With over 9,000 photos on Flickr alone, I think it’s safe to say that I like to take a lot of pictures. Like just about everyone these days, I have a digital point-and-shoot camera for documenting parties, nights out with friends, road trips, fun in the snow, and the list goes on. I also have a couple video cameras and a DSLR. I’ve heard about the Xshot! camera extender and saw one in action, but didn’t have my own… until now, thanks to a kind gift from an BC Blogger, Heather.
What Does It Do?
Those who have never seen an XShot usually have one of two reactions when they finally encounter someone using one. One reaction is to ask what it is, but more often than not people just comment on how cool it is. For those wondering what it does, the answer is easy. It extends the reach of your own arm by way of a telescoping pole that has an attachment at one end to connect your camera and a rubber grip at the other end to hold it. The result is a better shot in self-photos, making photos with the length of your arm in them a thing of the past.
How To Use An XShot
It’s too easy, really. Just screw the tripod mount into the adapter (found on the bottom of most cameras) and adjust the tilt to your liking (usually 90 to 110 degrees is good). Next, set the timer on your camera, extend, and smile. Now you know how to use it, but what about all the different ways you can make use of an XShot? There’s the obvious self-photo, but here’s a few more ideas:
- Photos with a friend
- Artsy photos from all angles
- Photos well above the crowd like at a concert
- Photos in hard to reach places (inside a wall, under the couch)
- Self-shot videos
- Unique perspective shots like from outside a moving car
You can see these last two in the following video:
Conclusions
Obviously, I love my Xshot! and Heather rocks for sending it to me. I’ve used it several times already and I’m sure it will get used a ton more at upcoming events. For about $30, it’s cheap enough to make up its purchase price before long and it’s compact enough for travel. It’s a great little accessory for anyone with a camera and if I hadn’t gotten one in the mail, I had already planned to buy one. You should too.
I got my hands on another iPhone application to help me waste away a long Labor Day weekend. It’s called Fun Booth and it’s from a company called Spoonjuice. The idea is that it’s like a fun photo booth where you can add props to your photo like those funny glasses with a mustache and bushy eye brows.
What I liked
Well, there’s the obvious time wasting fun to be had. It’s another thing you can load up when you’re with a bunch of friends and want to take turns laughing at yourselves and each other. It’s pretty amusing by yourself, too, but I think it’s better for group fun. There’s a bunch of different props to choose from and you can resize them as needed to fit the subject’s face. I uploaded a bunch of my Fun Booth photos to my Flickr account here.
I also liked the integration with Twitter and Flickr. Sure, I could save the photo and use another app to upload it, but this just saves me a step. The image to the right is one that I simply uploaded to Flickr right from the Fun Booth app. I sent the same image to Twitter as a test, too. If you’re not interested in either of those, you can also email the image to yourself or someone else or save it as a contact. They covered several bases in regards to the ability to share your creations.
What I didn’t like
Unfortunately, I found some things that I think could use some improvement, as well. While it’s good to have the Twitter, Flickr, email and contacts integration, they forgot one key option, and that is the ability to just save your photo unless you want to create a new one. This means that if I had to search through the hundreds of photos in my album or worse, line up and take the perfect head shot, I have to do that again every time I want to save a photo. Another thing I thought was missing was the ability to select a specific prop. The app has a button to randomize the prop, but not a list to select one, so if you want to get to a specific prop, you have to keep randomizing until it comes up.
Conclusions
I do have a couple gripes that make the app a little less easy to use. I would also like to see the ability to add more than one prop at the same time. Currently, you can accomplish this by saving the photo and using it as your next photo, though. The bottom line is the price. There’s a lot of junk apps in the app store for $0.99 but this isn’t one of them. At the 99 cent price, this is a unique application that is worth its price tag if you get even just an hour of fun out of it, though I hope to see at least a prop selection list in the next update.
To be fair, he was peeing on the storage shed outside my house. Remember yesterday, when I posted the Archerfish surveillance system review? I included a video showing a guy peeing on my storage shed door, but the lighting out there is no good. The Archerfish system gave me a great first line of defense, providing me with proof that it was a person (not just a large dog), a general build of the guy, and more importantly, a good timeline. Now I just needed a good photo of him to go with it. This morning, at about 3:30 AM, I got my photo.
It’s not the best photo, but I’m working on cleaning it up and his face is burned into my memory. If I see him again, I’ll know. This guy has been peeing on our storage shed door for months, and it’s been happening more lately. About a week ago, I noticed the same thing happening to one of my new neighbors. After such a long time, we finally got the video with the help of Archerfish and filed a police report. Without some way to ID the guy, though, we couldn’t officially do anything. More importantly, he didn’t know he was caught and would surely keep coming back. That’s when my wife and I put together a plan to get the guy’s face on film while also letting him know he was busted. We didn’t know if he was bigger than me or if he’d try to fight my camera away or what. More concerning to me was the idea that he would walk by, do nothing wrong this time, and see me standing there with a camera. I didn’t want to tip him off before getting my photo and my chance to confront him. So we came up with a (hopefully) solid plan.
We took a nap, woke up at 2:30 and headed outside. I armed myself with my Canon Rebel XTi DSLR, a Pure Digital Flip Ultra video camera, my phone, and my LED Lenser flashlight and jumped in the back seat of the car. I rolled the back window half way down so I could get a good photo and stayed low. I was in a pretty uncomfortable position for about 45 minutes, but I was ready to pounce if he came by. Luckily, he dropped by, as expected, and walked toward me, between my wife’s car and the storage shed. For a second, I was certain he saw me because he turned and looked right at me. Then, he proceeded to urinate on my storage shed door as he had done many times. I sat up, pointed the camera out the window, and fired off a shot to get his attention (the flash was on, of course). He turned to face me, and the look on his face as the second picture snapped was priceless. Though it was a split second, it seemed like a long time that he sat there dazed before I said “don’t come back”, which was his cue to take off. I jumped in the front seat, started the car, and followed. I saw a silver truck pull out quickly and as I followed it, it sped up, eventually losing me in the neighborhood when I stopped to grab my phone.
After months of wondering and then worrying that I might never catch this guy, I finally got him! The best part is that he looked ashamed and scared that he got caught. I have a feeling he won’t be coming back. I’ll leave you with this video recap of what Archerfish confirmed was happening regularly outside my home.
I’d love to have a name for this guy, so if you recognize him, email joe@joetech.com.
Xshot! camera extender and saw one in action, but didn’t have my own… until now, thanks to a kind gift from an BC Blogger, Heather.
