April 14, 2024 • 23 mins
Join hosts Jim and Fred in this energetic episode of The FotoBug. They kick-off by announcing their move to YouTube, where they will share most of their video content, inviting new subscribers and expressing gratitude to existing ones. The transition allows for more interactive and engaging content.
The focal point of this episode is the much-discussed solar eclipse. Not only do they discuss phenomenon's, but they also delve into the thrilling world of photography, tackling hot-button issues such as the flap involving UK-based Tempest Photography.
Take an auditory trip with them as they relive their enthralling visit to the Circle B Bar Reserve, detailing their unique experiences, wildlife encounters, and unusual weather phenomena. Don't miss their exciting tale which serves as a crucial lesson for travelling photographers to always keep track of their gear.
The spotlight then shines on the GearEye, an innovative device to help locate misplaced items. Originating as a Kickstarter project, they track its progression through hurdles and setbacks to become a functional and highly valuable tool. Detailed information about this product, including cost, discount, and packaging, is shared. Whether you are a frequent traveler, a photographer, or someone who treasures personal belongings, the GearEye provides peace of mind.
Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Julia, the CEO of GearEye, in the coming weeks. Get ready to learn more about this invaluable device and be sure to leave your queries and remarks in anticipation of the forthcoming session.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:30):
Welcome to another episode of The Photo Bug, and here are your hosts, Jim and Fred.
Hi, welcome to The Photo Bug Podcast. I'm Jim. I'm Fred, and we're glad you're
here, even though we're only with you on the podcast.
Maybe once this month. You might have noticed that every other week that we
were doing, as we had mentioned, we're cutting back.
(00:52):
We want you to go out and subscribe to us on YouTube, and that's where most
of the videos are now going to appear. here.
We're going to have videos there that are not on the podcast.
So we're transitioning over to YouTube.
There you go. And that means you don't have to wait. You can go out at any time.
Any time. You can look at it. Exactly.
And when you're out there, please subscribe if you haven't already.
(01:15):
We welcome the new 17 subscribers that just subscribed over the past 30 days.
Oops. Wait a minute. 18. 18. What, did we get another one? Yeah. Oh, good.
Okay. Well, Well, we do have some news for you, which we don't have on YouTube. No.
This is exclusive to the PhotoBunk podcast. Well, I'll tell you,
(01:35):
this is kind of obvious because what's been in the news and what's everybody
talking about, the full solar eclipse.
Yes. And it actually went across a wide swath of the U.S.
And the moon was actually closer to Earth this time than it was in 2017.
So the width of the eclipse was wider, about 100 miles in width.
So that allowed a lot more people to view it.
(01:58):
And we're going to see lots of eclipse images on social media, let's face it.
So if you have a social media account, just stay tuned because they're going to be there.
Yeah. And speaking of the eclipse, scientists are hoping for a large set of
images to aid researchers measuring the shape of the sun, testing theories of
gravity and relativity.
(02:19):
SunSketcher, which is a new NASA-backed project with an iOS and an Android app,
Once you're photographed to the great American eclipse. So if you captured eclipse
with a smartphone, which I know a lot of people probably did,
download SunSketcher and upload your image to help out NASA.
And if you didn't know this, this is just a little extra thrown in.
(02:41):
There was actually a filter that you could put over the lens of your smartphone
camera to keep it from harming.
You don't want to burn your sensor. Yeah, the sensor. And basically,
it allowed people to take some fairly good images with their smartphones.
So pretty cool. Yeah. And I also want to mention that, and you may have seen
this on the news, that an amateur photographer in Texas got this amazing,
(03:05):
I'm going to show a photo here, this amazing photo of a commercial jet flying past the eclipse.
And as this photographer said, it was just a lucky shot, but I wonder if anybody
else got something like that. Well, he took advantage of the opportunity.
(03:25):
Yeah. And that's what a lot of photography is, I think. And it was a she.
Oh, she. I'm sorry. She did. Yeah, she did. My apologies. Yes.
She did a great job. All right. Well, let's talk about something that's a little
bit, hmm, in my category.
Yeah. Tempest Photography, which is a renowned provider of school portraits
across the United Kingdom, finds itself embroiled in a controversy following
(03:48):
allegations of excluding children with additional support needs,
which there it's called ASN, and those in wheelchairs from class group photos.
