Balloon Parameters.. A Couple Things

Its Thursday!

Time for a little view into Hot Air Ballooning!

I have owned Aerostar, Cameron and now Lindstrand Balloons.

My Aerostar Raven was 77,000 cubic feet and was Given to me by a very good friend. I put 3000 dollars into her to get her in the air. She was wonderful.. even after I ran into power lines.

The Cameron I purchased used from some good people in Oklahoma.. It was a great balloon to fly. Big.. it was 90,000 cubic feet.

No I have a Lindstrand Racer x-69. Its 69,000 cubic feet... small... fast.. and fun....

Ill talk about the Lindstrand now since I was asked about it again and I thought I could put it here and Balloonists that know balloons can check out some of the specs as well as those of you new to balloons can see a little of the details of this type balloon.

Brought to you by... http://lindstrand.com/  Amazing people .. amazing amazing... cool and awesome.

Here are a few pages from my Flight Manual..
         Weights of Equipment....

          Fuel type and specific operating Pressure.. 

         Extra Required Equipment... Helmets are required too.....and...

       
         Venting Parameters....

There are a bunch of other things too but these questions I talk about a lot...

Weight of the system is critical.. Depending on what altitude your taking off from and ambient temprature....load... all depend on if you can get off the ground safely and within the specs of your system.

Read that part about the power lines in the last photo.

You will note I can only vent for 3 seconds... that means that the crown vent of the balloon can be opened to expel hot air for 3 seconds only.

There and more things about ballooning to pass on but this is a quick info segment....

Ballooning is fun.. Its fantastic.. but its also real flying. It may look like a Pilot is just having fun with you while your flying in the air but He / She is scanning, feeling, watching thinking.. thinking...

A good Pilot will make it seem like they are just having a heck of a fun time along with you... He / She will talk to you ... point things out... and get you back on the ground safely.

I will start at the beginning of Ballooning from my point of view tomorrow...

Lets call it... So YOU want to fly in a balloon... some things to think of before you book that ride!

Off the side of the road shots... and the Videographers kit list

Another busy day.. on the road again.. just getting on the road again.

Not a bad day with two good people. Driving the back roads of New Mexico. Visited with some wonderful people who have been doing remote observations for the NWS for ages... Their history is pretty cool too... Maybe Ill talk about that later... Let me say this.. I took some pictures of a bar in one distant part of New Mexico...

http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/p6090912/h236e360#h236e360

While talking to these nice people about it who live way away from it a long while after I took the pictures.... that thier father owned it at one time...

Go figure!!

Remind me and I will tell the whole story...

Okay.... So... Here is one of my favorite shots from the side of the road this week..

It needs a little adjustment but its cool left totally alone.

Nuff bout that...

Here is the full list and links to the Video equipment I use out in the field. Its what you need to get out and start video recording balloons..... Its not everyone's needed list.. just what I find works for me....

Camera

http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-HD-HERO2-Outdoor-Edition/dp/B005WY3TI4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359594062&sr=1-1&keywords=gopro+hero2

Memory Chip

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007M54E1M/ref=pd_bxgy_p_img_y

Backup Battery's

http://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-Battery-AHDBT-001-AHDBT-002/dp/B005NC8BF6/ref=pd_bxgy_p_img_z

Tripod Mount

http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-Tripod-Mount-HERO-Cameras/dp/B002RCLYXG/ref=pd_sim_e_12

Manfrotto Flexi Arm

http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-237HD-Heavy-Duty-Super-Clamp/dp/B00009R6AY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359594309&sr=1-1&keywords=manfrotto+flex+arm

Manfrotto Super Clamp

http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-035RL-Super-Clamp-Standard/dp/B0018LQVIA/ref=pd_bxgy_p_img_y

Giotto mini ball head

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-Mini-Ball-Camera-Mount/dp/B000L47AHG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359594374&sr=1-1&keywords=giotto+mini+ball+head

Amazon have the best prices. on most everything or links to the best prices.

