For those of you that know me, I love my gadgets!
I came across a new gadget called a Swivl. It is a device that you mount your iPhone or similar into, and it will track your movement allowing you to take video of yourself and move around… The reason I came across this was I had recorded a couple of videos and wanted better audio, my Flip HD video recorder is great, but lacks an external audio input so I bought an adapter and mini tripod for the iPhone, then I spent more money buying a set of battery operated wireless lapel microphone.. in total, I spent about $170 for my set up… only to find out that the audio from the sony wireless lapel mic was crap! They have way too much interference, the pack says they operate on 900mhz… I am not sure what else is on this band, but whatever it is, it interferes… so don’t get it (I just saved you $120!)…
Someone then told me there was a device you could mount your iPhone into, and it was kind of cool… so I went searching and found Swivl.com – what a fantastic solution, if you buy the $179 version, you get a device that will allow motion tracking, a wireless mic that has NO interference and the ability to start and stop your video remotely… (some features are only available for iPhone 4 or higher and iPod iOS 4 and higher), you can also mount other cameras like gopro and flips etc… and it isn’t limited to video recording, you could use this for FaceTime calls etc… so it is really versatile.
I am giving this a 8 out of 10, why only an 8 I hear you ask… I think there is still room for slight improvement, the lapel mic/control unit is ugly, and stands out in your video as it has a great big green button on it…my other small nitpick is the tracking is not as smooth as it could be, don’t get me wrong, it is pretty smooth, just could be a tad smoother, I thought the best way to show you what I was talking about was to make a video using the Swivl… you can decide for yourself!
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/45018384 w=500&h=281]
The Daily Pic – The Golden City
I was in the city for meeting one afternoon and had an hour to spare so I decided to pack my camera and tripod in the car… I had never been to this location before and wasn’t sure what I was going to find… being winter, sun set is at 5pm and that means a lot of people are still in the office buildings with the lights on, I think this makes for a better night cityscape shot. I set the shot up to make sure I captured the reflections on the water… enjoy!
