The Two Card Shuffle

Or " How I Learned To Save My Hide ".

Many modern cameras come with two memory card slots incorporated in the body. This is no mean feat in some cases - if you are going to use the larger CF-style card it has a certain bulk and the volume of the rack into which it slides uses up a fair bit of the inside of the camera. Were you to design a camera with two CF card slots it would need be a larger body...and by and large the ones that do, are. These can be viewed as professional devices and professionals carry heavier weights.

Then there are cameras that have a hybrid style - they have a CF slot for that size and an SD slot for the smaller -sized SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards. In some cases I think that the designers might have started with one of the larger bodies and just used what was a CF bay plugged up for SD. No real overall reduction in body size.

Finally, we have the cameras what have two SD slots - and here the rack structure can be smaller and they can fit in with smaller body sizes. This can be a real selling point if people are trying to reduce bulk and weight in what they carry or if they have smaller hands. I often think a number of cameras have succeeded or failed on their body feel without the prospective buyers really being able to say why they liked them or disliked them.

But two cards - what do you do with two cards? You confuse yourself, if you're not careful, but you save yourself grief if you are clever. Two cards can:

a. Record the exact same thing in exactly the same way. Two RAW images or two JPEG images at the same time.  If you do not trust that one card will do it, or know that you wish to put one card away physically for safe storage while the other one is re-used. Or if you know that one would be confiscated by the border police...

b. Record the image in RAW on one and JPEG on the other. This is the case where some cameras have the second slot for a much more faster card. It means that your camera might be able to cram things into the two slots - SD for JPEG and XQD or some other fast card for the RAW - and get an overall faster firing rate than trying to put both file types into one card. If you need speed you do strange things.

c. Record video on one and reserve the other for stills.

d. Record in sequence. All the previous options have been predicated upon parallel recording - if you elect to make it serial, you can carry twice the memory capacity in your camera. This is a matter for philosophical debate if you are trying to cram an entire trip onto only the memory cards in one camera, but becomes a matter of technical necessity if you have a camera that is going to be posted up somewhere to record time lapse work for a long time and need a lot of memory.

It will pay any photographer who gets a new camera with dual slots to sit down and read the factory manual about the numbering and distribution of the files. Indeed, if there is an aftermarket book - like the Rocky Nook series by Rico Pfirstinger who deals with Fujifilm cameras - that can also be a wise purchase. There are lots of options in what you do to the files that can make a difference to how easy they are to work with in the future.

I recently opted to do the wrong thing, after years of doing the right thing, and ended up shooting a fresh job with image numbers that duplicated earlier numbers - I must have poked the wrong setting while camera fiddling. It means that unless I renumber the new job I encounter occasions when the computer can't decide which of the two identical numbers I want and stops until I decide.

Note: the new Pentax K-1 has dual slots for SD-size cards as does the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and the designers have in both cases been wise enough to put the compartment for these around on the right side of the camera. In practical terms this means that if the cameras are locked onto tripods and need a card change, you can do it without unbolting the whole darn thing. This is no small advantage  - I wish I had it.

Motorcycle Mike On His Souped Up Bike

Well, not really - but that was the title of a track by Dave "Diddle" Day in 1957 and the chance to use it may never come again...

Wednesday night at Camera Electronic and we saw what happens when a hot rod guy gets a hot rod camera - in this case Stefan Gosatti and the new Nikon D5. It was a perfect combination.
Stefan was given a chance to try out this brand-new top-of-the-line sports and action camera by Nikon - their high-speed flagship - on the road and on the football field. It was a quick trial but he was just the man who could give an accurate report.

Stefan has used Nikon professional cameras for years with fashion, sports, automotive and product illustration. The bran-new Nikon D5 is the latest evocation of their big full frame DSLR and he got a chance to wring a lot of it out. Not all - by his own admission, there were a lot of new features he did not have time to fully explore...but with the items that pertain to his professional specialties, he was able to go to town.

