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.

Who Can You Talk To About Photography? Ten Good Ideas...

We all need to talk to someone. In my house they do it when I am in the john - no end of conversations seem to be vital to the other members of the family whilst one is sitting down. The only way I can think of breaking of this habit is to open the door but this involves some loss of dignity...

For photographers, talking to someone is essential. Around your birthday you talk to the family about how you really, really need the new 12-2500mm zoom lens that has just been announced at Photokina and how much better it will make their lives. Sometimes this works.

Of course there are different divisions of photography and it occurred to me that each one has a different form of conversation:

1. Family photographers talk to the family. Initially in soft sweet words and eventually in parade ground tones.

2. Good portrait photographers talk to their subjects. Bad portrait photographers talk to their assistants.

3. Landscape photographers talk to themselves.

4. Food photographers talk to themselves but in different voices. Sometimes the voices talk back.

5. Sports photographers talk to the St. John's Ambulance  attendants.

6. Fashion photographers talk to the models. Slowly, and with little words.

7. Leica photographers talk to the Almighty. Once, in the morning, to give orders for the day.

8. Camera collectors talk to their cameras.

9. Darkroom workers never talk.

10. Photography Art collectors talk to their brokers.

If you wish to add any to this list please pop it onto our comments section or onto the Facebook page attached to this blog.

Uncle Dick

Last Chance And We're Not Lion About It - Tomorrow's The Day

If you want to experience the best of African images and find out how they are made - and plan how YOU might go and do the same - tomorrow at the State Library of WA  is your chance.

Iconic Images International - with Denis Glennon in charge - has arranged for Shem Compion to give a seminar about his books, his company( C4 Images and Safaris ), and
his experiences in the photo business in Africa.

That's tomorrow at 9:00 to 4:30, but you'll have to Google Denis on his website: Iconic Images International. Or you can ring him on:

08 9284 7373 or  0418 923 103

If you want to go to Africa with photo equipment, see Shem and then see us. He knows the stuff you need and we sell the stuff you need.

The Swedish Fortress Stands Secure - HB Defend Their Honour

Looks like the internet has struck again.

Inaccurately, of course, and anonymously, and with the worst possible motives*. But the victim has fought back.

Someone somewhere posted rumours that the finances of Hasselblad were in trouble.

Hasselblad themselves - with the authority of Ian Rawcliffe, the CEO of the company - have instantly quashed this. They are in damn good shape, they have an excellent product in their new medium-format camera, and they have new products coming in the pipeline.

Visitors to their stand at the forthcoming Photokina will be rewarded with glorious images and glorious devices to play with. Professional users of this brand will always be rewarded with the best working system there is.

Note: The Backstabbers Guild Of Australia never indulges in rumours about cameras. We recognise that the internet market is saturated with this form of nonsensical speculation already and we prefer to confine ourselves to more exclusive treachery.

* Commercial advantage. Rivalry. Moolah.

Another Three Arrows In Your Mirror-less Quiver

The advent of the Olympus and Panasonic mirror-less cameras - the micro 4/3 system - has seen some amazing lens performance from the two manufacturers. Each have unique focal length and aperture combinations as well as shared equipment. There are special features abounding , yet there is one thing in common between them - a common mount and operation.

Now there is a third alternative - another exclusively Japanese manufacturer has taken options on the mount design and operations - Sigma is in the game.

And in a good way. Sigma is making three micro 4/3 lenses in prime form that are proving to be superb in terms of resolution and colour performance. The new " Art " design for the barrels is very smooth and sleek and they all have the feel of quality in the focussing.

We've tested them here on our cameras and our Olympus expert, Gavin, has had a chance to go head-to-head with equivalent Olympus lenses. Even he is impressed.

I am hoping that they also take up options for Fuji X mount and fill in with these focal lengths. I use a Sigma currently on an APS-C DSLR and am more than happy with the performance.

A Wonderful Chance To Pursue A Dream - With Iconic Images

Iconic Images International and Denis Glennon have had a chance to see a great deal of the world and have recognised that you want to as well, To this end, they have arranged for a world-renouned author and photographer to present a seminar here in Perth later this month.

Their speaker, Shem Compion has many awards and books to his name - he is a photographer, hide designer, and author. Now he speaks and conducts workshops that help others to learn the mechanics and rhythms of his art. He has one of the most successful firms in Africa that deal with the subject; C4 Images and Safaris - he has also provided work for the BBC series "Planet Earth".

His workshop will be held at the State Library of WA on Saturday, 17th of May. It goes from 9:00 to 4:30.

Details of this as well as tickets to book a place can be obtained by going to the Iconic Images International website - it pops up first-off on Google.

Or you can ring Denis on 08 9284 7373 or 0418 923 103.

The website has some magnificent images to whet your appetite - Mr Compion has the information you need to know to make your own.

Forget Forgetting - Carry A Spare In The Boot - With Promaster

No end of people need a tripod for the occasional landscape or group shot, but never want to carry their big studio model with them. They sometimes try to get a tiny travel tripod to attach to their camera bag but are horrified when they see the weight and size equation that this creates.

Overseas travel needs this equation to be solved with very small figures - but that means that the price goes up. That is inescapable - and if you add a further requirement of large lenses or camera bodies you need to go even further up the price scale. Eventually it becomes cheaper to just import the landscape rather than buy the tripod that you need to go photograph it...

