The Urge To Share Just Got A Little Stronger - Nikon KeyMission 170

Weblog columnists are a bit of a menace - I know - I write three of these things every day and I would shy away from myself at cocktail parties. I'd be afraid that I would either start riding a hobby horse to dominate conversation or that I would be secretly watching me to see if I could get some copy for the column...

It's not bad character - it's the desire to share that does it. And this desire to share is the basis of the action-camera photographer's work. They want you to see what they are doing. And to be fair, sometimes it is worth looking at.

If you are an action person you now have the new option of the Nikon system action cameras. Today's blog is for the Nikon Key Mission 170. Make what you will of the name, the actual camera is a remarkable thing. And that said at a point where we have seen action cameras for years by other makers.

The Key Mission 170 is basically box-shaped, but does not need an additional bulky housing to waterproof it down to 10 metres. It is good to go out of the box. The makers do provide an protection lens for underwater hazards, though, so they may know more about the dangers you are going to get into than you do...

The camera is remarkably easy to use in the field. Two buttons on top - one for stills and one for video. three buttons at the back to navigate the menu system. And a separate hand controller to let you separate yourself from the device if you are at another point of the surfboard, yacht, or sailplane.

The necessary waterproof door with big yellow seal has twin locks clearly defined by orange warning panels - you should not be able to mistake what is happening and open the back at the wrong time.

There is a dedicated ball head mount and a snap-off release that glues to flat surfaces. I should not wonder if there were not other mounts in the offing - these sort of cameras generate ideas.

There is an integral LCD screen on the back you can see your results while you are still out there and make sure that you are bringing back the footage you need.

You'll be able to do real-time seamless sharing of your experiences too, with the Nikon SnapBridge 360/170 app that will be available for iOS and Android. The camera does a variety of video types, including 4K.

Note that the case construction of these little cameras is superb, as is the quality of the optics.

Now there are more new Nikon action devices in our stores. We'll be featuring the next one soon. In the meantime come on down and see what they look like - summer is coming fast and the water calls...

Nikon KeyMission 170 is at both Camera Electronic stores. 230 Stirling St and 2/324 Murray St, Perth. See our extended December trading hours here

See the Nikon KeyMission 170 on our online store 

The Travel Trail - Panasonic Part One - The Silver Style

Today's Travel Trail brings us one of the more stylish of the Panasonic compact cameras. Those of you who have an eye to fashion may wish to look closely at the shape and colouration of this...

The Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ110 box says "Silver" but that is a kind of inadequate description for what looks very much like a two-tone titanium finish with a red accent stripe separating the different colours. Of course you can get these cameras in black, but the appearance of this on is so appealing that it rivets the eye instantly. Will we ever get past black boxes completely? No - but this is a good start.

The camera is the type that has a fixed zoom lens and provision for eye-level viewfinder as well as LCD screen viewing. For the tech-conscious it has a 1" sensor and 20.1 megapixels MOS sensor. The lens is a 10 x optical zoom that gives you the angles of view from the classic (35mm film classic) 25mm wide-angle to 250mm telephoto. This instantly identifies this as an overseas travel camera.

Why? Because you need a long lens for Alaskan bears or African lions. And for surf shots closer to home. Of course you can take anything with the telephoto and bring it in closer, but the traveller who wants to do the world circuit with the least encumbrance of gear is the person for this camera.

Now remember that you can also shoot night time, parties, restaurants, family, and an amazing number of Australian travel photos with a smaller camera like this. The fact that you are carrying that much zoom power in pocket or purse means you are never caught wanting when something develops.

On a more serious technical note, the camera shoots 4K video - the current standard of excellence. It is literally a one-button process. The fact that the camera can shoot 4K means that Panasonic have also been able to do something rather magic - they have made arrangements for small bursts of recording that take different focus points during action sequences that let you go back later and select the exact peak of focus. Here's where the sports people faced with a moving object will cry with joy -no more missed shots.

