The Personal Pick - Part Two - The Trigger Point

I often wonder what it is that will trigger a purchase in the camera shop. Price, of course, is often seen as the overweening factor. Novelty is another. Prestige, colour, and social status all can play a part.

And sometimes it is a very subtle thing...something that can be felt but barely articulated. A wisp...

I like to call it industrial nostalgia. The effect of design that recalls us to our history - even if we never experienced it before. Perhaps a call to desires that we once had.

Two products in the Camera Electronic Murray Street shop started the juices flowing. One by Fujifilm and one by Leica. See if you get the same feeling.

The Fujifilm X100F got a full write-up a couple of weeks ago. The chrome version was winking away in the Murray Street cabinet, looking for all the  world like a film camera of the 1950's or 1960's. It begs for a leather half case, a leather strap, and a slotted lenshood. And then it begs for a trip to Zermatt in winter or Lake Louise in summer. For good, comfortable travelling clothes and a schedule that has scenery and architecture and historic places. Also for morning tea, afternoon tea, and a good dinner...Well, suit yourself about that but a well-fed tourist is a good thing to be.

The person who uses the Fujifilm X100F to best advantage is the thinking photographer - one who brings themself close enough to their subject to make use of that 23mm lens. One who makes use of the Fujifilm X-trans sensor and the film simulations as much as possible. Say what you like about always using RAW files, the convenience of a really good JPEG camera that can go up to a high ISO is not to be sneezed at. If you are a person who combines a WiFi camera with a tablet and cloud storage you may well be able to take an entire office in a bag. Not that you want to work in the office if you are sitting on the hotel deck at Lake Louise with a nice afternoon tea...

Okay, one button pushed on one side of the shop. The other siren call came from the other side - the Leica cabinet. Someone in the Leica factory got all nostalgic and looked out an old lens design...

The Summaron-M is only 28mm focal length. It only opens up to f: 5.6. It closes down to f:22 and focuses to a metre. It has a tiny piece of glass inside a classic chromed brass mount ( with Leica code pads on the mount for modern digital cameras ) and it looks as if it comes straight out of the 1950's. It even has the classic push-button Leica infinity stop to park the lens when you put it away.

It also costs a bomb. But it is built with the precision that Leica have always employed for their optics and it is the perfect accompaniment for the Leica M10. Also recommended for that Swiss or Canadian trip but you won't have as much spare change left to tip the waiter. Particualrly if you also indulge yourself in Leica collapsible Elmarit 50mm and 90m lenses to complete the nostalgia kit. Oh, and the tan leather half case...

I wonder if dear old Walter Benser is still making leather boxes?

Sony Week - Part Four - The Local Tourist

It is no fun being a local tourist - particularly if you have lived in the place for 53 years. The exciting mustn't-miss glamour spots of the 1960's have not worn well. Some of them peaked when the America's Cup races were held and some of them have yet to do so...So finding iconic world-beating landscape award-winners on a cloudy Tuesday at 2:30 is somewhat problematical - particularly if you want to get off Leach Highway before the rest of the world gets on it at 3:30...

In most Australian cities you can at least find a dramatic view around the war memorials - they are grassed and lit and maintained. Thus I used the naval memorials up on the hill as my base to view. If the council had not been cutting the grass and if the wind had not been blowing a gale it might have been idyllic.

As it was, it provided a good workout for the 28mm f:2 full frame lens and the 18mm f:1.8 APS-C lens. In this case, as with the studio shots from yesterday, I eschewed using RAW for either camera  -it was easier to set a fair comparison in train by putting them both to JPEG. I also used a programmed or auto setting for both and selected 650 ISO. AF was in operation for both, and as there was a good amount of light under the clouds, the speed of focusing was no problem for either camera.

Against the light shots are tough - the camera sees what we refuse to see and renders it as flat or overblown in highlights. It's no good hoping for good light if the geography of the place puts you looking into it anyway, but you can tantalise yourself by moving round the other way when the sun breaks through the clouds - as seen in the torpedo shot.

