04 Dec Do You Trust Your Settings…?
Or would you like to be sure? Would it be better to bring back a series of images that all have the same white balance...
December 2018
03 Dec A Cubic Product Solution From Lastolite
Look at the heading image - it is a neat nylon bag from the English firm, Lastolite. It contains a solution to a problem that you may not know you have. First, let me show you my problem: There it is - the steel-framed elephant in the room. Proof, if any were needed by now, that I should never be trusted with a yellow pad and a pencil - and certainly never turned loose in Bunnings with money. It is my adaptation of a Steve Sint design for a product table as routed through Bunnings Myaree. It has steel frames, perspex sheet, pine stringers, Manfrotto 035 Super Clamps, and IKEA extension cord holders. There are Elinchrom monoblocks and an orphan SLS strobe bolted on. It's only the strict firearms laws in this state that stopped me from adding an Oerlikon mount...
30 Nov Dangerous Drug
What, you may ask yourself, could possibly cause normally sensible people to start fighting in the middle of the shop floor - biting, kicking, and scratching as they rolled through the tripods...
30 Nov Who Planned The Road System?
Go to Jandakot Airport some early sunny morning. You'll pass through two roundabouts on the way, as will the rest of the entire population of Perth. The waiting will be good for your soul, but make sure that the petrol tank is full...
29 Nov Brace Yourselves – It’s Scale Models Again
And this time it is using the new Canon EOS R camera with the 24-105 f:4 L IS lens...
28 Nov Canon EOS R – The Glass Jar Is Full Of Glass
The choice of which lens to put on the new Canon EOS R camera was an easy one for me to make - the one in the box. The kit comes with a 24-105mm f:4 lens. It is an L lens - red ring - and has an internal stabilising system. It is a second cousin to the 24-105 f:4 L IS that has been seen on any number of Canon DSLR cameras over the last decade...
27 Nov Canon EOS R Camera – Power On
" Push The Button, Max! " There was never a better villain than Jack Lemmon in " The Great Race ". Nor a better henchman than Peter Falk. I think they would have made fine camera reviewers. Before you power up your new Canon EOS R camera you need to fill the battery. Thankfully, Canon have not charged off into the wilderness with a new battery size for this new system - the LP-6, battery charger block, and figure 8 cord are totally familiar to Canon DSLR users - and if they already have a collection of LP-6's they are set for life. I have always admired the way the Canon blocks report how far the charge has proceeded as they are working. Once loaded - and a card inserted in the slot...
26 Nov Coming To Grips With Canon
This week I finally come to grips with the new Canon EOS R camera system - or at least with one example of it. Enough stock has arrived to allow me to take one back to the Little Studio and give it my own workout. The camera is packed well. Don't laugh at me for praising the box - there have been other things in other boxes in the past that have caused serious grief. This one sets out the goods in three trays on three levels and adds additional packing for the most delicate parts. The most interesting bits are often the smallest. Note the computer harness block. The Canon EOS R will be capable of tethering to computers - and note that Camera Electronic has a full range of Tether Tools cables to assist with this. It is a measure of the determination that Canon is showing to make their new mirror-less system a fully professional one. It's a sleek and handsome camera, reminiscent of the shape of the DSLR but without the depth of the mirror box. The...
23 Nov Hope Springs Eternal – At The Wedding
Bob Hope, that is...
22 Nov The Art Photographer
If you have grown jaded and bored with defusing old land mines or milking King Brown snakes for venom, you might like to include yourself in a group of art photographers and ask them whether what they do is really art. Life will become exciting in a very short period of time. Be prepared for noise. It might be as well to steel yourself for this by going to a few photography exhibitions or purchasing some of the books that deal with the business of art. There are any number of fine monographs available from art gallery bookshops and technical book stores that will start you off. Some are general, some specific. Authors who have their work published by major firms are a safe starting point - later you can progress to more radical artists - the ones who have paid for their own publications. The recognised photo artist can be seen as well on the internet - sites devoted to sales of their images are available 24 hours in the day. Here again, an agency or overall retailer selling images will have culled...