You Know, You're Soaking In it?

Geeze, Narelle, You coulda told me...

For those of you who have come into the lounge room late, the cultural reference you have just read is a Robina Beard advertisement for Palmolive washing-up detergent  from the black and white era of Australian television. The product I am spruiking today is a camera accessory from about the same darned time. Trust Camera Electronic to have a steady supply of them...

Well, stop laughing. The Premier AC Mini Slave is one of those products that are older than dirt but exactly the right solution for any number of photographic needs. If you're not a studio shooter you can go boil the kettle but if you do any work that involves fixed flash draw nigh and give heed.

The Premier product is the latest name for something that I have seen as far back as 1964.  I'll bet it is older...It is a self-contained electronic flash that screws into an standard E 27 Edison screw socket for 240 volts and then converts this to a self-firing strobe flash. There's a magic eye inside it that sees when another flash has gone off in the vicinity and then fires the slave in synch with it. Some of the models have open flash buttons and some have little synch sockets but some just fire in sympathy and that's that.

The power level is about what your'd get from an old Metz 45 unit - or a Canon 430 EX or a Nikon SB 700. Not inconsiderable power. The real advantage if the fact that it is screwed into the normal AC current so it charges instantly and for free. When you need a fixed flash, this is the cheapest way to get it.

I use it under my product table. A standard Arlec outdoor floodlight fitting takes the Premier flash and sits on the floor facing upwards. When the main flash above the table fires, the slave fires as well, and whites out the paper under the subject. Do a little measuring and fiddling and you never have to touch it again.

See. It works a treat. 

There is a domed cover that diffuses the light, though not all that much. If you needed less power I'd pack it with something sophisticated, like a Kleenex...

You can also tape bits of gel over the light inside for colourful effects. I used to make artificial footlight effects for dancers this way. Three Premier lights on the floor didn't overpower the rest of the studio set-up but filled in nicely underneath.

I suspect that these humble accessories have been the starting point for a lot of budding studio shooters and they would probably be equally at home in photobooths. Or police lineup shots.

Less than a hundred bucks and they last forever - I love 'em.

The Silent Studio Assistants Pop Up

Getting some help in the studio when you are tackling product shots can be nerve wracking. You have to advertise the position, read the resumés, conduct interviews, choose a candidate, fill out the tax file and workers comp forms, and then wonder whether they are going to show up on time.

Some days you wonder whether they are ever going stop talking, or eating, or go home...

Well cheer up, because Cullmann have come up with some pre-packaged answers to your problem; kits of camps, holders, grips and props that can be the extra hands in your shop when you really don't want to hire extra hands.

The studio accessories from Cullmann are well-made and for the most part explicable. By that I mean they look like something that was made for a purpose and you can figure that purpose out by looking at them.Here are three kits grabbed from the shelves with slightly different content for slightly different jobs.

a. The FLEXX Tabletop Set. This gives you a clamp to grip the edge of a table or upright, an extension pole with 1/4" socket on the bottom and screw on the top, and a small ball head. The camera plate of the ball head unscrews and reverses to become a small flash shoe.

That's one hand free to do other things with - not you have three at our disposal. Like hiring half of an assistant...

b. The FLEXX Support Set. This has the clamp, extension poles, mini ball head and adds a suction cup attachment, a Copter tabletop tripod, and an accessory grip. Another hand in the mixture. Now you have a full-fledged assistant holding things steady for you as you shoot. And doing so without singing or muttering under their breath...

c. The FLEXX Assistant Set. This one has three spring clamps - a big one that grips the tabletop or a pool support,, and two smaller ones that grip products, gels, reflectors, or flags. The connection in this case is not rigid - it is a flexible gooseneck in metal. You get one of the mini flash shoes as well for a speed light holder.

With Cullmann you are really only limited by your own imagination as to how you combine the elements. Here they are in individual for so that you can plan your rig. Wise studios get several kits and keep a supply of the parts in a big box. The time that they save in positioning articles is money in the bank.

Oh, the heading image? That is from the Little Studio's pantry. It is a 60-year-old tin food canister full of rice and popcorn. It served to prop up that product boxes beautifully. Not for sale, but if you visit the studio with beer I might pop some...

Bending Over Sideways To Please The Client - Tilt/Shift Part One

This is not a column about business relationships. It is about optics. If you want the other sort you'll have to go to Dale Carnegie or The Better Business Bureau.

