Weegee Woulda Been Proud Of Joby

Arthur Felig was not a man to use compact cameras for delicate pieces of ethereal art. His batting record with still life bowls of fruit was woeful. I do not think he ever used a graduated neutral density filter at the seaside in his life.

Yet...he was the greatest blood and guts press freelancer...in the toughest areas of New York in the 1940's...and he used press cameras to do it. One shot, two shots, and then run for it. Run for the car to develop the film pack in the boot and then run for the picture desk of the newspaper.

Arthur...also known as Weegee...had no time for weak equipment, and if you are in the same frame of mind, Joby have just what you want - the Joby Pro Series Hand Grip With Ultra Plate 208.

Heckuva thing to sell - a complex metal casting to bolt onto the bottom of your camera and a rubberised grip to hold it with. I mean, cameras have grips already, don't they? Yeah, but not if you're Weegee class - big handed with tough assignments.

If you need to sling a flash from the left hand side of a camera instead of right in the middle, this is the deal. You screw on a Manfrotto double-thread adapter, a cold shoe, Joby's own locking arm, or any other connector to the top of that grip and the thing is going to stay there without coming off in ANYTHING.

 

You can pop the baseplate onto an Arca-Swiss mount all along the length. You can run a wrist strap or one of your camera stop ends onto the right lower edge of the camera as well as the upper right edge and sling the camera vertically like the old Leica M5. Metz provided this option for years with the metal bracket of the 45-series and it was a blessing. It would be even more so now when we want to keep that damned strap out of our eyes as we raise the camera for a shot.

If you've a mind to, you can attach the grip below the camera for a handle. Raise the thing above the crowd surrounding the murder victim, fire the flash, and run for it*. Weegee would have.

And if worst comes to worst,  that handle and the metal casting make a good mace. A lot easier to hang onto than the grip of your average DSLR.

* Popping a red-hot Press 25 at your pursuers while you leg it...

Turning Amateur - Part One

Every working or professional photographer I have talked to - from the lowly international Magnum superstars to the most famous of the Santa Photos shooters in Boise, Idaho - secretly nurtures one supreme aspiration. They have a dream to become a full-time amateur.

All through their working lives you can see them shooting envious glances out the sides of the viewfinder at the chaps in the photo vests who are fiddling with the brown leather ever-ready cases festooned with lens hood holders. It is sad to say that if it weren't for the pressures of money and responsibility they would chuck their day job and reach for their goal.

I guess it is like a lot of things in life - they are set early onto the treadmill and there are few opportunities to get off. They get trained in photography somehow - university, technical school, or trade - and find a job and start to take pictures for money and then before they know it they are hooked. They want to eat every day and own more than one shirt and sleep in a bed. The sad slow decline into financial comfort and professional success starts and they never really see themselves slipping further and further into affluence. One day they wake up and have it all, and no where to put it, and another carton of it arriving Monday...

Then they long for the wonderful world of the amateur. No deadlines. No live lines. No lines at all.

No need to justify their camera purchases to the accountant or the ATO. No need to own the best and fastest before a competitor owns it. No need to go round and slander the other professionals in hopes of getting a client away from them. No need to sit there in a bare studio looking at a bare appointment book and whistling to keep up the spirits. Heck, when you are an amateur you can go to Dan Murphy's and buy spirits at 10:00 in the morning and no-one cares...

Oh, the siren call of the hot photographic news story...and how sweet it is when the siren goes on by their house and they don't have to get out of bed to follow it.

And the charm of attending a rustic wedding in a paddock in the wheatbelt. Amongst the grasshoppers and dust and hayseeds...and they won't have to change lenses because they're a guest instead of a worker. And they don't have to make small talk with the hayseeds unless they want to.

That wonderful dawn at 3:00 AM in summer. Not a breath of wind. Clouds glorious. The roseate fingers of light making for perfect balance between outside light and a desperate real estate agent. No need to haul three light stands and a Skylite reflector up to a third storey. No need to climb on a ladder to get verticals right. No need to spend the rest of the day spotting out the cat wee from the walls. Architecture photography as it was meant to be enjoyed...by someone else.

Well, now that I have set the glowing picture ( and it isn't all just halation ) read on in one of our next weblog columns for how to achieve this. Remember: Life was meant to be more than just getting the gravy spots off a sensor.

Uncle Dick

Canon Is Out To Launch - Part One

Plan of Attack Number One:

Northbridge Hotel, 210 Lake Street North Perth.

Thursday the 25th of February, 2016

6:00 PM

Rendezvous with representatives of Canon Australia, Camera Electronic, and Andrew Ritchie.

See launch of new Canon EOS 1DX Mk II camera. Hear Andrew discuss his work and experience with this new equipment. Watch videos. Take notes and price lists.

Eat and drink. Be merry.

Discuss pre-order price with Camera Electronic staff. Loosen wallet. Open it and blow cobwebs off credit card. Put down deposit on new camera. Chortle inwardly.

Go home and plan out new profitable shooting at weddings, sports, fashion, studio, and events. Make sure lenses are cleaned and ready to go. Get extra invoice forms ready for new clients. Stand in front of mirror and practise sneering at other shooters who do not have the new camera. Chortle openly...

Yes, Folks, it is new model time at Canon Australia and the new Canon EOS 1 DX Mk II debuts next Wednesday at the Northbridge. This is the seriously fast and professional new Canon camera that is at the top end of the action and sports list. This is the one the pro agencies require of you. Now that there is a new one, they will soon specify it. Beat them to the punch - order one now and pay a deposit for the best price.

You know who you are and you know why you need this camera...bless you. Come on down and watch the presentation and get a feeling for the gear.

Note RSVP to CE so that they have the refreshments ready....

Here's Very Big News From Fujifilm

But the very big news is not in a very big package - in fact it is more compact than you'd think.

The Fujifilm company has just released their Fujifilm X-Pro2 camera - the newest component of their award-winning mirror-less camera system. It joins the other fine cameras and derives from the original Fujifilm X-Pro1.

People familiar with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 know that it has a unique X-Trans sensor that delivers extreme sharpness and very rich colours. The New Fujifilm X-Pro2 continues this performance and improves upon it with 24 Megapixels resolution. The new sensor is referred to in the literature as the Trans CMOS III. It is paired with the X-Processor Pro digital engine to put out even better images.

Looks as though the designers at Fujifilm have looked into the past of camera design to see what features people really need and appreciate, and they have placed some of the controls of the new camera right where we always wanted them to be.

For example: The ISO setting for many film cameras was found as a small window dial in the shutter speed control. Fujifilm (and I...) think this was a great idea to eliminate one more menu control. Here it is back in the right spot with great precision. Yay!

Fujifilm (and I...) thought that photographers needed more of a grip on the right hand side of the camera. They put on a bigger grip. Yay!

Then they thought whether the Fujifilm users would like a small front control wheel just under the right forefinger - and we would. Yay, again!

The shape of the X-Pro1 is there - perhaps a tad sleeker - but the functionality hasn't been compromised a bit. Full TTL hot shoe operation? PC socket on the side for studio flash? Thumb button to steer the AF points about? Don't mind if I do! And I'm guessing the battery will be the W 126 so we don't have to swap things over. Yay, indeed!

Now we'll be having a lecture/demonstration/hands-on by a very famous press and journal photographer to let us see what this new camera can do. Adam Ferguson has had numerous covers and editorial pictures accepted for Time,The National Geographic, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and many others. He's exhibited his work in Houston, Los Angeles, Sydney and numerous other places. He's been shooting the shooting where the shooting is going on and knows how to do the photo business. When he comes to talk to us it will be well worth looking and listening.

Our Facebook and email contacts will be able to tell you when thus will be - the small press release doesn't nail it down yet. Suffice it to say this will be red-letter day for street shooters, portrait shooters, press shooters, and one old hot rod shooter.

And the wonderful thing about the Fujifilm X-System...? We don't have to get rid of any of our old gear! It all fits together seamlessly! But come in and buy a new Fujifilm X-Pro2 anyway - because Camera Electronic can do that! Yay!

* Heading Image: Delightful profile of new body and new lens.
* Tailing Image: Does the X- Trans sensor deliver the colour? Have a look. Pontiac LeMans.

The Nervous Photographer

Are you nervous? Are you shy? Well we've got just the thing for you - social event photography! Now you can blend into the foreground in a blaze of light shouting your lungs out at strangers and fighting with burley security staff. If you are loud enough you can get tossed out into the street and if you are lucky it will be a wet street. How good is that!

This blog is brought to you by a strong cup of coffee and a note on my personal Facebook page from a friend. They are a shy and retiring sort. I have a great deal of sympathy with that as I used to be myself - until I discovered a press camera and the No.25 flashbulb.

Press Graphics were wonderful machines - complex enough to command respect and sturdy enough to be used in a club. As a club. Paired with a big flash running on D batteries and a pocket full of N0.25's you could picture ANYthing. If you had an outlet for your images it was a passport into some pretty fun places.

Nowadays some people think that they will get better event shots with a high-ISO camera and a wide-aperture lens. If they are frightened they can choose a longer focal length lens ( paying way more for it if it has a large maximum aperture ) and snipe from the corner of the room. It works for some, but it sometimes misses out on the best of the worst of human behaviour - and requires longer stalking and waiting time for the action to begin. You have to listen to the dismal music for longer...

I've always thought a better approach is to use a tough camera, a big flash, and a brash manner. Whether you are dressed as a czarist sailor from the Black Sea Fleet or a teddy boy, and I have been so attired in my time, you can engage the attention of the subject quickly and horrify them into the sort of expression that sells. One good blast and away!

My own personal favourite is the Fujifilm X-100 on manual with an 800 ISO setting connected to a Metz 45 CL-1. f:8 and 1/160 second shutter speed. If you leave the lens set to 8 feet you can just point, shoot, and run. A pocket full of caltrops is a fine idea too, but you never read that here...