Nearly two years after I handed over the grant-funded data files of my unedited footage to the State Library, and nine months since I at last received the Deed of Gift duly signed by a library official, I today delivered the data files and DVDs of HD tapes 67-80 funded by me. This means that the library now has the complete footage. I put down my reduced yearly output to a combination of creating 111 species videos, website travails, time away from home on trips and the fact that I was without my camera for 3 months last Summer.
The potentially new semi-slug I filmed on our 100th night shoot (see 15 May) was confirmed in John Stanisic’s email today as Cucullarion parkini. This is the species he discovered in the Knoll in 1998, which is known to exist only on Tamborine Mountain and nowhere else on earth. It was my 3rd and best sighting. The first was in November 2011. All my sightings have been in Palm Grove.
For some weird reason when we added over 100 new XMLs to EOL, all but a few of the original XMLs vanished from my EOL gallery as if they had never been there at all, even though Andrew sought to make them compatible with WordPress. All the new XMLs were successfully uploaded. After waiting a couple of weeks for Andrew to work on my corrections to the original XMLs, I decided to take matters into my own hands and re-do the lot from scratch. I then added over 100 new data files, which had been accumulating since the first new batch. All this took several days of long and concentrated effort. Andrew came to my place this morning and transferred all the XMLs from my downloads to his USB. He has some code checking to do before arranging for the XMLs to be harvested by EOL. As noted in my 8 May post, we’ll see. Check EXPANDED PRESENCE ON EOL 30 March 2014.
Worked with Steve on new tapes and he confirmed that he had sent the final data file to Showrunner Productions in Perth, following succesive email requests to use my footage for their ’72 Dangerous Animals Australia’ series to be shown by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Showrunner requested my ‘Giant Centipede’, ‘Paralysis Tick’, ‘Stephen’s Banded Snake’ and ‘Grey-headed Flying Foxes’ vimeo footage.
Peter Hendry sent me an email on June 28 with the first Pancam ID, a small moth from a photo I sent him. Having emailed Chris Burwell with ID requests for a Pancam photo and 2 video frames on the 25th, I phoned him today regarding identification for a species video of an Earwig I filmed two years ago and he gave me information about the subjects in my email. I thought one subject was a Shield Bug and one a kind of Lady Beetle. The Shield Bug turned out to be a Soapberry Bug and the Lady Beetle an unidentified Shield Bug nymph.
This evening Steve downloaded the first video clips and photos from the Panasonic to his hard drive. We added photos and selected video frames for capture to Stills 18. I then deleted everything from the card and am awaiting a DVD from Steve with all the material from the download.
From now on the plan is for the Pancam to be in my pocket when I take my morning walk, although opportunities will be restricted because it is the beginning of Winter. Today I filmed a very small moth on the garage. I would not have bothered to film it with my Sony camera. I also took a photo of the moth which filled the monitor. Taking photos (10 megapixels) is a new departure for me. It is so easy. Later I filmed a caterpillar on a fence and some mature and immature Shield Bugs of a type I had never seen before, on and near the trunk of a cycad in Driscoll Lane. Checking the footage this afternoon, I was impressed with the clarity and brightness of the images which are in full HD, ie 1920×1080, whereas the Sony films in 1440×1080 and cost nearly $6,000 in 2007. I returned to the cycad later in the morning with my Sony and tripod and filmed the Shield Bugs with the benefit of a dedicated view finder.
Mentioning to Hugh Alexander last week that the Gopro isn’t a suitable back-up camera, he pointed out that there were bound to be pocket sized cameras I can point and shoot at macro range. And so it proved when I collected some tapes for my Sony camera on Wednesday and checked out some small camcorders. I extended my enquiries the next day, comparing camcorders from 4 manufacturers. Steve agreed to meet me today to help assess which camcorder best met my requirements. The selection boiled down to a choice between two Panasonic camcorders. I ended up buying a V210M, a Manfrotto monopod, a Belkin HMDI cable, a 3 year extended warranty, all at a price over $100 lower than the top of the range Gopro. The camera has a 16 GB memory, but I am using a 16 GB card.
After being without my camera for 3 months during our Summer, I wanted to find out if a Gopro camera might provide suitable back-up equipment. Having borrowed a Gopro Hero 2 camera from a friend at the weekend, I dashed down to the highway the next day, bought a 16GB card and started to trial the camera in Driscoll Lane. I filmed insects on railings and tiny white flowers in a hedge, holding the camera a couple of inches or less away from my subject, then a bit further away, all the while unable to see what I was filming. Then I went to MacDonald National Park where I filmed some fungi, a strange dragonfly close to the ground, an ant and several walkthroughs, particularly featuring 2 huge adjacent Strangler Figs. The following day I filmed a couple of moths at the garage in Central Avenue and bought a cable so that I could view the clips on my computer. Gopros are ingenious miniature wide angle video cameras designed for people who want to film the world around them while they are on the move, on land, in the air or on and in water. I quickly discovered that… Read Complete Text
Today I sent out a newsletter informing subscribers of 9 new videos, which brings the total on vimeo to 223, with more in the pipeline. A recent video of a female Wood Duck nestling 10 ducklings for the night drew more comments from vimeo members than any other video of mine. My presence on vimeo is resulting in frequent emails, including one from a production house in West Australia offering credit for footage, but no payment.