Technical note: This is an ex-US Navy torpedo that was not fired at Japanese ships and did not explode. As opposed to the ones that were fired at Japanese ships and did not explode. I recommend RUN SILENT RUN DEEP as a reference for this question.

But back to the cameras. They both shot fast and accurately. They both turned in files that benefited from the "automatic haze removal " feature of the Photoshop Elements 14 program. But look at the difference between the full frame and the APS-C in the image of the HMAS ADELAIDE ( L01) tied up at Victoria Quay. Here's the force of the newer sensor, greater resolution, and larger surface area of the sensor all combined. Plus a bit of the in-body 5-axis stabilisation throwing in goodness.

As loyal as I am to the APS-C system for my studio shots - and for good reason - I must say that if I was taking landscape shots that I wanted to blow up to large images, I would have to acknowledge the superior result of the full frame. I daresay there is more that could be wrung out of an RAF RAW file but then there is more that could be extracted from a Sony RAW file as well.

There may well be similar improvements in portraiture or large group images - I must see if I can get another chance at the larger sensor in the studio with a human subject.

And as a final note - Street photography has been touted as a fine division of the art. It may well be, but there are streets and there are streets. I drove a number of the crowded ones around Fremantle and concluded that in the rich ones the locals didn't want me to stop - and in the poor ones I looked at the locals and had no desire to stop. I think I will do my touring up to Coles and leave it at that.

" Which Lens Should I Get Next? "

We have all been asked this question by a new photographer - my most recent conversation was at a wedding - and as usual I gave the answer " A standard focal length prime lens with a wide aperture ".

My own first photographic experiences were based upon this as it was the only option available then - zooms were horrid and dodgey at the time - and I learned my craft/trade/art/hobby/horrible mistakes using that one lens. As it happened, that lens was one of the sharpest ones ever made for the camera it fronted, and I never realized how good I had it until I moved on...story of our lives, isn't it?

Well, the story for the new photographer who asked is going to revolve around this lens. She's got a perfectly good Nikon DSLR with the kit lens...also perfectly good...and this will be the equally perfect key to portraits for her family.

It is the Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f:1.8G. It's been out for years and has not had to be revised from the original recipe - the taste was great to begin with. It has never been an expensive lens, either.

I used it with the Nikon APS-C cameras in the studio for dance pictures and found it to be fast and razor-sharp at full-length shots. Closer in, the depth of field of a 35mm focal length was kind to the head and shoulders portraits while still keeping that sharp focus. The fact that it was physically light was a bonus - I was starting to flag at a certain point dragging an 18-200 lens everywhere.

In fact, if a person had a Nikon DX DSLR body of any sort, and wanted one lens to use for a year...and was determined to use only that lens...I think they would finish the year a far better photographer than when they started. Then they could go back to the kit zoom and learn more things at different focal lengths.

As terrible as this may sound in a column designed to get you to come in and spend money for photographic equipment, that year of discipline would make for greater success in the future. Umm...let's save the retail situation by saying that you could spend some money on a new tripod and bag...

Heckuva Lens Hood On A Heckuva Lens

If this month's selection of items to review seems a little biased toward Fujifilm equipment you must understand that the selection process for the weblog column is a precise one. I run through the storeroom with a hessian bag and a big stick one step ahead of the warehouse staff. As I go I bang the shelves with the stick and scoop up whatever falls off in the bag - then run for it. This is what gets investigated. Occasionally a box topples slowly and hits the storeroom staff chasing me instead of falling into the bag. Kinetic science is still a new thing...

Well as I rounded the far turn today the Fujifilm XF23mm f:1.4 R lens came down and I got it in one. This is a timely catch as there is going to be a new Fujifilm 23mm lens along later in the month and I would like to have some images from this one to compare.

Note that the new one is going to be more compact but is one stop slower than this lens. It also misses out on an important focusing feature...more on that as we go.

