March 2019

Remember that I promised you six destinations? Well, the first is Whatford. What is analog photography? What was it before, and what is it today? Basically, it's recording an image using chemical means, rather than electronic ones. It was tried over two centuries ago by chemists and experimenters with no means of permanently fixing their image once a lens had shown it. A novel trick, it became a reality when a French gentleman used Bitumen of Judea and oil of lavender to take a picture of some rooftops. And then further French, English, German, and American gentlemen invented faster, better ways to do this...

A Facebook posting by a well-known WA photo personality has alerted us to the coming of some important regulations for drone flyers. CASA will apparently be requiring  you to register if your drone is above a certain weight. You'll be taking a course and test and then your information will be stored ready to track you down should you do the wrong thing. How people who see your drone doing the wrong thing - like flying in restricted air space or snooping at the nurse's quarters on Shower Night - will be able to tell it is yours is a moot point. It's not like you'll be painting buzz codes under your tiny little fuselage in bold letters. If your miniature helicopter darts in, drops a bag of flaming dog poo on the doorstep, then disappears over the treeline, the victim will be outraged but lose sight of the drone quickly. Still, there may be hidden circuits in the things that report your every move back to Canberra...

Make two people happy - yourself and our accountant. Gather in, Canon enthusiasts who want to work with small, light cameras, lenses, and flashes but want to work in a sophisticated manner. We have a flash idea for you. The Canon  Speedlite EL 100 may not look like the brightest flash you have ever seen - it has a guide number of 26  - but it gives you a chance to think on different terms than just the old blast o' light from the camera position. We've all done that, and we 'll continue to do it when it serves a good purpose ( Note that the illustration shots were taken using a portable product studio and a blast o' light from the hot shoe of a Fujifilm camera. BO'L is fine when you need frontal illumination. ) but there are times when art or science needs more light from more directions. This is the principle of the studio flash set of strobes and the $6000 worth of reflectors, softboxes, and triggers. If you need 'em, we got 'em, and don't lets let...

A little while ago we showed the Canon twin-flash for macro workers. A TTL solution for illuminating the tiniest of worlds. Well, today here is a suitable lens for it - the new 35mm Macro IS STM for the RF system. A very tempting piece of glass. The 35mm focal length is somewhat ideal for both small and full-frame cameras - a normal field of view for the former and not too wide for the latter. Of course, there is some debate as to what a normal field of view might be when you move to 1:1 macro - but you can decide for yourself by raising your spectacles and peering closely at something a couple of inches away from your nose. Get to the point where your focusing ability just about runs out and before you lose the ability to set the stereo images together in your head. That's how wide you can see, so that's the standard for you. Those of you who have markedly different abilities in either eye - one working better than the other at certain distances...

The title of this essay didn't start out to be psychological - I think I was on the way to typing something else and the kettle boiled or the cat yowled to be let out. It just got those two letters and stopped. I've no idea what it was originally going to be...

The next two weeks are going to be a pleasant ones for Nikon users - there is a drop in Nikon prices going on right now and there's even special bonuses to do with new products that you can pre-order. The main price reductions involve DSLR and mirrorless Nikon bodies  but there are a couple three instances where a lens is also involved. Here's the DSLR body only section: Nikon D750 - Was $ 2449 - Now $ 2099 - Save $ 350 Nikon D850 - Was $ 4799 - Now $ 4349 - Save $ 450 Nikon D7500 - Was $ 1748 - Now $ 1398 - Save $ 350   If you're looking for a lens with that D7500 to start you out - and to start you out well, consider adding the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-140mm f:3.5-5.6G ED VR to the purchase Nikon D7500 + 18-140mm kit  - Was $ 2048 - Now $ 1748 - Save $ 300   Okay, that's the full-frame and APS-C DSLRs tidied up - now for the new Nikon Z7 mirrorless camera and the lens and FTZ accessory adapter: Nikon Z7...