If you are only going to be in the city, state, or country and plan to drive your car to the shoot, think about having a really cheap and light tripod in the boot of the car. It will be best suited to mirror-less cameras and it will not have carbon fibre or super complicated head but it will be there when you need it. If your wife drops a bag of superphosphate on it you'll only be out 50 bucks.

We've got good, cheap Promaster Vectra Delux tripods in store right now  for $ 50. Flip-lock legs, central rising column, three-way video head and even a little quick-release plate. You can afford it and you might just need it.

Something for the weekend, Sir?

When You Know What You Want...

You can get it.

This was borne home to me two days ago when the chief of a dance troupe brought her ladies to the studio for publicity shots. She could tell me where the images would go, what size they needed to be, and the projected colouration of the graphic designs. She told the dancers how to dress, and what poses she wanted. She watched them and aided their posing - between her and I we got the best out of them - even the novices. They were very theatrical.

The post-prod was a dream. The chief now has a selection of poses, groups, displays, dances, and costumes. The ladies are going to look magnificent. It all ran through Aperture with only 3.75% having to go over to Photoshop for serious correction.

As a result, the work time was dramatically reduced and the cost to the customer substantially less than it has been for other troupes.

Now, if you can do this in your own photography...I mean figure out before you sally forth exactly what you want to achieve...you can be equally successful. Okay, you don't have to approach it like a Prussian Guards regiment and never deviate in spite of the cannon balls, but do know what you want as you go for it.

This also has an echo here in the shop. Wander, please. Look, speculate, ponder. Ask an intelligent question if need be - the staff's little faces will light up. No need to tell us what the latest rumour site has reported because we read that stuff too*. In any case, do think  - for yourself - about what YOU want to do. Then you are more likely to be able to do it.

* I read it in theatrical accents - makes it funnier...

Rubber Balloons

Those of you who remember the Benny Hill sketch on television that ended up with the punch line " Rubber balloons " may now blush in shame....

The question of rubber arose the other week when the new Nikon D4s was shown here at the shop. The Nikon representative took all of the staff into her confidence about the new features of the camera. The more arcane aspects of predictive double back bounce around tracking focus were a mystery to me - other than realising that the camera makes pictures in focus in spite of the user  - but I did fasten upon one new aspect; Nikon have changed the rubber composition for the grips on this new camera.

Not before time. I use the Nikon D300 and D300s and love them for the images they take and the ease of use that they exhibit...but I hate the grips.

Oh, they are comfortably-shaped and soft and squishy, but that is because they apparently contain a large proportion of silicon in the rubber. They are fastened to the body panels of the camera with double sided sticky tape and while the tape takes to the body it eventually peels off the grips. They flap open under your hand. I've had the D300 ones reset by Ernest but my sweaty fingers will undo them again the the future.

Joy of Joys, Nikon changed the formulation of the  rubber for their new flagship camera. A little less squishy and a lot more likely to stick onto the camera for the foreseeable future. Good boys.

Note: the big Canon cameras don't do this, but their grips are a little harder and thinner. Leica has opted for a bare metal body on their new T, though you can cover it with a clip-on plastic surface case. Fuji, Panasonic, and Olympus seem to be able to stay together pretty well.

Now whether they various manufacturers have opted for well-shaped grips or not is another matter - and the subject of another blog...

Houston -The Dot Has Landed - And Taken Off Again

Well the Leica T is pretty much here - we had a product launch last night with Daniel from Leica showing the camera, lenses, and accessories.

If you want to see it today...you can't. He took it away again. HOWEVER...he and Saul promised that the whole shooting match will be back here in the shop on the 28th of May, in stock, supplies for sale - you bring money, you get camera.

The whole shooting match includes a range of accessories - two lenses are to be made with the T mount right now and more are coming. There is an adapter to let you use Leica M mount lenses on the camera. There are four fitted plastic cases and a leather model. There will be system cases. There is an electronic viewfinder with GPS in it. There will be a new flash. There is the best camera neck strap in the universe available for it and some pretty snazzy coloured wrist straps. The batteries are to be colour-coded for the camera colour - because they feature a metal plate at the end that forms part of the external surface of the camera.

The device itself is elegantly designed and uniquely manufactured. Only two buttons  -shutter and video start/stop. The rest of the commands go through the very large touch screen.

You are not overwhelmed when you turn the screen on - you pick the criteria that you wish to deal with and cache them in your own interface screen. If you are a steady customer you just need a few controls. If you are the type who jitters around a lot you can have a lot of things to fiddle with. Your choice.

As with many modern devices, it Wi's and Fi's and you can control it from your electronic ear warmer, pocket warmer, or lap warmer. If you wish to put it on the end of a pole and wave it over the wall you can fire it from the ground. Do not laugh - someone will.

The strap that we alluded to earlier is the best in the place because it plugs into the camera body with a minimum of fuss - you get to keep your fingernails - and it is a tough, smooth neoprene rubber. Entirely in keeping with the style of the camera.

The " Leica Enthusiast " who worries whether the company has done a good thing can rest assured. They have. It's an elegant but not as expensive option to the big 'ol M camera. It will develop its own line of lenses and followers. The geeks on forums who cannot afford to buy it will bat the idea of it about like they always do, but the people who can afford to buy it will have a wonderful instrument that takes wonderful pictures.