Of course Panasonic have included a number of fun programs in the mode dial - panorama, miniature effect, picture effects, etc. Macro, stabilisation and WiFi are all included. Quite frankly, this camera and a small tablet are all you need for a world trip, and that is two pockets and a space in your luggage for the charger (I pack mine in my spare pair of shoes...), a spare battery, some cards, and a "I don't speak your language" app on the tablet should do it. If you get taken for a rich tourist by the look of the camera you'll have to talk your own way out of it.

PS: That's a no-joke Leica zoom lens made by some serious Panasonic workers. I know- I saw 'em being made.

See the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ110 on the Camera Electronic website 

New Camera Coming From Big Camera Company!

Is there any more thrilling sound than the trumpets announcing a new camera? We all wake up and look about us, even if we are devotees of a different system.

In this case it is the latest evocation of a full-frame Canon DSLR - it'll be the next in order in the 5D line - the Canon EOS 5D Mk IV.

You may be forgiven for thinking that with the EOS 5D, 5D Mk II, 5D Mk III, 5DS and 5DS R, and now the EOS 5D MkIV that Canon have had more marks than the Spitfire...or Barry Cable...but consider what it means to the working photographer or enthusiast:

1. Any possible teething troubles in the basic body were worked out years ago.

2. Each new evocation has introduced new electronics and new capabilities.

3. The ergonomics were good to start with - they have gotten better. Canon cameras fit everyone's hand.

4. Everything else fits, too. L lenses, transmitters, flashes, accessories---and its you have a fitted case or bag that carried your Canon EOS 5d-series cameras before it'll carry the new one!

5. Everything has gotten better:

30.4 Megapixel CMOS sensor.
100-32,000 ISO boostable to 102.400 ISO.
4k video and flicker free viewing.
Digit 6+ processor.
7FPS and silent single and continuous shooting.
Full iOS and Android WiFi built in.
GPS built in.
Scene Intelligent Auto Mode available as well as standard PASM.
CF and SD-sized slots.
61focus points - dual pixel add system - 1,620,000-dot LCD screen that is touch sensitive.

I can thoroughly endorse the practice of adding another camera to your bag, and choosing one that is the latest of a long line of careful development. I have done so myself, and benefited. You see this in cars, watches, rifles, and many other household appliances - the manufacturer builds upon careful analysis of what has worked rather than blundering wildly out into oddball designs or untried theories - and the wise user can succeed with the gear immediately.

Consider as well the mind of the Canon shooter. If you have used a small-frame Canon camera in the past you are well on your way to knowing the operating pattern of the full-frame one. If you have used any of the EOS 5D series before you are there already - just pick it up, clap on an L series lens, and run!

Oh, pay for it before you do...the staff in the shop are built like antelopes and will catch you before you get half-way down the block...

We'll have a new camera unveiling night for the EOS 5D Mk IV at a bar in Perth at the start of September. That's a very cheery idea. It will be held at the Flour Factory, 16 Queen Street Perth, on Thursday, 1st of September. Starts at 6:00 for a 6:30 start, if that makes sense.

Hugh Brown will be speaking and that makes it a fun night just to begin with, but add a new Canon EOS camera and food and drink into the bargain and the whole thing really sparkles. I shall be there myself. All readers of this column who want to be included in the fun should register at www.cameraelectronic.com.au/events to let us know for catering.

Finally, did you know that there was a famous member of the church who wrote a textbook on artillery and also used Canon 5D cameras? It was commemorated on the maps of Spanish river systems. Go to Google Earth and look for:

Canon Canon cannon canon Cañón.

You're welcome...

Pre-Order the new Canon EOS 5D Mark IV here

Pre-Order the Canon EF 16-35mm f2.8L III USM (arriving mid-October)

Pre-Order the Canon EF 24-105mm f4 IS II USM (arriving mid-October)

Fujifilm Week Day Five And A Little Bit - The Internet Unveiling Unveiled

I'm not even sure if I am supposed to post this but I am going to go ahead on the reasonable assumption that the people who read it are reasonable people - reasonable in the legal sense...
not nice guys and gals. They may be that too, but I'm not here to judge character.

