vor HTTP requests for
.css,
JSON,
XML,
Javascripts,... and it does forget
HTTP-GET and -POST parameters as well as
HTTP-headers.

So any "next" link in a google search or a link to amazon, ebay,... for example forgets what you have been searching for.
This breaks my internet and is completely unacceptable for a hotel's service I'm paying for!!!

• Google+ microblogging post

Reversing an RC04

Dissecting an RC04 remote for a Zoom H4n...
Well labeled inside.
I should record what is transfered on that 3.3V serial bus soon.
Should be easy to syncronously start/stop recording on 2 cameras for 3D and sound with a single button.

Upgrading the ToM

(I have neglected posting here for a while. Much is posted on Google+ but too short and meaningless for a blog posting.) As the jamming and filament-stalls of the Thing-O-Matic continue, I'm now fed uo enough to mount a new extruder. It did not quite fit but I guess I can make it work. My current suspicion on the jams is that any contact with the ABP belt cloggs up the extruder. The original extruder is very week and cannot overcome that. I would have liked to use an angled drive-bolt extruder like the RepMan uses as I found that to be extremely powerful, back-pressure resistant and reliable. But no such extruder design exists for the ToM and I need to use a ready design to save time. I'm now trying to use a geared down extruder with more force and also replace the plastic belt with titanium. I don't know yet how best to cut the 0,025mm titanium. As Makerbot didn't include any mechanism for tightening the belt, a new belt has to be perfect in length.

• First Google+ posting
• Second Google+ posting
• Extruder on Thingiverse