Good morning everyone,

Today I'd like to announce a "community membership drive" to help fund upgrades to my studio cameras, with a stretch goal of upgrading some of my automation software and hardware.

In appreciation for everyone who signs up (or is already signed up) as a $5/mo supporter on or before February 28th, I will be sending each of them a coupon to get my 287 digital video collection completely free! (details here: https://theautomationblog.com/tab1)

As far as goals, on the camera side I'd really like to upgrade the Studio A front and overhead cameras to 4K to allow me to get higher quality images of the equipment I feature in my content.

Being native 4K also helps on the editing side as it allows for much better digital zooming.

These cameras range from $1000 on the low end, to $2000 on the mid range side, and so my first goal would be to raise $2 to $4K from memberships (and one time donations) here on locals.

On the equipment side, I'm reaching out to see if you'd also be interested in helping me raise the funds to update my Rockwell software and hardware, including a copy of Studio 5000 Full, a 5581E, some Flex 5000, and some 5069 analog modules.

I should note here that I have tried for seven years to get donations from Rockwell (like I have from other vendors,) however sadly nothing has come from these efforts.

So that said, I'm turning to the community to see if you'd like to help fund these upgrades by making this a stretch goal for if/after the camera upgrade level is reached?

Membership drive status:

02-10-22: As I kick off this membership drive we have 500 members and 14 supporters.

If we could increase our $2/mo supporters to 250, that would fund one basic 4K and one mid-range 4K camera over six months, and that's my initial goal.

For the stretch goal, if we could get 1,000 to join the $2/mo membership plan, then we could get two mid-range 4K cameras as well as much of the above mentioned hardware, and likely also lease a copy of Studio 5000 Full for 12 months (I would prefer to own Studio5K Full outright, but the cost has gone up to ~$8K, so that would be a second stretch goal.)

That said, if you're interested in learning more about this membership drive, my goals, or would like to help outside of Locals, please don't hesitate to contact me directly here, or at [email protected], or give me a call at 413-749-4300.

Have a great rest of your week!

Sincerely,

Shawn Tierney