One Owner - Never Raced Or Rolled ...

I wouldn't be selling it except I'm going overseas...

Well, before you rush me with offers I have to confess that this pristine Rolls Royce does not belong to me. It is in the possession of a chap named Bill. He let me photograph it at Cannington but made me promise not to touch the paintwork in case I left any fingerprints on it.

I can respect that, as I have seen some terrible things done to vintage cars in Melbourne when the Australia Day crowds start fingering the Fords and smearing the Simcas. I would not have the nerve to exhibit a veteran or vintage car in the RACV show in the park because I have seen how invasive the spectators can be.

Well, back to my car shoot for Bill. I scoped out the car the day before the shoot and took some preliminary shots in monochrome - just the on-camera flash tube that pops up over the lens on the Fujifilm X-T10. I selected the 27mm F:2.8 lens as the most convenient one for this sort of work - I am going to look at the new 23mm f:2 WR when it arrives.

Good shots. Good record shots, but somewhat flat - even for monochrome. So on the shoot day I opted for the Fujifilm EF-42 lens with the new Mag Mode mushroom dome diffuser in front of it. The real secret of getting modelling, light and shadow, was the use of a TTL cord from camera to flash.

I was able to see the car in the tilting LCD screen at a convenient angle, and then use the flash in the other hand to rise up above the scene  and let light fall naturally. The roof of the building housing the car was a long way up and would not have been a good bounce reflector so I opted for the hand-held light.

A two handed shoot is not much fun if you have a long lens on the camera - the moment of force generated by the 18-135mm f:3.5-5.6 WR is such that you can hardly hold the camera body steady as you work. But anything that is physically smaller, from the 60mm macro on downward to the 27mm is a breeze. You can also make use of the camera strap braced agains the back of your neck for even more steadiness.

I would also particularly recommend that users of the Fujifilm X system look into the film simulation settings in the menu and seek out the PRO Neg Hi setting, if you have it. I can get it on three of my cameras and I must say it looks as though it is finally the way that I see colour. I still like Classic Chrome for the retro look, but PRO Neg Hi cuts it for nearly everything else.

The Ins And Outs Of The New Nikon Flash

The new Nikon SB-5000 flash has just been demonstrated at Camera Electronic and there is an example of it in the big yellow cabinet. Here are a few of the external clues to the internal values:

a. There is a new connectivity for standard flash synch - the pc socket at the side of the camera teams that studio users and people with older cameras will be able to trigger this flash in the Automatic and Manual modes.

The advent of the hot shoe was a wonderful advance for on-camera shooters but in some instances means an extra equipment link for the off-camera people. Of course now that the new radio trigger flashes are so efficient, people forget that there are long cables that will do the firing as well. These are particularly valuable in areas that may have high shielding or radio interference. You can't beat good old hard wire.

b. You need more power? You need power for a longer period? You've got a battery pack that clips on your belt? Welcome the new provision for power input on the front of the SB-5000 flash. A dedicated one-way plug is available for this.

c. Would you like to use it as a wireless R/C unit? Yes, it does that, with suitable cameras.  And you don't need a degree in electronics or graphic design to access the controls. that big LCD screen presents all the options as you select them.

d. You need a medium size unit? This is medium size. look at the body shape compared to the SB-700. Just about the same bulk. Look at the flash tubes - here zoomed forward to the widest setting.

We'll be bringing more news of this professional-quality unit for Nikon shooters as the weeks go on - and include some examples of jobs shot with it in the studio and the field. Be sure to come down to Camera Electronic with your Nikon camera to test it out ( that's always a sure-fire chance to see what you get before you get it...) or order one on-line from our online store.

The Curious Case Of The Dark Grey Filter

Those of us who use cameras to take pictures in the bright noon sunlight get what we deserve - brilliant colours in the main subjects, overexposed skies, and deep shadows under overhanging objects. These overhangs can be eyebrows, noses, lips, chins, and bosoms. And that's just on cars - people are worse...

