Internet, UNIX, Video, Leisure…
Introducing new Photo Blog
6/08/10
As I’ve just stopped working for SPI (Casino Barriere and La Française des Jeux), I have to fill my days. And hopefully, I do have a lot of stuffs going on here…
Starting with all my video stuffs and my creation stuffs, like the Remote Follow Focus I’m building with an Arduino.
I also got a video stabilizer (a steadycam) from l’Aigle, which was my past article. It’s a lot of work and practice to get it right and use it right.
As you know I’m also into static photography, and I bought a Nikon D700 last year to use with the lenses I put on the camcorder with the Shoot35 SG-Blade.
I finaly bought two new optics, a Nikon 35-70 macro f2.8 and the new Samyang 14mm manual prime.
This puts me in more photography, and I wanted to be full equiped. I also bought a flashlight (Nissin), a remote shutter and a lightweight carbon tripod from Benro. I just ordered a Nikon compatible GPS to geo-tag the pictures so I can link them easily to Google map…
The final part missing is « what the hell will I do with all this photos… ». I do have the capacity to hold them in the RAID tower I built last year, but that’s not the point. I want to SHARE.
Picasa is fine, so is Fliker… But I’m not in the easy thing, and I want to do more. So I made a « photo » blog.
The real thing is that it’s not a photo-blog. It’s not only photo… But it will evolve, and the goal remain to be focused of photo.
So there you go :
http://blog.lecentre.net
Steadycam l’Aigle HDV : premiers essais
25/07/10
Voila les vidéo prises hier soir, dans mon parking, avec mon ami Jean-Marc, président du Groupe13.
Materiel :
- Steadycam (stabilisateur) l’Aigle HDV
- Camera Sony PMW-EX1
- Kit 32mm Shoot35 SG Blade monture Nikon
- Optique Samyang 14mm f2.8
- Chaussures Timberland Pro Titane garantie confort 30 jours satisfait ou remboursé !
La mise au point n’a pas été faite et il y a peu de lumière. L’optique est à pleine ouverture (f2.8) et la camera à +6 db. L’enregistrement est fait en XDCAM-EX 1080p25. Le rendu en H264. Aucun etalonnage n’est fait… la balance des blancs n’était pas bonne, mais bon, pas le temps… On essaye juste de stabiliser là, c’est déjà pas mal !
EX1 + SG-Blade + 14mm on steadycam Aigle HDV (test 1)
EX1 + SG-Blade + 14mm on steadycam Aigle HDV (test 2)
EX1 + SG-Blade + 14mm on steadycam Aigle HDV (test 3)
EX1 + SG-Blade + 14mm on steadycam Aigle HDV (test 4)
Stabilisateur d’image : l’Aigle HDV (part 1)
25/07/10
Dans les années 70, une petite révolution dans le monde du cinéma est apparue lorsque Garrett Brown inventa le SteadiCam (SteadyCam etant le nom largement utilisé, équivalent de « stabilisateur » en français). Je ne vais pas revenir sur toute l’histoire et les plans celebres, mais un qui fut remarqué se trouve dans « The Shining », lorsque la camera suit le garçon dans les couloirs sans fin (et sans rails de traveling…).
Depuis, les brevets du Steadicam est plus ou moins tombé dans le domaine public, meme si le nom reste lui une marque déposée.
Du coup, plusieures société se sont lancées dans la fabrication de stabilisateurs, plus ou moins cher et plus ou moins réussis. C’est le cas d’une entreprise Française, L’Aigle, qui a reussi sa propre révolution dans ce domaine : remplacer les ressorts et autres pistons par des elastics !!!
L’Aigle Paris est donc une « petite » entreprise Francaise qui à sue remettre à jour les differents types de stabilisateurs existants pour offrire du materiel de qualité pro au prix… mini. La ou un stabilisateur de « grande » marque (comprendre de chez Steadicam) peut couter plus de 20.000, la gamme de prix de l’Aigle reste inferieur à 10.000€.
Mais alors, quelles sont les différences pour générer un tel écart ?
Sending SMS from Nagios – API and script update
9/07/10
It seems that today, the old API v1 from smsenvoi.com is not working anymore… In fact, I don’t know since when.
I just emailed the support and hope to get an answer soon.
As sending an SMS from their website was still working, I decided to try the new API v2.
This is not a real change, they mostly renamed some of the fields, replaced the password by an API key, do you can give it to some other people without having them gain access to your admin interface, and the API answer is now in JSON format instead of « OK » and « KO ».
I just changed the script so new parameters are set. I still don’t deal with the answer.
See attached file sendSMSv2.py
Salon Agriculture 2010
20/03/10
Sending SMS from Nagios
17/12/09
Sometimes you need to be able to send SMS from a computer. This is obvious when you’re talking of monitoring your servers. Email alerts are good, but what if you’re sleeping ?
I used to set up a SMS modem, with it’s own SIM card and subscription. This is really easy, using smsd daemon, to send SMS. Just put a formated file in a directory and bam!, you SMS is fired.
But what when you can’t set a SMS Modem in a datacenter ?
Then you have to use an online SMS provider.
you just have to call an API to send a SMS
it’s not free (you pay per SMS when the modem can have an unlimited SMS sending subscription
it is network dependant ; if you have a network failure, you will never be informed
Nikon D700 with Auto-ISO mode, still feat. Mouchette
11/12/09
I tried Auto-ISO with the Aperture First mode.
As I’m using Prime (fixed) lenses, I can play the aperture on the lense (defined as a « no CPU lense, so the D700 knows exactly which aperture I’m in) and have the D700 manage the shutter speed and, if needed, the ISO level, with a max at 3200 ISO.
I also think I’ll have to adjust the dioptrie on the viewfinder…
This is full RAW converted to PNG 150dpi (original is 240dpi).
Nikon D700 first test (feat. Mouchette)
9/12/09
First tests with the Nikon D700 and manual lenses.
With really low light and no knowledge of the camera, see how beautiful Mouchette can be 