If you are a reasonable person with access to an computer and an interest in photography you undoubtedly know about the website Digital Photography Review. DP Review has a solid line to most of the facts of the trade and profession, and in my experience can be trusted to tell the truth. When they report that something has come out...out it has come. So if you are reasonable I reckon you have either already gone over to DP Review and seen the news or are just about to - I am not spilling any industry beans that I am not supposed to know about.

Today they revealed the Fujifilm X-T2 camera as well as a battery grip accessory for it and the new EF-X500 dedicated flash for Fujifilm.

The camera is the new improved version of their centre-viewfinder X-T1. It adds more megapixels, a new processor, new film simulation modes, and improved AF experience and ups the video specifications ( 4K ). People who see it will recognise some of the improvements that remind them of the improvements Fujifilm added to their X-Pro1 when it became the X-Pro2.

I desire both of these devices wildly but will not get them because my computer system software will not decode their raw files. If you are plugged into programs that can be updated to accomodate them, you need have no qualms. The improvements should be palpable.

As Thursday was the official announcement in the US, a similar one was made here, and in the fullness of time there will be a launch night and you can get your mitts on one to try. I should imagine that there will be a rush, and pre-orders may well be a good idea. No-one who can make the sound of a credit card will be neglected...

The new flash seems bigger, brighter, and vastly more controllable - including multiple TTL - than previous Fujifilm flashes. It may also be a sturdier structure, what with finally getting a metal shoe.

My real excitement is the look at the new Fujifilm lens roadmap that DP Review also printed. It's sort of a small hard-to-read thing, but I do note that they promise an XF 23mm f:2 R WR lens for this year. My take on the tiny picture of it is that it will be a little shorter in physical length as well as focal length than the XF 35mm f:2 R WR. I am coveting it for my X-T10 as the perfect interstate travel lens.

Okay. Let's see if this can come out fast enough on the blog.

Heading Image: Portrait of WW1 Prussian Guard taken with Fujifilm XF 27mm f:2.8 lens mounted in a Moriarty Portrait Camera. Taken at Der Kleine Studio.

A Fleet With Two Flagships

For some time the photographers who use Nikon cameras have been wondering when the smaller of the DSLR fomats - the DX, APS-C, or 18mm x 24mm sensor, call it what you will - would have a new flagship camera body added to the lineup. They fondly remember the line of development of the D100, D200, D300 and D300s and have been patiently waiting for the next in the series. The wait is over.

Last night an expert photographer and our state representative for Nikon Australia presented a show at Camera Electronic focused around the new Nikon D500 camera. Michael Phillips was able to tell us a great deal of the technical detail of the device while Kingsley Klau let us see what it is capable of on a photo-shooting road trip down south.

The camera is definitely the child of the Nikon D300-D800-D810 styling stable. The shape is unmistakeable if occasionally a detail or line changes slightly. But remember this is a DX camera. Long-time enthusiasts will note that the pop-up flash that has been seen in other models has been left off this camera in favour of more weather sealing. Note also that while the camera bears the note of DX, it can take all of the long FX lenses as well - and therein will lie one of its special charms or selling points.

The really big news is invisible - the performance of the sensor and processor and focusing mechanism is so similar to the bigger flagship - the D5 - that you might think that you are using it with a smaller capture area. The ISO performance is up to the 51200 point and it captures 20.9 megapixels. It also captures 4K video and 10 frames per second. A sports camera indeed.
Kingsley put it through its paces utilising a fast car on a deserted road and showed the extraordinary speed and accuracy of focus on the vehicle. He was even able to emulate this with another 4WD at the first glimmer of dawn through mud puddles.

The people who will be looking at this camera seriously - there were over 35 of them on the night - will be interested in that high-speed capture and the precise line of focus that the camera can take with telephoto lenses. It would be an ideal wildlife or birder's camera. I can also imagine the dedicated night-time shooters of stars and beaches applauding the fact that Nikon have incorporated illuminated control buttons in this body. Folks, when you need to see and can't see it spoils some of the best opportunities in outdoor photography. The theatre shooter will also applaud, during the louder passages of the overture.

