09 May What Is The Opposite Of Retro?
And there will be readers who suggest " orter ". Or at least they oughta...
New Tag
02 Feb Yes, Virginia. There is a Santa Claus.
I am inclined to take things at face value if I can see their faces.I believe in new equipment when I see it in the hands of our local wholesaler's representatives and when I can find it on the shelves of the shop. Until then the novelties are nice to speculate about but to be honest there have been promises made in the past that are still pending. It is much the same in my other hobbies...
11 Oct Shorty Forty
The term " Nifty Fifty " was coined a few years ago to make what was the standard focal length for the 35mm camera seem new and exciting for the DSLRs of the time. That's what advertising writers do - they attach adjectives to things and adverbs to actions and hope that you are interested enough to buy the gear. In the case of selling 50mm lenses they were trying to get another lens into the gadget bag to supplement the ubiquitous zoom lenses of the time. Whether these were kit inclusions or outside purchases, the price and design factors at the time meant that most zooms had moderately small maximum apertures and many had variable ones as well. The one-camera amateur might not ever really need more than the kit zoom but the lens makers needed more than one-lens sales. The choice of the 50mm length was a fine recollection of the film era - from the Leica Elmar onwards this focal length was considered the standard view of the world for the format and a great deal of effort was...
12 May Phoompff…
I am grateful to Camera Electronic in general and Daniel Ward in particular for their ability to get me out of trouble. It is a condition I experience frequently as I operate photographic machinery. It's as well that no one trusts me with a motor torpedo boat or a herd of geese...
21 Apr Dearly Beloved…
We are gathered here to hear Brother Williams speak to us of the wonders of Fujifilm. The border restrictions have eased and he is allowed out of the house - and just as importantly - back in again. As owners of Siamese cats will attest, this is a vital function...
09 Apr Four Is More – The Fujifilm X-E4 In Hand
Do you trust people who write camera columns? I sometimes wonder at them - they say everything is the best thing since sliced bread but they never offer you a free sandwich...
26 Mar Look At Me – Talk To Me
For the first time in the longest time I went into town on the free bus and free train ( Retired person gloating...
18 Sep The Photo Schutzen
Let's start the day off right - peering at people from a long distance away and then pressing buttons. When I got the message from Saul that the new Nikon Coolpix P1000 was on the storeroom shelf I beetled into Stirling Street and checked it out. I was impressed with the feel of the box when I lugged it away - figuring that it was probably packed with accessories and extras. It was the sort of weight that you associate with truck batteries or artillery shells. Imagine my surprise when I turned up one small EN-EL20A, a charging cord, a strap, and a giant lens/camera. Coolpix cameras are not generally massive, being Nikon's answer to the compact-sensor consumer camera class - but when they are attached to a lens that goes from 4.3 mm to 539mm focal length you have something very special indeed. In mathematical terms, that is 125X zoom...
14 Sep One Of These, Please….The Profoto B10
Okay, let's cut to the punchline straight away. I want one of these. If you are a photographer who shoots weddings, shows, portraits, fashion, or editorial, you want one - or two - as well. Stefan Gosatti does all these things and he's just had a chance to test out the new Profoto B10 over the last few days. He's rapt with them, his pictures prove that they work like a locomotive, and he's spending some of his own money to buy some. He showed us how it all works last night at the Northbridge Hotel - courtesy of Camera Electronic and CR Kennedy. The unit has the classic Profoto mount and controls in a body the size of a large soup can. The style has the sort of Scandinavian slickness that we used to see with B&O and Sonab. There's a classic Profoto glass diffuser on the front and the large illuminated LCD panel at the back. The lump on the side's the lithium-ion battery. The light stand mount on the bottom is detachable - there is provision to swing any of...
11 Sep The New Canon Bird In The Hand
When I worked on the sales floor at Camera Electronic I used to approach camera unveiling nights with some trepidation - it meant moving half the place into a corner one day and replacing it the next...