29 Sep Shoulder Mounts – For Cameras Or Parrots?
Arrrrr. Pieces Of Eight. Polly want a focus puller...
September 2015
29 Sep The Copy Camera
Copy cameras used to be a very special thing. The term referred to a camera that was used to...
29 Sep Being Left Out By The Designers
I must preface this column with the statement that I am right-handed when writing and using power tools. I am also right-eyed while shooting a rifle or shotgun. Shooting a revolver involves closing both eyes and waving it about until the noise stops. This is really only effective if if am inside a barn and the doors are shut - I can then hit the barn at least once out of six shots.I wear my wristwatch on the right arm because no-one ever told me not to. It does not seem to affect the passage of time. Round here at 4:30 it drags slower and slower...
29 Sep Don’t Apologise…
Folks, don't apologise when you visit us. We understand.If you're not a professional - don't apologise. We like to help amateurs and enthusiasts as much as professionals. And as a non-professional you'll probably be better dressed...
29 Sep Tripod Bags – Are They Just For Appearance?
We sell tripods. And we sell tripod accessories; plates for the top, ballheads for the middle, and spiked feet for the bottom. Occasionally we sell a tripod bag, but sometimes I wonder why - and other times I wonder why we do not sell one with each tripod.The bag has two main functions : One; it lets you carry a tripod that is bigger than necessary a longer distance than you need to - and without dislocating your shoulder. Two; it disguises your tripod on the tarmac as you look out of the airplane window and the fuel tanker runs over it.This is the same with golf bags, but with them you can at least wear funny jumpers and spend the late afternoon drinking - with landscape photography you need to be alert for the magic minutes of dying sunlight over the seashore or silos. Tripod bags are altogether soberer items.Manfrotto make them with a startling ends for the three-way heads that go on their large tripods. As these three-way heads are most useful for landscapers this is the choice...
25 Sep Only A Few Of Them Get It…
Looking around at the tripod heads in the shop it occurred to me that only two of the manufacturers really get it - they are aiming themselves at the big end of the market - by the smallest means.Consider - when we put an image up on the computer screen in, say, Photoshop, we get the option to select something and move it in infinitesimal increments by using up down and sideways keys. We can't achieve the same degree of precision with trackpads, tablets, or mice and the computer people know it - so we get the electronic equivalent of a fine-tune control.We also can't achieve the fine control of cameras that we need on conventonal tripod heads - if we are working with a ball head it falls all over the place as soon as we loosen it - even the three-way heads are crude pivots when we need fine movement.Arca-Swiss and Manfrotto addressed this in their separate ways by putting mechanical creepers on their cube head and the 405 three-way head. In each case there is a crude...
25 Sep The Lifetime Warranty Vs The Ironclad Guarantee Vs Roll Dem Bones And Take Yo’ Chances
I'll bet you could have a lot of fun in a group of lawyers at cocktail hour if you asked them the difference between warranties, guarantees, sureties, indemnities, and Mr. T. I pity de fool...
25 Sep Rise. Tilt To Your Audience. Shift Sideways. Click Your Shutter.
If you are new to photography, you may never have done the dance. The RiseTiltShift Waltz. You have no idea what a delight you are missing.Those of you old enough to have wrinkles that won't go away may have had a chance to use a view camera or a tilt/shift lens in the past. You know the dance, and when to dance it.For the newbies - you do the dance when you want undistorted verticals in an architecture shot - or when you want easy stitching for a panorama - or want infinite depth of field for a product or landscape shoot at wide aperture. The Scheimpflug Principle takes care of the last named and the rising front of the camera - or falling back, for that matter - takes care of the first. The shift lets the budding panoramacist add more width to what they do and the stitching programs love the result.While you can get massive movements on a 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 sheet-film monorail camera, you are a little more restricted with the dedicated...
25 Sep Need A Spare Battery?
You sure do!Even if your digital cameras usage is sporadic and just around home, there is nothing worse than being caught out with a depleted battery when the good shots just start coming. Birthday parties do not slow down for you.Even worse - going away for a memorable vacation and running your battery down half-way through the first day. The rest of the tour bus passengers will not wait near a mains outlet while you try to recharge your one and only battery...
25 Sep Burke Flynn Stacks It Here At Camera Electronic
Relax - the car's all right.Yesterday, Burke gave a great 3-hour display of the new Olympus OM-D E-M10 MkII camera to an appreciative audience. As with many new cameras, the Olympus has a number of features that involve bracketing. One of them is apparently focus bracketing. I was puzzled and asked Burke what it was.Burke was puzzled.After the demo we did some experiments here on the editorial desk and found out the answer - and it is a ripper.Do you do focus stacking with your camera? You know - where you shoot a number of images of a fixed object with a slight change of focus between each shot. Then you put the images into a computer program like Photoshop and it blends them into a single presentation with greatly increased depth of field. It's a sophisticated technique that lets the macro worker overcome some of the optical limitations of shallow depth of field when you are in close.Well - that what it does...