Category: photos

My NEW Insta360 Ace Pro Action Camera

On By Rick McIn cycling, hiking, photos, product endorsements, travel, video3 Comments

A Christmas present to myself 2023.

Here’s my 1st video using mostly Ace Pro footage. 

Videotaping animals and birds is particularly challenging when using cameras without much optical zoom.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’d long planned to replace both my old GoPro and my Sony ZV1 camera with one action camera — and finally made the leap when the Insta360 Ace Pro was released December 2023.

My minimum gear for shooting video has never been lighter nor more compact. 

I can use the Ace Pro with all my GoPro attachments.

Action cameras are even more durable than phones.

Of the dozens of cool features available with the Ace Pro, I’ll actually be using very few for my hiking videos.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Settings

90% of the time I will be shooting:

  • 4K 30fps HDR.  Stabilization STANDARD.
  • Automatic focus.

I like HDR (high dynamic range) and shoot the same on my iPhone.  Over-saturated video looks good to me on YouTube. Especially if watching on a phone.

4K 30fps is the most I can shoot in HDR on the Ace Pro. (Better would be 60fps in HDR. That would be my #1 request for future upgrade.)

I export at 1080p 30fps so can crop / zoom down without losing resolution. 

Shooting in this setting I can quickly zoom 50% and yet still end up with 4K video whenever I want by double tapping the screen. How does 4K zoom to 4K? … Some sort of digital trickery in camera they call clarity zoom. 

Their 8K is 4K with 4 small pixels replacing each normal 4K pixel. So far I haven’t been much impressed with 8K for video.

Ultrawide gives the widest possible perspective for outdoor scenery. I’ll use that mode when shooting BIG outdoor vistas.

Most of the time, I’ll use Dewarp (minimal distortion) as it most closely matches a normal camera with almost no curvature to the image.

iPhone App and Apple Watch App

I’ll be using the Apple Watch app quite a bit. It’s simple. Quick. And intuitive. 

I might never use the phone app which is complicated. And really not needed for someone who plans to edit video later on laptop.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Photos

Initially, I thought I’d shoot photos on iPhone 13. Video on the Ace Pro.

Comparing different photos on the Ace Pro v iPhone 13, so far I’m MUCH preferring iPhone. Seems Apple does a much better job with photos.

On the other hand, it’s bloody convenient to take a photo simultaneously while videotaping with the new camera.  A great feature of the Ace Pro.

AND I’m thinking it will be more convenient to take selfie photos and video with the Ace Pro on the tripod using Voice Command. 

Voice Command on iPhone seems to screw up a lot for me. I probably won’t use it.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Voice Command on the Ace Pro works most of the time, even in noisy environments.

This camera has Gesture Control — but it works inconsistently, as it does on every other product I’ve tried with that feature.

Downsides of the Insta360 Ace Pro

The AcePro has no GPS.  With iPhone photos and video, I sometimes look up the metadata to see exactly where and when I took the picture — very useful.

It’s possible to use the phone app — or even the watch app — to get the metadata, but that’s too much hassle for me.

The biggest problem now, however, is lack of much zoom on any of my cameras. I’d love to have something with 10x optical, as well. 

Since I export at 30fps, in my normal shooting mode I won’t be able to slow down video. In reality, I don’t use much slow mo anyway, so it probably won’t be a problem. BUT I’ll need to remember to switch to slow motion if I ever want some of those captures.

Still experimenting …

Photographer Steve McCurry

On By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Some call Steve McCurry (born April 23, 1950) the greatest photographer all time.

You might not know the name, but you’ve seen his photos in National Geographic.

For example, Afghan Girl, a 1984 photographic portrait of Sharbat Gula, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. 

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Dresden in Black & White

On By Rick McIn photos, travel1 Comment

Faux-tography. 😀

What I liked best about Dresden, Germany was how few tourists cluttered up the great sights. Of the languages I heard, almost everyone spoke German. A few Russian. And a few spoke English.

Early or late in the day — or, especially, in the rain — I had the huge plazas nearly to myself even at the end of August.

Unlike Florence which is swarming with tourists at all times, my photos were mostly unpopulated.

For fun I decided to experiment with editing in black & white (Noir filter) and see if I could capture a feeling of the old East Germany.

AI photo editing

On By Rick McIn photosLeave a comment

Artificial Intelligence photo editing is getting scary good.

Here’s a recent photo of myself on a good day. Followed by one IMPROVED with the old Lensa photo editing app.

Processed with Lensa with Auto Adjustments & PT2 filter

Bigger, brighter eyes. Smaller nose. Fewer wrinkles on the face, if not on the neck. 😀

This is the regular Lensa app on MacOS. First 4 photos are free.

All the rage as I post is the Lensa AI app on iPhone and Android. U.S. $35.99 a year, with an extra charge of $3 to $12 for packs of avatars. Price has been going up.

You might be able to try it for a week, not continuing with the annual subscription.

