The Personal Pick - Part One - Someone Else's Purse

I spent a cheerful half hour in the Murray Street premises of Camera Electronic spending other people's money. Don't worry - no wallets were harmed in the process - no money changed hands. And I am pleased to be able to say that I did not annoy the staff with constant questions...I just looked for myself and made mental notes to find out the prices later.

Note as well that I do not need more equipment - I need to get out and learn to use the stuff I have right now. But that is not what the weblog column for a commercial firm should say, so I'll scrub it out before I post the thing...

First cab off the rank for desirable is the new Fujifilm GFX50S. It looks every bit as good as the Fujifilm bodies I already use as far as the external construction, and the handhold is perfect. Obviously this is not intended as a pocket travel camera for Japanese schoolgirls, and they have taken into account the larger hands that are likely to be grasping it. And at the cost that it is likely to be sold at, those hands want to have a firm grip on it. In any case, when the opportunity arises, I will beg the Rental Department at Stirling Street for a chance to heft it in the Little Studio and we can see what the results look like.

Note - while I cannot muster enough imagination to convince myself that I would make sensible use of such a large medium-format camera, the new Fujifilm X100F is another matter entirely. I see we have them in stock now, and as you will have gathered from a few weeks ago, the temptation to gain the higher performance of this vs my older X100 is growing stronger. There is only so much practical frugality I am able to sustain before I have a blowout...and I suspect that this is a characteristic of a lot of people. Folks, if you are going to blow a financial gasket, you could do far worse than invest in this new Fujifilm.

I also noted in passing that the new GFX50S is supported by three lenses - two primes and a zoom. They look to be designed for event and studio work, but I should imaging Fujifilm will be adding to them every half-year or so.

Also of note was the surprise that the deeper body of the medium-format camera does not seem intrusive into the face when using the eye-level finder. From net pictures I had feared this. More details when it gets into the studio...but you can certainly jump ahead of the game by going and judging for yourself. If you want to be in front of the competition now is the time to get in there.

PS: Being in front of the competition only works in certain jobs. Flying a Mitsubishi Zero in front of a Grumman Hellcat was never all that good an idea...

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.

New class of camera

June has seen the announcement of a new class of camera - the medium-format mirrorless model. Fittingly, Hasselblad have been the first in the field with it. It will have a new range of lenses and a new set of tasks to do. The owners may find themselves taking it further away from the environment that the other Hasselblad digital cameras normally occupy.

Mind you, sometimes the current Hasselblad digital cameras are flying through the air or swimming under the water, so that must count as venturesome. And then there were the Hasselblad film cameras that NASA used to take moon pictures...close up... and that was a fair ways outside the studio...

But how about back inside the studio? The slim line of the bodywork on the new camera is more than just a convenient shape - it is suggestive of the sort of thing that may come. And I am thinking specifically of the size and shape of a dedicated studio camera with view camera movements.

Hasselblad may not have this on their minds at all. But it is not to say others don't - readers with an interest in the studio camera will remember that Fujifilm made a series of 6 x 8 studio cameras in the last of the film era that incorporated bellows and rise, fall, and tilt movements. All this while making room for a reflex mirror. I can attest to them being a very well-built device - I was tempted in the old Melbourne Camera Exchange days to invest in a kit, and I do regret not trying one out in the studio.

Ah. well, that was film and this is digital....and by the looks of the bodywork on the new Hasselblad it is slim enough to contemplate being part of a back standard in a view system. With an integral sensor and LCD on either side of the body, and provision for movement of a lesson the front standard, we have a digital version of that 6 x 8.

I wonder if this can have exercised the design minds at Fujifilm? Rumour has it that they will also make a medium format mirror-less digital in the future. Would they see the professional illustration market as a viable niche to enter? I can only hope.

See the Hasselblad X1D on the Camera Electronic site here

The Big Camera For The Big Picture

Well, I saw it.

There it was in the Fridays Studio last night - Monday as it happened - the new Hasselblad H6D camera in both 50 megapixel and 100 megapixel versions. And a table of Hasselblad lenses that fit onto the camera. Also a setup with a computer, projector, and two professional strobe lights with soft boxes. All it needed was a very patient young woman as model and a professional fashion photographer to wring the new camera through its paces.

