Review: Camoflague in an Aussie setting

A while ago I had the thought to take a bunch of my camo gear out into the bush and do a compare and contrast of several different colour and pattern schemes. I also wanted to do so to show off the kinds of terrain I can expect to encounter in my local region and showcase that for you all.

In my collection I have the following,
3-Colour Desert Cam
Arid AUSCAM DCPU
AUSCAM DCPU hearts and bunnies
British Woodland DPM
US Woodland
ATACS-AU
MultiCam

All laid out, they make a pretty discordant pile ...

Read the rest of my findings on Breach Bang & Clear



Brown in the Scrub

3-Colour Desert Cam in the Scrub

Arid AUSCAM DCPU in Scrub

AUSCAM DCPU in the Scrub

Woodland DPM in the Scrub

Woodland in the Bush

Multicam in the Scrub

ATACS-AU in the Scrub

Brown in the bush

3-Colour Desert Cam in the Bush

Arid AUSCAM DCPU in the Bush

AUSCAM DCPU in the Bush

Woodland DPM in the Bush

Woodland in the Bush

ATACS-AU in the Bush

Multicam in the Bush

 

Events: Security Expo 2015

I had the good fortune to be invited to attend the 2015 Australian Security Exhibition & Conference a couple of weeks ago, which shows it pays to stay in touch with local industry events, so I took a long lunch one day and attended.

The Security Exhibition Conference is the most highly recognized security industry event in Australasia. This year was its 30th anniversary.   The event is billed as the must-attend event for all security professionals from installers and integrators to end users. It's not exactly my comfort zone, and it was great to see what other new industries show themselves to their peers.

The Security Exhibition showcased  170 leading brands in one place and allowed visitors to identify the newest and brightest industry innovations. My best explanation for what I saw, is that there were cameras. Lots of cameras. 3/5 of the expo was camera or camera related.

Thermal cameras, low light cameras, super hi-def cameras. Cameras in does, cameras on poles, cameras on drones. All the downstream systems to process all of that, facial recognition systems, networking, storage, scanning systems. A lot of camera stuff.

About 1/5 of the expo was access-control: ID badges, doors, code-pads, RFID scanners, readers and writers, and the like. Some locks and barrier systems too.

One thing I noted that was curiously absent, from my way of thinking was any counter-technology. There were no lock-picks, code-breakers, spoofers or any other sort of bypass tools, but I suppose that kind of thing might be at an even more secret expo.

Even then, getting into the Security Exhibition & Conference isn't that easy. I had media-type entry, but otherwise they accept professionals in the security industry and end users responsible for sourcing the latest products, services and technologies to manage security threats and protect vital business assets. Entry is otherwise restricted to industry professionals only. People not in this category are not be admitted at any time. Proof of identity and industry involvement may be requested at the door, I had my patches on, and cards at hand, but wasn't challenged, having been invited.

It was a very interesting event to visit, and I made a couple of contacts that I will be following up, such as with Defence Systems Australia, so stay tuned for a post about them. If you are interested and actively in industrial and corporate security I'd heartily recommend attending.

Probably not too useful to the backyard prepper and urban scavenger, unless you're into grey-hatting.

Rreview: PublicLabs - Infragram Plant Cam

I'm always excited to be able to work with extra-human wavelengths of light. I love my UV torches like the UV Jil Lite JenyxUV, and the SpiderFire x6v IR and the Phoenix Jr and the Manta strobe. Not to mention my Yukon NVMT 3x42 IR scope.I've wanted to get into thermal imaging, but it's way to expensive for a dilettante like me at this stage, so I jumped at the chance to get a near-IR option.

I backed a Kickstarter, the Publiclab Infragram the infrared photography project which developed a modified Mobius Action Cam with a 133 degree wide-angle lens, timelapse and still photography at a resolution of 2304 × 1536, and 1080p video. It is modified with a red filter and custom white balance.  The camera comes with an SD card and standard 1/4-20 tripod mount.I added some fishing line, just to keep the fiddly lens cap attached.

Near-IR photography takes advantage of the fact that digital cameras are sensitive to IR and by removing the infrared-blocking filter and adding a specific blue filter the modified Mobius Action Cam  filters out the red light, and measures infrared light in its place using that piece of carefully chosen "NGB" or "infrablue" filter.

