Sunday, November 4, 2012

Afrikanske farger - Colours of Africa

Fuglene i Afrika er ofte svært fargerike, noen ganske surrealistisk. Et lite knippe av fargepaletten en kan oppleve i Kenya og Tanzania en norsk vinterdag. Alle bildene tatt november-desember 2011.
BLÅ - BLUE Lesser Blue-eared Starling
LILLA - LILAC Lilac-breasted Roller
RØD - RED Red-billed Oxpecker - Rødnebbet Oksehakker
SOT - SOOT Sooty Chat
HVIT - WHITE Egretthegre Egret Heron
GUL - YELLOW Bergvever - Baglafecht Weaver

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Lyden av våren - Sound of spring

Våren og ettervinteren karakteriseres av mye lyd og mange flotte syn for naturelskere. Her et utvalg opptak fra Brensholmen 15.april tidlig ei morgenstund med fotoapparatet og parabolen klar for å fange stemninga. Lirypesteggene beitet og spilte på skaresnøen nede mot havet på Brensholmen. Nyt konserten! Spring with sounds and sights, here Willow grouses displaying on frozen snow early in the morning mid April 2012.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

SVALBARD 2012

To uker på kurs på Svalbard med mange flotte turer til fots og med båt ga flotte muligheter for fotografering. Her er noe av det jeg så på strekninga Longyearbyen - Kinnvika, Nordaustlandet. Se flere bilder på SVALBARDKURSET 2012

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Recording birdsounds with Telinga stereo PIP PluginPower and H4n

After a few weeks use I will share my experience with the NEW Telinga Stereo mic PIP for Zoom H4n and Olympus LS-XX. This model is still not highlighted at Telingas website http://telinga.com but is made and sold on request. I'm using a Zoom H4n and intend to make recordings in 24bit/96Khz quality (maximum amount of data). The first I found was that the batteries drained out in short time, not more than 1 hour of recording was possible and that was not something I could bring with me out in field! The battery solved: The H4n has a 5V input, and that is not compatible with any normal battery packages! 4x1,5V makes 6V, and 4x1,2V makes 4,8V. BUT 5V is the same as a USB outlet, so I started searching the web for a battery backup for iPad/Mobile phones and I found a 5V/6.6Ah package from DealExtreme in China. So after some cutting and soldering of an old USB-cable and the plug from the Zoom 5V-charger I had a nice battery to plug into my H4n. Later I found a battery box from a mobile phone dealer with 4xAA that has a 5V output. Good as a backup kept warm in your pockets, plug in the USB-plug and go on recording!
The next I had to make was a tripod-fitting that suited my "Arca-Swiss Style" Quick-Release heads, and I found a rod for with holes that fitted the Quick-release plate and the microphone.
In field I wear all the gear in a pouch around the waist and have full control of the equipment and batteries.I use the Zoom Remote control attached to avoid handling noise, and that is not a problem as long as the Telinga is mounted on a tripod or even a monopod.
So how does the Telinga work? Nearly too good!! The stereo mic is so low self-noised and so crisp that it catches all sounds in the direction you point the mic. Snow-flakes, elk biting of branches, reflections of engines of distant cars, ships several kilometers away etc. etc. But that means it makes a great job with what I intend to use it for, catching bird-sounds. I actually find the gulls 300 meters away on the coast a bit annoying, yelling their heads of all morning.. And what about battery life? Recording more than two hours in -12C has not reduced the battery life to more than a half, so really recommended! And if you have AC (220V etc.)available you can run it with a iPad/USB 5V-charger the whole day or with 12V in your car! The verdict: Light weight, fantastic performance, no internal batteries, BUT the 3.5mm mic plug requires recorders with PiP (Plug in Power)like the Zoom or Olympus. Most unwanted low-frequency sounds are easily filtered within Audacity and Tone Control (EQ). This filter can reduce the "noice" (i.e. unwanted Low-Frequency) so the result sounds natural and not like in a tin-box.Test it out with som care!Do not pull the levers all the way down to "0" to keep some of the natural sound-scape. The Great tit-recording is left unfiltered as it was RAW (24b/48Khz)from the Zoom H4n. Increased level +3db in Audacity only adjustment. recorded 0500 in the morning at nearly 70 degrees North
All the gear is lightweight and fits into the hip-pouch from a sports outfitter! Enjoy the sound of Nature! Stein Nilsen stein@nng.no All my birdsounds at Xeno-canto

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Granmeisen varsler vår!

Det er allerede mye sang og lyd i naturen, og de siste dagene kan en høre granmeis, kjøttmeis, dompap og ikke minst grønnfink som pludrer i vei tidlig om morgenen! 15. mars fikk jeg dette opptaket med parabol (Telinga stereo-mikrofon og Zoom H4n)i Straumsbukta kl 0600
Lytt også til dompap og grønnfinkens vårsang :)