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Kodak PlaySport Zx3 pocket camcorder is HD and waterproof
01/07/2010Information about new waterproof camcorders is coming in frequent pace. New Kodak PlaySport Zx3 pocket camcorder is quite impressive piece of waterproof electronics. This audacious little camera can plunge up to 10 ft under water and capture the entire experience in full 1080p HD, also 720p. And you don’t need to worry about blurry footage when things get a little shaky. With built-in image stabilization, the KODAK PLAYSPORT will stay steady.
Main specs of PlaySport Zx3:
- Waterproof up to 3 meters
- Full 1080p HD video
- Electronic image stabilization
- 2-inch color display
- Capture 5-megapixel HD stills (16:9)
- Edit and upload to the Web with built-in software and included USB cable
- SD/SDHC card slot expandable up to 32GB (up to 10 hours of HD video)
- Weight 128 grams
My conclusion:
Everything is very OK, but lens is not as wide as I’d like to see. In 1080 mode, lens focal length is 48 mm. I experienced, that on the boat You may need wider view angle, something like 24mm lens.
Panasonic waterproof Lumix DMC-FT2 digital camera does now HD video on the sea!
01/07/2010Yes, second edition of DMC-FT1 adds AVCHD Lite 720 video, upgraded 14 megapixel sensos and more.
Main specs:
- LEICA DC Lens with Folded Optics Technology (=read: Quality lens)
- 28mm Wide-angle Lens (read, usable on the deck in small space)
- 4.6x Optical Zoom
- Shockproof, Waterproof, Freezeproof and Dustproof Protections
- 14.1-megapixel High-resolution CCD
- Beach and Surf Mode / Snow Mode / Sports Mode
- Optional Marine Case DMW-MCFT2
- Sonic Speed AF
- Fast Start-up Time (read: usable in action)
As Photography Blog says
As with its predecessor, the FT2 is a take anywhere, use (almost) anywhere that combines sophistication with resilience. It’s also certainly one of the better-looking “tough” cameras on the market, only surpassed in our view by the rather attractive Casio EX-G1. The DMC-FT2 really will survive most things that you throw at it, or throw it into – we bet that you’ll only upgrade the FT2 in future for a better specified model, rather than because it cracks under the strain of hectic family life.
Excellent cellphone to go: Samsung Xcover E2370
01/07/2010There are many issues on the sea with cellphones. Indeed, the handset should be waterproof, but most common issue is battery life. Samsung came up with excellent solution for that. New Samsung Xcover E2370 has 1600 hour (=67 days!!!) stand by time!!!! Talk time is also impressive 22 hours. Compare to 4-5 hour talk time with most common handsets.
Samsung Xcover E2370 main specs:
- resistant to water and dust (IP54 rating)
- anti-shock, outdoor performance
- VGA camera
- 67 day stand by, 22 hour talk time, 2000 mAh battery
- flash-light
- FM radio
Basic, but tough phone with big heart!
VX360 by Predator
22/09/2009VX360 Predator is Rugged Waterproof Action-cam.
More info: Predator Home Page
Which mouse to use on the boat
26/08/2009It gets wet anyway. Solution — Belkin water-proof mouse
SRP U$ 29.90
Real action-cam for sailing Contour HD
13/08/2009I wrote about small-budget wide-angle waterproof camera lately. But there is newcomer – Contour HD. Real helmet-mountable action-cam. Tough and waterproof. It has HD 720 capability to shoot really hi-res material to SD card. No moving parts in the camera, no wires, copes well rough handling. But also no LCD display. I don’t think, its a flaw, camera has 135 degree wide-angle lens.
Most of us don’t have helmets like Alinghi 5 multi-hull test-sailors. But I believe, that windy weathehr can provide nice footage from the action on the sea. Most Contour HD samples right now are from skiing slopes and mountain-bike trails. Why not from the sea?
Pro’s
- HD image quality
- tough, waterproof
- small
- Mac and Windows PC compatible
Con’s
- No LCD
- Microphone is too sensitive to wind
More info: Contour HD Helmet Cam
Camera to take to the sea
07/08/2009When it’s sunny, it doesn’t matter what camera You got. But in most yachting conditions something splash-proof is needed. We know that all known brand’s flagship cameras are weather sealed, like Nikon D3, Canon EOS-1D, Olympus E-3, Panasonic K7. But what is the alternative, not talking with the bank manager? Something <400 U$ point and shoot, instead of U$ 2000 + pro stuff.
All main brands got now so-called tough models in their range. Some examples to grab from the store to next yachting event:
I personally love Lumix. Its designed in cooperation with Leica, top quality camera maker. Some Lumix cameras actually are branded as Leica. Lumix uses leica lenses and the quality is just better than others. Now Lumix has drop-proof and water-proof compact cam.