Have you noticed that you get a tilting LCD screen at last on a century-series Nikon DSLR? Hooray, it makes quite a difference for studio and field shooting and is even better in being a touch control screen as well.

Finally, I can sort of explain what Michael told us regarding social media sharing with the new feature side the camera - SnapBridge - but only sort of. If you think of it as a wireless sharing feature that will shuffle your pictures over very rapidly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever other social connection you use, you will not be far wrong. But the delightful thing is that you only have to set up the commands to do this once and the camera will remember that connection and re-establish it ever after.

Other wireless sharing connections require you to start them up, pair them up, press a dozen buttons and enter numerous passwords every blessed time. You eventually get sick of it or forget the special sequences needed. SnapBridge does it for you easily and means that the extremely high quality pictures that issue from this camera will start to measurably improve your images and image in the social scene. Think of it as WiFi for grownups.

Note as well that at sometime in the future the sequence of firmware updates that we all should attempt will be come far easier as the Nikon SnapBridge system allows the Nikon company to automatically update the appropriate equipment as improvements come along.

In short, Nikon is now sailing the DX seas with a very high quality new flagship.

The Swedish Undra Maskin

Well, start going to the gym. Do your curls and upper arm exercises. Practise lifting heavy weights. Because the Swedish heavyweight is back.

Not Ingmar Johanssen - or Ingmar Bergman - or even Ingrid Bergman - we mean Hasselblad and the new H6D. The bigger medium format digital camera.

A new electronic email ( as opposed to the old steam ones ) went out today alerting Camera Electronic customers to the appearance on the world scene of this new camera. The press release for it is the only thing seen at present but it promises some pretty interesting things:

a. A bigger, more divided sensor. 100 megapixels to capture things. 40mm x 53mm sensor size. This is a considerable advance over the previous size and a jump ahead of their competitors. looks as though they are doing a 100C and a 50C version.

b. 4K video capture.

c. A new processor inside.

d. Raised ISO  - up to 12,800 now.

e. USB 3.0 connections.

f. Dual cards - CFast and SD.

g. The .3FR.JPG format. No, I don't know what they mean either, but it's their press release...

h. WiFi connectivity.

i. 15-stop dynamic range.

j. A touchscreen LCD and new display.

K. An orange shutter button.

I've included the last feature because it is the only bit that I can afford - no notes yet on the Australian price but I've googled up the New York price and fed it into the currency converter program and I privately suspect that you would not get any change from a $ 45,000 note on this camera. Not surprising seeing the specs and the heritage of the device, but I suspect that it will be government money or high-end advertising studio money that buys it.

Mind, you, one Powerball and I will be down at the CE front counter pestering the staff...*

*Actually, I pester them plenty, but an order for a complete new Hasselblad H6D outfit plus extra lenses and a spare pair of trousers would raise the game to the second floor.

300 More And It makes A Difference

Sony made a cracker of a mirror-less camera with an APS-C -sized sensor in it - the A6000. Whether coupled with a short zoom or with one of Sony or Zeiss' prime lenses it was just the camera that many travellers and enthusiasts wanted. It also gained somewhat of a following when people wanted to have a portable video shooter - the camera was able to follow action better than many rival mirror-less systems.

Well, they've revamped it with more resolution, more AF capability, and a better viewfinder. There's far more AF points in the sensor and the viewfinder used in continuous shooting/continuous focusing is said to be the best in any mirror-less. This, and the 4K video capability, mean that this may be the best choice for sports and action photographers tending to get away from the larger DSLR cameras.

It wouldn't affect me as my shooting in most cases is done of static subjects in careful set-ups...but there are always dance performances where the ability to track something that is rapidly moving and changing direction would be a real comfort. Currently I get to use an optical viewfinder for the pointing but as my camera is slower in focusing, I need to have preset MF zones rather than exact instant AF. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it is a guessing game.

I would also like the tilting screen of this camera, though one reviewer makes the complaint that it does not tilt enough and does not have touch control.