Yeah, that's not right. Not good. No wonder they're at a controversy.
Well, that's really all I got the news. But Fred and I got out.
(04:08):
I just returned from the UK. I was in London and all around England.
I was at Bristol. We went up to the Cotswolds.
Also in Scotland. Yeah, well, Edinburgh, but in England, we also went to the
Peak District, the Lake District,
York, and then to Edinburgh, and going to be featuring more videos,
(04:33):
probably more of those on YouTube than on the podcast, but stay tuned for those.
But Fred and I just got out, went to Triple D because... Circle B. Circle B.
Circle B Bar Reserve, which is in Lakeland, a place that may not be on your
radar, but definitely a place that you want to consider when you come to Florida.
(04:53):
Wonderful reserve. And now there's no pets allowed, so leave your puppy dog at home.
Yeah. But something interesting this time, Fred and I have been there many, many, many times. Yes.
And it's a place where you're going to walk a lot. I think we put five and a
half miles in. Almost six miles, yeah. On the pedometer.
(05:14):
But we had never seen raccoons. We know they're there because often along Lake
Hancock, you can see where they have dug up.
And also the canal. Eden Turf. Yeah, yeah.
But this time we saw three of them. And this little young guy,
I'm going to show a video clip here.
(05:35):
Was curious about our gopro and
came up it's also the time of year
we were there is uh i guess the
gators are getting ready to mate now some of the trails like the marsh rabbit
run that we were on closed down when the gators are actually nesting because
they are not too kind to people mama is It is not going to let you anywhere
(06:00):
near her house. Yeah, so they have to close this down.
But right now it is open.
But this big gator came up and laid on the path, which blocked it off,
as you can see in this video.
Oh, it just stops traffic calls. Yeah, the people couldn't come any further
down, and we couldn't get back.
Fortunately, as we were about to leave, a gentleman on a bicycle came driving
(06:23):
back to us and says, He says, hey, he moved.
And then we were able to take the shorter path back to Lake Hancock.
So definitely you want to do that. And the interesting thing, the water levels are up.
We've had a fair amount of rain. It's a kind of makeup for last year's drought
in many parts of Florida.
It has just been raining. We're getting these, I call them scorpion tail.
(06:45):
It's these fronts that are moving across the U.S. And for the rest of you folks,
you have our empathy that you're getting slambly.
We've got bad weather coming up here. Yeah, it just whips across Florida very
quickly, but it puts down a lot of rain in a very short time.
Well, a place like Circle B is going to take that water and it's just going
to add to Lake Hancock was higher than we've seen it in quite a while.
(07:06):
All the other wetland and canal areas will really have a lot of depth.
So we didn't see as many wading birds in certain parts. This is unusual.
It's actually a good thing because we've been in a drought.
And so we need all the rain. We do need it, but it does change the...
Basically change what you're going to be able to photograph.
(07:27):
Plus a lot of the vegetation has grown up.
They can't really do the controlled burns because of development in the area.
And that people do not want the smoke. No problem. So where we have seen whistling
ducks nesting in the past, that's all kind of grown up.
And we didn't see them. Also, roseate spoonbills. Didn't see any roseate spoonbills this time.
(07:49):
But we've got three raccoons. Well, the interesting thing, like you said,
it's a bit grown and the water was up.
I was there while Jim was gone, and the water level was not as high. So we saw more.
We saw whistling ducks. We saw.
It was an eagle, a young eagle. Well, you saw the young eagle this last time.
I didn't see that. And the ospreys were very active because the water was deep
(08:12):
enough for them to really fish and dive in and get. They got ospreys.
Let's point out one more thing.
Yes. We actually both, Fred and I, watched an osprey, and when they start to
hover, you know that they're getting ready to dive.
Both of us caught as the osprey is diving. This is something to be aware of.
If you want to catch the osprey diving into the water or just before the water
(08:36):
or coming up with the fish, make sure there isn't any shrubbery in your way.
Or, in this case, a cabbage palm.
Yeah, make sure you move over and make sure the test. It was a fairly young
one because it was only about four or five feet tall.
Look at this picture. I got to go as he's coming down and all of a sudden,
(08:56):
oh, no, a cabbage palm jumped right in front of the photo bomb.
