Wednesday 7 March 2012

The Wonderful iPod and a Tripod Mount

About a year ago, I bought an iPod Touch with 32Gbytes of memory and I wouldn't be without it. It's an iPhone without the phone so it's slimmer. But it has wifi so, providing I'm close to a hot-spot (and virtually the whole of Girona is covered) I can use it for e-mail and browsing the net.

I have Plane Finder, Boat Finder, Ultralingua English-Spanish and English-French dictionaries which are superb and my entire collection of 170 CDs. I had an Ultralingua dictionary on my old Palm PDA and it was awful. The difference bewteen that and the iPod version is astonishing.

My latest passion is to use the built-in video camera. Frequently I use the camera for taking pictures which, later, may become paintings but I'm keen on producing videos about art. For this, I need a tripod mount for the "camera". Apple doesn't produce such a device so I did a search on the web. They do exist but I decided to make my own. I used a flat metal plate with a 1/4" thread in the middle which was originally supplied to artists for mounting an art board on a tripod and I built a wooden frame for the iPod. I then mounted the contraption on top of a small tripod and I use it for mobile shots, rather like a "Steadycam" but a little cheaper. Note the tasteful varnish.

You've probably guessed the reason why I haven't shown my iPod mounted in the wooden frame!

I've ordered 100 square nuts to take a tripod mount which I plan to use to make my own iPod and iPhone tripod mount. The photo shows the home-made version but obviously the production version will be more sophisticated. So, if you live in the Girona area and you would like more information then please contact me. The price will be around €15.

I've upgraded my Quick Time application to the Pro version which enables me to edit videos. I need to buy a decent microphone to clip onto my clothes which then plugs into the headphone/mic socket on the iPod. Being an ex-BBC sound man, obviously I need to produce the very best quality audio!


Stand by for art videos on this Blog. I know I have a bit of catching up to do but I get there in the end!


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