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...

The Working Life Of the Fujifilm EF X-500

No, I don't mean how long it will continue to work - goodness, if you treat a flash right you can get decades out of it. Exercise it regularly and don't drop it off a cliff...

I mean... how does the performance of the new Fujifilm EF X-500 stack up in a working situation - where you have to use it to satisfy the client...rather than your desire to fiddle with new gear. Let's go out on different jobs:

1. The Event.

The party, ball, graduation, awards ceremony, etc. The grip and grin, speeches at 8:00, 2000-shot corporate gig where you stay sober and everyone else doesn't. The you-get-paid-if-anyone-buys-a-picture job.

Well, you are going to need to shoot those 2000 shots consistently - well-exposed if you can, but at least all the same. The last thing in the world that you want to do is sit there pushing sliders on a computer later. If they are going to be similar poses and groups you can probably trust the TTL to give you a good run off the faces and clothing - formal males suits are going to have similar reflectance and even the ball gowns tend to be alike. If you are going to do the Mardi Gras resign yourself to having the exposure system overwhelmed every now and then.

The TTL can be skewed, however, if needed...say a situation with high-reflectance stage costumes in a great many of the shots. Dive into the page button and then the +/_ exposure compensation button. twist the control wheel for up to 5 stops plus or minus output. This is vastly better than the Fujifilm EF-42 flash that only allowed + or - 1.5 stops. The fact that the X-500 does in in one dial turn vs the the 8 button presses and 20 seconds waiting time of the older flash is really significant.

Likewise the recycling time - I count 2.5 seconds on fresh batteries from a full manual dump to recharged. The EF-42 could barely manage in 6-8 seconds. Some events are very much run and gun and if your flash is not ready almost instantly for a follow-up shot, you either have to talk like a parrot to keep the subjects still for that 8 seconds or lose them entirely.

2. The Wedding.

This is like a corporate event but with a CEO in a white dress ready to explode if anything goes awry. You can multiply the pressure as much as you like - pressure to shoot far too many pictures, to be everywhere at the same time, and to do things as fast as possible. Plus the pressure to have multiple sets of equipment ready to go at a moment's notice. In that respect the new flash is a bit more expensive than the old one, but weddings are not the time to skimp.

Will you get a chance to use the multiple flash capability of the X-500? You have three groups at your disposal from the main X-500 control panel - they can be manual, TTL, or a percentage TTL that you can alter as you go on. The big group, the bridal waltz, the speeches, the formals - they all lend themselves to the studio-lighting approach of multiple groups.

As a wedding pro you will have also worked out how flash modifiers and stands can be used in these situations. You do get a flash foot with the EF X-500, of course, but you need to match it to some suitable stands. You also need an assistant, but then you knew that after your first wedding...

3. The Grande Portraite.

Funny how the mighty all want to look good, but grant portrait photographers tiny little windows of opportunity to actually do the job...Time is money is power is prestige...

Well, if you are going to play their game, play it fast. Main and fill and as many flattering shots as you can suggest in your 15 minutes with His Moneyship or Her Publicityship. The Mag Mod flash attachments may well help, as will the facility for multiple groups of lights. The fact that these are speed-lights with no extra battery packs is a blessing - less to haul in and out. The rapidity of recharge and of control changes is also vital when you are dealing with people who have decided that they have so much money and power that they need not be patient...

4. The School/ Santa/ Sports Carnival Portraits.

These are easy - just work out your main/fill multiple group setup in advance, sandbag the stands down, and take your medication. It will all be over in 6-8 hours. The fact that you can expect about 600 full-bore TTL shots out of a set of lithium batteries us a good thing - it will go down to about 150 with regular alkalines. If you plan to do your Santa photos from an armoured emplacement you may be able to arrange for a 6V power feed and the auxiliary plug of the Ef X-500 will allow you to shoot an unlimited number.

Note: there is a thermal protection circuit in the Ef X-500 that will shut it down if you have been shooting far too much far too fast. It will come on again when the temperature goes down.

