Your Camera Bag For The Next 20 Years...Lowepro

We all have possessions that seem to be immortal - they never die, no matter what we do to them. I have kitchen implements that my grandparents used in the 1920's - they still cut meat and potatoes today at our house. They are not antiques, relics, or heirlooms. They are tools to help us eat.

The same might be said about the Lowepro Nova 1 bag that I used for an overseas trip in 1995. It's still there in the camera closet, storing a Nikon film camera system. It is as tough and functional now as it was then, and I dragged it over two continents.

Well, here's the new digital equivalent - the Scout SH 140. It's designed for a mirror-less camera and a couple of extra lenses - or one lens and the big travel adapter you need to access overseas electricity. You are going to be able to drag it across those same continents - they don't change - but it'll be lighter on your shoulder.

The shape is smaller than the old Nova 1. Not only are the camera bodies and lenses smaller than the SLR of the film era, the volume needed to carry their recording medium is drastically reduced. I used 10-packs of Kodachrome 200 film and the space needed for 360 shots amounted to 960 cu. cm.
These days you can pack 2452 images of the same quality into 1.54 cu. cm.

In practical terms you can make 1,528,519 pictures with the same amount of space. This means you have a chance to get three images of Trafalgar Square that look good...

Okay, joking aside, the interior of the Scout is configurable for whatever you want to carry. The quilting is cosmetic but the plush material is kind to cameras. There are nooks and crannys to dispose of cords, cards, and batteries. You can haul it out of the hotel for a full day of shooting without feeling as if you have been asked to invade the Falklands.

Note as well that you need not carry sad-looking surpus gear - the buckles and fasteners are top-notch and have been plated to look good. For those of you who are concerned that it looks like a camera bag, that is because it is a bag that is designed to carry cameras. When you are tourist carrying a camera you look like a tourist carrying a camera and no amount of camouflage will convince the petty thieves that you are a penniless local. Make other arrangements for your security*.

The bag will last far longer than your enthusiasm for travel. When you bring it home you can gut it and use it for local shopping. You can put seedlings in it and plant them out. You can carry 12 guage shells in it. You can use it as a tool carrier - it's that tough.

Whatever you do, it's going to be around the house for 20 years. Might as well figure out a good use for it. Lowepro are good value.

*An experienced courier, a sturdy monopod, and a derringer will do the job. I depend upon halitosis and a maniacal grin...

See the Camera Electronic Lowepro online store here

Uncle Dick

Bargain Alert - Dawn Patrol

This is an extra late-night bonus weblog post for Tuesday, the 29th of November. The heading picture shows what was happening in the Stirling Street store this morning at about 11:00.

I recognise the activity. The staff are either setting out a stack of Cullmann tripods for a once-in-a-lifetime clearance sale or are constructing an anti-aircraft mounting for a Lewis gun. Given that this is one of centennial years of WW1 either conclusion is possible.

If you need a tripod for your DSLR or mirror-less camera at a bargain price, or would just like a shot at a passing Halberstadt you should repair to 230 Stirling Street early in the morning and get in while the getting is good.

I use a Concept 622T tripod with my Fujifilm outfits and it has been one of the best purchases of my digital career. I note there are some of them in the stack and also some of their heavier brothers. No idea what the prices are likely to be but they are going to go and the people they go to are going to be happy.

Up And Down The Aisles - Camera Electronic's New Shop In the City

Before we dissolve into a festival of pack shots I thought it would be best to give you an overall look at the new premises that Camera Elelctronic will be using to supply Perth City people with the best in photo gear.

You can find the place near the corner of Murray and Queen Street in Perth - just past the Bohemian and the Moon And Sixpence pubs along the railway side of the street. Head on up toward the fun end of town.

Well the shop colour is the elegant black,white, and grey that you saw when we changed appearance in Stirling Street. The signage is the same as Stirling Street, so if you found us there, you can find us here. And we're here a lot of the time.