Three manufacturers that I know of currently make tilt/shift lenses that can be used on digital cameras; Nikon, Canon and Samyang/Rokinon. There have been others in the past but my researches don't turn them up readily now. The one in use in the studio today is the Samyang 24mm f:3.5 version with the Nikon mount. Of course you can get it with a Canon mont as well...

Cynics may be forgiven for looking at the design and screwing up their faces, but I'm not here to judge whether or not Samyang unbolted another maker's design and reverse engineered it. Nor any I going to make the obvious comment about the use of high-grade plastics to replicate someone else's metal part. Take it from someone who used it that it is well-built and works as it should.

You don't get AF with these lenses, nor do you want it. You get MF and ADJF...Adjustable Focus.

 And you get to adjust it in ways that are at once artistic and practical.

The subjects that people cover in the studio can sometimes be challenging in that they are longer than the depth of field of a lens will cover. Stop down as much as you like, you still can't get everything in focus -and clients demand everything in focus. If you need to use a wider aperture for artistic effect, you are in even a worse fix.

Here is where the tilt mechanism of these lenses comes in. They are the way to produce the Scheimpflug effect - the phenomenon that occurs when you rotate the lens and the sensor to intersect the plane of the subject. Sounds complex, turns out to be surprisingly visible in the viewfinder, and nails the focus along the length of the subject - in this case a 1:24 Chevrolet Fleetline. Even at a modest aperture, it's in focus.

All in focus from headlight to rear bumper.

Away from the plane that you select, it goes out of focus faster...so if you want to create a fuzzy effect that is where you do it. Again useful in the studio to diffuse the backdrop and smooth it out. The clients want to see the products, not the brick wall behind them.

Note that the focusing you do with this lens is with the broad front ring. It's well damped, and does not creep. The lens is a pleasure to use.

As always, available now in-store or on-line.

Thank G_d It's Fridays

You could be forgiven for missing the place at twilight - we were in search of Fridays Studio for the launch of the Hasselblad H6D camera…the ironic thing was it was on a Monday.

No matter, the Fridays Studio is the newest venture of Ian and Erick Regnard, the two brothers famed for their underwater work with large format cameras. I think that the fact that they used large format cameras is diagnostic - there was a definite sees of space and magnitude about the studio.

It is a work in progress - at present there is one wall completed of what ultimately will be a three-dimensional infinity cyclorama. The fact that the building that houses the studio was an industrial warehouse and garage before means that there is a very large open interior with a very high ceiling. They have taken full advantage of this to make an infinity scoop that can accomodate a great deal of vertical activity - the tallest samba headdress will still not break the background. Impressive!

The studio also uses a central divider to create a natural light studio behind the main floor, and again it is larger than many other full studios combined. There is a dressing and facilities room under construction as well.

But the thing that impressed me was a full-sized sea container parked at the side of the wall. It’s a 20 footer, and what is really impressive is that it is NEW - not some old rusty bucket. It provides the lock-up security for studio gear. I was envious of the infinity wall at the start but I got even more jealous when I saw that container. At least I think it is a container…it might be their camera case for when they travel. I must look again and see if it has a shoulder strap.

I did suggest that they paint their front window up as a Bayer-pattern sensor…or at least use the squares to make a giant McBeth colour card but they started to get nervous and edge for the door so I left it. Another time, perhaps…

I wonder if there is a cure for studio envy?

Hot Lights A Go Go

What is the appeal of the hot light? What? How can anybody love a lighting system that makes a studio hotter in January? That needs specially-ventilated light shapers to work. That makes the metal snoots so hot they smell like the grille at Alfred's Kitchen? What is the deal with hot lights?

Well it is June and the weather is getting colder, and if you are in a studio right now the constant light can be a bit of comfort. It is not as good as a reverse-cycle Fujitsu set to 27º but it goes a little way to heating the place. And the metal snoot? Well, you can heat that to welding temperature with the modelling light of at the average mono block anyway - learn to direct the head of the light by using the handle at the back instead of grabbing the light modifier at the front.

The real deal with the hot/constant light is that you can see what you get. If you are training students to see what their lighting is actually doing, or if you yourself find the leap of faith between a modelling light and the end result is a little too far to make, then the constant light is the answer. It pours out through whatever modifier you choose exactly as it is. You change your ISO and white balance to match the output - about 3200º to 4000º Kelvin - and your camera is happy.

There is the fact that other sources of illumination will also make themselves felt in the final exposure...much more so than with the fast impulse and brightness level of the electronic flash...and you may have to take them into account. Hot lights work best in a darkened studio.

