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Testing out my new camera

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/24/2012 : 19:56:38

My cheapo digital camera failed me one time too many, so I decided to get serious and buy a nice one. I found the Canon SX230HS (one of last year's top rated models) for $190 at CompUSA. While I would have liked a viewfinder for use in sunlight, I passed on that. I need a pocketable camera because the big bulky SLRs or bridge cameras get left behind too much - they're a pain to lug around. And a camera is no good unless you have it with you.

I tested the new camera out on our evening sail last Saturday. I attached it with a Gorillapod facing starboard at first, then facing forward. You can see a nice view of "marina row" in Essington (actually only about 1/3 of the marinas). You'll also note that jet traffic was much heavier and louder than normal because the southeasterly wind caused them to land from the west. You'll see that my wife was sticking her head down below the hatch so she could hear the radio while the jets were passing overhead:

http://youtu.be/-Gg-n7zI-pI

This was filmed at 1920x1080. One interesting thing to note toward the end (when the camera is pointed forward) is that the built-in image stabilization keeps the horizon perfectly steady and shows the boat gently moving up and down - even though the camera is attached to the boat.

One of the things I really miss about the days when I lugged around my SLR was the polarizing filter that I had for use around water. For this shot I used a very awkward Cokin bracket to hold a polarizing filter in front of the lens. I've ordered this new filter set, which I hope will work much better:

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Sorry the sailing is so boring, but that's all I could come up with. But you do see some pretty sights, especially if you turn the sound off.

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 05/29/2012 03:43:39

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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Response Posted - 05/25/2012 : 04:24:08

Sweet... boring no ... not boring ... relaxing.

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OJ
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Response Posted - 05/25/2012 : 11:52:32

Thanks for sharing - and thanks for reminding me that even moderately priced digital cameras can record video.

What do you think of your Lewmar OneTouch winch handle? Are there ball bearings in the handle?

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 05/25/2012 : 19:55:41

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by OJ
 ...What do you think of your Lewmar OneTouch winch handle? Are there ball bearings in the handle?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Our boat came with no proper winch handle. Upon survey, it was presented with what appeared to be a windlass handle (even though the boat has no windlass), with no latch to keep it from falling overboard, and its weight guaranteed that it would go straight to the bottom of the river. So the night before we took possession of the boat we made a trip to WM to quickly stock up on this and other needed supplies. My friend/buyer's broker picked out most of the stuff. IIRC, I would have preferred a floating winch handle, but the only one they had was huge. The only thing they had in the right size was the OneTouch (the version with the big knob). So we bought it out of desperation and naivete (and my friend's statement that it looked pretty nice).

I still have little experience to compare it with, but it does have some nice features. If you're in really heavy weather you can get two hands on it with the big knob, although we avoid doing this because it seems like you could tear a sail or break a slug with its leverage. The handle does latch in very nicely to ensure it stays put. You can insert it and/or remove it with one hand by pushing down on the top, unlike other winch handles that require a second hand to flick a lever above the winch (OK, maybe I have a little experience with other handles).

If I had a chance to research prices and exercise my normal cheapo tendencies, I might have bought something else. But in this case I'm glad I had to buy quickly.

Edited by - on

Voyager
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Response Posted - 05/27/2012 : 17:21:29

Nice to have a quality camera with lots of storage. I keep mine in the "boat bag" where I bring my phone, tide charts, wind gauge, backup GPS and other handy items. I keep it right in the back hall so that I can pick it up when going to the boat. Then, when I'm back home, I can download pictures and movie clips.

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 05/28/2012 : 08:39:15

Here's another video that I just uploaded, showing our unusual docking maneuvers in an extreme side current:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-0RxC6zu7o

The flood current is running strongly (>2 knots) from left to right. If you line up the centerline of the boat, you'll see that we're crabbing severely, requiring a fast entrance into the fairway. If we go too slow, the crabbing angle is so severe that we can't fit through the "pinch points" at the end of the dock. But I use that to our advantage as we approach the slip, since slowing down increases the crabbing angle in a way that lines the boat up perfectly with the slip.

Next time I dock with the current pushing us the other way, I'll capture that on video. It's a lot more exciting, because with the current pushing us into the slip we need to enter the slip really fast and use the engine to brake us.

