Weegee Woulda Been Proud Of Joby

Arthur Felig was not a man to use compact cameras for delicate pieces of ethereal art. His batting record with still life bowls of fruit was woeful. I do not think he ever used a graduated neutral density filter at the seaside in his life.

Yet...he was the greatest blood and guts press freelancer...in the toughest areas of New York in the 1940's...and he used press cameras to do it. One shot, two shots, and then run for it. Run for the car to develop the film pack in the boot and then run for the picture desk of the newspaper.

Arthur...also known as Weegee...had no time for weak equipment, and if you are in the same frame of mind, Joby have just what you want - the Joby Pro Series Hand Grip With Ultra Plate 208.

Heckuva thing to sell - a complex metal casting to bolt onto the bottom of your camera and a rubberised grip to hold it with. I mean, cameras have grips already, don't they? Yeah, but not if you're Weegee class - big handed with tough assignments.

If you need to sling a flash from the left hand side of a camera instead of right in the middle, this is the deal. You screw on a Manfrotto double-thread adapter, a cold shoe, Joby's own locking arm, or any other connector to the top of that grip and the thing is going to stay there without coming off in ANYTHING.

 

You can pop the baseplate onto an Arca-Swiss mount all along the length. You can run a wrist strap or one of your camera stop ends onto the right lower edge of the camera as well as the upper right edge and sling the camera vertically like the old Leica M5. Metz provided this option for years with the metal bracket of the 45-series and it was a blessing. It would be even more so now when we want to keep that damned strap out of our eyes as we raise the camera for a shot.

If you've a mind to, you can attach the grip below the camera for a handle. Raise the thing above the crowd surrounding the murder victim, fire the flash, and run for it*. Weegee would have.

And if worst comes to worst,  that handle and the metal casting make a good mace. A lot easier to hang onto than the grip of your average DSLR.

* Popping a red-hot Press 25 at your pursuers while you leg it...

What's In A Name - The Strap Game Gets Stranger

On my second pester stop one dayI talked with Daniel - the man who wrestles with corporate and institutional sales and who is adding things to the on-line ordering system. I cannot pretend to understand most of the mechanisms that he employs for this but he did reveal a few new lines of products that will be available soon.

The straps caught my eye. Now I have posted before on the Frontier and Colonial Photographic Establishment weblog column about searching for a perfect camera strap. I had nearly sawed my neck off with a series of regular straps from different camera makers and realised that I needed to replace either them or the neck.

I've been somewhat successful in comfort terms but have still to achieve coolness and style. Currently the Little Studio cameras depend from four different types:

1. An Op/Tech 3/8" Classic for the X-Pro1 and lens. Comfy.
2. A Crumpler mini cotton strap for the X-E2...a bit of a worry as it is narrow...
3. A Crumpler wide strap for the X-T10. Comfy and sturdy but a little garish. They only had pink ones left...
4. A fluoro green Joby wrist strap for the X-100. You could make a fighting flail out of this one...

They manage but look pretty naff. I'm still looking for Mr Goodstrap.

Two more candidate companies that may supply an answer are just coming on stream with CE. If you wish to get an idea of what they make, and what they right about what they make please google up these two:

Tie Her Up Straps   Camera Bondage

Deadcameras Straps

No. I'm not kidding. I can invent a lot of stuff but I can't invent those names. I googled them and had a read. The straps look nice anyway, and they might be just the thing to make the cameras look cool.

Grown Up Tinker Toy - Jobo's Latest Camera Support

Here is a deceptively simple accessory that you never knew you needed  - and may well look upon as a blessing.

It is a Joby L-bracket. Metal - with a tough non-skid rubber covering on the camera plate and the upright handle. It is asbolutely non-slip. Grasp onto this handle and your camera isn't going anywhere you don't want it to.

There is a 1/4" threaded socket on the top of the handle and Jobo suggest that various forms of bracket can be screwed in there. I found that a simple piece of 1/4" steel threaded rod would couple a TTL cord and shoe to this and once you set the angle of the block, the rubber covering made sure it did not rotate.

The camera plate has an accurate Arca-Swiss channel in the bottom and numerous attachment points for standard 1/4" threads. There is also a wonderful strap attachment point at the RHS that means you can sling a camera in the same manner that the old Leica M5 was - it hangs vertically down at your right side. and when you put it up to your eye, your nose does not fight with the strap!

Weighs Nothing - Does Something - Lightweight Accessories For Christmas

I'm always banging on about the GoPro action cameras and their propensity to fill the ER at the local hospital with incautious users...but I really do admire their construction and the light weight that they impose on the photographer.

It's a lot of fun to carry heavy gear a long way in the heat and flies, said no photographer ever. That we still do is a testimony to our desire for megapixels and megapain. At least the people who ride bicycles off bridges have a legitimate excuse to break the habit, along with their clavicle.

This tripod from GoPole is light, tiny, and ready-fitted for the GoPro camera. If you are not going to wear the thing when you plunge off the cliff into the pit of dinosaurs, this is a good way to steady the camera to capture the scene. The cameras go for a long time once you press the start button so there is plenty of time to get into the scene.

The Joby Three-Way Strap is for wrist, neck, and shoulder and is instantly adjustable for different lengths. This is perfect for mirror-less system cameras.

The Cullmann Cross CX420 is the smallest Arca-Swiss - sized quick release plate and holder that you will ever see. Compacts and mirror-less cameras can now share the same tripod mount as your DSLR but not have a big block of iron hanging on the bottom.

Christmas is coming a stockings need to be stuffed with something besides dirty feet. Just sayin'

Suspending Your Disbelief With A New Strap

I used to laugh at all the people who made a collection of camera bags - until I counted how many I own. And all of them necessary, you understand. I went silent.

Then I took to laughing at the people who bought new straps for their cameras - replacing perfectly good manufacturer's straps. Then I looked in the various bags and counted the aftermarket straps...

So why? Why did I spend perfectly good drinking money on camera straps - and don't say it was just because I work in a camera shop. I can be as tight with my money as any of you. I did it because they all do something different.

Let me start with the manufacturer's contributions. Good for the most part, but comprised chiefly of nylon webbing with a hard edge and an advertising logo on the back. I can stand the advertisement but the hard edge of the webbing digs into my elegant swan-like neck something chronic. The camera end of one of them has a series of protective covers to prevent something - I find it chiefly prevents me getting the damn camera to my eye.

So I have an Op/Tec Classic padded strap to spare my neck. It suspends the heavy Nikon DSLR well enough to let me do 8 hours of bride-hunting. If I need to do an equal time with heavier artillery-  a long lens to capture the sword fighting - I use a Balck Rapid RS-4 and sling the thing off my left shoulder like a dragoon carbine.

All this is very well when utility is the go, but what do I do when there is a need for prestige and elegance - at the opening of the yacht club or the investiture at the palace? Why I just fasten the Artist and Artisan pure eco-friendly cotton strap grown on the south slope of the Cote des Straps and hand crafted by people with hands. I try to forget how much it costs, unless someone else seems to have a better one, then I tell them. It is a VERY good strap.

But I may have to change my tune. Think Tank have a new strap that is made up of cotton webbing and leather ends that feed into steel O-rings. It looks like it could be used as a lifting strap for panels on a tilt-up building site. And the webbing has a wavy pattern of soft plastic designed to grip on a slippery jacket and prevent the strap sliding free. I don't really need it, but....

Joby Price Reposition

Joby Gorillapod tripods have repositioned their SRP in Australia. Have a look at these amazing price savings: