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01 Apr

Posted at 08:27h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Ah, Grasshopper, you have had your first films developed. You have the scans and have seen the images on your computer. You are proud. Now you must humble yourself again. It is time for you to develop. And if you ever wanted to make a mess, here is your chance. If you share accommodation this will be a trying time. Your housemates will consider murdering you, for you will steal their bathroom. First off - do not try colour processing initially. It involves precise temperature controls and handling of dangerous liquids and is best left to the professional lab. Concentrate on black and white negative development. There will be dry work and wet work - the bathroom - and some new equipment to borrow or buy. If you are able to use a communal darkroom at a school or a club, by all means do so for a year - you'll learn so much that you can bring back to your own premises, without losing the good will of your housemates. If you are on your own, you'll need: a. An entirely dark room...

30 Mar

Posted at 09:14h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Unless it is a film on the front of your lens. The newly-hatched photographic chick who has just discovered grand-Dad's old SLR or TLR in the closet ( and had it serviced at the Camera Electronic Repair Department ) can turn to their left from the Service Counter - turn right around - and see the film fridge. Now's the time to start thinking about what goes through the camera. There has always been a variety of film available for analogue cameras. Monochrome negative emulsions, colour negative emulsions, colour transparency emulsion. For a time there were monochrome transparency emulsions sold. All sorts of mnames from all sorts of factories; Kodak, Ilford, Orwo, Agfa, Fujifilm, Sakura, Perutz, Adox,etc, etc. Many are just history now, and some names have been brand-traded to different factories, but that film fridge is still full. The choices may not be as wide today, but you can still shoot all year on good stocks in most divisions. And you can shoot on a 35mm camera or a medium-format camera just like the old days. You can't shoot on a 126...

25 Mar

Posted at 09:08h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

The Wanderlust shop next door to the Murray Street Camera Electronic shop is a lot of fun to wander through if you are an older person who doesn't understand modern technology. Of course I can get the same way in a deli, so that doesn't say much. However, you occasionally see things that vaguely make sense - and the three big boxes sitting over on the side wall were in this category. They appear to be a solution to a problem that we have made for ourselves - the problem of devices. Now a device is anything that we have that does something - as opposed to some of the in-laws who don't. Electrical devices do things with magic and electronic devices do it with clean and precise magic. If you are out where the busses don't run, however, there is no electricity to power the magic and you're left to your own...

18 Mar

Posted at 07:50h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

" But it takes pictures. " How many times have you have someone come up to you while you were busy justifying $ 8000 of camera and lens and distract you by telling you about the camera they have? Or had. If you are unfortunate they will see you as a kindred soul and want to share the time they found a ghost gum with a '37 Ford ute underneath it. If you are really cursed they will have the picture on their phone. Well, it's on there somewhere - just let them scroll through 2016 to 2020 and they'll find it. This is the result of modern times...

14 Mar

Posted at 09:31h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Leo Junior was the local name of a Hilson-Praga Air Baby monoplane imported to Australia in the 1930's. It was blue, sleek, and remarkably underpowered. But it, and two of its siblings survived the war and numerous owners. You can buy your own Little Leo in Camera Electronic, but you'll be getting a tabletop tripod - one of renown. The Leofoto MT-03-LH-25 is not a name that trips off the tongue like Air Baby, but it is one of the best value precision 'pods that are on offer. The legs are duo-fold - you'll see one out there in the heading image making up for the uneven surface. There's a rubber foot on the end to avoid marring the top of the piano. It is not a dumb leg, either. Five 1/4" mounting holes on every leg let them support a microphone or a mini-light or control box if you are using the support for vlogging. The head is precise and compact, with an Arca-Swiss configuration and a big enough ball to give a firm grip for average-sized cameras. The grip plate also has a...

11 Mar

Posted at 09:13h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Get someone to write your speech for you. If you pay them enough they can make you sound like you know what you are doing. Okay, that's cynical, but consider the results of  getting up to make an extempore address and losing the plot in two sentences. You might not be able to avoid disaster four drinks into a wedding speech, but if you are vlogging or doing other recording whilst in control of the machinery, you can get help started your way before you open your mouth. We've all seen the tele-prompter machines that allow politicians to speak sincerely and directly into a camera, while reading the whole thing from a screen in front of them. The professional rigs are big and evident. Now you can get a tiny version for your own productions. You can appear good and sincere, on camera, and stay on-script. The Desview T1 Tele-prompter can present your thoughts, or the thoughts of your writers, to you as you are being filmed. You'll look focused and intelligent. The trick is a mirror that is partially front-silvered. It is mounted...