Saber Forum

Okay, so thanks largely in part to the female parental unit (FPU), I have achieved major scoreage today! WOOT!

To be specific, we stopped at a garage sale on the way to work for something totally unrelated that she wanted to show me. (she'd been by the sale walking her dog) While there, I discovered I was totally uninterested in the item she wanted to show me, but I did see a nice looking little video book shelf thing. As I went to check it out (my DVD collection is too big lol) I spotted yet another find. The major scoreage of which I spoke earlier. And yes, I did buy the DVD shelf as well. ;) But the REAL score was an INSANELY good buy on a Nikon E8800 8 Megapixel, Auto-stablized, 10X, and dare I say it? Video Capable Digital Camera!

Now, as some of you may recall, I do have a Kodak Digital Video Camera already.... but I lost the disc, and though it's good, it's cell phone sized and darned near impossible to shoot a steady motion shot with. Plus it shoots in some weird Kodak file format, so without the full software package (which I'm not gonna blow all that cash to repurchase) it's much more difficult to upload to anywhere, as NOTHING is compatible with that format. And I've been without a decent standard Digital Camera for..... forever. Best one I had up till now was the (also 8 megapixel non stabilized) one on my Droid phone.

So.... at long last, I once again have the capability to shoot what I hope will be decent non-phone video that will upload quickly and efficiently to youtube. I shall test this on Monday, because I forgot to bring home the spare card reader from work. lol Oh, and it gets better. The thing came with TWO batteries, the charger, AND.... a 2 Gig memory card! Not the largest, but a very sweet bonus and larger than or equal to 3/4 of the cards we use at the office for all our lot shooting! Matter of fact, I did some research this morning and found that the camera IS 8 years old... but that it's also more or less the same age and level as the 20D Canons we use for lot shooting, when you factor in the trade off that mine does video and the 20Ds are a little higher quality on the stills but don't shoot video.

Yep. I'm pretty happy today.  8) Not to mention that if this thing will work well with the Tube, it may result in some saber related videos again.  ;D And gosh dang, do I love that auto stabilizer! SO SWEET! Perhaps I'll take up photography as a hobby now... lol

Nice! You'll be able to fart around with it and actually capture true saber colors. Challenge presented, and congrats, Manny!

(and yeah, that Galaxy 3S is stupid awesome!)

You can't find the software for your Kodak online?  You should be able to download it fairly easily...

Oh, it's out there Ed, it just costs more money than I'm willing to spend. This Nikon was actually less than the software cost when I looked, and has WAY better features. lol

However, I do think I have figured out a way past the Kodak's quirky finikyness to get the basic software package that's supposed to autoload from the camera to work again. (it was being stupid for some reason and not autoloading anymore for awhile) Assuming I have that figured out, I may keep it around as a back up, or just toss it on the bay. It was expensive when I bought it 3 or 4 years ago, but not super expensive. *shrug* Perhaps I could recover enough from it for a future Grab Bag, or any number of other worthy pursuits. I got a lot of projects to finish. lol

@eerockk: Mine's the S2 Skyrocket, but you're right. Droid in general is just wicked sweet! SO much better than my old iPhone! And we'll see about that challenge! ;) I'm actually looking more forward to possibly participating in the SaberFit Challenge, but we shall see. At the very least, it should result in a couple good dueling videos every now and then! :)

Excellent job, Manroon.  Your online saber training begins now... my apprentice (sits back in chair and cackles)

Somehow, I knew that was coming. *whispers* And so it begins....

Very nice Wingmate! Everyone needs a good camera.

And on that note: I'll be interested in any feedback you guys have on my first video test! WOOT! And this sucker uploads in MUCH less time than my phone videos do. It took a little over 15 minutes or so to upload a 7 or 8 minute video. As I recall, that's about the rate I was getting when I had videos uploading easily through the old Kodak software. Either way, plenty fast enough to make me happy! :) See new video here:

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=10685.0 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=10685.0)

Great score, Manny! The vid was awesome, but not as cool as the helmet! The decals aren't even on it yet and I was blown away! Sick, man, and you're right, there was no flat spot on the mohawk! Sick!