We had fun and there's going to be different things according to the weather conditions there.
I think the water level will drop a little bit, although this next storm is
going to whip right across the same area.
And we may have a very active hurricane season this year. Yes,
that may also make things interesting.
(09:17):
That's why we say, yes, you can consider this paradise, but it does have its cost.
And for those who haven't been in Florida very long, hold on,
because if we get the active hurricane season, it's going to whip us around a little bit. Yep.
Well, on that note, why don't we go into our feature today?
(09:37):
What's our feature today? My feature today is Gerai. Let's get into that.
All right. Let's talk about Gerai.
Music.
(10:03):
All right. Have you ever gone on a trip? I know I travel quite a bit.
And you come back, and suddenly you can't find something that you knew you packed and took with you?
Unfortunately, I have. I don't know if, Fred, you've had that experience or
not. From time to time, yeah. I have.
In fact, it's funny, ironic that it's just kind of a funny story that I had
(10:30):
a Canon flash extender that goes on the Canon and then will remotely fire your flash.
And I had it years ago when I went to Triple D up in Montana.
Come back, could not find it anywhere.
Ended up having to buy another one. This recent trip, when we got back from
(10:53):
the UK, we were unpacking their luggage, and suddenly there is the flash.
The lost flash extender.
Apparently, it was stuck somewhere in the luggage this whole time. them.
Now, if I had the device that we're going to be talking about today,
I might have found that if I had it tagged and wouldn't have to go and buy another
(11:18):
one. Now I have two of them.
So yeah, sometimes the things aren't lost, they're just somewhat misplaced.
So today's review is an interesting item called GearEye.
Now there's another interesting story on this.
This was originally a Kickstarter project that I backed back in 2017.
(11:43):
And they had a lot of issues as they were developing it.
I know there was issues with the FCC as far as getting the licensing for the
device, engineering issues, issues getting the right RFID tags.
But they persisted. I had basically given up, figured no way I'll ever see this
(12:04):
item again. And then one day I get a package shows up on my door and there's the gear eye.
So if any of you had backed the gear eye project.
Don't dismay you should have already got one or
you will be soon receiving your award for
(12:26):
backing the project now um let
me leave that here because i've got some things i need to point out on that
if you didn't back it and you would like one of these items especially after
you see this This price is $322 to $364 right now. There's a discount on them.
(12:48):
I think it's 11% discount as we're taping this.
The $322 is a starter kit.
The starter kit includes a dongle, which is this device right here,
12 RFID stickers, and eight metal stickers.
Stickers uh the professional pack has the
(13:11):
dongle of course 28 uh regular
stickers and 12 on metal stickers
and you can also purchase an extra scanner where they go the dongle scanner
for uh 298 dollars if you want an extra one you can get extra tags rfid tags
(13:32):
for anywhere from 40 to 126 depending on how many and what you want.
The website, put it here, is geareye.co and recommend going out there.
So what kind of range does this thing have? Well, it's.
5 to 10 feet. And the way this works is you have these, as we mentioned, these RFID tags,
(14:00):
which are just basically just these little tags like here. And there are several different types.
Some of them, depending on the back of that, we've got this tag like this.
It's for metal objects or when you have batteries, because apparently those
(14:20):
can interfere with the range.
And those, apparently this helps reduce that issue.
Then there is these regular stick-on. Let's see if I can find,
there's a number. Whoops, these are different types of tags.
(14:43):
Losing it, losing them, losing them.
That are for different types of items.
Here's what I'm looking for over here on this side. Yeah, so yeah,
these are what they call RFID, which is Radio Frequency Identification Ultra
(15:07):
High Frequency, or UHF, tags.
Now, these are for things like lenses and stuff like that that you can put on.
The other one that we showed on the back of my camera are for devices that metal or batteries.
(15:27):
They also include this bag because if you have additional tags when you're trying
to scan and put them into your phone or in your list, it'll pick up the other tags too.
So this is a bag that you can put them in that actually keeps you from scanning them.
(15:50):
It blocks the signal. Right. Let's show you basically how this works.
There is an app that's for iOS or for Android.
It hurts for him to say it. Let me go ahead. Yeah, Android. Oh,
my God. I have nothing against Android.
I just prefer Apple. I understand. And I happen to use Android, so it works out. Yeah.
