[4K] Ashland VA 03.03.24: Gearing Up

Since upgrading the FFVphone to a Google Pixel 8 Pro last October, I've been intrigued by the prospect of using it to supplement my trusty Canon and gain a cheaper point of entry into shooting 4K. The results of a few late-year outings were encouraging but underscored a few shortcomings, particularly the need for an external microphone. I could bring my Rode SVM out of retirement, but the Pixel 8 Pro doesn't have a minijack to plug it in. Enter some discretionary funds and a little accessorizing to address the issues - a Beastgrip mount for the phone and mic, a minijack-to-USB-C adapter to connect the mic to the phone, and an adapter for the Beastgrip that lets the phone make use of the same lens filters as my Canon. The maiden run of all this doohickery was Sunday March 3rd, on a late afternoon visit to Ashland. No freights passed in the time I was there (except for one while I was unloading my gear, natch), but Amtrak did what they could to entertain.
0:00 - Amtrak Northeast Regional 158
I was too late to capture M409, but the brilliant sky to the south helped me forget my misstep as Northeast Regional 158 arrived behind P42 51.
2:27 - Amtrak 90, Palmetto
The latest in Amtrak motive power led the way as the northbound Palmetto cruised through town with ALC-42 344 on point.
3:10 - Amtrak Northeast Regional 195
My bad - Northeast Regional 195 caught me a little off guard as it arrived in Ashland behind P42 136.
4:40 - Amtrak 91, Silver Star
The southbound Silver Star split its motive power needs between P42 189 and ALC-42 310.
5:28 - Amtrak Northeast Regional 124
The freightless parade continued as Northeast Regional 124 arrived (and departed, of course) behind P42 114.
7:21 - Amtrak Northeast Regional 157
The sky was nearing peak sunset color as Northeast Regional 157 made its stop, led by P42 99.
8:59 - Sunset
Train or no train, I couldn't just stand there admiring the sunset colors without taking a brief pan of the scene.
9:24 - Amtrak 53, Auto Train
P42s 821 and 835 led the southbound edition of Amtrak's flagship.
11:22 - Amtrak Northeast Regional 99
For a short visit that consisted entirely of passenger trains, capturing P42 203 in its unique Operation Lifesaver scheme seemed like a pretty good way to wrap things up.
#railfanning #railroad #train #trainspotting #amtrak #ashland #virginia #travel

[@jackulmen5791]

Great video Dave! Looking forward to seeing you again at Ashland!

[@FastFlyingVirginian]

Thanks! Hopefully it's good weather for the whole week this year, not just the day of.

[@jackulmen5791]

Fingers crossed!

[@IvoryCoast-vm4wg]

Sorry I just don’t understand. 4K is great and all, and all that time and effort into the lenses and setup and whatnot. But the result is a horrid FPS, and I mean horrid. Feels like your video quality turned back the clock 15 years.

[@FastFlyingVirginian]

24 fps was intentional. The intent is to mimic the framerate of motion picture film, but it depends on being able to match the framerate with a slow shutter speed. On my Canon I can lock the shutter speed to 1/48 and get a nice, natural-looking blur to the motion. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to do that yet on the Pixel 8 Pro. Third-party camera apps do offer the option to lock the shutter speed, but in my testing so far it seems that Google plays games with the camera API and the third party apps can only manage mono sound on the Pixel 8 Pro, while the default app does stereo just fine, so it's kind of a toss-up at the moment as to which app to use. Hopefully the third-party devs can sort things out and I won't have to settle for mono sound in favor of better shutter control. For comparison, my video of Ashland Train Day 2023 was done in 24p entirely on the Canon, as was my footage of the 2023 Cass Parade Of Steam.