# California to Connecticut



## PetalumaLoco (Jan 23, 2010)

I never did do a trip report of our journey from California to Connecticut last August, but I did shoot lots of video!

Here's installment #1, Martinez to Denver, via the California Zephyr of course!


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## OlympianHiawatha (Jan 23, 2010)

GREAT video! I can't wait for the next installments!


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 23, 2010)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> GREAT video! I can't wait for the next installments!


Thanks. I'm still on a learning curve with this new video editor software.

Any tips are welcome.

Working on the next one at this very moment!


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## GG-1 (Jan 23, 2010)

PetalumaLoco said:


> OlympianHiawatha said:
> 
> 
> > GREAT video! I can't wait for the next installments!
> ...


Aloha

What are you using, and what platform? I like the edit process of Adobe Pro 2.0 on a PC, but the rendering, output process sucks to be polite. I am trying Sony Vegas on the next project.

Mahalo

Eric


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 23, 2010)

GG-1 said:


> PetalumaLoco said:
> 
> 
> > OlympianHiawatha said:
> ...


Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 12, on a Dell Vostro 1500 with XP. There are extra special effects doodads that won't run because of my video card, but so far I haven't missed them, I'm not big on special effects.

Very user friendly - has to be for me to use it. The only editing I do is chop up scenes, add transitions and some text. More than that I have no idea about.


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 24, 2010)

Here's 2 more installments of the trip.


Via LSL, SWC and CS. There's a lot of shots of the GPS program I was using on my netbook, tracking the trip.


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## Rail Freak (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanx a bunch, I enjoyed the videos very much!

RF


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 24, 2010)

PetalumaLoco said:


> Here's 2 more installments of the trip.


Thanks for the great videos! My next trip soon as it warms up! :lol: *after watching a 2nd time(it was that good!) I noticed you had Pittsfield in NY,

the good citizens of Western Mass still think its in Red Sox nation! :lol:


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 24, 2010)

Thanks for viewing. Now I'm tempted to put up a slide show. I only took about 1300 photos! 

That's going to take some weeding out!


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## OlympianHiawatha (Jan 24, 2010)

A great overview of cross country Amtrak! I've forwarded the links to some "non-train" friends to let them see what they are missing when they travel.


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## gaspeamtrak (Jan 24, 2010)

PetalumaLoco said:


> Here's 2 more installments of the trip.





Great video's! Thanks for sharing!


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 24, 2010)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> A great overview of cross country Amtrak! I've forwarded the links to some "non-train" friends to let them see what they are missing when they travel.


Thanks O.H., great idea!


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## GG-1 (Jan 24, 2010)

PetalumaLoco said:


> Thanks for viewing. Now I'm tempted to put up a slide show. I only took about 1300 photos!  That's going to take some weeding out!


Aloha

If you are that avid a photographer you might consider a Smugmug account. Here is my Photo Gallery main page. You will also find additional gallery links there, in my friends and family listing. For how little they charge compared to how easy to use, I use only their service.


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## rail_rider (Jan 24, 2010)

Great videos, thanks! Brings back a lot of great memories I have of my Southwest Chief trip. I've been on the CZ so often I was anticipating what was coming next. I have a big trip scheduled for March (TRE-TUS) & your video makes it hard to wait. Keep shooting and posting! GPS was nice too, sure you enjoyed it.


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 25, 2010)

GG-1 said:


> PetalumaLoco said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for viewing. Now I'm tempted to put up a slide show. I only took about 1300 photos!  That's going to take some weeding out!
> ...


Thanks GG-1. I have a photobucket free account now that I may use.


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 25, 2010)

rail_rider said:


> Great videos, thanks! Brings back a lot of great memories I have of my Southwest Chief trip. I've been on the CZ so often I was anticipating what was coming next. I have a big trip scheduled for March (TRE-TUS) & your video makes it hard to wait. Keep shooting and posting! GPS was nice too, sure you enjoyed it.


Thanks rail_rider. I've enjoyed others' videos here too, really helps the new riders and those new to untraveled routes. Watching mine now about 5 months old and I'm getting anxious to do it again this summer.


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## An Amtrak Canadian (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks for posting. In early February we will be on the LSL, SWC and TE.

I have a question: Did you use a video camera or a digital camera?


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 25, 2010)

An Amtrak Canadian said:


> Thanks for posting. In early February we will be on the LSL, SWC and TE.
> I have a question: Did you use a video camera or a digital camera?


I was thinking about this last night, I should have mentioned it, thanks for reminding me.

Shot with a Canon Powershot A480 @ 640x480. Link to Canon A480.

I love these little Powershot cameras, the take decent stills, and the video is acceptable if it's not blown up for a full screen. I had taken a Canon full size video DVD recording camera before, but I could pack a dozen of the Powershots in the space that the bigger cam takes. The Powershot takes 2 AA batteries, so I use NiCads, keep a set in the charger and the set in the camera lasts for a hour of shooting. With an 8GB memory card I can record over an hour of video easy. Sure the bigger dedicated video camera does a much better job, but the little one does what I need. Also the A480 is so small people aren't always aware you're shooting.

By the way, I took this camera down behind the Canadian Falls at Niagara Falls when we detrained at Buffalo, and forever after the camera lens would seize when it extends from the body when switched on. Dumb move, moisture got in it. Fiddling and prying got it to eventually free up, but it was never the same the rest of the trip. I replaced the camera with an Powershot A1100IS. I have a Nikon D40 for stills, with a small selection of lenses.


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## An Amtrak Canadian (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks. I have a Fuji Finepix S700 with a 4GB memory card. I can download my videos and pics to my notebook so I should be fine. I also have a GPS receiver and map software so I will try to track where we are.


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## BillyJo (Jan 25, 2010)

Thanks for posting these videos. I'm taking a cross country trip in the summer, and seeing this video makes me look forward to the trip even more.


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 25, 2010)

An Amtrak Canadian said:


> Thanks. I have a Fuji Finepix S700 with a 4GB memory card. I can download my videos and pics to my notebook so I should be fine. I also have a GPS receiver and map software so I will try to track where we are.


Great, sounds like you'll have a good time! By the way I ditched my Dell laptop for train travel and picked up an Acer One netbook. Between switching to a small video camera and a netbook, my gear bag went from 24lbs to 16lbs.


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## PetalumaLoco (Jan 25, 2010)

BillyJo said:


> Thanks for posting these videos. I'm taking a cross country trip in the summer, and seeing this video makes me look forward to the trip even more.


Thanks for watching!


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