Tune-Up Time With Manfrotto

How many of us get a tool kit with our new digital cameras these days? In the old film days it was common for the box containing the SLR or rangefinder camera to have a complete tool pouch including a stilson wrench, set of spanners, lens brace, film jack, and a bottle of optical antiseptic. In the case of some Kodak cameras you got a 8-round clip of .30-06 ball ammunition and a toothbrush.

I think we are being done - nowadays you're lucky to get a battery charger and a squidgy little lens cloth with some. Even the instruction manuals are on a CD...or are a web address.

Well, all that having been said, it is refreshing to see that Manfrotto, the famous Italian tripod and lighting accessory manufacturer, has realised that users of their equipment still like to be able to maintain the goods. Their recent carbon-fibre monopod model is a...well... a model of a good product. It works and will keep on working.

The monopod idea is brilliant for anyone who is toting heavy cameras or lenses and needs some relief from the weight. I spend 4 hours shooting dancers on WA Day with a long zoom and a heavy little camera. The Manfrotto monopod I use - an early cousin of this one - takes all the weight out of my arms and puts it down, while not occupying a big triangular patch of floor. Makes the difference between an easy job and a arm breaker.

Well, like some older Manfrotto CF tripods, this one has three lever claps to adjust the sections. Far faster than screwing the sections together like some cheaper monopods. As they are acting on springs, there will come a time when they grow weaker, and need to be adjusted. This is where Manfrotto have been smart - they moulded a plastic box spanner onto a grip and clipped it to the shaft of the monopod.

If the weather changes or the equipment ages, you just tighten up as you go.

Brilliant. Combine it with the Manfrotto 234 or 234RC tilt top and you've got the smartest quick support in town.

Cocktail Hour Vs Happy Hour In The Camera Store

We are not going to suggest that the clients of Camera Electronic should come in to buy stuff in a sozzled condition - far from it. It has been done, mind, but it was not a pretty sight to see. And it is hard enough getting the sales staff down off the top of the cabinets with a hockey stick at the best of times.

But there is something to be said for the concept of the cocktail hour consultation. Pull up a shaker and I'll explain.

Cocktails are made from a mixture of things - liquors, essences, fruits, mixers, etc. They can be very complex or very simple - provided the ingredients are good, they nearly always succeed. Okay, the pickled herring martini was a general failure but we still sold some in Holland...The point is to get good stuff to start with and mix it judiciously.

And in the camera trade? Well, give some serious thought to mating camera bodies to lenses and flashes. Your tastes and needs may be entirely different than those of your neighbour, and just as you might like a martini and someone else might do better with a Manhattan, so your optic mix muight be different. Here's your ingredients:

Canon bodies
Nikon bodies.
Sony bodies.
Olympus bodies.
Panasonic bodies.
Sigma lenses.
Tokina lenses.
Samyang lenses.
Zeiss lenses.
Nissin flashes.
Metz flashes.

And note - I didn't even mention the fact that the body makers have a full line each of their own lenses that fit their bodies...

Also note that I didn't raise the question of Leica cameras and lenses, or ditto for Fujifilm.

Or the adapter drawer full of possibilities.

Ask your bartender...err...sales assistant for a taste recommendation and try out  a number of combinations. You need not be frightened to mix and match - there are any number of combinations that work well.

Oh, Happy Hour? When the drinks are half-price? Well think of the cash-back offer periods that the manufacturers institute as the closest thing to this. Wait if you wish, and you can score some good savings. Or sip your way with a new lens or two while you are waiting. We are prepared to put coasters down under the telephotos for you...

The Game's Nearly Afoot, Watson - With The Olympus Long Lens

 

NOTE TO READERS: THE ELECTRICITY HAS BEEN OFF ALL DAY DUE TO SHORTS OVER THE LINE. IF IT IS STILL OUT IN YOUR SUBURB, DON'T BOTHER TO READ THIS MESSAGE...ALL BACK ON HERE AT THE EDITORIAL OFFICE...

Well nearly a foot. 11.81 inches to be precise...

That's the focal length of this Olympus 300mm f:4 IS PRO lens - I didn't actually measure the thing from front to back. It is one of the longer choices that one can make for the Micro 4/3 system. Olympus and Panasonic users with a desire to pull in long distance images are the market.

 

You? Do you shoot sports? Cars? Surfing? Aircraft? Large wildlife? Birds? Well step up to professional qaulity and take this lens away.

 

But wait - there's more. As I found out a week ago in the dim reaches of the Fly By Night theatre in Fremantle, theatre shooting can also be done with this sort of camer and lens. Boost your ISO, put the thing on a monopod, and blaze away. The 300mm is more than long enough for most theatres.

