What Do You Mean " I Shouldn't Buy Another Lens...? "

This column is nothing if not flexible. We can provide advice that bends in the middle and faces both ways at the same time...

A previous post reported a conversation with the new photographer centred around advice about buying a new Nikon AF-S DX 35mm f:1.8 G lens. That was good advice, and I stand by it firmly, and am now prepared to contradict myself. I've been watching politicians after elections and I can see how it is done.

The new photographer is using a Nikon D3300 which is a dandy camera - with a Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55 f:3.5-5.6 GII lens which is a dandy match. Her main focus will be family shots. I suspect she may get more benefit in this pursuit from another Nikon product - the SB 700 flash.

Her camera does have a pop-up flash in the prism housing, of course. It is linked to the TTL system and is capable of the measure and shoot trick that makes for perfect tiny illuminations and mild fill flash. It can do a portrait inside the house. But it is necessarily low power and equally necessarily draws electricity from the camera battery - restricting performance as it does.

The SB 700 stands outside the electricity supply of the D3300, drawing power from 4 AA batteries. I always recommend Toshiba, Panasonic, or Duracell batteries for this sort of application...and I have settled into using disposable lithium-ion AA cells for all my speedlight work. She'll have plenty of power, quick recycling times, and extra shots in the camera battery for the camera itself.

Okay, what should she do with the SB700 to start with? Fuel it up, slide it onto the hot shoe, lock it there, and turn the flash to TTL mode. Then go out and pursue the kids. The camera will operate as fast as its own AF system will permit and the flash will fire enough light to stop any actions it sees.

Note: I don't mean it will stop the kids from shaving the cat, but it will provide clear pictures of the operation for later evidence. It is hard to stymie the TTL system on a Nikon as it pre-flashes, measures, then exposes the scene. There is PLENTY of flash power for all ISO choices - I have used this same unit for big-church illumination at weddings on 800 ISO with no problem. It can cope with household spaces perfectly.

The thing is consistent. Make no mistake about the comfort that this can provide. People do not want to be sitting in front of a computer whacking the sliders to try to chase fugitive white balance. You tell a Nikon camera to shoot flash and it will agree with this SB700 for every single shot.

And the new photographer can hesitantly press in the rubber locks on the side of the flash head and gingerly tilt it up towards the ceiling and take a shot...And thenfind out more looking on the LCD screen that ever we can teach. Even better - she can pop on the diffuser that Nikon includes in the pack and see even more. I'm not going to take her through the complications of the Mag Mod Dome...I'll just leave that as my little professional advantage...

She may never get past the need for the TTL and move onto the GN settings, or the manual flash. She may never need a slave or master flash setup. But I think she will find the addition of such a sophisticated portable light to be a wonderful thing.

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)

When You Don't Know The Right Thing To Do...

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...). I was rewarded with a set of ever-so-slightly underexposed negatives. Had I known to do it, I should have rated the stuff at 80 ASA and got more silver for my money.

Then again when I underexposed the Kodachrome II slides of the period I was a little disappointed with the dark colour but now that I can scan and subject them to PSE, I am more than happy to have the highlights.

This last weekend saw me running out with a new lens and camera and a new sense of adventure occasioned by retirement. I drank a beer in a country pub at 11:00 AM and spent the afternoon in a car museum. While I shot a number of the exhibits with the Fujifilm EF42 flash providing fill, I also threw caution to the winds and racked the Fujifilm X-T10 up to 3200 ISO and let 'er rip. I can report that the jpegs are imminently satisfactory and the freedom to just point and shoot is awesome.

Of course you all knew this before I did, and in the case of some of the bigger DSLR's you have been turning the ISO dial up to nosebleed numbers for years - but this is the handy dandy mirror-less game for me and I am starting to get excited. I suspect that if more people were to come into the shop and look at the Fujifilm X-series and some of the new lenses that have wide apertures, they would join the brigade.

Note: Heading image is the museum hall - this following one is of a new Morgan three-wheeler. The graphics are execrable but the vehicle is a delight.

Update Your Experiences With The New GoPro Hero 4 Firmware

We've just gotten news from the distributors of the GoPro products that there are firmware updates for the popular Hero 4 model. Apparently the new instructions will effect these changes:

1. Built -in video trimming will enable you to save short highlight clips from your videos right on the camera. You can send them to others with the GoPro App. This feature works with the Hero4 Black when you have the LCD Touch BacPac.

2. Chinese language UI - this will be over the front and rear LCD screens and HDMI output.

3. ISO 800 and 3200 - There is a feature called Protune video that captures darker video in low light with reduced noise and graininess at 800 ISO. 3200ISO will give a brighter image but more noise.

Circle The Wagons - Here Come The Native ISO's

The question about natives is...are they friendly natives?

The answer to this question sometimes depends on which side of he conversation you are on. ie. Don't ask General Sheridan and expect a comfortable answer...

In the case of the native ISO of digital cameras, this seems to be fixed around the 160-200 mark. I suspect that it is a characteristic of the actual component and is a function of the composition of the silicon layer and whatever the current state of division thereof. I have discovered that these sensors are manufactured by a very few companies - and in many cases well-known camera companies are using sensors that are manufactured by business rivals.

And they are all perfectly okay with this as each manufacturer takes the sensor and then does different things with the signal - one optimises it for one thing and one for another.

I was apprised of this by reading a book this weekend - " Mastering the Fujifilm X-E1 and X-Pro1 " by Rico Pfirstinger. It is a Rockynook book obtainable at Boffins Bookstore in William Street.

In the chapter that deals with ISO settings it makes the point that the native ISO of the two cameras it deals with is 200, and the camera always takes its picture at this 200 - even if you set it to ISO 1600 or higher. What it is doing to present you with a picture at that higher ISO is underexposing the image and then dealing with that underexposure through software. And apparently doing it very well.

This strikes me as true of all of them, and explains the improved characteristics of each new model of camera from any one manufacturer - they are not adding a new sensor in many cases - just re-writing the mathematics of the signal processing. Then I realised I was not reading carefully enough...

Fujifilm has a different sensor from others - it really does have a different pattern of receptor sites from most of the others, and can benefit users greatly in the way of resolution and clarity. The X-trans sensor may very well be quite different indeed. But I take it that it still looks at the world at 200 ISO and then just shuffles the electrons to get up to a clean 6400.

Who'da thunk it?