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November 2022

11 Nov

Posted at 09:28h in Blog by [social_share]

I asked a delicate question of the OM System representative at the start of a recent camera night; Should I mention the name Olympus in this post? He said " yes ". The new products from the factories will bear the name OM System, the lenses will still carry the name " Zuiko " and the history of the Olympus brand is a very proud one. The graphic palette for marketing will not change, the menus and buttons will not change, and the ergonomic learning that Olympus users have built up over time will not be lost. The micro 4/3 lenses will all work just as well as ever they did - and that means they work very well, indeed. And the buyers of the  OM-1 and now the new OM-5 will have more than ever in new processor power and features within the camera bodies. If you were hesitating about entering the system, or about upgrading your camera behind your lenses, now is a very good time to reconsider. The visitors on the night were Olympus users from way back - the...

09 Nov

Posted at 07:48h in Blog by [social_share]

Camera Electronic had two touch-and-try sessions for the new Fujifilm X-T5 camera on one day - one at Murray Street and one at Stirling Street. I saw the Stirling show and was interested to learn of the composition of the audience for the one in town. Our marketing manager says that a great many people were already Fujifilm owners, and predominately of the X-T2 . Now why are they coming out to see the new X-T5 especially? a. It is a new Fujifilm camera that is photo-oriented - but with very good video capability attached. This is very much like the X -T2 and the X-T3. b. It is a camera that has a similar size and weight to the classic X-T2. As with all camera makers, Fujifilm found that the camera body size and weight were creeping up with the X-T3, X-T4, X-H2s, and X-H2. More stuff in the insides, more heat, more size, more weight. Nice to see the trend reversing a little. c. It has the classic dial-oriented style of Fujifilm. Shutter, ISO, and aperture are all rotary controls. They have...

04 Nov

Posted at 09:38h in Blog by [social_share]

Were I turned out of doors at Stirling Street with a full-frame Nikon mirror-less camera and one lens and forbidden to buy more. I would request my banishment be with the Nikkor 24-70mm f:4 S-series zoom. It really does seem to be the lens that could do anything. I observe this in their DSLR series as I watch a friend exercise himself with a new D850 and their a lens of similar range. There really doesn't seem to be anything the average shooter cannot accomplish with this sort of combination. Certainly, if it were combined with a dear old SB-700 flash it could work forever making money at events and weddings. In this respect, the higher ISO capabilities of the Z-series cameras and the flash power would conquer most indoor spaces. If you are inclined to scoff at the universality I'm advocating on the grounds that you only shoot by available light or demand the out-of-focus appearance that a wider aperture gives, remember that there are events and venues in this town that have neither lights nor backdrops no matter where you...

02 Nov

Posted at 15:55h in Blog by [social_share]

You might as well work hard; lifting bales and toting barges. And carrying the sort of lenses that make bales and barges feel lighter. The working professional who needs to remain a distance from their subject while still imprinting a large image on the sensor needs a longer lens. That's optical physics. They also need a lens that works reliably, focuses fast, resists the effects of lousy weather, and delivers high resolution. A lighter barrel and less weight over a working day would be nice, too. Enter the Nikon S-series lenses for the new mirror-less Z-mount cameras - the 70-200mm f:2.8 S and the 400mm f:4.5 S. Long, but not as heavy as you would expect. As precise as their predecessors on the DLSR mount, and very fast to focus. Both with powerful vibration reduction mechanisms. Sports, events, weddings, wildlife, surveillance...

31 Oct

Posted at 09:24h in Blog by [social_share]

A cabinet, actually - a yellow and black cabinet. A new yellow and back cabinet at the Stirling street shop. My weekly enquiry of the staff about anything new was finally rewarded when they told me that the new Nikon cabinet was full of S-line lenses. Don't get as confused as I was by the revival of  the historic " S " designation...

28 Oct

Posted at 09:35h in Blog by [social_share]

I have often been asked whether there are security cameras watching. I always assure people that there are.  The heading image is one in operation. It is checked once a week after the films come back from the chemist. For some reason the burglars all feel compelled to line up and smile for the lens. There have been no instances of red indian fingers in the group shots. The police have asked for 8 x 10's and a selection of wallet-size...

26 Oct

Posted at 07:12h in Blog by [social_share]

Or perhaps that should be " selfie-ness ". The business of letting people see just how good you really think you look. I don't take many of them, not being over-confident of my ability to dazzle. It's not consideration for the viewers so much as a sort of fatalism. Like Cromwell, I would show warts and all, but unlike the Lord Protector, I cannot put my detractors in The Tower. You may be different, and if you are looking for a good way to illuminate yourself to illuminate others, have a look on the lighting shelves at the array of selfie ring lights. Most of them are designed to use the mobile phone as the capture device but there is no reason a small conventional camera could not be adapted for the purpose. Indeed, some of the purpose-built vlogging cameras from Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic would be a delight with the ring illumination. At this point you would do well to go off and google what ring-light illumination looks like on the human face and decide whether it is the light for you....

24 Oct

Posted at 09:17h in Blog by [social_share]

Don't hire me. I love colour and am a menace with a watercolour paint set. Nothing is safe. But there are those to whom art and taste come naturally, and they may well be employed by major agencies to make the logos and advertisements look good. We can be more beholden to them than we know, seeing clever and striking designs that firmly fix products in our minds - and hopefully take dollars out of our pockets to pay for them. If you want a fascinating hour, go to the graphic arts section of the public library or the same area of a book shop and have a look at the texts that teach the subject - and the font books and advertising show-books that the trade uses to sell itself to itself. Don't feel sad that they all seem to be much cleverer than you on a page - there's been a very great deal of agonising gone into the advertising campaigns and client proposals. And there may also have been a good deal of in-fighting as one agency seeks to...

21 Oct

Posted at 09:14h in Blog by [social_share]

Do not write in. I meant to type that. I have a prime lens for my Fujifilm cameras that is just about standard focal length for the APS-C sensor. It has a wonderfully wide aperture that produces great out-of-focus backgrounds for studio shots. So good that I even stopped myself from buying an even better Fujinon portrait lens that goes to a wider aperture. It was a struggle, but I resisted*. Having this prime - one of the original big three that Fujifilm released for the X-Pro1 camera - and just starting to try my eye at video work, I figured it would be a natural star for stage work. The focal length was good and the big aperture would let me work in some of the dimmer venues. So I put it on the X-T2, attached the Røde microphone, and pointed it at a dancer. Middle eastern dancing can be a loud affair - particularly if there is stage amplification in operation. But even the most robust tabla solo could not disguise the fact that my dear old prime lens made more...