(16:15):
So here we are. This is the iOS app.
And what I have done, what you do is you scan these in, these tags,
which have a unique number, and then you assign them to –.
You know, the object that you've attached it to. And then you can put them in,
(16:37):
like in this case, I've got them in my camera backpack.
And you just put in the items from your list that you're going to be including
in the backpack, and then you've got the scanner.
Now, I'm going to show you here. Now, the only thing I've got right now is the
camera. So I'm going to do a scan.
(16:59):
And the other items, and there it is. It's a checkmark by it.
Yeah, found that. It's found that.
And it's going to go through. And you can also set this in the app for how long
you want it to keep searching.
And as another thing that you can use this, so if you just misplace something,
you can actually walk around with it until it locates that.
So if you dropped it behind the sofa or, you know, in a corner somewhere,
(17:22):
you can also use this to help you.
Right. And I know, oh, there it's putting X marks by everything that it can't
find. Yep, so it says, yeah, there's seven items, which is correct.
The only thing we've got right here is the camera and all the other items.
It says, no, not found, not found.
So I know that there's other scanning devices like the Apple AirTag.
(17:49):
I think there is one made specifically for Android, one that will work with both.
The trouble with those is they're rather large and there's no way to to stick
them on easily on items like the camera.
No, you can put it in your bag, but this way, each individual item that's important
to you in that bag or in that case is going to... By the way, I do that.
(18:12):
I have an Apple AirTag that's in my bag and also in our suitcases.
And those devices, by the way, are Bluetooth, and they require a battery.
These do not. There's no batteries in these tags.
These are, as I said.
(18:32):
Like a transceiver. They basically, the scanner grabs and picks it up and goes, oh.
It's kind of like the pass that
you have on your car windshield for paying your toll. For tolls, yeah.
I guess it's similar. It's passive and you have the device that scans it or
sends out a signal and it bounces back and says, oh, there it is.
(18:53):
Now, what's something is unusual in this device is that and it's got lights.
I don't know if you can see them here that blink. This shows that it's linked
to the Bluetooth to my phone.
And you can turn this off by pressing the button here and holding it down for about 10 seconds.
(19:16):
And it will. And now it's turned off and the phone has come up and says,
hey, you're no longer connected.
So if you do lose connection It will tell you So,
And Um.
There's no on button. The way you turn it on is you have to plug it into the USB.
(19:42):
And as soon as you plug it into a USB, it turns the device on.
Now, I thought that was kind of odd.
And when we talked to Julie, I'm going to ask why they did it that way.
I'm sure there was a valid reason.
So, yep. And you could put this down in the luggage. I think the battery is
(20:03):
good if it's on all the time. It's good for at least 24 hours.
So if you're traveling, you want to make sure that when you go through the TSA,
something didn't drop out of your bag, you can leave it on, and it will let
you know if something turns up missing.
So that's the Gear-i. I found it very valuable.
(20:26):
It isn't necessarily inexpensive, but then if it saves you from losing a lens
or a $300 or $400 photo item, I think it's well worth it.
Even if you have insurance, which I do for my gear, the insurance generally
will only start paying after $200, $300, maybe $400.
(20:49):
You're obligated to that first part. So I still think even with insurance,
this is kind of a neat, interesting device.
I guess one of the major ways that you could use it, you're staying in your
hotel room, you've been doing photography all day, you're getting ready to leave,
(21:10):
you want to do a quick scan, make sure you've got everything back in the bag.
Because even if you left it in another part of the room, it may be too far away
and you get an X, so then you can start. Correct. You can go around and you can look at it.
And I said some of the smaller items. And also what I found is I had some really small items.
So what I did is I put them into one of the zip bags, put RFID in that bag.
(21:34):
So as long as I have the bag in, now I have a list of what I put in the bag
so I can make sure, even though each individual item is not.
Tag, right. But if that bag is left behind, I was, oops, okay.
Yep. All those items are now missing.
So there you have it.
If you have any comments on it or you want some questions from when we interviewed
(21:57):
Juliet, please leave them in the comments section and we'll be sure to question her.
All right. Well, thank you. And I hope you find that interesting.
You can go out to the gear.co and download it if you're interested or check it out anyway.
And as we indicated, we got Julia is going to be coming on the podcast.