Need help... let me know....

Photographs and Things

Get on the floor!!!!!!

Nothing bothers me than looking at my own photographs and saying to myself... wow... thats like... real boring!

Get on the FLOOR!!!

Take many..many..many shots.... many... I dont care if you think you got the shot... get it again.. twitch the camera a little.. change the angle... change it again!! Come on!! Work with me here!!

Get the darn camera off your eye.. thats why I love auto focus.

Oh.. and when you shoot a lot you get some very interesting pictures.. especially when you are shooting around people. Some of my most favorite shots are of friends when they are not watching.

I have rules to that though... First rule... Never take a picture of anyone eating!! Unless they are posing. Never take pictures of anyone drunk. Totally unfair. I am talking friends here. I refuse to abuse my friends. I do have some friends who I have a "understanding" that no pictures should be taken.. I respect that... I try to make sure I don't. More rules... yeah there are but these are the top ones.... for me.

I do have some excellent friends who unintentionally pose perfectly.

If you have visited my website at... http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/f75793416 ( link to the hot air ballooning overflow file ).. You will note some fun people pictures... And some of the pictures are not about whats centered or in one of the thirds area... Go figure.

Hot air ballooning is a passion... even if I am on the ground its still amazing. If you have never flown in a hot air balloon I cant tell you what your missing...

If you cant handle flying come out to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October...

http://balloonfiesta.com/  Its completely and stunningly heart stopping!

Getting on the floor ( ground ) here is well worth the wet knees... really....

Bring your camera.... bring your video camera.... bring warm clothes....


One of my favorite sites is... http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/

Loads of good information at this site... loads!

Stop reading.. go take a picture of something!

Go!

Photography and the Desert

Today I went along on a run to Clayton New Mexico and back. It was an over 13 hour day on the road.


Nothing to do with Videos, but some to do with Photography and Electronics... and that frustration thing....

Most of the drive up was fine. Stopped quickly to stretch at the I-40 and Villaueva intersection. I snapped off a bunch of shots of the sunrise in the clouds. Plus some of the road signs and trees that were there asking to have pictures taken. I will post them tomorrow. The time up in Clayton was seriously aggravating. The winds were blowing so very hard.. howling... howling over the howling. We went up to replace a ground to air radio that is glitching. It works well but there is a snap or slip in the transmission. After troubleshooting it we came down to it being the antenna or the cable from the back of the Automatic Surface Observation system ( ASOS ). One of the problems we run into is that we do not have the parts available on hand. That means another trip up and back is necessary.

On the way back it was so very windy as well. I was not driving..... But I felt the truck shaking and it grates the nerves. So thats why there is little here other than my observations on the wind. Wind.. with wind comes dust... dust.. no pictures... sorry.. LOL...

Mmm.. yes.. Villanueva NM...

http://www.adobenido.com/blog/2009/albuquerque/villanueva-nm-spanish-colonial-village-and-beautiful-setting-for-a-new-mexico-state-park/

If you get a chance go there.... Lots of great picture opportunities!! I have somewhere upward of 60 shots of one chair that sat on the side of the road there... It was a wonderful chair... Its gone now.... So very sad....

Go look at my website...

http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/f305895756

You wont find the chair... Now... maybe later.... but this is my old things page...

Im squinting so thats enough for tonight...

Parameters of View

Yesterday I was talking about the camera gear... loosly....

Let me give you some back ground...

I started out with the Contour 720 camera. When it came out it was awesome. 720! 135 degrees of view and very compact.

A review on Cnet

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-camcorders/vholdr-contourhd-720p/4505-6500_7-33771011.html

Loved the camera. It got good video and was very easy to use. One switch turned it on.. one switch started recording, chip and battery were all tucked behind the back door. If you want a camera this was the way to go.... can be the way to go.... I went to the 1080 after...

Link to Engadget where you can read up on all the Contours out..

http://www.engadget.com/tag/contour,1080p/

Both cameras worked well.. but..... but...... I noticed a few things which made me go over to the GoPro side of the house...

