Video of Stacey Solomon performing Live at Leeds Castle Kent - July 2011, video features Stacey singing Somewhere Only We Know and Son of a Preacher Man
Stacey Solomon Live at Leeds Castle Kent performing Son of Preacher Man
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Photos of The Wanted Concert at Leeds Castle Kent
Last weekend we were at the great concert featuring The Wanted at Leeds Castle Kent, these images of The Wanted were taken at Live at the Castle promoted by Heart. Other acts performing were Eliza Doolittle, Alexandra Burke, Stacey Solomon, Twist & Pulse and China Soul.
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| Photos of The Wanted performing at Leeds Castle Kent, July 2011 |
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| The Wanted at Leeds Castle Kent |
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| Eliza Doolittle at Leeds Castle Kent |
Sunday, 10 July 2011
Windows Movie Maker Black Screen Problem After Publishing
how do I fix the black screen on movie maker?
I've recently found a problem with Windows Movie Maker having a black screen in the video that is rendered after publishing. The video appears fine in preview but after publishing the final video produced plays to start with but at a certain point during the video the picture goes black although the sound continues as normal.
One suggestion I found was that audio clips that were muted could cause this behaviour so I set those sound clips to not be muted and just set the volume to be 0. This improved the output slightly in that the black screen at a later point in the video but it still appeared and turned the screen black.
One suggestion was that the Windows Movie Maker project included too many clips and transitions and that to fix the black screen error you could split the project into two parts and once those videos were created then combine them again. Having tried this it works perfectly and although annoying to do, it does enable you to use all the transitions and audio that you included in the project.
I did also investigate whether Windows Movie Maker Live 2011 would fix the problem but it doesnt appear to allow multiple sound tracks to overlay as the Vista version does.
I've recently found a problem with Windows Movie Maker having a black screen in the video that is rendered after publishing. The video appears fine in preview but after publishing the final video produced plays to start with but at a certain point during the video the picture goes black although the sound continues as normal.
One suggestion I found was that audio clips that were muted could cause this behaviour so I set those sound clips to not be muted and just set the volume to be 0. This improved the output slightly in that the black screen at a later point in the video but it still appeared and turned the screen black.
One suggestion was that the Windows Movie Maker project included too many clips and transitions and that to fix the black screen error you could split the project into two parts and once those videos were created then combine them again. Having tried this it works perfectly and although annoying to do, it does enable you to use all the transitions and audio that you included in the project.
I did also investigate whether Windows Movie Maker Live 2011 would fix the problem but it doesnt appear to allow multiple sound tracks to overlay as the Vista version does.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
New Car Road Testing - Spy Shots - How to Spot Disguised New Cars being Driven
Over the last few years I've seen a number of new cars on the roads being driven with various levels of disguise presumably for real life road tests prior to launch. It appears that as we are close to the Delphi Diesel site in Kent that some cars are being tested with their components.
Often cars are fitted with additional panels to cover how the final shape and design will look. This car was spotted in Gillingham Kent in July 2009 and subsequently proved to be the new 2010 Kia Sportage being test driven.
As you can see in the shot above the car is disguised with additional padding/panels to hide the contours and all badges and markings have been removed.
The final production version of the 2010 Kia Sportage is below and you can see the similarity in the lines and detail such as the indicators on wing mirrors.
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| Kia Sportage 2010 Spy Shot |
As you can see in the shot above the car is disguised with additional padding/panels to hide the contours and all badges and markings have been removed.
The final production version of the 2010 Kia Sportage is below and you can see the similarity in the lines and detail such as the indicators on wing mirrors.
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| Kia Sportage final production model While out recently I spotted this vehicle again with some form of disguise, this time more limited and gaffer tape covering some key areas such as headlights. Again all markings on the vehicle had been removed. This was being tested by Delphi Diesel systems.  |
Pentax K to EOS Lens Converter (Use Pentax Lenses on Canon EOS Camera)
A lot of people ask how to use old Pentax K lenses on their Canon EOS camera. I bought a converter to allow Pentax K lenses to be used on my Canon EOS and have done the tests below using my Canon 550D SLR camera.
Pentax lenses can be picked up incredibly cheaply on Ebay or similar auction sites. Some have been available in the range of £10-£20 for a Pentax 28mm f2.8 lens as per the one I did these tests with.
The Pentax to Canon EOS adapter allows you to connect your Pentax K lens on your Canon EOS Camera. In this example I first added the adapter to my Pentax 28mm f2.8 lens and then fitted this to my Canon EOS 550D camera.
And then having fitted the Pentax K 28mm f2.8 lens to my Canon EOS 550D I took a few sample photos. Remember that the Pentax lenses are manual focus and do not transmit any data from the lens to the camera so you have to operate the Canon 550D camera in totally manual settings as aperture cannot be set using the camera. Fortunately Pentax K lenses have aperture rings so you can adjust it manually.
You also have to focus the lens manually. This is a hassle for shooting stills but for video it makes very little difference as you need to manually focus anyway.
Pentax lenses can be picked up incredibly cheaply on Ebay or similar auction sites. Some have been available in the range of £10-£20 for a Pentax 28mm f2.8 lens as per the one I did these tests with.
The Pentax to Canon EOS adapter allows you to connect your Pentax K lens on your Canon EOS Camera. In this example I first added the adapter to my Pentax 28mm f2.8 lens and then fitted this to my Canon EOS 550D camera.
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| Pentax to EOS Lens converter |
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| Photo using Pentax K 28mm lens on Canon EOS 550D |
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| using Pentax K 28mm lens on Canon EOS 550D camera |
Friday, 17 June 2011
Canon 5DII 24-105 lens Error 01
Last week I had a problem with my Canon 5DII and Canon 24-105 f4 IS L lens giving an Error 01 message, unable to communicate with camera. It appeared to be intermittent but as this is my workhorse lens that I use for almost every shoot I needed to get it fixed asap. The excellent Miles Whitehead repaired the lens for me and the fault was a known problem with the lens with the aperture unit connector failing. By losing contact at different points in the focal range it explained the intermittent nature of the error 01 fault on the camera.
This error occured on my Canon 5D too but showed itself in a different way; the error message on the Canon 5D2 was much more informative and showed the problem.
You can see the photos of the repaired part of the Canon 24-105mm f4 lens here
This error occured on my Canon 5D too but showed itself in a different way; the error message on the Canon 5D2 was much more informative and showed the problem.
You can see the photos of the repaired part of the Canon 24-105mm f4 lens here
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| Canon 5D2 lens Error 01 |
Canon 5D Mark 3 Rumours and Spec Sheet
It is now nearly 3 years since the Canon 5D Mark 2 revolutionised the world of photography and video by being able to shoot full HD 1080p video on a DSLR. It is also nearly 6 years since the original Canon 5D was released.
On these timescales we should be due the Canon 5D Mark 3 being announced in the next few months. What features should be on the Canon 5D Mark III spec list?
Clearly HD video has now become an integral part of every DSLR and as the 5D2 led the way with this in the same way the original 5D led the way as the low cost full frame DSLR, Canon are likely to have something up their sleeve to be another game changer.
The features that seem certain to be on the Canon 5D Mark3 are:
Rotating/ moveable LCD screen
Wireless flash control built in
Basic HD video editing in camera
720p HD video (hard to remember that the Canon 5D2 only has 1080p and 640x480)
HD crop mode to give digital zoom of up to 10x
ISO range up to 102,000
So which innovative feature is likely to appear that is the next game changer?
Shooting stills from video - not far off already?
Higher ISO range - unlikely to go much above
Higher pixel count - likely to be higher but not above the Canon 1DS Mark4
Higher frame rate? - possible or may be enable video still extraction
Auto focus for video? Would be highly popular
What do you think the Canon 5D Mark 3 should have on its spec?
On these timescales we should be due the Canon 5D Mark 3 being announced in the next few months. What features should be on the Canon 5D Mark III spec list?
Clearly HD video has now become an integral part of every DSLR and as the 5D2 led the way with this in the same way the original 5D led the way as the low cost full frame DSLR, Canon are likely to have something up their sleeve to be another game changer.
The features that seem certain to be on the Canon 5D Mark3 are:
Rotating/ moveable LCD screen
Wireless flash control built in
Basic HD video editing in camera
720p HD video (hard to remember that the Canon 5D2 only has 1080p and 640x480)
HD crop mode to give digital zoom of up to 10x
ISO range up to 102,000
So which innovative feature is likely to appear that is the next game changer?
Shooting stills from video - not far off already?
Higher ISO range - unlikely to go much above
Higher pixel count - likely to be higher but not above the Canon 1DS Mark4
Higher frame rate? - possible or may be enable video still extraction
Auto focus for video? Would be highly popular
What do you think the Canon 5D Mark 3 should have on its spec?
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