15 Aug The 50’s Mirrorless – Nikon In The Age Of Metal
Walk round with me as we inspect the Nikon mirror-less camera...
August 2018
14 Aug Nikon Without Mirror – Pure Speculation
I've kept my promise to the WA Nikon Sales Manager. I have not rung him up every hour asking for secret details about new Nikon products without mirrors. I have not burgled his office nor gone through his emails. I have not sat in the bushes opposite his house and glared at him through the leaves. Not that I haven't been tempted, mind. But I've realised that the best way to find out what is coming out is to wait until an official launch. That, and haunting the rumour sites and YouTube clips. You can do a great deal of good, and even a greater degree of bad, with internet speculation. But it doesn't help to frazzle the rep. The photographic world changes constantly - I did not realise how much until I entered the trade again in 2008. Quite apart from the catch-up needed to go from sheet film to second-generation digital, there was an almost weekly addition of new equipment and rising specification in the major brands. The designation of " major brand " also shifted perceptively while I watched,...
13 Aug Leica Users Now Have Permission To Come Closer…
Leica users have had a rough time of it in the past - they have always had access to the best of optical performance in most fields - but they may not have known it was available. The traditional Leica presentation of street photography in Germany or field photography in Africa has mostly revolved around the use of rangefinder cameras used with stand-off lenses. Unless one was using the 35mm SLR cameras, one was going to have to do a lot of hard work to get macro and close-up shots. Well, not any more. The digital revolution and the availability of live view and the LCD screen has changed all that. The Leica shooter can go in as close as people using other systems. It just needs the lenses and determination. The Leica Macro Elmar M 90mm f:4 is one way to go. 1:2 close-up ratio and incredible resolution. You need to stack the Macro Adapter M in between the lens and the body to do it...
13 Aug 100 Years On Nikon
We've just seen the closure of the 100 years website that the Nikon corporation drew up to celebrate their anniversary year. It was worthwhile looking at as the corporation had the best stocks of information about their products over that time - and, of course, an immense number of a landmark productions in the time. But what was their biggest landmark for you - what was it for me? Did we have the same experience of the company over that time? I first encountered the brand in 1966 - when I took up amateur photography in high school. It was far beyond my reach financially, but I had no idea why...
10 Aug Sony Week…Five…Shooting At The Museum
Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proof of the lighting is in the shooting. And whether or not the new Sony HVL-F60RM looks like it is too big for the Sony Alpha 6300 and the 30mm f:3.5 lens or not, that's the rig that goes to the museum today. The Air World museum is a new venture. It's been erected just west of the Wet Dog Regional Airport in central Alberta - the old RCAF Wet Dog station. The Canadian Deprtment of Transport runs it now and they leased the vacant land to a private operator. It's still being completed, but a few of the exhibits are being moved in - they dismantled the old RCAF control tower and re-erected it as a display along with the vehicles they had left over. The museum halls will ultimately house a collection of Canadian aircraft - civieian and military - and hold air shows in the summer months as a tourist attraction. At least out in the prairies they won't have a parking problem. Hotel and motel accommodation in...
09 Aug Sony Week…Four…The Flash
The Sony HVL-F60RM made this whole week. It was the product that leapt off the shelf into my hands as soon as I saw it - because big fancy flashes are the sort of thing that I want to see in every manufacturer's range of products. Sneer if you like, but I have always regarded a flash as an essential tool for photography - inside and out. Whether it's the fixed flashes of emplacement in the studio or the battery-powered field guns, I want to see bursts of light I can depend upon to go where I want to see something. And I want my camera to work with that flash in the easiest possible fashion. Before you assume that's just advertising bumf, consider: a. You need to be able to fire a flash on the camera full-bore straight out. Sounds simple but sometimes you need that deer-in-the-headlights look. Then you need to run. b. Sometimes you don't need full-bore - the TTL mechanism lets the camera and flash decide what to do when you don't know or don't have time to do mental...
08 Aug Sony Week …Three…The Lens
With a shelf full of E-mount lenses to pick for the Alpha 6300, what do you think I would gravitate to? Me, the guy with the toy air field...
07 Aug The Ingredients List On the CE Weblog Column Label
Recently it was pointed out to me that I sometimes cook up the posts here in the Camera Electronic weblog column with a lot of the same ingredients - specifically with items from the Fujifilm shelf. That's actually a fair call, and I looked in my photographic pantry to see why. It turns out that I am in the habit of reaching for the ingredients that I am most familiar with - and I noticed that I also do so when I am cooking food in our kitchen. There is also the factor that I have a number of recipes that I have perfected and that I know will turn out* - when I've got guests coming I revert to the old standards. Well, now that I realise it, it's time to change the pattern. I am going to try to feature more brands in the future and to find some way to give them more cooking time before they are served. In photographic terms this means I'll have to find some way to operate the equipment that people want to read about for...
07 Aug Sony Week…Two…The Camera
The Alpha 6300 camera is not a new camera in Sony's terms. New in Sony's terms is whatever is behind the green door and is going to be released at the next trade show. They have a wonderful variety of new, and if you are a fan of it, you can always anticipate something. But this is a tried product. It's an APS-C-sensor camera that is designed to do pretty much everything you want in a small sensor travelling machine. It is ergonomically nearly perfect - with a north-west viewfinder, tilting LCD screen, good RHS grip, and all the wheels you need to steer it all under the right thumb. It's E-mount, with onboard extending flash, and a dedicated Sony hot shoe. Built like a brick, and sort of square like one as well, it could ride in any traveller's bag with whatever lens they though best suited them. Note that Sony use the wheel around the D-pad as the second adjuster when you are in Manual mode. There's enough custom buttons to suit most sensible users. You can shoot 4K video. My...
06 Aug Sony Week…One…The Brand
The Orange End Of The Shop is sometimes a little bit of foreign territory to me - many of the boxes are sealed and I do not get a chance to dive into them for the treasures. But occasionally the seals are opened for business and I get to see what's inside. This week I have taken out three diverse products to see if they are: Any good. Any good together. Any good for me. From the conclusions I may be able extrapolate to see if they would be any good for you. I have a long respect for Sony, though in my case it was hifi and radio gear that sold me on them - the early 70's were a burgeoning time for Sony and I got to use their amplifiers, tuner, and Trinitron colour television sets for several years. At the time, they had some of the best value for money audio gear avaiable here in Perth. The televison tube burned itself out in a few years - it was operating on a pretty high pressure - but while it worked,...