Well, he'd actually had a chance to have a go before the evening's presentation with some fashion shooting and was able to shows some of the results - large prints on the walls of the studio with amazing sharpens in the details. As the 100 megapixel camera is the industry leader at present for this sort of resolution, we had the privilege of seeing the cutting edge without getting hurt.

This new evocation of the Hasselblad HD system has added any number of conveniences and improvements - an improved range of ISO settings, 4K video, dual card slots, increased dynamic range ( 15 stops!), and a thoroughly better LCD screen with touch control.

Things is faster with USB 3.0 throughout and they have even taken to such of the fashionable modern improvements as the Q button - you get 8 vital functions displayed on that LCD screen at once.

One of the Camera Electronic staff questioned me about the size of the sensors - it turns out that the 50 megapixel model runs to a 33mm x 44mm sensor while the 100 megapixel variety has a sensor that is 40 mm x 54 mm. This is quite reminiscent of the 645 sized sensors of the film era A16 backs.

The new lenses for this class of camera have also been updated to include a faster 1/2000 second shutter speed and the flash shooters will be delighted to see that the X - synch speed can go all the way up to that top speed. Daytime flash fill could not be easier.

The photo demonstration, with the patient young lady, went well, as the ability to dial down the overexposures using the dynamic range was amply demonstrated. The camera is best suited to Phocus software...in this case the 3.0 version...though output can be sent to any number of other formats. Even rather harsh direct flash could not phase the system, and the obvious speed of the camera in processing the RAW files enabled the fashion shoot to flow very swiftly. Apparently the new tethered cable has a great deal to do with this - the simple fact of being more flexible and better connected makes a workflow difference. There is probably a fair bit of wireless capability there as well since they spoke of sending images to iPads while studio shooting is going on.

I think the high speed capture of the device is also at the top of the market, if a video that was shown is anything to go by. I was rather distracted by the photographer's use of cans of paint thrown in the air to make patterns of colour...spectacular, and possibly artistic, but probably the messiest use of a studio I have ever seen.

Let's hope the Fridays Studio never has to undergo that sort of cleanup...

The Swedish Undra Maskin

Well, start going to the gym. Do your curls and upper arm exercises. Practise lifting heavy weights. Because the Swedish heavyweight is back.

Not Ingmar Johanssen - or Ingmar Bergman - or even Ingrid Bergman - we mean Hasselblad and the new H6D. The bigger medium format digital camera.

A new electronic email ( as opposed to the old steam ones ) went out today alerting Camera Electronic customers to the appearance on the world scene of this new camera. The press release for it is the only thing seen at present but it promises some pretty interesting things:

a. A bigger, more divided sensor. 100 megapixels to capture things. 40mm x 53mm sensor size. This is a considerable advance over the previous size and a jump ahead of their competitors. looks as though they are doing a 100C and a 50C version.

b. 4K video capture.

c. A new processor inside.

d. Raised ISO  - up to 12,800 now.

e. USB 3.0 connections.

f. Dual cards - CFast and SD.

g. The .3FR.JPG format. No, I don't know what they mean either, but it's their press release...

h. WiFi connectivity.

i. 15-stop dynamic range.

j. A touchscreen LCD and new display.

K. An orange shutter button.

I've included the last feature because it is the only bit that I can afford - no notes yet on the Australian price but I've googled up the New York price and fed it into the currency converter program and I privately suspect that you would not get any change from a $ 45,000 note on this camera. Not surprising seeing the specs and the heritage of the device, but I suspect that it will be government money or high-end advertising studio money that buys it.

Mind, you, one Powerball and I will be down at the CE front counter pestering the staff...*

*Actually, I pester them plenty, but an order for a complete new Hasselblad H6D outfit plus extra lenses and a spare pair of trousers would raise the game to the second floor.

The Angle Of View

For the last 7 1/2 years I have been coping with the business of multiplication factors for the focal lengths of lenses in the digital world. Right from the start, we have had equivalents to various things - occasioned by the size of the electronic sensors that were possible in the cameras at the time. Initially quite small, they progressed in size as the silicon chip makers learned to grow ever-larger surfaces.

