Mar 11

Action Camera Experiments

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For a while I’ve lusted after a GoPro – tiny little self-contained wide-angle HD video cameras which can be strapped to cars, bikes, helmets, all sorts of things. They’re the cameras used for programmes like Top Gear, or where they’re strapped to some bloke skydiving out of a plane to get a point-of-view film; fun stuff and with my impending projects involving music videos I could sort-of justify it.

The GoPro Hero 3HD though has got horrendous reviews: from heat issues to random reboots or even just resembling a very expensive brick (you just need to look at Amazon for a litany of woe), so I wasn’t going to fork out the thick end of £400 for the setup I’d like (including the waterproof case et al).

Anyway, a week ago I went to Focus On Imaging, the big pro-sumer photography show at Birmingham NEC. Among the stands exhibiting was a dealer who were selling the Jobo JIB4 action camera – essentially a GoPro clone – which piqued my curiosity. I spent a while discussing with the dealer and came away with one including waterproof case, a pile of mounts, extra battery booster, a remote control and a lens cloth for a penny shy of £200. Winner.

So what’s it like? Tiny and fun! It’ll do 50fps at 1080p PAL (and a higher framerate of 120fps at WXGA), 170-degree wide-angle, and on exploring the menu system I discovered it had a time-lapse feature which automatically welds sequential JPEGs together to output an MP4 movie: I can squish about an hour’s capture into just under two and a half minutes.

Experiment time! I’ve spent a couple of commutes from home to work (and back) tweaking but this morning I had the first day of decent weather across the M62. So then, here you go – Wrenthorpe to Salford in 4 minutes:

(Just in case you can’t see that, there’s a link to the YouTube video here)

I think I probably need to clamp it to the roof-rack in its waterproof case – that way I’m not having to wash the windscreen all the time; I don’t feel quite brave enough for that yet! More experiments to follow, no doubt…

Jan 15

Changing The Record

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There came a flurry of news just before bedtime last night that high-street chain HMV was going into administration. It’s been on the cards since at least 2007 and while it’s extremely unfortunate that mismanagement of the administration led to staff finding out via the media (accompanied by scuttlebutt and faux-sadness on Twitter) I can’t say I’m surprised in the slightest.

This morning there’s a lot of punditry flying around regarding HMV’s business model, competitors, the inevitable comparisons with online vendors (and HMV’s own failed foray into online sales some years ago), the links to piracy, MP3s, iTunes, and tons more. Yet however you look at it HMV’s business model is completely and utterly flawed: the chart CDs stocked are sold cheaper in bulk to Asda so margins are nonexistent, racks are full of ‘classic’ albums you can find chucked out in Oxfam, there’s very little (if any) stock of local music, and when you want something out-of-the-ordinary you’re bang out of luck unless you want to order it in and wait a week. Just like Jessops before them, they’re box-shifters with stock even Del Boy would find hard to pass on.

It hasn’t always been so. Contrast it with the mid-90s when HMV stocked dance vinyl and had entire racks of ‘interesting stuff the staff found’ complete with a small sticker telling you what it was like – comments like ‘big farty bass and a synth line your mum will hate‘. That was brilliant – it’s how I discovered artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and labels such as FFRR, but that disappeared at the turn of the century and I found other outlets.

(Exception to the rule: the last CD I bought from HMV was This Sporting Life by Skint & Demoralised. I bought it there because I knew one of the lads worked at the Wakefield shop and if anywhere would have a copy, they would…)

I’ll admit I’m a marginal case: I like physical media. I browse CDs, I play vinyl, I buy from small shops such as Crash and Jumbo, I order from independent online stores such as HTFR or Norman Records where possible, and I pester local record labels for CDs rather than downloads. I love exploring liner notes and artwork just as much as listening to the music. The local independent record shop in Cottingham made a fortune out of me in my Uni days, and when we lived in London my wife used to curse because I’d go to Tower Records (RIP), browse the bargain bins and return at 11:30pm with two carrier bags full of stuff I quite liked the look of. Controversially nowadays I also use Amazon – most commonly at music festivals and gigs where I’ll 1-click order a load of the support act’s CDs (well, when they’re not on the merch stand anyway) – but it’s still physical media. I guess I’m in a minority now; not ‘down with the kids’.

