Europe 301 - PapaJohn's Archive

I call it 'Europe 301' because it was our third vacation to Europe, the longest and best one yet. It's been a while since the last one, over 20 years. It was great and we'd return in a heartbeat.

To mix favorite and familiar places with some new ones, we returned to the Swiss Alps and a number of cities in Italy, and added Vernazza in Cinque-Terre (Italy) and Istanbul.

Our previous trips were in the days of analog film cameras... for this one we used two digital still cameras and a digital camcorder.

Bernadette used to stand by and wait for me to finish taking pictures. Today, with her passion for PhotoShop and Painter, she was the one using our 5 megapixel Olympus C-5050 camera and our daughter's 7 megapixel Sony Cybershot, while I shot video with a Sony TRV80 mini-DV camcorder. I often waited for her.

I'll use this newsletter issue to share some info about the digital aspects of the vacation, and our initial steps to sort and use the 9,200 pictures and 20 hours of video footage we took.

The image at the above right, and the newsletter title, are links to the new website, the main way we'll be sharing our memories.

Vista Corner... I downloaded and installed the latest 5278 build, my easiest install so far. It was the first time I didn't have to go into the Control Panel and update some device drivers after the initial install.

I tested DVD Maker to see if it would successfully burn a disc, something it did great for all builds up to the last one, but hasn't done since. It didn't, so I have some homework to do before I can rave about the new app again.

The video I uploaded to Google a few months ago and priced at 99 cents is no longer listed in my account. It was sitting there waiting to go through the last checkpoint before being live, but it didn't make it. Google didn't send a note or provide an online comment, so I can only guess it didn't fit their criteria for the kinds of movies they want to distribute. I'll stop checking its status.

I installed Pixélan Software's SpiceFX Packs 3.0 for Movie Maker, which has nearly 600 transitions and effects for Movie Maker.... some are new to me and others I've had in earlier versions.

I'd been thinking of a new website specific to the trip. What did I want to do with it? I'll be working toward a number of different but related goals:

Before getting into the website, here's some info about what we used during the trip.

Digital cameras need batteries... replaced or recharged regularly. The rechargeable ones need recharging every night... using Europe's electricity which is different than that in the U.S.

The Olympus camera uses 4 AA batteries. We brought a few sets of rechargeables and 2 charging units. Beyond those, we had a set of non-rechargeables which we never had to dip into. Two sets of rechargeables got us through each day.

The Sony Cybershot has a custom rechargeable battery and a power supply to recharge it. We had no backup battery for it, and only once did it run out before the day ended.

I have 5 batteries for the camcorder, and charging is done by plugging the power supply into the camcorder, which ties it up. It was rare to get as far as needing the 3rd battery after a day of shooting. There were two batteries to spare.

Each of the charging units is marked to indicate they work both with USA 120 volt electricity or Europe's 240 volt, so conversion devices are not needed. But an adapter is needed because U.S. plugs have flat prongs while Europe uses round ones.

If all we needed power for was our cameras, we could have gotten by without a 240 to 120 volt converter. But we brought a hair dryer that needed the 120 volt electricity. When shopping at home for a converter, there were big expensive units with low power ratings, and small cheaper ones with higher ratings. The difference was the small converters being electronic.

That converter cost me one of the two charging units for the AA batteries, which blew the first time it was used with the electronic converter. After blowing I read the instructions... which said it could malfunction if used with an electronic conversion device. Sometimes it's good to read and heed, but the 2nd charging unit got us through the trip fine.

We have 3 batteries for the tablet computer, 2 normal sized ones and a larger one. The only time we had a problem was one day with the GPU, and only because we forgot to bring along the extra batteries.

I brought about 30 DV tapes and used 20, carrying 3 unused ones with me at all times. I opened the packages and numbered the tapes to be ready to move on to the next one as quickly as possible. And I flipped the little recording safety tab on the bottom of each tape as soon as I finished, to preclude recording over it. Even with the precautions, when reviewing the tapes, I see one section of one tape that I inadvertently recorded over.

The Olympus uses memory cards, and the Sony Cybershot and camcorder use Sony memory sticks. We were using a 1/2 GB card and 1/2 GB stick for the still cameras. On many days, we had filled them and needed to offload the pix to the tablet.

The only problem we experienced was with the memory stick for the Cybershot. It suddenly stopped being seen by cameras and our computer, but at a convenient time... there were only a few pictures taken at breakfast one morning, and we were in the big city of Istanbul at the time. A few blocks into our next walk took us past a camera store, and $40 was all that was needed for a new 1 GB memory stick, less than the lowest price we'd seen in the U.S.

