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After spending many hours mulling over what new adventures I should go on, Mummy and I decided it would be fun to do some touristy activities for the first half of this Sony campaign leading up to National Day.

After all, it is SG50 and surely I, Flapper Choo, can celebrate it in my own way.

But here comes the challenging part.

How do we get organizations to say 'Yes' to some of our ideas?

Part of being 'Proudly Singaporean' is accepting the rejections as I am but a mere dog.  

And rejections, we got.  
Upset, we are not.

Mummy and I agreed that for every one yes, we will just cheer, celebrate and have fun.


"Who me?  A tourist?"


I am an old-fashioned boy.
I do not fancy fast cars (that's Frodo).

Mummy has never been on a trishaw ride and neither have I.  So when the kind people of Trishaw Uncle replied and said they are willing to take me on a Trishaw ride, mummy and I rejoiced.

We are seeing the sights of Singapore in what used-to-be the traditional mode of transport.

We woke up early that morning and got ready for our ride.  But well, mummy got the meeting place wrong and we ended up walking a long way to get there.  We were greeted with big smiles and warm welcome from Uncle Yong.   He loves dogs.  He was very happy to take me for this ride.





I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to Uncle Sim and Uncle Yong of Trishaw Uncle for agreeing to allow me to go on this wonderful trishaw.  It was such a wonderful experience and such a great adventure.

Special thank you to Uncle Yong for being so kind and friendly to me.

Mummy and I took days to finish editing this trishaw ride video.   The fun part of having TWO Action Cam cameras is being able to take in two perspective.  The laborious part?  EDITING BOTH SET OF VIDEOS!

*guffaw*

After working long and hard on the trishaw ride video, I decided I had to do a special out-take of this adventure.





I am happy that I managed to go on this adventure but I am even happier that I could bring smiles to the trishaw uncles.

And I continue to count my blessings.... look not at the rejections but the acceptance that comes along the way.



Adventure rating:






Sony Action Cam 4K Features & Accessories Review (by Flapper's mummy)


For this trishaw ride, I did not use the fancy settings on the camera.  I kept it really simple.

  • HD Mode
  • 1080 / 60p / 50M
  • Steady Mode: ON
  • White Balance (WB): Auto
  • Mount: Body
This is like the default mode I set the Action Cam too.  My "cannot-go-wrong" setting.  I am no professional photographer so forget about me diligently figuring out the white balance.  

I like simple settings that work.
Press record and go.

You know, THAT idiot-proof setting for lazy users like myself.

I was not sure how the trishaw ride videos would turn out.  So far, my tests with the camera mounted on Flapper (read more below) has not been very successful.  And without our trustworthy "Uncle Nic", I (the human) was nervous about how the vids would turn out.

That constant question of: "WHAT IF NONE OF THE FOOTAGES WORK"????

And fortunately, the videos turned out better than I expected and personally, I really liked Flapper's POV videos even though the footages ended up with "a lot of Flapper's head".

The pace of the trishaw ride was perfect especially since I am still not confident of my knowledge of the Action Cam.  So I heaved a huge sigh of relief when I downloaded the videos and realized how great the videos turned out.

Here's a tip:
Make sure you sync the cameras to your devices (Live Remote Viewer and/or mobile phone) before embarking on the adventure.  The multi-view function helps... A LOT!  I could play around taking the ride at different camera angles and intermittently check Flapper's POV to make sure the camera was not capturing sky shots only.





For this trishaw ride, I was used the Dog Harness Mount for Flapper's POV and the Clip Mount to capture the ride.


Sony Dog Harness Mount

The biggest struggle so far using the Action Cam on the dogs is the nauseating effect from movements.   So far, neither GoPro nor Sony has devised a suitable mount for dogs that is able to take stable videos.

Sony Dog Harness
(image taken from gizmag.com)
The dog harness is created with LOADS of velcro.  That makes sense to make it 'one-size-fits-all' but it feels... well, inferior quality because of all that velcro.  And it does not make it friendly for beach use.  Think sand.

It comes with that mount extension you see at the top.

Good because you can detach it to use with the other mounts.

Bad because it makes the nauseating takes on the movements even more unforgiving!  When the camera is attached directly to the harness, the trotting takes are very decent.  Forget about running.  But with the extra mount, it is far worse.  Even the trotting pace cannot make the cut.  And once the waterproof case goes on, it gets even worse.  The weight of the camera becomes too heavy.

In addition, the extended mount does tilt on its own when the dog starts running.

In this Octo-dog image, you can see that the camera has already tilted upwards on its own.

HOWEVER, for this particular trishaw ride, I should have used the extended mount on Flapper.  The camera was attached directly to the harness base mount as I was not sure at the start if I would end up with unusable shaky videos.

