The Open Doors To Success On The Fujifilm X -T2

This week has been a Fujifilm parade as I investigated the new X -T2 in the studio. I observed a number of useful design features about the body:

a.

There are two card slots separately accessible at the side of the camera. No more fumbling under a tripod mount when it comes time to change cards.

b.

The card compartment door is weather sealed and lockable. No more flying open when least expected.

c.

Bless their hearts, the Fujifilm designers have given us a tiltable LCD screen that moves to the right for vertical shots. Also up and down for waist-level shots. We can be discrete with portrait orientation and not have to try to peer sideways at the screen.

d.

The ISO and shutter speed dials have central locking buttons. These in their turn have grey visual flags to tell us they are up or down.

e.

There are two removable rubber hatches under the base of the camera - the one near the battery door is for a cable when you fit a battery-replacement adapter. The square one on the left is an escape hatch for the crew in case they are attacked.

Note that the heading image shows the textured surface of the black version of the camera. Very handsome and hard wearing.

See all specs of the Fujifilm X-T2 here.

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)

The Downside Of The Touch Screen

People love touch screens - whether they are on tablets, smart phones, or camera LCD screens, the public cannot seem to get enough of them. They poke, tap, swipe, scroll and twirl all day. The images open, close, expand, contract, and disappear forever.

I very nearly hate the touch screen.

When I use it on my iPad it gives me none of the tactile feedback that the standard keyboard does. Each stroke I make as I write this tells me that the wireless keyboard has registered my entry by a small sink and tap feedback. Even if I am not looking at the screen as I type...and I frequently am not...I know something will be up there when I do. In the case of the iPad I have to watch each stroke on the screen to make sure it actually happened. Note that in neither case can I guarantee that the word will be correctly spelled - that's a separate process of proofreading later.

When I tackle a phone with a touch screen it is worse, because the phone has smaller dots on the screen representing the qwerty keyboard. The dots are smaller but my fingers are the same size. The spelling worsens.

On the back of a camera the LCD touch screen might be thought a great advantage. If it has usable icons, perhaps. If it has symbols that need to be translated by a Swiss psychologist I am in trouble - I would do far better with a dial or a menu.

The really annoying thing is when the slightest touch of finger or nose on that screen triggers it off. You get to be very wary of it when it continuously shoots before you are lined up.

But I must not be too negative...after all this is digital, not film...the touch screen on a swivelling LCD is an elegant thing in a studio. The camera is frequently mounted on a tripod or camera stand and the user has both hands free. The screen may be tilted up to save the photographers's back from being tilted down. if the camera has provision for touch screen focusing the lens need not be disturbed - the careful alignment of a scientific or advertising shot cannot be thrown off at the last moment.

If the manufacturer allows the camera to be controlled remotely from a tablet with the same touching, the whole exercise becomes fun. You still set it off inadvertently but you feel that you are being a techno-geek while you are doing it.

Tilting The Screen

Older members of the readership will remember the 1980 movie " Flash Gordon " with the fight between Flash and the hawk men on a tilting tabletop. It was a pivotal point in my life...pun intended... as it was the first concrete illustration of the university education system I had ever seen. I still have Flash backs...

Well, university aside, the tilting tabletop is the best way to understand the new LCD screen mechanism on the Pentax K-1.

We've seen LCD screens in various forms since the inception of digital photography and they have gotten bigger, brighter, more detailed, and more useful all along. A few years ago they started to move - makers attached them to panels that swung out to the side of the camera. Then the panels were made to swivel at the same time and eventually they got to the point where they could go from being turned into the body of the camera to pointing straight forward.

Not content with this, other makers made the screens tilt - up, down, and eventually right forward again. It was all very good, but it really was only a help when the care was held in the landscape orientation - if you went to portrait position you still had to peer sideways and wonder.

An aside. Old Hasselblad and Rollei photographers like me can peer sideways like owls. We had to do it with the waist level finders on the old film cameras and we've developed the knack. Still makes us look silly, though.

Okay. Pentax have taken a leaf from the makers of some monitor screens and attached the LCD assembly to the back of the new K-1 camera with four struts. This means it can go in far more positions for viewing without being stuck out of the side of the camera on a flimsy plastic swivel. You can sight through it in portrait mode without twisting your neck off. No small advantage in candid photography and an absolute godsend in tripod work in a studio. Note: once it goes to the end of he swivel arms it tilts up even further.

