The Swiss Pagoda

The object in the heading image is not a refugee from a Transformers movie. Nor is it  the main mast from a Japanese battleship. It is a European tripod head that is constructed in the grand tradition of trying too hard to go too far.

Those of you who remember the advertisements for large format cameras made in Europe will recognise the principle. Make a piece of mechanics hinge upon itself in 14 different ways and then bend them all on for the publicity shot. Never mind that you only ever move the thing in very small increments in the studio or out in the field - it is a game of advertising excess to compete with other machine shops.

Notwithstanding the above, this is a superb tripod head. It tilts, pans, swivels, and then twirls around for panoramic pictures. It clamps onto Arca mounts...not surprising because it is made by Arca Swiss. It is terrifyingly adjustable for friction and position. First-time users will be lost in a minute and even old hands will spend time over-correcting themselves.

It is possibly the most precise head generally available and would suit everything from a mirrorless to a monorail. Indeed, with a fully-configured monorail large format camera the photographer would not even need to use film or make any exposures - their entire studio time could be devoted to adjusting the movements until their subject died, rusted, or blew away.

More practical landscape workers could eliminate the wretched ball head and substitute this for far more control - it would make sunsets mellower and rocky shores more rocky...

Welcome To 1953

Well, it seems like that sometimes. I look into my clothes closet at home and the smell of nostalgia and mothballs wafts out. The holes still appear in my clothes - the insects have taken to wearing tiny gas masks...

Users of mirrorless cameras who are heading overseas and wish to trick the airlines into letting them sit inside the fuselage but not pay extra for it often ask for impossibly small and light tripods. Here is one from Cullmann, based upon time-proven technology: the pull-0ut leg.

This has pop-stops to keep it extended - you can't ask it to support a big DSLR, but it will to the little cameras a treat.

You can do a bit of videoing with the pan and tilt head as well. It comes in a travel bag and costs very little*.

* $ 119

Nikon Camera And Lens Garner Awards

Nikon Australia has just sent word that their Nikon Df camera and NIKKOR AF-S 58mm f:1.4 G lens have received awards from the Camera GP organisation in Japan.

The Nikon Df camera received the Best Camera Of 2014 Award and the Reader's Award.

The NIKKOR AF-S 50,mm f:1.4 G lens received the Best Lens Of 2014 Award.

 Well-done to the designers and builders - the Japanese market is a very demanding one and the standards of their technical judging are stringent. Prospective buyers can do very well for themselves by examining the combo here at our shop.

Going On Safari? Come Up And See Me Sometime...

The Safari Season is upon us. People are gearing up to look at the wild animals in Africa, Alaska, and Europe*. As we speak tourists are packing backpacks the size of refrigerators with DSLRs, lenses, flashes, laptops, and waterproof apple corers. Because you never can tell when you will need to can apples in Constantinople in a rain storm.

Wise tourists who have done this before and have the chiropractor's bills to show for it may elect to take a smaller rig this time. Consider if your ambitions and plans might well be suited with a camera that has a 30X zoom lens, 4 second to 1/2000 second shutter, manual aperture and shutter wheel, and GPS built-in. And a Leica lens. And a proper viewfinder on the LHS of the body. And full HD video with stereo sound.

And fits in your top pocket as you go through the door of the airplane. And for which you have not paid excess baggage.

Panasonic TZ-60.

You may not know which wine to drink with your biltong or cheese fries, and you may not know a bear from a banjo, but you can capture the fun and the scenery without making a guy or a mule of yourself. You will be less likely to attract the attention of the local pickpockets, or at least they will concentrate on your passport and wallet, if you are not carrying a camera shop on your neck. The grizzlies and hyenas will be less likely to demand a fee for posing if you do not shoot with a DSLR.

You'll still have to deal with the Europeans, but at least you will have your hands free while you do it.

Nikon Firmware Updates Today

A number of Nikon users may wish to go over to the Nikon site to get firmware updates for their cameras - there is a large list published today for users of the Nikon 1 system:

1AW1
1J1
1J2
1J3
1S1
1V1
1V2
Coolpix S 3000
Coolpix S 5200
D800
D800E

You'll find the fastest links by typing in the code:

http://nikonasia-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a id/8***

The ***is a series of three numbers. These updates will show with the following numbers:

200
203
206
209
215
218
221
224
227
230
236


Good luck.The updating of firmware needs a full battery in your camera and a steady eye to get the codes right.

Wide Ideas From Voigtlander and Leica

If you are into landscape photography or architecture with the Leica, Fujifilm X-Pro1, Olympus micro 4/3, Panasonic Micro 4/3. or similar cameras that can take the Leica M-mount lenses, here are two very good ideas.

The first is the Voigtlander 21mm Ultron f:1.8lens. It has an integral metal lens hood as part of the mount but also has a filter thread on the front. heavy, solid construction and 1/2 stop detents between the full stop markings on the aperture ring. Apertures down to f:22. We have one for sale new at $ 1195.

The second lens is the multi-focal type from Leica. The 16-18-21 Tri-Elmar is intended to be used without an additional view-finder - eminently suitable for the Leica M or the new Leica T with the appropriate adapter. It is a little more - $ 6365 - But you can console yourself with the thought that the RRP is $ 7000.

Drop In Some Time

Normally I welcome birds. Whether they are the feathered variety or the ones that wear short skirts, they serve to brighten the day. Chirp, cheep and chat.

They also do other things. In this case all over one of the new television monitors put up by one of the major photographic equipment makers who has helped us make a new display area at the front of the shop.

I have heard it is good luck when a bird poops on you - a strange cultural concept but no worse than those involved in the Eurovision Song Contest. At least you can wipe off the bird, but the memory of some of those songs and acts on the ESC are going to be just indelible.

I shall be interested to see whether the brand that the bird selected now undergoes an increase in sales over the next month...

Note - this was likely to have been a Willy Wagtail - the miniature bully of the bird world.