 

But wait - there's more. As I discovered when I pulled the focusing ring backwards on the mount, this is a long lens with a rearkably short minimum focuss distance - just under 1.4 metres. Any object seen at this close distance under the magnification that his focal length gives will be pretty large on the sensor. Remember that in terms of the old 35mm film geometry, this is a 600mm lens!

Depth of field will be shallow under these criteria, but that is optics.

The heading image is just bcause it is a lovely piece of glass to look at. The lens hood is attached to the lens and just slides forward into position.

Note the feature of a " industry-standard " profiled mount on the tripod support foot. I used a similar idea for mounting a zoom lens on a monopod and it is the height of convenience and elegance.

Planning Ahead For Your New Camera Outfit - A Checklist

Those of you who followed the news from Photokina in 2016 - sent back in part by the management team of Camera Electronic and in part by the press departments of major manufacturers - will have been attracted to the new cameras and lenses shown. Lots of you will have zeroed in on new offerings and are starting to make vague plans to get something fresh...

Well, before the new cameras came onto the sales floor - in some cases this can be months - you could do some good for yourself by making a detailed plan of what to get...in what order. We've prepared a checklist for you. Please feel free to copy it and print it out.

TEN-POINT CHECKLIST FOR NEW PHOTO EQUIPMENT

1. Sell your old camera at the markets, pawnshop, or Gumtree. Hide the cash from the rest of the family. Do this first so that you cannot renege on the idea later. You can occupy your spare time by cleaning out the hard drive and finally editing those 5000 files of the dog chasing a tennis ball.

2. Decide which lenses you wish to keep. This list should also include the lenses that you bought at the camera market, the lenses that have been sitting in the shed for two decades, the lenses that fit the camera system you had two camera systems ago, the lens that your mate gave you, and the lens that you haven't actually told the wife about yet. If none of these match the new camera system you are lusting after...err.. considering...then you are morally justified in selling the lot. Morals play a lot in lens sales.

3. Lift up the bottom of the camera bag or Pelican case and see if anything has slipped down there. It is the photographic equivalent of taking the sofa cushions off and looking for small change but it can yield some surprising finds. Expect old filters and lint.

4. Analyse your photo patterns scientifically. If you have been taking pictures of orchids for 30 years, you probably will not need to invest in a 500mm f:1.8 lens. You can apply the money you save to the purchase of a 78-Kilo tripod and a focus stacking program.

5. Measure the boot of the car. Is it big enough to accommodate the new camera system? Is it big enough to fit all the boxes in if you have to store them in there to prevent the wife from finding them? If she does find them, is it big enough to accommodate you?

6. Check the specifications of your computer system. Does it have enough central memory to run the files from the new camera? If it does, will it overheat? If it overheats, can you make cheese toasties on the outer casing? Note: with some examples of computer from a very well-known manufacture, you can. Kraft Cheddar slices are particularly good for this.

7. While you are puzzling at the figures on the computer, look up the version of RAW converter that the new camera will require - and then look at what your current editing program will do. Of course it will not be adequate, but I just put this in to make you feel sad and alone. A new editing program will bring you joy again, until the next time you change systems...

8. No need the throw out all your old memory cards - they can be used to prop up small flower pots to promote drainage. The new ones that you will need to buy will be faster and have more capacity. You can always ask whether the new camera comes with a free card in the box, if you are not worried by indelicate language.

9. Will you want black or silver? Or silver with tan facings? Or an overall wrap of the national flag?
Or all four? If you sold the car you could buy all four. You can sell cars on Gumtree...

10. Do you need the new camera to be water-proof, water-resistant, or highly-absorbent? Decide now before you go down to the beach.

Extra Post today - A Timely Reminder

Folks, the camera makers have been offering cashbacks for the last few months to boost Christmas sales.

Some have already finished, and congratulations to those customers who benefitted thereby...but some are still going for a very short period of time.

Those interested in Nikon, Canon, Panasonic and Instax should make time today to place an order to take advantage of these last few days of grace.

And you might also keep a screen eye peeled for the main Camera Electronic notices - we're due to have a Friday the 13th sale here at the end of this current week. I'm a little uncertain what they intend to list out but if you go to our main page or if you are a Facebook or email reader you should get some idea.

I don't think that that the management went with my suggestion of a free curse with every purchase but I shall be making up little parcels of them and taking them round to my friend's doorsteps on the day. I am a sucker for tradition...

Uncle Dick

When Professionals Go Bad

We're not really into click-bait here folks. Really we're not...

Professionals rarely go bad. Very few of the working photographers of Western Australia become train robbers. Hardly any turn to counterfeiting bus tokens. None of them have become ministers of the crown...yet...

