René Seindal

I got a very nice email yesterday, from a PR represetative of Panasonic Nordic, with an offer of lending me a Lumix DMC-FT1 (TS1 in the USA) camera as soon as they get the first test cameras to the country in late March.

The deal is that I will test the camera in real life paddling situations in Spain and Italy, and naturally supply Panasonic with feedback on the camera, and pictures and videos taken during this  spring and summer.

I find it very exciting that Panasonic now enters the niche market of rugged, waterproof cameras suitable for use while kayaking.  Until now our only choices as kayakers have been various models from Pentax and Olympus, none on which have been that spectacular. It be very interesting to see how Lumix DMC-FT1 measures up.

The basic camera specifications of the Lumix DMC-FT1 is in line with the latest offerings from Olympus and well ahead of what I have seen from Pentax. It has a 12.1 Mpixels sensor (images of 4000×3000 pixels), with a Leica 28-128mm (35mm equivalent) lens, which is approx. 4.6x optical zoom. The display is 2.7″ at 230.000 pixels.

As for ruggedness, the Lumix DMC-FT1 is not top of the class but it is close, and it should be enough for what most of us need when kayaking. It is dustproof, waterproof to a depth of 3m and shockproof up to 1.3m, just like the Pentax Optio W60 and the Olympus Tough 6000.

Where the Lumix DMC-FT1 really distinguishes itself from the other waterproof cameras is its video capabilities. It can record video in 720p HD-TV video quality: 1280×720 pixels, 60fps in AVC HD Lite format in three qualities (17Mbps, 13Mbps, and 9Mbps). The AVC HD video specification is a highly compressed MPEG4/AAC3 format, so it should be possible to get good length registrations on common 2Gb or 4Gb SD cards (of which I have loads).

It uses standard SD memory cards (it has always annoyed me that Olympus has to use a different memory card than everybody else), it has a USB 2 connection for data transfer to a computer, and a HDMI output for playback on HD-TVs or other recorders.

Naturally, the software in the camera has a gazillion different functions,but some sounds useful in a kayaking context, like auto focus tracking of moving objects and a special “Quick AF” setting for impromptu snapshots. It also boasts automatic facial recognitions, that is, automatic tagging of persons in photos when enough photos a single person has been taken.

I can’t wait until I get my hands on this new toy

Links:

• Nyt hybridkamera til udendørs fotografering (Lumix DMC-FT1)
• Panasonic.net – World’s First Waterproof, Shockproof and Dustproof Digital Camera with AVCHD Lite Motion Picture Recording
• Panasonic Nordic on Flickr – DMC-FT1
• DPReview – Panasonic unveils DMC-TS1 rugged compact camera

My ipod has just died – or almost died. Its a 160Gb ipod Classic I’ve been using all summer in Italy for listening to audiobooks. I had tried to add a few books from a Linux computer, and afterwards the ipod just said “No music” when I turned it on.

Apparently, Apple had been doing nasty stuff behind the scenes to keep people from using other programs than iTunes to update their ipods, only iTunes isn’t available for Linux and that was what I had available to me at the time.

My mac back home couldn’t restore the ipod (“Unknown error” – very helpful) and it couldn’t even reformat the drive, with some variation of “internal error” message. In the end I formatted it on the Linux computer, and put it back on the mac to reload my music and books. It went fine most of the way, but after a while the ipod emitted a loud ‘clonk’ and everything blocked on the mac. Back on Linux I scanned the ipod for errors and got a gazillion or two, so the disk in the ipod is dead. It can – for now – play what is on it, but it won’t last long.

I’ve always liked toys, and with a background in IT many of my toys are electronic.

In Sardinia I had brought a mobile phone, a Nokia N800 tablet computer, a GPS receiver and a camera, and all required power, which regularly proved to be a problem. Even though I had brought solar panels as well, solar power is not always available, and we often had to rely on bars and restaurants for charging.

At times we had no opportunities for charging and as a consequence were without a usable mobile phone for periods, which is bad as the mobile phone is an essential security item.

Recently, while shopping for other stuff, I stumbled over two unrelated gadgets that can also be used as emergency chargers for other things.

I bought a hand crank flash light (for the exorbitant price of €8) which has the obvious use of providing battery independent light whenever you need it. It also happens to have a plug on the side for charging mobile phones which worked without problems with my Nokia phone. I guess it will work with most mobile phones with the appropriate adapter.

They claim that three minutes of charging will give you at least 20 minutes stand-by time or 2-8 minutes of call time, but I haven’t tested it with a completely dead phone. It seems to be a noname product, but other similar flash lights exist.  I find it a bit chunky, and it weighs some 170g.

Its not a very glamorous object but it means you’ll never be without light and you’ll always be able to make a phone call. That’s not bad.

I also bought a couple of USB powered loudspeakers so I can listen to music in the shower The loudspeakers can also be battery powered through a separate battery pack which sports both an USB outlet and the little round one used for Nokia mobile phones.  By using the battery pack alone, any gadget which can be charged by USB can be charged by 4 AAA batteries. It works with my phone and with my Nokia tablet. The battery pack is only slightly larger than a matchbox, just large enough to hold the four batteries.

Again, by bringing just the battery pack you’ll be able to keep a mobile phone, a PDA or a GPS receiver alive as long as you have a set of spare batteries with you.

It’ll be a busy day in Venice today.

The day did, however, have a less auspicious start. As I was having breakfast at the camping at little thing dropped on the table just beside me. It was …

… the severed head of a bee!

There must have been some really nasty business going on up there between the leaves, but as I was busy too, I didn’t crawl up there to investigate.

I’ll have my temporary passport today if all goes well. I have the photos ready, and everything should be ready at the consulate too. I’m off to the vaporetto for the city in a moment.

The battery of my Nokia N800 Internet Tablet has died. It is not the new one sponsored by Nokia Nseries, but the one I have had for quite some time. I had it recharging all day yesterday and its still flat. Apparently its a slightly special battery, because the shops here on the Lido don’t have it. I hope I can find one, I’ve gotten so used to always having it with me.

Then I have to rent a car with a roof rack so we can transport the kayaks on the roof, book the ferry to Sardinia and pick up Wendy at the airport. Then tomorrow, we’ll be paddling together in the lagoon and in the city.

Then, lets hope the bees back at the camping have had their internal affairs sorted out before we’re back.