23 Jun Epson Surecolor SC-P600
We have yet to break the tape seal on one of the new Epson Surecolor SC-P600 inkjet printers here in the shop. Lack of space, not lack of enthusiasm...
June 2015
22 Jun A Little Gem Arrives! We have The new Fujifilm Camera In Today
Had the first heft of the new Fujifilm X-T10 camera today - they have just come down onto the sales floor.It is tiny! Compared to my X-Pro1 camera it is surprisingly small and neat. You'll see the camera in hand with an optional part attached - the MHG-XT10 metal grip and arca-swiss-size rail. Without this, it is even smaller. What a great introduction this would be to the X-series lenses.It is full featured, as you'll no doubt find from the reviews and rumours. You get the new Classic Chrome film setting and an entirely new focussing system in the viewfinder that uses variable areas full of multiple measuring points. The new electronics drive all the existing lenses and have sped up the 35mm f:1.4 and the 60mm f:2.4 lenses significantly. They snap in instead of swim.There's an inbuilt flash just above the lens axis that pops up to a useful height . Of course the hot shoe also talks TTL to appropriate Fujifilm flashes.Ergonomically it is a good mixture of external dial and front/back control wheel. Like the X-T1, there...
22 Jun You Can Come Along And Set Up A Studio…
I used to think that " singer-songwriter " were the most terrifying words in the language, but I have concluded that the invitation to set up a studio is. Beause you never can tell how much space you'll have or where it will be.This reflection is brought to you by an experience on Saturday, doing a small studio event shoot for my social club. I've been doing these costumed dinner shoots for what seems like decades...
19 Jun Night Exposure – The Social Scene At The Oxford
No great philosophy or art, folks, but here's some pictures of the Canon EOS 5Ds night presented by Brodie Butler - and us and Fitzgerald's Photo Laboratories, for that matter. We did the setup, Fitzgerald's did the drop-dead gorgeous prints on Chromajet metallic paper, Canon supplied the brand new camera body and a beaut digital projector and the Oxford hotel supplied beer and snacks. Everyone to their own specialty.Brodie is a good speaker. The camera is a corker. The beer is cold. There's going to be a repeat of his presentation in August to a camera club, but I don't know about the beer...
19 Jun The Three B’s – Canon’s New 5Ds In The Real World
The three B's*. A glorious night.Canon Australia sent some of their new Canon EOS 5Ds cameras out, and one of them landed in the hands of Brodie Butler. Last night Brodie gave a memorable lecture regarding this camera to a gathering of enthusiasts at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville.Canon made a good choice in letting Brodie work with the new camera - Brodie can do, has done for a long time, did then, and was able to do right in front of the viewers. He can also explain what he did and why and THAT is a rare talent.As Brodie explained, the new camera is massively increased performance packed into a familiar body shape - that of the Canon EOS 5D MkIII. If you know how that feels, you know how the 5Ds feels...
17 Jun The Aerial Show And Tell – A Success From Shoot
Yesterday evening our teaching facility - Shoot Photography - played host to Christopher Fulham and a bunch of drones.I hasten to add that I am not describing the staff or clients who attended the lecture - Christopher makes use of the modern mechanical marvel - the UAV. The drone. He uses cameras rather than Hellfire missiles and so is much friendlier and more accessible in his speciality than some others in the world.These are some of the devices - electrically-powered frameworks with widely-spread electric motors and horizontal props pushing the air down and the drone up. Differential signals passed through a radio link to the computer brain of the drone means that the power to each motor and propeller assembly can be varied. The combination of these thrusts means that the tilt of the platform is varied and it can be steered thither and yon as well as up and down - it is the principle of the jelly on the plate. While the platform is hooping over the sky the small cameras carried are picking up images and recording them. Those...
16 Jun The Camo Card And The Stealth Filter – Lens Coat
We had a training session on the Lens Coat range of goods today. I'm glad it was in the clinical surroundings of the laboratory - had it been held in the garden or bush, the products would have disappeared from view...
15 Jun Being Safe Amongst The Cattle – An Car Event Photographer’s Guide
Having survived two days at the WA Hot Rod And Street Car Spectacular - that's two days of cars, enthusiasts, and startling food prices - I can offer some advice to others who go in harm's way.1. Take your own food. Or an Armaguard truck full of money. Venue caterers have a license to be there and so does the mint in Canberra. A coincidence? I wonder...
12 Jun The Two-Tone Car Problem For Camera Designers
Two-tone cars were 1950's in North America and 1960's in mainland Australia. Any decade now they will become popular in Tasmania, and the Dulux store in Hobart is stocking up big on Brunswick Green and Oxford Cream.The paint schemes in the 50's changed as years went by. Where pink/charcoal grey sold well one year, turquoise/white scored big the next. The trick to clearing all the older models was to have just enough of them before the new schemes were presented and the public ran over to buy them. Designers and marketing teams conducted massive research campaigns in an effort to predict just what would appeal to the masses - one bad colour combo in the fall and you had thousands of dollars slumped on the lot next spring - and then had cars that went out at bucket prices as a result.Japanese camera manufacturers are in the same boat today - they need to accurately predict what will cause the buyers to foam at the wallet and they need to nail it a couple of years in advance. If the...
12 Jun July 12 – Kodak Brownie Day – Get Ready For a Blast From The Past
July 12th is the birthdate of George Eastman - long ago in 1854. Waterville, New York, actually. George was interested in photography...