The 23mm lens approximates the same field of view for the Fujifilm X series of cameras that a 35mm lens would have done for a full-frame film camera of the twentieth century. It is a comfortable focal length and gives a relaxed view of the world - not too tight and not too wide. You can still accept it as a normal sort of view in the viewfinder or computer.

It is echoed at present by the 23mm f:2 lens fitted to the X-100 series of cameras. I have always found this to be excellent for tourism and general shooting and is the preferred focal length for shooting party events. It accords brilliantly with the flash power of the Fujifilm EF 42 speed light. It can be a little tight at hot rod shows if they park the vehicles too close together, but if you wish to settle for a front or back 3/4 shot it is very good. there does not seem to be distortion in the shots at this focal length.

Okay, we've got the angle of view - what about the aperture. A true f:1.4 to f:16 in very precise clicks. A setting as well for who you need to go programmed.

The focus is the stunner - it will go down to 28 cm either by AF or by hand...and we do mean hand. You pop the focus ring back from the AF position and you have full mechanical manual focus. Not a computer command. This is precisely the same sort of focus that the Fujinon XF 14mm f:2.8 lens has and it is magnificently reassuring to use. You do not hunt back and forth with it.

I would risk saying that people who might be used to using the manual rangefinder focus of L---- cameras with their lenses would very much warm to this Fujinon lens. I know during my test shots I kept it in the MF mode all the time and made use of the focus-peaking feature of the Fujifilm X-pro1 to nail it every time.

But we have neglected the lens hood...When I first saw it I thought it was a fantasy prop from Lord Of The Rings...it had that gothic-castle look about it. The deep cutbacks are to see sideways, but the extended top and bottom are really quite bizarre. Still, lens hoods are the unsung heroes of the optical chain so we should not laugh - just bayonet it on and ignore the raised eyebrows.

So...which 23 are you going to get - the new lightweight 23mm f:2 WR, the tiny 23mm f:2 on the X -series camera, or this low light 23mm f:1.4? Any way you go, you'll get a good standard wide.

See the Camera Electronic Fujifilm online store here: http://www.cameraelectronic.com.au/fujifilm

Fujifilm Week Day Five And A Little Bit - The Internet Unveiling Unveiled

I'm not even sure if I am supposed to post this but I am going to go ahead on the reasonable assumption that the people who read it are reasonable people - reasonable in the legal sense...
not nice guys and gals. They may be that too, but I'm not here to judge character.

If you are a reasonable person with access to an computer and an interest in photography you undoubtedly know about the website Digital Photography Review. DP Review has a solid line to most of the facts of the trade and profession, and in my experience can be trusted to tell the truth. When they report that something has come out...out it has come. So if you are reasonable I reckon you have either already gone over to DP Review and seen the news or are just about to - I am not spilling any industry beans that I am not supposed to know about.

Today they revealed the Fujifilm X-T2 camera as well as a battery grip accessory for it and the new EF-X500 dedicated flash for Fujifilm.

The camera is the new improved version of their centre-viewfinder X-T1. It adds more megapixels, a new processor, new film simulation modes, and improved AF experience and ups the video specifications ( 4K ). People who see it will recognise some of the improvements that remind them of the improvements Fujifilm added to their X-Pro1 when it became the X-Pro2.

I desire both of these devices wildly but will not get them because my computer system software will not decode their raw files. If you are plugged into programs that can be updated to accomodate them, you need have no qualms. The improvements should be palpable.

As Thursday was the official announcement in the US, a similar one was made here, and in the fullness of time there will be a launch night and you can get your mitts on one to try. I should imagine that there will be a rush, and pre-orders may well be a good idea. No-one who can make the sound of a credit card will be neglected...

The new flash seems bigger, brighter, and vastly more controllable - including multiple TTL - than previous Fujifilm flashes. It may also be a sturdier structure, what with finally getting a metal shoe.