The prints you see in the small snapshots are from that camera - they are mere reportage representations of what are large, excellent images. Sharp, fast, and with very good colour and dynamic range. And at ISO points that are normally accessed only with oxygen and a nose bleed. While he shot his fast lady on the bike at ISO 6400, the device will go to over 3 million ISO! It's nearly impossible to think of a situation that would not be possible with that sort of camera sensor.

Of course it is never only the sensor - it is the new processor as well.

This also accounts for the rapidity with which the AF system works and the sophisticated nature of the tracking that allows the user to select what he wants to follow and then delivers sharp focus on that in spite of movement and visual interruptions.

It is also the reason that the screen on the new camera can be made to be so convenient for the photographer when it comes time to examine a sequence of shots. The high-speed nature of the shutter and associated buffer and writing circuits mean that a lot of images are going to be stored rapidly - and the photographer needs to be able to access these equally rapidly. Stefan demonstrated a scrolling bar on the LCD screen that runs rapidly through the files, allows you to stop as soon as you see a good one and then zooms, widens and searches throughout the image with the same sort of finger gestures that control smart phones.

The cameras are equipped with twin card slots - and these can be ordered with either two CF card slots or two XQD slots. Readers will be aware that the XQD cards are faster than the CF cards by a fair margin, but are more costly. Of course, a lot of people will have lots of CF cards already, so these can be utilised straight away. Camera Electronic can supply CF-ready D5 cameras right now - either in sales or rental form. XQD can be ordered but may take a little while to arrive. People who get one type and change their mind about it can have the camera converted here in Australia to the other sort for a fee.

Speaking of two different items - apparently the D5 will also produce 2 different forms of JPEG files as well as the NEF file type.

Well, they are not cheap. You can see the price on our on-line store or ring up the staff and discuss it. Think in terms of about $ 8900. If you are in the business of doing the sort of photography that these cameras do, that money is a business investment. If you are dabbling but have that sort of figure available to play with you can be assured that you will have an instrument that cannot be bettered for high-speed action photography. You'll need to put good Nikon lenses out the front and they will also cost money.

PS; No motorcyclists were injured and no laws were broken in the making of the pictures, but apparently half the dress blew off. Makes your afternoon photographing Canal Rocks sorta slow, doesn't it?

For all orders on the Nikon D5 please call in or follow the links on-line.

March Madness

Well, it's started again - the business of spot sales per day in the shop.

Monday  today - 21st of March.

30% off of all bags, tripods, monopods, memory cards, and screw-in filters.

In store goods only. Purchase today only.

 Spot deal, do the deal, get the deal.

Good deal.

Advert

Waiting For The Buffer To Empty

Here are ten useful things a photographer can do to fill in time while waiting for the files to crowd off the buffer of the camera onto the card:

1. Calculate how much money was saved by purchasing a 15 MB per second card over a 95 MB per second card. And how that money has been put to wonderful use saving the planet...

2. Time a boiled egg from the flashes of the little light as the files are transferred. Rather have soft-boiled eggs? Buy a faster card.

3. Hold the camera with the right side down and gently shake it. That lets the pixels run into the card faster.*

4. Watch the rest of the football game as it goes on. Wow! Did you see that winning goal? Just as well...your camera didn't.

5. Look all Ansel Adamsy and face ruggedly into the driving sleet. Okay, you're inside at a christening, but you can still be rugged....

6. Sing a Wiggles song to the timing of that damned little flashing light. A happy Wiggles song. Sing it through gritted teeth.

7. Watch the guys with with the 1DX Mk II's and the D5's as they flash through the high speed zillion frames per second exposures. Pray that one of their cameras catches fire from the friction of the air.

8. Practise saying " I like to contemplate the steady rhythm of Nature by slowing down my camera's metabolism. " Try not to giggle or wince as you do.

9. Shield the LCD screen from observation so that people can't see the little hour-glass turning over. pretend that you are editing the images for ultimate quality. Occasionally shout out  " 5 Stars! ".

10. Make a list of things you would like to do to the designer of the camera.

Let us lift your morale, if not your morals. Buy a new card - a fast card. They cost a bit more but they give the modern camera a chance to process the raw files fast enough to let you do a sensible series of shots. Camera Electronic has Hoodman, Lexar, San Disk, and other fine memory cards - some of them are blazingly fast. You can get 'em on-line as well - they ship through the post easily if you cut air holes in the crate.