Well, it comes with the climate, and some days the climate picks people up and beats them against the lamp posts. It is different in cloudier or hazier places - if you have an atmosphere that you can stack for use later it will cut out a lot of the sun and diffuse the rest so that shadows are naturally filled in. In some cases it is a real boon to the outdoor shooter who deals with close and medium subjects. But for the Western Australian at 12:00 we need some artificial fill.

Reflectors are a good traditional idea - people can carry them, erect them. position them to advantage and bounce the ample sunlight pretty well where it is needed. Camera Electronic sell a variety of them from dinner-plate size up to Insanity-On-A-Frame size. Lastolite, Promaster, and Glanz are three brands to look for. You'll need a spare hand or two to use them to best advantage.

If you don't have a spare hand, you can fire an electronic flash from the camera position to do the fill. The business of balancing it to match or run slightly under the prevailing light is the tough part - tough even though TTL mechanisms in camera and flash take out a lot of the mathematics. But as the WA sun is bright and frequently cameras cannot go under 100 or 200 ISO, the exposures at synchronising speed frequently demand an f stop of 22 or even smaller. That's a tough ask of the average small electronic flash - you'll see professionals going the expensive step further of taking out field mono-block strobe heads to try to match or overpower old Sol.

The users of the  Fujifilm X-100 series of cameras or any others that use leaf shutters can cope better, as these cameras will synch their shutters up to 1/1000 and thus the aperture needed is wider  and the flash has a chance to supply enough light. But what of the mirror-less cameras that have focal plane shutters? 1/180 synch at the best and that means f:16 at noon.

Well, help is on the way - we mentioned a press release for a new Fujifilm flash later in the year. Re-reading the DP Review spiel says that it will have a high-speed synch that will up the speed, lower the f stop, and pump out more light as well. We can only hope that this promise is fulfilled because the chance of friendly and controlled cloud cover in WA in summer is pretty darn remote.

Note: Cheating by putting an ND8 in front of the lens and imagining that you have dropped the ISO by three stops is like pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.* If the TTL circuit is activated in the flash it just thinks it has to pump out three more stops of light and you've adjusted nothing. The circus trick only works if you have a manual flash out there or one of the old film types that depends upon its own thyristor to quench. Whether you do it or not depends:

1. Upon whether you own an old pre-digital flash or one of the new ones that will avoid TTL.
2. Upon the amount of tootling and fiddling you are prepared to do to add more light into the fill. Consider the fact that even the most basic image editing programs allow you to boost shadow exposure...
3. Whether you can be bothered to stand there and do the photographic version of high-school algebra before every shot. I know people who do, and do it gladly, but then I know some pretty random people...Hey, Guys...

And a sop to the management. Guys and gals, you CAN buy Profoto and Elinchrom units that will pump out more light than you can use. All it needs is money, and the gear is easy to use. If you want to do this lighting you need this gear. Come in and talk to Dom or Carlos. They know, you know. Also see our on-line shop.

* And I am prepared to admit that I tried it. Hell, I tried sea slug at a Chinese banquet and lived. How much dumber could anything be...?

Memoirs Of A Flasher - With Promaster

" Well, Officer, it was like this...it was all dark and I wanted a picture of it and I had a digital camera and  Promaster flashgun and it was all over in a minute. You wouldn't have a cup of coffee and a doughnut, would you? "

Okay, now that we have your attention, you'll note that there is an advertisement in the newspaper from our shop for the Promaster flash guns - all different sizes and lots of fittings for different cameras. We can fit out Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sony, and Pentax users and do it in TTL style.

Lots of cameras have small flashes that pop up from the top of the mirror housing or top plate of the camera - some on articulated arms that look like the pantographs on electric locomotives. These are fine as far as they go, but they do not go far. Use them for catchlights in eyes or macro work, but don't expect to light a group of people with them. For that you need a bigger tube and more power.

