Author Topic: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous  (Read 1417 times)

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Offline Randall Kayfes

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WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« on: April 18, 2017, 11:11:38 AM »
The Seattle Times states the obvious Greg's Skunkbay weather is a total "ten".

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/weather/skunk-bay-weather-cams-timelapse-videos-puget-sound/

Congratulations Greg for your service to your local and non-local followers!
Your assistance to anyone needing video help here at WXForum is greatly appreciated as well.

Randall
« Last Edit: April 18, 2017, 11:21:15 AM by kaymann »



Offline GregJ

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2017, 11:40:52 AM »
Thank you for the kind words Randall!
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2017, 11:41:56 AM »
Congrats, well deserved indeed!

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2017, 12:12:42 PM »
Congratulations Greg.  A great write up... but we here on WXFORUM already knew of your ability and passion.


Enjoy,
Paul

Offline Bashy

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2017, 04:55:28 AM »
Amazing night time, love seeing the stars, and this was done using the Canon 600D?
How was it hooked and what software did you use please? I have the 70D but i dont
think i will use it for this purpose, may get an older model though..

Well done and congrats on the write :)
Kind regards
Bashy

Offline GregJ

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2017, 10:49:58 AM »
Hi Bashy,
My Canon is a T3 Rebel.  I use Sebectec / IPTimeLapse software on both my Canon and Olympus cameras....  Great software.  It is connected to the computer via USB.  Each camera requires a dedicated PC because USB is not uniquely addressable.  Also, the shorter the cable the better.  You can use a USB/Cat5 converter and get out a bit beyond 100', but shorter is more stable.  Plus, you can install a relay switch that will sense a sleepy USB port and reset the camera.  So...  I have 4 PC's in my bedroom closet that allows me to use a 30' cable to the cam enclosure....  Not such a bad idea to have 4 computers in your closet....  During the winter months all of my clothes are nice and warm when I put them on thanks to the heat of the computers....   :lol:  I use cheap Dell refurb computers that I get for around $100 and remote into them from my main computer.... 

Greg
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Offline Bashy

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2017, 10:58:40 AM »
Hi Greg, thanks for the info, what sort of settings do you use on the camera, I. E. iso, 800? I think ya lens is a maximum of 18mm? What about Shutter speed 15 secs or longer? Just trying to get an idea for getting decent stars. What sort of housing do you use or are they inside behind single glazed? Sorry for the questions :)
Kind regards
Bashy

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2017, 11:29:32 AM »
Hi Greg,
I happened to catch your interview on WUTV (Weather channel) yesterday .. great job!  Congratulations!!

Best regards,
Ken
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Offline GregJ

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2017, 03:26:33 PM »
Hi Ken...  Thanks for the kind words.....

That was a bit of an awkward experience for me.  With Skype in a live interview all I had at my end was a black screen and a little box with me in it at the bottom right.  I wasn't expecting that....  Nobody told me to look directly into the camera....  (Live TV Neophyte here...  :oops: )  So, I was looking at the bottom right of my screen and occasionally over the top at the water.  I recorded it and saw what I did....  Have you ever talked to somebody where they looked at the floor and then looked over the top of your head... and never eye to eye....  Well, I accomplished exactly that....  Oh well....  That's what they get for inviting an old farm boy from Hansville onto their show....   :lol: 

An opportunity arose for me while I was on hold listening to the live show.  I decided to take advantage of it...  They were talking about convection in the previous segment.  We had some decent convective cumulus around us, so while I was waiting I whipped together a 3 cam panorama time lapse and had it ready before the interview so I could put it up on Twitter right away....  That part seemed to work well....  Other than that, interviews are tough when they ask questions that you aren't prepared for and knowing that you had seconds to answer them.  The segment was supposed to be 3 minutes....  I'm sure I went over.  Oh well... It was fun anyway...  :grin:
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Offline GregJ

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #9 on: April 19, 2017, 03:31:15 PM »
Hi Bashy,
The answer to your question is... "It Depends"....  The moon can make or break it.  With a new moon I will start out at f3.5,1600iso and 20 seconds.  With a full moon (the most difficult) I leave it at f3.5 but have gone down as far as 400iso and 15 seconds....  When possible I like doing longer exposures because I think it increases your chances of capturing fireballs....  Oh and yes, my lens is set at 18mm.....  I'll try to post a couple videos later this afternoon.

Greg
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Offline GregJ

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #10 on: April 19, 2017, 04:00:30 PM »
Hi again Bashy,
Here is an example of what happens with a full moon.  It washes out the stars but....  On a clear night it brought out Mt. Baker like daylight and watch the white caps move in at the end...  Beautiful in it's own way.  I believe this was shot at f3.5, 800iso and 15 seconds. 

Vimeo and Youtube degrade the quality due to their compression technology, so I'll share it this way...  I'll give you a direct link to the file.  If you have a fast internet connection you can play it right from the link. The file is about 20mb and 1080.  If you have problems playing it, you can just download it (right click save video as) and play it on your local pc.  http://skunkbayweather.com/FullMoonTimeLapse011117.mp4

Greg

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Offline W3DRM

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Re: WXForum's Own Gregj Is now Famous
« Reply #11 on: April 19, 2017, 04:06:55 PM »
Wow, that was a great video and very impressive! Well done...  =D>
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