My real excitement is the look at the new Fujifilm lens roadmap that DP Review also printed. It's sort of a small hard-to-read thing, but I do note that they promise an XF 23mm f:2 R WR lens for this year. My take on the tiny picture of it is that it will be a little shorter in physical length as well as focal length than the XF 35mm f:2 R WR. I am coveting it for my X-T10 as the perfect interstate travel lens.

Okay. Let's see if this can come out fast enough on the blog.

Heading Image: Portrait of WW1 Prussian Guard taken with Fujifilm XF 27mm f:2.8 lens mounted in a Moriarty Portrait Camera. Taken at Der Kleine Studio.

You Don't Have To Be Grim

Or grey, or gritty. You can be good - and you can have a good price, too.

Just saw a small stack of ex-demo Tamron lenses sitting on the back counter on Monday night. They're that good prices and are the now modern style Tamron - very sharp. Wide zoom, long zoom, macro...

Wonder if they'll be there tonight or if all the bargain hunters will have snapped them up. Perhaps you'd better go down and see...

The Go To

Funny how a buzz-phrase arrives into your vocabulary. You never invent the thing, but one day you find yourself uttering it and you really can't be certain where it came from.

Some blame social media, some blame America, and some blame slang...forgetting that such useful words as "quiz " have come from British slang. And "je ne sais quoi " is obviously French but I don't know what it is...

Well, if you are bothered by slang or buzz, ignore the term "go to" in reference to the Canon 24-105mm f:4 L IS USM lens and substitute "really competent and useful". Be sure to dot the "t's" and cross the "i's" as well and don't dare put an apostrophe wrong...*

If you are a Canon DSLR camera user - whether it be the smaller-frame types like the new 80D or the full frame cameras like the new D1X MkII - you can make friends with this lens and it will be to your advantage. The lens is well made, and has a very smooth focusing action and zoom** ring. It will mount on any of the EOS cameras that have a red dot on the mount - and they all do - and is considered by many to be the best choice for a general-purpose lens. Still shooters as well as video makers....brace yourselves...go to it.

What do the figures mean?

24mm on a small-frame Canon camera is the generally moderate wide angle view of a 35mm lens on an old film camera. Not too wide but enough to get a 4-6 person group of sober people in a party picture. That equates to 2 drunks, by the way. They spread out more.

If you mount it on a full-frame camera at this setting you get the angle of view of a...a...24mm lens...well, you saw that coming. 24mm is the wide-angle view just before 21mm when is all goes pear-shaped. Literally. Do not place friends out at the edge of a group photo with an extreme wide angle lens unless you are Angus McBride***. It is mostly useful for landscape and interior shots and will require careful levelling of the camera body or a heck of a lot of post processing work.

105mm for the small-frame shooter is 157.5mm. Just about a good large-animal at the game park or light plane at the airport length. A little long for a head and shoulders portrait but good for single stage shots. On a full-frame camera it is the classic head and shoulders portrait length and has the perspective that people want to see in their pictures. Barry Manilow and Barbra Streisand might need 210mm but we'll let that go.

And anything in between is available right there with a twist of the wrist. f4 is a doddle with modern DSLR cameras that run up past 6400 ISO and you can go shoot in dim light with confidence.

Now for the best part...24-105 f4 L lenses are not fashionable. They do not get the gushing fan-boy posts on the internet from the Wenzitcoming Brigade. They have been here for years, doing a superb job, and now are at a price that means that are very much the go-to-because-it-is-a-good-price lens. Camera Electronic have them, and you can get one for your new or old Canon EOS camera and in many cases leave the rest of the glass on the shelf at home.

Come in and play at the shop or order on from the online section of the business. Canon warrant them for 2 years.

* Because zer vill be conseqvences...

** Zoom is also a buzz phrase. " variable focal length " for the cultured, impressive, and pedantic if you will...

*** Google Mc Bride's efforts for the Osprey series of military uniform books and see what I mean.

The Spur Of The Moment - With The New Fujifilm

Finding myself sober and dressed, and in Camera Electronic, and no-one making use of the new Fujifilm X-70 camera for the moment, I clapped a card into it and shot out the door.