5. The Advertising Business.

Well, as the sky is the limit for ideas, ( but rarely paid at stratospheric prices...), you can use a brace of EF X-500's for a lot of stuff. They have the sort of manual power control that dials down to 1/512th of full power, so that they can be used for tiny little multiple flashes. If your camera will do it, you can shoot multiple shots in a fraction of a second for stroboscopic effects. You can stop peak action at high shutter speeds - again if you are using the X-T2 or X-Pro2.

On a good day you can get a picture at 1/4000 of a second and capture a frame of art directors midway between changing their minds.

6. The Science Lab.

Here's where those tiny slices of light are the most use - scientists are always trying to take pictures of little specimens or delicate surfaces that wash out under stronger light. Three of them with TTL/ group are controllable and precise and a lot less of an impost on the department's budget than trying to do the same thing with studio flashes or portable battery and head kits.

Field workers can break these a lot less than they could a suitcase full of heads and batteries. And electricity in the sticks is more likely to be available in AA form than mains power.

7. The Real Estate Business

Hello 3:00 AM again...well, if you need to light up an interior there is nothing better than three speed lights and some Mag Mod Domes. The EF X-500 so equipped and hidden round corners and behind furniture is the answer for making pokey dark interiors look livable. You can group control them to balance the result and you can put dedicated gels into the mag Mod holders to try to match whatever the dawn or dusk is trying to do.

Try everything. If the images don't work there is always tomorrow and the owner of the place won't mind keeping everything off the tabletops for another day...

Smart Enough To Be Dumb

Way back in the 1960's I bought a book in a secondhand bookstore in Spokane, Washington, that was made up of Kodak pamphlets. These were loose-leaf style instructional treatises that explained how to use the Kodak materials of the day to do professional work. I thought they were the official word from on high. They were actually the official word from Rochester, New York. They made a million of them dealing with any and all aspects of photography. Some were arcane and dry and some were very entertaining.

Later in the 1980's and 1990's I rejected all the principles that they taught - sure that I knew better. Besides, they spoke of films and processes that had been superceded - so how could they have any relevence? I foolishly gave the looseleaf binder full of pamphlets away...

Well, here we are in 2017, and I am still doing light set-ups for some shots that are straight from those  1960's trade pamphlets...because the Kodak people knew what they were doing. They had years of experience dealing with different face shapes and skin tones and as these have not changed, neither has the technique for lighting them. We now do it with pixels and RAW files but we do it on the same basic anatomy as before....

Formulaic? Stilted? Outdated? Well ask your portrait sitters if they would like to look good to themselves, to their relatives, to indifferent viewers, to you, or to the camera club committee. If you are brave, ask it before you set up the lights. If you are foolish, ask it when you present the bill...Ask it of yourself when you do the studio accounts...

Okay. You know the answer... Now go out there. Go to the secondhand bookstores...if not in Spokane, Washington, then in Melbourne, or Perth, or Sydney. Go to Camera Electronic and ask Saul if you can buy the old Linhof Grossbild and Leica LFI books. Haunt the internet. Haunt the Workshop Camera Club Photographic Markets ( they have enough ghosts there to satisfy any taste...).

 Find those old pamphlets and books. Buy them and smuggle them home and never admit to your hipster friends that you have read them...but learn what light does and what people want and how to do it. Your studio bookings list will thank you. So will your accountant.

PS: If you fancy your knowledge newer and with more theatre go to some of the SHOOT Photography workshops.

New Camera Week - Olympus

One of the splendid perks of being a weblog writer is that you get the chance to try out new photographic equipment in your own time. It is altogether a different experience from that of reading Internet advertising or just hefting the gear in the retail shop. As a writer, however, you have to have something to say when you start typing - and the only way you can say it with authority is if you are going to do something with the gear that you know how to do.

This last weekend I got to test-drive the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 MkII camera with a variety of lenses - and the Olympus company were kind enough to match the optics to the tasks I normally do. It gave me a chance to exercise the camera in the studio and out covering a long distance subject. Every equipment test is, inevitably, a comparison with other systems  - so it is as well to subject the test gear to the same experiences as the normal rig.

As the Olympus representative pointed out, however, and as I have certainly discovered, there can be a world of difference in the ways the manufacturers ask you what you want to do ( menu communication ) and accept your instructions ( control operation ). We have to second guess how the engineers wish to refer to a function. If we're lucky we know what we want to do, but the question of how may arise.

