August 2022

The heading image was taken at the stand of Fujifilm during the recent PhotoLive Expo 2022. I have resisted the temptation to use the term " Fudgey-Film " in the headline, but it was a close-run thing...

Have you ever wondered where all the lenses come from? And are we in danger of running out of sand from which to make them? Well, if there's any danger of that latter problem I can recommend the floor mats from my family's cars. I no longer use a hoover or a brush - I have started to dredge them out with a dragline. And not much chance of running out of lens makers, either - every single major camera maker has their dedicated line-up to match their bodies. There are a half dozen dedicated third-party makers that you can name from personal experience here in Australia - and in most cases the experience has been a positive one. And there are second-rank and third-rank optics makers that supply lenses for various mounts - and much of their output is neither second nor third-rate. Now the reps for the major photographic firms are polite people - unlike governments they rarely engage in sniping at each other to gain trade advantage. Their publicity departments may seek advantage, but it is most often done in...

Photo trade shows can be about many things; cameras, lenses, tripods, lights, bowls of candy, etc. All hardware - and sometimes you can add software as well - the digital programs that power our computers. But we can forge there is also brainware - the things that you can participate in that stretch your mind and fill it with good things. it's not just your gadget bag that needs novelties - you need new ideas. Where do you go to for them? Who has them? Haw do you get access to them? Is it costly? Are you in mortal danger?  ( I just put that last one in to keep you awake. People are hardly ever torn apart in the classroom these days. Occasionally, but not often. ) Well the answer to this was dotted all round the PhotoLive Expo 2022 room at the Novotel. It was the educational institution and society stands that had the answers. I counted Shoot Photography Workshops, TAFE, the Western Australian Photographic Federation, and others there bidding for the attention of prospective students. All with similar and different...

Benjamin Franklin had a saying that told us not to despise small gains nor ignore small expenses. He would have loved the Jupio brand of camera batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are the basic building blocks of digital operation. No battery life, no camera operation, no pictures. Every camera and many flashes need these batteries to give a usable time for a shoot. The amount of shots you get - or the amount of time a video will operate  - is related to the drain on the battery as much as it is to the actual capacity. Some cameras are electricity hogs - and they'll get greedier if you turn on extra features or screens. It really can make a difference if you shut off a back screen and only use an EVF - or better - an optical viewfinder. Every camera we buy will have a battery included - a manufacturer's model that corresponds to the design of the body and presumably maximises the shoot or play time. Most good cameras will also come with battery chargers so that you can recover this capacity...

Well, let's face it - as I was using a modern digital camera to capture some of the sights in the 2022 PhotoLive Expo at the Novotel, Langley, it was a dead cert that at least one of the trade stand operators was going to be able to say that to me. Had I been using a Speed Graphic with PF100 blue flashbulbs and a 6-inch reflector, it might have been another story . That sort of thing is always a temptation...

My new favourite saying from Matt Ball to describe products that deliver every time. As I am determined to write more from experience than imagination in the future ( my imagination having given out after seeing the stuff they show at the cinema these days...