Camera Gear

Cactus, Framing and the Olympus Pen Thingy… gtvone podcasts

Another QUALITY gtvone podcast… “Photography Monthly” over a cup of coffee…

The Last Minutes of Madame Fatale, originally uploaded by Colin Millum.

Photo of the month came from Colin Millum above is pretty sweet, Nice one Colin! Hope you’re having a great world trip!

www.merrellpublishers.com for Jason Hawkes “London At Night” photography book – shot from a chopper, quality!

Olympus PEN E-PL1, Camera Bags, WorldPressPhoto

There was Anna Evgen (Naked girl + Apple = Winner)

Johnsons Photopia who are most likely glowing from Focus

Martin Middlebrook – Old School Purist

….I won’t list the rest, you can damn Google it!! Nice coffee, good songs – they were playing in the background, so I matched them up - Killers, Sam’s Town, Cracking album – please go buy it.

Peace out… Sime

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2
Mar 10

Does it stand up on its own?

Vitruvian tripod, true genius?

Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, the new Giotto’s Vitruvian VGR tripods are designed to offer photographers not only a truly lightweight and compact tripod, but a fully functioning monopod and ball head too.

The Vitruvian tripods have been designed with “reverse technology” legs so that when collapsed they fold through 180 degrees to “surround” the tripod centre column and head – folding down into a unit that measures only 40cm long.

There are two VGR models available, both with a maximum operating height of 157cm and a weight capacity of up to 4kg. The VGR9255 is manufactured using aluminium tubing and weighs 1.5kg while the VGR 8255 uses 6 layer carbon tubing and weighs just 1.28kg.

The tripod castings are made from a forged aluminium alloy for strength and the quick action twist leg locks require only 1/8 turn to lock and unlock – making it quick and easy to set the tripod up. VGR tripods are fitted with a compact ball + socket head that offers smooth and precise movement, incorporates independent pan control and has a quick release system.

But its not just a tripod, simply unscrew the tripod leg, remove the centre column and head then join them together to produce a full size monopod with a maximum operating height of 162cm. The Vitruvian comes with its very own carry bag and has a 5 year warranty.

For more details on these tripods please visit www.giottos-tripods.co.uk or contact our Giotto’s helpline on 0845 250 0792.

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2
Mar 10

Canon release 5DMk2 Firmware update.. almost

United Kingdom / Republic of Ireland, 2nd March 2010 – Canon today pre-announces the release of a firmware update for the multiple award-winning EOS 5D Mark II. Originally announced in late 2009, the update adds 24 and 25 frames per second (fps) recording to the camera’s EOS MOVIE video function, and will be available as a free download from the middle of March.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Developed following feedback from photographers and cinematographers, Firmware 2.0.3 further enhances the EOS 5D Mark II’s excellent video performance. The addition of new frame rates expands the camera’s video potential, providing filmmakers with the ability to shoot 1080p Full HD footage at 24fps (actual 23.976fps) – the optimum frame rate for cinematic video. 25fps support at both 1920×1080 and 640×480 resolutions will allow users to film at the frame rate required for the PAL broadcast standard, while the new firmware will also change the 30fps option to the NTSC video standard of 29.97fps.

A new histogram display for shooting movies in manual exposure, shutter-priority (Tv) and aperture-priority (Av) have been added, and exposure modes will also be available in movie mode. Improved audio functionality will allow users to set sound record levels manually using a sound-level meter displayed on the LCD screen. The audio sampling frequency has also been increased from 44.1KHz to 48KHz, providing the optimum audio signal typically required for professional or broadcast material.

With its full frame CMOS sensor and compatibility with Canon’s wide range of premium lenses, the EOS 5D Mark II is already recognised for its outstanding HD video performance. Launched in September 2008, the camera immediately created a wide range of new possibilities for photographers and videographers, and the addition of new frame rates and manual audio levels extends those possibilities even further – allowing movie makers to shoot stunning movies to suit practically any creative purpose.

Extreme sports photographer Richard Walch was one of the first to be given the chance to use the newly updated EOS 5D Mark II to shoot the snowboarding movie “I Love My Friends”. Commenting on the EOS 5D Mark II’s video performance, Richard said: “The addition of the new frame rates opens up a whole new range of possibilities. If you’re a cinematographer, independent film maker or just enthusiastic about making your own movies, get out there and give it a try”.

“I Love My Friends” shot by Richard Walch on the EOS 5D Mark II with the new firmware includes a look behind the scenes video is available to view at http://www.canon-europe.com/eos5dmarkII.

The firmware will be available to download from mid-March from the Canon website http://www.canon.com/eos-d/

* Actual frame rate: 23.976fps*

Camera Gear — 5 Comments
26
Feb 10

Back the hell up! Storage Issues?

Digital Photographers are continually wondering how to backup their photographs, and then how to back-up their back ups. I visited the whole back-up issue a couple of months back and now, here I am, still struggling with ridiculous amounts of data. And you have to be prepared because you never know when you’re going to have a brain melt and empty a cup of water into your laptop, right?

Make your data swim!