(22:21):
She's the CEO of Gear Eye. She lives in Israel.
So we're hoping that within the next couple of weeks, we're going to be able to do an interview.
She has agreed to do a Zoom interview with us.
So, Fred, whether you're going to Circle B or in your backyard or wherever, it's a big world.
(22:41):
Cameras are small. We want you out there chasing those elusive images because
anytime you can get shutter time, it's always a great time.
And with that, we'll see you next time on The Photo Bug.
Be sure to tune in next time to The Photo Bug for news, reviews,
interviews, and how-tos. and please check out and subscribe to the photobug YouTube channel.
(23:05):
Music.
Music.
(00:30):
Welcome to another episode of The Photo Bug, and here are your hosts, Jim and Fred.
Hi, welcome to The Photo Bug Podcast. I'm Jim. I'm Fred, and we're glad you're
here, even though we're only with you on the podcast.
Maybe once this month. You might have noticed that every other week that we
were doing, as we had mentioned, we're cutting back.
(00:52):
We want you to go out and subscribe to us on YouTube, and that's where most
of the videos are now going to appear. here.
We're going to have videos there that are not on the podcast.
So we're transitioning over to YouTube.
There you go. And that means you don't have to wait. You can go out at any time.
Any time. You can look at it. Exactly.
And when you're out there, please subscribe if you haven't already.
(01:15):
We welcome the new 17 subscribers that just subscribed over the past 30 days.
Oops. Wait a minute. 18. 18. What, did we get another one? Yeah. Oh, good.
Okay. Well, Well, we do have some news for you, which we don't have on YouTube. No.
This is exclusive to the PhotoBunk podcast. Well, I'll tell you,
(01:35):
this is kind of obvious because what's been in the news and what's everybody
talking about, the full solar eclipse.
Yes. And it actually went across a wide swath of the U.S.
And the moon was actually closer to Earth this time than it was in 2017.
So the width of the eclipse was wider, about 100 miles in width.
So that allowed a lot more people to view it.
(01:58):
And we're going to see lots of eclipse images on social media, let's face it.
So if you have a social media account, just stay tuned because they're going to be there.
Yeah. And speaking of the eclipse, scientists are hoping for a large set of
images to aid researchers measuring the shape of the sun, testing theories of
gravity and relativity.
(02:19):
SunSketcher, which is a new NASA-backed project with an iOS and an Android app,
Once you're photographed to the great American eclipse. So if you captured eclipse
with a smartphone, which I know a lot of people probably did,
download SunSketcher and upload your image to help out NASA.
And if you didn't know this, this is just a little extra thrown in.
(02:41):
There was actually a filter that you could put over the lens of your smartphone
camera to keep it from harming.
You don't want to burn your sensor. Yeah, the sensor. And basically,
it allowed people to take some fairly good images with their smartphones.
So pretty cool. Yeah. And I also want to mention that, and you may have seen
this on the news, that an amateur photographer in Texas got this amazing,
(03:05):
I'm going to show a photo here, this amazing photo of a commercial jet flying past the eclipse.
And as this photographer said, it was just a lucky shot, but I wonder if anybody
else got something like that. Well, he took advantage of the opportunity.
(03:25):
Yeah. And that's what a lot of photography is, I think. And it was a she.
Oh, she. I'm sorry. She did. Yeah, she did. My apologies. Yes.
She did a great job. All right. Well, let's talk about something that's a little
bit, hmm, in my category.
Yeah. Tempest Photography, which is a renowned provider of school portraits
across the United Kingdom, finds itself embroiled in a controversy following
(03:48):
allegations of excluding children with additional support needs,
which there it's called ASN, and those in wheelchairs from class group photos.
Yeah, that's not right. Not good. No wonder they're at a controversy.
Well, that's really all I got the news. But Fred and I got out.
(04:08):
I just returned from the UK. I was in London and all around England.
I was at Bristol. We went up to the Cotswolds.
Also in Scotland. Yeah, well, Edinburgh, but in England, we also went to the
Peak District, the Lake District,
York, and then to Edinburgh, and going to be featuring more videos,
(04:33):
probably more of those on YouTube than on the podcast, but stay tuned for those.
But Fred and I just got out, went to Triple D because... Circle B. Circle B.