But here is the delightful kicker - continuous lighting is perfect for videos. If you choose a set of lights that have no noise associated with them, you can film and record sound at the same time with no interference. Even with the lights that do have some sound - they may have a slight buzz from the internal transformers or whirr from cooling fans - it is generally kept down to such a low level that professional microphones can be positioned to ignore it.

Constant light sources can be large halogen lamps, incandescent lamps, fluorescent tubes, large LED panels, and banks of smaller LED lights. In some cases the housings are fitted with dimmers or rheostats that allow you to vary the brightness of the light without changing the basic white balance. Or there are arrangements in the multiple panels to turn on and off different portions of the bank.

Note that I may have inadvertently led you astray...and that is a pun...because the LED panels can run even cooler than strobe lights while maintaining a daylight balance. The nice thing about many LED panels and large single LED lights is that they are also operable upon battery power - the ubiquitous rechargeable lithium-ion batteries can be banked up to provide full constant lighting in the field.

Camera Electronic has always had some examples of these lights - whether they are Profoto, Elinchrom,  Jin-Bei, Metz, Lume-Cube or LEDGO, there is a variety to suit most purses and light outputs, from full studio high-intensity mono blocks shooting through dedicated soft boxes to tiny banks of LEDS that attach to cell phones.

It's cooler weather now - time to come in and experiment. Video students especially welcome.
www.cameraelectronic.com.au

The Hot Photographer

Perth's entry into autumn via a heatwave - and didn't we all just love it when it got over 40º... raised the question about what we should do ...when it gets above 40º.

As householders we should go inside, turn on the A/C, get a cold drink, and read a book - or type a weblog column. As photographers we should get get out there and capture the blazing sun, sticky asphalt, and overbearing UV. Nothing should stop us from being artists, including the car steering wheel being at welding temperature. I mean, what are oven gloves for anyway? If suffering for art is required, Perth can provide the raw material.

Well, art is all very well but artists at 40º plus are not a pretty sight. The wisest amongst them will adjourn to the darkroom to develop film or the not-so-dark room to work on their computer files. The very fortunate will disappear into the studio and decide to do something with chiaroscuro - something that doesn't use tungsten lights turned up high.

Here is where Camera Electronic come in. Lighting the studio with a lot of heat and electricity is okay in winter but summer needs a smarter solution. If you can get away with a smaller set of studio strobes, both the temperature and the cost go down. Studio flashes do have modelling lights to let you see approximately where the final illumination will go but once you know that you can turn them off and work just with the momentary flash. And fortunately the more modest mono-blocks draw very little electricity and do not heat up the  body of the flash in the stand-by mode.

I can say this with confidence, having bought one of the tiny ones myself - The 125 W/S Elinchrom RX One. I got it to serve as a hair light, and it does that job admirably when slung from a rail above the shooting area. Small, light, but with the standard Elinchrom bayonet fitting that takes all the other light modifiers I own. It even has an integral fan for hot weather.

I did not realise how useful it could be until I took it off the ceiling and put it on a boom arm over the shooting table. It is so light that it can be supported by a very simple arm, and no counterweight needed. It has an in-built radio trigger that responds to the Skyport transmitter on the camera and I need not remember to attach a separate receiver. And best of all, when the power is buttoned down from a higher setting it has an auto-dump circuit that reduces the resultant initial flash.

I have been progressively more impressed with the lower-power Elinchrom units as time goes on - the 500/500 W/S setup that was used with the film cameras gave way to a 250/250 W/S standard and now I am down to 125 W/S for individual product illustration. It means that I feel people can look at the D-lite 2 sets with as much enthusiasm as the D-Lite 4's for small studio use.

When Perth swelters, that has to be a good thing.

Elinchrom D-lite and Rx sets are available in the Camera Electronic Stirling Street shop and in the on-line inventory too. Don't forget to get some additional light shapers and some spare globes.

The Cleverer Speed Light Kit - Nissin's Air + Di700A - Tempted?

Progress for the Strobist - power for the Pro.

Nissin has just supplied a very good idea that will please Sony, Nikon, and Canon shooters:

Their new Di700A flash is packaged with a dedicated Air 1 wireless transmitter that does TTL as well as full manual control.

For dedicated speed-light users the two turning points are the TTL and the radio transmission mode. These make it possible to have a truly portable studio flash system that is not in a studio...for times when you are not in a studio.