Red Dot Special

Well, we seen it.

Turns out to be a new Leica camera. Carved out of a solid block of aluminium and polished by hand.

Lens on front, screen on back, no buttons apart from the shutter one - all screen touching for operation. New lens mount - adapters will be made for older Leica lenses.

Most stylish camera on the block today.

Will be on sale after the 28th of May.

Anti-Ken

I rarely indulge in video clips on the computer. There is too much to do in my own computer room on my own files - not to mention writing two more blogs at home - to spend time watching people bicycling into trees or crashing cars in Russia.

Last night, however, I chased up a video segment that had popped up on the work computer. I'd dialled up Ken Rockwell to look up a specification on an old lens - he reviews them on a regular basis. The Google search engine turned up another blogger who makes long video segments - one promised to tell us how Ken Rockwell was dangerous for photography...

Wrong, annoying, crass...these were adjectives I could understand. But dangerous? That seemed sort of inflammatory. So I did the right thing - I did not indulge here on the firm's time - I waited until I was at home to look this one up.

The blogger has a dead set against Rockwell, but he excuses it by saying that he has talked with the chap himself. Then he proceeds to malign him liberally for advice he has given on a small camera. The advice might have been simplistic, but the audience that Ken was writing for in respect of the little entry-level camera are simple people with simple needs.

The performance of the blogger, with his wingman and "producer" watching was interesting - theatrical and overblown. Perhaps it was aimed at a particular audience as well. I found it as annoying as anything that Rockwell writes but without any of the charm.

Investigate it at your leisure - or your pleasure, if it proves to be so. I think I am going to let them both disappear over the mental horizon firing on each other and not bother going to search for survivors...

Launch Day

Today is a momentous day for the Western World. Or at least the portion of the Western World that hovers around 230 Stirling Street...and for that matter those members of the Eastern World who do the same...

Today is Launch Day for a new Leica product. I'm not allowed to show it here on the blog, but that is okay because I have not seen it myself. I can say it is smaller than the Graf Zeppelin and more expensive than a Kinder Surprise egg. It may, or may not take digital pictures and it may, or may not be carved out of a solid block of metal. Actually that also applies to the Kinder Surprise too...

After work we are going to have ...more work...as we roll out the new item and celebrate it. There will, presumably, be drinks and snacks. If not, there will, assuredly, be murder.

Watch for us in the papers.

Nik, Nik, Nikkor...

Here's the chance to get that New Nikkor lens for your Nikon camera Now and have cash in your hand. Or your bank account, as it works out.

Nikon Australia are handing out cash-backs for lenses bought this month. Here's the list of lenses that qualify and what you get back.

AF-S 35mm f:1.8G                                     $ 25
AF-S 18-200mm ED VRII                     $ 50
AF-S 50mm f:1.8G                                    $ 25
AF-S 24-120mm f:4G IF ED VR         $ 150
AF-S 70-200mm f:4G ED VR              $ 100
AF-S 58mm f:1.4G                                    $ 75
AF-S 85mm f:1.4G                                    $ 75
AF-S 14-24 f:2.8G ED                             $ 225
AF-S 24-70 f:2.8G ED                            $ 225
AF-S 28-300 f:3.5-5.6 IF ED VR           $ 75
AF-S 70-200 f:2.8G ED VR II             $ 225

These are payments made from Nikon Australia to you - quite independent of the authorised Nikon dealer - like we are are. Make a note of that...authorised. Not back yard or granny's basement market stalls...It pays to deal with the real deal.

Nikon.

Of Course You Can't...But Here Is Your Chance Anyway.

Never let it be said. At least not by you. And if someone else says it, go deaf.

There are any number of things that you can't do, but if you can maintain a healthy level of ignorance you can generally accomplish whatever it is that you start. Once you admit doubt and accept advice you are sunk.

It is the Wiley Coyote principle - you can run as far over the cliff as you like but once you look down that is where you go.

A case in point is one of the staff members who wanted a bowl of home-made chicken soup. Not having ever made it before he gathered the haziest description of the process, and a chicken and ran full-tilt at the problem. He appears to have succeeded, if the big bowl of chicken noodle soup and kneidlach that he put in the fridge is any indication. We shall be testing his skill at lunch time. If the shop is closed tomorrow, you may draw your own conclusions. I am willing to try it, but I ain't lookin' down...

Similarly, the owners of digital cameras can exercise the same courage and resolution by skim-reading their camera manuals, closing one eye and reading Ken Rockwell, and pressing all the buttons in the menu. I am doing that right now with one of  the Fujifilm cameras that I have - unfortunately the computer system I have is too old to support the RAW file for this camera, though it does support the files for the other two Fujifilm cameras in the stable. I am in jpeg only, though you must remember that Fujifilm jpegs are wonderful files.

My computer system is also of a type that does not show all the gazillions of colour variations that the professional EIZO monitors do, so I am going to restrict the colour space of the camera to the gamut that the screen can use - and that my screen readers can see - and see if it makes a difference to the actual end result. Some will decry it, and advise against it...but then they said that about shelling Verdun and that worked out pretty well in the end.

