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Today there were queues for the iPad for the lucky few that either managed to get one via the courier and the pre-order process from Apple, or went to the local Apple Store to buy direct from the shop.. The lucky gits were then confined in some quiet place for the rest of the day so they could enjoy the iPad without any molestation from lesser beings. No I am not jealous at all. Honest !!

Really pleased for the people that got the iPad today, the likes of Gazmaz who was getting itchy and antzy while waiting for the courier to arrive with the iPad. I am sure Gary will be telling his story on the podcasts that he takes part in.

I have been struggling with internet all day today. First off I had no internet due the power being off yesterday from 5pm until about 10:30pm. The antenna on top of the hill didn’t get working again after the power came back so we had to wait until it was fixed and that was about 11am. I also tried to get the MiFi working – I got the MiFi a couple of weeks ago but I was waiting for the SIM to arrive from MasMovil. So I had the SIM and it took ages to get the Wifi end of things working but still no luck seeing as I had no 3G at the house for the SIM.

I still have to go out to a place where there is some 3G to test the MiFi properly. If I wasn’t so busy cleaning the house and doing that sort of things to be ready for a visitor that was due to arrive later in the day I would have been able to see if the Huawei miFi thingy would do what it is supposed to do. This is the MiFi that I was hacking into and jailbreaking a couple of weeks ago.

I did manage to get a bit of learning in with AppleScript and programming in general, won’t get much of that done for the rest of the weekend. Funny but I am sort of enjoying the programming even though it is super frustrating at times. Apart from the nitty gritty end of that I am thinking about possible applications to make. I am thinking about something in the education market for students and teachers. I would love to see technology being used to help people be the best they can be in a learning situation. I used to be a teacher and sometimes miss being one.

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In this podcast I am talking with a friend, Paul Shadwell because we have both been lookIng at possible video camera buying solutions. I would love to have the sort of camera that my son has – a Sony EX1 but I wouldn’t have the work for it considering the price of it. It is more suited to the professional camera man

I already have a Canon Vixia HF100 which does HD video & does a good job of it. My friend Paul has a similar Panasonic camera.
What we are both looking for is something in the Prosumer line of video recording devices.
I want a camera that has the 3 CCDs so that I get better quality video & also has better controls that you can find on the better cameras, like focus & zoom rings on the lens for example so that manual features can be better used to enhance the final video clips.

Paul talks to me about his reasons for wanting a Prosumer camera & what he plans to use it for. For Myself I want something that I can capture video for microstock video sites as well as the possibility of doing some corporate work & even some narrative shooting.

Because of my needs I did wonder about the DSLR cameras that also shoot HD video such as the Canon 7D & the Canon 5D Mk2 & even the new Canon T2i. Nikon also have DSLRs that will shoot video. Many good things have been said about these DSLR cameras & their abilities to shoot video.
If you have good glass on them the video is extremely good quality especially in the area of Depth of field. Some people will use depth of field converters on cameras like the EX1 to get the same sort of results

Of course though there are some disadvantages too.
I think the main one is the lack of good audio input – usually you will only find the 3.5mm jack input. Then you would need to use a juiced link or beachtech pre amp to be able to get good results from connecting a XLR type mic. I have connected an XLR mic to my Vixia though just by using a converter connector cable & for what I do it is OK

The other thing with the DSLR is the length of shot you can take. I think the max is going to be about 12 minutes. If you wanted to shoot a conference or maybe other events which are long then you would come up short. I am leaning more towards a proper video camera like the NX5 or the AX2000 from Sony

But Like i said I have seen many posts & reviews of the latest DSLRs in which the film makers are raving about how good they are.