The Nissin Di700A may seem to be fairly similar to medium-power flashes from other manufacturers - GN of 48-54 at ISO 100 for various focal lengths. The flash zooms for 24mm to 200mm coverage. It has full auto, TTL and manual setting.

The Air 1 command panel on the transmitter shows three groups that can be controlled and the ability to fire off -2 to +2 stops in any of them. If you employ three flashes as a main, fill, and hair light you can change them from the camera position very easily. And the fact that the signal is being borne by radio waves instead of IR pulses means you are going to be able to control more surely in bright conditions or in areas around corners.

The body of the flash has two other important little features hidden under rubber flaps at either side - on one side a PC socket for wired control in difficult transmission areas, and on the other an input socket for external power. This is a flash that can fasten upon a light stand and take power from an external adapter just like a studio monoblock. Tempting?

The really tempting thing about this is the price - the box in front of me says $399 for the Nikon version with the flash and the transmitter in the packet. Click here to purchase one from our online shop.
I daresay you can also get the flash on its own, letting you build further on that strobist studio set.

Tempting? Nissin make some great flashes for DSLR and for the mirror-less systems as well. If this air idea goes ahead we might see the transmitters for those as well.

Well....I'm tempted

Spotlight On Value - Elinchrom

Oyez Oyez Oyez. All ye who have Elinchrom studio strobe kits draw night and give heed.

Sometimes you need to draw attention to a studio subject in no uncertain terms. Painting them with fluoro orange and suspending them from the ceiling can do it but required more of a supporting structure than you may be able to manage - at least in the average living room. Bedroom, maybe, but...

A better ruse is to spotlight the subject - and the spotlight is something of a rarity these days. You can still get the hot light variety - go google up Mole-Richardson and marvel at the 20th century appearance of the light unit and the 22nd century appearance of the price. Hollywood might have been cheap but it was never inexpensive.

For those using Elinchrom studio lights there is a better way - the Mini Spot Lite attachment. It bayonets right on there like all the other light modifiers do. And then you get to play a lot more with it than you do with the standard bowl reflectors or grids. The Mini Spot Lite has an optical system built in.

The central tube of the Mini Spot has a focussing lens  - it is slid back and forth manually but can be locked into place with a thumb screw. It literally focuses the light of the flash to a certain plane out in front of the strobe - the same way a slide projector focuses upon a screen. It can focus plain light for a small round spot, or...

Or you can interpose a diaphragm in the correct optical point in the light path and have the Mini Spot project an image of that diaphragm. The gate is loaded with a two-part filter holder that sandwiches a circular plate in position. Elinchrom provide metal plates with some fun patterns laser-cut into them. There are two window patterns, a tree pattern, and a plain spot. You can easily cut additional diaphragms in whatever pattern you require - I made stars, crescents, and reverse spots myself. Your limited only by your imagination.

If you project the spot onto a backdrop you can give  a Hollywood feel to a set. You can project pattens on people. You can put moons and suns in the sky. If Hurrell could do it...you can.

Lights. Camera. Action.

Super Clamp - Super Powers Activate!

All hail the Manfrotto Super Clamp
We never shall forsake it,
It grips your bits and never splits
And you'll never ever break it.

They used to say the key to the Universe was 42*...this may be, but the key to the photographic Universe is 035.

035 is the model number for the Manfrotto Super Clamp - the single most useful mechanical device in any photographic studio. Forget the camera, forget the lights, forget the model and the makeup - all you need are enough 035 Super Clamps and you can create the world.

Now Manfrotto are a funny company - very innovative in many ways. They make changes every year to the tripods they sell, and add or remove fashionable features and styling - rather like Ferrari and FIAT with cars. As Manfrotto are Italian as well, perhaps it is in the blood. Any road, there is a steady current of good sense under the flash and this design philosophy has ensured the success of the 035.

Basically, It is a set of jaws that grasp a round pipe, square timber or metal tube, or flat board and then invites you to plug in or bolt on the rest of the studio. I do mean the rest...I have successfully attached lights, cameras, flats, backdrop holders, boom arms, umbrellas, and an f-86 Sabre Jet fighter plane to a 035 and nothing has crashed yet.

The big jaw can grasp a round or square strut. It can be modified with a small plastic triangle in the jaw - this is included with the clamp - to grasp a plank or a table edge.

There is a socket made to take further Manfrotto accessories including stand-off arms, 1/2 inch spigots for lights, and curved holders for backdrop poles.