I then shot up the Suzuki, the street, and the skyline. Then the staff. If this was Georgia you'd have heard about it in the news, but as it is just Stirling Street and the only reports heard are good ones, you can relax.

The little X-70 was fitted with the supplementary viewfinder to make for snap shots. The viewfinder is the Albada type and is fitted with two sets of markings - one approximates the view of the unaided lens at the equivalent of 28mm focal length. The other delineates the view when a supplementary lens is screwed onto the front of the camera - it widens things out to an equivalent of 21mm.

The results were every bit as good as I expected - the ease-of-use of the X-100 series of cameras combined with the fast focus of the X-T10. And the Albada finder was brilliant and clear - you don't get absolute framing but it is glance quick in use.

As with the X-100 series I would thoroughly recommend this camera for tourists, art gallery shooters, and car show enthusiasts. The standard lens should be perfect for most capture, and if you needed more fill flash than the little tube provides, the hot shoe is fully TTL- operational with Fujifilm flashes.

I was honest. I put it back in the cabinet.

Reluctantly...

The X70 and all it's accessories are available now from our online store.

Some Ernest Advice From The Workshop

I have been let into a few secrets by our senior technician regarding sensor cleaning for digital cameras. Here is a précis of the conversation held in the workshop. I have not included the bit about not scrubbing over the sensor with a steel wool Brillo pad as I figure nearly everyone will know that already. But here's some other thoughts:

Where do flies go in winter? If you have done pondering that, try this - where does sensor dust come from?

Okay, if you have removed the lens of your DSLR or mirror-less camera in the middle of a paddock at ploughing time or in the discharge path of a council mulcher, you may be forgiven for thinking that is the source of your troubles. Possibly, possibly. If you have not had such misfortune consider the other sources of contamination.

1. Lenses with open clearances and a considerable 'pumping 'action that operates upon zooming or focusing, dirt gets near moving section of lens, dirt gets drawn in, dirt gets distributed.

2. Your clean home is...full of cooking oil vapour as well as other sticky components. Also full of cloth lint and carpet fibres as well as dirt brought in from outside on you clothing. Run yourfinger over the top of a picture frame anywhere in the house. Pass inspection? If you think so, lick that finger. No? Thought so.

3. You get ready to change a lens and take the rear lens cap off the new one. You put it in your pocket, then change the lens, then recap the removed lens. With the cap that is now full of pocket lint. Guess where this goes and where it ends up next time you change. And ALL your rear lens caps are probably just as bad...

4. Way hay, let's go to the drag races. Or Barbagallo. Or the speedway. What is that drifting cloud of blue smoke composed of? Tyres. Guess which part of your camera it ends up on.

5. Spots in the viewfinder of your DSLR.? If they are not seen on Live View - and most times they are not - they are not affecting your sensor view or images.

6. On-board sensor cleaning mechanism not working? See No.2 above - you have glued the gunk to your sensor with just ordinary living. Time for a professional wet-solution clean to get off what a tiny piezo-shake will not shift. Not a home-swab-it-with-something-from-the-internet clean which is closer to the Brillo pad that you might think.

7. When I used to rip bones out of people's head for a living, I was required to do it with clean hands. The hospitals were surprisingly insistent upon this, and went to the extent of demanding that I wash not just to the wrist, but all the way up to the elbow for several minutes with strong soaps. Even though I rarely plunged my arm into the patients up to the elbow. The principle was to get cleanliness in a wide radius around where it was needed.

So also with cameras. No good just cleaning the sensor if the rest of the device looks like an ash-pit. And certainly no point in doing it if the back of the lens is a source of continued contamination. Clients - wise clients - would do well to bring their lenses in for cleaning and pay the extra impost to have the entire camera cleaned - it will extend the period of usability no end if the contamination loading is reduced all around.

