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

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?

L'Arc de Tripod

" You weesh to buy ze bes' tripod in ze shop, Monsieur? I weell show eet to you, but you mus' unner stan' eet is not for jus'anyone. Ah, non. Thees tripod ees only for the mos' sophisticated and important people. No peasant need apply..."

The Gitzo company has always made the best heavy supports in the industry. I know Linhof used to bang on about theirs but Gitzo managed to get the stability with more style. And Gitzo have adapted to new materials and a new age and have poineered new concepts. None of which has anything to do with the tripod in the pictures.

This is a step back in time as the company has copied one of their classics of the 1960's and produced a repro travel tripod that recalls the film era. It has metal legs. It has metal castings. It has rubber feet. The ball head has a particularly smooth action and the classic Gitzo quick release plate. Note the metal parts are finished with the traditional hammertone finish. The whole is professional in the extreme.

But not heavy. This is a surprise to me as I have a Studex 5 from this same firm and it is so massive as to generate its own gravity. It does not move from the studio as I do not wish to ruin my back. The Gitzo here in the shop is light enough to take on any airplane and as you'll see it comes in the most elegant travel case that you have ever seen. Fitted leather with a padded shoulder strap.

Note, sophisticates - this is a rare tripod. Your friends will not have one, nor are they likely to be able to find one. You will be the envy of their eye, as well as achieving steady pictures.

Back In the Saddle

Back from holidays and ready to write.

A plane trip these days is either heaven or hell, and it is no always a question determined by which ticket you purchased. Of course there is something to be said for the front section of the plane - the seats have leg room, you can put them back to sleep, and they give you a blankey to cuddle up into. When the champagne takes effect. Back in cattle class you at least get a free beer, so that is nice.

Note for new travellers. before you go, go. Go every time you can, because when you are up in the air, going is problematical.

 Now on to cameras. I used a Fuji X100 for the trip - you'll see some results from it in coming blogs. Perfect solution for the pictures I knew I wanted. Kudos the the Nikon people for making their SB 700 flash so easy to adjust - it was the other partner in success for this venture.

 I used a bag that worked well, but as I travelled about with it I kind of wished I had popped for a small Billingham bag from the shop here. They are so light but well built, and the top flap is easy to open and secure...it makes a deal of difference to the user when they are not fumbling through a big zipper or awkward buckles as they try to haul their camera out for use. The Billinghams are derivatives from English shooting bags, I have no doubt, and these are some of the best accessories you can get.

 Of course I did observe other photographers at the events. I felt for the ones who seemed to be carrying large back packs, though to be fair they might have been packed with sandwiches and bottles of beer, in which case I admire them for their foresight. In any event, I think the people who were getting the best experience out of the shows were either doing it with dedicated mirrorless Fujis like me ( and don't we all like to have our on judgement applauded, even by ourselves...) or the users of the lighter DSLRs with moderate wide zooms. In particular I noticed the fine results one chap was getting with a Nikon D610. He wasn't lugging a full bag of glass and consequently could go hard all day.

 One final note - there were a few people who were using tripods for some of the interior work. Good idea, as they probably got to maximise their depth of field over the shots, but I noticed that their mobility was a little compromised between shots. If they were carrying tripod bags they could stow the legs in there when they were on the trams. Good idea - protects the tripod and stops you from putting out the eyes of the other riders...

 One more final note - Perth's Multirider card system on the trains and buses far outstrips either Sydney or Melbourne for convenience of use. They may send more people on journeys, but they don't touch on or off with as much speed as we do. But I did like the airport train in Sydney. Fast, clean, and efficient.

The Low Priced Spread - Surprisingly Nutritious

Every so often something pops up here in the shop that surprises me. That's why we keep a big can of Mortein handy...boom boom...

No, really - we get products that do not attract the attention they deserve. One of which is this unassuming little travel tripod from Weifeng  - the WF 6615. The numbering tells me that it s probably made by the same people who make Fancier and we have had some good tripods from them in the past.

The older ones were extremely good value for money, but heavy. This latest offering goes the other way - it is a travel tripod that tries to give the most stability for smallest size and weight. I think it succeeds admirably.

Cynics and smart-alecs will look at a lot of products and mumble the names of their competitors and try to suggest that they are a knock-off. Perhaps, but when you consider the price, they are not rip-offs. This little tripod walks out of the door ( on three legs...) for a measly $ 149.

The quick release plate on the top is Arca-size so you can interchange it onto a lot of other gear . Gone, I fervently pray, are the days of Optex and Vanguard and Uncle Fred's Tripod and Bait Shoppe brand tripods that had their own mutually incompatible plates. We regularly see sad hopefuls trolling the streets for old unmatchable plates and it means trouble. Weifeng at least decided to copy the one of the main players.

