Friday, May 09, 2025
I have been preparing for Mother's Day, late spring house maintenance, and researching my new cameras and video editing software.
The photographs below show recent additions to my camera bag. I have been
researching information about my new DJI Osmo
Pocket 3 and Action 4 cameras. I am very pleased with these additions to my
camera bag, however, taking my time about producing videos using the new
equipment.
I had an emergency this morning. I thought I saw a fat little mouse near the back door. I texted my brother asking if he could help and he was here within an hour. I am very grateful he was able to do this. Sometimes I think I can deal with anything.
A mouse, I am not going to deal with.
Monday, May 05, 2025
Over the last year, I began posting about outfits I wear or try on. I began doing this because I lost some weight and wanted to discuss styles I wore before I gained weight, and because I wanted to add new items to my online shop.
Though I think style blog posts can provide some interest, video shorts are also effective.
The problem for me? Video cameras are not my best friend. I have a big head and just not that camera pretty. So I wanted to look at options like video shorts and some of the new cameras like the OSMO Pocket 3.
On Sunday, I started playing with light settings on the OSMO Pocket 3 and found lots of information on Youtube.
Though I did not dress for the short video I filmed to test some of the
lighting effects, I did comb my hair and put on makeup.
I really like the ULANZI Magnetic Mini LED
Light I purchased as an
accessory for the OSMO POCKET 3, even though the Pocket 3 has a lot of settings that
those with the time to manually set, can do a lot with.
PS- Going to have to investigate sound issues I cannot hear until uploaded, next. Using the Youtube setting, Stable Sound silences most of that ambient noise in my video short. Not sure why I did not hear that noise before I uploaded the video. Muted the audio track in Davinci Resolve and uploaded the new video. Seems to have solved the problem.
Friday, May 02, 2025
I am rather angry about all of this. Lets first start with my 3 Amazon orders for the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Creator Combo bundle.
Those of you who have researched this product insofar as pricing, know that even in late February when I placed my first order, I found several great deals.
Also keep in mind, on April 18, 2025 the price for any of the bundles shown, was double what I originally paid.
At the time of my first order, I had in my Costco online cart the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Capture More Combo which does not come with the DJI Mic 2 Transmitter, wide angle lens, nor the carrying case. However it did come with a 64GB SD card all for $499.00. About what I paid for the other bundles which did include the DJI Mic 2 Transmitter, etc.
I really wanted the price with the mic included so I waited for the original Amazon order I placed. On February 27, 2025 Amazon refunded the original order explaining they were concerned about the shipment.
On March 1, 2025 (graphic illustration below shows March 3, 2025 as the entry date) I again found a great deal with Amazon, however it too was refunded on March 15, 2025 with the same explanation.
On March 19, 2025, I again ordered the same bundle from Amazon however though informing me on April 22, 2025 the order was not coming, did not automatically refund to my credit card company. The other problem, I paid off the credit card on April 18, 2025 to avoid interest charges.
When I first started discussing with Amazon what I could do about the issue
of a refund and why I was unhappy, they agreed I had been through too much and
issued a gift card on April 23, 2025 in the amount of $100.
They also indicated that since I had paid off my Amazon Signature Visa card they understood why I wanted a bank check or direct deposit issued to my business checking account. I am an Amazon Affiliate and they have my business bank information on file.
They promised the check was on the way via the USPS. This was on April 23, 2025 or so. Every day I have checked and no mail from Amazon, so this morning around 3:00 AM I started a chat to find out why no check. They indicated because it had not been processed. I was surprised by this. During the chat the Amazon associate issued a refund to my credit card company. Chase issues the Amazon Signature Visa I hold. I was upset by this because it meant, though I placed a $175 order from Amazon on April 19, 2025 that was not yet paid for, I did not want to carry $300 plus on the card for any amount of time.
That said, once the rep informed me of what she had done, I did not want it undone in case it led to more problems. I have the transcripts of the chat to show I did not ask her to refund to the credit card company.
Meanwhile on April 9, 2025 I picked up the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Capture More Combo from Costco. Part of the $175 order from Amazon on April 14, 2025 was for the DJI Mic 2 Transmitter (Shadow Black) which was on sale for $84.00.
Okay, I did get my new camera and if you add it up you will find I paid about the same with the gift card. Why did I get the Costco deal before they informed me it was not coming? To be on the safe side since I had failed to get the Amazon orders twice.
What else am I doing about erasing the amount Chase is holding on the card? Paying some of my upcoming domain renewals with my Amazon Signature. I am also temporally changing my Verizon cell auto pay- payment method to the Amazon card. I may also take some of the real estate courses early I need to renew my license next year.
Why would they tell me the check was on the way, if it was not true? I feel since late February, I have been waiting on one thing or another and it has made me unhappy.