The folks who have the bargain-bin physical media philosophy bang-on are That’s Entertainment, which is where your Music Magpie CDs end up (it tickles me that they spotted an opportunity to have a pop at HMV in Manchester). There’s one in the Ridings Centre in Wakefield where I can spend a happy (but costly) hour digging and finding CDs I didn’t even know I wanted, sometimes at five for a fiver. They participated in a small way in Record Store Day last year and it’s somewhere even my kids with their limited pocket money can buy a computer game or a bit of music. Winner.

Will I miss HMV if it does completely disappear? Nah, I can’t even think of a company who might want to pick the chain up other than for the HMV.com domain name. Perhaps it’ll leave a void which can be filled once again by the small shops it killed in the late 80s and early 90s, and although I doubt Wakefield would provide enough business to support it it’d be nice to see a JAT or EGS return to Wakefield’s streets. While browsing Twitter I came across @charlottegore who hit the nail on the head in one sentence: “HMV are a company that wasted lots of money paying rent to keep unsold CDs and DVDs on public display in prime locations.”

No flowers.

Edit: There’s another perspective from Banquet Records which is well worth a read (thanks Martin for pointing me to that).

Jan 14

Podcasting & Playing

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Smoke 'helping' record the podcastI’ve started podcasting the local music scene again for Wakefield Music Collective. This is Podcast #6 (I suppose it’s a season-2 opener but I don’t know when it’ll end up on hiatus again) and is probably worth a listen although I’m using a new vocal mic (a Yeti Blue) which is a bit harsh. You can subscribe using iTunes as well as grabbing the MP3 directly from themusiccollective.co.uk.

I’m also involved in Clarence Music Festival again this year and applications are open for bands to put themselves forward to play. Anything goes so it’s worth a shot and this is the first year you can apply online (as opposed to the past 21 years where you had to put in a promo pack by post). Find out more here.

(The photo is of me compiling the latest edition, while our cat Smoke gets in the way… as she usually does.)

Jan 10

Adios Jessops: Places To Buy Camera Kit

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I feel a tiny bit sorry for Jessops after the announcement they’d gone into administration, but surprised it’s taken this long for it to happen. Jessops is (was?) a bit like PC World where you went in an emergency and paid the ‘now’ tax, but as my good friend Mike Hughes points out, why do that when you can get it delivered the next morning from an online retailer for substantially less dosh?

I’ve bought from Jessops in the past: my Canon 5D Mark II came from them when they were in very short supply and (for some reason) the shop in Leeds had two in-stock where everyone else was quoting several weeks’ lead time; I also vaguely recall reasonable experiences buying an EOS 30D from them in an emergency when my 10D packed up a few days before travelling: the Leeds shop staff didn’t mind me taking the body outside and doing a CCD dirt check on it so I could get the cleanest unit after it turned out the one I bought was mucky. More recently the Wakefield shop (sadly now an empty unit) was staffed by a couple of people who knew what they were on about, so it was occasionally nice to pop in for a chinwag: shades of its former life as local independent Richards’ Cameras.

They were purely box-shifters however, and their long-term returns and repair process sucked golf balls through pipette tubing. Long-time readers of this blog will probably recall the fun I had when my 5D Mark II developed hot pixels and they lost the repair; a few months ago when I totalled a flashgun my heart sank when I found out that MoreThan wanted to send it to Jessops to be fixed; true to form it took three months for it to be returned. I should really blog about the whole insurance experience but that’s a story for another day…

I digress. We don’t have an independent now in Wakefield so I can’t shop locally, however here’s where I get my stuff from:

For film, chemicals, and darkroom bits and bobs I first try Dale Photographic in Leeds. They’re upstairs in the Merrion Centre, our last local bastion of independence, their secondhand shelf is occasionally good for a prod around (although they still haven’t found me a Bronica or Mamiya 6×6 body, and they’re more Nikon than Canon). Prices for digital kit are usually more expensive than online but they can be good for a ‘need it now’ purchase.

