Steal Me - I'm Worth It

Look at the heading image. Now close your eyes and tell me what you saw.

You saw a $ 50 bill, didn't you? And a cup of hot chocolate, perhaps...but you did see the $ 50 bill.

People are like that. We focus on what we want, whenever we see it. This is the principle that sells the Louis Vuitton bag and the low cut blouse. It drives the new camera sales whenever the manufacturers release a new compact camera - they flood the market with superb photos of the product. The cynics amongst us in the trade then take bets on which 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 studio monorail was used to illustrate it...

Back to the heading image. Did you see the black jumper draped over the bag? It cost the owner $ 7.00 apparently. A cold wind blowing on the way to work or home and that is the most valuable object in the picture.

No food for a day? Blood sugar level at nothing? There's a cup of hot chocolate there...

Somebody ringing on the phone and you need to write down the phone number before you lose it? Pads and pens are cheap things but they become invaluable in 10 seconds.

So what's the blue bit you missed? A Think Tank Retrospective 5 camera bag. You'd never know that it contains a camera, flash, and spare lens worth about $ 10,000. Neither will the bag snatchers or pickpockets. Keep it strapped over your shoulder and it just looks like a tatty old student bag.

It is padded inside, has a general utility pocket, has a rain coat included, and looks like a tatty old student bag. The webbing straps and buckles are military grade and it look like the ones on tatty old student bags.

If you too, contrive to look like a tatty old student bag, you might get busted but you won't get mugged. And your $ 10,000 camera kit is safe.

Singing In The Rain

With an eye to the current atmosphere today in Perth...don't look up.

If you are determined to be out in it I would recommend that you put a cover over your camera and lens. Promaster, Aquatec, and Think Tank make sturdy custom covers for even long lenses and large cameras - if you just need an emergency wrap try the Op/tec ones. You get two in a bag and they can save a lifetime of trouble with a wet camera.

Remember as well, that if they keep water out, they can also keep it in. Once you are safely housed please remove the camera and make sure the inside of the cover gets a chance to air out.

Jemima Is Waiting Here For You

Would the little person who forgot Jemima Puddleduck here in the shop - near the camera bag section - please return and take her home. She has seen all the cameras and lenses and bags and is getting rather bored by it all. She needs go home where she is loved.

Please ask your little person if Jemima is missing and give us a call.

Photography And the Sense of Smell

Of all the seven senses - sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch, cinnamon buns, and road rage, the one that least suggests itself as connected to photography must be that of smell. Yet it has played a crucial part in many a photographer's career and needs to be nurtured if any future success is contemplated.

The smell of ether is distinctive and once formed a large part of the universe of the professional photographer. Gun cotton was dissolved in it to produce collodion - a sticky glue that was poured over glass plates and then soaked in silver nitrate to produce wet plates for large-format photography. How many early workers anaesthetised themselves preparing the collodion - or blew themselves up seeing where that funny smell came from with a candle in the darkroom...?

Then again when the flexible film camera came into being -and later the motion picture film - the first films had an acetate base. Fine in the initial stage but prone to breaking down chemically later to form flammable and explosive compounds. A distinctive smell coming from an old 35mm reel of motion picture film should serve as a warning.

Sniff some more. Is there a musty odour associated with your camera or the lenses in your old camera bag? Is the bag itself redolent of old socks? Or cheese? You may well be growing a fine crop of mould in your equipment. You'll need some fresh air, bright sunlight, and professional cleaning to return it from the grave - and no fair trying to trade it in to us, either. We've got noses too and we prefer our fungus sliced and fried over a steak.

The odour of a Soviet camera is also one that will never be forgotten - the Fed, Zorki, Kiev, Krasnoyarsk, Quarz, and many other products of the old empire were issued in real leather cases - presumably from pigskin in many cases - and in many instances pretty fresh from the tanning vat, if the smell was anything to go by. They were lubricated with fish oil. If you used a new one you didn't need Vitamin D tablets for a year - you just breathed deeply.

Is there a distinctive digital smell? Not really - most of the lubricants are artificial and while you might get a new camera smell, it is generally very subdued. It might be worth while for the manufacturers to enclose a scent sachet in the boxes - freshly-brewed coffee or garlic prawns or something to make you feel you have something to look forward to besides reading another manual and getting a firmware upgrade.

Now Hear This....Think Tank

With the advent of audio and video recording on modern digital cameras ( as opposed to the old cylnder gramophones we used to use with the dageurreotypes ) a whole new species of gear needs to be taken along; microphones, windshields,cables, mixers, headphones, etc. When the etc. starts to overwhelm you, please remember that Think Tank make a whole dedicated series of cases and bags for these new bits.

We've placed the audio-orientated products at the end of out Think Tank rack but don't think that you are restricted to just these - as you brows the TT rack you'll see that they have a case or pouch for nearly any piece of professional gear - if you work in the rain there are dedicated covers for cameras, lenses, and flashes. If you run round mountains with heavy lenses there are belt packs to evenly distribute the crushing weight that you will regret as soon as you are half-way up the slope... There are dedicated pouches for sandwiches and water bottles filled with brandy for the trip down.

Should you wish to carry your laptop through the airport there are dedicated pouches that will protect it in the overhead locker - your bigger gear can go into a rolling case with walls thick enough to stand the attention of the baggage handlers. If your arguing skills are up to it, there are deceptively small camera cases that might let you get your apparatus into the overhead locker without raising suspicion. Smile sweetly and try not to sweat.

Do I use Think Tank? Yes I do - a 17" laptop case and it is just excellent for travel.

Suspending Your Disbelief With A New Strap

I used to laugh at all the people who made a collection of camera bags - until I counted how many I own. And all of them necessary, you understand. I went silent.

Then I took to laughing at the people who bought new straps for their cameras - replacing perfectly good manufacturer's straps. Then I looked in the various bags and counted the aftermarket straps...

So why? Why did I spend perfectly good drinking money on camera straps - and don't say it was just because I work in a camera shop. I can be as tight with my money as any of you. I did it because they all do something different.

Let me start with the manufacturer's contributions. Good for the most part, but comprised chiefly of nylon webbing with a hard edge and an advertising logo on the back. I can stand the advertisement but the hard edge of the webbing digs into my elegant swan-like neck something chronic. The camera end of one of them has a series of protective covers to prevent something - I find it chiefly prevents me getting the damn camera to my eye.

So I have an Op/Tec Classic padded strap to spare my neck. It suspends the heavy Nikon DSLR well enough to let me do 8 hours of bride-hunting. If I need to do an equal time with heavier artillery-  a long lens to capture the sword fighting - I use a Balck Rapid RS-4 and sling the thing off my left shoulder like a dragoon carbine.

All this is very well when utility is the go, but what do I do when there is a need for prestige and elegance - at the opening of the yacht club or the investiture at the palace? Why I just fasten the Artist and Artisan pure eco-friendly cotton strap grown on the south slope of the Cote des Straps and hand crafted by people with hands. I try to forget how much it costs, unless someone else seems to have a better one, then I tell them. It is a VERY good strap.

But I may have to change my tune. Think Tank have a new strap that is made up of cotton webbing and leather ends that feed into steel O-rings. It looks like it could be used as a lifting strap for panels on a tilt-up building site. And the webbing has a wavy pattern of soft plastic designed to grip on a slippery jacket and prevent the strap sliding free. I don't really need it, but....

The Optical Marsupial

Anyone who owns two lenses and one camera has a problem - at some stage of the game they are going to have to change whatever is on the camera for whatever they are carrying in their camera bag. If they do not have a camera bag they have two problems, and if they are trying to do it in a hurry on in the twilight in the deepest part of the bush surrounded by tiger snakes...well they have more than two problems.

Here are a few suggestions to ease the situation:

1. Do not go into the bush at twilight in snake season, or if you do, ask for someone to drop a daisy-cutter bomb about 5 minutes before you enter the area.

2. Get yourself a lens-changing pouch. This will save you from dropping one or both of your lenses into the dirt.

The two smaller pouches seen in this post are made by Think Tank and Lowepro. They are both equipped with a belt loop to fix them to your off-side. The Lowepro has an additional shoulder strap.

The Lowepro is a traditional flap-top design with thick padding inside. There is a secure zipper around the edge of the lid - it is fairly water-resistant.

The Think Tank design has a purse-top that closes with a draw string. There is a separate compartment under the pouch with a waterproof cover.

The idea of these is that you can carry your spare lens in it for your venture, but as you are gently juggling the camera and optics out there in the field, you have somewhere to literally drop the one you are changing while you attach the new one. Wise photographers will keep some sort of a strap on their camera to sling it round a neck or shoulder while they do this.

The same sort of idea appends to the Lowepro Passport Sling II bag - you can sling it over a shouldeer then rotate it forward around your waist to give the effect of a secure kangaroo pouch in the front. Open it, extract the new lens, drop the old one in there - all safe and sound and not too much of a war-dance to do it.

Remember - make it easy on yourself and take it easy when you shoot. No-one benefits from over-complexity - ever.

Street Smart Need Not Be Street Dull - Think Think Tank

We often hear people saying that they want to carry a camera bag that does not look like a camera bag. Perhaps they want to be discreet in the street - discreetly pulling out a 1D MkIV with a giant wide angle lens that they push into everyone's face. And then discreetly putting it back into their discreet bag and discreetly running like hell with the mob after them...

For those of you who want to carry a good camera in a good bag that looks good, may we recommend the Think Tank City Walker range? Here is the City Walker 10 in Blue Slate. Room inside for a DSLR, extra lens, and flash. Plus cards, iPad, keys, and a water bottle for those of you who are afraid of dying of thirst in the Hay Street mall.