I haven’t tried it. …. YET. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Visiting Seville, Spain 2022

On By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

This was actually my 3rd time stopping in Seville. It’s the essential transit point between southern Portugal and Andalusia, Spain.

I really do enjoy the city.

Seville got very, very rich after being named the royal monopoly port for trade with the growing Spanish colonies in the Americas and the influx of riches from them.

I’d walked the famous Cathedral in the past, so this time signed up for the rooftop tour. Very cool.

The technology in how they made this massive structure is fascinating.

I’d recommend rooftop over the regular tour as you actually do walk through the Cathedral coming and going to the top, as well.

My guide swears this is the REAL tomb of Christopher Columbus. But there’s another in the Dominican Republic. One or the other might be the brother of Columbus.

Wikipedia list of largest largest church buildings in the world:

  1. St. Peter’s Basilica (Rome)
  2. Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady Aparecida (Brazil)
  3. Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba
  4. Milan Cathedral
  5. Seville Cathedral

Liverpool Cathedral is in the top 10, as well.

On this short trip I spent the most time at the magnificent Plaza de España and surrounding parks.

The building was built 1928 to showcase Spain’s industry and technology at the Ibero-American Exposition World’s Fair 1929. What a legacy!

There are free Flamenco shows all the time at this plaza.

Another highlight of this visit was getting some fog, quite unusual in a city that has near non-stop sunshine.

I don’t shoot many creative shots, thinking myself more of a Fauxtographer than Photographer.

But I will try to play around more with urban black & white. I do like the feeling they give me.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Liverpool PHOTOS

On By Rick McIn photos, travelLeave a comment

Liverpool was once one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

A major shipping port — including being implicated in the slave trade.

Over time, many warehouses were abandoned. The citizens impoverished. Thatcher and the Conservative government were seen as being indifferent to the industrial decline in Merseyside.

The Beatles started a thriving music scene.

And in 2022 Liverpool is one of the most popular tourists cities. There’s much to do and see.

Click any of my photos below for a larger version. They may take a while to load as they are high resolution.

I NOW own 2 Drones 🤔

On By Rick McIn photos, travel, video3 Comments

In December 2021, I gambled CAD $349 for the low end DJI drone.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it.

As DJI is close to discontinuing — and the latest, greatest replacement costs at least 3x as much — I bought a second one. But this time with the full kit. CAD $592.20 including tax and two year warranty.

In fact, it seems I bought the last Mini SE in Canada. It’s been out of stock on the DJI Canada store ever since.

When one eventually dies, I can use the accessories with the other.

Quality and features are good ’nuff for my YouTube hiking and cycling videos.

Click PLAY or watch a sample on YouTube. Moorecroft Park is my favourite place to drone near Parksville, Vancouver Island. It’s legal and not crowded.

Most important to me with the NEW kit are the 3 batteries plus charger. With my original battery, I now have 4 total which is more than I can imagine using in one day.

Warranty is essential as it’s very easy to crash these things. I’ve crashed about 6 times already, the drone surviving each … SO FAR.

My old Mini SE will be the back-up. I’ll carry both on cycling trips. Just the new combo on hiking adventures.

Click PLAY or watch some samples of my footage on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch a review on YouTube.

Lisbon photos 2022

On By Rick McIn books, photos, travelLeave a comment

BACK in Lisbon to have a tooth implant installed, I posted some Instagrammy pics on Instagram.

Having visited most of the major tourist sites last year, I looked for less visited photo ops this time.

For example, I caught the ferry over to the former industrial suburb city Barreiro. I saw no other tourists wandering the streets that day. Augusto Cabrita, local photographer, cinematographer and film director is celebrated with this massive wall portrait.

Like last year, I took most of my larger meals at Time Out Market.

Many of my photos are of street art. I tried an experiment taking pictures of street art alongside REAL LIFE. One example.

The installation of my tooth implant was delayed by a couple of weeks. So I’m still not smiling in any photos prior to June 9th.

World’s oldest bookstore – Livraria Bertrand – Chiado, Lisbon

I finally got out to the Cascais beach area, about 45 minutes by train from the city centre.

Last night in Lisbon.

I feel more like a local than tourist.

Here are my Lisbon photos and video from November 2021.

iPhone LIVE Long Exposure Photos

On By Rick McIn Apple, photosLeave a comment

There are many ways to create long exposure photos, but none on iPhone are as super easy and quick as LIVE:

  • use the native iPhone camera
  • make sure LIVE photo is ON
  • use tripod to keep it solid
  • set the self-timer so the camera is not BUMPED when you click the button
  • using a 10 second timer you could put yourself into the long exposure (don’t move!)
  • once the photo has processed, in your camera roll click the photo. Click the LIVE icon. Choose the Long Exposure option.
  • you can edit to Long Exposure either in the iPhone or in the EDIT mode of the Photos app on a Mac (easier to see detail on the Mac)

Top Bridge Park, Parksville B.C.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.