The end result are these interesting blue-removed, IR-reflective and photosynthesis inferring photos. I've taken them from various angles in my front yard, with the Mobius and then with my iPhone5.

Facing NE, bunny enclosure

Facing NW, raised veggie patch

Facing W, tree, artichoke plant

Facing E, palm trees, bunny enclosure

Facing N, trees

For kicks, me in my Propper multicam vest. Note I don't photosynthesize 

Grey-fatsie filter

Infragram offer a selection of web-based filters which allow you to pick out and distinguish different aspects of the wavelengths captured, allowing you to not only pick out where plant life is thriving, or failing to thrive, but also pick out areas and items that might appear to fit, but are not.

This kind of photography will allow for assessment of crops, keeping track of invasive species, and possibly even be used to scan for roaming bands of government agents tracking you down ...

HSV filter

NDVI Red filter

Wish Lust: GUTS HM1 helmet mount

I stumbled across a very cool Kickstarter project, which marries three of my most favourite things: Helmets, lights and preparedness!

This one comes from a Firefighting crew, rather than my more usual geeky or tacticool sources, and I have to hand it to them, when it comes to getting it done, on very little, our First Responders are often at the pointy end of state and federal budgets. I'm very happy to promote this really cool idea, and hopefully get a very cool looking tool into their hands (and mine). Or rather, our of their heads, and hands, and ONTO their heads!

This is the GUTS HM1 fully adjustable helmet mount for lights and tools, by Kris Nagy, Ed Machen & 3LS

 It is a bolt on bracket, that non-invasively mounts to the side or front, above or below the rim, of standard fire helmets as well as hard-hats, but probably also to bump helmets without rails, or even sporting helmets....



The GUTS HM1 is designed to accommodate AA, AAA or CR-123, sized flashlights, small tools or video cameras. Essentially any item that that range in size from ¼ to 1 ½ inches in diameter. and allows the easy fitting and removal without tools, in the field.The body of the bracket is made from aircraft grade aluminum, with two stainless steel ¼ inch set screws to secure the platform to the helmets front or side brim. The strapping is the really exciting part.

The QuickStrap™ is made from ARA- Shield and fire retardant Hook & Loop both are NFPA rated materials. These are the same NFPA fire retardant materials used in firefighting bunker gear. The rubbery property of ARA-shield® grips and keeps your equipment secure even when it gets wet. The strap anchor point is reversible. This feature allows the user decide the best way for them how to tighten the strap, by pulling up, or downwards, whichever suits the user.

3LS are offering the GUTS HM1 in either "clear" silver or anodized in red or black.  The entire system weighs 70g (2.5oz) so would be no burden to most helmets, especially if you're already used to fitting lights or cameras to your head.

I really hope these guys make their funding goal, and perhaps some of YOU out there can help ...

Kickstarter projects on the go

 I have several Kickstarter projects on the go that I thought had some relavence to the blog, and Equipedness ....

The first two, I have pulled great slabs of text from their projects, as well as pictures. I think both are very interesting, and useful.



http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikebond/ti2-sentinel-x-aluminum-cache
18 days to go

" Sentinel X -- “form follows function” philosophy with key features: 

Water Tight -- The “X” is tested water tight and features Twin o-rings for redundancy.  The o-rings are made from food grade silicone and able to withstand temperatures required to boil water.
Strength -- The “X” is strength optimized using CAD parasolid modeling resulting in a unique ribbed/skeletonized design.  We are using aircraft grade 6061-T6 aluminum in its construction.
Lightweight -- At just 400 grams the “X” offers a minimal weight footprint.  An excellent way to safe hold 18+ cubic inches (11 fluid ounces) of critical gear.
Internal dimensions  2" diameter and 6" length (51mm x 153mm)
External dimensions 2.5" diameter and 8" length (63mm x 204mm)

Finishes -- The Sentinel X is offered in 2 versions of Type 3, hard anodized coating.  The Sentinel X1 is Type 3 Class 1 hard anodized and is food grade.  Due to the anodizing process it comes in a greyish-bronze color and your choice of regular or satin finish (check out comparison photo below).  This anodizing process is typically used for military applications where durability is critical.  Also, this coating is common on aluminum cookware such as pots and frying pans offering excellent flame resistance.  The Sentinel X2 is Type 3, Class 2, NON food grade and available in Black, Olive Drab and Brown satin finish only.  Both the X1 and X2 exhibit the same durability properties."