Adventurous Printing With Epson And GoPro

Well, you can't fault the logic of it. Buy an Epson inkjet printer and get a miniature adventure camera. The best of both worlds.

Go out and video yourself skateboarding over a cliff with a jet pack, wings, and a motorcycle attached - underwater - as you do...and when you are sitting at home safe and dry and comfortable...in your cast with the traction weights pulling your hip straight again, you can get the lady from Silver Chain to make some great A3+ prints of you.

Okay, that's more cynicism than Epson intended when they bundled the R3000 printer with a GoPro Silver edition action camera in a special offer, and you will probably do no worse that take pictures of the kids falling off the trampoline onto the concrete.

The printer is great - I have one and it hasn't failed in anything I ask it to do - gloss, lustre, or matte - the prints are what I expect to see and the thing is quite economical with ink. We use one to make shop advertising posters and it is as good as the commercially printed material the manufacturers send us. Plus we get to do it on the spot. Thoroughly recommended.

The GoPro cameras are the doyen of this sort of machine. Whether you are recording carnage on Russian roads or swimming carnivals back home, it produces sharp, spectacular footage of whatever passes in front of the wide-angle lens. There are any number of accessories to latch these to people, vehicles, and objects and you can work Wifi and remote operation in case you don't want to be attached to it when it hits the rock face...

Nurse! Time for my sponge bath!

Circle The Wagons - Here Come The Native ISO's

The question about natives is...are they friendly natives?

The answer to this question sometimes depends on which side of he conversation you are on. ie. Don't ask General Sheridan and expect a comfortable answer...

In the case of the native ISO of digital cameras, this seems to be fixed around the 160-200 mark. I suspect that it is a characteristic of the actual component and is a function of the composition of the silicon layer and whatever the current state of division thereof. I have discovered that these sensors are manufactured by a very few companies - and in many cases well-known camera companies are using sensors that are manufactured by business rivals.

And they are all perfectly okay with this as each manufacturer takes the sensor and then does different things with the signal - one optimises it for one thing and one for another.

I was apprised of this by reading a book this weekend - " Mastering the Fujifilm X-E1 and X-Pro1 " by Rico Pfirstinger. It is a Rockynook book obtainable at Boffins Bookstore in William Street.

In the chapter that deals with ISO settings it makes the point that the native ISO of the two cameras it deals with is 200, and the camera always takes its picture at this 200 - even if you set it to ISO 1600 or higher. What it is doing to present you with a picture at that higher ISO is underexposing the image and then dealing with that underexposure through software. And apparently doing it very well.

This strikes me as true of all of them, and explains the improved characteristics of each new model of camera from any one manufacturer - they are not adding a new sensor in many cases - just re-writing the mathematics of the signal processing. Then I realised I was not reading carefully enough...

Fujifilm has a different sensor from others - it really does have a different pattern of receptor sites from most of the others, and can benefit users greatly in the way of resolution and clarity. The X-trans sensor may very well be quite different indeed. But I take it that it still looks at the world at 200 ISO and then just shuffles the electrons to get up to a clean 6400.

Who'da thunk it?

Share Seamlessly Amongst All Your Devices With Drobo

I love advertising. I can't pass a billboard offering worm powders for budgies without experiencing a thrill - and the desire to spend money on worm powder. I don't have a budgie but wouldn't it be great to be prepared for one - just in case...

The same can be said about camera advertisements. I still keep a stack of pictures of 35mm systems from the 1970's under my pillow, and pull them out and stare at them. I cannot focus on the bellows close-up system for too long - I have to peek at it and glance away. The image is too powerful and I have been known to faint and fall to the floor. I'm sure a lot of the clients of our shop feel the same way.

Given this susceptibility, can you imagine how the advertisement for " Share Your Images Seamlessly To All Your Devices " affected me. I looked around wildly - the television, the computer, the mobile phone...the toaster, the vacuum cleaner, the croquet set...the world whirled. Digits everywhere.

I am terrified. What if I cannot escape the march of the images? What if every time I look into the mirror I see something different in the background. I am just now getting used to the old balding guy in there ( and he's getting more HDR as the years go on ). If he starts being backed up with a paddock full of ghost gums or a harbour full of French fishing boats all hell will break loose.

Will the images from my Drobo sneak out of the hard disk and seep over into the neighbour's house? Who knows - I can't watch over them all the time. They might be going out and having a better time that I am. they might come home late and covered with chromatic aberration.

I have long become resigned to having every blessed thing I do monitored by management, the CIA, the NSA, Mossad, The KGB, and Coles-Myer. Which reminds me, I must look out my KGB card as they are doing a 2 for 1 sale this weekend in brainwashing. I've seen the state of my brain and it could certainly do with a rinse. But I do hope that the pictures can be left alone.

Reading The Book

" I don't know anything about cameras but I want one to take good pictures and I'm going away tomorrow and which is the best one? I get discount."

Good thing , that. Not the discount bit, mind... the going away part. You'll have a good 3-6 hours on a Boeing with your knees in your chin and you can balance the camera instruction manual on them. If you can't become an award-winning iconic master in that time well where is the world coming to.

You're in good company - a long line of Australians have headed to Singapore, Bali, and Bolivia with a new 35mm camera in a leather case and a little Japlish instruction book in the bag. The ones who took a boat were better off as they had more time to read and were not likely to have their ( mostly blank )  colour slides back from the processor until they returned home. It was disappointment deferred.

It was a bit better in the 1960's as there was a longer time-frame for a number of things. Items came from the eastern states at a slower pace and people in the west accepted that they might not get what they wanted inside a fortnight. There was no instant view of an item bouncing on a screen to promise them instant delivery. The wise ones used the time interval to study up on what to do with the new camera that was coming. The less-wise just opened the instruction book ( " Thank You for the buying to this fine instrument...") and winged it.

I must complement the writers from Japan. They now make an instruction book that instructs - it may be plodding and patronising, but it actually explains what happens when you press the button. The more cynical members of the trade sometimes feel that there are too many features offered ( full-time birthday face recognition predictive AF exposure compensation for pets being one, particularly when the Schnauzer is in HDR...) but people want to push buttons anyway so you might as well give them buttons to push. It keeps their fingers away from the front of the lens.

As for right now, please remember to put your instruction book into airplane mode before you buckle up.

Buya Body, Buddy...

The Nikon cash back deals start today.

First cabs off the rank are the Nikon D 610 full-frame digital camera body and the Nikon D 800 full-frame digital camera body.

On the first one you can receive $ 50 cash straight back from Nikon via their My Nikon Life website. On the second you can receive $ 200 back in your bank account via the same means.

These payments are quite independent of the prices you might pay to the authorised Nikon dealers - like us. The ones that sell Nikon equipment that is backed by the two0-year Nikon Australia warranty...

The Nikon website is:

http://mynikonlife.com.au

Summer vacation time is coming to the northern hemisphere and if you are headed off for NA or EU now is the time to take advantage of the cashback. Combine it with the TRS refund at the airport and the idea becomes very $$$ attractive $$$.

Eight Bars Of Entertainment And Thirty Two Bars Of Music

Those of you who have ever attended a belly dance show know what I mean - particularly if it is traditional, nostalgic, and culturally sensitive. The saving grace for a photographer of these events is the fact that if you missed it the first time, you have three more goes to capture it...

The same might be said for many aspects of photography - I mean about the repetition. I see a number of club contests that set out categories for images. The contestants are pretty good in what they do - they follow the categories and fulfil the set subject criteria - and there is a very high level of technical skill.

There is also a warm nostalgia about some of the images. Not only is the image of the rusted 1937 Ford truck* in the wheat belt paddock evocative of 1937 and the wheatbelt, it is reminiscent of every club competition since 1938, both in and out of the wheat belt.

Some of the subjects are actually the same. Mrs. Ah Wen Chung has served as the wrinkled smoking Chinese woman for club photography since 1957. It has been steady employment for her, and apart from a racking cough, has benefitted her and her family.

We are hoping for a little change in the landscape section in 2016 as the Albany Shire Council has decided to cement up The Gap. If they sell off Wave Rock to the Chinese government we may have to fall back on sunsets and Bluff Knoll. Mind you, hauling a rusted 1937 Ford truck up the top of Bluff Knoll will be a royal pain.

Still, look on the bright side - in November of this year the Albany Shire Tourist Trappers Association will be combining with the Royal Australian Navy, The Not Imperial Any More Japanese Navy, and as many of the local RSL members as can be coaxed out of the bar to commemorate the passing of the ANZAC fleet in 1914. Albany will be Where It's At. What an opportunity for he photographer to capture the scene. Flags flying. Bands playing. Coffee stalls perking. Politicians speaking. Don't worry about missing the speeches - you'll have three more goes...

* The original 1937 Ford has been replaced with a fibreglass replica. Good from the front.

Let Us Intrude In Your Train Of Thought

Don't get steamed if we derail your train of thought. Make a bridge - or a trestle - and get over it. This is no time to be a sleeper. Switch to large format.

Aren't you sorry you started reading this?

Okay, enough of the train jokes. We are in a bind down here. We have had what appears to be a large amount of fresh large format film arrive and the fridge is getting crowded out.

Ilford HP5 - 400 ISO. Great 4 x 5 film and we've gotta lotta it.

Come down now for a bargain on this  - it is totally fresh.

Make tracks for the shop...

Second Generation Pentax Medium Format Digital

You can draw your own conclusions about buying photo equipment that is in a line of development - whether it is better to buy the first new thing or wait until the second model comes out.

This has been the case for medium-format digital cameras for some time now. One manufacturer brings of model A then model B and model C and so on. Where you climb aboard the trolley is your choice - sometimes that choice is dictated by performance and sometimes by money.

Up until now, Pentax medium format users have been working with the very good Pentax 645D. Performance reminiscent of the Pentax 645 but with the convenience and performance of a large digital sensor. The users of this camera have remarked on the similarities to the other Pentax range in the convenience and ease of use.

Well, we've swung into the second generation - the Pentax people have just announced that the new Pentax 645Z is ready for release.

That convenience and ease of use has been preserved, and to some extent improved upon with a tilting 3.2" LCD screen at the rear. Think waist-level finder in the studio. No more aching-back shoots!

The specs are good - 51.4 effective megapixels in the sensor - 3 FPS - full HD and 4K interval shooting. USB 3.0 connectivity.