I get the feeling that Pentax designers are human beings who take their own pictures in real life with their own design of cameras. And they pay attention to how their own hands work and how they feel. Let us all applaud them with our hands.

Then let us dive this hands into our pockets and fish up a wallet. This camera is in the shop right now - come play with it or order it on-line.

Round The Dial Roulette On The New Pentax K-1

The last few years have seen camera makers send their designers on divergent paths when it comes to the interface between the customer and the device.

In some cases nearly all the operating controls have been hidden inside the menu button, in others they have been spread out on a touch screen, and in a third instance have been relegated to levers. But nothing beats a good old fashioned dial - particularly if it is well-marked and a decent size. If it has firm click stops and a sturdy grip you can confidently fly the machine in all weathers.

Well, digital Pentax cameras have always been pretty good in this respect - their external knobs meet all the right criteria. The latest full-frame digital camera is the Pentax K-1 and here are a few of the control areas that illustrate how clearly Pentax see with the eyes of their buyers.

a. The main mode dial. Standard PASM and then Pentax's specialty - the variable ISO settings; Tav and Sv. Note as well the full Auto ( though why on a professional camera like this one...)*.  But look at the wealth of options there are with 5 custom channels. For some photographers these would be all they ever changed for their different interests. Also note the lock button.

b. The fun specialty dial. Oh dear goodness what you could do with this one...

 HDR explains itself, but you would still be well advised to look in the manual to see what they think you are going to do before you do it. Some love the look and some hate it, but it is actually useful for some technical illustration.

BKT is bracket. Again good for tricky light conditions.

CH and Cl are your continuous shot speeds

 ISO is amazing as the camera goes up past the 200,000 mark. Bob Litchfield said he was notorious for always shooting at 100 ISO but would feel confident running to 800 with the Pentax K-1. Betcha it would go very well a long way higher - check out DP review's test shots.

+ and - are for when you can't decide...no, these are the exposure compensation factors you can dial in.

The white dot is right there and until I get a camera to play with it will stay right there.

WiFi is self explanatory. Or should that be selfie-explanatory...?

Crop controls the use of DX lenses on the FX camera - you can put 'em on but the camera only uses part of the sensor to record. It will automatically indicate what is live in the viewfinder.

Grid lets on a series of guide lines to scold you when you get your horizons crooked and your verticals divergent.

SR Shake Reduction. And in this camera there is a lot of that - 5 axes arecovered, including roll.

c. The Usual Suspects. This is the main under-thumb back panel with discrete button wheel and a joystick button above it. More and more cameras are giving the shooter this sort of tiny thumb navigator rather than compelling them to move AF points with the main wheel. They can shift while the camera is at their eye.

Pentax have recognised  that with a camera of this size the grip of the user is going to have to be firm...which in its turn means that the tactile control available to thumb and forefinger to operate fore and aft wheels is necessarily a little rougher. Try it yourself gripping the mouse of your computer - as you tighten up you have less fine motor control. This in turn means that the control wheels must be larger and well-ribbed to engage with the fingers. Thankfully, they are, and adjustment when the camera is to the eye is easy.

Any way you look at it, the new Pentax K-1 is a DSLR for grown-ups.

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 Decline Of The Self Portrait Number One

The self portrait has been a staple of the artistic world ever since men started painting and sculpting. The latter art was difficult as it involved a degree of skill but the former was easy - you just dipped your hand in sloppy clay and slopped it on a rock. You might not have portrayed a lot of you but at least people could count your fingers.

Brush and canvas jobs seem to have been done by every famous and/or obscure artist who ever got up in the morning. Some were brilliant evocations of the times and accurate depictions of the face and figure of the painter. Some were daubs. And some were art that might be described as campaign promises...

The self portrait in early photographic terms was just a mechanical addition to this genre. Photographers with no customers sat down in front of their folding and box cameras and waited out the exposure. When things advanced and sped up, lenses could be put in shutters with mechanical self timers and everyone who could balance a camera on a pile of books could rush around in ten seconds to be captured in front of the machine.

Note the ten seconds - it is the thing that separated the picture from the portrait. In the case of the painted canvas the artist had days, weeks, or months to arrange lighting, sketch in a cartoon, readjust the outlines, and then paint in whatever looked good. If the backdrop in a dingy studio looked bad, a different scene could be limned in. To their credit, most western painters never mounted themselves on horses with cuirassier breastplates and upraised sabres in their self-portraits, though they were generally available to do that for the paying client - town burgomeister or otherwise.