Better safe than sorry.

The result: Flapper's point-of-view (POV) videos came out with "too much head" (Flapper's  head).  The pace of the trishaw ride and with Flapper standing relatively still for most part of the ride, the extended mount should have worked and taken better POVs with less of Flapper's head.  Lesson learnt.

And the thing about a harness mount, all the big dog needs to do is sit and it's the sky.  Still thinking of ways to create a front chest or neck mount.

The Sony dog harness is Flapper's latest fashion-do.
Never leave home without it.

Oh yes, and that very precious waterproof casing too.
Never trust Flapper without it.


Dog Harness Rating:




The Clip-Mount

The other accessory used for the trishaw ride is the clip mount.

Sony Clip Mount for the Action Cam
(image from www.sony.com.sg)
The trishaw ride was my first time using the clip mount and I was impressed with it.  This was actually the last accessory I chose and thank goodness for Sony's recommendation (and almost-insistence) that this should be the third accessory!

It is a very versatile piece of accessory.  You can tilt it to different direction and the clip itself can be tilted forwards or backwards to get the favourable camera angle.  It can also be mounted on sticks to use for selfie purpose.  I wanted to do that for the trishaw ride but once we hit the main road and saw the traffic condition, I don't think the other motorists are going to be too impressed with a stick jutting out from the trishaw!  Ha!

I ended up putting the clip mount at the back of the trishaw.  And aided by the Steady Shot function, the videos turned pretty darn decent for a dummy end-user like myself.

But as Flapper's grandma said, "I want to see Flapper's face!"

Sorry grandma.
I did the best I could.

Clip Mount Rating:







And that's my Trishaw Ride adventure with my Action Cam 4K!

"I am Flapper the Tourist.  Never leave home without me Action Cam"
(photo credit: Furry Photos Pet Photography)

I wonder what's my next big adventure.....


xxoo
Flapper Choo



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When I agreed to be an 'influencer' for Sony's Action Cam 4K, I decided that apart from planning and creating the six adventure videos, I will embrace the process and document the journey - keeping it real.

After all, I have only waited some 8-odd years for my very own POV camera!


"Hellllllooooo ball!"
(photo credit: Furry Photos Pet Photography)

As how life would pan out, little events (good and bad) would happen to make the journey that little bit more interesting, that little bit more memorable.  It is not just about those big adventures but those little daily events too.

Events like... life with my annoying brother, Frodo.




Yes.  That's my annoying brother, Frodo.  He means no harm.  It is his silliness that has charmed his way into many many humans heart.  He has a "quota" everyday called "must irritate me".  He would stuff toys into my mouth, badger me to play with him even when I'm sleeping.... and he would break out with the cutest and happiest grin when he has achieved his objective.

Frodo keeps me young.

I count my blessings everyday that despite being 'old man Flapper', I am still in good health and able to carry out my favourite activities.  And as the videos get edited, even though it is meant to be fun and haha-funny, mummy does get all [secretly] gooey and counts her blessings to be able to do these adventures and most of all, the perfect tool to document this leg of my white-faced life.

I think most pets owners will understand fully well how mummy feels about why it is God-sent to be able to record moments of his/her pet(s) life.

Not just those big adventures.

A day in the life of...
That simple joy.
That simple life.

A dog's life.
My life.
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Friday.
10 July 2015.

Mummy received a message.

An old old friend of mine - let's call her Diva Miss M - has fallen sick.   She has severe case of pancreatitis and had to be hospitalised.

Sad.
Very sad.

I have known Diva Miss M since I was a wee pup.  I have not seen her in recent years.

You know... life.

And some years later now, she is 13 years old and I am 8-ish years old.  She is deaf.  I am white on my face.

Flashback.  Our glory days of youth in 2009.
(From left: Uncle Gogo who has passed away, Diva Miss M and me!)

What can I say?

We, dogs, do age.
And sadly, I've had to say goodbye to a few good friends of mine.

Cruel reality.

So when I found out Diva Miss M was very sick and needed 24 hours care, I packed my overnight camping gear and kept her company through the night.


Get well soon my dear friend.
You have always been a fighter.


She is my friend.
I will always be there for her.
Friends will be friends.

Meeting my old friend after many years....
(I would rather we met at each other's home than the clinic/hospital.)





Diva Miss M is now back at home recuperating.  Yay!  She is still having pains intermittently but I know this greedy fighter her will pull through.

GET WELL SOON, MILLIE-POOP!





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Week 4 with my Action Cam 4K and I am loving it.

Thank you so much Sony Singapore for loaning me a second Action Cam!

It has been a long time since mummy could last join us out at sea.  For the longest time, she had to stay at shore with her trusted iPhone and stress about NOT letting the phone fly out of her klutz hands... into the sea.

And because I have the Action Cam now, mummy can take videos of our activities handsfree and try different things with us.

I am so so happy!

I love it when mummy joins us (Frodo and me) in our activities!

When we woke up this morning, mummy decided it was time to visit the beach to test out using BOTH cameras.  I have been informed that the Sony's Play Memories Mobile allows us to view and control both cameras from one device.  Mummy thought it would be quick and easy to set it up.

CHEATED!

Too many steps.
Too complicated.

*Give mummy googly eyes*

"Can we go swim NOW?"

Got to figure this multi-camera view thing another day.
Swimming is waaaayyyyy more important than all that techy gadgety setup.

One Action Cam for me.
One Action Cam for mummy.

And off to the beach we went!

Our toys for today: My own dog harness mount and
a head mount for mummy!  FUN!


And because mummy is able to go hands free and can swim with us BUT!  As lazy as she is, I became her very convenient float-machine / life buoy.  She would stalk me like an alligator, clutch onto me and let me do the swimming.







Moral of the story:
Old adventures, new heights....
Try something new.
Be mummy's life buoy.

Get it?

Thanks mum. *grumble*

This is the first time we (mummy and I) are testing how the footages would work out now that we both have a camera each.  We also wanted to see how the footages with me as mummy's life buoy would work out.

Hmm... what can I say.
A lot of sky.
A lot of trees.
A lot of see.
Very little us (Frodo and me).

It was fun anyhow just because mummy got to join us in this swim.

Okay, I swam.
Mummy was the swim-hiker.





That Nauseating Movement Thing

I have to admit editing the videos ain't very fun.  The movements tend to have this nauseating effect when watching it ESPECIALLY when I am running.

What really helps to reduce that nauseating movement thing is to make the fast-action footages slow-mo.  BUT that also means the video time will be very very long.

Thus for this video, I made it worse by primarily doing it "time-lapse" style.  Ha!

Ah well!
Fun & adventure right?







Battery Life

One plus-factor of the Action Cam is the battery life - up to 2 hours on full charge.

No stress.
Just press 'record' and let the Action Cam do its job while we go swim.

The down side to letting the camera run on its own?
Hell lot of editing!

And that's when I look at mama and say, "YOOOOUUUU.... go do the editing while IIIIIIiiiiii... go sleep.  Swimming is hard work."

I do wish the battery life is longer though - some 6 hours or something.  I have been told that for a POV camera, 2 hours is very decent.

The Live View Remote battery life, however, is super impressive.  It seems to last for eternity.  I have not charged it in ages and by the end of this excursion, I still had two bars left.  Impressed!


Action Cam Battery Life Rating (at week 4):

Just because I would love the battery life to be even longer....


Live View Remote Rating (at week 4):







Use and Abuse

When I first received the Action Cam, I was nervous.  I wondered how durable it will be.  I was not sure if what appeared to be that "plastic little thing" could withstand the abuse by Master-Roller-of-the-Universe (me) and Klutz-O'-Mama.

Have you seen mummy's "flying" handphones?

Lesson 1: 

ALWAYS put on the default waterproof case as added protection.  

It does not compromise on the video quality but DO look out for fogging - not just for underwater activities but land activities too.

NEVER trust Master-Roller with the raw camera on his back.  I will rub-a-dub-dub on ANY ground and mummy's tiny eyes will pop open with all its might and scream, "Oh s***!  FLLLLAAPPPPEEERRRR!!!! Noooo!!!!!!"

Moral of the story:  Cheaper to replace the waterproof case than the camera.


I decided to that the camera needed some added design with 
the help of CONCRETE ground to trademark this Action Cam 
as 'Flapper Choo's'. Mummy nearly suffered a heart attack from 
my creativeness but viola!  I missed scratching the lens by 1mm.


Abuse Rating (at week 4):



I have given it 4 paws rating just because the camera is still alive and only sustained these ouch-scratches created by yours truly.  The abuse factor on this camera is appalling at the moment.  I have not bought the system case to store the camera so it is pretty much left lying on the table for easy access.  

If this camera can sustain my abuse till the end of this campaign, it will get a whooping 5 paws from me!





And that's my little update on adventure with my Action Cam.

I would like to thank Sony Singapore for loaning us a second camera so now... apart from thinking up new adventures, it has given us the opportunity to re-visit some old adventures but trying some thing new each time.

That's it from not-so-little-old-me, Flapper Choo.

Till my next adventure update....

Happy weekend everyone!


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This is it!

After about a month of keeping my excitement under wraps, I can finally say it!