The OM-D E-M1 MkII is new on the scene and there are good stocks available - it is a camera - not a phantom. You can march in, pay up, and march out with one. While you are at it march out with a pro lens.

When you do, you'll note that the original premise of the mirror-less cameras - small, light, simplified - has been somewhat set aside. This thing is solid and weighty. So are the optics, particularly  the pro-glass models of the Zuiko lenses. The ergonomics are good as the hand grip is deep enough to provide good finger clearance and the placement of the finger and thumb wheel as well as the shutter release are perfect. The on/off switch is somewhat disconcerting until you remember that Olympus used to put the thing on the left top plate under the rewind crank. No crank these days, but the switch is over there.

As with many Olympus offerings, there are multiple function buttons scattered over the control panels, and there are multiple ways to actuate the controls. Bless them, they have included two of these buttons right where we most espect them - under the fingers at the right-hand side of the lens mount. You can progam one of them as a depth of field preview like we did in the old film days.

 I switched off the touch-screen apparatus as I find it disconcerting - others love this facility. In my case I accessed the most-needed controls by pressing the menu and getting what is essentially an extended " Q " display on the LCD screen. Had I not had some coaching from Burke, the Olympus representative, I don't think I would have found half of the controls.

This week's experiments were conducted entirely in the JPEG mode - my processing programs will not decode RAW files on something as new as this camera. No matter -  the programs I wanted to try all responded in this mode and with a bit of enlargement I was able to do clear comparisons on the computer. But one thing I would like to mention at the start is the facility that Olympus put in this camera ( and in their Pen F ) for in-camera processing of images. This will give the sort of results that you might produce in an editing program on your main computer. Were you out on the road without access to a computer, you could still edit quite a lot with the camera as you shoot.

Note that the camera came from Burke with a 70% charge and shot all afternoon in the studio - with a number of electricity - hungry programs and screens in use all the time - and still had 22% left at quitting time. I found out why when I brought it home and opened it up the do the charging.

The battery is huge! I've seen smaller trays of lasagna...There should be enough capacity there for any reasonable shoot. As a way of measuring the size, that's a plastic dinosaur - and the battery is bigger. It holds 1720 mAh.

So tomorrow we start in the studio...

Gimmee One'a Dem - Part One - The Maaaaaate in the Business

I like to think that the people who read this weblog column are astute professionals and keen amateurs. Enthusiasts in art and science - renaissance men and women who can turn their minds and hands to any task. Experts, in short.

Unfortunately, the readers will also be seen as experts by some of their friends who are not as well versed in photography. They may be seen as a resource to be exploited when it comes time to choose a camera. Sort of a walking CHOICE magazine. Someone who can do the hard yards of thinking and make sure that their mate gets something fabulously good for hardly any money at all.

Maaaaaate....

It's not as much fun as you might think. You may indeed be an iconic international superstar ambassador with a string of awards stapled to your CV, but if you put your mate onto a piece of equipment that becomes a disappointment, your name moves from Mentor to Mud. Here's a series this week that will help you maintain your standing in the studio and the saloon bar.

Firstly, be realistic. Is the mate asking you for good advice or bad advice?  That's not as enigmatic as you might think. Some people want you to tell them what to buy because they want to use the goods. Some want advice because they just want to spend money - and will never make pictures. Some just ask to trap you into an argument. You can succeed with the first, and have a good time. The latter two classes of mate will just cause grief.

Secondly, be realistic again - but this time assess whether your mate has the intelligence to succeed with a digital camera. Be as cynical as you please, but keep the answer to yourself. If you send someone out to operate the NIMITZ and they are really only suited to a ten-foot tinnie and a pair of oars, no-one is going to be happy. It's true to say that you never can tell - some people have blossomed into technical geniuses when confronted with the control panel of a modern DSLR, but it is always good to leave a chance open to an automatic escape. Remember that Kodak got rich with the Instamatic camera and poor with the digital...

Thirdly, be fair. You are not the press agent for the camera shop ( I am! ). You are not the shop's management nor the accountant. You are not authorised to offer your mate a great deal on something the shop sells unless you actually own the place...and it is unfair on your part to drag someone in through the front door on the inference that you have the power to compel the owner to discount goods. When it comes to money you cannot be a mate in more than one direction at a time.

