I wrote about this ring in PHIL'S NOTES , but this picture is even better than the one I used there.
Jumpin' Jupiter!
Giant planet Jupiter. Image - Hubble
There are a lot of very good resolution photo galleries at the New York Daily News website.
New Video Camera
Vivitar DVR 810HD taking video of Sundial Bridge.
We have a little discount store near where I live, in Redding. It's called Shopko. It is part of a little shopping center with Raley's, Subway, Check into Cash, Post Box Place, Laundromat, etc. I like to go there. It's like a small version of WalMart. I know their inventory and I watch the prices change on things I might want to buy. I do buy things there on occasion. Stool for the breakfast bar, 2.1 speaker system for the computer, Yamaha keyboard, a coffee grinder, to name a few.
I bought a HD camcorder Thursday, on sale for $68.88. Regularly $129.00. It had been on sale two months ago, for $99.00. I couldn't resist. If it turned out to be a piece of crap, I could return it.
Filming the river and Sundial bridge. 10/08/09
The Vivitar DVR has no bells and whistles. There are a lot of settings you can fiddle with, but don't. There is a digital zoom feature. One should never use this. There is an anti-shake feature. It makes the video warp in a weird way. Use a tripod when ever possible.
I got it and tested it under various conditions. For some things, it worked just fine and produced a fairly accurate image. For some things it wasn't good enough. Low light, loud or complex sounds did not reproduce well with this little unit.
I made a short video of the good things this camera did.
Watch it HERE.
At Lulu's
The little camera is not good in low light. 10/08/09
I didn't expect too much from a HD video camera that cost $68.88, so I wasn't heartbroken when the video of the band didn't turn out.
The sound was terribly distorted.
If you know the limitations, you can get good results from any camera. I like what this camera can do. I will keep it.
On the same day I got the camera, I got a call from Billy D., asking if I wanted to play in Dunsmuir the next day. "Sure", says I.
Dunsmuir Housewarming
Screenshot from video taken by DVR 810HD. 10/09/09
I set the camera on a table and let it run while we played. The guy on harmonica is Louis. It was his new house we were warming. The guitar player and bass player were brothers. I don't know the name of the drummer, Billy wandered off and this guy sat in. We all had fun and that's what counts.
The sound on the video was distorted beyond repair, as expected, but the music that day is better as a memory, rather than heard on a recording.
The video let me know that, if I pointed the camera in the right direction, recorded the audio on something else, and boosted the color during editing, this camera could work sometime when The Phil Seymour Band plays outdoors, or on well lighted stages. I will try it out at the Shasta Mall gig on the 17th.
Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
I'm Movin' On - Ray Charles and Travis Tritt
Make The Best Of It
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