The Promaster flashes have guide numbers that range from 20 to 58 ( in metric terms )so they can suit a number of situations. If you don't know what a guide number is, Mr. Google is your friend. The TTL provision in many cases obviates the need to worry about it but there are still times when you need to know it to see if you have enough illumination power for your proposed exposure. Just be thankful that you do not have to juggle the mathematics of flash-bulb type vs guide number vs aperture vs subject distance vs reflector size vs subject reflectivity that was once the lot of the film worker. It was not uncommon for the photographer to burst into tears trying to do the equation and throw all the gear into a snowbank and go away searching for strong drink...

The other advantage of using a Promaster flash is it works on AA batteries ( rechargeable or one-use ) and thus does not draw down on the li-ion battery in your camera - more shots per charge. Some of the models can be switched to manual control and you can then use wireless control accessories to get an off-camera result.

And all Promaster gear has a lifetime no-quibble replacement policy.

THAT'S PRETTY FLASH!

Off Camera Flash And the Event Photographer

I have never quite decided what an event photographer is. Or what an event photographer does.

An infantry assault over open ground in the face of machine guns is an event - likewise a wedding is an event, similar to the infantry assault, but with the officers up at the front...and generally at a wedding the machine gun fields of fire overlap more...

So what does an event photographer need - besides nerve, a camera, and a hip flask? Well they either need a long lens to stay out of the way or a short lens and a flash to get in amongst it. Those of you given to fits of horror at the thought of flash may be excused - you are artists and we make allowance for you. The rest of you need to see what is actually going on.

Nearly every serious camera has some form of hot-shoe connection on it. This can be the place to put your flash if you want the light to blast straight forward. Good for police mug shots but a bit limiting for some other subjects. That hot-shoe connection is a useful place, however, to base a wireless control for your flash - and then you are as free as the air to place it anywhere that helps.

Hahnel, Promaster, Yongnuo, Pocket Wizard, and a dozen other small manufacturers make wireless flash triggers that do the job. The expensive versions have TTL connection between the flash and the camera while the economical models just send a "fire now" signal to the flash gun and you have to do all the power setting on the flash yourself.

This is not onerous on some flashes - you can lock Nikon, Fujifilm, or Canon flashes into "manual" mode and then use the button or dial control on the flash to go from 1/1 power down to 1/64 power. You get a quick feedback from the LCD screen and soon recognise how much power you need.

The greatest joy of this unleashed approach is that you can operate a light camera with one hand and then hold the flash in peculiar and particular positions to punch light into the scene. You can even abandon it to point in out of reach - as long as you can prop up the rig.
No-end of scenes benefit from fill flash - in some cases even to the extent that the fill becomes the dominant light.

If you free yourself from the top of the camera you can light anything!

New Captur For New Capture - Hahnel Forges On

Ooh, while I think about it - "FORGED" magazine has just been delivered to my home. I subscribed to it as soon as it started publication. Excellent WA car magazine. Buy it at the news stand and see if you don't agree...

Back to cameras.

Here is the new Hahnel equipment for remote control of cameras and flashes. We've been selling their equipment for years and it has proved to be a good economical way of doing off-camera flash and remote camera control - especially for people who own cameras that are not catered for by the native manufacturer.

Their Giga-T and other products have been used in many set - ups.

Now they have released the CAPTUR range of accessories - it is a redesign of the originals to provide sturdier bodies and larger battery supplies. They have sensibly opted for AA batteries for both transmitters and receivers. There is also a range of expansion  gear that allows you to add the following:

1. Motion and wildlife capture.
2. Time lapse capture.
3. High speed photography.
4. Five built-in sensors.
5. Infra-red sensor.

Many people do more with their cameras now for science and novelty and this would seem to be a good cheap way to trigger things.

Note that while you see a Canon outfit in one picture, you can also get sets for Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Sony. By natural extension,there will be a number of Pentax and Fujifilm cameras that can make use of the gear.