You might have wondered about the first part of the title - well, for the purposes of the next few articles, we are going to imagine that your mate is one of the people with little experience of photography...but that they have a need for a " good camera " and enough money to purchase it. We are going to further assume that they have a family, hobby interests, and are going to travel. And that they want you to recommend a surefire winner of a camera kit for them so that they can go to the holiday island/city/mountain top/fiord and bring back winner shots.

We're not going to assume that they read instruction books or internet sites before they buy or use the camera. I mean, why would they? They've got you...

Maaaaaate...

When Professionals Go Bad

We're not really into click-bait here folks. Really we're not...

Professionals rarely go bad. Very few of the working photographers of Western Australia become train robbers. Hardly any turn to counterfeiting bus tokens. None of them have become ministers of the crown...yet...

But they do occasionally lose their way when it comes to operating their equipment. And we do not meant to be cruel in saying this - we've all been confronted with complex command pathways in modern digital cameras. We've all powered up only to discover that some inadvertant setting has the camera doing unexpected things. NOT the things we want...

The mark of a true professional is that they rise above the panic that this creates and do one of several things:

a. Fix it immediately with four jabs of the MENU button and a look of cool disdain.

b. Fix it eventually with thirty-four jabs of the menu button and some shocking language.

c. Put it away in the bag and pull out an identical camera and lens set correctly and carry right on.

d. Run for the exit.

To which we may add a fifth possibility:

e. They come into Camera Electronic, confess frankly that they are flummoxed, and ask one of the staff for help in resetting the wretched picture-box.

I am not ashamed to say that I adopt e. as often as I need it, and so far it has worked out well. Everyone here knows something different and we get a chance to see the new gear as soon as it arrives. We are camera geeks as much as you are, and are prepared to press every button on the thing to see what it does. By the time you need to know how to get ourself out of trouble, we will have been in that trouble already and can show you how to recover your dignity. We are also prepared to ring up the appropriate wholesalers and distributors and make ourselves look silly on your behalf.

Note that we also recommend c. as a good idea in most circumstances. No-one should go out on a job that is important with just one set of gear and an air of optimism.

Dumbing Up On Sunday Afternoon

Have you ever been bewildered by photography? I'm going to make a candid confession - I have -  many times. The first encounter with a camera that required me to set the focus, aperture, and shutter speed and then advance the film and count how many shots I'd taken was a daunting one. It was at high school and there were girls watching and I was terrified of appearing to be an amateur fool.

I've conquered that fear now and have become a professional one. People consult me for fool lessons. I could fool for Australia in several fields...and I have also conquered the fear of complex cameras. I readily whiz dials, push buttons, poke screens, and pinch and swipe with the best of them. At any one time I have 18 different criteria set on my cameras  - they function like Norden bomb sights.

But just now and then I succumb to an attack of the dumbs and want to do the least amount of thinking and controlling that I can. A Sunday trip to a car musem with the Fujifilm X-T10 gave me a chance to try out a new level of non-control. I switched on the AUTO lever.

This is a lever set under the shutter speed dial to allow the camera to take over nearly all its own functions and decisions. You cannot tell it to do much of anything in the way of ISO, shutter, or aperture and it will only agree to give you JOPEG images. But it shuffles through an amazing variety of pre-set program decisions to give a good result with no more than pointing and shooting.

The excuse Fujifilm gives for this is the idea that you hand the camera to spouses, children, or lesser mortals when you want a picture of yourself in front of the scenery. As you are not there to be fabulously technical, the lesser mortals have just one button - it is presumably all they can cope with. A very condescending lever...

Well I descended all afternoon and I am delighted with the results. I did put up the on-board flash of the X-T10 to fill some of the shadows, and I did make use of the fold-out LCD screen at the back for waist-level and floor-level shots but pretty near all the rest was just between the X-T10 body and the 27mm f:2.8 pancake lens. The percentage of keepers and usable illustration shots was over 90, and the only real danger for me was having no lenshood on the little lens.

