Bulb Mode

Camera shutters usually have a setting marked B. When you pick the B setting the camera holds the shutter open while the shutter button is pressed. You can use it to take pictures in poor light, or if you want to get artistic effects like light trails. The B stands for “bulb” mode.

Most folks think that bulb means “flash bulb” (as in a little glass bulb that is full of magnesium wire that is ignited to light up a dark scene) but this is not the case. It actually refers back to a time in the past when camera remote control was achieved by using shutters that could be fired pneumatically. You could fire the shutter remotely by using a rubber tube. One end of the tube was attached to a piston on the shutter, the other to a rubber bulb you could squeeze to trigger it.

I’ve been able to recreate this system using some 6.5mm laboratory tube and an air blower bulb. I would have liked to have had thinner tube, but putting a cable tie on the end helps it fit on the camera. It works well, although you have to give the bulb a hefty squeeze. I can now take pictures without pressing the button on the camera, which is nice.

My version of bulb mode doesn’t hold the shutter open while the bulb is pressed because the piston on the shutter is not airtight so the air pressure in the tube drops and the shutter closes after a while . And the whole bulb thing is actually a bit more complicated than my simple explanation. But I’m pleased I’ve now got remote control.

Pictures

Seem to have got both spring and Autumn in the same frame..

Sometimes pointing the camera up works well

Took the big camera for a walk this afternoon.

Awesome Hull Video

Not sure what Hull is all about? Watch this.

Apple Newton Keyboard Fixed

I love a happy ending. I now have a working keyboard. Ages ago I bought some electric paint, and it worked a treat. I just had to scrape off an insulating layer and then spread the paint all over the track to restore the connection and make a fix.

A smoking gun if ever I saw one. You can see the gap in the top track of the membrane at the bottom of the picture. I thought the green covering the ribbon cable was another layer of tape stuck onto the back of the keyboard membrane, but actually it is a layer of paint. So I scraped it off around the break and then clarted the whole thing in conductive paint. And it fixed the problem. The hardest part was getting the keyboard mechanism back in the case. That took two goes.

Many thanks to the folks behind this site, which told me how to take the keyboard to bits.

Apple Newton Keyboard Fun

How was your day?

I got a keyboard for my Apple Newton. It was cheap because the shift keys don’t work. So it’s little letters all the way. Both shift keys have failed, which makes me think it is a broken track somewhere.

After a ton of tests and complete disassembly I think I’ve found the fault. I’ve found a tiny gap in one track. I just hope my conductive paint hasn’t gone solid.

Properly home

Mowed the lawn today. I guess that means we are properly back home.

Hardware Meetup

There was a lot of stuff on show at the hardware meetup tonight.

Brain had brought a 3D printed skull (roll on Halloween), a demo of his person tracking software which spots actors in scenes and his spinny thing with lights which is getting a new propellor.

Ross had brought along his press detection testing rig which taps a piano key and then monitors the response from the sensor array on the keyboard. Ian had his audio MIDI magic (which I didn’t get a picture of) and I was trying to take portraits with the old camera, this time using a rubber bulb and tube to trigger the shutter remotely.

It turns out that we can trigger the shutter OK, but we need to work on framing the shots. The Instax film that we are using doesn’t fill all the frame and I kept adjusting the camera to point the wrong way each time. Although I did manage to get the fire extinguisher in the picture rather neatly. Ho hum.

The next meetup will be on Wednesday 7th May in Hull MakerSpace. I’m going to try a different camera for portraits for this one.

Yarn Bombing

The WI in Beverley have taken it upon themselves to add some decoration to a post box. Not something we saw at Walt Disney world, but charming nonetheless.

Nuclear Option

Nuclear Option is a fun game where you team up and try to set the world to rights by flying around in a plane destroying pretty much everything around you. I just can’t work out where they got the idea from.

We had a go tonight. It’s nice because you can work as a team. We had to protect our airfield and take over another one, while the computer controlled opposition tried to do exactly the same thing. I got shot down a lot, but I did manage to take a few opponents with me, which was nice.

The game is in early access and is therefore not too expensive. There is a nice range of aircraft which expands as you level up. I’m going to have to do some practice, but I’m enjoying it so far.

Labelling batteries as jetlag therapy

.. and I found a new font for the label maker

Feeling bad because you’ve just come back from a wonderful holiday? Stressed out by jetlag? Then why not put some labels on batteries? Worked for me.

In all seriousness, I’ve found these Hixon AA batteries to be very good. The are Lithium Ion based so they last a good while (the makers claim 3,500 milliamp hours).

Not jetlagged at all

Another memory

I was fairly sure I didn’t have jetlag. Not me. Not at all. Then I looked down and discovered that I’d just plugged the output of a USB charger into itself, rather than the phone I was supposed to be connecting. Oh well. Time for a lie down.

Back in Britain

..and we’re back. Smaller roads, dirtier cars, colder weather. Oh, and bed at home. Love it.