So, I’ve located most of my image library files (largely Canon RAW) on a 4TB G-Raid3 drive… A great drive, but, to buy them over and over as the library grows is just silly. So I was thinking about a backup drive that will take all and more, the drive needs to be fast, upgradeable, flexible and cost effective… The only solution I’m hitting on time after time is a Drobo, but then I’ve heard reports that they’re a bit buggy – so, there’s a V2.0 out – which is bound to be buggy too… THe only consolation being that the bugs are within the firmware / controllers – so the data on your disks is still going to be OK if the unit fails…

Why Drobo? There’s nothing else… Simple… I’ve searched for ages and there’s nothing that is as streamlined and easy to use… (It’s not just for me)

Will your Phone ever replace your Camera?

We all like snapping a photo with our camera while we’re out and about, and a lot of people cackle in with that age old adage “The best camera you can have is the one you have when you need a camera” Yeah, that’s all lovely and warm feeling but is it actually true?

Mum, is that you?

With the introduction of higher resolution mobile telephone cameras, there has been some weak speculation that “one day you won’t need to carry a camera” and that the technology exists to combine your mobile phone and your camera to reduce the amount of technology that you need to carry around. If that happens, I will welcome it with open arms (and a closed camera bag, no less!)

Can you imagine not having to carry around your dSLR to photo shoots? You’re there mid-way through photographing Elle MacPherson and your mother calls, you simply lift your camera to your ear and tell her you’re having a nice day and that you’d like a roast for dinner and then carry on shooting the next SketchBook Mag cover. No, It doesn’t work like that.

Disco Stu Makes a Call on his Nikon dSLR

Hello, Mum?

Apple iPhone set the proverbial cat amongst the proverbial pigeons with the 3Gs, claiming it had a better camera than anything on the market – I can’t recall where I read that and it may indeed have been some hype straight from the dark hamsters website, but it certainly does do well and do you notice that it’s only got a 3-megapixel autofocus camera and not an 8mp camera that some of the phones available today have.

Check these images out – iPhone 3Gs Set

Where do you think this will see us in two years time?

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I’ve emailed a couple of telephone manufacturers and have asked to try out a couple of high end camera phones for a story a lot like this one, but on dPS. If you’re from HTC, Sony or Apple… Get in touch, right?…

Here’s something I prepared earlier – these come to you via the iNQ Chat – 3.2MP

Stop little pot, Stop!

Simon Pollock Photographer Self Portrait

Hello, Is there anybody out there?

Life, How did it get so fast?

Camera Gear — 1 Comment
17
Feb 10

Simon Carter, Rock Climbing Photography

I help to look after Social Media for thinkTANK Photo and noticed that Doug popped this video up today.

Shot on a Nikon D3S and very stunning.

You can follow thinkTANK on Twitter | Facebook and Flickr (And I’ve got some cool prizes coming soon, too)

Sime

Camera Gear — 12 Comments
15
Feb 10

What camera would you buy?

I’ve had two emails asking me the same question in the last 24 hours! What’s going on?

The questions, basically the same, were “If you had to purchase another camera body to use along side your Canon 5D Mark II what would it be?”

After much deliberation, I figure that I’d get me something a little quicker, still with good high resolution… Nothing quite like the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV but something, in my opinion, that would fill that gap very nicely. Welcome, the Canon EOS 7D!

If you had to buy one body, right now, what would it be? Comments welcome.

Sime

Camera Gear — 3 Comments
10
Feb 10

G Tech Mobile USB in London

I have possibly one of the very first G-Tech Mobile USB drives in the UK! And I have to say, I’m excited…

GTechnology

G-DRIVE mobile USB hard drives are the perfect compliment to your new Apple MacBook^®. Weighing in at less than 9 oz., G-DRIVE mobile USB is the ultra-portable and stylish way to travel with up to 500GB of storage space for your important documents, MP3s, digital video and digital photo files. G-DRIVE mobile USB is bus powered, eliminating the need to carry an external AC power supply. Portability was never so easy!

Spec.

500gb
Small
Sexy
USB2

Images? Oh yes…

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8
Feb 10

Canon EOS MOVIE plugin for FCP

Great News!

United Kingdom / Republic of Ireland, 8^th February 2010 – Canon today announces the development of a plug-in that will enable quicker and easier editing of EOS MOVIE footage in Final Cut Pro. A free Beta release of the plug-in will be available to download for testing and evaluation in March 2010.

‘EOS MOVIE Plug-in-E1 for Final Cut Pro’ is being developed to provide an even smoother workflow for EOS MOVIE users who edit using Apple’s Final Cut Pro software suite. The plug-in will enable the ‘log and transfer’ of video footage from Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS-1D Mark IV Digital SLR cameras – all of which offer full 1080p HD video recording.

The plug-in will convert EOS MOVIE footage to Apple’s high quality ProRes 422 codec at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion. Additionally, users will also be able to add timecode, reel names and metadata to footage quickly and easily – further enhancing the experience of EOS MOVIE users when editing their footage.

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23
Jan 10

thinkTANKphoto Hydrophobia® 70-200 is now available!

The hotly anticipated Hydrophobia 70 – 200 is now available from www.thinktankphoto.com and will soon be in a store near you!

thinkTANK Photo – Be ready before the moment!

You can follow thinkTANKPhoto on twitter or poke them on Facebook