It was good enough to encourage me to dumb it for more of the Camera Electronic equipment reportage events I do. Speed, discretion, and handiness are of prime importance for these things since any delay means that the snacks are gone before you can get to them. And I suspect that there will be a number of other cameras out there in the mirror-less or compact range that also have hidden control positions on their mode dials that allow them to run on autopilot very well.

Let " George " do it.

Your First Step Into The Studio

Do you remember your first studio? It was the lounge room, wasn't it? Or the patio, or the shed, or the corner of your bedroom...You had a camera and you had a flash, and you were going to conquer the world.

You solemnly read all the photo magazines, studied the lighting diagrams that involved five 1500 watt strobes and a cyclorama, and tried to figure out how to do glamour with a pack of alfoil and sheets of cardboard. Gaffer tape was a minor miracle until you took paint off the wall and were banned from using it.

If only you had had access to the Phottix double umbrella strobes kit, you would be on the cover of the Rolling Stone today...

Okay, back to reality. If you have at least one camera, one flash, and one means of triggering it from a distance, you can still dream. You'll do better if you find a shapely Hollywood starlet and a fabulous bedroom set and an editor hungry for sensation, but at least you can count on the Phottix people - they have made you a starter umbrella set that is beauty.

Boxed well, as is becoming the norm for modern suppliers, it contains a sturdy carrying case with handles and shoulder strap - suggesting that you will be taking this kit out onto location rather than leaving the bits sitting in the wardrobe. It's not that heavy and the Hollywood starlet may help you carry things into the bedroom as well. You might as well dream.

Inside, you get two photo umbrellas - a silver reflective and a white shoot-through. deploy them as you will for their different effects upon light.

They are held by a cast-metal articulated bracket that can sit on either a 1/2" standard light stand...you get one of these in the kit...or on the 1/4" thread of a tripod. the bracket is made in such a way that the flash you will use can go onto a universal holder and be directed back into the centre of the reflective umbrella or out through the centre of the white one. I have found with most of the speed light flashes that it is best to deploy the integral diffuser on the flash to spread the light into the corners of the umbrella.

So what will this do to the starlet? Give her a big soft light source to smooth skin, round the features, and get big highlights in the eyes. If you are so advanced as to deploy two flashes or one flash and a reflector as well as this umbrella setup then you do not need my advice on how to take glamour pictures.

But just remember: Do not shoot for exposure and do not let the raw files out of your hands. Hollywood starlets or not...

Phottix in store only at 230 Stirling St.
For all other items: www.cameraelectronic.com.au

One Day With Ken Duncan OAM...

And that one day is going to be Friday, the 7th of October. He's going to be at the Pan Pacific Hotel - 207 Adelaide Terrace, holding a one-day seminar to help Western Australians understand their digital cameras and - to paraphrase his own advertising - to make something very simple out of something that might have seemed hard work.

Ken's a landscape person - Oh, Boy, is he a landscape person - and the landscapes he has captured are the wide views of Australia. Limited edition prints, published books, calendars, cards, DVD's, and even jigsaw puzzles. He is an honourable jigsaw maker - he gives you ALL the pieces in the box...

Well, he's coming to Perth to present a seminar that will help nearly anyone who takes pictures. Really - anyone from pro to amateur to family snapper. The main poster for his seminar lists the topics and there is a good mix of what you need to know and what you need to do - and also the candid inclusion of what you DON'T need to worry about. Bless us, thus is just what the Camera Electronic sales staff and management want to see - a man who loves photography as much as we do.

Well, he's got some good backup - makers of the famed Lumix range of digital cameras and lenses, Panasonic are the event partner and we're going to be the exclusive retail partner. We stock Panasonic here at Camera Electronic and we know how good they are for taking landscapes - that's one at the top of the column taken on a Panasonic Lumix GX-7 with a 20mm lens. Some people have said it looks a little like Japan...

Well, more good news from Panasonic - one person at the seminar will win a Panasonic camera valued at $1099. And there will be more free give-aways - goodies, discount vouchers, tools and tutorials.

You won't starve or parch either - morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea are included in the $249.75 seminar fee. Please don't ask me where the 75¢ comes into it because I have no idea...