* I read it on a Facebook side advertisement so it MUST be true...

For more information on the best card for your camera please come visit our sales staff for a speed test!

The Clarendon - Not Just A Hotel...

Boy, was that a surprise. I Googled up Clarendon thinking there was just one. They're everywhere!

Well the one on the top of this page is the one that Camera Electronic favour - because we have them for sale. They are a leather organiser pouch for travel necessities and photographic accessories.
And what leather...top quality grained hide with no raw edges.

Lined and compartmentalised for memory cards, batteries, business cards, notepad or mobile phone, pens,and travel documents. If you were travelling very light, this and one camera would be your hand luggage on the plane. You could enjoy yourself immensely watching others struggling down the aisle sideways to their seats and then trying to hoist shopping bags full of Wright-Cyclone aero engines and scrapped battleships into the overhead locker. If you elect to do this practise your sneer in the bathroom mirror for a week to get it right.

This is heavy leather - this thing will not wear out. It won't escape either, if you loop on the wrist strap before carrying it. You'll be using it for decades. Explore the Ona range online.

Down The Home Straight - Day 12 - And It's Filters And Cards

Okay. You've borne with us for the last 12 trading days as we've sung the syren song of photographic retailing. You've steeled yourself not to buy any more camera systems. You've steeled yourself not to buy any more lenses. You've even carbon fibre'd yourself not buy a new tripod...even though your old one has only two legs...

What can we say? If you are determined to be unhappy there is only so much we can legally do to cheer you up. But we'll have one final try.

Today. Camera Electronics. Filters and memory cards.

Buy one, get another of the same value  - or less value if that is your wish - for free. That's it.

You get to choose from San Disk, Hoodman, Hoya, Kenko, and B+W products. All top quality goods. All applicable over most brands of camera and lens.

And all useful in the extreme for digital shooters. Don't look on it as indulgence - look upon it as opportunity.

Heck, the writer of this blog is going down to the shop and snag a coupla memory cards. I've got a trip coming up and I don't want the hassle of downloading stuff onto a tablet - I'm just going to fill cards and be done with it. They are THAT cheap!

Tiny Cards For Action Shooters

The Lexar company caters for memory cards of all sizes and capacities - some of these can really be said to be "chips" as much as cards.

The action cameras so popular these days take very small chips known as Micro SD XC. Apparently this is also the case with some mobile phones and tablets - and we know of at least three compact cameras of a larger size - and a mirror-less system camera - that also use them. They certainly save size and weight in the camera designs.

Here are two different packages - one for use with an adapter in case you need to plug it into a sstandard SD port, and one with the tiniest card reader you have ever seen. It feeds into a 3.0 USB port but if you blink twice you miss it!

Note the different capacities and speeds - something for every requirement. Slight increase in price for faster transfer.

" Does It Come With Batteries?"

Today's post is occasioned by an enquiry that I had last Saturday from a customer. It pointed out that there may be some misconceptions regarding modern cameras and their sale - misconceptions that we may be able to clear up. Here goes.

1. Does it come with a battery?

If it is a modern digital camera, yes. All the manufacturers include a battery with it. Generally it is the rechargeable Li-ion type. If it is a camera that runs on 2 or 4 of the AA batteries they generally include a set of alkaline ones in the box.

If you are going to do anything with your camera past leaving it in a dresser drawer - ie actually go out and take pictures - you would be very wise to purchase a second rechargeable battery or a second set of AA's for it. They don't cost that much and if you are on a trip you can leave one battery to recharge while you go on with the other. Which leads is to the next question...

2. Does it come with a battery charger?

As they say on Radio Yerevan " Basically, yes..."

Most manufacturers do include an A/C charger block and connecting cords. You pull the battery out of the camera, pop it into the charger, and plug the charger into the wall.

