09 Aug Fifteen Legs Week – Part Three – Travel If You Must…
Travel if you must...
Landscape Tag
07 Aug Fifteen Legs Week – Part One – The Happy Medium
This week you sell yourself a tripod. I'll help out here in the column, but you have to do the ( three ) leg work yourself. First thing you'll need to do is find your camera and see how big it is. if it's a moderately-sized DLR or mirror-less camera, read on today. This is your day. Your camera is not all that heavy, though it can gain some grammes when you put a long lens or zoom on it. You'll likely be thinking of astral photography, as well as landscape shoots. You want a tripod that is easy enough to carry out into the boondocks but still has enough stiffness to stay steady in a wind. If the operating field is muddy or wet, you'll want something that can c0pe with this. Waterproof tripods are not new to the market, and now that newer materails are avaiable for their construction, they can be within the reach of most people. There are still oddities like the ones that are built with their legs upside down, but these are rare. Sirui. Strange name, but...
20 Mar Sony Week – Part One – Lifting the Lid
Opening the box on a new camera is like lifting the lid on either a treasure chest or a can of worms. Don't let that image put you off - it depends if you are fishing for compliments or bass.This week's exploration is of a Sony mirrorless camera and two lenses. These were chosen from the Camera Electronic stocks to find out what the brand is like to handle and to see whether there is a real usable difference between the full-frame system and an APS-C system. To this end, lenses that would give a similar field of view were selected:Sony Alpha 7 II and Fujifilm X-Pro1Sony 50mm and Fujifilm 35mmSony 28mm and Fujifilm 18mmThe true believers of each brand are free to jump up and down, wave spec sheets, and berate each other as much as they like - the committee of the camera club needs to fill a hole in the year's entertainment roster and a fist fight will do nicely. I am jut going to play cameras in the studio and out in the field.First comment, though,...
09 Mar The X100 Cameras Go Out For The Day…
And the evening, too. Not everything happens in a studio, so you have to go out to where they store the landscapes. You might be able to make convincing copies on a tabletop or in Photoshop, but if you use the original scenes it is a lot cheaper and quicker.Jandakot, again, and boiling hot. It can't be too much fun to do circuits and bumps in the heat and I daresay there is quite a lot of turbulence coming up off the tarmac. Nevertheless, I balanced one X 100 in one hand and one X100F in the other and tried to track the same planes in the same phase of takeoff.The settings are as before - ProNeg Hi for the X100F and Provia for the X100. See the difference that it makes with the grass colour? As before the X100F is on Large/Fine JPEG and the X 100 is running RAW.The picture sizes are adjusted in the final result to show the resolution. The tail registration numbers on the aircraft prove that the X100F JPEG is better than the X100...
01 Mar The Eye Of A Fish – Tokina
I have not reviewed many fish-eye lenses in this column over the years - not for any sinister reason, mind, but really because I am at a loss as to what images will be best captured with them.I do not swim underwater with the fish and rarely go to pop concerts or inaugurations that might have tens of thousands of people attending them. I rarely go into caverns or cathedrals, and generally do not take the wide view of the place. So for me, the fish-eye view is a novelty.For others, it can be the exact way they see the world...
13 Feb An Eye In The European Sky
If you have ever wanted to invade France but without having to join the German Army, now is your chance. You can do it with a camera, amongst friends, have a good time, and learn a great deal.Eye In The Sky is a photographic company from Western Australia that is dedicated to providing photo tours of the Tarn region of southern France. Their current prospectus lists the next tour between April 28th and May 4th - when the spring should be making France into a landscape photographer's paradise.The tours are run by Western Austalian Jon Davidson and his wife Jude, and this time you will have our favourite Rockingham photographer - Kingsley Klau - along to help your photo development.The tour is packed with visits to ruins, monasteries, galleries, castles, chateaux, vineyards and restaurants. The thing is all-inclusive - you are not going to be shelling out Euros right, left, and center for transfers, meals and accommodation. It is the easy logistics approach to a wonderful time.It's not just wonderful - it's useful. You'll get daily lessons as you travel...
02 Jan Sirui For The Not Quite So Serious – Part Two
Okay. You have your new mirror-less system camera, you have a card and a battery and have read the instruction book.You have booked a trip to the Landscape Coast during the sunset season. You are all set to make fabulous postcard views and insightful artistic statements...
02 Jan Sirui For The Serious – Part One
Sirui? Are you serious? Sure we are.The larger of the Sirui tripods that appeared in the Little Studio turns out to be a compact design - the company recognizes that people are travelling more these days and need to travel lighter. We also know that they may be travelling with the DSLR rather than the mirror-less systems - hence the need to hold heavier loads.The Sirui T 2204X and the Sirui K30 X are partners - albeit partners that you have to purchase separately and mate together. They are designed for supporting the larger system cameras while still retaining lightness and compact size themselves. These are components for people who are going to stand at the airline counter and look over the excess-baggage price list with nervousness.The tripod starts out as a carbon fibre design with screw-lock legs. The yoke is a lightweight forged casting - more weight saved. It folds back 180º into itself for space saving. it packs into a nylon case with the K-30 X head still attached.You might just get away with it in the cabin...
28 Oct Seriously Tripod
Seriously tripod. Seriously light. Seriously Gitzo.*The travel tripod is a major division of the photo accessory world - thank goodness. People have recognised that they need the sort of support that a tripod brings to their architecture, travel, and landscape shots. Even with the mind-boggling stabilisation systems on board modern cameras (Ask the Fujifilm, Nikon, and Olympus reps about this next time they have a demonstration day in the shop, but be prepared for a full lecture...
24 Oct Huzzah For The Troops – Huzzah For The Photographers
A spring day out is an occsion to be treasured. A spring day out at Government House seeing how the ruling class lives even more so. And an opportunity to review the troops should never be missed.Thus the pictures you see on this morning's blog. Perth on a sunny day can be brutal as far as contrast in lighting goes but the readers of this column are old hands at modifying this with fill-flash or seeking shady spots to shoot. In some cases the strong shade and light is exactly right for a shot evoking the era - witness our cigarette card of the Pensioner Guard . If you had gone to the open day as I did you could collect the entire series without risking your health...