There are 5-count-em, 5 - 1/4 inch threaded sockets for attaching anything else. I have bolted lots of things to these using standard bits from Mr. Bunnings and as we are dealing with pressure-cast aluminium the thing is sturdy.

You can even back two 035's together and bolt up a double super clamp that will deal with the intersection of two major structural members. Set building is where this comes in - rather like the scaffolding sets you see workers on building sites using. BTW it is considered unfair to undo scaffolding clamps form building sites, particularly if there are brickies up on them already...

So - provided Manfrotto do not go all stylish and exotic and turbo-charge the 035 clamp, we should all be able to make our studios work. I'm good  - I've got 9 of them already.

* only if you were a member of the Royal Highland Regiment.

Clip Leg Or Twist Leg Or Thumbscrew? A Tripod Debate

No matter where you stand on this question, there is one thing certain - you will be firmly on three legs...

Tripod design varies in many respects when it comes to the yoke at the top and the centre column, and the doodads that make up the head, but the actual locking of the legs falls into  three general categories:

1. Twist lock - where there is a collar around each segment that tightens around the leg as you twist it.

2. Clip lock - where some form of lever flips over and either grips or cams the leg tight.

3. Thumbscrew lock - a t-shaped or round knob tightens a clamp on the leg of the tripod.

The designers scatter these different types throughout their ranges as material and/or general fashion dictates. There is also the business of price - some things are cheaper to manufacture than others and when you are pushing out a tripod for $ 50 you need to watch every penny.

Gitzo have always been the top of the tree when it comes to tripods and I cannot remember seeing anything but twist locks on their legs - this is because they are round-profile legs. The Studex 4 and 5 series have a memorable winged screw for the largest segment.

Manfrotto now favour clip locks but for some time used thumbscrews. Their strong point has been the provision of spare parts - sometimes the ham-fisted manage to break the clips.

Promaster? A mixture as they source from different factories and designers.

Three Legged Thing? Twist. Matches their minds.

Cullmann? Again a mixture, though I must say that the twist lock on my Concept One travel tripod is all I could want - it opens and closes easily and holds a mirror-less camera safely.

Is any of this applicable to what you do? If you are always running and gunning you might need the speed of the clip lock - Manfrotto video tripods are the greatest exponent of this. If you need studio steady you can use the twist lock. Still-life products do not run away.

Mind you, sometimes still-life photographers do, but that is another subject...

Ya Never Kin Tell - The Tale Of The Fujifilm Pancake Lens

As soon as you say the word " pancake" people tend to narrow their thoughts - some of us envisage maple syrup and bacon, and some of us see flat-faced travel lenses. In either case sometimes people are dismissive - pancakes are only for breakfast at trucker's road stops and pancake lenses are only good for quick holiday snaps.

Nothing of the sort.

The Fujifilm company make a 27mm f:2.8 that is only 22mm from front to back. It will stop down to f:16 and focus as close as 34cm. Tiny little 39mm filter size. Weighs less than a macaroon.

You'd expect it to be just a soft travel lens but you would be dead wrong. I clapped one onto my X-E2 and tried it out in the studio on short-range subjects. Look at the result.

Then again, here it is outside looking at the distance.

And for a portrait.

This focal length is nearly perfect as the "normal" lens for an APS-C sensor. If your film days were spent profitably with a 50mm lens on your 35mm camera or an 80mm on your medium format filmer, this is going to be a familiar view of the world...with a difference. There will be a great deal more depth of field for your studio and landscape shots.

I suspect this will be a good performer in my Fujifilm X stable.

Here it is.

Roll Wrangling - The Handyman's Guide To Taming The Backdrop

Recently it came to my notice that sometimes people have difficulty with roll backdrops for studio use. Here's a few tips garnered from years of having difficulties. Don't worry - all the bad language has long been said, so this post is safe for work.

The 2750 mm by 11,000 mm rolls of backdrop paper made by the Superior company are sort of he standard of the industry. Curious measurement...if you calculate it back to imperial standards it turns out to be 9 feet wide by 36 feet. Enough to make 2 complete smooth-transition infinity drapes in an 8-foot ceiling.

Newbies have sometimes been confronted with the problem of how to suspend the roll high enough for this - we sell portable backdrop stand sets that will do it - Manfrotto and their oriental copycats sell lots of vertical stands and crossbars that will do the same. They also make a set of hooks and drive mechanisms called "Expan" that allow an operator to roll the paper up and down easily.

