posted Thursday, 19 November 2009, 21:38 (+0800), by Martin
homemade flash reflector
Macro Photography
When taking macro photos, you need plenty of light on the subject, to allow
a reasonably large DOF (depth of field), yet keeping a reasonably fast shutter speed, and a low ISO.
As a result, ambient light is typically insufficient, requiring the use of
a flash.
However, using a bare flash will result in harsh lighting with harsh shadows, so it's
important to diffuse and reflect the light to create a more pleasing photo.
This post provides details of the very cheap homemade reflector that I use for macro photography.
posted Saturday, 12 September 2009, 12:10 (+0800), by Martin
Canon 430EX mounted on a clamp, triggered remotely by a Canon 580EX
Last month, I described how you can make a
cheap flash clamp
for holding a remote flash, using cheap clamps and a 1/4" bolt, available from your local hardware
for a few dollars (as per the photo on the right).
However, with the full weight of a flash attached to the end of the clamp handle,
particularly if the flash is mounted on top of a wireless trigger,
the clamp and flash isn't particularly stable.
To improve the stability of the flash clamp, another 1/4" bolt can be added to the
clamp, much closer to the jaws of the clamp.
Mounting a flash on this bolt closer to the clamp jaws provides a more stable solution,
as the majority of the weight is now attached to the clamp much closer to the jaws.
If using wireless triggers to trigger the flash, the flash can be attached to the trigger's
hot-shoe, and the trigger then attached to this new bolt on the clamp.
Alternatively, the wireless trigger could be attached to the bolt on the end of the clamp handle,
and a PC sync cable can then be used to connect the trigger to the flash, as shown in the photo below.
improved version of the cheap flash clamp for holding a remote flash,
with a Canon 580EX II being triggered by a Phottix Tetra wireless flash trigger
posted Tuesday, 01 September 2009, 13:05 (+0800), by Martin
After a few months of rumours about the Canon 7D, specifications have been confirmed,
and details are now
available
on on Canon's website.
dpreview.com have already published a review
of the Canon 7D.
Note that it's not a replacement for the 5D, but the 7D fits into the Canon lineup
between the Canon 50D and the 5D.
The 7D is not a full-frame body like the 5D, but has an 18 megapixel APS-C sensor (1.6x crop factor),
larger viewfinder, a new AF system with dedicated processor, can shoot at 8 fps,
and supports 1080p HD video recording.
Interestingly, it also has an integrated Speedlite transmitter, allowing the 7D's built-in flash
to control multiple groups of multiple flashes.
Here's a brief summary of the specifications of the 7D:
18 megapixel CMOS sensor (APS-C size)
dual DIGIC 4 image processors
ISO 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800)
8 fps continuous shooting
full HD (1920x1080) movie mode with manual exposure control
large viewfinder with 100% field of view
new 19 point auto-focus system
magnesium body
built-in Speedlite transmitter
3 inch rear LCD
It looks like the retail price for the Canon 7D body is going to be around USD$1699 (AUD$2020),
and amazon.com have it available for
pre-order.
Have a look at dpreview.com's review for more information on the Canon 7D,
or the Canon Australia website for full specifications.
Update (September 2009): QualityCamera Sales Australia
anticipate that the Canon 7D body price will be around AUD$2399, and they are taking pre-orders.
posted Monday, 31 August 2009, 19:18 (+0800), by Martin
Phottix Tetra box
Intro
The Phottix Tetra wireless flash triggers are yet another low-cost photography accessory
from the Asian Phottix,
and are designed for triggering one or more off-camera flash units.
The Tetra can also be used to trigger studio lights with the
included PC sync cable.
Thanks to
HK Supplies for providing a
Phottix Tetra with two receivers for review purposes.
Wireless Flash Remotes?
A wireless flash trigger is designed to trigger one or more flash units that are
located away from the camera, without requiring a wired connection between the
camera and the flash units.
Off-camera flash allows a photographer to get much more creative with lighting,
and the Strobist website has served to
educate many more photographers in the use of off-camera flash lighting.
posted Monday, 24 August 2009, 21:45 (+0800), by Martin
Phottix Cleon II receiver PCB
Note: if you are looking for a review of the
functionality and features
of the Phottix Cleon II,
then please refer to
my review.
Phottix Cleon II
Earlier this year, I
reviewed
the Phottix Cleon II.
It's a wireless shutter release that operates on 433MHz, with a range of upto 100m,
and uses a smart-code system with 16,000,000 combinations instead of DIP switches to set
the channel.
Instead of the camera cable being hard-wired into the receiver, Phottix
use a 3.5mm stereo socket on the receiver, and Phottix make cables to suit
various cameras. This allows a Phottix Cleon II to be used with different types of
cameras, providing you have cables available to suit the different cameras.