Yep! I love that thing! That is seriously the reason I went to Darth Hair. I saw this guy at wondercon, I think I've even got a pic someplace or other, and he had this great Red Leader helmet.... but it was PURPLE! I stopped to take his picture, and I noticed the mohawk was REALLY good, so I had to ask about the bucket and he gave me the lowdown on Hair. By the time we said goodbye, I knew what I wanted when my funds replenished after the con. lol

Sounds like you and I had the same experience. By the time I clicked on close window off the UltraSabers website back in August, I had the same experience you did! Still loving my Bellicose to this day as though I bought it yesterday.

Sounds like Darth Hair and UltraSabers are into childhood dream fulfillment. Not sure about Hair, but UltraSabers never advertised that; it just happened (and how!).

Baiting breath and waiting for better painting conditions... and point when the site lets me do it again!

LOL Yeah... I had sort of the same thing happen with my first US purchase, come to think of it. My old Prophecy V2 is one of the simplest hilts I have, and I actually picked it because at the time it was one of the most detailed available to my eyes and had the best price lol, but I still catch myself eying it ALL THE TIME.

I plan to do a thorough review of my son's axe (VA Prophecy) when it arrives! Because of the slanted emitter, it was on my short-short list of sabers that I wanted for myself. (The Belli's emitter shroud won the deal in my head).

"Hey dude, you like that Guardian Blue?"

"No daddy, I want it in Violet Ammemist!"  :o

Back on track though  ;D, your cam is perfect for video, but how it is for still photos? I bet with some futzing around, you can nail the colors accurately!

I haven't played with it TOO much, but I took some shots outside the office when the clouds were breaking on Saturday afternoon, around 4 or so. I'll have to post them, they are absolutely incredible. I'm in love with the 10X Zoom on this thing! I was able to get shots of a bird that was circling in and out of the cloud layer. Plus the colors were just really sweet looking.

Sick, Manny! As always, can't wait to see what you post!

My next task is to film a small demo of me swinging a saber in my garage without smacking myself! If I can somehow do that, I'll be happy, but I expect an outtake reel that's longer than the main feature. Hopefully I don't leave any marks this time either...

I mention this as my video cam and your still cam seem to have the same quality - and mine is dedicated to video. Gotta love that!  ;D

Heh heh, well it was a pretty expensive camera when it was new. Nikon, made in Japan, all that good jazz. I really look forward to getting some saber videos shot with it. See how it handles night shoots and different lighting.

Do you have a tripod? I find that for videos and still images at night, handheld just doesn't do it because of the longer exposure needed - even the auto settings. I swear by my tripod for filming train/beer/saber videos. (That, and nobody in my family will come near me when I'm swinging it around in the garage).

Agreed.  Tripods FTW.

Yeah. I'll need to dig up a Tripod. Used to be one around someplace. Have to see if we still have it or not.

And I just broke mine 30 minutes ago. I'm out $12!

(That $12 tripod was good enough for what I needed)

Advantage of poking around for what may lie unused in the garage: You never know the cost of what you just broke. ;D

Well, I suppose I should be thankful that it wasn't in use and that I didn't break it with my saber!

I can use a shelf for the saber videos, hold my camera for beer videos, and use the bridge rail as a tripod for train videos. Yeah, not out of the woods yet, but the tripod is trashed. The bottom plastic broke apart when I hit it with the base of a torch lamp, it did the 'splits' after breaking, and when the, um, 'no-no parts' hit the floor from the splits, the leg broke right off. It was kinda funny...

Okay.... you've mentioned it twice now. You gonna hook me up with a link to these Train videos or what? lol

Most gladly, sir! :)

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=9972.msg156531#msg156531 (http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=9972.msg156531#msg156531)