There is also the option of sourcing brackets and crossbars from Mr. Bunnings - but then you have to drill into the walls and figure out how to get the roll up and down on the brackets. You will eventually acquire a folding ladder and an vocabulary to match.

However you suspend it, when you use the paper at the start of the roll it will be easy to manage. Of course - easier if you are using the Expan drive - but reasonably so even if it is just you on the ladder. The trick you'll need to remember is the weight of the paper when it is out can sometimes compel it to unroll further than you want. If it does this - clamp it off with a plastic or metal welding clamp ( Mr. Bunnings ) and all is well.

Later in the roll, this tendency to unroll will become more marked - clamp as needed, but be aware that the paper isn't actually taped or stapled onto the central cardboard core. Go too far and it all falls in a heap on you. Trick: before you get to this stage, gaffer tape the last edge of the paper to the roll. Then no surprises.

Superior make their paper rolls in two widths - 2750 mm and 1350 mm. Sometimes people need rolls of paper somewhere in between these sizes. The best way to cut down a 2750 roll is to use a sharp Stanley knife and have the paper on the floor. Do your cutting before you actually deploy the roll for he first time, so that you can make use of he factory sealing on the part you want to keep.

Run a circle of masking tape accurately around the roll and use it a guide to your first Stanley cut. Then gradually unpeel the off0cut as you go further into the roll - turning the roll on the floor. With a bit of care you can trim it evenly and get a custom size.

Check out the range we have on offer.

Oh Lord Take Me Now - Manfrotto

 Well, you live long enough, you see everything. Domenic found a brand new Manfrotto extending light stand put away in the storeroom and brought it down to the sales floor. No mean feat, either - the thing weighs 21 Kg.

It is a 087NW cine stand. Built to take really heavy weights up really high. It will loft 30 Kg to 3.7 metres via a two-part column.

That is seriously heavy construction there. Look at the castings and the bolts. Look at the cast footplate on the side to allow the operator to get to the lights or cameras that are way up high.

Look at the cast-on ring to allow guy wires to be attached for stability in a wind.

Look at the crank mechanism - sorta like a gun mount. Serious stuff for serious studios.

Someone out there in Western Australia needs this stand.

Muslin Or Paper? When You Really Need To Know.

Backdrops are great things. When you shoot people, products, or pets on a clean backdrop the visual concentration goes directly to the subject. This is why Irving Penn used them in many of his fashion shots and then extended the idea out into the wilds to shoot his mud men and other traveller's wonders.

Irv was an enthusiast all right, because I've seen shots of his studio in the wilds constructed of scaffolding and canvas. They are monumental things, but they ensure the separation of the subject and control of the light.

Closed to home, and generally not of mud men. we see many of our clients taking out backdrop stand kits as purchases or from the rental department. these kits are way easier to wrangle as they are essentially two big light stands and a cross bar. the cross bar breaks down into 4 sections for packing. The frame will support a 3 metre-wide backdrop and it will generally raise it 3 metres high. Not that this is a good idea - higher you go the more chance of tipping it over - especially if you are outside. Wind is a powerful agent when it hits a sail.

So - what do you use for a drop? You can essentially choose cloth or paper. Depending upon whether you are setting up on a flat hard floor - wood, concrete, or vinyl - or a softer or rougher surface like dirt or carpet, you can cover the base of the area with the backdrop. If you put a paper roll on a rough surface it will tear quickly and be an unsafe surface to walk on. In these cases, always choose cloth.

Note as well that even if you are always unrolling paper rolls like the Superior brand repeatedly onto a hard studio floor you will pick up dirt and eventually the edges of the paper will be come brittle and tear. Look upon paper rolls as expendable items.

Muslin also becomes dirty - particularly if it is a solid colour. People pose with dirty feet, or spill things on it, or pee on it. Fortunately you can throw most muslin drops into a washing machine and eventually clean them up. If the drop is a mottled type you can extend the intervals between cleaning for a long spotty time.

Transporting a backdrop to a location is also problematical if you are using a small vehicle. The rolls from Superior are 2.75 metres long and this is just on the edge of do-ability for some small cars. My Suzuki Swift won't take a full Superior 2.75 roll. The mottled muslin drops just crumple up into a duffle bag and can be thrown into the boot easily.

If you are in the habit of taking the long paper rolls out to locations and have a car - or better a ute - with a roof rack you can make a superb roll holder from a length of plastic PVC plumber's pipe with the threaded end caps - see you local Bunnings - and you can safely transport a paper roll through a hurricane.

