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October 2017

06 Oct

Posted at 18:02h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

I was idly standing around in the Camera Electronic Murray Street Shop when my eye beheld a very old sight. No, it was not Domenic. He is actually quite young, despite his appearance. Nor was it a glimpse of myself in the mirror. It was the oldest product in the place - Rodinal developer. Oh, it isn't called Rodinal any more - after Agfa went bust they sold off a lot of their patents and formulae and the Adox people got this prize - the right to make Rodinal. They have renamed it Adonal, but the colouration and shape of the container, plus the chemical information on the label assure us that it's the good old stuff. It was first made in 1891, and is a compound of 4-aminophenol. It's not a fine-grain developer - best used with Pan For FP4 on medium and large-format films. It makes for very sharp silver grains and a very high edge sharpness. See the neg that I've scanned from my Linhof days. You dilute it dramatically  - 1+25, 1+50, or 1+1-00 are common dilutions and some have even...

05 Oct

Posted at 08:04h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

And no-body gets hurt. Because it's mine. Mine, you hear? All mine! But I'll let you look at it. The Sirui people are starting to become more and more interesting as they explore new things that they can do with geometry and their CNC machines. They're starting to think up new uses for standard parts that other people have not done before. This table-top tripod is an example. Oh, TT tripods aren't new - we've been flogging them for decades - all the way from the mega-expensive hammer-tone German types to the cheap and cheerful purple ones. Nearly every major tripod maker has tried their hand with this genre, and frequently they have given their design teams something that approaches carte blanche when it comes to the shape. Carte blanche is a French phrase for a lot of wine at lunch time...

04 Oct

Posted at 07:01h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Simply because the Zeiss people have tried their hand at taking macro and close-up pictures. And they have found out what happens when you set an AF mechanism to work close-to. What happens is a perfect storm of confusion - right there in your hand. You can confirm this is you have a macro lens that has an AF mechanism incorporated into it. Several of the makers have done this , both in the DSLR and mirror-less divisions. The lenses that feature AF can be extremely good performers, but in certain circumstances you will never discover it. What you will learn is a whole new vocabulary...

02 Oct

Posted at 08:11h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

We primed you with a post last Friday mentioning 15% off the price of Zeiss lenses at our Murray Street store but we cleverly did not tell you the actual prices - leaving you to search out the figures on our Camera Electronic store website or turn up at Murray Street and ask the staff. Either way will eventually show you that the 15% is a substantial saving...

27 Sep

Posted at 08:34h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

The camera is an excuse to get out the toy cars and the toy cars are an excuse to get out the camera. It is probably the same with you - substituting landscapes or sports or wildflowers for toy cars. You might even be the family photographer who is always circulating at the parties. If you are, take heart - they may growl at you now when you make them look at the camera, but after a couple of decades those images will become precious. Just make sure you save the files in a number of places. If family members have been particularly un-cooperative at the holiday parties or weddings you can get your revenge later by Facebooking the worst of them and then demanding a ransom to hide them. You're the photographer and you get to be ruthless. The main feature that stands out in the new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III besides a model designation  that is far too long, is the improved user control system. Oh, they've added a bit more grip and a few more internal features with...

26 Sep

Posted at 09:46h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

You can do produce any size camera if you try. Whatever the designer draws, if a maker can enlist a crew of eight people and a recovery vehicle just over the horizon, they can send it out of the factory door. If they are wise they will wedge the door tight so that nobody can bring it back in again. It's different if a manufacturer wants to make something that is going to be successful - because part of that success will involve real people operating it in real-time. And the simpler the interface, the better chance that it will work. That is the principle around some of the changes on the new Olympus E-M10 MkIII. Look at the front - the new handgrip is much more comfortable and much more secure - it is paired with a larger and more effective thumb grip at the back.         Also note the clever engineering of the three adjustment wheels on the right hand side. They are somewhat similar in shape but have been differentiated in height to allow your thumb and fingers, once trained,...

25 Sep

Posted at 08:26h in Dick's Rant by [social_share]

What sort of photographer are you? There's a question that people answer in the shop in oh-so-many different ways. Some say good or bad. Some say they are an adherent of Brand A or Brand B. Some identify themselves by the subjects they like to shoot. Some say amateur or professional, and frequently they are right. Hardly anyone ever says that they are modest. Or moderate. Or minimalist. It is almost as if they are afraid that the sales staff, other photographers, or the camera makers will look down on them. " There, there, little fellow...