Hoodman Again - Fast

Well, that was a revelation. I took home a Hoodman CF card yesterday and plugged it into my camera. I was expecting a slight increase in the speed with which the information flows into and out of the card - particularly as I also took home a Hoodman 3.0 card reader.

What I got was blazingly fast downloading of raw images. I had not realized that my previous cards and reader were on quite a different speed level. I am not sure what I will do with the free time that I now have - previously occupied with thumb-twiddling while I waited for images to go from the card to the storage robot - but whatever I elect to do had better be fast because these cards certainly are.

I noted as well that there seem to be some new Hoodman loupes in the shop. These are developed from the very popular 3.0 Hoodloupe but incorporate some new features:

1. Bigger screen size catered for - these new "32" series loupes  fit up to 3.2" LCD screens.

2. New attachment point for the loupe. Hoodman have incorporated a standard 1/4" tripod screw socket at the bottom of the loupe. They intend this to be hooked into a platform for the DSLRs - now you'll have to watch this space for news of the attachment bars as they become available - as yet Hoodman have not settled on exactly the pattern they wish to issue. For myself, I will probably pop out into my home workshop and bend up a bar of aluminium and drill a couple of holes in it, but rest assured that you'll eventually be able to get a commercial bracket from Hoodman.

3. There are two loupes - the H 32 which is similar to the Hoodloupe 3.0 - and the CH 32 which is collapsible. Takes up about half the space when not in use, and if you have it mounted on a bracket ( see last paragraph) you can likely leave it on as you use the regular eyepiece. We'll experiment - you can too.

Hoodman are fun. They found a market for their original idea in everybody's experience of LCD screens pooping out in bright light and they have used their imagination in giving us useful accessory devices. I am thrilled to bits to have a faster and bigger card in my camera and as the card is warranteed to give much longer life than other commercial cards I can feel safe leaving it in there as the primary memory storage.

And for those who are puzzling at the heading image - we needed a van to deliver the supplies of silver plates and nitric acid to the daguerreotypist studios here in Perth. Fortunately this new one appeared and we snapped it up. We shall be retiring the pack mule - well not exactly retiring. He's entering federal parliament for a local electorate and we expect great things...