If the chemicals or film aren’t available from Dale, I’ll go try RK Photographic or First Call Photographic on t’interwebs. Although in the latter case the postage can be quite punitive if you only order a few little bits, they’re good for niche things such as C41 chemicals or empty film cans for bulk purchasing.

For camera bodies and things I could really do with taking back in person if they don’t work or develop a soon-after-purchase fault, I go to Calumet Photographic (our nearest branch is in Manchester). I’ve had splendid experiences with the staff there helping me with bits, chasing around to see if they can obtain me something that’s in short supply, or just having a chat when I saw Lynese (who runs the Twitter feed) at events. They also do ‘open days’ where you can go play with kit and talk to specialists in that particular area.

Finally, if I’m buying lenses and I know what I want (because obviously I’ll have tested it out with a week’s rental from Lenses4Hire), I’ll just go to Amazon. I think I found Bristol Cameras this way, and obtained things like my 17-35mm f/2.8 L-series glass via there. Check the feedback and returns policy though!

While Jessops going under isn’t surprising and their box-shifter role was usurped by other companies who could do it cheaper and better, it will still leave me without a place to go in an emergency if I’m stuck in somewhere without a ‘real’ camera shop because they had retail units everywhere. That bit’s tedious, at least.

Jan 02

A New Year Message

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I was going to write a long blog entry about 2012 and what happened in it, and then about things I maybe wanted to get done in 2013, but it always seemed to turn into either a complete diatribe or a smug self-satisfied pile of bollocks.

Instead I’ll just say that after the social implosion of 2011 the best word to describe 2012 would be ‘reconciliation’, and my hope for 2013 is that friendships all stay exactly the way they are.

So there.

Dec 18

Instagram Photo Land-Grab Fallout

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Oh dear oh dear, Instagram, bad move. As widely reported elsewhere in the past 24 hours, the biggest photo-sharing platform on the planet – acquired some months ago for $1bn by Facebook – has released new T&Cs. From their blog it looks like a good thing: “our updated terms of service help protect you, and prevent spam and abuse as we grow.” Bravo!

Except it’s not. There’s a couple of important points hidden here under the ‘Rights’ section:

Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you. If you are under the age of eighteen (18), or under any other applicable age of majority, you represent that at least one of your parents or legal guardians has also agreed to this provision (and the use of your name, likeness, username, and/or photos (along with any associated metadata)) on your behalf.

You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such.

Quite a few journalists have pointed out this gives Instagram the rights to monetise your photos without any compensation – C|Net have the best article on it that I’ve seen so far. Bad times.

Of course what you might say is “hah, who’s interested in my holiday snaps?”. I suspect Internet blogger Poppy Dinsey asked the same question before her blog images were hijacked to advertise a porn site. It happens, and it could happen to your photos, crap filters and all. And in a rare invocation of think of the childrennnnnnn it could happen to pics of your kids too. Heck, a friend’s just pointed out that if you’ve popped up some photos and you happen to be a teacher, you’ll now be in flagrant breach of the DPA too (although what part I don’t know, I haven’t investigated that yet).

Being pragmatic here, I think it’ll get retracted or at least an opt-out added – it’s not the first photo hosting service to have tried this. But just in case they don’t, Wired have published steps to downloading then removing your Instagram account.

More concerning is that this sets a precedent for Facebook: There’s been rumours about them doing it for a while (and that’s all they’ve been – rumours) but given who owns Instagram I can only think it’s a matter of time before the rumour become reality despite denials in late November. That for me is the bigger worry: as a photographer I use Facebook to promote my work. My images are of suitably low resolution and are watermarked (most of the time), but even with that ‘protection’ I don’t want to worry that Facebook will put that into an advert – that’s what people pay me for.

