About This Blog    |    Press and Contact Info     |   Available Languages:

ENQUIRIES: 08 9428 7200

December 2015

10 Dec

Posted at 00:42h in News by [social_share]

Have you ever seen a keen wildlife photographer hauling a really big telephoto lens through the airport customs or out on a long trip. Dedicated people. aren't they? Large plastic and metal cases - aluminium road cases - giant padded nylon tubes with complex lids and catches. They look like anti-tank teams hauling their tubes and rockets - you almost expect one to tap the other on the top of the head and then stand aside from the back-blast.Well, it you are not quite that dedicated and don't use lenses all that long, there are another alternatives for carrying and protecting the things.If you have the lens on your camera but still want a bit of protection we can recommend the Op/Tec range of neoprene covers. These are generally known as Hood Hats and are available in various sizes to fit nearly all lens diameters. You can snug it onto the lens hood and whip it off when required.If you want to protect the whole lens while out and about, reverse a Snoot Boot onto it. It will also serve...

09 Dec

Posted at 01:16h in News by [social_share]

Hoodman do have some dandies - good ideas I mean. Their initial design of the Hoodloupe 3.0 was the definitive answer to seeing an LCD screen image in the bright Australian sun. We sold squillions of them and people hung them round their necks while outdoors shooting.Then Hoodman invented a number of ways of attaching these loupes to the back of digital cameras - rubber loops, plastic scaffolding, and eventually dedicated metal frameworks. These latter solutions were made possible by the fact that new Loupes - the Hoodloupe 3.2 - have a 1/4" screw socket underneath them just like a camera and the whole thing can be screwed together tight.However - there are still people who prefer to keep the Loupe separate from the camera - and Hoodman have now released an accessory to let these users do so without a lanyard dangling from the neck. It is called the Hoodman Link. It's the second cousin of the humble retractable key holder that some peole keep on their belts.There's a three foot length of Kevlar cord in the Link and...

08 Dec

Posted at 07:07h in News by [social_share]

So many things in our lives are taken for granted - clean water, electricity, and rhinestone poodle collars for instance - that we rarely look into where we are to get them from when we are not in our normal environment. The wise amongst us make provision for a steady supply - even when the shops are shut.We'll leave you to seek your own sources of water and rhinestones but direct you to the thought that you really ought to get yourself some portable electricity that you can store safely in your camera bag.You might argue that you only need AA batteries for flash guns and portable LED light blocks. Not so - more and more radio triggers are being designed to use standard AA's rather than button cells. There are still cameras that use AA cells for system power. And they can be called on the juice up any number of digital devices by means of simple converters and battery chargers - there are a number of these devices available right now.At this juncture we can chime in with...

08 Dec

Posted at 01:01h in News by [social_share]

Yes, of course you can. We sell cameras, chargers, batteries and lives as a matter of course. Indeed some of the lives in stock are as coarse as you can get. But you may be giving way to panic too soon*.Our technical staff tells us that they have noticed people bringing in compact cameras that have had no use or exercise for six months or more and that are dead as a doornail - prompting the sad tale at the front counter. Certainly no response from the camera and the charger does not put any electricity into the battery. The user assumes the worst.But once the camera is taken under the wing of the repair staff they test voltages and circuits and then try the procedure of applying a higher than normal voltage to the battery. If you were to use the term " kickstart " it would be as useful as anything. It's only a very small jolt for a small period of time but it helps to reverse the degradation of the battery and lets the charger recognise...

07 Dec

Posted at 08:38h in News by [social_share]

I'm really regretting not getting busy a little earlier in the year and building the box of scale model cactus I bought at the hobby shop - I would have gone all-out with a desert scene and stranded campers.We first saw Rotolight about four years ago when it was introduced as a macro light for field use. It looked like a novelty ( well it is novel...

07 Dec

Posted at 00:45h in News by [social_share]

I asked my colleagues this week to tell me things that I could turn into columns for this weblog. I don't think that I can necessarily use " Go Away " and " Stop Pestering Me " as inspirational material but I did come away with the thought that we should talk about the racing Leica. The stripped-down version. The PRU model that zips over the target, takes a picture, and is gone in a flash. Not seen, not heard.Note for the newbies. PRU means Photo Reconnaissance Unit - the RAF used Spitfires and Mosquitos that had been specially prepared and painted - they went higher, faster, and farther than other fighter planes because they took out the guns and other heavy bits and polished and smoothed the external surfaces - they were painted a peculiar light blue to blend in with the sky. I shouldn't wonder if they didn't fly over Wetzlar at some stage of the game...

04 Dec

Posted at 07:44h in News by [social_share]

Odd as it may seem to modern travellers, they used to separate aircraft into types - daylight, nighttime, fine weather and bad weather. Presumably if you got caught in good weather while flying a bad-weather one all you got was hot - the other way around risked a cockpit full of water. Much the same thing with camera bags.Lowepro have frequently had AW marked on their bags - All Weather. They have little pockets under the bags and an elasticised cover folded into it. Get caught in a shower - dive into the bag and cover it over. You get soaked but the camera survives.This bag - the Photo Sport BP 300 AW II - is all weather all over - there are several zipped compartments with flaps folded over. You can choose your level of protection and how quickly you can get things into or out of it. And there are several fun features.The entry to the camera compartment is on the side - you can reach in there while wearing the thing to fetch the camera out or...

04 Dec

Posted at 01:06h in News by [social_share]

The announcement a few days ago of the demise of the Holga camera and the stopping of production in China comes as somewhat of a shock for dedicated toy-camera fans.These roll-film cameras were apparently introduced as a cheap consumer camera for the Chinese in 1981. They shot 120 film but gave the user the choice of film gates for 6 x 6 or 6 x 4.5 images. They were simple, with rudimentary focusing lenses, limited shutter speeds and apertures and a host of quirks.Some of those quirks included leaking light to the edges of the film and vignetting every shot dramatically. Later models introduced a small electronic flash to the cameras and built-in filter effects. Accessories included some push on lenses and filters. There were a number of colours made. One of the most useful features of the humble Holga was the 1/4" tripod socket at the bottom plate of the camera that took a standard tripod screw. When all else failed, and it frequently did, you could clamp down the Holga and open it up on Bulb and let...

03 Dec

Posted at 06:55h in News by [social_share]

Actually it looks like they are going to make a lot of people dance with joy - if the people are users of the following cameras:Panasonic DMC-GX8Panasonic DMC-G7 G series camerasPanasonic DMC-FZ300 compact super zoomWhat they get by updating their firmware for these cameras to v2.0 is a 'Post Focus Mode'. A second, third or fourth chance to get it right in the toughest conditions.Macro shooting is all about precise focus. As a table-top shooter myself I know that while I can carefully tune the focus point of a shot in the studio when the camera is sitting on a massive tripod, as soon as I attempt to do that out in the field I accumulate a series of useless images - I never seem to get the exact focus point I need.The Post Focus mechanism for the Panasonic cameras uses their ability to work with 4K video shooting. It takes a series of shots when you press the shutter release but starts the focusing forward of the actual point of focus as indicated by its own AF mechanism and...