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Pentax Tag

15 Dec

Posted at 01:23h in News by

Well, that's an interesting combination - Sigma and Zeiss.Both top quality lens manufacturers that deal in different operational concepts - one looking to make a number of value-packed zoom lenses and one seeking the prime market. The good thing for users of Nikon and Canon camera bodies is that many of their products can be found with mounts for these brands.But consider - you might find Sigma or Zeiss lenses on a lot of camera bodies. We can think of Zeiss lenses on Fujifilm X-series, Sigma on Olympus and Panasonic, Zeiss on Leica M bodies, and a number of Zeiss's devices associated with Sony.Come to think of it there are adapters that allow these products onto a lot of micro 4/3 or other mirror-less bodies. A bit of a juggle sometimes but surprisingly do-able nonetheless if one is prepared to focus and set apertures manually. A lot of studio closeups for this column are taken with an adapted lens that started on a DSLR and now fronts a mirror-less camera. It's not speed-demon work but yields a fine focus.Anyway, there...

09 Dec

Posted at 01:16h in News by

Hoodman do have some dandies - good ideas I mean. Their initial design of the Hoodloupe 3.0 was the definitive answer to seeing an LCD screen image in the bright Australian sun. We sold squillions of them and people hung them round their necks while outdoors shooting.Then Hoodman invented a number of ways of attaching these loupes to the back of digital cameras - rubber loops, plastic scaffolding, and eventually dedicated metal frameworks. These latter solutions were made possible by the fact that new Loupes - the Hoodloupe 3.2 - have a 1/4" screw socket underneath them just like a camera and the whole thing can be screwed together tight.However - there are still people who prefer to keep the Loupe separate from the camera - and Hoodman have now released an accessory to let these users do so without a lanyard dangling from the neck. It is called the Hoodman Link. It's the second cousin of the humble retractable key holder that some peole keep on their belts.There's a three foot length of Kevlar cord in the Link and...

08 Dec

Posted at 01:01h in News by

Yes, of course you can. We sell cameras, chargers, batteries and lives as a matter of course. Indeed some of the lives in stock are as coarse as you can get. But you may be giving way to panic too soon*.Our technical staff tells us that they have noticed people bringing in compact cameras that have had no use or exercise for six months or more and that are dead as a doornail - prompting the sad tale at the front counter. Certainly no response from the camera and the charger does not put any electricity into the battery. The user assumes the worst.But once the camera is taken under the wing of the repair staff they test voltages and circuits and then try the procedure of applying a higher than normal voltage to the battery. If you were to use the term " kickstart " it would be as useful as anything. It's only a very small jolt for a small period of time but it helps to reverse the degradation of the battery and lets the charger recognise...

24 Nov

Posted at 01:32h in News by

No-one needs a monopod - provided they are not using a camera with a long lens on it to take pictures in dim light or over a long period of time. Or if they are not standing in the rain at a soccer game with a long zoom, or perched on the edge of a cliff following surfers, or standing on a Pelican case taking pictures of belly dancers for four hours...

11 Nov

Posted at 23:59h in News by

There are few products on the modern photographic shop shelves that will strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers. Mind you, there's a couple of new cameras that will cause you to blench and hold your wallet tighter, but that is not quite the same thing.  Here is a genuine Super-Hero product.No, it's not that brand of cameras. I said Super-Hero. I'm talking about the ME FotoA35W monopod.It works through the normal day as a mild-mannered camera support for a major newspaper - but when danger threatens Metropolis or Gotham City or Attadale and Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are all off on vacation the terrified citizens can call on ME Foto Man to protect them - because he has one of these monopods.The secret is not in the leg of the monopod - that is a five-part aluminium tube with heavy twist locks and rubberised grips. Extends out to 1.5 metres at the longest to support a heavy camera and lens close to the eye. The secret is in the solid-metal knob at the top.Collapse the smallest tube into...

11 Nov

Posted at 01:42h in News by

"Well, I'm heading out east of Eucla in the car. Now it hasn't been serviced since I bought it four years ago and I'm gonna be all by myself out there but I'm sure nothing can possibly go wrong and my vacation will be perfect and I won't be disappointed at all. "Yeah. Sure. Said no-one ever...

29 Oct

Posted at 23:59h in News by

When indeed. A question that might puzzle the ages - it certainly has received the attention of the manufacturers. Some of their answers are worth looking at.We all know what a standard soft box looks like - we get the medium size square ones when we buy an Elinchrom D-Lite 4 or D-Lite 2 kit. Four metal rods, a funny-shaped ring, a black fabric pyramid , and a diffuser screen for the front. Clap it together and it does the soft-box look beautifully.Big ones from this same manufacturer can come in octagonal, rectangular, or narrow strip configuration - the all have their own characteristics and they are all needed for certain classes of photography. You can even get generic ones from other makers that will fit the Elinchrom and some of them have umbrella-like self erection. Great for travelling with it.Really huge ones are also made, but photographers contemplating putting these together need a will of iron, muscles of steel, and the language of a stoker on a bucket dredge. Once erected, they provide a buttery-soft light but when they...

28 Oct

Posted at 23:42h in News by

Nearly all the flashes I own are TTL except for the ones that are not. And fortunately the ones that are can be switched back to manual control.This may puzzle the newcomer to the sport - after all the Nikon, Pentax, Canon, Olympus, Fujifilm, Sony, and Leica people all make a great deal of telling us that their various flashes are TTL - indeed in most cases this mode is the default one when you switch the speed light on. There are lots of occasions upon which it is exactly the right thing to do and many people can rely upon it to give them what they want.One of the joys, in fact, of demonstrating a modern Nikon or Canon flash to a first-time flash buyer is to put an SB700 or 430EXII onto their camera, glance at it to see that it is set to Auto or Program, TTL and AF, and then just point the thing at them and rip off half a dozen portraits right there. The TTL balances whatever the shop lights are doing and nearly...

28 Oct

Posted at 00:34h in News by

You are also in the happy position of not knowing the wrong thing to do. Provided you are not engaged in defusing sea mines you may have some leeway in experimentation. A lot of photography is like this.Case in point: in the dear days of dinosaurs, Elvis, and Plus X film, 125 ASA was the giddy limit for sensitivity in photo emulsions - at least in the sort of films that they sold in the local drugstore and that I could afford. I was new to the sport and dutifully exposed the Plus X at exactly this meter setting ( and took a careful meter reading for each and every exposure - even when neither the light nor the subject ever changed...