And a final thought - but not from Ernest this time. I had been plagued with white spots on my images taken of dancers on a dark stage - particularly when flash illumination was used. Wide angle shots were the worst. I blamed the sensor and the curtains and the dancers and cruel fate...until I looked at the bits of dust that had accumulated on the inside of the UV filter that was screwed onto the 18-200mm lens. No wonder I had white spots - an 18mm lens firing at f:11 can see quite a lot close up to itself and if the dust has bright illumination against dark ground... so I removed the filter for inside shots and the spots disappeared.
Heading Image: Either sensor dust or flak..

http://cameraelectronic.com.au/repair.html

Day 6 - Panasonic Steps To The Cash Back Plate

Well, the 12 days of Christmas are swinging along pretty well. On Wednesday the 16th of December the Panasonic micro 4/3 fans get their chance to touch the money.

There are a number of items on offer well under their normal price and in some cases they are also bolstered by $ 150 cash back offers from Panasonic themselves. This makes them very good purchases indeed. Look at these:

DMC-GX8 camera body for $ 949...

DMC G7 body plus 14-42mm f:3.5-5.6 II ASPH lens for $ 599

Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm f:1.7 ASPH lens for $ 649, get $ 150 back = $ 499

Panasonic Leica D Summilux 25mm f:1.4 ASPH lens...again pay $ 649, get $ 150 back = $ 499

Panasonic Lumix G Leica Nocticron 42.5mm f:1.2 lens pay $ 1740, get back $ 150 = $ 1590

Panasonic Lumix G 7-14mm f:4 lens pay $ 1149, get back$ 150 = $ 999

Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f:2.8 lens pay $ 949, get back $ 150 = $ 799

Panasonic H Lumix G X Vario 35-100mm f:2.8 ASPH lens pay $ 1149, get back $999

The GX8 and G7 can very well be the all-purpose go-to cameras for every traveller or family shooter here in Perth, with the added incentive of some pretty zippy video work. Unbutton your purse, Mortein the moths, and get down to the shop for  a good buy before it is goodbye.

Image: Tokyo with a Panasonic GX7 camera

Day 3 And Madness Grips The Populace!

Naw. That's not true. Madness gripped the populace a long time ago - round the time the when reality television shows set in...We do what we can in the photographic trade to counteract it - by giving people real-life things to do.

Today's specials center* around the Tamron lenses. This brand has always had a keen following here in Australia and the advent of the digital cameras started the company out on a quest for better optics and more reliability. Today's Tamrons have that in abundance - and on Friday the 11th of December DSLR shooters get a chance for massive savings. Look at these:

AF 17-50mm f:2.8 XR Di II VC lens Manu. price $899 - was $595 - Friday Special---$495

SP AF 24-70mm f:2.8 Di VC USD lens Manu. price $1399 - was $1099 - Friday Special---$999

AF 28-300mm Di VC PZD lens Manu. price $1149 - was $1039 - Friday Special---$939

AF 15-30mm f:2.8 SP Di VC USD lens Manu. price $1690 - was $1565 - Friday special---$1465
note: there may be a delay on Nikon fitting lenses...

SP 150-600mm f:5-6.3 Di VC USD lens Manu. price $1399 - was $1249 - Friday special---$1149

SP AF 90mm f:2.8 Di VC USD macro lens Manu. price $849 - was $695 - Friday special---$595

SP 70-200mm f:2.8 Di VC USD lens Manu. price $1699 - was $1349 - Friday Special---$1249
note: there may be a delay on Nikon fitting lenses...

Tamrons run a full two year warranty too.

* Yo, J.

News Just In - New Canon 35mm Lens Coming

Is it me or are lenses getting bigger?

News came through to us today of a new Canon lens that is due soon - a 35mm f1.4L II USM L series designed for professional photographers. Apparently it incorporates a new lens technology.

The news report states that it is concerned with the blue spectrum - there is a an organic optical material that refracts blue light - the new technology is going to significantly reduce chromatic aberration and produce sharper images.