On the technical side, I changed some things to make the video smoother and better resolution. I'll try to fix the previous video soon.

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GaryB
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Response Posted - 05/28/2012 : 11:33:48

Nice job!

I dream of having a motor some day that will allow me to backup like yours does. I basically have no reverse on my motor no matter how much or how little throttle I give it.

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 05/29/2012 : 05:50:53

FYI, I remastered the first video in this thread to eliminate the jerkiness and provide the option to view in higher resolution:

http://youtu.be/-Gg-n7zI-pI

I also edited the original post with this URL.

I love the new camera, but playing back its 1080p recordings pushes my computer's limits of bandwidth and hard disk space, so I can't actually watch the videos on the computer very well. Going forward, I think I'm just going to record 720p video and see if that works better.

The polarizer should arrive in the mail today. I'll have to see how it attaches to the lens (real strong adhesive?), but if it works well it could be a highly recommended upgrade for anyone doing outdoor photography with a miniature point-and-shoot camera.

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 05/30/2012 : 20:11:40

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by RhythmDoctor
 ...The polarizer should arrive in the mail today. I'll have to see how it attaches to the lens (real strong adhesive?), but if it works well it could be a highly recommended upgrade for anyone doing outdoor photography with a miniature point-and-shoot camera.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The polarizer arrived yesterday, and works very well. There's a neutral UV filter that permanently sticks on with 3M laminating adhesive, and becomes the attachment point for a magnetized polarizer or lens hood (both included in the kit). The fact that it's ferromagnetic is a bit of a concern in a marine environment, but I'm in fresh water so it should be OK. I'll monitor it as time goes on, and polish off any pitting or corrosion.

The item is clearly a cheap China import, with almost unintelligible instructions because the English is so poor. But it seems to do what it's supposed to do, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out without instructions.

Back in the day when I was willing to lug around my (analog) SLR with zoom lens, I always had a polarizer handy for eliminating glare from outdoor shooting. Since downgrading to little digital point-and-shoot cameras, I've looked (for years) for a polarizer. As I already mentioned, I've used a very awkward, bulky [url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cokin-A-Filter-Adapter-for-Point-Shoot-Cameras-/180441189411?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a03220c23"]Cokin bracket[/url] screwed to the camera's tripod socket. Unfortunately it was almost impossible to adjust it to properly match the cameras' extending lens. This new little magnetic filter does the same thing much more elegantly. If any of you are interested in improving the quality of your point-and-shoot photography on the water, I highly recommend it. I got mine from 47th Street Photo's [url="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=filter+kit+MAG-CANON"]Amazon store[/url]. Note that they have a bunch of listings for different models of camera, but they all appear to be identical, with the only difference being a couple of sizes (20 mm and 26 mm diameter). Measure the size of your lens front to determine which one will fit best, and don't worry about whether your camera is listed in the description (mine wasn't).

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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Response Posted - 05/30/2012 : 20:34:22

You must have a hard link from your rudder to outboard? Is your wife working the throttle & gears while you're on the helm? Looks like you're working in pretty good accord, no drama, just determination. Your crab angle is amazing, but you've got a fair amount of room between your slips and a fairly wide fairway.

I should film some of my approaches, my last one was a bit more drama that I like, but no damage, just a bit of excitement.

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 05/30/2012 : 21:10:27

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by delliottg
 You must have a hard link from your rudder to outboard? Is your wife working the throttle & gears while you're on the helm? Looks like you're working in pretty good accord, no drama, just determination. Your crab angle is amazing, but you've got a fair amount of room between your slips and a fairly wide fairway.

I should film some of my approaches, my last one was a bit more drama that I like, but no damage, just a bit of excitement.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
David - Yes, I should have pointed out that my wife works the shift and throttle. And I have a hard link, described [url="http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20807&whichpage=3"]in this thread[/url]. I barely have to say anything any more (a good thing with the jets flying overhead) - she knows exactly what throttle settings to use, when to go into neutral, and when to hit forward for braking. I look forward to grabbing some video with the current pushing us into the slip - that's a lot more interesting!