But they do occasionally lose their way when it comes to operating their equipment. And we do not meant to be cruel in saying this - we've all been confronted with complex command pathways in modern digital cameras. We've all powered up only to discover that some inadvertant setting has the camera doing unexpected things. NOT the things we want...

The mark of a true professional is that they rise above the panic that this creates and do one of several things:

a. Fix it immediately with four jabs of the MENU button and a look of cool disdain.

b. Fix it eventually with thirty-four jabs of the menu button and some shocking language.

c. Put it away in the bag and pull out an identical camera and lens set correctly and carry right on.

d. Run for the exit.

To which we may add a fifth possibility:

e. They come into Camera Electronic, confess frankly that they are flummoxed, and ask one of the staff for help in resetting the wretched picture-box.

I am not ashamed to say that I adopt e. as often as I need it, and so far it has worked out well. Everyone here knows something different and we get a chance to see the new gear as soon as it arrives. We are camera geeks as much as you are, and are prepared to press every button on the thing to see what it does. By the time you need to know how to get ourself out of trouble, we will have been in that trouble already and can show you how to recover your dignity. We are also prepared to ring up the appropriate wholesalers and distributors and make ourselves look silly on your behalf.

Note that we also recommend c. as a good idea in most circumstances. No-one should go out on a job that is important with just one set of gear and an air of optimism.

Slip Into The Driver's Seat - Panasonic GX-8

Two years ago I was allowed to own a Panasonic GX-7 camera with a 20mm lens for a week and was extremely impressed with the combination. It was an ideal choice for a genteel but thoroughly capable mirrorless camera. The glimpse that I got of the manufacturing processes of the company involved boosted my confidence in the whole concept of the micro 4/3 sensor in a camera.

Panasonic never rest on their laurels, so after a suitable interval they issued the GX-8...capitalising on the design of the 7 but improving the sensor and adding a number of internal features. I am happy to report that the improvements are discernible and desirable. I took one in to the studio for a spin this week to see what it could do.

Note: I forgot to grab a 20mm f:1.7 Panasonic lens when raiding the shelves for the illustration, but as the Micro 4/3 cameras share common lens mounts, a kit zoom from one of their competitors could bayonet onto the body and we were good to go.

The first detail I noted was the change in grip from that of the GX-7. I was leery of this as the 7 had one of the best grips for a medium-sized hand that I had ever encountered. The new camera sharpened the angle of the body in the spot where your fingers curl into it.

Good? Bad? Better? Worse? I am of the conclusion that for some people it is actually better. The fingers grip tighter in the crease and this factor coupled with the resistance in the ball of the thumb gives good stability to the body while freeing up the thumb and forefinger more than before. The shutter button and adjustment wheel are still in perfect positions.

Your focus choices are also placed very conveniently. I use AF out and about but MF in the studio - it is good to be able to switch rapidly without using a menu.

The main command panel has shifted the controls somewhat, with the addition of a compensation dial concentric with the mode dial. Good choice of spot, as it is hard to accidentally twirl it out into the wrong setting...Of course there are front and back thumb and finger dials for important adjustments. The only regret I have is the shift of the on/off button to a front rather than back position.

As an aside, I wonder if the design department that deals with new cameras is divided up into "Thumb Team" and "Forefinger Team" to lobby for the position and importance of their controls. Think of it: ten earnest Japanese men sitting around a table trying to gain prefer for their digit over that of the others...

I was pleased to see that the innovative tilting viewfinder was maintained. it is one of my favourite features for low-level shooting. Of course the camera has touch screen on the tilting LCD panel but this is no substitute in bright sun for being able to put your eye right down to the viewfinder. That said, I do like the fact that you can touch-focus on the LCD screen to shift the AF point. I am always a little clumsy with touch screens but this one does have some merit.

So how does it all work in practice? I grabbed a '56 Chevy Nomad (Car Of The School Teachers) and turned on the new IKEA mini stage lights and tried it out.

The depth of field for the micro 4/3 cameras is superb - probably the best compromise between sensor size and focal length there is for medium-sized tabletop subjects. If you have a hankering to do it in one shot rather than a 2 or 3 stitch, this may be the camera for it. I should imaging a 17mm to 25mm focal length would be the sweet spot of the optical geometry.

The day was also a success with the trials of the IKEA lighting. If course you need to make sure that you measure the colour temperature and set a custom white balance, but after that it is just a matter of  movie the light heads on their gooseneck tubing to set the positions. It is going to make car interior shots so much easier.

PS: I want chrome strips on the back of my hatchback too, but the car agency man just sniffs and pushes me out the door.

See the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 Mirrorless Camera online here

The Travel Trail - Part Three - You're Going To Like A Panasonic Camera...

