Category Archives: How To

Using the Fuji Finepix “Real 3D” W3 camera on a Mac (or Linux/Unix)

Posted on by
12

The Windows software for this camera is so horrible that you’re really not missing out. Decoding photos taken with it is pretty easy. Videos is another topic – I haven’t dealt with that yet.

To decode photos you’ll need to install ImageMagick. Mac users can get this from MacPorts, or probably Fink too. Linux/Unix users can get it from wherever they normally get things.

You’ll also need to install “Exiftool”. In MacPorts, it’s called “p5-image-exiftool”, otherwise the above paragraph still applies.

To extract the left and right images from an MPO file:
exiftool -trailer:all= MPO_FILE.MPO -o left.jpg
exiftool MPO_FILE.MPO -mpimage2 -b > right.jpg

To extract the parallax information (which is stored only in the right image):
parallax=$(exiftool -b -Parallax right.jpg)
width=$(exiftool -b -ImageWidth right.jpg)
offset=$(echo "($parallax * ($width/100) + 0.5)/1" | bc)
echo $offset

(Updated November 2011 to work with images shot in any aspect ratio or size.)

This gives you an integer number of pixels which you need to crop from the sides of the left and right images to make them line up nicely.

To crop the images based on the parallax value:

convert left.jpg -crop +"$offset"+0 left-cropped.jpg
convert right.jpg -crop -"$offset"+0 right-cropped.jpg

(If the parallax value is negative, you’ll need to reverse the “+” and “-”.)

And, if you have some red/cyan glasses, you can make an anaglyph like this:

composite -stereo 0 right-cropped.jpg left-cropped.jpg anaglyph.jpg

3D image taken with the Fuji Finepix W3

Using Panasonic 700-series 50/60fps video on the Mac

Posted on by
7

(This guide may also work for newer Panasonic cameras that shoot in 1080p50/60, but I haven’t tested it. If you want to buy me one so I can update this guide, please feel free.)

Panasonic’s new 700-series cameras shoot in amazing 1080p50. (In the USA, 1080p60. I’ll be using the “1080p50″ term in this article but everything will work the same for the 1080p60 version.) This format is slightly non-standard and difficult to use on the Mac. The following is the result of my experiments in getting it to work.

Note: Please, no tech support questions. This is a technical article and I don’t have time to help you. Please ask elsewhere.

Step 1: Converting the video to be usable

You can use ffmpeg to convert the files into a usable format. I get ffmpeg from MacPorts but you can build it yourself if you’re into that kind of thing.

The correct command to convert the video is:

ffmpeg -i video_from_camera.MTS -acodec copy -vcodec copy fixed_video.m4v

Replace “video_from_camera” and “fixed_video” with the names of the video file from the card, and the name you want to save as, respectively. You’ll find the videos on the card in the folder PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM.

I wrote the following bash script to automatically convert all the files from the card into a folder on my hard disk:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p ~/Movies/Camera
cd /Volumes/CAM_SD/PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM
for f in *.MTS; do
echo $f
ffmpeg -i $f -acodec copy -vcodec copy "$HOME/Movies/Camera/$(basename $f .MTS).m4v"
done

Change “CAM_SD” to be the name of your card or camera.

The converted files end up in a folder called “Camera” inside your “Movies” folder. Make sure you rename the Camera folder before you run the script again, or it will overwrite the movies already there.

2. Editing the video

2a. Using Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express does not support any video greater than 30fps. You can import the video and edit it, but you will end up with 25 or 30fps upon export. The quality will still be higher than shooting in 1080i, however, so you may be happy to go this route.

Note: I’m not rich enough to own a copy of Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Pro X, so I don’t know anything about it, sorry. Again, if you’d like to buy me a copy of Final Cut Pro X I would be happy to update this page.

2b. Using iMovie ’11

It is possible to keep the 50fps frame rate using iMovie 11.

Import the converted video into iMovie, and turn on the “Optimize” option, setting it to “Full – Original Size”.

If you want to preserve the high frame rate on export, you’ll need to use “Export using QuickTime” to export to MP4 and manually choose 50 (or 60) fps, or iMovie will default to 25/30.

If you don’t care about the frame rate, you can use iMovie’s other “Share” menu options, but these will convert to 25 or 30fps. You’ll still get better quality than you would if you’d shot in 1080i, so you may be happy with this.

T-Mobile USB stick 120 (ZTE MF626) on Snow Leopard

Posted on by
71
Important: If you’ve just bought a USB stick 120 (also known as the ZTE MF626) and you have a Mac running Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), make sure that it has a “10.6 compliant” sticker on the box. If it does not, do not install the stick. Take it back to your provider and demand a different model that works with Snow Leopard. This one does not – and will actually damage your Mac.

(Update September 2011: I have no idea if any of these sticks are compatible with Lion, but I’d guess not. I definitely wouldn’t install the file linked below on Lion, it will almost certainly make things worse.)

Problem: If you install the software supplied with this stick on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), your Mac will hang when it is next rebooted.

Cause: The installer replaces libcurl.4.dylib with it’s own version, which doesn’t have a 64-bit version available. Pretty much everything uses libcurl, including the LoginWindow, so you can’t get into your Mac.

Solution: Replace libcurl.4.dylib with the version originally supplied with Snow Leopard. If you’ve lost yours, you can download mine. Unzip it and put it in /usr/lib – replacing the version already there. If you can’t boot your Mac, you can do this in target disk mode from another Mac, or use single-user mode.

After replacing the file, your Mac will boot, and yes, the stick will work.

Note: This is a complicated procedure, so if you don’t understand it, please ask someone else to help you. I cannot.

P.S.: Did I save your computer? Here’s my wish list. ;)

Update 17/10/09: A friendly commenter told me that T-Mobile UK, unbelievably haven’t heard of the problem. It’s bad enough that they didn’t bother to test any of the pre-release versions of Snow Leopard which were available for months before it was actually released – but it’s utterly inexcusable that they haven’t even bothered to try it after it was available in the shops. T-Mobile: If you’re reading this, this page has had over 2,000 views this month alone. I offer you the chance to respond publicly, here. Email me, my address is in the sidebar.

Update 20/10/09: Paco Hope has done a very good summary of how poor the ZTE software is. I agree with him.

Update 21/10/09: I contacted T-Mobile UK and asked for an official response. No response was ever received.

Update 27/10/09: Commenter Rafal Grabczewski has very kindly provided updated drivers that work with Snow Leopard, direct from ZTE! You can download them here. I haven’t tried these yet – so let me know if they work for you! – Maybe not, see comments below.

Update 27/11/09: T-Mobile have now posted a tiny warning at the bottom of this hard to find page – but still haven’t done anything about actually fixing the problem. Amusingly they say the stick causes “serious system instability”. Well yes, I suppose “not working at all” is a kind of instability. Sort of.

Update 23/3/10: Sticks bought recently have stickers on that say “Now 10.6 compliant”. I haven’t actually tested one, so I don’t know what has changed, or whether it’s possible to update an existing stick.