Highball Blog - Outdoor Blog | Gear Giveaways - Gear Reviews | Video Editing Tips & Video Shooting Tutorials | Vector Designs for Mountain Bike T-shirts and Climbing Shirts
I added a handle to the PVC gimbal for a better grip. The need for a handle also arised from the fact that the outer plastic ring in the gimbal is not thick enough and it used to become oval when I held it. Not it keeps its round shape working better with the other inner rings.
For some reason I placed a ball bearing in the handle, thinking that this will allow me to move my arm more (sideways) but still keep the camera steady. And I would have been right without the PVC gimbal already in place. The bearing in the handle was redundant as the sideways moves were already eliminated by the tilting of the outer ring.
In other words, in order to for the ball bearing handle to make sense I must either block the two outer rings (largest and middle sized) or I must eliminate the outer ring altogether. I blocked the bearing with duct tape - so it's still there in case I will reconsider my DIY glidecam design.
Now that I hold the steadicam by the handle I endure a considerable stress on my wrist. The center of gravity is further from my grip and my wrist became part of a lever which brings fatigue in the arm much earlier whereas before I was holding the gimbal (just above the G center) without getting fatigued. It's not hard to see why the professional Steadicam comes with the articulated flying arm and body vest - to let the operator concentrate on shooting video, taking the weight off his arms and transferring it onto his/her body.
A friend of mine solved this problem neatly with a forearm rest which I grossly overlooked when I first watched his video. His glidecam design incorporates a gimbal with two ball bearings - one in the main axis and one in the handle.
Materials needed to make your gimbal handle:
ball bearing (skate bearing)
bolts
nylon nuts
flat stock
PVC pipe and joint
super glue (Bison Power Adhesive)
duct tape (for fixing whatever you may do wrong, like I did)
As tools I used a vise, pliers, a power drill, drill bits for metal drilling, a file.
If you think the handle looks scrappy then you should know that IT IS scrappy. I used two hinge blades instead of flat stock and I added the ugly touch with duct tape - dampening the futile bearing...
If you would like to learn more about the concept behind the glidecam watch the videos at the end of this post with the creator of the Steadicam.
Garrett Brown talking and giving demonstration on his invention - The Steadicam
Download this design for your lady climbing T-shirt in vector format (SVG) here
I came into rock climbing thinking that one must just get to the top, no matter what style and technique... As soon as I saw climbers clipping the quick-draws in the bolts and then passing the rope through the carabiners I knew there's more to it.
Red point climbing means you only have to hold onto the rock as you ascend, using the bolts or pitons for security purposes only. That is, if you take a fall that's the only case you would make real use of those securing points. You must reach the top of the route or finish the pitch without falling and without hanging in the rope for resting. That's red point - what Germans call rotpunkt.
The red point style led to the sport climbing movement as we know it today. Back in the mid 70's, the red point at the bottom of a route meant it could be free climbed without using the pegs as handholds or footholds. Read more about this on Wikipedia.
My suggestion for printing your rock climbing shirts
More and more lady climbers can be seen these days on the crags. That can only be good news! :-)
This cycling and climbing clip was edited after I converted the MP4 videos to AVI format. GoPro HD footage comes in MP4 files which you may need to convert to AVI, MOV, QuickTime, DV or other formats before importing them into your current video editor.
By the end of this post you will be able to batch convert MP4 clips to AVI using a free MP4 converter.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Working with AVI Files Instead of MP4 Files?
Perhaps the AVI video format is the easiest to handle for any video editor. I don't think there are any video editors - even default ones like Windows Movie Maker or free software on the web - that don't import AVI files.
AVI video is uncompressed and thus the quality is maximum. Video cameras (compact photo cameras as well) that output the clips in AVI do so without working too much on the footage (with their internal software). GoPro HD camera for instance does some serious work compressing the video to MP4 format in H.264 encoding - this is keeps the quality high and at the same time keeps the files small.