I've never single-handed into the slip. I tried doing it myself once, but the sight lines are so different it freaked me out and I had her take over the motor again. It's so much nicer standing in front of the pedestal looking backwards down the centerline of the boat.

Edited by - TakeFive on 05/30/2012 21:13:38

delliottg
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Response Posted - 05/30/2012 : 22:25:03

Have you thought of putting throttle & shift linkage on your pedestal? I don't think it'd be very possible for me to single or double hand my boat into it's slip without easily accessible controls. I use a [url="http://powertiller.com/OffShore.htm"]Power Tiller[/url], which gives me start / stop / throttle / shift as well as a Tiny Tach all in one 15" or so control "stick". It wouldn't work as easily on your wheel, but I've actually found mine is pretty usable attached to the starboard catbird seat stanchion. I'm using my spare tiller right now, so there's not enough room on it to mount the Power Tiller.

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 06/02/2012 : 21:22:35

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by delliottg
 Have you thought of putting throttle & shift linkage on your pedestal?...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
David - I researched it and started [url="www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=21255"]a thread[/url] a couple of years ago, but it turned out to be a bigger job than I was willing to take on, and things work pretty well as-is. So it's never worked its way up my list of upgrades.

We went out today in 15kt sustained, 20kt gusts - at the top end of what we're comfortable with. We tacked with the current going down the river, and then a run/broad reach with following seas against the current coming back. With the wind and current going in opposite directions, the seas were very confused with a lot of white caps.

This was my first chance to capture our docking maneuver with current pushing us into the slip (starboard to port). Our crab angle going through the fairway was about 30° away from the slip - especially impressive that the starboard-to-port current was much stronger than the solid breeze from port to starboard. You can see at 1:40 that I make a sudden 120° turn into the slip. The sharp turn breaks some of our momentum, but we're still moving faster than the current to maintain steering and stable alignment of the boat. I dread stalling the engine someday during our re-entry. Today I timed my retrieval of the springline perfectly and was able to get it onto the midship track cleat just in time (at 2:05). Occasionally I mis-time it, missing the cleat and relying entirely on the motor to stop us.

[url="http://youtu.be/rQamrZ09YcY"]http://youtu.be/rQamrZ09YcY[/url]

Technical details: I did not have my nice new Canon camera handy, so I had to use our cheapo camera. Resolution is lower, lens has a less wide angle, and image stabilization non-existent, so you can really see every vibration of the boat, especially with the wind whipping like it was.

Edited by - TakeFive on 06/02/2012 21:29:10

TakeFive
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Response Posted - 06/05/2012 : 08:27:10

OK, [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQDS-aNEjV0"]here's one more video[/url] that I took about a week ago, showing how we get out of our slip when the current is pushing us toward the boats across the fairway. You'll see one other interesting, unplanned feature, which is a neighbor's boat that lost control while docking with the current pushing him into his slip. It shows you how powerful the seemingly gentle river current can be, even when you're in a motorboat.

Edited by - TakeFive on 06/05/2012 09:55:24

TakeFive
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Response Posted - 06/06/2012 : 05:15:45

Looks like I accidentally set that video to "private." I've now revised it so that it can be viewed.

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Ape-X
Admiral

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Response Posted - 06/06/2012 : 07:48:24

Why is it you back in so far? We pull in, then back out of the slip into the fairway on exit.....

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TakeFive
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Response Posted - 06/06/2012 : 08:01:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Ape-X
 Why is it you back in so far? We pull in, then back out of the slip into the fairway on exit.....
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I'm not completely sure what you are asking, but I should note that the current is so fast that it is impossible to reverse direction once in the fairway. If I pulled in forward and attempted to stop and reverse direction, the current would carry me into whatever boats are downstream. Powerboats can do it by gunning their engines to make abrupt adjustments, but no way with a sailboat's small outboard. And even powerboats get into trouble in the current, as you can see on that last video.

So if what you are suggesting involves stopping and changing direction, it does not work in this situation.

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Ape-X
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Response Posted - 06/06/2012 : 09:36:09

thanks for the explanation. btw, great teamwork with the admiral

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redeye
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Response Posted - 06/06/2012 : 09:38:55

Looks like ya got it figured out Captn...

Power at the helm and keep moving.

Nice documentation.

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