There were a number of stages that received what are now difficult names - difficult in that every one of them needs some sort of explanation and qualification when a customer enquires about it. We can liken the quandary to an alphabet - we all pretty well agree what a "B" looks like and unless you are Russian and spell it backwards or something, we don't have to refer to it as a full-frame B or an APS-C B or a 3/4" B.

Every manufacturer would have their product better than the rest, if only in the advertising pamphlets. Thus was born the diagonal measurement of sensor size - based upon 1940's cathode-ray tube descriptions - that requires a long winded spiel to tell people that the 1" sensor isn't really that unless you pretend it is...and inches are not used in most camera-making countries.

The whole effect, as we said at the start, is to muck up the measurements and expectations that people have when they look at a camera lens on a particular body. Woe again when the manufacturers make lenses that only suit small-frame APS-C bodies but can still bayonet onto a large-frame body - leaving people to cope with that optical incongruity.

Well, we're stuck with it now, but anyone out there who has a flux capacitor and can go back in time and alter things for themselves would be thanked by the trade if they could just fix the designation of the lens as the angle of view. Every lens has one, or if it is a zoom - several. How much of it you use on your sensor is your own affair, but at least in this case your mind could draw a mental picture before you shot.

In a way, we also needed someone to have a numbering system for the sensors akin to the international paper size rules. Too late now, but then they said that about micro breweries and didn't that turn out well?

I Remember Those!

And well I do. Large. Heavy. Complex. Precise. The do-all camera for advertising studio work and art copying in the film era.

We're talking about a Mamiya RB67 here - a big single lens reflex set up with a close-up bellows, synchronised lenses, instant film back and roll-film holders - as well as sheet film holders with dark slides. All in pristine condition - legacy of a quasi-government agency that quasi-didn't use it. So all the juicy goodness is still fresh inside.

Mamiya's have good lenses and are not too hard to use. Not as intuitive as a Hasselblad, but still do-able. And the internal bellows extension makes it - makes it the camera system for close-ups. As long as you do not see yourself scaling Bluff Knoll with it slung over your  sagging shoulders, you should be fine.

Come see it and think up a good use for it.

The Three B's - Canon's New 5Ds In The Real World

The three B's*. A glorious night.

Canon Australia sent some of their new Canon EOS 5Ds cameras out, and one of them landed in the hands of Brodie Butler. Last night Brodie gave a memorable lecture regarding this camera to a gathering of enthusiasts at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville.

Canon made a good choice in letting Brodie work with the new camera - Brodie can do, has done for a long time, did then, and was able to do right in front of the viewers. He can also explain what he did and why and THAT is a rare talent.

As Brodie explained, the new camera is massively increased performance packed into a familiar body shape - that of the Canon EOS 5D MkIII. If you know how that feels, you know how the 5Ds feels...but you won't be prepared for what it does until you see the results.

Over 50 megapixels available in one shot from the full-frame sensor. Available with very fast focussing. Large files, and clean. Wild amount of detail available when enlarging - the display prints that were made by Fitzgerald Photo Laboratory on Chromajet metallic paper were startling in their impact and the impact continued right down into the finest detail of the image.

Brodie was able to take photos there on the night with his trusty Elinchrom giant umbrella reflector and the same lady who had modelled for the original photo shoot. The shots made of eyelashes and detail on a fur jacket were detailed beyond belief - but there they were...

The really startling thing for the landscape, architectural, portrait, or fine art photographer is the thought that this camera can do what it does with all the existing Canon L-series lenses! People who might have been looking longingly at other medium format camera systems while shooting with their faithful Canon system can now shelve their envy - the Canon company has the answer to their dreams.

Their dreams are not going to be inexpensive dreams - this level of performance is not going to be fond in the bargain basement - but the purchase price of this 5Ds camera body or the companion 5Dsr body later on is is going to be a great deal less than the medium format option. And you have so many more lenses to choose from...

Altogether a very satisfying rainy night out - good speaker, great images, a remarkable product new to the market - a product that will be truly useful as well as technically brilliant.

