Photographer in Perth, Western Australia
Photographic equipment
Mike Johnston (The Online Photographer) recently wrote about strategies for buying new cameras—which is certainly not a new topic. If we consider cameras (and lenses) as tools for doing a job, then I think it comes down to a straightforward cost-benefit analysis: what benefits do you expect to reap by going with a particular choice of… Continue reading Strategies for buying new cameras
Nik Software produced one of the best regarded photographic post-processing software packages available, and the company subsequently became part of Google in 2012. A few days ago, Google announced that it’s making the Nik Collection available free of charge. I’ve never tried the package myself, but if your computer and software meet the minimum system requirements (including which versions of Adobe software… Continue reading The Nik Collection is now free
LensRentals has published some particularly useful articles recently on cleaning lenses and choosing telephoto focal lengths. The first article outlines the procedures that LensRentals uses to clean and check its lenses, but it’s worth bearing in mind that (as they’re rental equipment) those lenses would be seeing far heavier use than any lens owned by… Continue reading Cleaning lenses and choosing telephoto focal lengths
“Micro contrast” is a term I’ve heard used many times, and something that I’ve probably had some implicit understanding of for some time, but I don’t think I ever took the trouble to research it. Thom Hogan has recently published an article on micro contrast, and I think it’s well worth a read through for… Continue reading Micro contrast
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Photographically speaking, it was clear that a mobile telephone camera or other ‘small sensor’ camera would not be desirable, and this left me with essentially choosing between my Nikon D70S and Nikon D700. Although the D70S had probably the more appropriate lens for travel… Continue reading Japan with a 50 mm lens
People new to SLR and DSLR photography can be taken aback by the seemingly high price of lenses. It can be difficult to appreciate the cost of designing and producing a piece of equipment that, from the outside at least, seems rather simple. LensRentals has published a teardown article for the new Canon EF 35 mm… Continue reading Canon EF 35 mm f/1.4 II teardown
It had to happen eventually … I noticed at Imaging Resource that there’s now a lens-shaped vacuum cleaner (from Fujin) for cleaning camera sensors.
Camera Electronic has advertised a range of Canon DSLR bodies on special, starting with the Canon EOS 1200D for $324 through to the Canon EOS 5D Mk III for $3,098 (all prices are after cashback from Canon). These are decent discounts, and if you’re not particularly interested in kit zoom lenses, this could be a… Continue reading Canon DSLR bodies on special
Nikon has just announced a few new lenses, including the new Nikkor AF-S 200–500 mm f/5.6 VR supertelephoto zoom lens. While this isn’t actually the kind of lens I’d be using for low light action photography, it is, nonetheless, an interesting lens (as Thom Hogan has commented recently). The combination of the 200–500 mm focal length range and… Continue reading New Nikkor supertelephoto zoom lens
Nikon has just announced a new DX zoom lens for its cropped frame sensor cameras—the Nikkor AF-S 16–80 mm f/2.8–4 DX VR. If we were being optimistic, this might be the first sign of a breath of life for the Nikon DX range of DSLR bodies and lenses. This new lens, in and of itself, isn’t particularly exciting for… Continue reading A breath of life for the Nikon DX range