But goodies aside, what you REALLY want to get is what you really will get - Ken's expert advice on what to buy, what to set, what to look for in a picture, and how to capture it. It doesn't need to be award-winning landscape panoramas like he does - it can be people, places, events, and objects just as easily...and easily is just how Ken wants you to do it. Come along and be charmed and instructed all at once.

The link to go to to book for this day is: https://www.trybooking.com/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=200588

If you key in CAMELEC as you are checking out you can get a 10% discount off the ticket price.

Now, go and do two things - go book that ticket and then google up Ken Duncan OAM and press the "images" button on your browser...

WOW, Sir! Those are really some pictures! Wouldn't you like to find out how he made them look so good?

7th of October is the day to find out...

Red Hot Out Of The Courier Van - Tamron 85mm

Tamron is a bit of a dark horse to me - I have never owned one of their lenses, though we have sold hundreds through the shop. Golly - you could probably make that thousands if you look back over the decades - the firm appears as far back as I can trace in the Photo Equipment Directories that used to be the mainstay of the trade.

And they were an imaginative and innovative lot even way back in the 60's. There are lenses and components still sitting in the Camera Electronic spare parts drawers that Tamron made with an eye to converting one design to fit many mounts. It looks as though you could purchase a basic lens structure and then switch it over if you changed cameras. The mechanical linkages at the time are complex and I wonder if it was all that good an idea...

Modern Tamron lenses, of course are available in mounts to suit a number of the major cameras - I count Nikon, Canon, and Sony in their advertisement. I took out a new Nikon-mount Tamron SP 85mm f:1.8 Di VC USD lens from the receiving desk today and put it under the studio light.

It's beautifully finished, but not light. I didn't suppose it would be with that much big glass in there. The back end has a fine mount and a rubber moisture seal - apparently that is also the case on the other areas of entry. I think this is easier to do with modern designs as many of them are internal focusing and do not have to pump backward and forward.

It is a VC lens, which means it is made from captured Russian cannon...Nonononono that was joke.  Tell the RSL to stand down. The VC signifies it has vibration control. Should improve it by 3 shutter divisions.

The drive is USD silent and the lens is Fluorine coated  - all the best of modern tech.

One design feature - well I guess it is more a decoration feature - intrigued me, as it opens up a number of questions about human thinking. The side of the lens is emblazoned  brightly: "Designed In Japan". This is right next to humbler printing that shows a CE emblem, a 10X recycling symbol, a wheelie bin with a cross through it, and "Made In China".

None of this is surprising, but it is interesting to see that the Japanese firm thinks it has to reassure you or sell you something on nationality. The 2 year warranty that the makers give for their products would seem to be pretty reassuring in itself, and the shooting reviews back that up. I know people are funny here in Australia but maybe they're funny in Japan and China as well.

Any road, I have decided to try the lens - via adapter - on my own mirrorless and let you see what it does. Can't vouch for the Af or the VC 'cause it don't work on an adapter, but the light should still flood in...

Silly me. The Nikon mount version has an electromagnetic aperture control so all I can shoot is wide open. Ah well, that'll show you that you can't do everything with an adapter.

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...

So Whaddawy Get For Me Money?

A good question. And one that the people who go to trade shows might well ask themselves before they go. Keep in mind that there are any number of events of this nature in Perth, and the punters can afford to be selective.

The Photo Live Expo 2016 just concluded gave people the following:

A. Enthusiastic and expert speakers upon a range of topics - and the format of the thing meant that the people who spoke on a subject could concentrate on it with the attention of an intelligent audience to help them. There is a vast difference between this and generalised presentation that never really hits the spot.

B. Industry reps who actually know their stuff. I know they know their stuff, because I know those reps. They are obviously speaking to their own topic, and their focus is getting you to give up your money, but when it comes right down to it, you WANT to give up your money so there is no sin there. The industry experts can make sure that when you transfer your dollars, you get back value for it.  They want to see you succeed.  They want to sell you items that do what you want to do and do it well. The great trade reps can actually inspire you to want to do something new. Set someone off on a journey of discovery and art and we ALLLLLL benefit.

C. The chance to listen. Not just to the trade reps. Not just to the Camera Electronic staff. Not just to the lecturers.

To each other.

Photographers - enthusiast to professional - you have a unique view of the world. You might be the kindest and gentlest person on the planet, but you do have to admit that if you were presented with another HINDENBURG bursting into flames in front of you, your first reaction would be to check the shutter speed and aperture and raise the camera to your eye...likewise another Marilyn Monroe on the beach, sunset in Yosemite, or sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square. Don't feel ashamed. You are the Michelangelos of 2016. You are the eyes of the world, and frequently the heart as well...

Listen to what others say. Recognise their skills and their interests. Try them out for yourself. BUY A NEW LENS and TAKE SOME NEW PICTURES. You may very well be the person that others wish they could have been.

Go out with the camera and explore. You can be what you want to be.

What you get for your money is you.

Uncle Dick's Hot Wash Up - The Photo Live Expo 2016

I hope that all the people who visited us yesterday down at the Novotel Langley hotel got home safely and slept soundly - I know I did. It's because I had a happy day.

Tasked with minding the table with the old books o n it, I still had time, thanks to assistance, to tour the rest of the trade room exhibition. What I found were very friendly industry representatives and a pretty good selection of current equipment and materials on offer - and there were  a few surprises for me as well. I'll detail them later in the week.

But was I'd like to say for Monday morning is how well-behaved the crowd of visitors was on Sunday. Not that we expected a soccer riot or anything...what I mean is the tenor of the conversations and questions I participated in or could hear seemed to be very pleasant. I know I don't talk all that much at a bookstall as I tend to bury my nose in the stock and read what it says in there, but lots of people called by and had interesting things to say.

It looked as though that was the case on the other trade stands as well - particularly when a new item like the Fujifilm X-T2 was lurking there amongst the other goods. I was an honourable employee and did my duty and did not spend all my time poking away at the X-T2 but I can tell you that it will be an interesting thing to play with when it comes into ready sale.

Someone remarked during the day that - worldwide - the photo trade is supposed to be shrinking. They cited cell phones as the reason - then general economics were mentioned - then world terrorism (?). They might as well have blamed garlic or the letter "Q" for it... From the looks of the crowd that surged through the Novotel, the trade is doin' fine. Remember that this was a cold Sunday and the hotel was not on major train line and we still packed the room - packed it with people from 35 miles away in some cases.

For myself, I was more than happy to see that a lot of the books went off to new homes. Some of the literature was not old enough to be historic nor new enough to be relevant...but in nearly every book or magazine there was something that could make the reader think. And thinking is what really starts photography going.

More on the Photo Live Expo 2016 later in the week. For today, here is the new Fujifilm X-T2. It exists!

"Just Bring Your Camera"

"And I'll give you something for your film".

These two statements were frequently heard in the analog era when someone wanted you to do a professional job of sports, event, or wedding coverage but did not want to pay a professional price for the result. You were foolish if you thought that it was going to excuse you from doing a professional job - that was still the standard. But you were not going to get paid. You were a relative. Or a mate. Or the relative of a mate.

It always went the same way. The cost of the film and processing was never fully paid - they gave you something but that something was based upon their recollection of the price of a roll of Kodak Gold  or Sakura film seen at the checkout of the local supermarket. If you presented them with the actual cost of the pro neg film and the processing at the pro lab they recoiled in horror and accused you of being a gouger.

Once the pictures were delivered they asked for the negs, and then they took them off and used the pictures without any credits or thank-yous. But they would pass you onto their mates at a party to do the same thing for them...at the same rates. It was like being a football - the boots that kicked you changed but the sensation was still the same.

Well, now everything has changed. Now with the digital era the mates of mates realise that there are no more films to be bought and no more lab fees to be paid...so they no longer have to offer anything in compensation. They are entitled under their rules of the game to demand all the RAW files, all the jpeg files, and frequently the memory card as well.  You'll sometimes be offered a drink - and that is rare - and sometimes be offered "exposure".

Exposure is the method the ancient Greeks used to dispose of unwanted infants on hillsides and it is equally effective on modern photographers. The only difference is the modern mates of mates will then tell the mates of their mates that you'll do their weddings/sports carnivals/car shoots/parties for free, and you can die on that hillside repeatedly.

"Just bring your camera".