07 Jan Nikkkkon Enters The 360º world
Gracious Heavens. What now? Nikon have launched a small cube-shaped camera that will do 4K video in 360º. Virtuous reality, here we come...
January 2016
07 Jan 7 in 1 – Either A Grimm Fairy Tale Or A Photographic Marketing Ploy
We used to have reflectors for photography that had only one side. Mathematicians may see a flaw in this as topographically the disc reflector had a front and a back. And an edge, we hasten to add, for the literal-minded. But for a long time they only put a white surface on one side and left the other as a nondescript cloth that did nothing. Not no more.Starting with a well-known English manufacturer of lighting accessories, and followed-on by a number of budget copyists from other continents, the trade has made increasingly complex reflector sets for studio and outdoor use. Today we review a 7 -in-1 from Promaster.These kits come in several sizes - I picked the 22 -inch set from the shop racks and unfolded all the possibilities.The basic structure is the familiar steel band loop stretching out a translucent fabric. Then a 3-part cover is sewn up that provides 6 more types of reflecting surface. The choices of fabric take it from merely a light modifier to an actual backdrop accessory. What it lacks in surface area it...
06 Jan Looking Out On The New Nikon – Behind The Name
We've been poring over the press releases of the new Nikon gear here and noting some of the good points. You can't read everything on this blog because frankly I don't know everything, but you can think along as I hit what I think are the high points:a. The new Nikon FX flagship camera - the D5Well, they've boosted the ISO again and cleaned it up further in the heady reaches - you can now apparently range from ISO 50 to 3,280,000. It frankly beggars description and we'll just have to wait until we get a body in hand to go out and shoot nighttime stuff with it. Theatre, club, and sporting shooters will be delighted.There is an new processor to do this - EXPEED 5. It will control the 20.8 MP sensor and will pedal the thing along at from 12 to 14 FPS if needed.You'll get a far faster and more accurate AF with 153 points of observation. It should track things like a bloodhound.It will shoot 4K video and most other things under that spec. You'll have...
06 Jan Big Eye Olympus and Tough New Olympus
Two new Olympus bits, as you'll see from some of our other electronic posts: A telephoto lens and a new underwater camera.Here's the editorial take on them as gleaned from the press announcements:a. The 300mm f4 ED IS PRO lens looks to be the flagship long optic of the Micro 4/3 system and logically will be so for a long time. Olympus themselves realise that this is a sports and wildlife lens a and have conducted their own surveys to find out the most popular subject. it turns out to be birds - the feathered variety.At 600mm equivalent it's about all you could hope to hold - and even here you'll have to use all the magic bean power that Olympus put in their image stabilising system. They state it as 6-stops of stabilisation when used on an OM-D E-M1 or OM-D E-M5 Mkii body. The makers provide a tripod foot and also a sleek ring to replace it if you are going to hand hold the lens. Frankly, unless you are shaking it like a set of maracas the...
06 Jan Extra Special Bonus Blog For Today
This is a blog post to tell you what someone told me...
06 Jan What? This Old Thing? I Just Threw It On…
I have been old friends with this bit of equipment since I started work at Camera Electronic. It was made by Tamrac and a half dozen of them sat in the storage shelves upstairs for YEARS. I suspect it was because no-one knew what they actually were. I must admit I puzzled about them myself for a long time.During this time I built up my own studio:I added gear from all sorts of manufacturers - Manfrotto, Superior, Redwing, Promaster, etc. but often had no system for storage of the accessories. The clamps, knives, scissors, spigots, and whatever went from an overcrowded bureau drawer to IKEA cardboard boxes to an untidy pile on the studio product table. It was even worse when I took my studio on the road - nothing was where I needed it and quite a few little bits got lost.Well that is exactly the sort of disorder that this thing was made to cure. It is a hanging studio organiser.Made in three panels of tough nylon fabric, there are cross straps sewn at regular intervals into which...
05 Jan Your Christmas Present Was A Speed Light – Here’s The Rest Of It
If you are new to photography we want to let you into a secret - there is always more. If you thought that one purchase would equip you for a lifetime of pleasure you are either going to have thin pleasure or a short lifetime. To keep achieving, you're going to need to add more stuff.Don't feel bad. We've all had to buy more accessories for what we use and in most cases it has actually expanded our minds and our abilities. Sometimes the extras turn out to be so simple...
03 Jan Going To All The Trouble – With Premier
Now here's a funny one. All you digital photographers out there pay attention because we are going to talk about chemistry. For you.You thought you got away from it when you purchased your digital camera, didn't you? You figured you could throw away the developing tank and the thermometer and never have to worry about printing again. And then you got tired of just seeing the pictures on the back of the camera and started putting them onto the computer. And then you bought a printer...
01 Jan A Cheerful New Year From The Editorial Desk
I cannot speak for the rest of the staff - who may be at their several homes lying down with cold cloths over their faces, but I feel fine this morning. New Years Eve swept over the house and nothing seems to have been dislodged.Writing the weblog column has been a great deal of fun this last year - assisted not a little in the last two months by the fact that it could be banged out with no telephones shrilling in the ear and a better studio for photos. That latter point is still in the process of improvement - I think that all studios evolve as time goes on. The Little Studio has taken a new turn with the business of product illustration. All those old technical books on studio stuff are now fertile ground.You'll see a post a day in the coming year - the experiment of morning and afternoon posting was interesting but if the stream of new products slows too much you can tun out of novelties. Of course there is never a dull moment...