35mm focal length on a full-frame camera is slightly wide, but not so much so as to generate a sense of distortion in group pictures and landscapes. The lens will have 9 blades in the aperture mechanism and will thus produce circular highlights in the background.

But...it's big. 72mm filter size - 105.5 mm long and 80.4 mm in diameter. 760 grammes. Lots of elements - 14 - in 11 groups. 28cm close focus distance. Ultrasonic motor mechanism.

We'll keep you posted about when you can come in and try it out.

New Lens From Sigma -Wide And Fast And Zoom

Our friendly local Sigma man has just set this beauty in front of us - the Sigma 24-35 f:2 Art lens.

The barrel construction of Sigma lenses these days is simply marvellous - the Japanese makers really extend themselves to produce a quality product. This one is heavy, as you would expect from a large maximum aperture and a lot of glass. You will appreciate a tripod for low-light work - but then you would anyway.

I think this is a lens that will feature in a great deal of full-frame architecture work, particularly interiors that are to be seen in a lower light. As it is not of the exaggerated-front-element design, you will have a chance to put filters onto it - we would suggest good quality ones to complement the optics. Hoya HD come readily to mind.

I'll allow the wholesale agents to suggest that you could well choose Sigma lenses of this quality for your entire lens lineup with the major DSLR bodies - they can fight the other manufacturer's wholesale agents who will suggest that you couldn't. I shall reserve my judgement as they fight it out, but I will say that I wish Sigma made lenses for the camera system I use - I would certainly give them a good critical look.

Zeiss Up The Front - Sony In The Rear

Gotta Sony camera with an E mount? Wanta new 25mm f:2 lens?

Come in and have a look at the new Zeiss Batis lens that has just hit the Sony shelf. Like much of the boutique Zeiss glass, it is in a plain barrel - this is a style reaction to some of the multi-banded offerings from other manufacturers. The peculiar little flair seen at the front flange of some of these is designed to integrate with the lens hoods to provide a smooth contour. That, and it recalls the bow structure of the IJNS KIRISHIMA. At least they didn't put a chrysanthemum on the lens...

Well, it also has another new feature - what starts out as a transparent panel with a black backing on the top of the lens lights up and turns into an LCD screen the gives the focusing information. Very next century.

Quality? Zeiss Distagon quality. Ask Hasselblad and Contarex users what this does.

Weight? Moderate. Not feather, but not anvil.

I Have Been Asked To Announce...

An email message this morning from our management has asked me to let our readers know that we have recently received shipments of the following new items and are offering them for sale:

1. Fujifilm X-T10 cameras

As well as basic bodies...you may wish to consider that these can also be obtained as kits with either the 18-55 or 16-50 Fujinon lenses. Wise shoppers who purchase Fujifilm X-series cameras will wish to save petrol and parking fees on future visits by purchasing the entire lens range now while they are here. Our trained staff are readily available to help them carry the boxes to their car.

2. Olympus 7-14mm lenses

These are the big, fast, new ones with the superb finish. If you are into superb finishes this is a good idea.

3. Canon 5Ds camera bodies

 Please refer to earlier blog posts in respect of this new Canon product. It works and works well. It has the BB seal of approval.

Ya Never Kin Tell - The Tale Of The Fujifilm Pancake Lens

As soon as you say the word " pancake" people tend to narrow their thoughts - some of us envisage maple syrup and bacon, and some of us see flat-faced travel lenses. In either case sometimes people are dismissive - pancakes are only for breakfast at trucker's road stops and pancake lenses are only good for quick holiday snaps.

Nothing of the sort.

The Fujifilm company make a 27mm f:2.8 that is only 22mm from front to back. It will stop down to f:16 and focus as close as 34cm. Tiny little 39mm filter size. Weighs less than a macaroon.

You'd expect it to be just a soft travel lens but you would be dead wrong. I clapped one onto my X-E2 and tried it out in the studio on short-range subjects. Look at the result.

Then again, here it is outside looking at the distance.

And for a portrait.