Rip-stop nylon for when the mob catches up to you, and a handle on the top so you can swing it like a flail to gain a little extra time.

Note for the serious street photographer: The Seagull 4A camera is the best fighting camera avaialble. It takes lousy photos but is all sharp edges and corners. Couple it to a sturdy webbing strap and you can whack people upside the head all night.

Now You See It - Now You Don't...The Art Of The Travelling Camera

No good me poking fun at you, like I did in my last post, without holding out some hope for the future. In the future I will also poke fun at you...

No, folks, what I mean is we do have some really good solutions down here at the shop for the tourist who wants to travel light and safe, and bring back good images.

First - cameras. Well, I favour my Fuji X -10. Other people love their Leica D-lux or their Panasonic Lumix cameras. Canon make the ever-popular G 15 and it is ever-popular because it is a great tourist camera. The Olympus Pen people also know the value of a lot of good in a small package. Pick one that you like and can afford and go with confidence

But the business of taking it along is what we are considering here - I mentioned the heavy-lift thing in the last post. If you have eschewed that look at some of the pictures of camera bags from different manufacturers that are being used to house the same example camera.

The camera is the Fuji X-20. Soooo nice. If I could think of a plausible reason to get it as well as the X-10 I would buy one, but so far...

1. Kata ZP-6 DL

A classic square bag with the addition of a sewn finger loop at one corner and a nylon neck- cord. Battery/card pocket and nice padding. $ 22.00.

2. Think Tank Lens Changer 15 V2.0

Round drop pouch with drawstring top and a very sturdy belt loop in back - reinforced with a nylon bar to rest on your belt. $ 29.50.

3. Lowepro ILC 50 Classic

Traditional box pouch with a heavy shoulder strap - the roomiest option here and well suited for quick grabs of the camera. Plenty of room inside and on an outside pocket for cards and batteries. $ 45.00.

4. Op/Tec Digital D-Shortie Soft Pouch

Wrap the camera in this soft neoprene case ad you can safely bundle it into a pocket or your main luggage. There is a harness strap that lets you pop the camera out for use but still tether it to the case.
$ 24.20.

And the model in the leading image? Jo Armstrong. I just included her because everybody needs to see beautiful girls sometime...

Thinking Inside The Box - A Modest Proposal

'Tis nearly the tourist season - the safari and cruise tour companies are gearing up for the influx of Australian tourists and the Australian tourists are gearing up for a world of pain. We are assisting them.

Not a day goes by down here but what someone comes in and tells us that they are going on a holiday and they want to take their camera. And their camera. And their lens, lens, lens, lens, lens...and the laptop and the three chargers and the flashes and spare batteries and....perhaps a spare memory card, if the price is right.

And a lightweight tripod that folds into the size of a pocket pencil and can hold a Canon 1Dx with a 100-400 lens on it rock solid in an arctic gale.

And the whole lot should go into a bag that can be put in the overhead locker, leaving enough spare room for he 1 litre bottle of duty free Drambuie.

I find lithium pills help a lot these days...

Let me put forward a modest proposal - as Johnathon Swift did - that will make your trip successful. It will involve a week of experimentation but pay giant dividends when you are out across the globe.

Day One

1. Go to the linen press and get out all your teatowels. Find the empty cardboard box your TV came in and bring it in from the shed. Get some rope.

2. Set out all the camera bodies, lenses, chargers, laptops, batteries, and tripods that you are going to take on your trip in your lounge room.

3. Wrap each component up in a teatowel. Pack the parcels into the TV box. Jump on it if they will not all fit in, but get them in there.

4. Rope the box up and then tie it onto yourself. You can tie it over one shoulder, over two shoulders, or around your waist - your choice. Use Boy Scout knots.

5. Put your hat on, go out the front door, and set out to walk to Mundaring Weir.

6. Give us a call down at the shop when your vision starts to go. We've got a book down here that records the distances of various customers - one chap made it to Welshpool from Belmont before the St. John's Ambulance people got him.

Day Two

1. Put one camera body, one lens, and one spare battery into a shopping bag. Add a tripod if you must.

2. Rope that to one shoulder.

3. Hat, door, Mundaring.

4. See how much further you got? Take the bus home.

Day Three

1. Put a mirrorless camera and one lens - or a bridge camera, or a compact zoom into your jacket pocket. Put a Cullmann pocket tripod in the other pocket

2. Mundaring is nice this time of year, isn't it. I remember coming up here when I was courting. They had water in the dam then...

Scientific note: It is possible to get an entire 2-body, 5-lens, laptop, refrigerator, and year's supply of cheese into a Lowepro Santiago DV 25 pocket pouch. All you need to do is remove all the space between the nucleus and orbiting electrons of each atom of the outfit and shake them down together. It can be done with a black hole, but only once. The unpacking is the problem...