One... Contour 720..  135 degrees of view...This was the same for the 1080.. For a price that was higher than the GoPro with 170 degrees of view.  What this means is you can be closer to your subject and still capture a wide range around your subject for a little rounding of the horizon. And thats adjustable down to 135 degrees easily.. Yeah.. I know the Contour can do that too..... but in the field? I still like the contour... really...

But...

You can still buy the GoPro on Amazon.com cheaply..

http://www.amazon.com/GoPro-HD-HERO2-Outdoor-Edition/dp/B005WY3TI4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359340433&sr=1-1&keywords=gopro+hero2

Cheaply with scads of accessories.. Scads.. Tons.. many many!!

Two... really two of my top of the list... I kept getting Sun burn on the camera capture which looked terrible.. looks terrible.. When the camera faced the sun I had a purple digital vertical streak down the view. Not good. Always happened.

Contour prices kept going up for the same thing GoPro had for the same fixed price. Now there is a GoPro Hero3 is out.. More money now, but still competitively priced.

So now back to that "field of View" thing...

At 170 degrees of view from two feet away on the end of the Manfrotto arms give such an amazing point of view and captures action all around. The crispness at the edge of the frame is excellent and pointed at the sun leaves no freakish or weird images. The squareness and bulky case are sometimes frustrating but with the cases that come with the cam and the myriad of backs you get... wow... options.. waterproof.... granted the waterproof ( not skeletal )  back muffle the sound..

I live in the desert... and I use the skeletal back and I have yet to have the dust cause a problem. I have also had the camera whacked into the ground and Cacti and scraped across rocks and still work great. Scraped up the case but cases are cheap.

Lots more about the GoPro and Contour later.

P

Videography...Cameras...Accessories

Finished with Editing and capturing for the day. Two DVDs created and burned with two videos on each. One a speed version with a 10x increase and one normal speed edit of about 28 minutes with three cut scenes in it. Titles and then DVD titling took a while. Feel and sense of what works and wont work is key to making an okay video into a great video. You don't want your friends saying.. Oh Oh.. here he comes with another lame "family picture" type show. You really do not want that.

So today I am going to go over some of my tools. Top of the list.... GoPro Hero2 cameras!

http://gopro.com/

Excellent all around camera for a good price.

This camera has the display back attached.

Which you can get at  http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.rei.com/search?query=gopro+hero+2

This is the hero2 with tripod cam mount. Since I like my videos to have a wider view I use this mount to attach to any one of these arms..

http://www.manfrotto.com/flexible-arm
http://www.adorama.com/GTBHMI.html

This also has the Manfrotto Super Clamp on it and the Giotto mini ball head. Great for attaching to hot air balloon burner frames. Quick to attach and quick to adjust.

My other arm is a combination of fixed arm, clamp and T flash mount...

It adjusts from 0 to around 2 feet out, down, around.. whatever you need. I use this arm when I want to mount two GoPros close to each other on one arm. It can carry the weight without too much flex. The Flexi arm will not stay in position with two camera mounted. I also use it if I think the flexi arm may get bent by hard hits or when I want a more fixed mount. Your decision which way you want to go.

I do have a photography website and I do post my personal use only videos there.

http://invisibleblack.zenfolio.com/

I will show edited videos in the future but in a separate section or I will host my own site for them. I DO NOT use copyrighted music for any videos except for my personal use. As you would play a video and listen to your favorite rock band in your own home. I could just say "listen to this music when this video is playing"instead.  If I am contacted by a group and they want me to remove something I will surely do that.

I use only free source music or music that is open by an artist on videos I edit for other than personal use. I will link to my favorite artist here... I will do this in future blogs too because he is great!

http://www.danosongs.com/

Great selection of music. Go look.

Tomorrow a good friend of mine will hit the skies again after a long time on the ground repairing himself. I will post the video and pictures to my website if it goes off. Its raining outside now so who knows.