Looking into the shop, you'll see that it has two main aisles:

And there are side cabinets full of equipment - all organised into separate brand names and types.

You can shoot professionally, artistically, or comfortably with the cameras and lenses that we sell.

Here's the look from the working end of the shop. This is the position the staff occupy as you come in the door waving your credit card...Do not be concerned - they have been trained to sell you things and take your money. All is well...

And remember that these are professionals. They have years of experience in photography. They can carefully analyse your needs and recommend the best choice of equipment and the best procedures for its use. They can help you without getting bogged down in technicalities.

And sometimes on a good day they can answer the telephone successfully. It's for you...

Camera Electronic now open at 2/324 Murray St, Perth.

View the opening hours here

Press The Button, Max!

 

I used to be a dentist and a rifle shooter. You needed a steady hand for both sports, particularly if you wished to do them on the same subject at the same time. You could go for the trifecta and attempt to thread a needle as well, but few people went in for that sort of thing...

On the photo side of things, we have long been enjoined to use some form of steadier to fire off our cameras. If we are trying to get the ultimate sharpness that the sensor is capable of, we need to shoot without moving the camera.

We use tripods, and in the Little Studio, I use a studio stand, to hold the apparatus firm. I turn off the VR or OS or VC mechanism. And up until now I have been connecting a mechanical cable release or electric switch to the Fujifilm cameras and shooting that way after I presumed that all vibrations had died away.

Today I conducted an experiment with one of the quieter Fujifilm cameras - the X-100 - to see just how much improvement is to be had. I used a bare finger on the release button, a soft release pad on the shutter button, and a mechanical cable release. The conclusion is that the cable release is no better than the soft release.

If you have a solid tripod or stand, the action of a finger shot is no worse than the complexity of the cable release. There is always the option of engaging the self-timer in the menu at 2 or 10 seconds and letting vibration damp down in that interval. I do like the soft releases in hand-held shooting, and also find them to be valuable in the studio.

Where an electric switch release is a blessing is when you need to be over near a studio flash holding a flag or a gel to modify the light at the time you release the shutter. You can shoot the electric switch with one hand...or stomp on it on the floor...while the other hand(s) are engaged. Just don't expect to be able to do the exact same thing two times in a row.

Note, your camera needs to have a threaded release button, like a Leica or a Fujifilm to be able to take the spigot of the soft release. Flat finger pads can have something glued on the top to spread the load but this is do-it-yourselfery.

PS: I still shoot the occasional tooth out of someone's head but this is only to amuse the children at Christmas lunch.

Note the UD photo-tip - the plug for the electric release is a tight fit in the camera and it's hard to grasp it for removal. The tape wrapped around the end means it pulls out easily and safely.

Uncle Dick

Okay Guys...Or Second-Guessing The Market

I'm not in the loop of CE management as far as what gets purchased. And I'm not in the loop of CE management about what gets sold, either. Frankly I'm grateful that they still let me in the front door and I get the occasional cup of coffee...

Which means I was delighted to see the presence of an official CE coffee machine at the new Murray/Queen St. shop. Note the We Love Photography mugs.

In my first visit to the new shop I noted carefully the choices that had been made regarding some lines of equipment. Of course you will always get the big players - the Nikon, Leica, Sony, Fujifilm, Canon, Olympus, Pentax, etc - but it is the choices of what to stock for the other bits that is interesting. I looked at what was there and tried to see into the minds of the management - why was something chosen for the shelf?

a. Tripods. You'll see from the quick shot that we have essentially three shelves of tripods and monopods. I see Gitzo, Manfrotto, and one Velbon. The Gitzos are the high-priced ones, the Manfrotto more economical and the Velbon the low end. They are ALL not big tripods - in fact three of them would qualify as traveller tripoids. There is a sprinkling of video gear there, including one video moonopod. Here's how I read it:

The shop caters to pros as well as amateurs - and some of the pros need big things like that video monopod. They can get that at Stirling Street but they might need it at a time when Stirling St. is closed - hence it is wise to keep one unit in the city. The Gitzo gear is expensive traveller or high-end customer...and some of these may work all hours on St. Georges Tce. and can't get out to Stirling St.

