31 Jul Black Box Week No. 1 – The Fujifilm Fabulous Fifty
This week is brought to you in black boxes - some of them contain lenses, come contain cameras, and some contain secrets...
July 2017
28 Jul Lurking In The Swamps With The Fujifilm 50mm f:2 Lens
As a review of the new Fujifilm 50mm f:2 R WR lens I thought I would take it out of the model car studio for a change. Oh, I am sure it would do a fine job there, but the very nature of the focal length means that it would have less depth of field than the lenses already in use - and would not be the first choice. Instead, I took it to the local bird sanctuary and shot pictures from the observation platform. The first images were of the Variegated RFDS's taking off. These were snap shots - as soon as I arrived I could hear the noise begin and I had no time at all to turn the camera on, swivel, and capture the birds just taking flight. Interesting to note the speed with which the lens snapped into focus, and that with the AF point set to the lowest size. At this distance it is easy to know where to place the green AF rectangle on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 as there is little parallax to contend with. The...
27 Jul New Fujifilm 50 On Stage
I thought I would let the boys from The Goldfisch Studio* lighting department try out their new portable on-set lights to showcase the Fujinon XF 50mm f:2 R WR lens,, They're demons for gel lighting over at Goldfisch and I must say I can't blame them. Even old actors and actresses look good if you can get enough magenta and blue on them. And the visual appeal of a silver lens like the new Fujinon comes out all the more with the play of colours. The black version of this lens would look perfect with the black Versions of the Fujifilm X- Pro2, X-T , or X-T20, but you just can't beat the combination of the chrome versions on the X-E2s or the X-T10 or X-T20. Fujifilm are one of the makers who realise that aesthetic appeal of equipment is as rewarding to some as the performance. Oh,they can try to suggest modernity and brutal professional power in their designs - and that can be a bit amusing if the design includes a lot of plastic bits - but the wisest of...
26 Jul Did Goe Down To The Sea…With Nikon
Did goe to the Maritime Museum laste night and was greatley amused. It was the launch night for the Nikon D7500 - the enthusiast's APS-C DSLR from Nikon. And as it was their 100th anniversary it was a very splendid occasion. They pulled out all the stops to make it a memorable occasion for the visitors. Contrary to what that old movie showed - it's not bad in the museum at night...
25 Jul Thinking Fast And Wide – An Evening With Attila Csaszar
If you are going to be a professional press photographer covering the political and business scene you are going to have to have the ability to think on your feet, and think fast. You'll also have to have an eye for a situation as it develops - the rich and powerful rarely pause in their tracks to suit you - or if they do it is for extremely brief periods of time. The quick shot gets the page. This much was evident in the talk given at Shoot Photography last night by Attila Csaszar - a staff photographer for Business News in Western Australia. That's him posing with a copy of the magazine bannered with a portrait he took of the WA Premier. Not a surprise, that, for a business paper, but big news for the Leica enthusiasts at Shoot - because it was taken with a wide-angle lens on a Leica Q camera. The Leica Q is all wide angle and all Leica. You can't remove the lens but you can dial in three focal length outputs from it - with...
24 Jul A Wet Sunday With Something To Do…
The annual Photo Live has just concluded - a full day of trade presentations and expo fun at a city hotel. It was run under the aegis of Camera Electronic, but around the Novotel function room you could find stands from a whole raft of major and minor photographic suppliers, service organisations, private firms, and photographic societies. There were lectures that were very well attended and trade sessions that were a hive of activity. A wet hive, mind, for part of the morning...
21 Jul It’s Not A Toy If It’s An Accessory
As photographers...
20 Jul The Self-Cleaning Lens – Leica Triumphs Again
Getting rid of drudgery is a good way of reinvigorating people's interest in any subject. Just as the introduction of the frost-free freezer and the automatic tyre chains made all the difference to winter comfort in Canada in the 60's, so the new developments in the pipeline at Leica are pretty sure to capture people's imagination. The one that I want to see is scheduled for release just at the end of March or the start of April - the self-cleaning lens. We've all had that sinking feeling when we've looked at the DSLR or mirror-less camera lens selection in our camera bag and discovered that they are coated with grease, oil, and baked-on food scraps. Even the most lackadaisical photographer will eventually have to admit that putting pieces of fried chicken or glazed doughnuts into the camera bag along with the optics is going to lead to a build-up. Sweet and sour sauce on the polarizing filters is even worse. Eventually you have to do something about it. And none of us likes to spend a morning with a can of...
19 Jul An Innovative Product
Who says Leica do not have their ears to the ground when it comes to contemporary culture? Not us - we've seen some of their products and some of their ears...
18 Jul Strapped For Cash?
Well keep right on walking, cowboy. This is the Leica counter and we don't play for pocket money 'round these here parts...