Have a great one!  Get out and shoot something WITH YOUR CAMERA!!!!!

P

Friday!!! Still processing

What can you say.Its a never ending "PROCESS"!! hahahahaha

yeah... um   well..if it had looked good the first time I would have been happy.

So when it finishes tonight    and if it looks good   I will be very happy.

Last night ..... wow...hard to say.... I watched Kimura.......wow...can you say pathetic!

The show was so sad. Watching people having to crawl for a spoiled rotten and mean person.!

Some of the shoes were nice and a few oitfits looked good but the internals ...yuck!

I think I may have to start a Shoe and Outfit blog just to tell woman what really looks good on them and no more of the "Oh it looks good on you"..just to sell you crap.

maybe I'll do that.

Saw some awesome shoes.....

Editing video.. What looks easy

Ouch!    I have been working on an edit for hours n hours. What should have been an easy edit has turned difficult, time consuming and frustrating.

An edit of a rock band flying in a hot air balloon. The band came to the balloon fiesta to shoot a music video, which turned out pretty good. I hung a camera on the balloon when they went up for their first hot air balloon flight. They loved it.

Here is the link to the group...
http://noisey.vice.com/music-video-premieres/hollerado-pick-me-up


. The video was purchased by a cool company. Okay..two edits...one that speeds up to 10 times nlrmal speed then comes back to normal speed at the end and a normal speed 40 minute version...what could be so hard. Well it is now. Processing the second time now. I hope it clears this time.

I'll know in an hour or so. Fingers crossed.

What happened...the video tinged golden in dvd processing. Why? Not a clue right now. The original exit is clear and clean.

Fingers crossed. I will scan the file tomorrow.

Specs... N Stuff.. Balloon that is...

I said I would get the specs for my balloon up and the temps my manual say are its limits.

Okay.. my balloon is a Lindstrand X-69,
69,000 cubic feet large. Or small really really small.
max continuous operating temp is 257 degrees.
10 minutes in any two hours and no more than 10 consecutive minutes is 275 degrees.
275 degrees is never exceed.



What this means is... with a bit of wiggle room,... if you heat the balloon past that temp you could in fact melt the top out of your balloon and fall out of the sky. Really!  Its impregnated diamond weave nylon fabric.

Absorb that and I will go over the full balloon thing later....

Cheers!

This is Patturns Highperactive ( middle ) over the red rocks of Gallup New Mexico. An amazing flight. Notice the shape compared to the balloon to the right.

Here ... there.... EVERYWHERE!

Busy day!!!!!

Late day... but a productive day.

A reminder to write things down.

If you do then you can verify as well as jog your memory.

Lots to do tomorrow at the office as well as after.

Tonight was a AAAA general meeting. Thats not AA for AA... but the..

Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association

  A very large group of Hot Air Balloonists and crew members. We have what we call mini rallys every month... and by mini rallys I mean rallys with around 30 to 40 balloons at a time give or take. What is a large balloon rally in other parts of the world we do every month... thats what I am trying to say. Its great to live in a State that you can fly year round. We do it too.

Let me expand on that... slightly...

It is not too hot nor too humid to fly any month of the year here. If you know how hot air balloons work.. skip this...

Balloons fly by being hotter than the surrounding air. Flying a balloon which weighs a lot, then adding pilot and passengers requires a good range of surrounding air temp to balloon temp. The maximum temperature most balloons are rated at is 250 degrees continuous. Meaning that the inside top of the envelope should not exceed that temp....there are other parameters I will go into later... Ill post my balloons specs later. You can lift a balloon with all the equipment that entails and people and move through the sky easily here. Well... relatively. Ill get the data later then post more on that subject.... Its cool though.

