GoPro Media Pack

 Adding a Media pack to a GoPro so that we can use the Mini HDMI port on ATEM for Wide angle closeups  for online experiments, getting into the detail of the experiment

Last Podcast of the Year

 2022 the year in Review successfully recorded and now ready for processing

Analog Computer due to arrive

The Analog thing (That) is finally due to arrive tomorrow. It would have been earlier except for the Post office strike. Customs duty and VAT are all paid. So hopefully tomorrow I can start playing and making up some lesson plans
 

The Last Day of Teaching before Christmas

So the Cake is now iced (I'm glad I am not teaching art or cookery with these skills), and one more lesson to go, and then I'm finished for a week.

The Power Station

 The Power Station

At the power station, energy flows,
From coal and gas and water, who knows?
It's all combined and burned with heat,
To create electricity, that can't be beat.

The turbines spin and generators hum,
As electricity is sent on its way,
To light up homes and power our lives,
It never sleeps, it never arrives.

The power station is a busy place, 
Where energy is made at a rapid pace,
It never stops, it never slows,
It powers our world, and our every goal.

So next time you flip a switch and see a light,
Remember the power station, working through the night,
Creating electricity, so bright and true,
Powering our world, all because of you.

AI image with an AI written poem

Steam Punk Camera

 Trying out a new type of AI Steampunk camera. The camera doesn't exist except in the mind of the AI Midjouney, which can create objects to fit a description. Great for computing and some Physics Art.

Ball Catcher

 My son and I spent much of the day creating and filming a new video on vectors using the @Pascoscientific wireless smart cart and the ball catcher. Using the timed and distance ball release we could get the ball to release just where we needed it.

Podcast or Video Cast?

 The best of both worlds. Producing the Podcast but also videoing it so we can reach a wider and different audience.

No Solar

 Snow-covered solar panels mean no solar electricity . Even if the panels were free, there is much freezing fog as to make little difference

Rodex Microphone and Unify

I have using been using Unify and the Rodex Dynamic Microphone for a few weeks now, and I love it. The sound is very clear and using the dynamic microphone I don't pick up too much extraneous noise. and it is great for dictation too.

 

Snow Day

 For the first time in a very long time, a Snow Day! Some of the students have gone online, but the majority have decided to come. All the roads are now ok. It's just the minor roads that are on hills that cause problems. I live on a hill.

Organ Ready

 Lights, Sound, camera - ATEM at the Ready to play/record some carols and other Christmas music on the two organs 

Spintronics

 Spintronics arrives. Now the work starts playing with this and integrating it into the syllabus to help students understand electronics and electrics

Lamb Pluck

 Thawing out a frozen lamb pluck for a lesson and some sheep eyes to dissect

3 point shooting

 

One above looking down, one looking at the subject ( a model in this case) and one looking at the overall view

Halo Scripting

 Teaching others Halo scripting is taking off. Paul shows how to learn how to program in Halo Forge Infinite in a step-by-step process. The series is becoming popular because of the slow and steady pace of teaching others how to program.

What the camera sees

What the camera sees compared to the edited video shows is quite different. The green screen is extended and flipped to the computer screen from the live view, making the video come alive.

Stream Deck Plus

 A new piece of kit and learning to program this to work with DaVinci Resolve as well as other software on the machine. This is the @Elgato StreamDeck Plus. So far it seems excellent

New Studio Setup

 Spent some of the day creating a new studio to produce some new videos on programming the Halo forge system                                                                               

Photoelectric Effect

 Using an @Adaptalux UV light 365nm and a charged Gold leaf electroscope to demonstrate the photelectric effect Using the zinc plate nothing happed, but when we placed calcium on top of the plate and shone the light the charge was lost.

