Friday, April 19, 2013

Documenting our Great/Greatest Loop...

Within the next month we'll officially start our Great/Greatest Loop year cruise up the Hudson River, across the Erie Canal, to the Great Lakes to Chicago, and down the great inland rivers to Mobile, Alabama, and around Florida to come back to the Chesapeake Bay. I've been thinking of techniques to document the trip in a different and out-of-the-normal way and have been experimenting with cameras and software to create time lapse videos of daily travels. It takes 3-4 software products and special camera hardware. The last hardware should be waiting for us at Olverson's and will allow much longer videos to be made - we're currently limited to about 2.5 hours of real time.

So here was most of today's travel from Atlantic Yacht Basin in Chesapeake, VA to the channel leading to Hampton, VA. We're at Downtown Hampton Public Piers escaping a very bad storm that passed over tonight. This test includes some cheesy titles but really good music. I calculate the speed of travel as the equivalent of going about 1,000 knots through the water. I think it feels about right.

So what do you think? Is this worth the effort to document each day's travel like this?

Enjoy!



Note that the video isn't working on iPads (mine too). This is why I'm testing it all. The video needs to be encoded differently - the next test will do that. For now, you can only view this on a PC or Mac.

16 comments:

Gone With The Wind .... on safari said...

Great work, wish i could do the same , but what about a bit of dog cam as well. you guys are really talented.keep up the good work.

Hudson River Boater said...

Awesome!!

Unknown said...

Worked great on my 10 inch Asus Android tablet. Why not come up to Lake Champlain and go to Montreal and up the St Lawrence. Lake Champlain is beautiful! You will be so close!
Craig Lewis

Unknown said...

Worked great on my 10 inch Asus Android tablet. Why not come up to Lake Champlain and go to Montreal and up the St Lawrence. Lake Champlain is beautiful! You will be so close!
Craig Lewis

Unknown said...

Interesting way to shoot your daily travels. I hope that when you get all of the details worked out that you will post a "how to" for the rest of us.

Unknown said...

Enjoyed your time lapsed video. Most videos I try to play on my laptop have to stop and buffer every 10 seconds. Yours went the entire3 minutes no problem.

Unknown said...

What? No stop at Mile "0"! Have a great "Great Loop"!
Fair winds & Smooth sailing,
Elaine & Lawrence S/V Elle & I

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
softsysgrp said...

Tell me more about the waterproof camera you are using. I am looking for one that does a decent job of time lapse and you don't mention the brand you are using that I can see.

MV Red Head said...

The camera is a GoPro Hero3. But doing this requires some special add-ons, software, and techniques. I want to be able to do a time lapse over 8+ hours of real time and the normal Hero3 can't do that.

I intend to document it all in an ActiveCaptain newsletter when I think I've figured it all out.

softsysgrp said...

Thanks. Did not see that one in searches. Like the Panasonic TS4, but it only can do 60 pictures as set intervals. I liked the idea of documenting a boat trip with the time lapse, but it has to be fully automatic so I don't have to reset/restart things every so often. Looking forward to what you came up with.

Jeff said...

Terrific! I even saw the raindrops on the camera lens.
Can't wait for the day to day reports on the Loop.
My wife and I did a part of it this past year...from SW Florida to the Northern Chesapeake. Then we chickened out and headed back to Florida!
We have a 40' Trawler so it will be great to see your reports. Maybe we will gain enough courage to get the northern to western route under our belts.
Jeff

RDS said...

Great back ground music.

I have the Go Pro 2 and would like to hear about your whole set up to perhaps do a little time laps myself.
Great test movie. keep up the good work ; >)

Ken said...

What was the time interval you used between shots? I would like to try the same think with my GoPro.

MV Red Head said...

This video is done at 5 seconds per frame and 30 frames per second (other software allows you to control the frame rate of the final movie - more will be coming about that).

This makes a 5 hour real time trip take 2 minutes which I think is about right.

We get started next week on the real Great Loop and I plan on filming every move. When I get the first 5, I'll publish them - it'll take a few weeks because we're not moving a lot in the beginning. These will also be used in an upcoming eBoatCards group about EAGLE (Enjoying the American Great Loop Experience).

Ron Rogers said...

The music may have the right title, but it belongs on a US Navy SEAL action video.

The edited pauses are disconcerting. I would prefer slower in built-up areas with the landmarks being identified in subtitles. Most people will have no clue which bridge and which locks you passed through.IMHO, higher speed is appropriate for featureless open water.

Great idea, but always requires context unless Dylan is communicating with dolphins.