Some clever clogs makers have decided to have the battery charge within the camera and include a cord from an A/C adapter to the side of the camera. NOT clever, clogs. It ties the camera to the A/C just when you might want to be out using it. Owners of these cameras need more batteries and sometimes need an additional off-camera charging block to free them for field use. It might be tempting to think that you are avoiding taking a charger on your trip, but that electricity has to get in there somehow...

Note: Many people lose the chargers from their cameras when they leave their hotels. Every hotel concierge has them in store. If you forget, ask to borrow one from the concierge.

3. Does it come with a case?

As they say on Radio Yerevan " Basically, no..."

The good old fitted never-ready case that we got free with the 35mm camera was made of leather by wizened old craftsmen. Whether it is the leather or the craftsmen that has disappeared, they are no more. The one exception to the rule in the last few years was the case with the LE edition of the Fujifilm X-100 camera. Wonderful and nostalgic, but mine sits in the box unused as I take the camera out and about.

You can get bags and in some cases, cases from independent manufacturers. We have a wall of them and there is a shape and size to suit all tastes and pockets. Knock yourself out.

4. Does it come with a strap?

Yes. The big cameras will have neck straps and the small ones will have wrist straps. If you get a crick in your neck from the maker's strap, you can always purchase a Black Rapid, Joby, Lowepro, or Op/Tec strap to spread the load.

When it comes to attaching the strap to the camera be prepared to expend language - or ask one of the staff members nicely and we will do it for you. We know language...

5. Do I need to buy batteries for my flash?

As they say on Radio Yerevan " basically, yes and no..."

Yes, if you want your new portable electronic speed light to flash. You will need to put 4 AA batteries into it. Fresh batteries. Two up, and two down.

We have the excellent Toshiba AA batteries for sale. Also the excellent Powerex rechargeable AA and chargers for sale.

No, if you are content to leave it in the box and not use it.

6. Do I need to buy a memory card?

See answer #5. None of the manufacturers put a memory card in the box as a matter of course, though they occasionally panic around the end of the Japanese financial year and have been known to throw a tiny one into a deal to boost sales. It is never big nor fast, and it is never enough.

Memory cards are not expensive in monetary terms and extremely cheap when set against the value of the time and effort taken to make images on them. DO NOT STINT YOURSELF by purchasing a no-brand card. You will regret it. Get a good one.

7. Does it come with a lens?

If the camera design does not have an interchangeable lens, yes. Yes it does. Turn it on and go for it.

If the design has an interchangeable mount, it comes with a lens if you buy a lens. Sometimes the lens and body are in one box as a kit, which is a good idea, and sometimes they are separate and you can choose what you like, which is a good idea. You'll know hat you need.

Please note that we have not got into the subject of wifi, Bluetooth, near-field connectivity, or Pilsner beer. These are delightful topics but beyond the scope of this simple posting.

I've Already Got A Camera, But...The Ten Big Questions

1. But I'm going to visit France and I don't want to carry something the size of a trench mortar through the fancy boutiques and restaurants. Can you sell me a compact camera?

2. But I'm going to visit Alaska to photograph the grizzly bears and I need a camera the size of a trench mortar to bring them into focus without getting so close that they maul me. Can you sell me a DSLR with a 400mm lens?

3. I'm going to visit Ukraina. Can you sell me a trench mortar?

4. I want to take pictures of spiders. Can you sell me a macro lens, a macro slider, a tripod, and a can of Mortein.

5. I want to take street pictures in the rain and look cool and hip like the pictures in the advertisements. Can you sell me a mirror-less camera that's weather-proof.  I can organise my own red Nikes and two-day stubble.

6. I have no idea how it works. Can I take a course that will tell me what to do?

7. I need a memory card. Do you sell memory cards?

8. I need to do a wedding shoot tomorrow. Can you set my camera for me and sticky-tape the controls down? I'll pay for the sticky tape...

9. I put the memory card in upside down and now nothing works and it won't even open up. Is there a technician on duty?

10. No-one makes film any more. I read that on the internet, so it must be true. Can you sell me some film for it?

The answer, as if you couldn't guess, to all these questions is " yes ". We regularly encounter random requests and do our best to fulfil them. In the case of the trench mortars, they are made by Nerf and are suitable for use inside the home.