There is a securing post on the underside of the quick release holder as well as a green bubble level that are a touch that might well be copied by other manufacturers - they are actually useful. The whole thing even comes in a bag for that price.

Jason says Weifeng is a first name, so maybe that's who makes them...Uncle Weifeng.

Hark The Herald Tribune Cries " Come In Here And Buy, Buy, Buy "

With apologies to Tom Lehrer…but it is the last Saturday before Christmas and it is traditional that you come in to the shop and buy something. We would prefer that you ask for photographic equipment but if you insist on hammers or plates of liver, we will do what we can to oblige…

It is also traditional in Western Australia to panic when it comes to the holidays. People look forward to one day of the year when the shops are shut and calculate that they will not be able to get bread or milk and rush out and empty the shelves and service station tanks…and in this spirit we would like to remind you that we will be shut from 3:00PM on the 24th until after New years. So rush in here and empty the shelves - you never can tell when you will wake up in the middle of the night and need a telephoto lens. Play it safe - buy several.


Merry Christmas from Uncle Dick

Cubists Of The World - Unite! You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Ballheads!

At long last the Arca Swiss Cube has arrived and we can throw away our ancient three-way heads that have been sitting on the studio tripod since Fox Talbot was a kitten. This device has been advertised on our window for months...with never a sniff of the real thing. Well, the real thing is here and it is wonderful.

Please note that I am not restricting the sales pitch to studio shooters; landscapists, architectural photographers, and panoramicists will also benefit from this piece of gear. It is simply the most precise way to orientate a still camera on the top of a tripod that I have seen.

I use a Gitzo tripod in the studio - it has either a Linhof pan and tilt mounting or a Gitzo 3-way head on the top, but neither of these alternatives come close to the Arca Swiss.

The Cube has precise rack control of two axes, and a positive lock mechanism for tilt. It has variable pressure for the knob controls, so that you can match the effort needed to move the camera with the weight of it. It has a precise panorama turntable at the top of the totem pole...so you can level everything before you spin around in the pano shot.

It is well-built. The Swiss are like that. Their cheese may have holes in it but their camera gear is pretty solid!

Goat Feet

Tripod manufacturers up till now have generally based their products on memories - generally the memory of the mount for the Vickers or '08 Maxim machine guns. Perhaps they used to make them in the good old days. In any event they have big spikes and knobs at the ends of the legs designed to lock into the terrain and take the recoil of a wide angle lens on a DSLR. Them 24mm' s can be vicious...

Manfrotto have re-thought the idea with an eye to the wedding market. Their new MVT502AM tripod has all the features that a lightweight videographer needs to support a DSLR or small videocam, and the feet are designed for the indoors.

Look up at the top first - the fluid head is big enough for whatever the legs will support and there is a captive ball and socket leveller to let you reach equilibrium quickly once you are in place.

In the middle are twin-shanks and clip locks for fast set-up. Light and rigid - the spreader folds with the legs.

Down the bottom there are rubber-covered goat feet to grip a smooth surface without marking it. No longer do you have to panic about turning the spikes inward when you put it down on a parquet floor. You can pick it up and chase the bride and plunk it down fast when you corner her.

This is a good sign for the future - Manfrotto have sometimes over-engineered and over-weighted their pro products. Now they have realised that we want to move faster, smoother, and lighter. Now they need to get someone in the front office to invent better names for the products - names that people will remember.

I vote for " Goat Feet ".

Underslung

" Ye canna beat the laws of physics, Cap'n. Ye canna mount a long telephoto lens on the average ball head or three-way head and move it about wi' ease. It'll fa over ever time. On yer heid. "

You can, however, mount the lens with the pivot point at or over the center-line of the lens and then lay it with ease - provided you have divided the weight fore and aft of the pivot. This is the principle of the wimberley-styled head.

One of the neatest we have seen recently in the shop is the Induro. Standard 3/8" hole on the bottom and 1/4" thread on the top but an infinity of up/down and fore/aft adjustment to balance the lens. Firm secure lock in final position if that is what you need - easy movement if you are following a target.

Perfect answer for wildlife, birds, and sports.

New Tripod Coming From Miller

Miller are an Australian company long famed for tripod and cinema accessory manufacture. i would be willing to bet that every television studio and film production unit in Australia - and a considerable number of users overseas - has some for of Miller equipment for its field operations.

Now the users of lighter DSLR video cameras will have to opportunity to have a proper fluid head and a tripod structure under it that will not break their backs. ( Or pocketbooks.)

Miller are set to release an AIR tripod system for DSLRs that will suit cameras up to 5Kg. Their preliminary literature mentions a 10-year lifespan and the ability to cope with rugged outdoor conditions. The image is a man shooting a DSLR on a frozen lake with a twin-engine airplane on skis behind him. He has a grim expression on his face and as the aircraft exhibits Norwegian registration, he might well have lost his way. It does not look like Meekatharra.