This focal length is nearly perfect as the "normal" lens for an APS-C sensor. If your film days were spent profitably with a 50mm lens on your 35mm camera or an 80mm on your medium format filmer, this is going to be a familiar view of the world...with a difference. There will be a great deal more depth of field for your studio and landscape shots.

I suspect this will be a good performer in my Fujifilm X stable.

Here it is.

They Gettin' Bigger - Olympus Wide Angle

The second time that Olympus have produced a wide-angle zoom for their micro 4/3 system cameras ...well they have gone all out.

You'll remember the smaller 9-18 mm lens - it had a maximum aperture of f:4-5.6. Well the new lens is 7mm-14mm and has a constant maximum aperture of f:2.8.

Don't expect it to be as light as the smaller lens - when lenses add elements and size...and metallic mountings...they gain weight. This one is a decent handful. No different from other mirror-less system camera lenses of the same sort of specification.

Thankfully, it carries the same sort of weather sealing as the other pro lenses in the Olympus micro 4/3 range. Filters would be problematical as it has the sort of bulging front element that precludes attaching them easily. Polarisers - even if you could figure out how to attach one - would be a mistake. ( See a previous post on this blog to learn why.)

Good news for Olympus or other micro 4/3 users is that we now have one of these available for rental. Please call in to our rental Department and ask Thomas or Evelyn for the rental rate - this is one amazing view of the world.

In store now

Wide and Fast - Fujifilm 16 f:1.4

There are more ways in this world to go fast and wide than buying a Maserati...Fujifilm have just introduced one; the Fujifilm 16mm f:1.4 prime lens.

It follows precisely the style elements of Fujifilm X lenses - metal construction, smooth focusing ring, precise click stops for the aperture, and fast focusing.

It has the addition facility - shared with the 14mm and 23mm lenses  -of snapping the focus ring out of automatic focus into a mechanical manual focus. Wonderful for studio shooting, particularly if you have activated the focus peaking on your X-series camera and can watch the plane of focus "walk"over your subjects.

The real forté of this lens is the wide aperture - f:1.4 - which means it is perfect for interiors. The real estate photographer using the Fujfilm X system could make this lens their primary optic - it will render straight lines straight and give the breadth of vision that sells houses - even pokey little ones...

I can also see it capturing the magnificence of a cathedral interior during a wedding - or trailing out to all the seaside landscape points that fascinate Western Australians.

In store-now.

Buy Now And Beat The Japanese Tax Man...Soundly...

Want the good news or the bad news?

Well, you get 'em both. Mind you, if you are nippy about it, you can avoid the bad...

The Japanese financial year changes in April. Why is anyone's guess - they haven't finished using the old one yet and there is still plenty of wear in it. perhaps it is like their motor cars - they change them regularly to avoid pollution. Perhaps they ship out the old financial years in sea containers to third world countries...

Where were we? Oh, yes - the bad news. They are hiking the prices on Nikon and Canon lenses. How high we don't know but if you want a bargain on some new glass for these cameras you would be well advised to hammer the piggy bank and come in here in the next two weeks.

Good news? We're pretty good for lenses right now.

Leica T Wide Angle Zoom

Unpacking this morning's delivery disclosed a delight - one of the Leica lenses for their T-system.

The lens is the 11-23 Super Vario Elmar T f:3.5-4.5 ASPH. it is a little larger in physical size than the 18-56 that you may have seen, and of course the front element has a pronounced curve - but not to such an extent that it precludes use of a slim filter.

Those of you still accustomed to think of lens angles as they applied to the Leica M series of 35mm cameras can envision this lens providing a variable focal length from he equivalent of 16.5mm to 34.5 mm. Landscape shooters, interior shooters, and those unfortunate enough to have large groups of people to photograph will appreciate this coverage. The lens won't make a large group of people behave or pose better but at least it will capture whatever they are actually doing with great resolution and contrast.

As usual, superb quality of construction and presentation. As usual, a Leica price...