31 Jul Three Weeks To Go For The FIPP
I love that name. FIPP. Sounds positively rude...
July 2015
31 Jul ” Hello, Hell Desk Here – How May We Hell You?
Ringing up the Help Desk at a major corporation is an experience. So is stepping on a rusty nail. You always remember the first time you did it and it makes you cautious for a long time afterwards.Many of the desks are automated - much like the Death Star in the Star Wars movies. You cannot approach to the actual command structure without passing layer upon layer of automated voices and "press 2 for fried chicken and/or semiconductor design". That and the laser cannons.You are cautioned that whatever you say will be recorded for "training purposes". They imply that their staff will be trained, but in reality it is you - the caller - who is being trained. Trained to sit there patiently while they play " Greensleeves " to you. I don't know about you, but I want an ice cream with my " Greensleeves "...
31 Jul Zeiss Up The Front – Sony In The Rear
Gotta Sony camera with an E mount? Wanta new 25mm f:2 lens?Come in and have a look at the new Zeiss Batis lens that has just hit the Sony shelf. Like much of the boutique Zeiss glass, it is in a plain barrel - this is a style reaction to some of the multi-banded offerings from other manufacturers. The peculiar little flair seen at the front flange of some of these is designed to integrate with the lens hoods to provide a smooth contour. That, and it recalls the bow structure of the IJNS KIRISHIMA. At least they didn't put a chrysanthemum on the lens...
31 Jul Hold High The Multiple Standards, They Must Not Suffer Loss…
I am always amazed when I note that the manufacturers of regular flash-light batteries managed to make AAA, AA, C, and D cells and by and large the products of any particular maker are fairly similar to the same class from another factory. Of course there can be a variation in the supplies - some have lots of electricity and some don't - also some leak and some don't. But generally an AA cell will fit in an AA holder no matter who made it.Not so for Li-ion batteries. Each maker seems to have a different shape or size, and not just different from other firms - different from themslves. It is a rare and welcome thing for the developing line of new cameras to contain the same battery three years in a row.A nightmare for the user? For the stockist? Wait until you consider what those batteries do inside the cameras...
30 Jul Smile – You Can Make Your Computer Behave With Colormunki
I have no idea how to colour manage my computer. Aside from wiping the screen with a rag dipped in coal oil and making sure the ants are shaken out of the keyboard, I just depend on the colorimeter module that I plug into a USB port to do it for me.Well, here's one from the X-Rite people that will do the same for you. it is a simple thing to use - load the software into your monitor, follow the prompts , set it to work on the screen in a darkened room, and reap the rewards of simple calibration.At the very least it will pt your screen to the same colour every time it is operated - I recommend once every two months - and it is like sobering up on a fine morning....
30 Jul The Falls Creek Lunch Box – Or How To Go In The Snow
The daughter has just been to visit Falls Creek in Victoria and was lucky enough to hit the best snowfall day of the year - 30cm of powder. The pictures she brought back of the holiday taken with my old Fujifilm X-10 set to automatic are wonderful - she put the SD card into the slot on the television last night to give us a slide show and I am torn between pride and jealousy - they are that good.Note: The dear old X-10 was superseded by the X-20 and latterly has been replaced by the X-30. This Fujifilm compact zoom line just gets better and better. Travellers take note...
29 Jul The Small Big Screen For the Big Small Cameras – 501
The video people who use DSLR and mirror-less cameras get to play with all the cool toys. The cameras themselves can be set up to record motion picture footage in incredible detail these days - so much so that it can surpass the capabilities of the LCD screen that is fitted to the camera. More detail, bigger picture.Videographers need to see what is happening as it happens. They frequently fit external monitor screens to their rigs - not just for the look of the thing but for the review capability that it gives them.Now the Small HD corporation has produced the 501 model - very well made with a multitude of connections that let the signal in, or out again, and display it with 1920 x 1080 and perfect broadcast colour ( 100% Rec.709 )It will produce HD waveform and scopes.It's not plastic trouble construction - the case is hefty aluminium with, as you can see, connection bays for Canon LP-E6 batteries and three different mounting points - all 1/4" threaded sockets in metal.Professional quality without being the size of...
28 Jul Let There Be Licht – Metz And Your Mobile Phone
I do not own a smart phone. Mine is a rather stupid one - it can summon the police or a pizza, but cannot take pictures of them as they arrive. I do not repine - I have mirror-less cameras for that. I have a album of 8 x 10's of Neapolitan pepperoni surprise.For those of you who do have the photophones and who insist on videoing themselves and others, there is a useful accessory just now on the market.The Metz LED - 72 smart is an add-on LED array with 51 of the little glowing nubbins mounted on a metal mount. It plugs into the socket on your mobile phone and draws power from its own internal Li-ion battery.It has several power settings starting at a full 72 Lux rating and then going down to a blinking mode. More than enough light to video with the phone or to light up a Subbuteo tabletop football game. The battery will go for some four hours on a full charge - and you charge it from a USB port on your...
28 Jul Stick To The Tabletop With Slik
Those of you who do landscape photography know the value of a good big tripod - you buy sturdy Manfrotto and Cullman outfits and valiantly haul them about the place looking for the view that no-one else has seen. You know it's out there because you've seen it in their photos...
28 Jul Walking Away With Warwick And Fujifilm
Thank Heaven for sunny Sundays. If the rest of the week is all rain and earthquakes at least we can do something fun on Sunday to refresh the soul.Last Sunday saw a Photo Walk sponsored by Fujifilm Australia and Camera Electronic that started at the Shoot Photography workshops next door. We were entertained and educated by Warwick Williams from The Fujifilm trainin g team - he's a worldwide ambassador for the firm.As you can imagine. with all their expertise in television lenses - the pictures you see every night are likely to have passed through a Fujinon lens - the photos seen in the video presentation were perfect. It was also made perfectly clear that Fujifilm can do everything with the APS-C sensor size that can be done. Those of us who use them new that already but we didn't know why - that's why these training sessions are so valuable.Well, the visitors went out with Fujifilm cameras in their hands to tour the local streets and to try to find beauty and drama in the surrounding gutters and gardens....