Circle B Bar Reserve, which is in Lakeland, a place that may not be on your
radar, but definitely a place that you want to consider when you come to Florida.
(04:53):
Wonderful reserve. And now there's no pets allowed, so leave your puppy dog at home.
Yeah. But something interesting this time, Fred and I have been there many, many, many times. Yes.
And it's a place where you're going to walk a lot. I think we put five and a
half miles in. Almost six miles, yeah. On the pedometer.
(05:14):
But we had never seen raccoons. We know they're there because often along Lake
Hancock, you can see where they have dug up.
And also the canal. Eden Turf. Yeah, yeah.
But this time we saw three of them. And this little young guy,
I'm going to show a video clip here.
(05:35):
Was curious about our gopro and
came up it's also the time of year
we were there is uh i guess the
gators are getting ready to mate now some of the trails like the marsh rabbit
run that we were on closed down when the gators are actually nesting because
they are not too kind to people mama is It is not going to let you anywhere
(06:00):
near her house. Yeah, so they have to close this down.
But right now it is open.
But this big gator came up and laid on the path, which blocked it off,
as you can see in this video.
Oh, it just stops traffic calls. Yeah, the people couldn't come any further
down, and we couldn't get back.
Fortunately, as we were about to leave, a gentleman on a bicycle came driving
(06:23):
back to us and says, He says, hey, he moved.
And then we were able to take the shorter path back to Lake Hancock.
So definitely you want to do that. And the interesting thing, the water levels are up.
We've had a fair amount of rain. It's a kind of makeup for last year's drought
in many parts of Florida.
It has just been raining. We're getting these, I call them scorpion tail.
(06:45):
It's these fronts that are moving across the U.S. And for the rest of you folks,
you have our empathy that you're getting slambly.
We've got bad weather coming up here. Yeah, it just whips across Florida very
quickly, but it puts down a lot of rain in a very short time.
Well, a place like Circle B is going to take that water and it's just going
to add to Lake Hancock was higher than we've seen it in quite a while.
(07:06):
All the other wetland and canal areas will really have a lot of depth.
So we didn't see as many wading birds in certain parts. This is unusual.
It's actually a good thing because we've been in a drought.
And so we need all the rain. We do need it, but it does change the...
Basically change what you're going to be able to photograph.
(07:27):
Plus a lot of the vegetation has grown up.
They can't really do the controlled burns because of development in the area.
And that people do not want the smoke. No problem. So where we have seen whistling
ducks nesting in the past, that's all kind of grown up.
And we didn't see them. Also, roseate spoonbills. Didn't see any roseate spoonbills this time.
(07:49):
But we've got three raccoons. Well, the interesting thing, like you said,
it's a bit grown and the water was up.
I was there while Jim was gone, and the water level was not as high. So we saw more.
We saw whistling ducks. We saw.
It was an eagle, a young eagle. Well, you saw the young eagle this last time.
I didn't see that. And the ospreys were very active because the water was deep
(08:12):
enough for them to really fish and dive in and get. They got ospreys.
Let's point out one more thing.
Yes. We actually both, Fred and I, watched an osprey, and when they start to
hover, you know that they're getting ready to dive.
Both of us caught as the osprey is diving. This is something to be aware of.
If you want to catch the osprey diving into the water or just before the water
(08:36):
or coming up with the fish, make sure there isn't any shrubbery in your way.
Or, in this case, a cabbage palm.
Yeah, make sure you move over and make sure the test. It was a fairly young
one because it was only about four or five feet tall.
Look at this picture. I got to go as he's coming down and all of a sudden,
(08:56):
oh, no, a cabbage palm jumped right in front of the photo bomb.
We had fun and there's going to be different things according to the weather conditions there.
I think the water level will drop a little bit, although this next storm is
going to whip right across the same area.
And we may have a very active hurricane season this year. Yes,
that may also make things interesting.
(09:17):
That's why we say, yes, you can consider this paradise, but it does have its cost.
And for those who haven't been in Florida very long, hold on,
because if we get the active hurricane season, it's going to whip us around a little bit. Yep.
Well, on that note, why don't we go into our feature today?
(09:37):
What's our feature today? My feature today is Gerai. Let's get into that.
All right. Let's talk about Gerai.
Music.