Hand Of Cards - Two More Possibilities For The Digital Shooter

We have a lot of options presented to us in photography - cameras, lenses, lights and flashes. The range of accessories is mind-boggling, and once your mind has been boggled sufficiently you are generally only fit for light duties or election to the local council...

What we tend to forget is that there are options also in the memory cards we use. Of course we sell SanDisk cards here - they have always been good and reliable in the major cameras. We have been selling Hoodman cards, and Promaster, and in each case the ratio between card success or shutdown has been wonderfully high.

I have also been testing two brands of card and can report 100% success so far - I've got Lexar and Panasonic cards in my Fujifilm cameras right now. They are fast enough for any still work I do, and would probably be fine for small videos.

The prices are sensational - cheap as chips when you think of the comparable film stowage. and as they are proof against all the x-rays and magnetic fields that I might encounter on an air trip, I can feel confident that whatever images i put on them will come safely home.

Eee - It's All Brass, Innit? Film Prices And Sandisk Cards

"Ow mooch for one of those membory cards? $ 54.70? Eeeee that's dear . Eeeee Bah Goom..."

Okay, E. Here's the facts of life in 2015:

1. Fujifilm Velvia 100 transparency film - 135/36 fresh pro film......$ 32 a roll

2. Pro-lab processing and scanning  - 36 exposures........................$ 25 a roll

3. End result - 36 shots on your computer screen for $ 57.00.


Now for the SanDisk Ultra card:

Disregard the idea of re-using the card, if you wish. Regard it as the end storage device.

1. SanDisk Ultra card 32 GB.............................................................$ 54.70

2. Capacity of card; 2400 jpegs

3. End result - 2400 shots on your computer screen for $ 54.70.

That's equivalent to paying 66.66 times as much for each picture if you do it with the older technology.

"Eee - Bah Goom..."

* "Boot you can't get the nice crispy bacon like you did before t'war"....well fry it longer...

A Lot Faster Than I Can Write - The Question Of Me Vs The Card

Things these days get faster and faster ( except the lines at Coles and Woolies out near my house...) and the cards we sell for memory are no exception.

Currently in stock I see speeds from 25 MB/second up to 280MB/second - of course there are different capacities in the cards and not all types of card are in all speeds, but there is a fair spread of specification - one would think enough to suit all needs.

I have been advised by one of the company writers for the camera system I use to get the fastest possible card - his reasoning is that it allows me to access all the arcane features of the camera. I expect he is right, but up until now the thing has not been an issue.

Studio shooting is slow. An hour to set a scene is lightning work. Some set-ups are the entire morning and a complete day is not unknown. It was a day that had coffee, pastries, cocktails, and language - but was ultimately successful. In the end the speed of the card was irrelevant. Actually the cocktail was faster.

The computer is the next choke-point for information. Mine is an older iMac and I suspect that it, and the reader in use, restrict the flow to about 35 MB/second anyway. If the card in use is able to discharge at a considerably faster speed, I don't know it. Downloading for he number of images I take is not an onerous process anyway.

But.

You might have considerably different needs. You might shoot at high speed and have to send your data down into your devices and out to the world in split seconds. You might shoot 500 images of one subject before you get it right and are unable to bring yourself to discard 499 of them before you store it away...I've seen people like that on those intervention television shows...They are the ones with rooms full of hard drives and laundry baskets full of single socks...

So don't do as I do; use old, cheap cards and only shoot 50 shots per day...come in and buy some of the super-speed types with far greater capacity. They are good value and reliable. And if you upgrade your computer you will be able to go faster anyway.

Vast Amount Of Memory At A Half-Vast Price

Today we are featuring the spirit of Christmas cheer and offering a buy one-get one free offer for all sorts of memory cards. All the manufacturers too - SanDisk, Promaster, Hoodman, Lexar.

Buy one card, get the same one as as second card free. Couldn't be simpler than that.

Mind you, somebody will try to complicate it but we'll deal with it in the spirit of Christmas cheer. We have a big bunch of holly on the end of a stick.

Ho ho ho...

