Spy Cam on a Stick
erco
Posts: 20,261
Just drove 5100 miles solo over 7 days, my own personal coast-to-coast Cannonball run roundtrip to move some stuff. Only had time for one fun 3-hour stop along the way, I hiked & biked in Chaco Canyon NM, where I used my mini spy cam on a 3/16" dowel rod to make a video. GREAT RIG. I have many cameras, but the spy cam is nearly massless and works without bouncing, it's effortless to carry and aim. Recommended for anyone who wants to make a video by yourself. Here's my unedited video (clunky ending as I fumble for the off button). The stick/cam shadow is visible toward the end.
Comments
Moving stuff, are you leaving sunny California?
Surely you jest, Sir! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtDhtadoeUk&feature=player_detailpage#t=49s
Just the opposite, I was moving a carload of stuff (Grandfather clock, IMSAI 8080 computer) from Charleston SC to Los Angeles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkiAArA6q9Y
Glad you got some down time on your trip.
Missing the front panel is quite common. In fact, that was how I got mine. I think most users just got really frustrated with inputing assembly instructions one at a time and watching LEDs. So the panel was removed and a blank installed when upgrades went in.
But I later found one at a ham swap meet. I bought memory boards, a video board, and even a floppy interface for it --- but I was supposed to write my own BIOS.
It just never happened. This was really before the internet got going and trying to figure it all out on my own was just not meant to be.
If you do power it up, be sure to reform those rather huge capacitors in it or consider replacing the power supply with a switcher.
Have you ever been? I did a similar round trip to Redondo Beach, Ca from Nashville (4000 mi), I have to say, NM had some of the most beautiful "painted mountains" in the country.
No, I have only seen AZ and UT "painted rock". I just thought the area in the video looked like a blast zone.
Heck, Chaco Canyon is arguably the coolest archeological site in North America, and one of the best kept secrets, too. The 13- and 20- mile long bumpy washboard dirt roads leading there deter most people from ever going: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajada_Butte
The Sun Dagger on Fajada Butte beats the heck out of Stonehenge WRT cosmological accuracy and solar and lunar alignments. PhiPi, Tracy and Mike Green know EVERYTHING. But they might not know about the moon's eighteen-year cycle (lunar standstill), which those Anasazi (pre-Pueblo) Indians knew all about and indicated on the Sun Dagger spiral a thousand years ago. Nearly all of the well-built buildings in Chaco are also solar-aligned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOn-7DzlnnM
There's a great video called "The Mystery of Chaco Canyon" narrated by Robert Redford. It's shown regularly on PBS channels. Here's a seperate video of the same name with some interesting info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRnn7bQh6Zg
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinNews/atb/2012/chaco.cfm
It's one of those 18-gram cams from this ancient thread: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?115439-Keychain-DVR
Since it's tiny and weighs nothing, there's no weight to bounce around. I have seen many self-taken videos which used something like this, but I assumed they required a mechanical damper or such. I was pleasantly surprised that this camera (under $10 now) delivered good results with a 99-cent dowel rod!
XLNT point, PJ. Since the US Mint officially regards Chaco as (America the) Beautiful (as opposed to a blast zone), this court will not dispute it!
Sounds of Mrs. Erco quietly under her breath, "oh, sheesh, not MORE stuff!"
-Phil
Once again, PhiPi beats me to the punch!
@Gordon: There's always room for a little more GOOD stuff.