(10:03):
All right. Have you ever gone on a trip? I know I travel quite a bit.
And you come back, and suddenly you can't find something that you knew you packed and took with you?
Unfortunately, I have. I don't know if, Fred, you've had that experience or
not. From time to time, yeah. I have.
In fact, it's funny, ironic that it's just kind of a funny story that I had
(10:30):
a Canon flash extender that goes on the Canon and then will remotely fire your flash.
And I had it years ago when I went to Triple D up in Montana.
Come back, could not find it anywhere.
Ended up having to buy another one. This recent trip, when we got back from
(10:53):
the UK, we were unpacking their luggage, and suddenly there is the flash.
The lost flash extender.
Apparently, it was stuck somewhere in the luggage this whole time. them.
Now, if I had the device that we're going to be talking about today,
I might have found that if I had it tagged and wouldn't have to go and buy another
(11:18):
one. Now I have two of them.
So yeah, sometimes the things aren't lost, they're just somewhat misplaced.
So today's review is an interesting item called GearEye.
Now there's another interesting story on this.
This was originally a Kickstarter project that I backed back in 2017.
(11:43):
And they had a lot of issues as they were developing it.
I know there was issues with the FCC as far as getting the licensing for the
device, engineering issues, issues getting the right RFID tags.
But they persisted. I had basically given up, figured no way I'll ever see this
(12:04):
item again. And then one day I get a package shows up on my door and there's the gear eye.
So if any of you had backed the gear eye project.
Don't dismay you should have already got one or
you will be soon receiving your award for
(12:26):
backing the project now um let
me leave that here because i've got some things i need to point out on that
if you didn't back it and you would like one of these items especially after
you see this This price is $322 to $364 right now. There's a discount on them.
(12:48):
I think it's 11% discount as we're taping this.
The $322 is a starter kit.
The starter kit includes a dongle, which is this device right here,
12 RFID stickers, and eight metal stickers.
Stickers uh the professional pack has the
(13:11):
dongle of course 28 uh regular
stickers and 12 on metal stickers
and you can also purchase an extra scanner where they go the dongle scanner
for uh 298 dollars if you want an extra one you can get extra tags rfid tags
(13:32):
for anywhere from 40 to 126 depending on how many and what you want.
The website, put it here, is geareye.co and recommend going out there.
So what kind of range does this thing have? Well, it's.
5 to 10 feet. And the way this works is you have these, as we mentioned, these RFID tags,
(14:00):
which are just basically just these little tags like here. And there are several different types.
Some of them, depending on the back of that, we've got this tag like this.
It's for metal objects or when you have batteries, because apparently those
(14:20):
can interfere with the range.
And those, apparently this helps reduce that issue.
Then there is these regular stick-on. Let's see if I can find,
there's a number. Whoops, these are different types of tags.
(14:43):
Losing it, losing them, losing them.
That are for different types of items.
Here's what I'm looking for over here on this side. Yeah, so yeah,
these are what they call RFID, which is Radio Frequency Identification Ultra
(15:07):
High Frequency, or UHF, tags.
Now, these are for things like lenses and stuff like that that you can put on.
The other one that we showed on the back of my camera are for devices that metal or batteries.
(15:27):
They also include this bag because if you have additional tags when you're trying
to scan and put them into your phone or in your list, it'll pick up the other tags too.
So this is a bag that you can put them in that actually keeps you from scanning them.
(15:50):
It blocks the signal. Right. Let's show you basically how this works.
There is an app that's for iOS or for Android.
It hurts for him to say it. Let me go ahead. Yeah, Android. Oh,
my God. I have nothing against Android.
I just prefer Apple. I understand. And I happen to use Android, so it works out. Yeah.
(16:15):
So here we are. This is the iOS app.
And what I have done, what you do is you scan these in, these tags,
which have a unique number, and then you assign them to –.
You know, the object that you've attached it to. And then you can put them in,
(16:37):
like in this case, I've got them in my camera backpack.
And you just put in the items from your list that you're going to be including
in the backpack, and then you've got the scanner.
Now, I'm going to show you here. Now, the only thing I've got right now is the
camera. So I'm going to do a scan.
(16:59):
And the other items, and there it is. It's a checkmark by it.
Yeah, found that. It's found that.
And it's going to go through. And you can also set this in the app for how long
you want it to keep searching.