Whichever route you decide to take, go for safety with the thing - tape down paper rolls with gaffer tape when subjects will walk over them, and stake or staple down muslin for the same reason. People can walk funny and lurch sideways at the least opportunity and sometimes the backdrops skid under them.

see the full range here

Hot Off the Griddle - Fujifilm's New Zoom Lens Is Here

Open the box! C'mon! C'mon! Open the Box!

Lemme at that new Fujifilm XF 18-135mm R LM OIS WR lens. Never mind the letters behind the name. I can see that it has an internal stabiliser by the switch on the side. I can see the f numbers at the front. I can see the metal mount for the Fuji X-mount.

Lemme at it.

I've got an X-E 2 at home that would suit this perfectly. I've got an X-T 1 that would be perfect for this. I can fit it on my X-Pro 1 and go out and do just everything.

Apparently the WR means it is water resisitant. Well, unless the roof on the studio gives way and it leaks inside this is superfluous for me, but I have met people for whom it would be essential. Like old surf photographers who have X-E1 cameras and want to carry lighter burdens on the beach...or at the hot rod shows...

This would be the killer lens for a wedding - you can adapt to the dim insides of a church with Fuji cameras because they support high ISO's so well. 1250 to 1600 no worries. SO you could either snipe at the bride from a side aisle or go right down the front with the action and still get a wide sweep or the ring exchange without juggling lenses ( or worse - juggling cameras ). The outside for the gardens and the lens would have great resolution for the groups and two-ups.

Also good in a studio or at a people shoot - a one-lens solution for dance shows or closer sports. This is short for birds but fine for beasts. And the Antarctic or Alaskan tourist customer will appreciate the weather sealing - mist and rain should be no problem if this lens is on an X -T 1.

Here's three shots = Long, medium, and close. Look at the detail that Fuji lens gives!

Okay, I'll admit that jpegs shot out the front of the shop and plastered on this blog are not the definitive laboratory test...but if you are a Fuji X system user and can bring your body into the shop...clutching your Fuji camera body...you can test this remarkable optic for yourself. Be warned - you will want to spend money... 

Think Safety - Work Safely

Here at Camera Electronic we are committed to safety. We avoid alcohol, tobacco smoke, and soft drinks. We take daily exercise on our very own Stairmaster Model One. All day... Our computer screens have been fitted with crash bars so that when we punch them we do not damage our hands.

Other photographers would do well to take care in their studios and darkrooms. Of course the darkroom is somewhat of a rarity these days, and the colour darkroom even more so, but the chemistry in there can be savage. Half the stuff in a colour developing line will peel your skin off and the other half will kill you dead. But you end up a nice colour...

Turning to the studio, have you noticed that most of the light stands have tripod legs and are black? And they have heavy weights on the top - strobe heads and all. This is a perfect combination of circumstances to allow you to stumble into them in the dark and knock them over. The average amount of light emitted by a studio strobe is enough to render the painting of the stand legs black something of an overkill - wise people wrap some bright yellow or orange tape round the legs and the trunk of the stand so that it can be seen in the gloom. Not as cool and sexy but a whole lot safer.

Likewise the business of putting the rolls of paper up on holders above the subjects. You can suspend them with triple hooks and autopoles and such, but you would be wise to provide additional legs for those poles. If that puppy tilts over and lets three rolls of Superior paper onto the sitter from 3 metres up you got a lot of ' splainin ' to do Lucy. I had it happen once but fortunately we could just wrap up the body in the 11 metre roll of paper and leave it under a railway bridge...

Water on set? Electricity on set? 240 V ac electricity? Floor packs? Trailing wires? 24 -hour direct dial to the Coroner? All set.

Drone coverage of the wedding? Or the real estate? Unless you have someone from Omaha flying the thing, be aware that it may impact on your target. If person from Omaha is flying their own drone, you can definitely expect an impact on the target...

Is your flash working? Look into it and trigger it off. Now you know. You won't be able to see for an hour but at least...now you know. Use the time to stumble around until your shins find the edge of the table.

Like the outdoors? Pack 45 Kg on your back and clamber up the the top of Bluff Knoll. the Australian Association of Chiropractors has a pile of cards up there for you. If you like the water, you can balance on the edge of the rocks as the surf comes crashing in. The SES loves an afternoon out...Say hey to my nephew as they load you into the basket.

Gather Round The The Tabletop

Tabletop photography attracts some strange creatures. I know - it attracted me. Let's see if we can interest you...