Did you want to ask how much the DJI carry bag and wide angle lens cost? I am a business owner and was able to purchase both items for about $34, total. Yes, this is not cry for me. It is more, why was this so hard?
Sometimes I have to get things off my chest. I will move on now.
Thursday, May 01, 2025
The end of April finally happened, and although most things I planned for were realized, I am still waiting on several large issues to be resolved.
That said, over the last 4 days I received the remaining accessories for my
DJI OSMO Pocket 3, so I finally decided to unbox everything.
I am pretty pleased with the DJI OSMO Pocket 3 and the accessories I thought I would need, including:
- DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Capture More Combo
- DJI Mic 2 Transmitter (Shadow Black)
- Magnetic Mount Stand Compatible with DJI Osmo Pocket 3
- ULANZI LM001 Magnetic Mini Light for DJI Osmo Pocket 3
- DJI Osmo Pocket 3 Carrying Bag, Compatibility: Osmo Pocket 3
- Anbee Portable Carrying Case Hard EVA Travel Box Storage Bag Compatible with DJI OSMO POCKET 3 - I like this case, however the DJI carrying bag works better in my situation.
- Wide Angle Lens 112°
Like everyone else, I also made a video of the unboxing process, however, it is rather long and I am still playing around with Davinci Resolve to edit the video. Not sure if it is that interesting, however, I am enjoying playing with the software.
Have I filmed anything with the Pocket 3? Yes, slicing up a cantaloupe,
however, I am also learning how to use the camera, and in this area I need a bit more
experience.
Not all of my purchases discussed in this post were through Amazon, however, the Amazon affiliate links are provided.
I thought 2025 was mostly going to be a no spend year, only allowing for purchases that did not exceed interest and dividend yields from my various CDs and savings accounts.
In April, I earned $296 (see below) in interest and dividend yields from my
CDs and savings accounts. I started purchasing the items listed above
in February 2025, so I get to use interest yields from February through April
in that I had only one other major expense over the same time period.
The other major expense in the same time frame, the new HP laptop. Okay, no more spending until
July. Which reminds me, one of the projects I am currently working? Retiring
my Acer Windows XP notebook.
I have rarely used the Acer notebook since the fall of 2022, however, it had too much code, data, and programs for me to leave it unattended. I have been cleaning it up for storage. This task was a little harder than I wanted, but I will feel happier putting this working, however "slow and dated" notebook into storage.
Sunday, April 27, 2025
In a February 2023 post I discuss some of the equipment in my camera bag as related to video editing. Below, some of the camera equipment I owned at the time.
In early 2025, after further research of the DJI OSMO product offerings and because I thought after holiday sales would be inline with what I could afford, I decided to purchase the OSMO Pocket 3 and the Action 4 Camera with the accessories I thought I would need.
How is that going? To date, the image (photo taken: 4/27/25) below shows the new equipment I have
added to my camera bag.
The journey to this point, has quite frankly brought me to tears. I am not
going to go through the details in this post, however, I want to provide some
idea of the issues involved using the graphic on the right.
Why post now? I have had in my possession the OSMO Pocket 3 bundle shown in the photo, still in its cellophane wrap for about 3 weeks now. The DJI Mic 2 still unopened, since Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Most of the accessories, i.e., Pocket 3 Magnet stand, carrying case, and LED light since February 2025.
I cannot bring myself, just yet- to open the equipment and start experimenting. I am not sure why. It maybe that I am still waiting on items, the money involved (yes many apologies and gift cards and coupons provided), or that I was so excited about finally doing this and loved watching others via Youtube express their own excitement, that my experiences have left me tired and rather annoyed.
I am pretty sure all of this will work out, maybe I should not have been so excited about the new additions to my camera bag.
Meanwhile, I continue with my Davinci Resolve software experimentation to coincide with the use of my new camera equipment and hopefully the enhanced videos I want to produce.
Also note, my purchases were made before new tariff regulations were put in place. The prices on this popular brand have doubled over the last 2 weeks because of its popularity and new regulations.
I am still a bit confounded by my experiences with all of this.
Friday, April 25, 2025
I had several errands to take care of yesterday morning and when I left the house it was about 60°.
On Wednesday (April 23, 2025), I received a package from Amazon. One of the items in the package was a Hanpusen Wireless Camera Remote Shutter Release Control for my Canon EOS M50 DSLR camera. The following images show both the outfit I wore yesterday, as well as information related to the new remote for my camera.
I really love the Hanpusen Wireless Camera Remote. I have been using the camera's drive timer option with a tripod or mirror selfie and I now have the remote/tripod option. The remote activates slightly delayed timer shots, no delay shots, or video activation with the press of the button.
I had no problems pairing the remote to my camera (Canon EOS M50) via bluetooth, however did not initially notice the new option under the drive settings for the remote. Works perfectly. I show the new drive option in the illustration provided above.
Recent Amazon Purchases
