Live -Multi camera usage of IOS devices.

[John Gilmour]

It's been sometime since I've posted on the slalom skateboard forms.

There are few things that I really wanted to see get done in the sport, one of them was an affordable timing system, another was a basic set of rules that everyone could use, and one other thing that I've always wanted to see was inexpensive video production systems with multi-cameras so we could get the angles we always needed to produce those exciting “you are there” type of shots.

The affordable timing system still has not materialized yet, but with newer and faster Apple and android devices, I do envision one materializing soon.

This past season I did the timing or the Aspen series races. We use the timing system that slaves to a master clock, each timing module communicates wirelessly to the clock, and perhaps to another master clock that exists at the base of the timing shack.

In this way without direct hardwiring, we were able to get times to the races that were accurate to within 1/1000 of a second.

Obviously, what I'd like to see is a low latency solution that meets all of our requirements for timing system. But a lot cheaper.

I envisioned using the cameras of these devices and perhaps the infrared focusing to create a line that the racers would cross to trigger a time.

Also, I've been waiting for several years for the cost of the camera phones to drop in price–at some point, they become virtually disposable cameras in regard to catastrophic damage. Certainly there are a lot of third-generation iPhones collecting dust in peoples drawers.

It's a lot of technology and processing power in a small device, with perhaps just enough battery life to run 2 races in a single day. There are a myriad of charging devices and battery extension devices that can make this possible even if there wasn't much left in the battery of an older device.

When it came to filming those hard to get shots, shots to get you excited about skateboarding, it's nerve-racking holding $100,000 video camera and skateboarding the same time–at the same speed as a pro. I know this, because I've done it, and the only thing that kept me from really getting nervous was knowing that I really was not responsible for the breakage of the camera.

4 years ago, I had an older phone, a Nokia N-95. At the time, this particular telephone came out at the same time as the 1st generation iPhone. This phone have 3G service, was able to do sling box, had a video streaming service, as well as being able to stream live to the web in real time, it had a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens with a flash, and in general was a much more useful phone for me than the iPhone.

As the iPhone improved, this phone saw a lot less utility in comparison, but as a camera it still boasted really good battery life, a good screen for monitoring, and was extremely robust–I ran over it several times while snowboarding and it survived.

The thought of attaching this phone to a stick similar to a go pro camera came to mind.

But really, what I thought would be much better, would be able to control multiple phones similar to mine, and using a 3G connection, or better yet, a large Wi-Fi connection, I could connect several cameras to one video controller at one time.

This would be a poor man's multi-camera system capable of reasonable resolution.

Certainly, when we do an interview with the skateboarder, it's important to get very good camera resolution on the person's face as well of the available surroundings.

In contrast, when you mount the camera facing forwards just half an inch above the ground underneath a skateboard, the resolution is not necessarily as important. However these type of shots are very important for conveying the sensation of speed and excitement for the viewer.

This is an excellent place to use multiple IOS devices to get these sensational speed shots.

Certainly the processing power is available in the existing iPhones, the bandwidth is also available in current Wi-Fi devices, the bandwidth is also available with the new 4G LTE advanced evolution wireless protocols.

And finally, the software is available for $5.99 per operator to become a cameraman using your existing iPhone, iPad 2 or 3, and perhaps one of the iPod touches with a camera.

Because there is likely some sort of real-time timecode available with this, we might not be limited to just using 4 cameras in a single shoot. We could have multiple directors, and multiple operators, with multiple versions of the same software program to provide up to 20 operators of their cameras at any given time during the finals of our events.

I think it would be pretty amazing.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/collabra ... 66771?mt=8


So all you need really is multiple IOS devices running ont he same Wi-fi network...and ideally.... you don't even need a connection to the internet... just a wi-fi network. SO ....and Airport extreme mounted high- with another Airport Extreme..set it like this... (for the purposes of simplicity we will assume line of sight is possible down the whole hill.


The first airport Extreme is 25% down the hill, the second one is 25% for the end of the course.. In this way their wi-fi bubbles overlap.

[John Gilmour]

So lets talk about cost.

cost of existing IOS devices. $0

Cost of Airport Express or airport extremes brought to race course.. $0

Cost of app per IOS device $5.99

Most importantly- editing is possible very easily. And an Ipad can be used by the director.

cost of ipad $0

AND>............


It might be possible to set up a network using this.... for areas with low signal strength.

http://3gstore.com/product/3724_surecal ... m5000.html

... doing this wold allow 3g Ipads to share their 4GLTE signal over wi-fi to other IOS devices.

[John Gilmour]

God, damn bots from China.

Anyhow... The new Go Pro Hero 3 Black edition camas have remote control whit a remote that can control up to 50 cams.

And I think you can look through an IOS. Device for a preview. I know the Contour video cameras allow for this for sure.

[Jani Soderhall]

John, I zapped him.

/Jani

[John Gilmour]

Bot criddling, for online skating.

Ok I got this new thing, it's military spec, has interchangeable lenses including wide angle, can be tossed off a 3 story building, waterproof to 30 feet.

And it fixes the focal length so it doesn't " hunt for focus"

Can we say IDEAL?

