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25 Jan

Posted at 12:18h in Blog, Reviews by

Australia Day is about celebrating the great nation we have become and acknowledging the new citizens who wish to call Down Under home. It's a time to reflect on our history and also a chance to spend time with family and friends. It's about getting outdoors, eating, drinking and sharing a BBQ at the local park. For many people, the memories we create during this January tradition are a perfect opportunity to capture some footage or photos. To help celebrate and capture the occasion we've put together some popular equipment for both photographers and videographers. So regardless if you plan on filming or photographing the unfolding events that make us Australian, we will have something for no matter where you plan to go. Panasonic S5: Our First Pick To Kick Off The Australia Day Sale   The first pick of the bunch is made for creatives who want the best of both worlds. The Panasonic LUMIX S5 makes our list as it can handle 4K video and detailed high-resolution stills. Birthing from a previous line-up of award winners, the S5's 24.2 megapixels 35mm full-frame...

25 Jan

Posted at 09:11h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Military colouring used to be a lot of fun - If you were English you got a red coat and if you were French you got red pants. If you were German you got a red face. It was all about looking as sharp as you could while wielding something sharp. If you were shooting people you made so much smoke doing it that concealment was impossible - so you wore feathers and gold braid and shiny hats. Then they invented smokeless gunpowder. You could hunker down behind a log and fire on people with a fair chance that they would not see from whence it came and would not kill you back. You could further improve on the odds by wearing clothing that made you blend into the log. Camouflage was born. Uniforms got dust-coloured, tree coloured, or haze-coloured. This helped against rifle fire but nothing deterred artillery from killing you. Well, things need not be as dire now for photographers. Apart from those fools who insist on going to wars and who would still be wise to wear camouflage whilst doing...

22 Jan

Posted at 07:32h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

The title is a phrase I heard regularly in our camera shop. Usually a new customer and generally either a Mum, Dad*, or someone going away in holiday. If it is predictable as a statement, at least it has the advantage of being truthful - there was no pretence to it. The person really did want a camera to take good pictures. Unfortunately, this sometimes had the unspoken postscript...

20 Jan

Posted at 06:47h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

I always like to say the words " Rodenstock Imagon " in a crowd of photographers to see if there are any large-format workers there. You can tell which ones have encountered this lens - all the blood leaves their faces. The Imagon was invented to do for imaging what the Iron Maiden did for the Spanish Inquisition, but in portable form. And no-one expects the Rodenstock Imagon...

18 Jan

Posted at 10:21h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Photographers have photographer friends. It's only natural - like interests and all. This can mean that the bond is shared knowledge or work, and sometimes a business connection. There can also be model friends or collaborator friends - though the latter is an awkward phrase. They also have rivals. These can be simple business competitors, club mates, or workers in the same artistic or academic field. The fiercest struggle is in the club. Murder, weak coffee, and cheap biscuits are the constant features of camera club life. The wise photographer seeks to find a special place for themselves that is free from these sorts of interferences - a secure niche in the structure of the art - or of the trade, for that matter. Something that allows them to be seen and, if possible, praised and rewarded independently of the activities of others. There have been many such in the past. HC-B was the pre-eminent street photo journalist - Atget the loner taking record shots of shopfronts. Both could have been in the same Paris street at the same time yet neither would...

15 Jan

Posted at 09:46h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

" Gol Dang. You jus' get to knowin' something and they go an' change it on you! " Thanks to Walt Kelly and the Pogo gang for that one. In my case the thing I used to know was how far you could push a camera and a film to get a picture. 400 ASA and f:1.8 and hope for the best. Then they introduced digital...

13 Jan

Posted at 10:50h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

I am afraid I have this picture in my mind of a Japanese monk raking a stone garden. The garden has one small altar and a very carefully placed bamboo plant. The monk's face is peaceful and composed and he is evidently deeply engrossed in the careful movement of the rake. He is wearing a GoPro Hero 9 camera on a helmet mount...

13 Jan

Posted at 09:50h in Reviews by

  Thankyou to photographer Robin Mascall for his review on the latest camera from Leica's Q line up. Monochrome. Love it or hate it, the role it has played in photography is undeniable. There’s a huge resurgence in black and white film photography and many photographers have a strong urge to shoot digital monochrome. Whilst there are some excellent software programs for black and white image conversion, such as Nik Collection Silver Effects, the end result is different to Leica’s monochrome offerings. There have been three generations of monochrome rangefinder cameras from Leica, all based on their M range. Although these are wonderful to shoot with and entirely capable of producing some breath-taking imagery, Leica hasn’t offered an autofocus solution. Enter the Q2 Monochrom. When I first heard of this camera, I reached out to Camera Electronic to request they let me know when a demo unit arrived, as I knew I wanted some hands on time with it. I have been wanting a monochrome camera for a fairly long time now and recently got my hands on a Typ 246 rangefinder, which unfortunately...

11 Jan

Posted at 08:49h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

As I sat in my shed this afternoon sawing away at the 3mm MDF board it occurred to me how many famous rooms we are acquainted with that are a half a millimetre thick - roughly the thickness of the emulsion on a strip of old 35mm film. The wonderful interior of MGM's "Grand Hotel" has long since vanished into rubble or storage but we still roam it on the screen - it is a real space. Likewise the apartment of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball - long struck and knocked down for other productions...

08 Jan

Posted at 08:55h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

I have taken many pictures over the last two decades of people dressed up in costumes - or undressed up in skin - and I have concluded that the very best of the models are either the professionals or the professional amateurs. The reason why I say this is that these two groups are performing for critical audiences - in the former case for paying clients, and in the latter case for their own inner acclaim. I cannot say which is the tougher crowd...