Apparently the tripod is due in late August. We'll report if one flies over.

Selfies - Showing You Who You Really Aren't

We have all seen the dreadful selfies that our friends send us on Facebook. Horrid things taken with mobile phone cameras - men take them in the bar and women take them in the toilet - and the worst of them squeezed through Instagram or some other filter until they turn brown and fuzzy. The saddest of them are seized by other viewers and batted endlessly around the net. ALL of them are stored somewhere in Langley, Virginia or Beijing or Moscow to bolster some data base or other. Perhaps they make trading cards of them...

Selfies do not need to be bad - they can be rather good evocations of what we look like or who we are. They can also be projections of who we want other people to think we are. Self-promotion is the lifeblood of a lot of industries these days - from dentistry to photography to design bureaux. It is all legal, if a little narcissistic, and if you can stand the shame of it you can put yourself on the back of a bus or the face of the moon quite happily.

Every camera we sell takes selfies - from the compacts through the bridge to the big DSLR's. Any time you see the little symbol for a self timer you can turn the lens on yourself and blaze away. Even if there is no self-timer, there is generally a remote release available that you can trigger off. The better class of compact has a pop-up flash and internal computer power to balance what happens with the main subject and the background - you get a very even sort of exposure. All the big TTL flashes on the DSLR's will do this too.

Beware of the low camera angle that will reveal all your chins - if the flash fires as well you may look like a Hollywood monster. Set the camera to look at you from your eye level and you can't go wrong....actually you can, but if you keep snapping away and deleting the ones that make you look like Gomer Pyle, you will eventually get a good one.

Do not be surprised if the camera sees you in a different way than your bathroom mirror does - your bathroom mirror, and you, see you in reverse. Unless you are taking selfies with a dageurreotype camera you will have to accept the physical evidence as is. Yes, that is your hair. No, it will not look better if you dye it. Yes, that is your body. Yes, it will look better if you diet...

All joking aside - self portraiture has been accepted and welcomed by all art media. For an artist who has made other good things it is a real contribution to future generations - your friends may not care a damn what you look like but someone in 2500 AD may marvel at it!

Oldest Resident In The Village - Your New Camera

What is the oldest piece of photographic equipment you own? What is the oldest piece of equipment in your kitbag? Are they the same thing?

We all keep stuff way past what the manufacturer reckons we will - way past what the retailer would do. It might be a rattly old tripod ( missing the quick-release plate, as they always are...) or a scruffed-up flash that we bought on holiday in 1969 ( with a voltage surge over the terminals of the PC socket that would weld titanium...) or some such relic.

Why do we keep it? Because we bought it - or someone gave it to us - or we found it on the verge at the last collection day. It has formed a mental value for us that far outweighs any real benefit. In the case of the Flash Of Death it is actually dangerous to the rest of our gear.

How do we escape from this? Well, joining a religion that eschews all material possessions is a good way - provided you do not have to stand and watch as the high priests fight over your goods. Shaving off one side of your head and changing your name to a hieroglyph is another - and has the benefit that you may be offered a place on a television show panel. As the very last resort you can take whatever it is to the camera market. If it sells, well and good. If it doesn't, try to find someone who has left the window rolled down on their car and ditch it in there, then run.

Now that is the last resort - and a time-share one at that. Beyond the last resort is the zen solution. Look at whatever it is that is sitting there until you can figure out what it does. Then go out and do it. If it is successful and you feel better, bring it back. If it does not work, bin it.

Note that this approach also works with clothing, books, and sporting gear of all types.

Remember that if you suffer pangs of remorse,we are fully equipped down here at the shop to supply new old gear to take the place of the last lot.

One Big Hairy Head - Cullmann Video

What do Perth's modern videographers have in common with the Royal Navy in the 1890's?

Simple. They both need stable platforms for heavy equipment. In the case of the former it is complex DSLR and camera rigs with follow focus mechanisms, matte boxes, and video monitors. In the case of the latter it is simpler - 2-pounder quick-firing guns. ( Not as good at weddings but excellent against torpedo boats. )

Back onto the video rigs. We have just taken delivery of a shipment of very large and precise fluid video heads by Cullmann. They are marketed under the Alpha 9000 VH name, and are suitable for carrying equipment up to 10 Kg in weight.

Standard 3/8" and 1/4" mounting socket on the bottom and standard 3/8" and 1/4" screws up on the removable top plate for the video equipment. Extremely strong and slow movement from the fluid-filled bearings, both training and laying.

The real surprise for me was when I turned the knob on the RHS of the head - the one that has the red arrow in the picture. It is a geared control for the camera plate to slide it for and aft. You can precisely balance your camera and lens once it is mounted on the head and can re-set it as you like when you change lenses. The collar around the knob is a positive lock.

Perfect match for the Cullmann Titan tripods.