Tuesday (23-November-2021) — New Jersey

Autumn Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Birds of the day viewed at the birdfeeder and in the backyard: Mourning Dove, Blue Jay.


Birds of the day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

The Opossum is back.

My main 360 camera a Garmin VIRB-360 is getting old and has been discontinued by the manufacturer. The one lens has a scratch, and a battery failed. I’ve started looking at alternatives. I did this once before, trying out the Nikon Mission 360 (discontinued), Ricoh Theta, Insta360 One 4K. Each had issues. Later, I found the Ricoh Theta Z1 16-GB model then 64-GB model to be useful. But with idiosyncrasies. They have an interval mode, but with a minimum interval of 6 seconds (jpg) or 10 seconds (DNG). I decided to look at some of the newer 360 cameras. Insta360 One X2 and Labpano Lab Pilot ERA.

The following night time-lapse video was taken with the Insta360 One X2. I set the camera up outdoors connected to an external USB-C power supply to take raw (DNG) images every 30 seconds. With the external battery, the camera continued taking images all night, even though the temperature dropped below freezing. Processing the raw images was a bit of a problem since the raw image is not the standard equirectangular format. You need to convert the images via the Insta360 Studio 2021 program (batch mode) to generate a standard equirectangular image. Adobe Photoshop doesn’t appear to make time-lapse videos with DNG files, so I also had to convert the images from DNG to TIFF (using Capture One Pro) before making the time-lapse videos. With this camera I will need a better workflow.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Insta360 One X2 camera. ISO 504, f/2, 2 sec. Insta360 Raw (DNG) format. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Insta360 One X2 camera. ISO 504, f/2, 2 sec. Equirectangular DNG (Raw) format after conversion via Insta360 Studio 2021. (David J Mathre)

Time-lapse Video (Little Planet View).

Time-lapse Video (Tunnel View).

Daily Electric Energy Used (67.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (28.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny but cold. Geothermal HVAC heating the house. Deficit of 38.6 kWh.

Wednesday (01-January-2020) — Florida to North Carolina

Gone to See Florida — 2019/2020 Road Trip.

I started the road trip back home figuring the traffic wouldn’t be too bad. A Garmin VIRB-360 camera was set up to record the trip as a time-lapse video. A little over 13 hours travel time, 947 miles, and 31 mpg (diesel).

 

Daily Electric Energy Used (36.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (19.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A deficit of 22.9 kWh. Most of the hydroponic gardens were off or only on for fewer hours. Also, the thermostat for the Geothermal heater and hybrid heat pump hot water heater were set for vacation mode.

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Tuesday (02-October-2018) — New Jersey

Home Cooking. Garlic Bread.

For something different, I decided to make a loaf of garlic bread. I set up a Garmin VIRB 360 camera to record the process. I am getting to like the Garmin camera better than the other 360 degree cameras I’m evaluating.

Garlic Bread Recipe: Sprouted Wheat Flour (1 1/2 cup); Bread Flour (1 1/2 cup); Flax Seed (1/4 cup); Chia Seed (2 Tbs); Poppy Seed (2 tbs); Celery Seed (2 tbs); Garlic powder (2 tbs); grated Parmesan cheese (2/3 cup); dry milk (1/3 cup); dried onion flakes (2 tbs); dried chives (2 tbs); flax oil (2 tbs); honey (1 tbs); egg (1 large); water (1 1/4 cup). Above ingredients added to Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for white bread (Rapid) and started. The bread maker warms the ingredients for 15 minutes before adding the yeast, then starts mixing the ingredients. After the first bit of mixing, there was still a bit of dry ingredients. I added an extra 1/4 cup of water. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool. The entire house smells of garlic — warding off any evil spirits.

Garmin VIRB camera. Garlic Bread, Little Planet Time-Lapse Video.

Garmin VIRBvcamera. Garlic Bread, 360 Panorama Time-Lapse Video.

Monday (01-October-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Yard Work in New Jersey.

After all the recent rain, I am trying to catch up with a lot of yard work. I just received over 300 daffodil, crocus, and tulip bulbs. I plan to plant these in the bed just behind my patio, but first need to clear the weeds and wildflowers from the bed. I have an electric fence to protect the area from deer, but may need to put some type of cover over the bed to protect it from the squirrels. I recorded the days activity using a Garmin VIRB 360 camera mounted on my lawn tractor.

Garmin VIRB 360 Camera Panorama View Time-Lapse Video (1080p, 24p)

Garmin VIRB 360 Camera Tunnel View Time-Lapse Video (1080p, 24p)

Garmin VIRB 360 Camera Little Planet Time-Lapse Video (1080p, 24p)

Thursday (27-September-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Yard Work in New Jersey.

After many days of rain, the sky was mostly clear and the grass needed mowing. I mounted a Garmin VIRB 360 camera on my lawn tractor. Then made the following time-lapse videos using Photoshop CC. The forward lens of the camera  faced the direction the tractor was going, so in the 360 panorama view I am split on both sides of the image based on how the image was stitched in-camera .

Garmin VIRB 360. Mowing the Yard 360 Panorama View.  Time-lapse video (1080p 30p)

Garmin VIRB 360. Mowing the Yard Little Planet View.  Time-lapse video (1080p 30p)

Garmin VIRB 360. Mowing the Yard Tunnel View.  Time-lapse video   (1080p, 30p)