It has a nice design, 12.2 mega pixels and face detection recognition, and optical image stabilization. It also features an intelligent auto mode that automatically detects scenarios and loads presets so that you don’t have to browse through its collection of 27 modes. The winner is the 4.6x optical zoom lens with a useful 28-128mm-equivalent range. The very good image quality, ruggedness and all the other features make this camera a great choice for the sea.
Olympus is one of the first camera brands, who started to think about active lifestyle. Olympus µ TOUGH-8000 is waterproof to a depth of even 10 metres (thats more than nearest competitors), shockproof to a height of 2 metres and includes a high precision 3.6x wide optical zoom. This makes it the ideal partner for yachting. With the convenient TAP Control you can operate the camera by tapping the body. The μ TOUGH-8000 offers you Dual Image Stabilisation for perfectly sharp pictures when using maximum zoom or shooting in lower light.
Pentax has Optio models W60 (available also in Ocean Blue ) and even tougher W80 (pictured here in Azure Blue). This camera is able to record HD video in 720p mode. Lens starts from 28mm, whit ch is good on the boat to capture all action in wider perspective.
So, don’t afraid to take camera on-board anymore when water is in the air;) These cameras don’t mind dropping, hitting, splashing or even freezing. And its easy to flush them clean from salt under the fresh water tap later. Cameras full of life.
For those with a taste for water-related leisure, there’s a camera — Canon PowerShot D10. Waterproof, freezeproof and shockproof; it’s tough enough to take what you dish out. Plus it’s got all the high performance features you expect from a Canon digital camera. You’ve got 12.1 megapixels of resolution plus all of Canon’s powerful, state-of-the-art imaging technologies so you can capture your experiences in breathtaking color and awesome detail.
Omnidirectional 9 dBi WiFi solution
06/08/2009Friend of mine uses for offhore Internet setup like that:
9 dBi omnidirectional 54 cm long Interline in the masttop. Good solution for yacht, cause it’s lightning protection shorted for DC. Same antenna is available also in 12 dBi version, but for yachtowners I recommend 9 dBi model because of wider vertical reception pattern.
…. connected to Ubiquiti Bullet
Bullet turns onmidirectional antenna into Ethernet (RJ-45). Easy and simple. No drivers needed, pure IP internet directly to laptops 10/100/100 base-T connector.
Pro’s:
- omnidirectional, install and forget
- POE, needs only Cat5 cable, power is feeded over same cable
Con’s:
- 9 dBi amplification
Products mentioned
USB Internet dongle
05/08/2009Close to harbour it’s possible to hook up to local WiFi network, either with WiFi ready laptop, USB WiFi extender of WiFi extender-router. In all those cases, distance to the nearest base station shouldn’t be more than mile or two. We know, that hi-budget ocean-racing teams use all kind od satellite connections. But are there other broadband solutions for less budget. Answer is: mostly.
So-called USB Internet Dongle (broadband dongle) is provided by all bigger mobile networks and they rely on mobile network technologies. So, almost every time, when You have mobile coverage, You are able to use Internet.
USB Internet dongle is connect to computer via USB port. Noew dongles are USB 2.0, but they are backward compatible with older USB 1,0 standard. It needs additional driver and client software. Luckily this all is on the same USB stick and You don’t need to carry along additional CD.
Depending of signal quality and mobile network service providers infrastructure, the speed can vary great deal. In best case You may able to get 3,5G HDSPA speeds at 7,2 Mbps. When signal strength is lower or mobile infrastructure is not supporting higher speeds, USB dongle speed falls back to next available level. Usually it’s shown also in the application window.
Fallback list (download speeds):
- 7,2 Mbps 3,5 G (HDSPA)
- 2,0 Mbps 3 G (HSUPA)
- 0,5 Mbps 2,75 G (EDGE)
- 0,1 Mbps 2,5 G (GPRS)
Mbps figures are indicative, depends of sub-standards
and specific hardware in use
GPRS and EDGE speeds may seem quite out-dated. I found it still usable, looking weather website, downloading e-mails and uploading blog posts. Indeed, rich content like multimedia files, large images, video streaming etc is no-no.
It’s wise to use 3 Meter (10 ft) long passive USB cable or even longer (even up to 15 meter or 45 ft) amplified USB cable to place dongle as high as possible, to receive quality signal. I experienced situations, when down in the galley I didn’t have any signal, but standing on the deck with my notebook/USB dongle, I was able to use 3,5G speedy connection.
Some tips using internet dongle:
- Disable automatic windows update
- Disable virus database/program updates
- Disable other automatic updaters (iTunes, Adobe, …)
- Disable P2P programs like uTorrent clients
- Configure confirmation requirement before automatic internet connection for e-mail programs, etc
- Use long USB cable to place dongle to highest point possible
- Disconnect after use
In near future G4 technology will allow 100 Mbps speeds, but it requires updating all network infrastructure by service providers and in real life it takes some time to get these speeds.
