I hope that you have a ghoulish time today!
Author: Jason W. Ellis
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How to Control a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 with a Smartphone
I’ve had this Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 camera for awhile, but I’ve never had a reason to setup its Wi-Fi remote control feature until I began thinking about taking photos for the post that I published yesterday comparing the builds of LEGO’s Forestmen’s Hidenout (6054) and Forest Hideout (40567). I didn’t want to have to get up to active the shutter each time I took a picture, and I wanted to be in the photos as the builder. Using my smartphone as a remote control of the camera configured with timed shutter release allowed me to take the photos that I had in mind.
It’s relatively easy to configure the DMC-G85 to be controlled with Panasonic Image App (available for Android and iOS) via a smartphone (see pages 52-53 of the official manual here).
The basic version of setting up remote control for the camera is shown in the photos below. First, on the camera, open the menu > setup/wrench > Wi-Fi > Function > New Connection > Remote Shooting.
After connecting your smartphone to the displayed Wi-Fi network, install and open the Panasonic Image App.
After agreeing to the terms of service, click on the area on the left for “Remote Operation.” When it attempts to connect, it will prompt you to “Operate the camera to connect.” Back on the camera, click the button on the display to accept the connection.
Then, you will see what your camera sees on your smartphone’s screen. There are controls for adjusting the camera and activating the shutter.
So that I could capture my hands working with LEGO, I set my camera’s shutter timer to 2 seconds. This means when I would click the camera icon/shutter release in Panasonic Image App, there would be a 2 second countdown during which I could put my hands back into the scene before the shutter was released.
When I take night sky photos again, I will definitely use Panasonic Image App to control the camera so that I can avoid vibration induced by my pressing the shutter release button.
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Back-To-Back Building of LEGO’s Forestmen’s Hideout (6054) and Forest Hideout (40567)
One of my favorite LEGO sets when I was younger was LEGO’s Forestmen’s Hideout (6054) from 1988. In 2022, LEGO released a Gift with Purchase (GWP) set that updates the 6054 set with modern bricks and design called Forest Hideout (40567). I’ve had Forest Hideout sitting on a shelf for the past two years. When Y asked me recently if I was ever going to put it together, it got me thinking about the original 6054 set. I began watching auctions on eBay for a good deal on a complete set (a boxed original was out of the question due to its much higher cost). Eventually, I found a complete set of 6054 for a reasonable price. After receiving it in the mail, I sat down to build both sets back-to-back and record it with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 camera set to 2 second timer and controlled by the Panasonic Image App on my Pixel 6 phone (I’ll show how to set that up in a future post).
Forest Hideout (40567) has 258 pieces, which is 64 more than the 194 pieces in Forestmen’s Hideout (6054). While the tree branch and leave elements are the same, the tree’s main structure is constructed differently in the two sets. The original relied on Black Panel 3 x 3 x 6 Corner Wall pieces for most of the tree’s main trunk structure. These larger elements reduced the part count of the original. The updated version used a combination of Black Cylinder Half 1 x 2 x 1 and Black Cylinder Quarter 2 x 2 x 5 with 1 x 1 Cutout to create the tree trunk. While there are no vines for swinging in the new version as in the first, the update includes an internal ladder for minifigures to climb to into hideout. 6054 includes two smiling minifigures with hats while 40567 includes a male with hat and female with long hair minifigures.
Below, I show an over-the-shoulder view of the building process for each set and then side-by-side comparisons of the completed build of both sets. I used a scanned copy of the 6054 instructions to assemble it, which was displayed on my computer screen out of the frame on the right. Since I hadn’t opened 40567 until this build, it included the original set of instructions, which is seen in the photos.
Forestmen’s Hideout (6054)
Forest Hideout (40567)
Side-By-Side Comparison of 6054 and 40567
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Ideas for Expanding Yet Another Science Fiction Textbook (YASFT)
Isometric RPG dungeon image created with Stable Diffusion. Yesterday, one of my top students visited my virtual office hours on Zoom to talk about their research paper. During our conversation, he made impassioned arguments that I add chapters on Video Games and Table Top Gaming to Yet Another Science Fiction Textbook (YASFT), the OER textbook that I published earlier this year and am teaching with for the first time this semester. He’s right–it does need coverage of those topics not just for completeness but also because it’s how many students make a deeper connection to the genre (with television and film often being an introduction). It’s something that I plan to work on when I get a chance.
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Mark Cook (1972-2024)
Illustration created with Stable Diffusion. My cousin Mark Cook passed away suddenly on October 19th. I last talked to him for awhile outside NAPA Auto Parts with my dad a few weeks ago when I was in Brunswick. He had wanted to hang out while I was down visiting, but it didn’t work out for that to happen.
Mark gave me some of my favorite memories growing up. We stayed up watching The Rat Patrol on late night television in his room once when I was five or six. He had a Boba Fett action figure before I did, so I always enjoyed playing Star Wars with him when I had the opportunity to visit him at his folks’ house on New Sterling Road. He was a great pal to go swimming with when we were younger. He taught me how to swim underwater with a face mask and flippers. When I asked my mom what we were getting Mark for his birthday back in 1983, she said that he had wanted Culture Club’s Colour by Numbers. I thought to myself that he had a very sophisticated tasted in music.
Mark and I took different paths in life and work. When I visited home, I was interested to learn what new VW Beetle dune buggy project he might be working on, or how his family life was taking shape–especially after they moved in with his mom on Baker Hill Road in Hortense.
Mark lucked out when he met his wife Heather, and then again, when they had their daughter Georgia. He was intensely proud of them both–Heather’s progression of degrees to become a teacher, and Georgia’s academic awards and accomplishments that reveal her potential for future successes. As he got older, he never had much to say about himself, but he was always ready to say what Heather and Georgia were up to. While Mark’s passing will be a trying ordeal for them, I know that they will endure and reach such illustrious heights that would have made him smile–in his uniquely beaming but understated way.
Like his older brother Michael, Mark is gone way before his time. We were supposed to grow old and gray together–perhaps divided by time and place, but bound by old memories and good times.