The sensor is 43.8mm x 32.8mm so you are getting a great deal of information into your files - this is coupled with a new light metering system for success even in difficult exposure conditions.

And final joy - it is a weather-esealed body. Go into the field with confidence.

The Answer Is Right/Left To Hand

Yesterday I was discussing camera operation with one of our clients - he had just finished a trip to take surfing and landscape shots up through some wild country in the Dutch East Indies.

He was using a couple of the bigger DSLR bodies for his work, and was very successful in his capture - the surfing shots are perfectly timed and the village and lagoon images are wonderful art. All good for him, but he mentioned the difficulty he had in trying to operate a camera while he was travelling on a motorcycle.

The M/C had a throttle on the right handlebar and trying to operate a standard DSLR while controlling the bike sounded like a juggler's nightmare. Lucky he and the cameras are still in one piece. Right-hand operation being the absolute for all cameras now, he was in trouble.

Readers will remember that film Exakta cameras were left-hand operation, but this was a long while ago and a long way away. No-one seems to have been inclined to repeat  the design for the digital era.

Puzzling - the operation of digital cameras is electronic. That means the shot is done with the closing of an electrical switch. It might then cause a lot of electronic commands inside  but it starts with two bits of metal touching because you pushed your forefinger down.

Well, you can push your left forefinger down as well as you can your right one. More particularly, if the little designers in Japan can make a bolt-on camera grip with a trigger that sits on the right of the camera, they can make one for the left hand side as well. All it's gotta do is close that first circuit...

AND WOULDN'T THAT BE A HELLUVA WAY TO GRAB THE CAMERA MARKET AWAY FROM YOUR COMPETITORS?

You could dial into 30% of the population right there and you wouldn't have to redesign the main body. Just make a LHS grip with a switch.

GO, Boys. DO it. And remember that I could use another trip to Japan as a thank-you for the idea...

A Pronouncement From Olympus

One of the cheeriest things we can hear is someone offering us money. It regularly gladdens the heart and makes the day light. We welcome it here at the shop and encourage customers to do it regularly.

Our suppliers also like to do it. In this case, the Olympus company is offering cash-backs to purchasers of their fine cameras and lenses.

Like many of these offers, this is an independent thing - it is them and not us, though we commend them for their zeal and public spirit.

Briefly, if you purchase selected kits or pieces of Olympus photographic equipment between now and the end of the Australian financial year - midnight in June 30th 2014 - you will receive money back from Olympus. As with many of these, your claim for this money must be done on-line to Olympus with details of name, bank, etc. and proof of purchase/serial number/etc. All legal stuff but easy to do.

The equipment eligible for the cash-back payments looks to be quite a wide cross section of their micro 4/3 line. I see OM-D E-M1 cameras, OM-D E-M5 and PEN E-P5 bodies mentioned as well as Pen E-PL5 and E-PM2 bodies as well as a good selection of lenses.

The money offered ranges from $ 300 to $100 depending upon the equipment. You could score quite a return if you bought a comprehensive kit.

And here is the real point - cash-back or no, you still get one of the most successful and convenient mirror-less cameras to take pictures with. THAT'S why you buy it, Folks...

A Looming Problem - The Wide Angle Lens

Those of you who have shot 21mm Super Angulon lenses on Leica film cameras may skip this post. Also anyone who has ever owned an 18mm Hologon. You know the drill already.

I discovered the effects of superwide angle shooting at the Burswood Hot Rod Show in 2012. I took the 8-16 Sigma lens into the Burswood Dome on my Nikon D300 and shot away. The images in the viewfinder had straight edges - the 8-16 does not do fisheye distortion. They looked amazing - despite the fact that the lighting was appalling.

A recent review of those pictures horrified me. Every car shot from the front or rear quarter looms out of the picture like a cartoon monster. It is reminiscent of the worst of the old Linhof Chamber Of Horror articles. I got the cars on the sensor in the crowded conditions, but the images are neither attractive nor accurate.

I tried again with the 23mm lens on the Fujifilm X-100 at the Big Al Show this year and was pleased with the results - as the lens replicates what the 35mm lens saw on a film camera, there was much less distortion. Mind you, it was necessary to back off further on the open ground to get the entire car in the frame, and this might have been difficult in a closed venue.

The compromise between the two seems to be a focal length of 18-19 mm on an APSC sensor. It approximates 28mm on a film camera. I can achieve it on the Fujifilm X-E2 with the 18mm f:2 lens or by screwing the WCL-100 to the front of the X-100. There is more to see, but it does not loom out of the picture - a good balance.

And I can agree with Fujifilm - the WCL-100 does not degrade the image of the X-100 lens in any way.

Note: the Bugatti is a deliberate artwork in the Art gallery of NSW. Marvellous, but not driveable, except in your dreams.

Mass Murder For Photographers - Is There An Alternative?

As I took pictures yesterday at the car show I was struck by several things. Prams, fat Englishmen, and delusional farmers from Dalwallinu. Photography in crowds can be like that, and the chief thing that it will put you in mind of is being caught in a stampede in a Brazilian football stadium.

I have tried to develop a scientific theory of crowd movement in hopes of devising some way to circumvent them. When I try to take a picture of a vehicle it is always best to have an unimpeded view - my readers don't want to see a family of five out for the day.