Optrix makes them for the 4 and 5 series iphones and you can buy a pack of very high quality lenses for 15 bucks..



OK OK OK,


I know what you are saying... "But John won't the quality suck like with my Lifecase?" It has a crappy plastic lens..

The Optrix lenses are excellent quality- not only that they have some sort of anti water grime coating...

so here is a GILMOUR comparison .

Here is a video shot of my turtles "Their team work is astounding" they help each other gain traction on a ceramic plate by "ganging their mass" and using their bodies as levers for the others to push off of..the did this for like 20 minutes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unXEO-UUp4s


That was shot without the Optrix case in very bright light.

The next video- much shorter, was shot with the Optrix XD 5 and my iPhone 5. Pay particular attention to the lens shedding water when removed from the tide pool. unlike surfer cameras that tend to retain drops..only a tiny amount of residual moisture can be seen on the left bottom edge, and that was most likely due to my skin oils contaminating it...and you just wash with Dawn dish soap and skin oil is gone....water shedding restored. This video was shot in bright light- though not as bright and the optrix seems to do a better job than the iphone stock lens ... Possibly that's because there's More lens area to bring more light in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvel2Awg ... e=youtu.be

here is another file which shows the wide angle standard lens distortion at the edge of the lens. Not eh center is quite good as the water air horizon line really only bends a lot when that line is near the periphery of the shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=add5T_qZ ... e=youtu.be

before this gets thread jacked (Something I am notorious for doing) as you can see i have set this up for threadjacking myself..

Yes, the turtles are trained to follow people in the water, they also recognize faces, there are three of them- 7 years old – they are all male and hence all brothers. They have distinct personalities, one of them is about three or four times smarter than his other two brothers. They never swim away from you, preferring the safety of having someone around. They play with children about 3 to 4 hours per day in the water, and neighborhood kids and adults are allowed to "check them out" from the kiddie pool in the front yard take them 2 blocks to the beach, and then bring them back later.

They are also completely housetrained. And unlike a dog or cat can hold it in four days if needed. They have only had one "accident" in four years. And that's including traveling to multiple places. The accident happened because they were fed BBQ Ribs (by some neighborhood kid) which were too spicy.

Completely unexpected is they (Honduran Wood Turtles) form strong bonds with human beings and are very affectionate, they walk towards you to be picked up and handled and will fall asleep on your shoulder while watching TV. They also do unique tricks - behaviors that they taught themselves and can easily be identified by these behaviors without close inspection.

so I'm not the only wacked out one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_UwUYF6nVI


So back to the topic at hand.....


First of all I imagine that most of us have children that would like these devices, they can go around their iPhones, and keep them from harm. As a matter of fact it's probably a good investment to buy one. And as these devices get updated every year, the cases holds very little residual value allowing us to buy them on craigslist relatively inexpensively.

Since the iPhone 5 came out I've gone through nearly 5 or 6 telephones. Shortly after Thanksgiving, my iPhone 5 was put through the laundry. If it had been one of these cases it would have survived, another time it was outside of its case and was dropped – the screen keyboard no longer worked properly. And so on and so on and that's why they've been replaced so many times, And if they had been in this case they probably would have all survived.

http://www.optrix.com/ultra-rugged-iphone-case/

http://www.optrix.com/superior-camera-lenses/

Caveats:
Okay, life is not without compromises,

1. When you want to dock the telephone, you'll probably have to take it out of it's case, and it has another case that goes around the phone for every day use which is called the shuttle, it looks like a normal inexpensive iPhone protective case. So you're really buying two cases a standard case, and an "Ironman suit of armor" for your phone.

2. The case works really well with Bluetooth microphones, but it does compromise sound somewhat if the case is sealed.

3. I use a protective film on top of their film to reduce scratching of their touch screen film- so far it has stayed on underwater after 5months.

4. The hinge pin has showed signs of rust...lowering resale (ideal for us)...if they used a plastic fiber reinforced pin they would have no rust.

5. Also the case blocks the flash, so when you want to use it in low light situations going to want to take it out of the case. It is really easy to remove in about 2 seconds and put back again ..UNLIKE THOSE CRAPPY LIFECASES.

6.To help people hear you when your phone is inside the case and also to charge it, there's a waterproof flap at the bottom that can be opened so that you can use your iPhone without taking it out of the case.

7. As you can see from the website there are so many different mounting options there's no reason not to get this. You'll spend a bundle.

8. It's bulky in the case (good for women with tons of crap in pocket books...force your wife to use and buy it).

Of course the GoPro hero three camera has the option of 4K resolution, but currently not at full speed.

This Optrix XD case will do 1080P resolution, which for most of our users will be more than adequate.

Lastly, it has a dedicated APP where the videos are stored separately from your "camera roll". I forgot to sych those before I broke and replaced my phone so I lost those videos.. so synch often- and download your videos into your photos.


If you still need another reason to buy one of these, if you are Carnett I like to drive like a lunatic because there's some sort of racer in you even if you're not Solidskate Ford anymore, get this

http://www.optrix.com/store/optrix-odb2 ... rettyPhoto[product-gallery]/1/