This is the camera that I would travel with...if I were travelling with a Panasonic camera. That's a personal value judgement and you're entitled to ask why - and then to make up your own mind. But here is my rationale for the Panasonic Lumix DMC- LX100:

1. The camera is all in one. No interchangeable lens to lose, no entry of dust or contaminants to the sensor. No cleaning. It is small and neat. It attracts little attention*

2. The lens is a Leica lens. Superb resolution and contrast. Aspherical elements so there is very little chromatic aberration - that is the killer defect of some other lenses for me and puts me off them. This one has no CA that I can see.

3. The lens has a true focal length range of 10.9 to 34 mm. This means that it has a chance of a very wide depth of field for landscape shots...and also for macro shots. The 35mm camera equivalent in the lens is 24mm to 75mm. That is classic landscape without distortion to classic portrait.

4. The lens will open up to to f:1.7 or f:2.8. That's low-light enough for most tourist shots w/out flash. It will stop down to f:16 and there's where the DOF becomes wonderful!

5. The sensor is 4/3" MOS - that's the same a Micro 4/3 size without the interchangeable lens to worry about. It cuts the world into 16.84 megapixels so there is plenty of resolution for A3+ prints....and I'd even test it out to A2...

6. It has an image stabiliser system - as it is small and light it needs something to keep it on track besides my shakey ol' hands.

7. Did I mention the close-up - goes down to 30cm at the tele end and 3cm at the wide end. I can take any details of cars or cannons that I want.

8. In case I want a flash there's a standard hot shoe and I can put a TTL flash on there.

9. 4K video recording for moving pictures. I have no idea what this is. I don't watch TV. I look at still pictures.

10. 4K video recording from which you can extract still pictures. Aha! Now I see where I could use this. I shoot a burst of frames of a Galapagos turtle streaking by and select the best one that is in focus. Interesting.

11. RAW/ JPEG and it's covered by my Adobe editing programs right now.

12. Eye-level viewfinder for the sunny days.

13. Direct control of aperture and shutter speed on traditional dials, with the option of a fast click off into aperture priority or shutter priority. This, camera makers, is the way it should be...always...

14. Quick external option for format change. This is a dangerous switch for the uninitiated as they may move it to a position that limits their results later on...and not realise they have done it. I shoot 3:2 mostly, but shift to 9:16 for big groups and 1:1 for some events where I don't want to be rotating the camera all night.

15. WiFi. I don't use it often, but when I am travelling I do like to fire some images back into the tablet for blogging. If I can do it without card shuffling and extra adapters, all the better.

So there. That's why I would travel with this Panasonic LX 100. As you see I travelled out to Jandakot to see what it did on the runway.

* I attract enough attention in other ways. That steam-powered destroyer siren was a darned good idea.

See the Panasonic LX 100 on the Camera Electronic website 

The Travel Trail - Part two - Micro 4/3 In The Hand

The first of our Panasonic Travel Trail cameras was small but capable - our next candidate gains a little in size, but introduces you to a whole system of photography - it is a photo trail you can follow for years...This one is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85.

Panasonic Micro 4/3 system cameras have lenses that clip on and off - you can choose from a wide variety of different ones for specialised or general tasks. And you can use lenses from other micro 4/3 manufacturers - they have all come to agreement on that.

The other great advantage for this camera is the increased size and capability of the sensor 4/3 " Live MOS with 16.84 megapixels. Together with increased processor power this gives increased detail and resolution and you can blow your pictures up larger.

As with the smaller Panasonic camera, it has the 4K video recording and can also benefit from the post-focus selection system when you take a fast photo burst in 4K.

You'd like Wifi? It's in there. You'd like to control it remotely with your smartphone or tablet? There's an app for that. Want the convenience of a touch screen? Touch away - the GX85 screen responds instantly.

If you would like to work close to the ground with a macro lens - and Panasonic make some beautiful close-up lenses - you can flip the screen out flat like an old-fashioned waist-level finder and look down without getting down. I use a camera with this feature all the time at car shows to get a natural angle on the vehicles while standing. You are not inconvenienced and are much less conspicuous in a crowd.

The lens that you see on this camera is the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f:3.5-5.6 Aspherical lens with a powered image stabilising system.  It has nearly the same angles of view as the lens attached to the DMC-TZ110 but a greater heft - well, it needs this as the sensor is larger. It is also a perfect overseas travel lens and tourists with this attached never need to undo it throughout the trip - no letting dust and bugs into the camera.

Of course once you are home, the sky is the limit with Panasonic lenses -from fisheye to extreme telephone and some of the fixed prime lenses have a very advanced performance in low light.

Note that this camera has an extendable flash tube that pops up from the top housing of the camera when you press a button. Good for macro and for adding highlights to faces that are close to the camera. You can plug into speed lights or any sort of studio flash you fancy with the top hot shoe.