Finally, it feels like it’s a blow for the whole ‘cloud’ concept. If a company can retrospectively apply copyright (Instagram’s T&Cs will come into effect in January but apply to your entire image archive) then what hope for other cloud providers? Will Dropbox do it? What about Flickr? YouTube? Tumblr? For creative people will the only ‘safe’ option now be to run your own site?

What a mess. I’m so glad I’m not in that industry any more.

Update: BBC News have an article about it now.

Dec 17

A Few Words About The Photo Site

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I’ve had quite a few folks point out recently that photos.jml.net – the photo archive which contained over 65,000 of our personal images spanning 30 years and gave rise to ‘the family business’ – had disappeared off the face of the Internet.

There’s a few reasons for this, the first and foremost being that with that programme being aired I didn’t know what would happen so took it offline, and as the kids are growing up I wanted a bit more control over who could see the images and for what purpose. Interestingly there’s been some searches on its replacement for the word ‘pants’ so I feel vindicated in this decision!

Second, my commercial photography now takes more of a front seat so I took the decision to remove a lot of the personal images and build an engine which was specific to my own needs without having to support any cruft. That’s now online as www.joelphotos.co.uk. More about that in a moment.

Third, I wanted to make a conscious decision to close down and underline the whole photo site thing after what happened with the others in the past year or so. I don’t want to give the impression I am holding such a service open, or will be running one in the future.

So I built my Joel Rowbottom Photography website which links into Lightroom (via a plugin) and allows me to selectively publish and license images for use elsewhere. In common with other stock photo systems I can allocate credits to users/companies who may then download high-resolution versions for their publications, and track the process. I wrote my own because there didn’t seem to be anything out there to do that sort of thing (I tried Photocrati under WordPress, Piwigo and a few others but nothing ticked all the boxes). It’s worked pretty well so far, although there’s only a small set of images published, comparatively speaking, as I’m going through old shoots retouching them and making them ready for publication.

The downside of course is that you’ll have to look elsewhere for your fix of 20 year-old images of me in a Star Trek uniform, a basque, or whatever else you fancy digging out this week… ;)

Dec 17

Nice, But What Does It Actually Do?

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Equilibrium is restored to the universe, for I am grumpy. The object of my ire this morning is something called Wunderlist. I’d tell you what it did and the advantages of it, but I’ve not actually been able to find out.

Alright, so I already know it’s a to-do list application which works ‘in the cloud’ (dude!). A colleague showed me it this morning and I thought it might be more targeted than Evernote for doing this sort of task list stuff – so I went to the website which tells me it’s “task management at its best” and pestered me to sign up and install some apps.

Before then, I wanted to see what it did, because if it’s not going to let me (say) share to-do lists with the family and project colleagues then it’s not going to be for me. Let’s click on See Features shall we? Ah. Right. Apparently ‘Wunderlist 2 is coming soon’, and I should enter an email address. Oh and a video which I couldn’t watch because I was at work and I just wanted to skim-read to get a feel for features, but no we’re oh-so-sodding-mysterious. (About 30 minutes later I capitulated and watched the video: it was a bit of fluff about version 2, which isn’t available yet. No sign about what was in version 1.) So I didn’t install Wunderlist, and I am still no wiser – I don’t want to install an app if it’s going to help itself to my calendar or contact data, that’s the way trojans get into your computer. And I shouldn’t have to look on Wikipedia to find out more about it either.

To be fair to Wunderlist I’m singling them out here but there’s lots of other culprits – you only need to bimble around the App Store for a couple of minutes to find them. It’s sodding annoying: as an app user, I want to know what something does: I want a list of features! I want to know if it wants my data, or if it integrates with multiple devices. I want to know if it’ll work for me.