The tabletop photo can be easy to define but hard to do. It is anything that you can make as an artificial scene - and surprisingly may not be on a table top in a studio. Some of the best of them are photographed on portable sets out in the sunlight.

They have traditionally been seen as an activity that filled the long winter months for northern hemisphere photographers who could not travel to exotic climes. As it is, these days everyone seems to be travelling either too or from exotic climes so there must be another charm to the genre. There is - when you create your own world you can sometimes be more than a mentor, superstar, or ambassador - you can be a deity. If you are a good deity you get good pictures.

As with all close-range subjects, your chief bugbear is going to be gaining sufficient depth of field to make things look real. Of course you will have some images that benefit from bokeh - believe me as soon as you relax your vigilance in this game the bokeh will run out from under the couch and bite you.

The best way to get the depth of field you need is to use as short a focal lenght as you can consistent with the angle of view that you want. If you are using a camera with a big sensor, you will need a longer focal length so consider deliberately choosing an APSC or micro 4/3 camera. You really will gain an advantage.

Consider getting a camera that will display what you do on a clear screen as you do it - peering into a small optical finder or through a dusty ground glass and hoping for the best is not only inconvenient but unnecessary. I know - I did just this for years and now revel in the clear view that the digital screen delivers. If you can find a camera that has a swivelling LCD screen so much the better.

You definitely need a camera that will allow manual focus - there is very little need for AF in tabletop work. There are times when you need to create layers in the picture with manual focussing onto each layer - get a lens that focusses easily.

Cable or wire remote release is mandatory and a synch socket or at least a hot shoe to let you use studio lights is perfect.

Which leads me to the pictures of the panasonic GH3 camera - Micro 4/3, and all the other necessary attributes right there on the body. Chose a lens to suit your point of view -I favour the 12-50 or the 14-42 - and away you go.

Quite what you choose to put on your table top is your own affair - I do toy cars and buildings and then combine them with live models. I've seen marvellous model seascapes on acrylic sheets. One worker makes paintings using food...

And DO check out Paul Michael Smith on the net.

Note - we've got the Panasonic and a shelf of great lenses for it in shop right now. Come see.

Multicoloured Bingo Card Now In Stock

Those of you old enough to have someone else's teeth in your mouth will recognise the heading image. McBeth Colour Checker. X-Rite Colour Checker. Piece of cardboard with standardised colour panels on the front. Everybody's got one and everybody can talk the same colour over the phone because they are all the same.

Prop one up in the leading frame of your studio, wedding, or film shoot and then look at what you've got when you see it on the main computer screen at home. Curse, shout, or smile, as the occasion takes you, but in the end do whatever you need to do to get the output to equal the Colour Checker.

The panels have been variously described as Caucasian or African skin, Foliage Green, Sky Blue, etc. About the only really definite statement you can make is that there is a cyan, yellow, and magenta and a pretty good blue, green, and red there. Plus a white to black progression. The nipple pink block in the middle is the colour that Canadians get when they mix all the remnant tins of paint in the garage together to get enough to paint the back porch. The purple patch next to it is the same thing but in this case it pertains to Finnish-Canadians. Trust me on this...

The surface is matt and the colours are fast - mine has stayed the same for decades. And the cardboard is really sturdy - you can beat your studio assistant about the ears with it and it won't fall apart.

Happiest Masking Tape In The World

Okay, kids, it's getting fun around here again.

Our video and filming expert, Melissa, has ordered a big box of specialised products and they have arrived. Some of them are strange to a still photographer but sound useful nevertheless. Note that the video and film people already know about them so they can just come in and buy straight away.

Remember in a previous post I mentioned gels? Well the Rosco ones are the ones Melissa ordered - the big ol' box of large gels was whisked off to a film shoot but there is no reason that we cannot get more. We've got he small packs in right now.

The multicoloured stack at the top of the post is a masking tape-like set of rolls that are used apparently to mark out actor's positions on sets and to colour code various items for smooth production work.  Very Cheerful!

Joe's Sticky Stuff is a roll of ribbon gel that is similar to the adhesive that they stick free gifts onto magazine covers - sort of a plasticized hot glue ribbon. It is used to temporarily stick filters onto lenses and can be peeled off without leaving a residue. I see it in my table-top studio as a wonderful way to secure props without having to make complex supports for them. It is clear and re-usable.

Apparently there is also a great good line of different gaffer tapes available - some matt black for plugging up light leaks, and some stronger than regular types. Who knows what has been stuck to what with this stuff...

More reports as she sets things out.