Wrong Way Corrigan? With SanDisk, Hoodman, and Promaster

A client rang with a problem concerning her memory card. The camera she was using had suddenly given her the message " Card Locked For Writing ". The camera had been reliable before, so she suspected the SD card.

So did I. I asked her to take it out and to check the little sliding switch on the side. I did the same, with a SanDisk card in front of me. When she tried the switch on hers - a no-name card purchased overseas - it proved to be locked when the San Disk was open, and vice versa - the switch was in reverse.

Eventually she got going again, took a picture while we were on the phone, and we parted happy. But I am puzzled. I checked all the other cards here in the shop - Hoodman, Promaster, and SanDisk - they all lock in the same way. I should have expected it to be a standard of the industry.

But are there different switches on other cards? Answers from our readers, please - the Facebook connection is the easiest way to do that.

Whole Lotta Cardin' Goin' On

How fast can you go? How fast do you need? How fast is your camera? How fast are your subjects? How fast do you need to download?

Good questions - if you are in a speed race with the next camera club member and need to gain bragging rights by inching ahead in the Megabyte-Per-Second Stakes you can either use a whip on your rival or get a Hoodman Raw Steel Ultra High Speed SDHC card. Then you can fight it out amongst yourselves.

If you don't need quite the blistering speed but would like an SDXC card that will go at 60 MB/second and carries a lifetime warranty, may we suggest the new Hoodman High Speed SDXC cards that have just come into the shop. They are in 8, 16, 32, and 64 GB sizes and the prices are about a third of the Ultra High Speed version.

Now, my camera system still regards this speed as blazingly fast, so I get to benefit from the price advantage - you can too.

Dealing You A Fresh Card - Promaster

At last - something new in the shop to blog about. I was afraid I was going to have to put up a slide show of my trip to Fiji to fill the space - complete with the lamp blowing and the slides in upside down. You have been saved by the Promaster Corporation.


Promaster are a big-time manufacturer of many things photographic - filters, lighting gear, tripods, accessories....and memory cards. Today the first shipment of the cards arrived and have gone down on the floor.

We decided to offer two sorts of Promaster card - the SDHC size and the CF size.

 I have sifted through the box and separated the SDHC cards into two divisions - the ones referred to as "high speed" and the ones referred to as "professional". The "high speed" are marked as having a 366X speed. I believe this is around the 55 Mb/sec. They are presented in a single pack and on the back it mentions that they carry a limited lifetime warranty. We have them in 8, 16, 32, and 64 Gb size.

The "professional" cards are marked as 600X and a speed of 90 Mb/sec. They are also in 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128 Gb size, but the packaging is spectacularly different. The Promaster people have provided a silicon-sealed mini-box for the cards that is reminiscent of the waterproof card safes sold by other suppliers. These are universal safes that hold at least two and probably three SDHC cards in perfect safety. A real bonus for purchasing this card.

It would appear that the Promaster people also take a great deal of care preparing the card - the packaging states that the card has been sealed to protect it against water, shock, dust, fungus, rust, and extreme temperatures - possibly it is zombie-proof if that sort of thing is a concern to you. They state the warranty to be lifetime in this case, without qualifying the word.

This care also extends to the CF cards; I found "high speed" versions in 16, 32, and 64 Gb and was also pleased to see that the speed on these is 700X  - that's 105Mb/sec. When I moved onto the "professional"
ones I found 16, 32, and 64 Gb that are marked with 1000X - that is 150Mb/sec. That's faster than even I can write with a good fountain pen and a tailwind.

The armoured cases are also included with these premium cards and I note that you could pack two CF cards in there as well as two SDHC cards if you so desired. This is a good smart promotional move by the supplier - a real bonus for purchase.

The prices of these cards are attractive - we will be offering them in-store rather than on line but the come in at a very good point . You really owe it to yourself to call in and get some for the coming months.

Oh, while I remember - there are also a number of packs of the Micro SD cards here with an associated adapter that lets them pop into SD-size slots on regular cameras. This way the people who like to use the little action cameras like GoPro are also catered for. I see 4, 8, 16, and 32 Gb sizes.