Talk To The Hand

If you are worried about people who give you funny looks - or throw things at you in train stations - then this column is not for you. We acknowledge your sensitivities and will not compel you to put yourself in the public firing line. The rest can crowd around and settle down.

The days of writing down your exposure details for each test shot you do have gone. No more scraps of paper or grubby notebooks. No more stubs of pencils. You can reserve these for writing down locomotive numbers - the digital age has put all the data you will ever need right there in each file you create. And there are any number of editing programs that will show it to you on demand, together with international conventions for copyrights, naming of files, technical details, and hot dates. It is an age of information overload and you are expected to shoulder your share of the burden.

But there are any number of things that the camera does not record...and that you may really wish to know later. Things that you would be wise to note down as they occur. Things like atmospheric conditions, location information, details about who is in the picture, or what kind of car it is. What you had for lunch and the waitress's telephone number. You need a personal assistant to do this - or you can personally assist yourself. ( Heaven helps those who help themselves, and particularly at a smorgasbord when they bring out the fresh prawns...)

So. Try one of these for size. Olympus personal recorder. Size of an old mobile phone or a cheap dollar candy bar. Records over 800 hours on a 2 GB micro SD card. You talk discretely into it and then play the thing back to yourself later to get the information. Heck, you can sing to yourself in a Charles Aznavour accent if you want to and listen late into the night. You'll get a seat to yourself on the late night train, I can tell you...

Or turn the thing on in a Uni lecture and doze - play it back later and make notes. Send it to an 8:00 in the morning lecture or staff meeting and let it listen for you. Beware; when the lecturer or team leader looks up and sees only one person in the room, frantically pushing the "record" button on 15 of these suckers while smiling nervously, you'll know you are in for trouble.

In short, it is a portable memory that can go with you everywhere. If you are going to engage in nefarious doings, do them quietly, as this Olympus recorder is quite sensitive to the surroundings. It may be just the thing you need to prove to someone that they really did say what you say they said. Olympus will not get you out of a fight but they will give you the evidence to sustain one.

Speak into the hand, please.

Now, Camera Electronic has come across a number of these dangerous devices and would like to sell you one at a bargain price. Come ask the sales staff and they'll go upstairs and bring down a selection. Go on. You'll either get yourself a very useful adjunct to daily life or a packet of trouble beyond your control, and either way it will be interesting.

Atomic Special Deals From Atomos Right Now

If you have been looking with awe and envy at the video recorders and screens from Atomos - the Shogun and Ninja range of accessories - and wanting to make them part of your video rig...well you have done a smart thing waiting until now - but now you need to act.

The distributors of the Atomos products have come up with special package deals that run all the way through December 2015 and on until the 31st of January 2016. Here's what you can get:

1. Buy a full accessory version of the Atomos Shogun 4K recorder or the Atomos Ninja Assassin and you get a free Power Station Photo Bundle - thats a number of accessory cables and a ATOMPWS001 plus two ATOMBAT003. We're talking two batteries and the power station to get them working.

2. Buy a full accessory version of the Ninja Blade and get a Spyder Calibrator for free - the code for this is ATOMCAL001.

No need any more to be restricted by the sensor or screen capabilities of the camera when the Atomos products can see and show more - and shoot more too - the advertisements speak of not being restricted to short runs of time.

Here is a good vantage point to look at Atomos products:

www.atomos.com/

But remember - if you are going to use these fabulous products to tell a video story better...you have to have a video story to tell in the first place.

Moom Pitchers - The Weekly Video Bit

We are getting more active down here at the shop - and it is not just shifting cabinets and putting out new displays. We are also getting more equipment that can assist with video work.

Of course users of the Canon and Nikon cameras know of the video capabilities of these - they use them every day with the fine lenses to make videos at weddings and worksites and all sorts of things. Some are used for major productions and in big shoots.

One of the new products on our shelves is a recorder for the output for these cameras - the Ninja 2 from Atomos. Our video expert, Mel, has given me the lowdown on this.

It is distinct from the on-board capabilities of the cameras in that it takes an enormous solid-state drive card - 240Gb. It runs 10-bit 4:2:2. It has a camera trigger start and stop. There is a a camera timecode synch in it. And it has a good big screen to let you see what is going in there as you do it.

When you want to mount it on a rig, there are 14" sockets top and bottom - the 800 x 480 pixel screen is one of the touch types. there are focus assist tools and audio level meters and if you are at all inclined to be distracted this can show you as many squirrels as you care to chase.

I noted from the package that the thing runs Mac or PC and mentions the ability to work with Apple, Adobe, and Avid products easily.

Looking at it, it is really a simple black shell box with a huge card slot in the side. Two battery slots in the back. Cable slots and sockets on the same side as the cards slot. Not too heavy to mount on a camera. Please see pictures.

Now, if Mel will set this up and show me how it runs, I will know more.