Heading Home

A great place for a burger

The good thing about having your home flight at 8:30pm is that you get an extra day tagged onto the end of your holiday. The bad thing is that you don’t know what to do with it. We spent a while squeezing things into suitcases and then headed over to Universal Plaza for lunch at the Chocolate Factory.

Then back to the hotel to play cards until we could check in, and then it was another Lyft up to the airport. Dropped the luggage early, found the gate and sat for a while reading and chilling. Then it was onto the plane and off into the sunset. Sort of. Well, we were flying north east

Universal Unlocked

Indeed

Our final “park day” turned out to be rather intense.

I love the artwork around the place

.. see what I mean

The Spiderman ride was excellent (and turned out to be Rob friendly which was nice). Other rollercoasters and rides were found to be excellent too, but this correspondent was mostly holding bags for these.

Not a real train

They have this stunning fake railway that runs between Hogsmeade and Kings Cross in two of the parks. It looks very realistic from the outside and the inside, with fake windows showing moving scenery and even Harry and chums waking past in the corridor.

It looks far to clean to actually be in London

We were first there

We had lunch in the Minions café was excellent. Then back to the room to pack.

Epic Cooldown

The universal universe

After all our exertions yesterday we are taking it easy again today. We had a gentle amble around the Universal theme park and then took in another movie in the afternoon. This time we saw “The Hail Mary Project” which was excellent. Rock hard sci-fi with a heart. Very enjoyable and tickets were on discount today.

It’s a good ride with a very hokey storyline

Poster art

The simpsons ride is excellent

One last park day tomorrow before we have to start packing our bags for home.

Epic Day

The Epic park was only opened last year. It’s, er, epic.

Super Mario world was epic

First stop was Super Mario World, which was beautifully themed. We all went on the Mario Kart game which was super clever with hi-res 3D headsets.

Suiting up for Mario Kart

Pro tip: if you are anything close to the size of me, sit in the back seats.

I’ts really like being inside a game

Then it was time for more of the Harry Potter universe. We went on the Ministry of Magic ride which is one of the best rides I’ve ever been on. Very impressive. The area around the ride is also beautifully themed around Paris.

I can always find a camera if I look hard enough

Berg, the land of “How to train your dragon” was an unexpected surprise, with a lovely waterside atmosphere and a really impressive stage show.

We also dipped into the “Dark” themed area of the park, but for me that was the least impressive with no strong theming apart from old buildings.

I didn’t go on the ride though

One highlight of the day was finding the most amazing Donkey Kong shirt, which I plan to wear at home as soon as the weather gets as warm as it is in Florida at the moment.

Gone Swimming

The place we are staying has this fantastic mural in the caffeteria

We are staying right next to a water park, so we thought we’d go and do some swimming. I’m not usually a fan of swimming. All the faff with towels and wet costumes, pruny fingers and the lingering smell of chlorine. But it was great. There was a fake beach (of course) with real waves and a lazy river which went all around the park. And it was so warm that you didn’t mind getting wet and cool for a while.

Wand Tracking with Harry Potter

Fake Snow

Today it was all about “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (tm)”. It’s all very well done. Although a lot of the scenery just reminds me of York.

This man says that your wand chooses you. I’m not sure I’d want the kind of wand that would choose me.

We did the “Wand choosing experience” which was great fun. Then we went out and waved the wand at scenery to make it react. This worked super well, once we got the hang of wand waving. I constructed a careful theory of a digital wand packed with motion trackers and accelerometers which decoded “spell” movements and then sent a spell message over Bluetooth BLE. But it turns out that the wand just contains an infra-red led which is tracked by a camera in the attraction. Which is much simpler and cheaper. I’ve resolved to make the wand work when we get back home. It should be possible to use a little camera to get the tracking information I need. Watch this space.

They had some very nice sweet shops

Dragon based bank security

In the afternoon, for a change of pace, we went to see the movie Hoppers. Going to the cinema in America is around half the price of the UK, the seats were powered recliners and the presentation was great. The movie was good too.

Moving House

Today is all about moving house. After nearly a week of the Disney experience we are now transitioning to Universal. This involves packing, grabbing a Lyft to our new location and then hanging around waiting for the room to be ready. To pass the time we went to Walmart.

Walmart is amazing. They sell everything. Including things you didn’t know existed.

Look Ma! no Driver!

While we were waiting for our Lyft back to the hotel we saw a driverless Waymo car go carefully round the parking lot. I wonder if it is still there.

Fireworks

When we checked into the hotel we were offered a free upgrade to a nicer room with an outside view. After being reassured about the precise meaning of free (i.e. properly free) we took up the offer and discovered that we could see the Epcot fireworks through our window. Actually, the first time we discovered this was a less than cheerful occasion. Being woken up in the middle of jetlagged sleep by a series of distant explosions is not the best. But once we got used to it, the problem was to stay awake long enough to actually take some pictures. Tonight I managed it and, with the camera balanced on a glass topped table and some hand fettled exposure, I managed to get some useable shots.

The thing that amazes me about this is that they do it every night. There’s an island in the middle of the lake at Epcot which has rows of firework launchers which are replenished each day.