RipMixBurnOnce upon a time we had triverbs, probably invented by Apple around the time of the first iMac. Triverbs at least gave you an idea of what something was and took the form of, er, three verbs: stop/look/listen is a pretty good example although Apple’s “Rip. Mix. Burn.” iMac advert in 2006 is one of the most famous. They were all the rage but disappeared around 2008. We hated triverbs at the time, but they served a purpose if you just wanted to say in a sentence (or three) what you could do with an app (even with the oft-overused “Share”).

But ultimately, please, tell us in a couple of sentences what your webapp does, or you’re doing yourself an advertising disservice.

Dec 14

Check Your Lights

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I’m commuting across the Pennines every day at the moment for a contract in Salford, and with the inclement weather we’re having my message is loud and clear: PLEASE CHECK YOUR CAR HEADLIGHTS WORK.

This morning in the freezing fog I counted 18 cars with partial headlights – probably just blown bulbs. All it takes is a trip to a car spares shop and 10 minutes to sort out. I did this last night when I realised on my way to work that one of my front dipped lights was out, so swung by the local Halfords, picked up a bulb for about a tenner, and fitted it myself in the car park.

Really everyone, all it takes is for one side to be out and in the poor visibility someone pulls into the side of you. Just get out there, check they’re fine, and the world will be a better place. Quite aside from the legality of it (and it’s illegal) your insurance would use it as a get-out if you had a clonk.

Here endeth the sermon.

Nov 22

Stroppy iCloud And iCal

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My calendar has been a mess for a while – or rather, the organisation of calendars. For years I’ve had several devices and keeping them in synchronisation was a nightmare – from my original Palm Vx handheld right up to the iPad and iPhone I now use it’s been tricky, not helped by absence of decent CalDAV software or support for calendar servers on the devices I’ve used. Add into the mix almost 20 years of historic calendar data (where sometimes I do need to find the last time I saw a particular client for instance) and it’s a recipe for disaster.

When Apple released MobileMe it got a bit better. Around 2004ish I managed to export my calendar from the Palm software using Missing Sync and into iCal, and thus into MobileMe. Through that I frigged it to talk to my phone at the time, a Nokia E70 (I think). Then when iCloud came along I ported it and my iPad, iPhone, Mac and the web stuff was all integrated. Hoorah.

Then this week it all went tits-up. I decided to merge two work calendars so Nicky could share them, by exporting both calendars as ICS files and then importing them into a new calendar. Of course, connectivity at a client’s this week has been very flakey as they’re moving offices and iCloud seemed not to like this when it attempted to sync the new entries which manifested itself as the iCal client app giving me 403 errors (“UID already exists”). No amount of Googling and buggering about with Apple Support would fix it so I took matters into my own hands.

Problem 1 – Getting the calendar entries in without having to retype 20 years of historical data: the ICS ‘UID’ field on iCloud is unique to the group of calendars it seems, which are grouped under one username. The solution was to export the ICS file (without connectivity, so iCloud didn’t attempt to be clever) and run a small perl script which would append “JFIX-” to the UID and then re-import. This then gave me a new calendar with new entries, which I could then sync with iCloud (it took about an hour for it to stop ‘Updating…’). So far so good, but after an hour I discovered…

Problem 2 – events appearing in iCloud and iCal don’t propogate to iPad or iPhone: Turns out that UID needs to be hexadecimal for it to work properly, so I re-ran my perl script to append ‘ABCD-’ instead. This createdanother set of UIDs which I could import into a new calendar. This worked fine, and has propagated to all my iDevices.

In Googling this by the way I found a series of touted solutions, one of which was to use grep to remove UID lines altogether. iCloud really hates this and goes on a duplication fest, adding in events sometimes up to 15 times (but most likely adding between 5 and 10). I also worked out after a while that the easiest way of finding out what’s really in iCloud is to look on the web client, as this is what gets sent to the phones, iPads, etc. If it’s not there, it’s not going to propagate or be visible.

Lesson learned though is: (a) be prepared for a nightmare if you want to en-masse move events from one calendar to another, and (b) make sure your connectivity is rock-solid and don’t be impatient.