Manfrotto tripods are a standard of the industry as far as design so nearly everyone else from tourists to city workers can be accommodated with one model or the other. Manfrotto are a no-question sale.

And the little plastic one at the bottom? Well, you never can tell when a traveller's luggage will disappear and if their tripod goes with it they need a fast, cheap replacement here in Perth.  That could well be the emergency pack for photographers right there.

b. Bags. I see the in two divisions - style and utility. The various hanging leather and canvas ones in the first photograph are intended to look good as well as protect the cameras - in some circumstances the appearance of the camera case is more important that the gear it contains - people have been judged on externals more than you'd think.

The Lowepro bags in the second shot are the workhorses of transport - people can load a whole holiday's worth of equipment in them and haul it through the world with some hope of geting it home in one piece. I know - I've got a ratty old Lowepro Nova1 that did just that and it was precisely the right blue nylon choice for the job. It looked like exactly what it was but it rounded the world twice.

c. The Hahnel rack. When you want to control flashes or cameras remotely and you need to do it with radio signals rather than light pulses, Hahnel should be one of the first brands you look at. The designs are sturdy, use standard AA batteries, and do not depend on you having WiFi, apps, passwords, or strange computer commands. They are a simple as they can be and they work every time. Good choice for the trigger market.

Okay, so far I think the management has thought it all out well. You may agree, but then you may have also different needs. I didn't get to see all of the shelves - perhaps you should pop in there one day this coming week and see for yourself. I'm going back when they have a bag of coffee beans.

The new Murray St store is now open at 2/324 Murray St, Perth.
The Stirling St store remains open at 230 Stirling St, Perth.
For opening hours, see here

Olympus PEN E-PL8 - Part Two

Here is a touching story about a camera - the new Olympus E-PL8 - and how it made all the gardening that I didn't do worthwhile.

The last post about this camera extolled the folding geometry of the LCD screen - how it not only can lay out like an airline food table, but also fold up at a 45º angle and then down under the camera body for selfies.

I will assume that people have all tried that by now and have discovered the truth about their self portraits...something is wrong. They are not nearly as good looking in the finished file as in the bathroom mirror. This is not a fault of the camera, nor of the person modelling for it. It is a defining characteristic of all portraits that are sketched, painted, or photographed - they are good for the most part but there is always something wrong with the mouth...

Well, moving on past the pit of self-realisation, we can take the camera out into the garden. Western Australia in springtime is one big garden - everything that needs to bloom when there is a little water left in the ground does so now, because it knows that the place is going to dry up in a couple of months. It's bloom and pollinate now or never.

As a result, the wildflowers go mad out in the bush...as do many of the tour companies and horticultural photographers. There are bus, 4WD, and car trips everywhere to see the fields in colour. Some enthusiasts take massive macro rigs, extra lights, artificial screens for backdrops, sun shades, and big botany books. I tend to think that the ones who go out with a camera like the Olympus E-PL8 and an umbrella do the best. They can move through bush areas with minimal fuss and carry their gear far further afield. And look at the results:

Note: the flowers seen here are wild. In as much as I have not pruned, weeded, sprayed, trimmed, or fertilised anything, what you see is what decided to develop itself. The roses might have had a little help from the wife, but the orange vine flowers are volunteers at the studio and manage their own affairs. I am grateful.

All images JPEG straight out of camera and the camera straight out of the box. All factory settings. No adjustments - I'm a tourist - what would I know? I'm a blooming fool...

All images JPEG, straight out of the camera, with no alteration of the dials from the factory default. It is pure point and shoot straight out of the box - as our target tourist might do. The focusing was done by the camera by the simple action of pointing to the subject on the LCD screen - fast focus and snap for the exposure. The vine flowers are in shade and the roses are in cloudy bright.

See the Olympus PEN E-PL8 on the Camera Electronic website
230 Stirling St, Perth
2/324 Murray St, Perth

Olympus PEN E-PL8...Part One

If you touch me there again, I shall screen...

And while you struggle with that, I hasten to add that I am talking about the new Olympus Pen E-PL8 camera. It is the first of the Photokina 2016 items that has come to the Little Studio for review - and it is a delight.

The announcement at Köln this year has already been seen on some YouTube clips and Facebook pages, but it makes a considerable difference to what you feel when you hold the camera in hand. It is very solidly built for a mirror-less camera and gives an immediate impression of quality. The kit you are seeing is supplied with the 14-42mm f:3.5-5.6 EZ zoom lens and is targeted at general users and travellers. And flower shooters. And jeweller shooters...

Aww, let's face it - it's targeted at you.

The tech sheet is impressive; 3.0" LCD, 16 MPxl, 3-axis image stabilisation, 81-point AF, 100/25600 ISO, full HD video, etc. Those of us with a bent for figures will be well served by the official Olympus Australia web page for this camera - it has a full list of the specs. Those of us with a bent forefinger that is itching to try the camera out will just charge up a battery and charge out of the house...

But pause...you have to get into it first. Olympus have always been keen packers - they employ origamatic skills to find how to ship delicate devices in cardboard boxes with a minimum of plastic foam. I think it is a case of self-discipline for them, or a contest in the factory. Of late, they are making it easier for the customers to actually get into the darn box, and we are grateful.

The target audience may not read the instruction booklet that comes with the camera. With that in mind, the makers have preset the thing to an intelligent setting and put as much basic automation as they have to work. The tourist can clap the lens on, the battery and card in, and head out of the motel door within the first hour...and bring back excellent results. The more sophisticated photography readers can wander for days in the art, special effects, and manual settings and get results that are nearly as good.

Note the march of progress as evinced by the LCD screen design - it is the main view-finding and aiming mechanism for this camera and has been taken to a sophisticated level to do so. It swings up, out, back, and down under the body and makes the lens' view available at the front of the camera. This is to enable the photographer who is taking a selfie to see what they are doing.

Better yet - as the camera has haptic control - ie, a touch screen - and you can see that selfie image from the front as you grip and grin, you get precise narcissism. The addition of pathos, bathos, art, or angst is entirely up to you - the E-PL8 will capture it faithfully. It will also deliver it to your smart device - phone or tablet - through Wifi if you want to bedevil your friends with the images.

Should you wish to be an eye-level shooter, you can also purchase an Olympus electronic viewfinder that slots into the hot shoe and gives you what the lens sees...indeed, as it is a mirror-less micro 4/3 camera it gives you what the sensor sees.

But how does what some people might think as an entry-level* camera perform out in the field? Read our next weblog column.

* Entry level? Entry into a world of sophisticated design...

See the Olympus PEN E-PL8 with 14-42mm lens on the Camera Electronic website
230 Stirling St, Perth
2/324 Murray St, Perth

Selling Your Birthright For A Mess Of Cottage (Pie) - Food Photography

Well, it's not as bad as all that - and not as biblical either. But you might like to study the picture in the header and then read on.

We bought the frozen cottage pie from our local Woolworths branch and cooked it for dinner last week. It was excellent. Perhaps a little blander than the home-made version I cook myself, but it did have a a lot of vegetables, meat, and gravy and a good thick layer of mashed potatoes on top. It took an hour in the oven but it was worth the wait for dinner on a cold night. I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone.

Anyone except a food photographer, that is. And graphic designers might like to avert their eyes as they slide the cover off the tray. The problem is not the pie - it is the advertising on the wrapper.

Many of the elements of design on the wrapper are there for a good reason; the nutrition information, the ingredients list, the bar code, the cooking instructions. They have not gone overboard with hype - nearly everything is straightforward description...but they have been put forward in such an awkward manner as to damage the appeal of the product.

The layout of the design is bitty - the colour choice is surprisingly dull for being orange. The lettering is all there but the bleed-through of the image from behind it means it is hard to read. Nothing leaps at you.

The image used is honest - that is a cottage pie they have photographed - but it has been lit in such a way as to suggest that it is fairly burnt on the top edge. The spoon used to show that it has been dished out looks neither clean nor well-positioned. The ingredients ranged on the outside have very confusing shadows that mask their shapes. It is just not the sort of food shot that you would imagine fronting a nationally-sold product from a major maker.

So, what is the point of this weblog post, apart from dissing the pie picture? Well, you might be a pie shooter yourself and want to take your food illustrations to a higher level. My suggestion is that you give Shannon a ring at Shoot Photography and see when the next workshop will be held By Stefan Gosatti - he does a very good hands-on explanation of how to do real food photography that makes the subjects look artistic, edible, and saleable.

I have no idea if he makes cottage pie but if he does it will look wonderful.

The next Food Photography workshop with Stefan Gosatti is on  tomorrow, Wednesday 23rd November!
See the Shoot website for more info and to book.

Photographic Preservation

There is nothing more distressing than coming across historic images that have been badly damaged by poor storage and handling.

 The papers and emulsions that made up the bulk of photographic records of last century were sturdy enough things to start with but when people failed to take care of them they frequently did not survive the lives of their subjects.

The autochrome on the top of the post is an example -the original plate was made with multi-coloured grains of starch that were dyed dufferent colours and then exposed through a tri-colour filter pack to yield some of the first colours shots. Unfortunately starch is ideal for the growth of mould if there is a damp and warm atmosphere. And it is nearly impossible to remove it without losing the image.

It's not just a matter for the antiques either - you can find paper prints from just a few decades ago that have been left out in the sun, or marked with stains and careless handling in every family photo shoebox - frequently they contain real information that you want but the condition has beteriorated past all saving. And the notorious sticky-sheet albiums of the 1970's and 1980's proved no better.

I will say that the manufacturers of the materials did not help in the mid part of the century. The Kodachrome slides stayed very well, and we can all be grateful for the fastness of the colour of both the original Kodachrome A and the improved Kodachrome II. But the Kodacolor films and particularly the Kodacolor prints avaiable in the 50's contained dyes that have proved so fugitive as to defy even the best restorative programs on the Epson scanner or the computer programs.

Really, when you see the sorts of problems that occur for the dedicated historian or just the family picture collector, you really do have to thank your lucky stars that we are shooting digital these days. We just don't have these sort of problems.

Shooting At Our Troops On Sunday Afternoon

Shooting at our troops on Sunday afternoon is a tricky business. I should not recommend it very often, as Australian troops in war zones shoot back, and with professional skill...

When they are ceremonial guards at Government House Open Day they are likely only to be engaged by photographers and sight-seeing tourists. They rarely fire back and when they do it is generally just words. The odd prod with a bayonet, mind, but then you get that on the Armadale train line all the time.

The pictures you see today point out wisdom and folly. And they make commercial suggestion for photographers who might also be looking around at the sights of the city. Let's start the advertising by analysing:

1. The heading image shows three chaps engaging the young guard as a photographic model in different artistic ways. One has decided that a close head shot will be the best image - another thinks a head and shoulders to show more of the uniform. He's using the portrait orientation to do it. The third shooter is waiting until the model turns his head to him as he has a wide-angle Zeiss Biogon lens on his camera.

2. The photographers have asked the soldier to pose in the sun but with his face turned away from it. This will let him open his eyes despite the light. Of course, as a British soldier, he has a tropical service helmet to protect his brain pan from excess heat. Only one of the photographers has been as wise as he, and worn a good hat.

3. The second image shows what choices the three photographers have made in their outfit for the day:

      a. Canon man with a midrange zoom. Filter on lens but no lenshood. Danger of flare.
 Good camera strap and gadget bag, but a heavy thing to carry on a sunny day. March light and you march further - the camera and lens is all you need.

      b. Leica man. That's an M2 with a Zeiss Biogon wideangle lens on it. No idea what film is in it, but let's hope for colour neg as it has the widest dynamic range. And he's not metering. Mind you, on a Perth Spring day we're at the Sunny 16 point anyway and if he's been working with the camera and film combo long enough, he should be fine. That camera will last until he's old and grey so if he keeps it he should get value out of it.

      c. Micro 4/3 man with the Olympus. He's carrying the littlest sensor of the three but probably the most processor power. And a darling of a pro-class Olympus zoom lens - the 2.8 version. He should have extremely sharp files to process when he gets home. He's wisely put a lens hood on the Zuiko and a hat on himself so there is little harm that the sun can do.

4. All of the people in the pictures are wearing shoes. Sensible shoes. Shoes that can go for a long distance. Shoes that will be comfortable at the end of the day. Unlike this columnist who chose authentic period footwear for a Victorian gentleman and suffered accordingly. I think that a great many of the facial expressions seen in Victorian portraits owe less to stern morals than to tight shoes.

Finally, the commercial moral of the piece - all the shooters made sensible choices.

All will get images to take back home. All were shooting with REAL cameras held steadily to their eyes - not mobile phones waved at arm's length. The pictures will be sharp.

All the pictures will exhibit good dynamic range and low noise.

All the pictures will be on real computers...eventually...and not left to languish on a Nokia until it is lost...or a Samsung until it ignites. The happy day will be remembered and not forgotten.

Neither will the feet...

The model: DBJ of WAGWLHA

The Impulse Buy Vs The Considered Negotiation

Here is a little trade secret; sometimes supermarkets put things in their shops in such a way as to obstruct the aisle and slow the customer down. If the barrier is a hanging rack or a cardboard bin the idea is that the shopper will pause long enough to get hungry for whatever they are selling - if there is a big " Bargain " sign in red it frequently triggers off chemicals in the brain that make the person drop it into their shopping trolley.

This is also the logic behind the Leica Boutique. You may have just popped into the shop for a couple of packets of Toshiba AA batteries for your speed light (still the best electricity for your money...) but as you stand there waiting you see the red shelves of the Leica Boutique. If the shop designer has done their job, you to drift over a bit closer...closer... and all of a sudden you are going home with an "M" camera and a Summilux lens. What you are going to say when you get home is your affair - the shop designer has succeeded.

I have observed Leica Boutiques in a number of cities; Singapore, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth and they have all been impeccably presented - I think this is a business stipulation from the Leica people. They are also very clever in making them so similar - you get a genuine feeling of comfort when you see the classic presentation. You feel confident that the shop can cater to your needs. And you do not have to question the validity of the brand.

You might wonder what made you buy a packet of chocolate-coated spaghetti from Coles, but you never, ever, have to regret Leica.

PS: there is a fine line in the design of commercial sales obstructions. Too little and they sweep right on by - too much and they fall over it and break a leg. The science is evolving.

Camera Electronic's Leica Boutiques are in both stores - 230 Stirling St, Perth and 2/324 Murray St, Perth or you can see the range online at www.leicaboutique-ce.com.au/ 

Well Strap Me Vitals! We're Lucky Now.

 

You miss a lot if you don't look close enough to the products in the Camera Electronic shop. The new premises near the corner of Murray and Queen Street was where I saw the Lucky camera straps seen in these pictures. I am guessing they are also at the 230 Stirling Street address as well...but in the new shop they stood out under the bright lighting...

Well there are enough colours and sizes - textures and materials, widths and lengths - to satisfy any camera's need. I can see wides, narrows, and wrist straps there in many browns and blacks. I'd be willing to bet they made other colours as well.