* Brodie, Butler, and beer.

Rental Department Gets Big Pentax

If you were inspired by James Simmons' lecture last Wednesday night - the one with the beer and the sausage rolls and the prawn on a stick - this is your chance to see if the new Pentax 645Z camera and lenses are the next big thing for you.

Or rental department has just added a 645Z body, a 55mm f:2.8 lens, a 24-85mm f:4.5 lens, and a 90mm f:2.8 Macro to the roster. Give them a buzz early in the morning and see what price applies for a one or two-day rental.

The camera is easy to use - if you have driven a DSLR of any kind - and particularly if you have used a Pentax DSLR - you will find the menu and the selection of controls a breeze.
There is a fine choice of metering methods, shooting modes, and ISO settings.

The camera pumps out images in a native Pentax form but also puts out the DNG - the  standard that the manufacturers hope will become universal and last long enough to bypass computer changes. It means that if you have the standard computer programs you should be able to open the files and see how good it does.

Call Thomas or Evelyn to reserve some time with this new beauty. Click here for the rental price list, FAQ and email to book

Part Three Of The Other Two Parts - The Pentax 645Z And the Pocket Book

Okay. I went to the Pentax 645 Z night at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville on Wednesday night - sponsored by C.R. Kennedy and Camera Electronic. I saw James Simmons put on a marvellous show. I had a pint of the local ale, two samosas, a sausage roll, a prawn on a stick, and four chips*. It was all highly satisfactory.

The rest of the crowd seemed to think so too - and with good reason. James is a pretty good speaker and his technique is worthy of study. The camera is a unique instrument that needs to be considered by a wide range of photographers - for a surprising number of reasons.

1. It is medium format and puts out an immensely detailed file in large size. If your work needs to be sharp and detailed you get it with this camera and sensor. there is area to play with. 51.4 MP CMOS< if you know what we mean...

2. As the effective dimensions of the sensor come out to be approx. 56 x 43mm you can do the mathematics to find out the "standard " lens on the basis that the standard focal length is the square root of the sum of the squares of the two sides of the sensor - in this case it is just under 70mm. Pentax make delicious 75 mm prime lenses, and they also make wonderful 45mm - 85mm lenses...ALL OF WHICH have smaller depths of field in comparison to their APS-C or FX counterparts. If you are a bokeh-fiend or an out-of-focus   enthusiast you can get wider framing but soft backdrops. remember that there is a sandard combination of the Pentax 645 Z body and their 55mm f:28 that gives you a wide angle plus the softness.

Go to the DOFmaster site and see what you can do with the mathematics of optics.

3. The dynamic range of this camera is immense. It far exceeds what can be done with smaller cameras. James Simmons made this perfectly plain on the screen as he drew a black image up into a perfectly exposed on with one slider.

4. It is affordable. Other medium format digital cameras cost a European luxury sedan with automatic transmission and optional bronze metallic paint - literally. The Pentax 645 Z costs a small Chinese sedan with manual transmission that only comes in white. If you are spending your money spend it carefully.

5. It is balanced. Grip it and it grips back. You can operate anything with one hand, but in the case of a medium format digital camera, not for long. Some of them are mega-heavy. The Pentax is still solid, but runs very close to the weight of a large FX DSLR and is a darn sight sleeker in the bargain.

6. It is easy to use. If you have used a standard DSLR you can pick this camera up an shoot straight away in any of the PASM modes. There is a wonderful green reset/get-me -out -of -trouble button on the back that lets you change from extreme settings to quick response ones.

7. There is a good range of lenses - and these can include the range of Pentax 645 lenses that served the analog version of the camera. The new ones are moderately priced - the sort of costs that are reflected in standard digital FX lenses - and not the budget-busters that might be called for on other systems. You can afford more glass.

8. The glass is good. Really good.

9. You get a live view with a tilt-able screen on this camera. Hi-ho for the studio stand and not having to bend down to peer into a viewfinder half the day. No more Voltaren at the end of the day.

10. Shoots full HD video. Is this a good thing for you? Have your clients seen what they look like as motion picture stars with as big a sensor as this? Is this going to be the selling point for you?