I, Flapper Choo, am an influencer for Sony's impressive new 4K Action Cam FDR-X1000V.

I, Mr Big Blondie, am going to be part of Sony's 'Prove Yourself: Take Your Adventures to New Heights' campaign.

I will be going on new adventures for the next 3 months and taking videos of my adventures with MY VERY OWN Action Cam.


New adventures.
With Mummy.
Am I lucky boy or what?!?!

How it all began...


Just about two weeks before I was approached to be part of this campaign, mummy was looking at my charmingly aging-white face and thinking about how routine/mundane my life has been lately.

Mummy said to me, "Flapper, maybe we should go create some new adventures, document it and end it off with a nice birthday bash for you.  You deserve a great birthday celebration this year.... "

You see, the last time mummy threw me a birthday was when I was four.  Since then, my birthday party did not happen for some reason or another.  So mummy was quietly hoping and wishing something good would happen for me this year.

Mummy would daydream now and again about her adventure idea but did not really get around to making big plans.

Trust me, when mummy starts making plans, she makes plans.  *guffaw*

Then we received THAT email.
"On behalf of Sony, we would like to invite Flapper and you to be part of Sony’s ‘Prove Yourself: Take Your Adventures to New Heights’ campaign to promote our newest Action Cam!"

Coincidence?  Serendipity? Cosmic stars aligning?

Whatever this was, the timing was just perfect.  The campaign is set to run for 3 months(-ish) which means the last video would tie in perfectly with my birthday.  The perfect motivation for mummy to get my new adventures going and CONFESSION!  Mummy has always wanted a point-of-view (POV) camera but she could never bring herself to buy one.  She wanted to put a POV camera on me to understand my perspective and perhaps better understand my rocket scientist brain.

Finding out that I was getting my very own Action Cam with selected accessories plus the much-needed/wanted adventures, mummy and I agreed.

We had to say yes to being a part of this campaign.

Mummy went for a meeting with Sony and came with this... FOR ME!

"Mummy, when do I get to play with my new toy?"


Testing out the Action Cam - by Flapper's Mummy


Apart from the wonderful-sounding features of the Action Cam, the fact that it came with waterproof casing and live-view remote won me over straightaway.  After all, swimming IS a big part of Flapper's life!  I was not prepared to use my "choose three accessories" quota on getting a waterproof casing.

I am no professional photographer.  I am just a regular end-user.  I am a LAZY user.  I want an easy-to-use portable POV camera.  I am admittedly a gadget-dinosaur now.  One of my big test was the "user-friendly" level of this camera.  And by user-friendly, I mean I did not have to refer to the "cheat sheet" or google the "how to".  I like no-brainer gadgets for newbies. I could press the record button, no problem.  But the blah-blah settings?  Now that...  I struggled.  I ended up seeking help from the given cheat-sheet and my oh-so-reliable google search.

But after the initial struggles with the settings and configurations (does not help that up till now I cannot remember where to change what setting within the cam), I think I am operating the Action Cam decently.

At least I managed to take videos without catastrophes.

The first test I did was to mount the camera on Flapper.  I received the dog mount harness much later so hail to cable ties!

"Hi!  I'm spider-dog!"

I decided to take out my dusty rollerblades and have some fun with the boys.  Well, human embarrassing moment.  I am so slow on blades, the boys were STROLLING next to me.   And here's the other thing about me on blades.... Flapper knows how lousy I am on blades and that he is my ever-trustworthy "brakes" (I hang on to him for my dear life when I need to stop).  He makes sure he stays close to me.  The only time you will see Flapper get anxious is when I get on wheels - roller blades or bicycle.

Funny and embarrassing all in one.

We are very fortunate that Flapper's photographer aka sleep buddy, Uncle Nic of Furry Photos Pet Photography,  has agreed to join us for this journey.  So we made a swim date with Nic to do THE swim Action Cam test.  But to up the game, I decided to see if I can get Flapper to stick his head underwater.


Shot of the day!  Still shot taken with the Sony Action Cam.  
The image was not as sharp as we would have liked probably due
to the concave dive-door lens.  We are planning to try this shot
again once we get the flat dive-door lens.


The First Video - by me, Flapper Choo


After having oodles of fun testing the Action Cam now, it was time to get down to serious business.  I need to put my first video together.

Mummy said it is MY project so I need do my own presentation.

Here goes nothing!

Here is my first video for Sony's "Prove Yourself: Take Your Adventures to New Heights"



Stay tuned to read more/follow my journey as I share more about my experience with the Action Cam, my personal thoughts and to see more videos of my new adventures using my awesome Action Cam!
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Flapper’s Mummy

"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. – Rev 21:4”


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