This video sees my friends Ray, Jay and I return to the forest for another quick overnighter and to test out some new kit. Jay had some recent purchases to put through their paces including A British Army 24 Hour Ration Pack and I had a new microphone wind protector to test. I decided to walk up to our camp spot via an old lead mine and explore some local history.
The Gregory Lead Mine began in 1734 and it was worked until 1803. During the mines history it had problems with flooding and eventually became unviable due to the spiralling costs and after the installation of 2 engines to pump out the flood water. A new vein was found in 1797 but it was not enough to offset previous losses so the mine closed after having been worked for over 250 years. A more indepth report of the mines history can be found at the excellent Derbyshire Heritage Website.
Many of my YouTube subscribers will no doubt breath a sigh of relief at the next sentence…. I’ve finally picked up a wind protecter for my Canon DSLR š In the past I’ve worked hard to keep the wind noise to a minimum, as you can imagine when walking in the hills / mountains it can become hard. To the rescue comes the Micro Muff (no sniggering at the back please). The Micro Muff has been something I’d been meaning to buy for a while and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t bite the bullet sooner than I did. They are relatively inexpensive and will make a huge difference to the sound quality of videos shot using my Canon 550D. I do have a Zoom H1 which needs a new wind protector, ironically the last one blew off due to high winds š the Zoom H1 fits nicely on top of my DSLR but for now the onboard microphone has wind protection. If you would like to grab a Micro Muff you can do so on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1EsNYF7 (affiliate link)
When darkness fell and the cloud finally cleared I decided to utilise the Magic Lantern mod that I have on my Canon 550D. Magic Lantern is an excellent hack you can apply to Canon DSLRs that opens up lots of great features including an intervelometer. I decided to set the camera up on my tripod and take 30 second exposures of the night sky with a 1 second interval between each shot, focusing mainly on the plough constellation (Ursa Major). I have included a time lapse sequence in the video of the images I captured in the 30 minutes I was allowing it to shoot. You can see one of the images from the sequence above, sadly I forgot to take my IR Remote with me for the camera so 30 seconds was the longest exposure I could do, next time I’ll get a better time lapse providing I remember the remote.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable night and it was great to get back out there again even it was another cold one. Thanks for watching, viewing and visiting. At the end of the video I mentioned that my friend Ray and I are heading to Asia in March, we are travelling around the Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam area for 3 weeks so would welcome any suggestions for ‘Must See’ places. We are flying in and out of Bangkok but the plan is to pack in as many great once in a lifetime adventures/activities as possible. I plan to upload vlogs/blogs while I’m away via my iPhone 6 Plus, I’m taking my GoPro and DSLR so will grab the footage from them via a Wifi card reader and edit in the iMovie app, all being well I can then upload via wifi or mobile internet. Please give me a shout via the comments here, Twitter, Facebook or Messenger Pigeon if you have any suggestions.
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