 

They're a composite style - leather shoulder or neck pad and tough woven section that runs down to the camera rings. Properly sewn at the junction too, in military or saddle-making style. Tough as old boots.

They seem to be packaged distinctively - there's not many products that you can buy today that are wrapped in twine in tissue in a fitted box. Quite an old-world experience.

 

But take note - it's not the old Asian or European world we're dealing with here. These are made in Melbourne. You're supporting Australian industry while you're supporting your Japanese camera...

They are extremely well-made  - make sure you see them when you visit the new shop. Remember that Christmas present season is just about to start - get in early.

The new Camera Electronic store is now open at 2/324 Murray St, Perth
For opening hours click here

Sikorski Never Had It So Good - The New CE Drone Cabinet

Look up. What's that flying by? A bird? A plane? A man dressed in red and blue tights?

No, it's a DJI drone with a camera mounted on it. Someone is making an epic movie and they've decided to incorporate aerial views as well as the ground-based ones. They've gone further than the old trick of mounting a camera on a long boom - or of hanging out off a nearby building's roof. They've got the spectacle of the flying camera.

Well, so has Camera Electronic. We've had the gear in the Stirling Street shop all along and now we're featuring a dedicated drone cabinet in our new Murray Street shop - please see enclosed pictures.

 

And there's more - that's our own staff member Ricky calibrating the GPS system on a drone out the front of the shop. Don't panic - he's not flying combat missions from 230 Stirling Street. He hasn't attached the propellors or the ordnance to the machine in the picture. Yet. And you will be pleased to know that our Repairs Workshop is getting increased experience with drones as they come into commerical and artistic service in Western Australia.

The new Murray Street Shop - that's near the corner of Murray and Queen Street in the city - has the new cabinet. They've got extended trading hours that let you browse for new equipment later on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. This might be a good time to take stock of your photography and see if a fresh viewpoint - from the air - would boost your sales and fun.

Remember that Shoot Photography Workshops right next door to the 230 Stirling Street shop also run periodic courses and workshops that deal with drone and aerial photography as well as other aspects of videography. Ring to Shoot and see if there is a new world of fun awaiting.

See the DJI range on the Camera Electronic website
The new Camera Electronic city store is now open at 2/324 Murray St, Perth.
For opening hours click here

Your Very Own Fujifilm Printing Lab for $1.25

Well, they say there's nothing new under the sun, but then they said that about digital photography and look at what happened. In particular look and see what happened at the new Camera Electronic shop near the corner of Murray and Queen Street in Perth.

Imagine that you have a great picture in your digital camera or mobile phone and $1.25 in your pocket - and that you want a 6" x 8" enlarged print of it.  You walk into Camera Electronic - choose one of the two Fujifilm screens at the front counter of the shop - and press the screen to start it up.

It will ask you what you'd like to do about the picture and walk you though the steps from either a WiFi connection or a memory card. Then it will show you the pictures on your card and ask you which one. You'll get an editing screen that will allow dodging, burning, and cropping as well as overall colour control. When you're happy with the result it will print you a quote and send the electronic file to a second computer screen.

Now, you'll have to pay for the printing, and it won't print out until you get a receipt for money paid from the till. Then it is all stops out and a very short period of time before a finished 6 x 8 print drops down into the receiving tray- hot, dry, and ready to frame.

  

You are not restricted to size - the system can go from 6 x 4 up a long ways. Ask the staff for sizes.

The joy of it for city workers is that once the files have been loaded into the system and the fee paid, they can go off to work and return later in the day to pick up the results.

In the picture you will see the dedicated staff members of CE. The one drinking from the flask assures us that it is water,  though that does not account for the giggling and the air guitar. But we are confident - he's been printing colour pictures for decades. He even printed them before there were colours...That's where he gets the air guitar from too...

Note: Be realistic when you take your images in. GIGO. Take time to edit properly.

The new Camera Electronic city store is now open at 2/324 Murray St, Perth
For opening hours click here