A Quick Fix With Sugru
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Hopefully, your weekend went better than mine the other day, I accidentally broke my intervalometer's cable... Always fun. So in cases like this, it's where I break out the Sugru, a mouldable glue that hardens into a rubberized silicone. You might remember a few years back in an article, I used this on my tripod plate adapted for Black Rapid making a tighter fit and keeping everything snug. Since I'm cheap and an intervalometer costs about $20 I'll go with the $4 fix.Sugru is basically like Play-Dou for adults so using it is pretty simple. Once opening the package all I had to do was stick it to the cable, shape it, and let it sit for a day. Compared to electrical tape it makes a thorough seal that works great. As it's made from silicone it's waterproof, handles heat/cold, durable, and shockproof... so perfect for fixing a cable. It's great for DIY repairs as Sugru sticks permanently to lots of stuff like ceramics, glass, metal, wood, rubber, most plastics, and fabrics.
Some Tips For Using Sugru:
- There's a new family-friendly formula that's less messy and the original formula. Personally, I stick with original but it's up to you, I use gloves with the original as its a bit sticky.
- Store in the fridge to get it to keep longer, 3X! I throw it in the butter drawer honestly and get it to last about a year or more.
- Make sure everything is clean, including you. Sugru bonds better to clean surfaces and it tends to pick up dust so keeping clean is best. I use a paper plate for a clean area, sugru can stain when fresh and a plate is disposable.
- Pressing against it with a flat object helps get smooth edges. It's like Play-Dou, just using something smooth rolled against it adds a nice clean finish. If it's sticking apply some soapy water to your object to smooth it out without sticking.
Repairing cords is just the start though really. Add magnets to hold gear, repair a hole in your camera bag, make stands for product photos, make a clip, bond two pieces of gear together for a mount, make a grip, and more.
Just FYI, use the code PARTYHAT at Sugru's site for 40% from now until Sunday, October 8th, midnight PST. Otherwise, if you missed out check out Amazon to get a great deal and get your DIY on today. As a little goes far I suggest the 3 packs (black | white | mixed), just remember to store them somewhere cold to last longer.
10 minutes of time for $10 to use on Amazon. Sign up to Amazon Music's free 30 day trial for a free $10 promotional code (expires 10/31, can cancel right after). Easy peasy. As for some ideas you can get a Sandisk SD card, Reflector, or Eneloop batteries (for flash).
Learn more about the Tokina 11-16 vs the Canon 10-18 and Canon 10-22
Learn more about the more expensive full frame wide angle lens options- Canon 16-35, Tamron 15-30
Find the best natural light in your house
Alternatively, use artificial lighting
Minimize clutter in your shooting space
Add a garnish or other finishing touch to your dish
Style your food with nice dishes and a couple of props
Clean up any drops and splatters
Experiment with different angles
Consider “in progress” shots for recipes and other food-related blog posts
Shoot with a prime lens
Pick up a diffuser or reflector to minimize shadows
You trade off some features for the smaller size of the Spark. While the Mavic is capable of 24 minutes flight time, closer to 30 with the new Platinum. The Spark offers just 16 minutes in ideal conditions and in flying both of these - I am almost always done with getting the shots I need with the Mavic and have plenty of battery left. With the Spark, it feels fairly urgent to get the shots I need in that shorter timeframe. The Mavic is faster and while you can switch the Spark into sports mode I have struggled to get very cinematic looking shots when it that mode, the Mavic in normal mode is fast enough and remains smoothly controllable. You also sacrifice range - the Mavic can be flown nearly 4 miles away, the Spark just over a mile when using the controllers for each- honestly here in the United States, you need to keep them both in sight at all times so the difference doesn’t bother me much. And it’s important to mention that the spark at $500 does not come with a controller - you control with the DJI app on your phone - that range is much more limited, just 100 meters and while the Mavic is capable of this too it’s really not something I recommend. The lack of tactile feedback and trying to keep your eyes on the drone plus the screen that your fingers are partially obscuring just make it awkward.
Difference in the external controllers too with the Mavic providing an LCD screen with some basic info (though everything important is also displayed through the app so you don’t really miss out on info but I find it nice to have my altitude and distance in a dedicated spot), you also have a 5 way configurable stick that is replaced by a simple button on the Spark controller and a few additional customizable buttons on the Mavic controller.
But of course the Spark can be flown without any controller at all via gesture mode and not something available on the Mavic - it feels a bit gimmicky and at times I struggled to get it to do much other than take off and land on my palm but when it works it is fun to use and certainly impresses your friends.
Both cameras share the same sensor though the mavic is capable of shooting RAW stills that gives you more editing capabilities, offers a slightly wider fixed aperture f/2.2 vs f/2.6 in the spark and, shooting 4k video with 3 axis gimbal support vs just 1080 and 2 axis gimbal in the Spark at a lower bit rate. I my testing I certainly see an advantage with the Mavic in stills and video quality, especially in lower light. The spark isn’t bad - it just feels a touch behind what the Mavic provides in quality. I haven’t really noticed a difference between the 2 axis and 3 axis gimbals - the spark video looks just as stable smooth.
You do see a noticeable difference in control options for both photos and video in the app - Not only does the Mavic provide the RAW shooting you have color profiles for video and you can customize the speed of the gimbal for very controlled, cinematic looking shots - not possible on the Spark.
The Spark is cheaper, lighter, smaller and in some ways more fun to fly but does not provide 4k and its image quality/video quality is decent but not quite as good as the Mavic.The Mavic costs more but offers image and video quality that I love using in my travel videos along with the extended flight time and faster speed while remaining cinematic and still being portable enough to bring along just about everywhere.I think the Spark makes a great first drone but the Mavic has those additional advantages that make it worthwhile for the serious content creators that need to travel.I recommend the Fly More Combo for both drones - the extra batteries are useful and having the multi-charger for both drones makes a big difference in how quickly you can get flying again. I recommend buying from B&H Photo - no sales tax outside of NY state.
Shop all the DJI Spark colors at B&H Photo
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