Maybe it's just me but I find that AVI video is slightly sharper than other formats. The shapes seem to be better defined. And if you are shooting with long depth of field (DOF), which most point-and-shoot cameras have as default feature with their lens system, this means that the objects in the background will also look pretty good.
The biggest disadvantage of AVI movies is that they are too large, in terms of megabytes or space occupied on your hard drive. That's why for serious video editing you need tons of storage space (fast transfer hard drives starting from at least 500 GB), not to mention tons of computing power (powerful processor, lots of RAM memory and a solid graphics card). To have a sense of the size difference between the two types of files I can tell you that an AVI clip is 5.31 times larger than a MP4 clip. For instance a clip shot in 720p (lowest resolution considered to be HD) at 30 fps in MP4 occupies 45,258 kilobytes (45.2 MB) whereas the same clip converted to AVI occupies 240,340 kilobytes (240.3 MB). That's a huge difference!
How To Batch Convert MP4 To AVI with Free Video Converter - MPEG Streamclip
First of all I demand that you go right now and thank Stefano Cinque, the Italian developer behind Squared5, for his majestic work with MPEG Streamclip. Please do that! This is a world class program that he's giving away for free. We owe him that much!
I showed this software to a TV editor and he was amazed by its capabilities. His licensed software didn't even open my GoPro HD clips... Can you image how smart and knowledgeable I looked in his eyes? :-)
After you download and install the video software, start the program and go on like this:
Click on the List item from the the menu bar and then click on Batch List(Ctrl+B)
In the new window that pops click the Add Files... button
Browse your computer in order to reach the folder where you store the files that you want to convert. You can select multiple files either by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and clicking on each file that you want to add to the batch list or by holding down the left mouse button and selecting mini batches of files (when the files are selected release the mouse button). Click on the Open button of the window and then you will be asked to
Choose a task - choose Export to AVI - if that's what you want to do with your video files; if not then choose other video format from the list. Click OK.
Select the destination folder of the files to be converted or simply create a new folder.
Choose the export settings for your video. The only thing I do here is I slide the quality level to 100% (the default setting is 50%). I leave the resolution and frame rate as in the original clip. Click To Batch button.
In the new window click the Go button. The status of the files will transform from Waiting to Processing... and eventually to Completed.
After this you can close the software coz you're basically done. It's that easy to convert MP4 to any other type of video file! Go and view the files in their new format and import them into your video editor.
You can also edit GoPro HD footage with Magix Edit Pro 15 which is unfortunately not free. It allows you to directly import and edit the MP4 videos without having to convert them. This saves time and energy. Go for the free trial and see how it goes.
Download this drawing for your mountaineering T-shirt in SVG format
I hold great respect for elderly trekkers and mountaineers who seem to make no fuss about anything. They've got the wisdom of a lifetime and just go along doing their thing in a silent and peaceful way.
Let's stop whining about gear being expensive and having no fellows to go outdoors with. If you work on it you'll soon have everything you need ( a bunch of quality companions included).
My suggestion for printing your trekking T-Shirt or hoodie
You can use Inkscape to edit the SVG files - change colors, add extra text, add your logo, etc.
I had a hard time getting the water to boil as all the wood I used was either wet or damp. For this reason this first test is not relevant. The water became hot enough for the broth to get done but that's not satisfactory for me - I want it to get to boiling temperature.
The design seems to be good - with the tin can and the fire grate. However I would add some more lateral holes (air intakes) for a better ventilation and more efficient burning. The triangle holes at the top of the can allow the flame to get out and envelop the pot - which is a nice thing to watch as you're cooking your meal outdoors.
I must stress that I had about 1.5 liters of water in the pot. Perhaps I could have got a cup of water to boil in a few minutes. I normally cook a consistent broth for two or three persons when I go mountaineering and camping so I needed to see how the hobo stove would handle such a task.
It took me about 30 minutes to get the broth to an edible state... I guess this time can be improved with dried wood and some small adjustments to the design of the stove. It's crucial to have a constant flame hitting the pot.
Try to make your own hobo stove and leave me a comment or a video response with your experience. Cheers!