Okay - more space needed to carry this camera, and more weight to haul. This is balanced by later detailed pictures and the chance to use different lenses. The hand grip is also larger and easier to use. You choose which side of the compromise you feel best on.      

See the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85 on the Camera Electronic website here

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 

Your First Step Into The Studio

Do you remember your first studio? It was the lounge room, wasn't it? Or the patio, or the shed, or the corner of your bedroom...You had a camera and you had a flash, and you were going to conquer the world.

You solemnly read all the photo magazines, studied the lighting diagrams that involved five 1500 watt strobes and a cyclorama, and tried to figure out how to do glamour with a pack of alfoil and sheets of cardboard. Gaffer tape was a minor miracle until you took paint off the wall and were banned from using it.

If only you had had access to the Phottix double umbrella strobes kit, you would be on the cover of the Rolling Stone today...

Okay, back to reality. If you have at least one camera, one flash, and one means of triggering it from a distance, you can still dream. You'll do better if you find a shapely Hollywood starlet and a fabulous bedroom set and an editor hungry for sensation, but at least you can count on the Phottix people - they have made you a starter umbrella set that is beauty.

Boxed well, as is becoming the norm for modern suppliers, it contains a sturdy carrying case with handles and shoulder strap - suggesting that you will be taking this kit out onto location rather than leaving the bits sitting in the wardrobe. It's not that heavy and the Hollywood starlet may help you carry things into the bedroom as well. You might as well dream.

Inside, you get two photo umbrellas - a silver reflective and a white shoot-through. deploy them as you will for their different effects upon light.

They are held by a cast-metal articulated bracket that can sit on either a 1/2" standard light stand...you get one of these in the kit...or on the 1/4" thread of a tripod. the bracket is made in such a way that the flash you will use can go onto a universal holder and be directed back into the centre of the reflective umbrella or out through the centre of the white one. I have found with most of the speed light flashes that it is best to deploy the integral diffuser on the flash to spread the light into the corners of the umbrella.

So what will this do to the starlet? Give her a big soft light source to smooth skin, round the features, and get big highlights in the eyes. If you are so advanced as to deploy two flashes or one flash and a reflector as well as this umbrella setup then you do not need my advice on how to take glamour pictures.

But just remember: Do not shoot for exposure and do not let the raw files out of your hands. Hollywood starlets or not...

Phottix in store only at 230 Stirling St.
For all other items: www.cameraelectronic.com.au

The Little Man With The Little Trade Table

If you have ever gone to a photographic trade show, collector's market, or enthusiast's conference you know roughly what the exhibition hall will look like.

There'll be a number of stands set out by major manufacturers, a couple of tables from a local authority or professional body loosely allied to the theme of the day, and one or two little card tables set up with sad-looking people behind them. They'll generally be in the least favourable position in the layout - near the toilets or down behind the service corridor. Do yourself a favour - seek them out.

We're not saying that the major players don't have good stands - after all, they've got the money and prestige and corporate power to get the best place in the show. And they'll be the ones with the big new products that everyone has been seeing hints of for the last two months on the internet forums. Go to them and heft the new cameras and lenses and have a good time. Enjoy their latest slogans...: "Dare To Imagine The Innovation Of Inspiration To Succeed/Exceed/Recede In You!" "Be What The Paradigm has Adventured!" "Now The World Will Revolving Around Of You!".

Hard to know how to respond to some of this...I suppose you could always shout out "Banzai" and throw yourself on the barbed wire, but that's a big ask for most Australians at a camera show...

But you will do more for your photographic development looking at the offerings of the little card-table people. They might be as humble as someone selling greeting cards, or as complex as someone with a scheme for reprocessing JPEG images into vegetable oil. All sorts of little gadgets are on offer, and some of them are actually useful.

You must not expect perfection - little craft makers rarely achieve industrial precision - and there may be an air of cottage industry about the presentation. Packaging might be scrappy, and instructions and diagrams crude - but then if you have ever read the instructions packed with a Metz Mecablitz product you will know that goodness need not be written up all that well. Look at the equipment first-off.

The German trade show Photokina in Köln has many such tables. People have made their way to Germany from all over the world to try to light the sales fire. If you want manual controls for an electronic computer or strange printing materials or little plastic accessories for anything, you need to haunt the card tables. The demonstrators will be there until the last of their samples, brochures and patience runs out...then they will clap the legs to on the table and beat it for the door. Look well, for you may never see them again.

Beware of entering into lifetime schemes of commitment at these fairs. Sometimes the commercial lifetimes they refer to are based roughly on those of Mayflies. Software is sometimes abandoned at the church door with a pathetic note asking the finder to nurture the infant program. Reseller's programs are also shaky ground...particularly if they ask you to recruit other re-sellers...or call for start-up funds.