XBox S setup

 Squeezing in the Xbox S next to the Blackmagic shuttle to do some recording of the new Halo Forge so we can do a tutorial on my Sons Gaming channel

Time lapse root growth

The hardest part about time lapse photography is getting the rate right. Too many photographs too often makes the video long and slow to watch, but take the photographs too infrequently and the film is too fast Getting it right requires some practice
 

Hyacinth Root growth Timelapse

 24 hrs of root growth of a Hyacinth bulb compressed into 12 seconds

Macro Photography

 Macrophotography is hard enough, needing stacked photographs but getting really good light is essential. The @Adaptalux lights are great for getting white, UV or coloured light just where you need it, to get really great shots of hard to see things.

Webcam or Camera, ATEM and Streamdeck

 

You can teach online using just a webcam, but put in an ATEM with multiple cameras, Visualiser and Wacom Cintiq tablet, connected to a audio mixer and Stream Deck then you have an online teaching system.

Biology

Autumn is the season for collecting things like sweet chestnuts and to video them as they dry out and open releasing their seeds. Some need high speed others time-lapse.

New Dice

 A pair of Sicherman dice. Different numbers on the dice but have the same probability as 2 normal 1-6 dice. The students compared these to normal dice to convince themselves that they actually work.

Quick Studio

If you don't have a permanent studio set up then sometimes it is necessary to create the illusion of a studio set up but putting up a background and filming tight inn on the subject.

Spectrum

 At this time of year, the low sun in the sky shining through a gap in the curtains through a prism gives an excellent spectrum

Optics

 The challenge to get to pencils pointing up to look like one is pointing up and the other pointing down to just touch each other. Many ideas and efforts from the students until one had a lucky accident and then the idea caught on.

Blackmagic 4K

 The mainstay of our work is the Blackmagic 4K It may not have all the latest features which we don't need. Most of our videos are in HD and watched on mobiles, so we only use the 4k for cropping in

Filming and a clapperboard

 As soon as we use more than one camera then the clapperboard becomes useful for syncing the cameras exactly. We can use timecodes and sync all the cameras and this does take time, but the clapperboard is usually quicker and easier.

X3

 Not just for 360 pictures but we are now using this when we want to take some establishing shots and selecting the pieces of scenery we want from the whole 360 degree view.

Cloudy Partial eclipse

Some people are lucky. This is my version of the partial eclipse. A cloudy eclipse. I didn't even bother with the filters for this one. Try to spot the sun day.

Planks Constant apparatus

 Trying to find the best way to video the Planks constant apparatus takes a bit of time to get it all right, getting the shots and getting the right answers as well.

A lot of Rain

I don't think we are going to get a lot of filming done today
 

FLIR Images

 Bringing heat loss and wasted heat into the students frame is easy when the FLIR camera comes out. The Students discovered how much energy was lost and wasted

Panasonic 4K

 The Panasonic 4K camera is still our choice for ease of use and speed when making a video. It has a good zoom range and excellent sound built in. Its one of the easiest cameras to get out and start shooting.

Three Point lighting

https://pod-mini-an-adaptable-macro.kckb.st/ab66b99e Three point lighting for macro work is now so much easier with the new @Adaptalux Mini pods. Light can easily be brought in to more effectively illuminate the subject.
 

Adaptalux Pod Mini on Kickstarter

This is just what we have been looking for. We have Adaptalux lights on one side but now we can light easily on two sides and from the top and back too.  Proper three point lighting on the macro scale. We can't wait! https://pod-mini-an-adaptable-macro.kckb.st/ab66b99e

Processing Spherical Footage

  Paul learning to process spherical data using DaVinci Resolve. It seems to able to do everything that we need it to do, but using free add ins.

Canon R5C charger

 I have given up waiting for the canon r5C charger and bought a 3rd party one until Canon can supply. So far it seems to work fine.

Insta360 x3 Arrives

 The Insta360 X3 has arrived now off playing for a bit trying to learn how the system works and how to create good footage We don't have Premier but use Resolve instead so we will have to see what we can do

Bullet time adaptor

 The first part of the insta360 X3 camera has arrived the bullet time accessory with probably one of the best selfie sticks I have used - very sturdy.

How things change

 This Ricoh Theta was some of the best 3D technology a few years ago, but now we need 4k, we need to be able to select parts of a 360 view to create new types of films and video