Public shows attract the public, however, and they move in packs  - slowly - from one exhibit to the next. It probably would not matter whether they were viewing Fabergé eggs in the Winter palace or dried fruit at the Royal Show - they would still move in a stately and disorganised manner and would block the view of anyone trying to photograph the exhibits. There is a rhythm to their wanderings - one group moves out of the way and another one moves in - it is almost as if they are doing a tag-team. They do not move quickly, but they do effectively prevent taking the picture.

The picture of the bus is a case in point. I am delighted with it, but I realise that it cost me over ten minutes of waiting and clearing my throat to achieve the empty space. I am glad that the camera was operating at 1/500 of a second as this was about the interval before the next kid with the ice cream piled into frame.

I think part of the problem is the fact that the Fujifilm X-100 outfit is so small and unobtrusive. Also I dress not to be noticed. So no one notices that I am trying to do a job there. In the old days of a medium format camera and a tripod and a bulb flash on a coiled cord you made more of a statement and people kept out of the way.

Perhaps it is time to put the X-100 on a tripod and the flash on a coiled cord. Plus wear a high-vis vest with Official Photographer on it. Or to be more accurate...Officious Photographer. Most of the crowd wouldn't know the difference.

Proof Of The Pudding

You'll recall that the last blog posting mentioned a new wide-angle converter for the Fujifilm X-100 series of cameras. It converts the 23mm lens that is fixed on the X-100 and X-100s to 19mm. You might think that 4 mm wider is not significant...but it really is.

Wide angle photography is a funny business. Leaving out panoramas and wide-format film cameras...and these are truly funny...we come to the way that standard digital cameras can be made to see a wide view of the world. Please keep in mind that wide also means high - when you drop the focal length by whatever means you effectively pack more into the frame vertically as well as horizontally. In other words you don't change the aspect ratio as you shoot.

Except, of course, when you do, Some cameras allow you to shoot in a 16:9 format to accommodate wide-screen television display. One client recently found that his camera has an external switch that does this, and when he inadvertently clicked it over he got image files that do not print out all that well on standard 2:3 inkjet paper. Now he knows.

For my part, I exercised the new converter on the X-100 at the Whiteman Park car show yesterday. There was a Nikon SB 700 helping to add sparkle and to cope with the shadows when the sun came out. It all worked splendidly.

As far as I can determine, the shots from this show are every bit as sharp as those taken with the companion camera - the Fujifilm X-E2 - taken at a previous show. In addition, the leaf shutter of the X-100 meant that I could run the shutter speed up and down for background effect without worrying about  getting the wrong flash synchronisation.

The focal length on the camera is now effectively 19mm and this approximates to 28mm on a full-frame camera. This is wide enough to allow a little closer shooting at a car show but avoids the looming corner effect of wider focal lengths - this is about as wide as you want to go to preserve some proportion in the result.

It must be noted, however, that if you need to go close-in, you need to unscrew the converter, turn off the powerful Nikon SB 700, and use the in-built flash on the camera. If you leave the converter in place you get a semi-circular shadow on the bottom of the image where the lens blocks the light.

Methinks the next stage of experimentation is to put a Fujifilm TTL flash on a coiled cord and see if it can overcome this handicap.

Will Wider be Wiser With Fujifilm?

Justin put me on to it. Or is that put me up to it...?

 He looked at my car pictures and recommended that I use my Fujifilm X 100 for daytime shots - better flash integration than a DSLR and a great deal lighter burden to haul about.

I needed a bit wider view than the fixed lens on the X100. It is 23mm and equates to the view that one would get with a 35mm lens on a film camera. I really wanted the view that one gets with a 24-28mm on a film camera but on the Fujifilm sensor.

Hey, presto, Fujifilm make just the thing. I ordered a WCL X100 converter lens. Mine is black to match the camera, but we also got in two more for stock - another black and a silver. That's what you see paired to the shop's Fujifilm X100s in the picture.

I've tried mine at home in the semi-gloom and it looks like it works - now to try it on Sunday at the car show at Whiteman Park. I shall show you the results so that you can compare them next week.

Note: the converter is actually small and light so it doesn't seriously affect the balance of the camera.

Canon - A Shining Light Into The Future

Canon Australia have come up with a very interesting proposition for users of their products - if they become become members of their photo-interest club, they can submit images of subjects that inspire them. The phrase being " Shine a light on..." as if we are spotlighting something.

The photographer is the one making the decision about what it is that is to be promoted. If they are ultimately successful in illustrating their passion with the Canon products they own - and that success is to be judged professionally by Canon and other photo experts - then Canon Australia will showcase their image and promote their interest through the Library of NSW, their own marketing, and a documentary to be made involving the photographer.

They have published full details of this contest on their Canon Australia website and we encourage people to go and have a look at it. Even if you are not competing, or do not win, you will be rewarded by looking at the entries. And you will get a unique insight into the psyche of the photographers...

The Ball O Light - Gary Fong In The Steampunk Era

I am glad that the neighbours can't see me in my little studio. They would ring the department, the men in the white coats would come, and that would be the end of it. As it is, I close the curtains and put on my Mad Doctor outfit and start experimenting...