11. DNG. Keep your results in a file format that will be here in the future and that will spread out over a vast number of processing platforms.

Okay. That's some of the good parts. The rest is up to you. Remember that you can rent one of these cameras to see if it works for you. Camera Electronics Rental Department.

* Mayonnaise on a chip? Have they stopped making tomato sauce?

Part One Of Part Two - James And The Weddings

James Simmons does weddings. He does them very well. Canon and the AIPP thought so in 2014 when they awarded him their Wedding Photographer and Photographer of the Year prizes.*

He showed the crowd a little of what he does on Wednesday night at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville. Not only some of the visual results projected up on the screen, but some of the ways in which he goes about the business - and I don't mean f stops and shutter speeds and where to put the light stand. Note: tough crowd - lots of mean old geezers like this correspondent ready to drink the Oxford ale and eat the finger food. Hooray for the Oxford.

James does something that is worth considering - he makes his photography of a wedding good for the bride and groom. Good. Not just affordable, or well produced, or long lasting...actually good. Good on the day and good for later.

Of course, in real terms, all you need for a wedding are 5 sober people. Bride, groom, registered celebrant, and two adult witnesses. You could do the thing in the bleakest of circumstances and have it be legal. The thing that James can do is make it beautiful - no mean feat.

He showed us what happens when he settles the couple and gets them to react to themselves rather than to the camera. He has a gift of addressing them on a human rather than photographic level and then letting the machinery and the lighting illustrate this. Of course, the Pentax 645Z is a good instrument for this as it can cope with broad ranges of light. The large sensor size means that there is an immense amount of information available to the photographer for later manipulation. Of course we all want to say that we do it all in-camera and never spend any time in the darkroom pushing sliders and swearing...but we know that there is a certain amount of bad language involved in any art.

That care for the comfort and the calm of the couple means that they can cope better with the day. And they'll look better in the images ( Less slider pushing...).

No wonder that he got the Canon/AIPP award. Actually, if you go to his website, there is a list of his awards that goes down for 17 cm of screen space. All you have to do, though, is look at the pictures...they are really lovely.

Part Two Of Part One - The Pentax 645Z Night

No, it's part one of part two. We changed the file numbers and the thing jumped...

C.R.Kennedy and Camera Electronic wanted to show and tell about the Pentax 645Z camera and its lenses so they called a meeting of the not-bored-at-all at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville on Wednesday last to discuss maters.

Star of the meeting - and chief speaker - was James Simmons. You'll remember he is the Canon/AIPP Wedding Photographer Of the Year and Canon/AIPP Photographer Of the Year for 2014. He uses the Pentax 645Z for wedding and fine art work. His topic for the evening was the 645Z at the wedding and for fine art work so he did indeed know whereof he spoke.

Well, it works. And to prove that it does he made it work right there in front of the room of people. He had his girlfriend pose in the midst of the photographers and got them to illuminate her with the LED lights on their mobile phones. Then he crawled up onto a ladder and made the shot with the 645Z - the great light capturing ability of medium format and the immense dynamic range of the camera made it all magic.

That business of dynamic range is sometimes forgotten in the welter of other specifications that people amass for their favourite cameras. They will obsess about megapixels or ISO or frame capture rates and forget that the cameras all need to see a very wide dynamic range to come anywhere close to the capability of our eyes. james showed a beach shot that went from black nothing to perfection with just a push of a slider - and the camera provided the detail and range to do it.

The ergonomics of the camera are also something that people do not think about when all they see is a net page or other people's opinions. Anyone who has handled a Pentax 645D or 645Z will recognise that there is far better handleability here than other medium format digital cameras. It is not small - nor could it be  - but it is balanced perfectly. James also pointed out the wonderful green button on the back. When he has been working with the camera in dim conditions or with it set up for some arcane ISO or shutter/aperture combination and his wedding work instantly draws him into a different light situation, a quick push of the wonderful green button resets the camera and takes a pretty good light assessment instantly - you are ready to run and gun.

More on James and the weddings on Part One Of Part Two...note that he was not making a phone call on the 645Z in that photo. Coverage in Leederville is spotty...