And as another thing that you can use this, so if you just misplace something,
you can actually walk around with it until it locates that.
So if you dropped it behind the sofa or, you know, in a corner somewhere,
(17:22):
you can also use this to help you.
Right. And I know, oh, there it's putting X marks by everything that it can't
find. Yep, so it says, yeah, there's seven items, which is correct.
The only thing we've got right here is the camera and all the other items.
It says, no, not found, not found.
So I know that there's other scanning devices like the Apple AirTag.
(17:49):
I think there is one made specifically for Android, one that will work with both.
The trouble with those is they're rather large and there's no way to to stick
them on easily on items like the camera.
No, you can put it in your bag, but this way, each individual item that's important
to you in that bag or in that case is going to... By the way, I do that.
(18:12):
I have an Apple AirTag that's in my bag and also in our suitcases.
And those devices, by the way, are Bluetooth, and they require a battery.
These do not. There's no batteries in these tags.
These are, as I said.
(18:32):
Like a transceiver. They basically, the scanner grabs and picks it up and goes, oh.
It's kind of like the pass that
you have on your car windshield for paying your toll. For tolls, yeah.
I guess it's similar. It's passive and you have the device that scans it or
sends out a signal and it bounces back and says, oh, there it is.
(18:53):
Now, what's something is unusual in this device is that and it's got lights.
I don't know if you can see them here that blink. This shows that it's linked
to the Bluetooth to my phone.
And you can turn this off by pressing the button here and holding it down for about 10 seconds.
(19:16):
And it will. And now it's turned off and the phone has come up and says,
hey, you're no longer connected.
So if you do lose connection It will tell you So,
And Um.
There's no on button. The way you turn it on is you have to plug it into the USB.
(19:42):
And as soon as you plug it into a USB, it turns the device on.
Now, I thought that was kind of odd.
And when we talked to Julie, I'm going to ask why they did it that way.
I'm sure there was a valid reason.
So, yep. And you could put this down in the luggage. I think the battery is
(20:03):
good if it's on all the time. It's good for at least 24 hours.
So if you're traveling, you want to make sure that when you go through the TSA,
something didn't drop out of your bag, you can leave it on, and it will let
you know if something turns up missing.
So that's the Gear-i. I found it very valuable.
(20:26):
It isn't necessarily inexpensive, but then if it saves you from losing a lens
or a $300 or $400 photo item, I think it's well worth it.
Even if you have insurance, which I do for my gear, the insurance generally
will only start paying after $200, $300, maybe $400.
(20:49):
You're obligated to that first part. So I still think even with insurance,
this is kind of a neat, interesting device.
I guess one of the major ways that you could use it, you're staying in your
hotel room, you've been doing photography all day, you're getting ready to leave,
(21:10):
you want to do a quick scan, make sure you've got everything back in the bag.
Because even if you left it in another part of the room, it may be too far away
and you get an X, so then you can start. Correct. You can go around and you can look at it.
And I said some of the smaller items. And also what I found is I had some really small items.
So what I did is I put them into one of the zip bags, put RFID in that bag.
(21:34):
So as long as I have the bag in, now I have a list of what I put in the bag
so I can make sure, even though each individual item is not.
Tag, right. But if that bag is left behind, I was, oops, okay.
Yep. All those items are now missing.
So there you have it.
If you have any comments on it or you want some questions from when we interviewed
(21:57):
Juliet, please leave them in the comments section and we'll be sure to question her.
All right. Well, thank you. And I hope you find that interesting.
You can go out to the gear.co and download it if you're interested or check it out anyway.
And as we indicated, we got Julia is going to be coming on the podcast.
(22:21):
She's the CEO of Gear Eye. She lives in Israel.
So we're hoping that within the next couple of weeks, we're going to be able to do an interview.
She has agreed to do a Zoom interview with us.
So, Fred, whether you're going to Circle B or in your backyard or wherever, it's a big world.
(22:41):
Cameras are small. We want you out there chasing those elusive images because
anytime you can get shutter time, it's always a great time.
And with that, we'll see you next time on The Photo Bug.
Be sure to tune in next time to The Photo Bug for news, reviews,
interviews, and how-tos. and please check out and subscribe to the photobug YouTube channel.
(23:05):
Music.
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