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02 Nov

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

Is archivist a fancy technical word? It is in a job description for a State Library position. You can probably get away with a simpler term for the person in your family who has control of the shoebox. The shoebox full of postcard prints, slides, and negatives that form the bulk of the historical images for you and your relatives. We are well into a digital age but our family pictures have rarely joined us. Of course we all take hundreds of superb digital portraits of our relatives ( don't we...

30 Oct

Posted at 09:15h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

And not the rude ones, either. You can get in a lot of trouble making those sort of signs, but you won't have any problems if you use the Manfrotto Mini and Micro arm systems. Who needs them? Video shooters who are using a tripod ( preferably a Manfrotto ) and want to mount monitors, lights, controllers, or other accessories onto their rig. if they need real flexibility as to where the goods will go and at what angle they will see them, these are the arms that will do it. The construction is all-metal. The machining on the joints and struts is exquisite and the sturdiness reminds you of good motorcycle parts. The double joints men a very wide range of movement and the attachment screws at the end mate perfectly with Manfrotto tripods. Away from video work, these would also be perfect for still operations with light cameras that needed to be positioned close to a shooting surface. The locking control freezes whatever you are pointing at a precise point and then doesn't creep. Note also that Manfrotto make great big versions of...

28 Oct

Posted at 07:56h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

I get to look at the dashboard for this weblog column and stare horrified at how many posts I've written. I'm surprised that I've had time to eat, sleep, or cement model airplanes together in the years that the column has been written. I took the opportunity to ask the mechanism to show me all the osts with " Tether Tools " in them.It turns out I've written about the products from this company ten times already. Well here comes number eleven. Note: I so admired the idea of their Tether Tools computer tray for keeping a laptop near you while you shot your DSLR in the studio that I pinched their design and made one for myself out of plywood several years ago. Nowhere near as elegant as the real thing, but it worked and proved that they were making a useful item. They have added no end of even better things since. These are two of them: a. Tether Tools Air Direct Arca Clamp If you're firing into an Air Direct wireless transmitter that will connect to your computer or tablet but...

26 Oct

Posted at 09:52h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

The police advise you not to make eye contact with criminals. Yet we all look at politicians on the television as they give speeches. This seems somewhat of a contradiction. If you, on the other hand, are the one giving the speech, you want to be able to fix the audience with a steely and virtuous look as you make your spiel. If you have a great memory and are a good orator, you can do this. Otherwise you need to read out your speech and that means glancing away from the viewers. Not only do you break eye-contact and give them a chance to look around, but you also give the game away. Enter the teleprompter. You've seen them for decades in presidential debates and Hollywood awards ceremonies attached to complex podiums. The user is behind a glass screen but is looking out at the audience. You think they are looking at you but they are reading what their scriptwriters are sending up in a rolling script. The teleprompter is a two-way beamsplitter that lets a camera lens look through to...

21 Oct

Posted at 09:57h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Tools. Use Tether tools. Specifically use Tether Tools' Case Air Wireless magic box on the top of your camera. If you've got a Nikon or canpn camera you're going top be very pleased. What does it do? it creates a WiFi hotspot on your camera that your mobile phone or tablet can pick up. The app that comes with the little connecting box lets you play with all the different phone and operating systems. And then you: Compose. Focus. Adjust aperture. Adjust Shutter. Adjust ISO. Bracket. HDR.  Focus stack. Do time lapse. See the darn image clearly as you are working. That last one was not in the advertising blurb but it's the most realistic one. We all get older as we get older...

19 Oct

Posted at 09:55h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Proof of concept is a very useful idea when you're a photographer - particularly when you want to come down to the shop and spend money - but can't think of what to spend it on. You are floating in a limbo and you need a lifeline. Every new photo idea needs to be thought out well, but after you've done all you can with coffee and scribbled diagrams you need to start making it real. I'm sorry to say that you generally can't design it 100% on a screen or a yellow pad - you need to block it out with pinewood strips, cornflakes packets, and expensive camera equipment. We don't sell wood or cornflakes but we may be able to help with the camera gear. You have a studio idea. It need a backdrop - we sell 'em. It needs a stand to hold the backdrop - we sell those, too. Lights? Yes. Camera? Yes. You provide the action. And you'll only know if it works when you give it a go. Be prepared to fail. With a bit of luck...

16 Oct

Posted at 09:50h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

I feel I should be writing for the cast of " West Side Story ". Switchblades were always a forbidden topic when I was a kid and I'd bet they're not all that legal nowadays, either. However, you can satisfy your desire to own one with an accessory pack for the Go Pro camera - you won't use it for gang fights, but it'll be a real help when you're diving underwater with the action camera. Over the years the GoPros have built up an enviable reputation for underwater work - all the way from the first models that were displayed on a video stand here in the shop. There was more excitement buying the camera than most of the Hollywood block-busters of the period. It's still that way, but divers know that physics and optics can play against them even when they get the best chances. Put succinctly, life might be in full-colour up here in the dry, but it's a blue-green world down there and it gets bluer the deeper you go. The sunlight that filters down becomes blue-green and unless...

14 Oct

Posted at 09:55h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Every time I go wandering through Camera Electronic I find something more that I want. This is pleasant but dangerous - it can disturb the even flow of my bank account and cause me to look upon my present equipment with a jaded eye. I'm reasonably safe in the camera section right now as I seem to have the camera bodies and lenses that will do the things I want to do. I have my desires, of course, and review the announcements from my chosen manufacturer with close attention. Who knows when a pleasant surprise will appear on the horizon...