Working solution for long-distance WiFi – Ubiquity NanoStation 2
03/08/2009I posted earlier a story about simple USB-based WiFi amplifier. Many yachtsmen use instead Ubiquity NanoStation and it has been proven working quite well.
Basically, it’s WiFi-to-Ethernet router. It receives WiFi signal via 4 internal antennas, amplifies signal, converts it to copper and passes to Your computer via ethernet cable. All electronics is inside the 26 cm long antenna, so there are no signal losses and noises compared with products using long antenna cables. NanoStation uses power over Ethernet method to provide required power to the circuitry, only single CAT5 RJ-45 cable is needed for connection. Additional RJ-45 POE hub is included.
NanoStation works in b/g range, so don’t expect too swift data transfers, but still much more reliable connections, than std WiFi. NanoStation 2 is directional, so You have to align it towards to base station. Expect to pay for NanoStation abpout U$ 80. Highly affordable product!
There are real-life reports about reliable WiFi at more than 2 miles distance.
Products Mentioned
Waterproof passive computer on-board
30/07/2009I posted a story about tough Dell Latitude XFR as near-ideal yachd computing resource. There are also other possible computer systems, not only notebooks, but surprisingly also desktops.. For U$ 2000 its possible to buy 100% waterproof IP67 and NMEA 6 rated passive computer from Stealth Computers. It’s based on energy-saving Atom 330 dual-core processor. Waterproof means, that all power cords and peripheral wires are sealed. Passive means, that there is no fans, outer panels of computer are used for cooling. Atom processor and passive design keeps power requirements at low level, about 20 Watts (figure is my speculation, no actual data available).
Computer is equipped with 1,5M wires for peripherals, like water-proof LCD touch-screen and USB. Device uses also SSD (solid state drives) making it not only water- and dustproof, but also shock-proof. Input voltage can vary in wide range, accepting as low as 10 VDC, making this computer truly yacht compatible.
Technical data:
Intel Atom 330 CPU 1,6 GHz
2 GB RAM standard (more than enouhg for sailing applications)
80 HB extreme environment HDD (stands 300G), SSD optional
Intel GMA 950 graphics (resolution up to 2048 x 1056 pixels)
Input voltage range 10 – 30 VDC
Products mentioned:
Wi-Fire WiFi range-extending antenna from hField
28/07/2009I use WiFi wherever it can. To write my blog, upload sailing photos and videos, looking weather forecast and regatta information. On the sea, only option is to use GPRS/3G/3,5G, but in most small ports there is free wifi at least in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Problem is, that yacht is away from WiFi base station and signal is weak or none.
hField technology has handy small USB device, called Wi-Fire, amplifying WiFi signal. The WiFi antenna will provide higher speeds at low signal strengths than your typical internal WiFi adapter. It has even beat Draft802.11n products in range and speed at long distances, up to 300 meters.
hField is connected to computer via USB and requires to install driver and wireless manager. It costs about U$ 60.
Products mentioned:
Laptops less hungry – battery friendly computing on-board
27/07/2009Electricity is scarce commodity on the boat. So, You like to conserve it. Modern navigation solutions, based on PC and powerful dedicated chart-plotters can drain Your battery quickly. Modern chart-plotters, like Raymarine E-series and C-series units draw 32 Watts or 2,7 Amps. Powerful Laptop can easily draw more than 50 Watts and drain Your battery in a day.
Luckily there 2 two new computer technologies, available right now, what save energy and provide enough computing power to provide low-energy navigation. Even if You like to use sailboat specific complex polar-data based tacking computing and other computer-intensive sailboat specific stuff.
Atom CPU is new Intel low-power CPU. Designed specially for ultra-portable netbook computers like Dell Mini 12 and Asus Eee PC 1100, having 24-30 Watt hour batteries. Atop draws less energy than Celeron and Core Duo. Whole system (laptop) spends less than 10 Watts.
SSD drives or solid state drives, next HDD or hard drive. SDD has no moving pars. They are chock-proof and spend less electricity than conventional HDD. Price is still quite high, but smaller units cost only 100-200 U$.
Screen size is still a problem with less-powered units. Dell Mini 12 has biggest LCD screen on the market, still only 12″. Barely enough for navigation, but not most comfortable.
Products mentioned
Leaping Mouse syndrom
25/07/2009In some rare cases PC thinks that GPS and other NMEA data, assigned to serial port, is Microsoft Ballpoint Mouse. In this case Your mouse goes nuts and starts jumping to random locations on the screen and off. At least, my Dell Latitude’s mouse started act like crazy.
Solution:
- switch GPS and/or other NMEA data sources off, mouse calms down
- go to device manager (Control Panel, System)
- find Microsoft Ballpoint Mouse under Mice and other pointing devices
- disable it (right click, disable)
- switch GPS on, mouse behaves now
Good luck!