08 Sep The Long Haul Machine
When we think of long-haul planes we think of Sunderlands, Condors, and Superfortresses...
September 2017
07 Sep The Fighter-Bomber
What do you do if you have to cope with targets both on the ground and in the air? Leaving aside the suggestion of a Flak 88 and a set of ear plugs, we come to the answer of the fighter-bomber. An aircraft fast and agile enough to deal with a dogfight ( assuming that the pilot is incautious enough to get into one ) and big enough and heavy enough to haul bombs and drop them. On the enemy, and preferably a considerable distance from home. The aircraft has to be rugged, as the business of both aerial combat and ground pounding puts a heavy strain on the airframe. The engine has to be big enough to cope with this weight. The armament...
06 Sep The Bomber
Well, if you need to do a heavy job and you need to do a lot of it, you need a bomber. And a ground crew. It need not be a light machine, it need not be dazzlingly fast, and it need not be fashionable-looking. It does not even need to work in pitch-black conditions. But it does need to carry a heavy load, and to do it reliably for a long time. And it does need to be able to hit the target accurately every time. Likewise with the cameras. This is the field of the portrait studio, the product shoot, the fashion coverage. The camera might very well live on a tripod or studio stand for much of the time. It will be working with studio lights, and may be able to hover down about the native ISO of the sensor...
05 Sep The Fighter
If we are going to extend yesterday's analogy about aircraft and doughnuts to cameras, let's start with the fighter; the pursuit ship that has to climb, dive, and turn faster than the opposition. This would equate the agile camera that can respond quickly out in the field, as the fighter plane does in the air. Well, logic tells us that it needs to be fast - the camera with a high rate of continuous exposure plus the ability to empty the buffer will be the winner. It needs to power up quickly and to find focus in the shortest time. It needs to be able to resolve a scene adequately for all this rapid action - perhaps not as detailed as the heavier machines, but it must still shoot accurately. It should be quick to deploy, and not so large as to prevent carrying it for long periods. If multiple bodies are needed, they should be small enough to pack away. It should be easy to maintain. No good having a marvellously sophisticated aero-engine or camera if it is always in the repair shop...
04 Sep Those Magnificent Men With Their Image Machines
Air forces in the 20th century loved to get new airplanes - in part to replace the ones they lost and in part so they could have new toys to play with. And there was probably a strong streak of the collector in them - the desire to own one of every kind. If you are a fan of any particular brand of camera you may recognise that feeling. This played out in classifications of aircraft; fighters, bombers, transports, reconnaissance types, etc. Then it got even more specific; day fighters, night fighters, interceptors, long-range escorts, etc. Then heavy day, light day, and so on. One air force even issued specifications for an all weather cannon-armed twilight escort for doughnut runs in the month of May by pilots whose first name started with " T "...
01 Sep East Perth Can Take It
I got to go out this week with the new Fujifilm X-pro2 camera and the 35mm f:2 WR lens and record the preparations being made for the defence of East Perth. Let me tell you that I was not spying - I received no complaint from the defence council - and I am here to reassure the citizens that they are as safe in their houses as anyone in East Perth could be. The first pictures are of commando training for small-boat assault. We see the attack force forming up and being lead in single file into Claisebrook Cove. At this time the anti-submarine net was lowered to the bed of the river and the mines de-activated. Anti -tank barriers and annular claymore mines on posts at the wharf. They fire 360º. Very effective against raiders. Here is a clearer side view of the Wybraniec-Neiile phased array radar installation sited to detect surface ships out to the horizon. It is rumoured to be able to resolve an aircraft carrier moored the other side of Governor Stirling High School. No danger of sneak attack from...
31 Aug A Little Light Relief
This week has been sturm and drang with the temptations of new Fujifilm gear, so I thought it might be nice to feature something today that I can afford to buy. And that will be genuinely useful in event shooting. We all know the benefits of diffusers for flash lighting - whether they are the little square boxes that clamp over the head of your speedlight, or a bigger assembly that you attach via magnets or strap...
30 Aug Yet Another Temptation Taunting Me
And I am, in turn, doing it to you. Just as well we don't live in the main county town of Somerset and drive a German Ford sedan because that would be a case of Taunus taunting in Taunton, and we could all be arrested on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapun...
29 Aug The Black Tempter
I have been asked to apologise for making terrible puns in this column. I'm more than happy to do so as long as it does not prevent me from doing it again and again. But today's temptation is really difficult. It's not a surprise to anyone - even to me. It's the black workaday version of the graphite-silver Fujifilm X-Pro 2 we saw earlier in the year. Same beast - darker coat. Every technical thing I said last time still goes - so nip back in the column and look at the glorious grey version as well. The difference for me is that this one gets a run with a card in it and some colourful subjects out the front. And this time I have the ability to decode the RAW file information and to tweak the files a little. I have been re-reading my book by Pfirstinger on mastering the X-Pro 1 to get a few ideas on how to deal with RAW via Lightroom CC and have implemented a number of his suggestions. In the case of the X-Pro1 and...
28 Aug A Week In Which I Torment Myself For Your Amusement
If this sounds like an introduction to a Japanese game show, you must ask yourself why you are reading past the first line...