The extended period of time gave the artist looking in the mirror time to arrange their mouths and eyebrows to best advantage. Whether they could capture that on the canvas is another thing, but at least they had time to scrape off the pigment and try again. The selfie-shooter is in a worse position - they have ten seconds to look like Clint Eastwood...and run the risk of looking like Nana Mouskouri eating a bad oyster. Oh, sure, you can press the reset button and try again, but if you are in a group they grow restive and critical after the 15th repeat.

The only hope for it is the camera that swivels the LCD screen up and over itself or around to the side so that it presents the posing party out the front with a view of what the lens sees. You still have only 10 seconds to look handsome and intelligent and some of us would need a lot longer to even spit, but at least you are on the right track.

More on this subject in a further post. Note that Camera Electronic sells cameras  from a number of makers  that do the flipping screen thing to perfection. No need to be shy - we know what you are buying it for so just ask us to show you the one out of the plain.sealed wrapper...

The Balancing Act - Or Why The Screen Swings Out

Over the last few years the swinging LCD screen has become popular. Like other forms of swinging it has its hazards - my wife discovered this with a video camera that featured a screen that swivelled out to the side. When she rounded a corner suddenly with the camera and the screen hit the wall...it proved an expensive replacement job. Not the fault of the camera, but if it had not been out there it would not have hit the wall.

The ones that do not swing to the side are a bit less fraught - the Fujifilm. Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony companies have all made models of compact and mirror-less cameras that have an articulated screen that drops down or folds up in a straight line.

Those of you who do studio work, macro, wildflowers or food photography with a camera that does not feature one of these screens are shortchanging yourselves - this feature lets you look at what you are getting without doing contortions. You can even do selfies with accuracy - and with the added advantage that as you take them you can see just how bad a duckface makes you look.

If you do not have one on your camera it is time to change.

Learning The Hard Way - With Hoodman Hoodskins

Being old enough to know better doesn't help. Being rich, or pretty, or powerful doesn't help. Being witty doesn't even help...when physics, geometry, and circumstance combine, you are going to go for a tumble.

This was the case recently for one of our staff members who qualifies on all the above criteria. He was on holiday near Bluff Knoll and had taken his Leica camera for landscape shots. Pausing to admire the scenery, he set the camera down on the solid rock behind him.

Bad move - the camera was obviously a renegade as it made an immediate bolt for freedom - starting to slip away down a crevasse between two rocks. The unnamed staff member reached around in a flash and just caught it as it went - getting it just by the metal lens hood.

After he had calmed down, wiped off the cold sweat, stopped screaming, and could see again, he inspected the runaway. The pictures show where the rock face had scraped away at it - you can see the big old scratches down the LCD screen and two small chunks off the  metal surround. What Fate did not know on the day was that the camera screen was protected with a Hoodman Hoodskin screen protector.

These things are held in place by the static attraction - they come in a packet of two for under $ 16 and you cut them to fit whatever screen you have.

The happy ending to this story is: when the Hoodskin was peeled off the Leica LCD screen was completely undamaged. That is disaster averted for $ 8. If they had Hoodskins on the HINDENBURG history would have been different.

A Bit Of Protection Round The Back - Promaster

We all need a little bit of protection round the back end - that is why they invented the Frazer-Nash turret...

It can also be a good thing on a camera - you are going to scratch the LCD screen for sure at some stage of the camera's life. Every day you will press your nose against the back panel and the screen will get pretty ugly looking.

Hoodman have decided that the best protection is a flexible plastic film. They manufacture their Super Hoodskins in 3" and 3.2 " to cater for different screens. You get two in the packet - just trim them down with sharp scissors until they cover the back screen. Then you peel apart a protective layer and let static electricity adhere the Hoodskin to the surface of the screen. I have this on the Fuji X-10 and so far it is easy to clean and has held on very well.

If you want a tougher surface than the flexible film, Promaster have introduced their Screen Protector. It is a hard polycarbonate - .8 mm thigk - but is so clear that it does not affect the colours on the screen. It has an adhesive layer that butts up against the camera LCD, so be sure that you have cleaned he LCD as well as possible before mounting it. This is only in 3" mounting.

Both of these styles of protection are under $ 20 - you can hardly afford to let the delicate surface of the LCD go bare at these prices.

Note: The front of the camera has an expensive glass lens surface too - consider a UV filter for it, even if you do not expect to encounter much Ultraviolet radiation. You might encounter a dog nose and they are stickier than UV any day...