We brought 3 tripods, a larger one that stands as high as about 5 feet high, a middle sized one that only goes up a couple feet, and a tiny one only inches high. The middle sized one was pretty easy to carry around and ended up being the only one used. It was a borrowed one, but I'll be buying one like it soon.

We have no extra lenses for the still cameras. I have a 0.6 wide-angle lens for the camcorder, along with a polarizing filter. The polarizing filter goes on the camera itself, not on the wide-angle lens... so it's one or the other, or neither... not both.

I try to be really casual about shooting video on a vacation. As a result I leave the camcorder lenses setup as is until there's a compelling reason to change. I shot most footage with the wide-angle lens on, switching to the polarizing filter only a few times, such as when we took boat rides and I wanted to reduce the reflections off the water.

After shooting the first few video scenes in standard mode, I changed the camcorder to widescreen mode and never looked back. Widescreen seems here to stay so I'm shooting in that mode more often.

I use the 10X optical zoom but deactivate the more powerful but pixilated digital zoom.

Still pictures were taken in high quality modes for the full 7 and 5 megapixel pictures... not pushing the cameras to higher setting options.

We had a Fujitsu Stylistic tablet with us, with about 18 GB of free space at the start of the trip. We also brought a Dell music jukebox with a 20 GB drive, which can double as an external hard drive.

The still pix were transferred at least daily to the tablet, and more room made on the tablet a couple times by moving files to the Dell jukebox. We returned home with a good bit of free hard drive space to spare.

The tablet has a firewire connection, but I didn't capture any footage from the tapes as we traveled. As a precaution against loss, I carried the recorded tapes with me in carry-on luggage.

We used Microsoft's AutoRoute 2006 mapping software, which works with the GPS sensor from the U.S. Streets and Trips app. Maps always lag a bit behind construction and other changes... so when it gave directions to drive down a road and make a right turn onto the next major one, it was fine... except in cases where there was a new fence up making the road a dead-end, right at that nice big road. They had changed the entry point and the map software didn't know. Things like that taught us not rely on the neat new software as the only navigation tool.

I didn't have to think much about distribution. With online access so routine, and broadband getting better and better, a website is the right place for me to roll out our memories. With it having been such a special vacation, I thought it warranted an equally special website.

It reminds me of setting the stage for a special dinner... setting the table before the food starts coming.

I prefer a total customization to a canned website package... so it's done using Notepad, Movie Maker, Photo Story, and my toolbox of software utilities.

For different custom background images for each page, I'm using the camcorder to take snapshots from the video footage, and then Paint.NET to lighten them enough to be able to easily see black text over them.

... and used the one at the left to turn into embedded website links to videos, such as the one on the right...

A first for my websites will be sounds of the area, a WMA file made from selected audio segments of video clips.

I hit Microsoft Publisher again, this time to get a clip art file of a speaker to turn into a website link image.

For a link to a picture gallery , I'm using a large thumbnail sized image of one of them. I haven't developed any of the picture galleries yet to link to, but here's the first of the thumbnails.

I encourage those thinking of traveling to do it as soon as they can, as the memories from such trips will last a lifetime.

The Cybershot camera got a wider shot than the Olympus, and it did better in lower light situations. But in bright light the Olympus seems to have gotten better color results. The camcorder, with it's wide angle lens got even more of a view, and does better in low light.

The two cameras have 3X optical zooms... while the camcorder has 10X. For close-ups from a distance, the 2 megapixel snapshot with the camcorder does better than the 7 megapixel camera.

We're back a week now. I'm caught up on my email backlog, back into regular posting on newsgroups and forums, have the new website off and running, and re-started the newsletters. Things are back to normal.

I look forward to comments and discussion about this and other newsletters on the forums at:

I'm involved in many things that support users of Movie Maker and Photo Story, and adding more regularly. Some are free and others reasonably priced.

TheDVShow is the only weekly Podcast having more useful information about desktop video editing and production than anywhere else on the Web. Digital video editing, nonlinear editing, streaming media, software releases, tutorials, business tips, technical help, download of the day and news on the latest products to make everything easier. It's where professional and consumer desktop video users go to stay on the cutting edge.

Call the phone mail machine to get your technical question answered on the air... call (206)-203-3516

The radio broadcast is from Boston, and the website has downloadable podcast files. The June 19th 2005 podcast was the first 'bi-weekly' show with a segment about Movie Maker 2.

Movie Maker 2 - Do Amazing Things (with its online companion on www.papajohn.org ), published by Microsoft Press...

Movie Maker 2 - Zero to Hero - with support on the publisher's forum - Friends of Ed

MaximumPC's winter 2005 quarterly special... had a 7 page tutorial 'Make a Killer Home Movie with Maker 2'. The special edition of the video made for it is now on my website as a file download.

The November 2005 edition of Maximum PC had a well done reworked 6 page reprint of the same article, starting on page 42 after the Happy 20th Birthday article for Windows.

Learning VirtualDub - published by Packt Publishing in April 2005, is the first book about VirtualDub software. I wrote the introductory chapter about downloading and setting up the software: VirtualDub, VDubMod and AVISynth.

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org - the site's goals are: doing amazing things, providing a detailed tutorial for PhotoStory 3, and helping you solve Movie Maker 2 problems.

It's being expanded to include the new version of Movie Maker in Vista, with Photo Gallery and DVD Maker.

Forums are open to all for viewing, but require registration of those who want to post. Moderators actively participate to ensure the forum discussions move forward and stay on track.

Newsgroups are wide open for all to view and post... moderation is collective by the participants.

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story newsletter. The subscription is $20 for 52 issues, and the link to subscribe is on the main page of my Movie Maker website at:

Aug 26 to Sept 20 - vacation... busy taking video footage for future sample movies

Newsletters issued more than 6 weeks ago are posted by Rob Morris to an Archive Site on his Windows Movie Makers' website. Links from my website pages to specific newsletters make it easier for viewers to see the content of both while browsing a topic.

Drop an email to suggest a newsletter topic... I can use more requests rather than fewer.

Transition Maker 2 (TM2) is a utility for the ultimate in making your own personal and custom transitions for Movie Maker 2. It's a joint product from Patrick Leabo, the programmer, and myself.

I've beta tested some of the Pixelan packages and think very highly of their people and products.

ProDAD's Adorage packages for Movie Maker 2 are additional sources of very professionally developed transitions and effects. And here are the links

I use a lot of professional background music for movies and stories that was created by Randon Myles, and act as his agent in selling the tunes individually.

There are 62 tunes available from 4 of his many albums... at 99 cents per tune (MP3 or WMA format). Here's a Sample - 45 seconds from 'Groove 2'. The 4 albums are: In the Fields of the on-Feretin , Music for Film Volume III, the Emerald Way, and the Fourth Door.

I don't have a full set of online samples yet, but if you hear something you like in one of my videos, there's a good chance it was done by Randon. Send an email if you are interested.

My personal database has been an ongoing project over many years, and is now available to others. A tutorial about using it is on the Managing > Personal Database page of my site, and more info is in the database package itself.

It's free for the asking to regular newsletter subscribers... send an email request and I'll return it with the zipped file, which is less than 1 MB.

To others it's $10. To order, use the button on the top of the Managing > Personal Database page.

On my list of things to do is a video tutorial showing users tips about using it.

An online gallery that fully aligns with the main priority of the website is the 'PapaJohn Expert Zone' at neptune.

Check it at N eptune and the Distributing > Neptune page of the website, where there's a developing tutorial about how to use the service.

In conjunction with the Portage, Michigan library , I offer two free training sessions about Movie Maker and Photo Story, an intro session and a workshop. Scheduled sessions are at 7-8:30 PM on :

The classroom has a large screen overhead projection system... and individual laptops for each attendee. You learn by doing, with a little guidance from me.

If you can't save a movie because your project has become too complex, e-mail a copy and I'll divide it into manageable sub-projects, and provide detailed instructions about how to render the parts and assemble them into your final movie. $49.95 (no cost if it's not the right solution or doesn't work) - for details, see the sidebar on the Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page of www.papajohn.org

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story training and support services start at $75 per hour - send an email - PapaJohn@CharterMi.net and I'll help you determine your needs, and work with you to plan and implement them.

Wedding combo website/video packages - check the bottom branch of the Movie Maker 2 website for a sample of what you can expect for the online portion of the package.

About John 'PapaJohn' Buechler from Microsoft.com

John "PapaJohn" Buechler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., goes by PapaJohn online. An avid user of Movie Maker since its first release, and a regular supporter of the community of Movie Maker users, John received a 2003 MVP award from Microsoft for that support. In March 2003, he started a comprehensive website about Movie Maker 2 at www.PapaJohn.org. He maintains the website, writes books and articles, teaches, and provides support services - all for the community of Movie Maker 2 users. An engineer by formal education, John is a computer database and multimedia expert by business and personal experience. He co-authored the first book about Movie Maker 2 and is actively working on a second one. You can find his advice in the Windows XP Movie Maker newsgroup and in the Windows Movie Makers Forums.

This newsletter is republished with permission of John "PapaJohn" Buechler.
Please note that this is an archive of newsletters and some information may become outdated. PapaJohn, and the webmaster of this site, provides this information "AS IS" with no warranties.

Visit - PapaJohn's Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 2 Newsletter Index

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'Europe 301'