One odd feature about the A6000 has been continued in the A6300 - the business of charging the camera battery in the body of the camera rather than in an external charger. This has lead to the sale of quite a few external charger blocks for the A6000. Well, the A 6300 is similarly set up. You can top up the battery charge in between major sessions by fining the nearest computer or USB port. But there are times when you might be down and out for this luxury and could do with a good old-fashioned dose of the AC. This is definitely one camera where I would recommend that extra charger and two spare batteries. Fortunately the battery is the standard Sony FP 50 and is not too big.

The business of the 8 FPS continuous shooting with a live frame interposed in the EVF in between each recorded file would seem to give a considerably improved sighting experience. You would not always be seeing what just happened and trying to compensate for subject movement on dated information. The 24 Megapixel sensor is also going to be a help - this level of division is going to become the standard for everything eventually.

Are they here, now? Yes they are - that's the Camera Electronic Sony cabinet in the pictures - hence the Uncle Dick Tick. The lens sitting on this example is pretty well the perfect-choice prime for the camera...certainly we can confidently recommend it as a one and only lens for light tourists and heavy purists. And ever since the Sony company slightly angled the shutter button on the front plate they have been ever so much easier to shoot.

If you'd like to get another person's review of the camera try:

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Sony_Alpha_A6300/

Look one out in the shop or pop over to the on-line shop and grab one:

http://cameraelectronic.com.au/products.html?catalog%5Bsearch%5D%5Btext%5D=Sony+A+6300&catalog%5Bsort%5D%5Bon%5D=relevance&x=16&y=16

Nikkkkon Enters The 360º world

Gracious Heavens. What now? Nikon have launched a small cube-shaped camera that will do 4K video in 360º. Virtuous reality, here we come...

About the size of other small action cameras, you wear it and then show the rest of the world what you saw in a 360º fisheye view via YouTube. Presumably they will garner as much pleasure out of you seeing you plunge down Niagara Falls on a bicycle as you will doing it.

This is the camera for adventurers who leave their fears at home. Presumably along with a small envelope to be opened...

We wish them well and will be delighted to see the cameras and their results when they appear on the open market. They will probably be attached to bicycles, surf skis, dune buggies, and skateboards all over the metro area and, while we do not have Niagara Falls available to transport you to the next life, there are many suitable forms of activity open to us here. If we cannot break the sound barrier on a billy cart or 99 on the golf course, we can at least break a small bone or two...

Addendum: That is virtual, not virtuous. Freudian typo.

Mk.IV On The Floor - Sony's Time Warping Camera

Dr. Who is not the only one who can alter time - you can too if you get the new Sony RX100 Mk.IV camera. Specifically, you can slow it down.

Boy, can you slow it down.

The form of the little camera will be familiar to anyone who has had their Mk. I, II, or III models. Zeiss zoom lens, 180º flipping LCD screen, pop-up electronic view finder. Solid build.

New is the 4K capability and the 1/32,000 second shutter and the HFR. That acronym means that it has a High Frame Rate...up to 250 frames per second that you then run back as a video. The universe slows down to the extent that it looks like Winnepeg on a wet Sunday...

It is a camera that demands experimentation. Come in and test it out. Show us the results.

The Drones Club - Not Just For The Egg And Bean

If you are a reader of P.G. Wodehouse you'll recognise the reference. If it is all a mystery but you would like to know more about the art and business of using the UAV for photography - and the results that one expert has achieved - then we have a night for you.

A free night, as it happens. At Shoot Photography Workshops premises  - 232 Stirling Street, Perth. It will be held between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM on June 16th. Thats a week from today - next Tuesday.

You'll be seeing the photographer - Christopher Fulham and his talk will be entitled " The Edge Of Photography. It deals with the real frontiers of digital photo practice.

Cinema drones - the UAV - and iPhones - the HHN - will be topics of discussion. But more than that - Christopher will be speaking on a broad range of subjects all concerned with working and surviving in harsh natural and business climates. Art from the air with the video drone and how to put money in your pocket from any number of related sources.

There will be refreshments and warm drinks - to match a cold night. Places will be limited, so give us an RSVP through the Camera Electronic website's " Workshops " page.