How To Make Money And Continue To Do The Things You Love

Money For Equipment

I want one of these

I love making videos but I don't love the everyday shooting for clients, I worked in television for along time but shooting became a chore so I quit. I have rekindled my love for making videos but the money isn't there, catch 22. I need extra cash for equipment and I don't want to go back to working for a company.

Online Marketing

For me the answer came in the form of Online Marketing. I'm on the computer a lot of the time anyway and I'm writing blog posts but I had no idea how people make money writing blogs. SEO was a term used by other people, I don't have a technical brain so it all seems a bit out of reach for me.

I need to be spoon fed this sort of information, I'm a visual person and I see the bigger picture but details swirl around in my head like bubbles in a soda bottle. I have often thought that I need a business partner who would take charge and tell me what to do but there is a problem with that. I hate being told what to do! Another Catch 22.

I really want one of these!

 If you are going to market something what should it be? 

The best fit for me was a product that is based around, but not exclusive to, blogging and it teaches me the tips and tricks to optimizing my blog site, SEO! I don't want to sell something particularly but if something sells itself and I'm getting invaluable information at the same time, I see that as a win win situation. 
A very rare thing these days!

Finding a Good Fit

My wife has been following a blog for years and the blogger started mentioning an online marketing system that sounded really good. I went online to check it out and was confronted with a couple of young guys talking about this system that made them very wealthy, to be honest their casual attitude and cocky manner really turned me off. I got really annoyed with them and almost left it at that.

When I thought about them some more I realized they were being themselves and they didn't care if you got offended, in fact if you are put off by them you probably won't succeed anyway. What it did say was that if these people can succeed without pretending to be anything other than who they are and what they are marketing is how they did it, I'm in!!!

Make Up Your Own Mind

I'm not saying this is for everyone one but if you are looking to earn some extra cash and you have an interest or hobby you can blog about or if you have a blog and you want to get better rankings in the search engines then click the link below put your email in and consider the information. Your email won't be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email. You have absolutely nothing to loose and everything to gain!!! 

Join Me Now

 

RIP Stuart Wilde You Will Be Greatly Missed

Stuart Wilde

Today I heard the news that a very special man died, his name was Stuart Wilde. He was only 66 years old and he died of a fatal heart attack.

Stuart was an Author and a Teacher of the metaphysical. He taught about freedom, love and respect for humanity and nature.

Although I didn't know Stuart Wilde he was like one of our family, I have read most of his books including Silent Power, The Infinite Self, The Quickening, Sixth Sense and one of my favourites The Trick To Money Is Having Some.
These are just a few his quirky, beautiful, funny and very very inspiring books. You can find his books on his stuartwilde.com website.

I have explored previously unexplored dimensions with you, I have explored myself with you, I have laughed with you and cried with you but I never thought I would have to say goodbye to you so soon.


This news has made me sad beyond belief and I can only wish you swift travel, love and light.

Goodbye my friend, you will be missed!

Website Video Gallery

I have had the URL "e-star.tv" for some time but until now I had it re-direct to my main website.
I purchased this URL a few years ago with the idea of displaying my videos but had not done any thing about it.
I was very impressed with the Vimeo display feature my son made for me on the Gallery Page of my main website.

You can slide the thumbnail pictures on top and the title of the clip is displayed when you mouse over a specific thumbnail, click the thumbnail and the clip will play in the viewer. Very simple and it works well on touch screen devices!

 Videos can be added or removed easily using a, password protected, Gallery Admin Area.

I decided it would be a really nice way to display my Vimeo Channels and a great use of the e-star.tv web address.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Epic Dragon 6K Camera

Red have introduced the Epic Dragon Camera with a huge 19 megapixel sensor and massive 16.5+ stops dynamic range.
This camera will shoot 100 fps at the full 6K resolution that's the equivalent of a 19 MP DSLR shooting 100 frames per second. It makes you wonder where the whole Cinema Camera / DSLR hybrid thing is heading.
This is how 6K looks in size compared to other resolutions

Very cool, I love where all this is heading but I do know my old mac would struggle opening, much less editing, such large resolution files!

For more information on these cameras go to red.com | Epic Dragon

The MōVI has been released

Freefly Systems based in Seattle have just released the "MōVI" a 3-axis, digital stabilized, handheld camera gimbal. The MōVI can be operated by a single operator or with the use of a joystick a second gimbal operator can be used.
The MōVI weighs under 1.6 kgs and fits in a thin suitcase and will sell for around $15000.00USD and is under production. The soon to be released, smaller version the MōVI M5 will be sold for around $7500.00USD.
This is great news for the smaller production company with limited budgets. Well done Freefly Systems!
Check out this excellent video by Vincent Laforet on Vimeo



MōVI BTS from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.

Sony HDR-AS15 Handy Cam

I decided I needed a small portable camera that I could mount onto various platforms, I also wanted an underwater housing. The most obvious solution was a GoPro but after a chat with my Sony agent I decided to get a Sony HDR-AS15 Handy Cam.

Initially I found the manual impossible to understand but with a bit of persistence I got the camera setup with my iPad (you do need to download an app called "PlayMemories Mobile").

The first problem I found, while setting up, was the camera would time out and switch off before I could get it connected to the WiFi. I got around this by pressing record while I connected the WiFi. I later found the Auto Power Off settings in the Set Up Menu, I didn't change this setting as it was only an issue when setting up a WiFi device.

My only real issue with this camera is it does not have a mounting thread on the camera. To mount it on a Tripod it has to be in the underwater housing.

The camera has 2 lens angle settings 120 degrees and 170 degrees, the image stabiliser only works in 120 degrees.

Record settings are as follows:
HQ 1080 30p
STD 720 30p
Slow 720 60p
SSlow 720 120p
VGA 480 30p

Interval Record: 5sec, 10sec, 30sec, 60 sec (image size 1920 x 1080, 350 pixels/inch).

It does have an adequate on board mic.

Here is a video I made using the Sony HDR-AS15 Handy Cam as well as my Canon 550D, spot the difference!

One of the problems I found while shooting this was the underwater housing would fog up but this is a problem with all housings and there are a number of solution on the net, none of which I have tried yet. I am going to order the Anti-Fog Sheet Model AKAAF1 from Sony NZ, fingers crossed this works.

Also I never used anything to monitor what I was shooting, I just aimed the camera at the subject and hoped for the best. The lens is wide enough to not have to worry to much!

There are loads of reviews and comparisons of this camera out there, some good and some not so good. Personally I like it and as Sony make updates and improvements I can see it being very popular. A great addition to my other Cameras 

Constant Shutter Speed On Your DSLR Movies

Using the right shutter speed, when shooting movies, is important to the look of your movie. A slower shutter speed will blur motion similar to what happens in photos and a fast shutter speed can result in really sharp frames but can make motion look a bit jittery. Technically I should be referring to shutter angle seeing as how we are talking about movies and this relates to film and how it is exposed. The recommended shutter angle is 180 degrees which basically means that if you are shooting 24 frames per second then you shoot at 1/48 of a second, 25 fps - 1/50 of a second, 30 fps - 1/60 of a second, 60 fps - 1/120 of a second etc.

I found this article at inventerspot.com it explains shutter angles much better than I and also has other useful links.

The trick is how to shoot with a DSLR and keep your shutter speed constant! I have found that a Variable ND Filter is the best way to do this. I have a ND2 to ND400 Filter, you rotate it like a Polarising Filter which means once you have your Aperture and Shutter Speed set you rotate your Variable ND Filter until you achieve the exposure you want, simple!

Variable ND Filters are not expensive and are an indispensable piece of kit for the DSLR movies shooter!