Still, there are lots of good things on offer. If nothing else, collect all the brochures you can. They won't be worth anything in 2 years, but you can always paper the walls of the camera room with them.

The Best Of Everything

We have just come down off the Photokina 2016 high and are sitting with our heads in our hands. The  lucky ones who went to see the show have hangovers, sore feet, and credit card statements to deal with. The rest of us have our hopes, fears, desires, and aversions to consider - all fuelled by the internet reports of new equipment. We'll need to keep our wits about us in the coming months.

It is not the fact that there will be new equipment coming that will stress us - new equipment is always entering the market, just as old equipment leaves it - it will be how we feel we must react to it.

Feel? React? What the heck is this? A camera column or a new-age forum? Well, follow along and you'll see what I mean. I'll be honest with you and you should be too...

Photokina 2016 will raise your level of desire. It was meant to do that. No matter what the organisers ever say, all trade shows are there to cause people to want to trade. This is natural and healthy.

Stimulating that desire is done by showing new equipment, processes, or services. If the advertisers who work for the manufacturers are lucky, they catch you just on the cusp of change - when you are about to switch cameras, lenses, flashes, or programs. Then they show you the new gear and away you go. Sale.

If you are not at that launch point they have it a bit harder - they must convince you that the goods that they want to sell are better than the goods you own. In the case of digital equipment, they do this by additional performance or new features. Again, if they can get you up the slope of desire to the tipping point...sale.

The toughest thing that the Signal Corps* ever has to do is rouse the person who is happy with the equipment they already own to some feeling of discontent. Dissing something is a tricky business if you are the same firm that sold the original camera and lens to the photographer...and are now faced with selling a replacement well before the old one wears out. Because - and make no mistake about this - the equipment lasts far longer than they wish your contentment to last.

Ouch.

Well, I told you I was going to tell the truth. Now be truthful to yourself. You really do want the best -everybody does. But the best is ever-changing. It can shift within a particular manufacturer's lineup and it can jump between different makers. It rarely, if ever, settles upon one item from one maker.

It never is the same best for every photographer. One little change in your needs, likes, colour sense, clients, or business model whisks the concept away to another perch. Likewise your training, skill, intelligence, and personality all change the best. And then there is the fiscal elephant in the corner that we never discuss...

So you really should do a bit of self-analysis in the coming weeks as the Photokina reports flesh out. Do not be too hasty to judge, and in particular refrain from pronouncing sentence upon anything until you actually see it. If it is not best for you, don't assume that it is not best for others...and vice versa.

Wait until you have the item to hand to make a decision - by all means review other people's opinions on the net, but remember that the net is the same channel that brings you alien bat children in caves and the break-up of Hollywood marriages...

Make up your own mind.

* Signal Corps = Advertising Department

One Day With Ken Duncan OAM...

And that one day is going to be Friday, the 7th of October. He's going to be at the Pan Pacific Hotel - 207 Adelaide Terrace, holding a one-day seminar to help Western Australians understand their digital cameras and - to paraphrase his own advertising - to make something very simple out of something that might have seemed hard work.

Ken's a landscape person - Oh, Boy, is he a landscape person - and the landscapes he has captured are the wide views of Australia. Limited edition prints, published books, calendars, cards, DVD's, and even jigsaw puzzles. He is an honourable jigsaw maker - he gives you ALL the pieces in the box...

Well, he's coming to Perth to present a seminar that will help nearly anyone who takes pictures. Really - anyone from pro to amateur to family snapper. The main poster for his seminar lists the topics and there is a good mix of what you need to know and what you need to do - and also the candid inclusion of what you DON'T need to worry about. Bless us, thus is just what the Camera Electronic sales staff and management want to see - a man who loves photography as much as we do.

Well, he's got some good backup - makers of the famed Lumix range of digital cameras and lenses, Panasonic are the event partner and we're going to be the exclusive retail partner. We stock Panasonic here at Camera Electronic and we know how good they are for taking landscapes - that's one at the top of the column taken on a Panasonic Lumix GX-7 with a 20mm lens. Some people have said it looks a little like Japan...

Well, more good news from Panasonic - one person at the seminar will win a Panasonic camera valued at $1099. And there will be more free give-aways - goodies, discount vouchers, tools and tutorials.

You won't starve or parch either - morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea are included in the $249.75 seminar fee. Please don't ask me where the 75¢ comes into it because I have no idea...

But goodies aside, what you REALLY want to get is what you really will get - Ken's expert advice on what to buy, what to set, what to look for in a picture, and how to capture it. It doesn't need to be award-winning landscape panoramas like he does - it can be people, places, events, and objects just as easily...and easily is just how Ken wants you to do it. Come along and be charmed and instructed all at once.