But since I embrace DIY and improvisation I gave it a shot in making one. I used the plastic plate on which the camera is mounted when you get it boxed. I failed! And then I just used the helmet mount which I strapped onto the tripod head - it was that easy!
The advantages of improvising a tripod mount
You don't need to carry additional pieces. The GoPro accessories are small and easy to loose and if you choose to use the helmet mount on your tripod you just solved the problem. You are more likely to carry the helmet mount all the time.
The quick release buckle is your friend. Just have a look at the original tripod mount for GoPro camera and you'll see it cannot work with any of the quick release buckles (that's just silly). In order to use it, you must unscrew the camera from your mount and then fix in place the tripod accessory and then mount it on the tripod - too much work for an action sports camera!!! With my improvisation (I'm sure others have figured it out as well) you can have your camera on the tripod in a snap.
It makes you feel smart and self reliant! - this is my biggest motivator - :-)
This year's event is also sponsored by Goal0 - they are my biggest sponsor on Highball Blog - so this means if you win the video contest you'll also get gear from them, not only from Petzl, Evolv, Windstopper, North Face and Sterling Rope.
Boy do I wanna participate in this!!! I don't know how I will be able to export in reasonable quality my video in order to submit it but I must find a way. I edit GoPro HD footage on a Dell laptop and that's not enough for high quality video...
The idea is to create a two minute video related to climbing. There are no other restrictions and comedy/spoofing is encouraged. I got my thinking hat on.
Video found on Paul Robinson's blog - a climber and bouldering master from Boulder, Colorado (this town is predestined to produce bouldering addicts) who visited our climbing gym here in Brasov in 2009. Notice the little girl doing some incredible stuff on the campus board at the end of the clip.
I find it extremely helpful for lifting up morale and building motivation to watch climbing films. Don't forget to get outside though...
Go climbing and shoot videos!
Goal0 is an exciting new company making rugged, renewable power solutions for adventurers around the world. They're offering a Sherpa Adventure Kit, which is the perfect way for all you filmmakers out there to keep your cameras and laptops charged while out on a shooting expedition.
The Sherpa kit consists of a foldable and portable solar panel, a 120 W battery pack from which you can charge almost any device via USB or DC output, an universal adapter so you can plug your portable computer, and a three Watt LED lamp (Estrella), which by the way is my favorite. I love the white flood of light it delivers and the various possibilities to hang it with the malleable silicone cord and the small carabiner - I even use it at home for night reading :-).
The title says it all: If Only Every Mountain Biking Video Was Shot Like This...
I assume they used a glidecam (Steadicam) with a body vest and flying arm for shooting this footage. It looks that they also had flying cameras on steel cables running above the single track. I can only guess the amount of work behind this free ride MTB clip. Good job guys!
Download this drawing for your mountain bike T shirt or hoodie here.
A hobo stove is a style of improvised heat-producing and cooking device frequently used by hobos, tramps, the homeless, and backpackers. It is constructed out of a discarded Tin can of any size by removing the top of the can, punching a number of holes near the upper edge, and punching corresponding holes in the opposite base. Fuel is placed in the can and ignited. Convection draws air in through the bottom orifices and expels smoke from the top holes. Improved heating is encouraged by placing the bottom holes facing the wind. Food preparation is often performed on the top of the stove on a cooking surface that also acts as a lid, however many variations exist where cooking is performed on the inverted base of the can.
The main benefit of the hobo stove is its ease of construction and versatility. The stove itself can be constructed out of a variety of materials; paint cans, food tins, buckets, and large drums being most often put to that purpose. Further flexibility lies in the fact that anything combustible can be used as a fuel source.
The hobo stove is able to use many fuels but most common is either dry twigs or a Buddy Burner which allows burning of liquid fuels like melted wax or kerosene.
The hobo stove reached the height of its popularity during America's Great Depression.
It's ironic that the hobo stove was popular during the Great Depression and I've come across it not a long time ago - when the world is passing through another great economic depression (it seems that we're all depressed or something). People get ingenious when times are hard and the hobo cooker is an expression of ingenuity and resourcefulness.
Why To Make Your Own Hobo Stove?
It's cheap. You can make it more or less sophisticated but the main advantage is you can use whatever you have. And you're bound to have in your household at least an empty tin can. You can also use a paint metal box, a bucket, a broken vacuum flask - you name it. I recommend the tin can as it's the cheapest to get and the metal it's made of is easy to cut with a normal kitchen knife. Buy yourself a can of sliced pineapple, enjoy the sweetness and use the tin for your hobo stove project.
Fuel efficiency. The hobo stove allows you to boil water or cook your meal when outdoor camping with very little fuel. This is because both the smoke (which is hot) and flame are directed to your pot or metal cup. No energy is lost in the process due to the construction of the system - it acts as a fire gun as the airflow enters the bottom of the stove and fuels the burning flame, pushing it upwards.
It's easy to set up. Let's say you're outdoors and want to spend the night outside in a bivouac and you also wanna prepare your meal. You would have to build a fire and then figure out a system for hanging your pot above the fire. If you make your suspended arm out of wood it might catch flame and burn before your meal is ready. The hobo stove saves you the head ache. Light a small fire inside your can and you're done. Just place to pot on top and you're cooking already.
Works with any fuel. Even if you can only find dried grass, or dried leaves or dead reed you can still boil your water on the hobo cooker. As long as you feed it with fuel it will get the job done.
I will carry it in my outdoor adventures from now on as an alternative to the costly gas bottles for the camping stove. I love the cleanliness of cooking with gas but some old school gadget won't do me any harm. And since I love making fire so much, this will be my new toy to play with :-).
How To Make a Hobo Stove Out of a Tin Can
Get yourself a tin can and cut a row of holes at the bottom and another row at the top, just under the lip of the can. I recommend to cut triangle shapes as you can see in the pictures below. Have the bottom triangles with the tip pointing upwards and the top triangles with the tip pointing downwards.
Make a front large hole for feeding fuel into your hobo stove. Make it large enough as to be able to put through small pieces of wood, pine cones, etc. However, when you light the fire you are more likely to feed the fuel from the top and only add sticks through the front hole after the pot is on the stove, later on when the fire has traction.
Think about making a grate for the fire to rest on. A hobo stove might work without it as well but the grate will enhance the burning and will provide better ventilation, bringing oxygen to the flame and giving the proper uplift for the flame to hit your pot in full power.
You can make the grate out of any sheet of metal. I used a piece of zinc sheet (used in roofing) that I punctured with a nail and then cut it with a special scissor (my father has these tools for his construction work). If you can't find a zinc sheet, use another tin can for this - cut the top and the bottom lid, cut the cylinder along it's seam (height), roll it flat and then puncture it. Cut it in a disc shape and leave four legs on which it will rest (suspended) on the bottom of your hobo stove. The ashes will pass through the grate leaving the fuel un-smothered to burn effectively.
Drill or puncture four holes for passing through two tent pegs. The pegs will hold any narrower cup you may carry with you while mountaineering or adventuring in the wild.
Please note that you can also build an alcohol hobo stove which works on the same principle but uses alcohol as fuel. The alcohol burns in a smaller metal cup (can be made of a beer can) which is placed inside the larger tin can.
Hybrid hobo stove made by Brant Dempster (The Limb Reaper on YouTube) - a friend and rope access master from Pennsylvania - USA.
Pictures of my DIY hobo stove
This is no product placement - that is, I wasn't paid by the tomato sauce company to show their product on my outdoor blog :-). Imagine me writing this advertising copy:
Wanna make a hobo stove? Buy Hobo Tomato Sauce, use the can as a stove and enjoy your pasta with this wonderful sauce made from specially selected tomatoes. Disclaimer: Making a hobo stove may lead to injury or sneezing. Don't eat too much pasta or you'll get fat even though you may think of yourself as big boned.
Some pictures were taken by phone. Please excuse the questionable quality.
Go outdoors and prepare your meals on your hobo stove!
