It's the much-anticipated jubilee weekend. Perfect excuse for well... a long weekend. This also means it is time for me to unveil my third adventure, my third official video for the Sony campaign.
As part of the campaign, I wanted to do a fun 'Flapper the Tourist' series of me exploring the sights of Singapore leading up to our grand SG50 National Day. And one thing that I really wanted to do - go on the Singapore Flyer and video the spectacular manmade skyline vision of our country.
Ah-but-then.
I was politely rejected for 'safety reasons'.
Whatever.
Uncle Nic, "Have you tried the railway trail? It's quite nice."
Then mummy and I recalled the days we used to hang out at Blooie's, staring at the railway track opposite us. I know, I know... the rail corridor has been there a long time and maybe loads of the other dogs in Singapore have already done this trail. Better late than never.
We found the Green Corridor website.
And with many thanks to a particular CY Leong for doing up those spectacular maps of the routes, I discussed with mummy and we decided that this shall be our third official adventure. We will do it (not the entire route at once!) to show our support for this preservation cause.
When one thing does not happen, some thing else would come along.
That's life.
We, dogs, love nature. Period.
Perfect cause to support.
Conversations with Uncle Nic (excerpts):
Breaking the news to Frodo:
28 July 2015, Wednesday
Walking the Railway Trail
We were blessed with pleasant weather. It was nice and cool as we were walking and it was worryingly HOT during our lunch break then the weather started behaving itself as we made our way back.
For this adventure, even though it seems to be just a boring 'ol straight walking trail that should probably not qualify as a 'new adventure' but the railway track was a part of Singapore's history.
I am glad I did this easy trail because...
Using the Sony Action Cam
Uncle Nic would usually lug along one of his huge-a** DSLR camera to either experiment or just to capture the moments but we decided to go 100% Sony Action Cam for this Railway Trail.
In addition, we used the Advanced SteadyShot function as well. For the fast-paced action shots, the camera was set at 1080/120fps - for smoother slow-mo shots.
Tips on using the Action Cam:
As part of the campaign, I wanted to do a fun 'Flapper the Tourist' series of me exploring the sights of Singapore leading up to our grand SG50 National Day. And one thing that I really wanted to do - go on the Singapore Flyer and video the spectacular manmade skyline vision of our country.
Ah-but-then.
I was politely rejected for 'safety reasons'.
Whatever.
Uncle Nic, "Have you tried the railway trail? It's quite nice."
Then mummy and I recalled the days we used to hang out at Blooie's, staring at the railway track opposite us. I know, I know... the rail corridor has been there a long time and maybe loads of the other dogs in Singapore have already done this trail. Better late than never.
We found the Green Corridor website.
And with many thanks to a particular CY Leong for doing up those spectacular maps of the routes, I discussed with mummy and we decided that this shall be our third official adventure. We will do it (not the entire route at once!) to show our support for this preservation cause.
When one thing does not happen, some thing else would come along.
That's life.
We, dogs, love nature. Period.
Perfect cause to support.
Conversations with Uncle Nic (excerpts):
Breaking the news to Frodo:
28 July 2015, Wednesday
Walking the Railway Trail
For this adventure, even though it seems to be just a boring 'ol straight walking trail that should probably not qualify as a 'new adventure' but the railway track was a part of Singapore's history.
I am glad I did this easy trail because...
- I have never done this trail;
- A nice change to the artificial urban landscape.
- An escape into 'so don't feel like Singapore';
- It is nice and quiet.
- Nice to pretend I could actually be carefree in this country once in a while;
- I got to 'bush dive' (watch the video)!
It may not be as touristy as going on THAT Singapore Flyer but I think this is such a nice part of what this country has (not for long, I am sure) that I think it should qualify as a 'tourist attraction' too.
I am so glad my sleep buddy, Uncle Nic, decided to work his schedule out to join us for this trail. It releases mummy the stress of "how to take decent action videos?"
And yes, even more glad that we decided to ditch Frodo. Haha!
Okay okay, we did miss Frodo loads. It's always quieter and less dramatic without him. But sorry Frodo, mummy said she really misses having some solid time with me.
Flapper the Tourist Walks the Railway Trail
(FULL VERSION)
From Junction 10 (Choa Chu Kang) to Railway Mall (Upper Bukit Timah)
It was such a nice adventure that mummy took DAYSSSSSSS to finish editing the video. I am limited to 2-3 minutes per video but I love love love the long-winded 5 minutes edition as it captured the story of this journey.
Adventure Rating:
Using the Sony Action Cam
Uncle Nic would usually lug along one of his huge-a** DSLR camera to either experiment or just to capture the moments but we decided to go 100% Sony Action Cam for this Railway Trail.
In addition, we used the Advanced SteadyShot function as well. For the fast-paced action shots, the camera was set at 1080/120fps - for smoother slow-mo shots.
Tips on using the Action Cam:
- Dog Harness Mount: Position the harness slightly further back from the shoulder area to help minimize the nauseating shakes from the dog's POV videos. The dog harness mount continues to get low rating from me as the design is not ideal for taking good dog's POV. Thin straps, lacking middle anchoring strap and filmsy.
 |
| Action Cam positioned further back from the shoulder. Image taken with Action Cam. |
- Taking Still Images with the Action Cam: Don't bother to take singular photos. Most likely to come out blur. Use the 'burst' mode. You will be guaranteed of usable images as compared to using single shot. Burst mode photo selection will be a bitch though - even if it is just for a selfie!
 |
| No DSLR this time. Image taken with Sony Action Cam |
- Easy Fool-Proof Settings: Remember, as you set the camera on higher mode (especially 4K), the files are going to be monster huge. For most videos, the camera is set on HD/Steady: On/1080-60fps/Mount. This is a good default setting that usually would not fail you.
- Videos Duration: To keep the videos under 4gb for transfer to external hard disk drive (trust me, the external HDD will become your best friend with these monster vids), keep each video to under 5 minutes.
- In-Built Action Cam Movie Creator: I still hate it. Still unable to create a feature video using it.
- We used a non-Sony monopod for this adventure. It helped tremendously in taking the videos as we were walking and moving.
And that's my Railway Trail adventure with the Sony Action Cam!
I overheard mummy discussing with Uncle Nic about my next 'round-the-country' adventure.
Hmmm.....