The link to go to to book for this day is: https://www.trybooking.com/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=200588

If you key in CAMELEC as you are checking out you can get a 10% discount off the ticket price.

Now, go and do two things - go book that ticket and then google up Ken Duncan OAM and press the "images" button on your browser...

WOW, Sir! Those are really some pictures! Wouldn't you like to find out how he made them look so good?

7th of October is the day to find out...

The Photographic Slipstream - Weblog Columns Of The Past

I have just been reviewing this weblog column for the past 6 years. I did it by means of the historical record over on the right-hand side of the page - and I've come to some conclusions about it:

a. I really did write a lot of columns, didn't I?

b. Some of them were pretty naff, weren't they?

c. A great deal of the product promotion is irrelevant now - goods overtaken by other goods and fallen into the disused portion of our camera bags.

d. The people promotion still holds up - mainly because the people we introduced as professional or enthusiast photographers really can do the business well.

e. Nothing lasts forever. Not only do cameras and lenses wear out and computer programs fall into disuse, but whole businesses can disappear. There's a couple of postings that feature other camera stores that have since shut.

f. I noticed the postings introducing the new look for the shop - the grey paint job. The paint job is holding up pretty darn well - evidently the painters did a good job and selected good paints. They would be a good firm to employ for domestic work too...

g. I made a joke about full-frame mirror-less cameras. The manufacturers made full frame mirror-less cameras. I made a joke about a medium-format digital mirror-less camera. Hasselblad made a medium-format mirror-less camera.

I am going to make a joke about a brass-mounted faux-wood 1840's-style digital camera on a wooden tripod and see what happens...

h. The management never really censored any of the posts, even the ones that had to be typed with rubber gloves and a clothespeg on the nose. I think they were brave men.

The business of telling people about photography is both easy and tough - easy in that there really does seem to be some new little topic each day that can be introduced - tough in that most people know more about the subject than I do. I really only get away with it by virtue of the fact that no-one  knows everything about everything and I can find little novel tit-bits to show. I am just running along with the pack and scooping up stuff as I go.

The other consideration is that when we find something out, or say it, or do it, it can be swept away in a very short time by the advances of science or commerce. New products, new processes, new prices...we fly along and the old goes out into the slipstream and is gone in an instant. This is a great comfort to a person who makes mistakes because these can go away just as fast.

Bit worrisome, though, in that list of past posts that the Blogger mechanism provides. A couple of the readers of this column will probably go through them to see if they have gotten a mention...in some cases they have.

Ooh, I hope the time I named names won't come back to haunt me...

Beware Of The Photo Booth Man!

One of the greatest ideas I never had was the photo booth. They have proved to be profitable business for photographers as their own venture or in combination with other coverage - weddings and parties are a prime target for this sort of activity.

To make it work the photographer has to have a camera system that will operate repeatedly without failure and make sharp and colourful files for the clients. Whether these files are to be printed out or collected and transferred to disc or drive media is up to the organisers but it's generally true to say that the output shots do not need to be fine art - though some of them may end up as that.

If you're going to print things out on the occasion and supply them to the subjects straight away, there are especial printers and computer programs that can put a fast set of images together and run them out in seconds. It's not really the job for the average inkjet printer, either in terms of time or costs - there can be little profit in it if ink and paper eat up the charges.

That's commerce, and people who do it commercially do it with good business sense. When I do it the output is fun, not money. And a small booth set-up can deliver that for the cost of nothing more than some battery power. Battery power and a radio trigger.

I chose the Hahnel product called Captur for my camera system. The blessing of Captur is that it runs on plain old AA batteries. This is a good point when the apparatus might be set up and shooting for 3 hours or more. You don't want to be using up premium batteries.

The other blessing is the fact that you can get versions that connect into a vast number of cameras. I use the Fujifilm system but you can get the Captur radio triggers that will fire Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus and lots of other stuff. You just need to see that your camera has a few extra batteries as well and you are good to go.

I set my Fujifilm X-E2 up with an 18mm Fujinon lens and clamp it to the side of a light stand. Further up the pole is a Fujifilm EF42 flash firing into an umbrella - it is pure strobist stuff with the umbrella providing big soft light out to the subjects. If I wanted to I could even eschew the umbrella mount and use the flash directly on the hot shoe to break up the light with a Gary Fong diffuser. The main thing is to disable the camera's "Auto-off " setting in the menu so that it can stay on for long periods.

Well, the subjects pose like maniacs, press the transmitter button, the camera focuses on them, and the flash fires - it's just that simple. The TTL mechanism in modern flashes means you get a consistent exposure of the subject even if they are at slightly different distances and there is more than enough memory in a 16 Gb card to deal with any party.