The current line of research revolves around a steampunk event that will be run in May. I've decided to run a portrait set-up and have been assembling the equipment and the lighting. The get-up is no problem - I've been wearing steampunk outfits for the last twenty years at various events and it has stopped being costume long ago - it is clothing now, and old clothing at that...

The camera is the new Moriarty Portrait camera - supplied innocently by Justin Moriarty and the Fujifilm company. Not that they knew it at the time, mind, but I'm sure they will be charmed by the results in the end. Hey, any company that deliberately gives me a sepia setting in the menu of their digital camera ( the X-E2) must expect me to grab the idea and run with it. If they will kindly put a daguerreotype, ambrotype, and tintype setting in as well I will send them a bouquet of chrysanthemums.

Camera sorted, I have turned to lighting. As tempting as it is to devise a lighting system that incorporates a miniature steam engine ( Saito Mfg.. from Japan), a motorcycle generator, and antique light fittings, the work and oily mess involved would make photography impossible. So I have chickened out and  opted for electronic flash.

The Elinchrom Quadra system would do it on a professional basis - two light stands, two heads, battery controller, Skyport trigger and such, but I don't own one and I don't want to borrow one of the Rental Department's kits. The idea of steampunk is you think it up and make it yourself.

I do own some Nikon SB 700 speed lights so I turned to one of them and the Gary Fong collapsible Lightsphere. In the top the sphere I dropped one of the silver diffusers - up until now I have never been able to make this chrome accessory do anything. Now it is brilliant. It fires the light out into a flat annular pattern while still allowing some of it to exit the top of the Fong going toward the ceiling.

The result is absolutely even lighting and some degree of reverse fill in the shadows to the back of the portrait subject. No hot spot on the frontal planes of the face and no burn-out on bald heads. ( I have found my own pate useful for test purposes...)

I've got the light on a standard light stand and  have found that the legs of it can stand within the compass of my tripod legs - thus reducing the chances for people stumbling over them in the dark of a ballroom. I am thinking of decorating the legs of the tripod to further warn off the punters.

Next experiment will be to reduce the output from the Fong and do a hand-held SB 700 with a snoot or grip for spot lighting. Steam on!

Serving On The DEW Line

Easter in our family is traditionally spent serving on the DEW line.

No, not that chain of radar stations and weather * domes across Alaska and Canada - someone else can sit up there and freeze if they want to. No, I mean DEW all the things that have built up over summer before the rains make it impossible. This includes cleaning the arrows out of the gutters, hosing the lounge room, and burying the pets.

It is also wise to clean and oil the photographic equipment and change any parts that have broken. Dead pixels can be removed from sensors - not a job for people with shaky hands, I must say - and the computer screen can be collaborated. Or is that salivated? Well you do something to it and then it is ready for winter.

This year I tried all the lenses on all the bodies to reassure myself that the contacts still worked. One battery grip proved to be faulty but when I checked it here at work it came good. I put that down to the beneficent influence of our repair department. I am still waiting for the batteries in my Nikon cameras to give up the ghost but they are proving to be immortal.

Cleaning the sand out of the tripod legs has proved to be both a good and bad idea - I have a small beach on the floor of the computer room now. I used shotgun swab to clean the inside of the tubes and then oiled them with Ballistol. It might not be what the manufacturers use but it has proved to be perfect for every other use I have ever put it to and I can't see why this won't succeed. The smell is very comforting - Ballistol in the morning smells like victory...

The computer was not neglected. I blew through the circuits with a 24 v aircraft starter battery and everything seems freer now. I used fffg powder last year and it let quite a residue.

So we're all ready for winter. Hope you've been as busy yourselves.

* New Zealand also has a DEW line. It has wether domes...

I Missed A Call From This Number...

Well shame on you. There we went to all the trouble to look up your number and dial it with care and that's the way you treat us? Hah!

Today's phone technology is wonderful. And of course it is shared by the wonderful internet technology. And sometimes I am left wondering what new horrors will emerge...

Speed redial. If the number you call does not answer because the staff are all serving customers over the counter or trying to deal with other phone calls, just hang up and then press the redial button for as long as you want. You may still not get and answer because the staff are still busy, but at least you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you are making the chaos worse.

Missing a call is inconvenient. If it was the last gasp of your dying Auntie, it is sad. If it was your only chance at winning the $ 5,000,000 Lotto it is tragic. If it was just a call to tell you that your 3/8" wamblot has arrived, do not panic. We will ring again, after the fires have been put out and the dead heaved over the side.

Are you in a food hall? Are you currently operating a dragline digging coal out of an open-pit mine? Is your mobile phone held together with bandaids? If so, it might be easier for us to understand you if you send us a smoke signal or a message in a cleft stick. Or revert to Swahili click language. or Morse code. It'll sound the same.

" Who em I tokking to?" A good question, and one that we frequently get. A difficult one to answer, philosophically...I tend to retreat into " Camera Electronic Sales Department " because that is on my shirt and I can read it, albeit upside down.

You mustn't think I am entirely negative. The only part of me against the telephone is my ear, and as I have two of them I can vary the experience. One of them is deaf, and I am starting to think of it as a blessing...

Uncle Dick

PS: Excuse me, I'm just going out to find a shovel. I'm going to dig up Alexander Graham Bell and put him on the line.