Secure carry of delicate items? cooking container? survival cache? yes please! I am already pondering what I can fill mine with.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/publiclab/infragram-the-infrared-photography-project
18 days to go

Infragram is a simple, affordable near-infrared camera

"Produced by the Public Laboratory community in a series of collaborative experiments over the last few years. We originally developed this technology to monitor wetlands damages in the wake of the BP oil spill, but its simplicity of use and easy-to-modify open-source hardware & software makes it a useful tool for home gardeners, hikers, makers, farmers, amateur scientists, teachers, artists, and anyone curious about the secret lives of plants.

Photosynthesizing plants absorb most visible light (less green than red and blue, which is why they're green to our eyes!) but reflect near-infrared. When you take a picture with the Infragram, you get two separate images -- infrared and regular light -- and a false-color composite that shows you where there are big differences. Bright spots in the composite means lots of photosynthesis!

DIY Filter Pack: This is just a piece of "infrablue" filter which you can use to turn your webcam or cheap point-and-shoot into an infrared camera. The filter allows you to take an infrared photo in the "red" channel of your camera, and a visible image in the "blue" channel. You'll also receive a white balance card and instructions on how install your filter -- it's pretty easy!
Infragram Webcam: This inexpensive but flexible reward is perfect for plugging directly into your laptop or integrating into other projects. It's also ideal for your Raspberry Pi, if you want to take it outdoors, do timelapse photography, or write scripts to control your camera. It ships as a bare circuit board with a USB cable - like an Arduino.
Infragram Point & Shoot: Just want a camera? This is a straightforward, if basic, point-and-shoot: you can simply take photos as you normally would, then upload them to our free and open-source web app to quickly and easily get a variety of composite images and analyses. To accomplish this, we're simply modifying existing cameras which we'll buy in bulk, using the "infrablue" filter. This isn't an SLR or even a particularly fully featured camera -- it likely won't have an LCD screen and may be "rebranded" with a Public Lab sticker -- but it's the new filter we've put inside which counts.
The final configuration will depend on the # of backers, but it will likely use AAA batteries and a micro SD card. We're promising a minimum of 2 megapixel resolution, but should be able to do much better, especially if we get a lot of backers. Basically, the more money we raise, the better these cameras will get! "

What a cool idea, process animal tracks and runs through undergrowth, check crop health, locate camouflage .... I already have a balloon system ready to hoist it, but would work on a kite, or a quad-rotor drone too .... Pixels from above!

Lastly....


Cole Bar Hammer

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/363439631/the-cole-bar-hammer
7 days to go

I already covered this as a wish-lust item, but the guys behind it have been constantly improving it, and are very close to adding a metric ruler to the design.


Look it up, and back them, it will be worth it!

Review: Strikemark - Contour cam Picatinny rail mount

Here's a cool piece of camera-gear that I picked up, after seeing a post by the guys at SoldierSystems back in March, and then again after looking for mounts for my Contour GPS following the Stampede mud-run I did recently. One of the guys I do Stargate Lasertag LRP with told me I need to tagger-mount my Contour, for extra bad-ass footage, so I was looking for Picatinny rail mounts, both for a helmet-mount, and to mount to my tagger. Reading some reviews, the official Contour Picatinny mount seemed to draw some serious criticism, so I looked around and re-discovered the Strikemark Picatinny Contour mount.
This is a rugged little nugget of a mount. At only 30g (1 oz) this CNC machined 6061-T6 aluminium mount is tightly engineered and sculpted. The slide onto my rails was smooth, but be aware, by nature of the "one piece" construction, they don't bolt on, like other rail mounts might. To secure the mount to the rail, a surface-saving, blue-nylon-tipped set screw tightens down with the included hex hey, Ikea-style. You can see it sitting down-rail of my Sstrike Industries Vertical Sling loop

The mount is hard-coat anodized with a matte black finish and is conservatively laser etched with the Strikemark logo.

The rails to mate to the Contour are extremely tight. I needed to add some lubricant to slip mine on, which I did gingerly, for fear of breaking the Contour's plastic siding. Whilst Strikemark offer a "Lifetime warranty on the mount. If it breaks, we replace." I wasn't so sure about Contour. The connection however is rock solid. No shakes, rattles, wobbles or warping, all the concerns raised about the official Contour mount.

Now, you can see my mount here, riding on top of my current tagger (which is a M16A2/M203 analog), as it currently lacks side-rails and it wasn't really in the way for what I do with it. I have plans to mount rails on my Pro Tec Classic helmet to give me a solid mounting point, to avoid the slide and jiggle worries I had with a cap, shoulder and bag-mountings I have tried.


Props to GeardoShit for beating me to the punch, I think we must have both been reminded of this thing at the same time, ordered, received, tested and decided to post at the same time. I literally had put pics up into a draft when his post published! Great minds!

Review: Contour GPS

So some of us may think that we have our priorities straight when it comes to disaster preparedness and response, we have our EDC squared away, bug-out-bags filled and stowed, pantries stacked and indexed but here's the thing. When people (and by people I mean the people I see doing this online, on the news and myself...) see something heavy going down, they often whip out a camera, take some snaps, maybe film some to go up on YouTube and then deal with the situation however they may. There are those who go out of their way to see exciting thing up close and personal, and when they do, sometimes having your hands free to deal with the situation is more important than getting it fully in frame with the right aperture settings.

For those people (myself now included) there are the helmet-cams! These little, robust cameras are designed to be strapped to ones person, their kit, or whatever, and give you an "I was there view " of the action they put themselves in the way of. Here is my review of the one I recently purchased and put through its paces. This is the Contour GPS. This little nugget of technology houses a 135o lens, and will capture video at 720p at 60 frames per second or 1080p at 30 frames per second. It will also take continuous stills and has some smarts to auto-adjust for lighting conditions. It features built in GPS and has a Bluetooth option. The Bluetooth option allows you to configure the cameras settings, and check the alignment with your iThingy acting as a viewfinder.

An omnidirectional mic allows the sounds of the action to be recorded too, and its gain is also adjustable to cut out high-speed wind noise. The body of the camera is a well machined aluminium tube, which houses all the electronics, the GPS antenna and the Bluetooth card slot. The lens is centrally located and is built into a 180o rotatable swivel, to allow you to mount the camera and adjust the angle of its capture. Twin built in laser-sights allows you to level the picture as there is no view-finder, or any display options internally. The removable battery is USB rechargeable, and the micro-SD slot takes up to a 32Gb card. There is a toggle switch to move between pre-set setting options.

The case is marketed as water-resistant but it is NOT sealed, the end cap is plastic, which slides and locks into place but it by no means watertight, or even dust-proof. That's not to say it doesn't fare any worse than other camera battery-covers, but not what i'd hoped for in an otherwise rugged camera. So, i also bought the waterproof case. which is rated for dives up to 60m deep. It latches down at the front, and has a magnetic induction slide-switch to operate the camera (only works to turn it ON, with mine though however ... very disappointing bug). The back-cap is the Achilles-heel of this device.



Both the waterproof case and the main camera share a rail-attachment system, that allows for a number of kinds of mounts to be fitted. The camera comes with an adjustable goggle-strap mount, and two adhesive "flat-surface" mounts. that slide and lock into place along either side of the camera. I've mounted this to the side of my kendo men helmet, to the shoulder of my Platatac Bravo hydration pack and so far have managed to only get a few "straight" shots. Learning is part of the fun. What ISN'T fun, is the difficulty I've had getting the camera to actually film when I want it to. There are four sets of indicator LED's on the main body; a battery indicator, a memory indicator, a "status" indicator and one for "recording". Between these, and the press-button power button, and "slide-to-record" switch, you'd think someone tech-savy would have a breeze getting it going. Not so much. The combination of "press-and-hold" and "secret extra un-labled button" make for a clumsy system that requires getting used to before you capture that big exciting event. Like several hours of laser-tag, (which I missed the exciting parts of) or some good kendo footage (also didn't record when i thought it was...)

I did however get several hours worth of Tough Mudder footage, which although askew by about 30o due to how I mounted the camera, and required a battery change "in the field" to get a total of 5 hours of the 5 1/2 hours I was doing the challenge, and am really impressed with how both the camera and waterproof case held up.

So, clumsy user-controls, and non-water proof body aside, this is a fun toy, and I plan to film a lot of things with it.