If you can rig up a mirror to let people see what they look like they'll get even sillier, but expect a few naff poses once the drink sets in. You can edit them out or save them for blackmail later. Try not to put anything in writing...

Another Two Stations Heard From

Yesterday's column hinted that there will be some delay for a major camera manufacturer in the delivery of promised cameras because of the recent series of earthquakes in Japan. Today I see their largest rival clocked in with a similar press release - but in this case reassuring us that they were good for stocks for the next two or three months.

Not so good for some of the component subcontractors who were in the shake area - they are assessing what impact this will have on the overall supply situation this year. One of the major component manufacturers has suspended production of sensors at a plant that was within the affected prefecture. And they make sensors for a lot of people...

Again, and this is from someone who is always buying things, the best advice is to get your wallet out and purchase now, while stocks are in the shop. An this isn't just earthquakes in Japan - this is also life in Perth.

Perth has a peculiar set of retail circumstances that may not be repeated anywhere else in the world ( I believe the closest retail model that matches Perth is Churchill, Manitoba in polar bear season. That and the stage play " Sweeney Todd "...). We need to recognise this and act accordingly.

We are at the end of the world - or at least at the end of the retail world - just before it resets itself and starts up again half-way across the Indian Ocean. Things arrive here when they arrive - like standard gauge railways and winter fashions. They stay on sale for as long as they stay - sometimes for decades and sometimes for minutes.

You cannot see an item for sale one week and tell yourself that you'll come and get it in a fortnight. Perth does not work that way. If you come back in a fortnight it is frequently gone and the sales staff will tell you that there will never be another one. Sometimes this is because no-one can re-order something that has sat there since the Menzies era, and sometimes it is because the manufacturer has broken up the moulds and tools and is off on another tangent. The basic message is the same; when you see something you want or need, get it RIGHT AWAY. Good or bad, it may be the only chance you ever get.*

Sitting on your money is all very well if you want flat money - because that is what you frequently get. Also flat images and a flat life. Spending a little to get into the modern photographic game can pay off handsomely, and I would recommend to to all the readers. I shall be doing so myself and expect to get an increased low-light capability. You can too.

* This applies to book shops particularly. Lose an opportunity and it is lost forever.

The Daily Dredge

I trawl the bottom of the camera trade harbour every day looking for items that can be turned into weblog posts in this column. Amongst the discarded boots and old tuna tins, I find snippets of news from manufacturers and their wholesalers, American review sites, the rumour and geek sites, and our local competitor's advertisements. Some of it is distinctly suspicious, while other items are so blatantly bland as to suggest a trainee intern is clocking up time on the press-agent's computer.

The rumours you can all get for yourselves, and you can involve yourselves as deeply as you wish with the fan-boy fights on the various forums. They are a good way to keep up your level of rage in between camera club meetings. And they have the advantage over club meetings in that while you cannot actually strangle anyone when engaged in an internet argument, you do get a better class of coffee and biscuit at home.

The manufacturers can sometimes be cagy in their announcements but are often candid about what is really happening back at the factory. You can expect some delays in new cameras because of this latest Japanese earthquake - one factory has frankly admitted this today as some of their subcontractors are located in the affected areas. Our sympathy to them and people would do well to wait patiently rather than pester retail and wholesale outlets every week to see when something will arrive. Delayed items will get to Australia eventually, and in the meantime there is nothing to stop people from either continuing to use what they have or buy the items that are in the shops right now. The wise buyer does not delay lest the delay be extended by further bad fortune...

The American DP Review site is a good one and is pretty well organised to analyse new cameras and lenses. They'll do a preliminary report on something when it first hits the trade show circuit, then a hands-on, and finally an in-depth review. These latter exercises are detailed enough to let any sensible person make a clear decision about the equipment...but they cannot tell you whether you will like it, or succeed with it, any more than they can tell you what your breakfast oatmeal will taste like or whether you will stick the spoon in your eye.

Some trade snippets that come through are genuinely helpful - like a note a few days ago telling us that there is to be a new repair agent for Epson printers down in Rockingham - a boon for the Southrons.

Looking at adverts from other places can be annoying if they have offered something just pennies under our shop price and you know that the number is all that prospective clients will look at. It becomes interesting, however, when the offerings are either way, way above the normal CE price, or way, way below it. The first suggests that somebody wants to keep their hand in the game but don't have stock to sell - the second that they have just had a container-load of something delivered and are stacking the cartons in the toilet - they will sell low to gain some room. I ponder on this stuff but leave the major financial thoughts to the management.

Then there is the gossip about prominent Perth photographers...about the one who...ah, but you now that already...