Back to AAAA

One of my little things I do is edit the AAAA monthly newsletter. ( don't expect any format here... I did warn that this is loose writing ( ha ha ) ) Or mini magazine. There is a LOT of editing to compile this newsletter including formatting the type, pictures, advertizements....not including a bunch of other stuff. The spell checking and grammar are checked by a few people because it is too hard for one person to do both. And our reviewing over and over takes time too. I do ask for submissions for pictures and I have hopes I will get a lot more than I am now because I have been using my own and I am tired of looking at my pictures.. I want to see what everyone else is shooting. So... if you are reading this and in the group please, please, please send me your photographs of the rally's. Thanks!! LOL.. I will keep asking. I wont stop!

Meetings... rally's, mixers, and happy hours...friends....like family.... And an Education Foundation too!

Woosh!

Got off on too many tangents again!

I promise to stick to one subject.... soon... someday..... in a nearby reality....

Stay tuned to this channel for more insanity.

Get some sleep!



 

Composed....ish

At last the Christmas tree is coming down. I asked my Son to help and he brought friends..... why I do not know... its a regular fake 6 foot tree!!! Well it is coming down quickly I should say.

I expect he did this so he can go off with his friends again. Yeah. No one wants to hang out with the parents.
But I can say that I would have probably done the same if I hadn't been in the Air Force when I was 18.

I wonder if my grandparents thought the same thing about my parents. Did they head out as soon as they could to get out from under the "boring" watchful eyes... I must ask. I will ask. Interesting. I know that some of the stories my father told me about what he got up to as a kid were more extreme than much of what I did as a kid. Or is it just a different type of "lets not tell the parents what we were doing so they don't freak the heck out" antics. I know I have never hung from a train bridge by my fingertips or sneaking out of the house by sliding down the front porch roof.

Back on the Video subject. I reviewed Chris's video file I picked up at lunch today. He is a helicopter pilot in training. He skydives. Never gonna go there... the skydiving thing. His GoPro camera was hooked to the front top of his helmet. When he stepped out of the basket at 1000+ feet it was weird. When he let go and flipped end over end ..... gag!  And I have to edit this? Into the main video? Going to be a woozy time.

Subject...Rushing

Rushing about today to get "things" done.

Whats the big rush?

Lunch with friends...

Pick up video files for a new video edit....

Clean & Condition my Cameron basket..take pictures of it...

Upload pictures to prepare for its sale... its time.

Chat with my brother... I miss that.

Drag through emails..

Slam the Spam!

Now.. compose...

Myself...

Quite difficult.

I spoke of a lot of those things in yesterdays blog....

I missed a few important ones...

I'll get back to that.

Compose..........

Take a few...

I'll be right back.

Number 1 crazy non spell checks blog of things!

First blog on everything Hot Air Ballooning / Videography / Computers ... and what ever tickles my fancy.

Its going to be a very loosely written blog so hang in there.

A little set up for you. In no specific order or importance....

Computers...

I have been a computer technician for a long time starting out in main frames / crypto equipment and feeding into pc based computers...more on that later but if you have questions or information needs without dragging through Best Buys strange "Charge you for everything" black and white stuff I may be able to help ya.

Ballooning...

When I moved to New Mexico I started crewing on a few hot air balloon teams. This led to learning to fly... to flying a Racer type Lindstrand balloon. A totally different animal to the regular teardrop style balloon. Much more on the later...

Videography ( made up word I like )...

Ballooning led me to photography and then to videoing my flights..then friends flights and onward to editing videos for a fee. I will edit for anyone who has a need at 1/3rd or less the cost of your standard video editing company and without the add on charges. I find it challenging to create something special for friends and folk. Ive created videos for myself and used great songs for background. They are for fun only though and never for sale. When I edit for the public I use free use music only or music from Artists that allow use of their music if you point back to their website ( Danosongs.com is my favorite ).

Along with videos I do shoot Ballooning and other subjects as I get requests or just for the heck of it. I love giving my friends pictures of their flights, themselves and friends. Ive done shoots for fee also. I'm open to new experiences anytime.

Whew!  Enough for now... more on each subject later!  stay tuned for further announcements....and pictures!