I was interested in taking a closer look at the circuitry inside the Cleon II,
and after noticing something rattling inside the receiver, I decided to open
up the Cleon II.
Here are the Cleon II transmitter and receiver before disassembly:
posted Wednesday, 12 August 2009, 19:53 (+0800), by Martin
Canon 430EX mounted on a clamp, triggered remotely by a Canon 580EX
Note: This post describes the first version of my cheap flash clamp.
I have since posted details of an
improved version of the clamp.
A large clamp provides a very flexible method for mounting a flash,
and certainly won't break the bank!
Using a large plastic clamp from my local hardware store, along with a 1/4" bolt, a nut, and a wing nut,
I made this flash clamp in just a few minutes, and it only cost me a few dollars.
The built-in flash on most cameras is quite limiting, and a dedicated flash can provide
a lot more flexibility and control of the lighting.
However, moving the dedicated flash off the camera hot-shoe, and having it
remote from the camera provides a whole new range of lighting options.
The popularity of David Hobby's Strobist blog,
where he provides lots of useful information about flash photography, particularly
off-camera flash photography, confirms that lots of people are getting interested in it.
Assuming you already have a flash unit, you need some way to trigger the flash
remotely from your camera.
I have a set of the cheap
Cactus wireless flash triggers
(from Gadget Infinity),
as well as a set of Phottix Tetra wireless flash triggers.
Instead of using wireless flash triggers, I can also use the built-in infrared communications capabilities in Canon flashes,
and mount a Canon 580EX flash on my camera, and use it to remotely trigger a Canon 430EX or 580EX flash.
As you won't always have the luxury of a voice-activated light stand (ie, a person to hold the flash),
you'll often need some way of mounting the remote flash, and you may not (yet) have
purpose-built light stands in your camera bag.
I came across these plastic clamps at my local hardware, and they were less than AUD$2 each.
The handles of the clamp already had a small hole, which I drilled out to fit the 1/4" bolt.
After inserting the bolt from the inside of the handle, the nut was firmly tightened to hold the
bolt in place.
posted Wednesday, 15 July 2009, 19:32 (+0800), by Martin
Overview
As far as Canon lenses go, the 50mm f/1.8 is probably the cheapest, smallest and
lightest (130gr) lens in the Canon range.
However, that doesn't mean it's not worth looking at!
It's a prime lens (ie, fixed focal length lens), with a maximum aperture of f/1.8.
This makes it a great lens for low light situations, due to the large amount of
light it'll let in at its maximum aperture.
This large aperture also provides a very short depth-of-field, which is great
for portraits, allowing you to have the subject in focus, but the background blurred.
Photos Of Lens
Here's some photos of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens.
posted Monday, 22 June 2009, 22:18 (+0800), by Martin
I thought this video was a great piece of marketing for the Olympus Pen E-P1 camera:
(If you're viewing this post through an RSS reader, you may not see the embedded video, but
will probably need to click the post header to view the article in a browser.)
The Olympus Pen E-P1 camera is generating quite a bit of interest, and I'm very interested in it
due to its compact size.
posted Thursday, 18 June 2009, 19:25 (+0800), by Martin
Your Chance to Win an Olympus Pen E-P1 Camera
Olympus Australia is giving twenty people the opportunity test drive
the new
Olympus Pen E-P1 camera for 4 weeks.
Three of those twenty people will have a chance to win a brand-new
Olympus Pen E-P1 camera and two lenses.
Read on for more details.
Olympus Pen E-P1 camera
with 17mm lens mounted on body, and 14-42mm lens on left
photo provided by Olympus, used with permission
The Olympus Pen E-P1 Camera
The recently-announced
Olympus Pen E-P1
camera has generated a lot of interest recently, with various photography-related blogs I subscribe to mentioning it recently, including
Chase Jarvis,
norbs (and
again),
Alex Wise,
engadget
and DPS.
It's an interesting camera, and uses the
micro four thirds lens system.
This allows Olympus to pack an interchangeable lens system into a camera that is much smaller than a regular
DSLR.
For existing Olympus DSLR shooters, there's an MF-1 Four Thirds System Lens Adaptor available, which
allows the body to accept many of the other Four Thirds format lenses.
posted Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 22:20 (+0800), by Martin
Phottix Plato
Intro
The Phottix Plato is another wireless shutter release for digital SLR cameras,
and was released in October 2008 at Photokina.
The Plato has some interesting new features,
including bi-directional 2.4GHz communication, and uses
commonly-available AAA batteries.
If you're not interested in reading the details of this review,
you can jump straight to my
conclusions.
Thanks to
HK Supplies for providing a
Plato C8 for review purposes.
Overview of the Plato
As with other wireless shutter releases, the Plato has two primary components,
namely the receiver and the transmitter. As with the other Phottix accessories
I've reviewed, the actual model name (ie, "Plato") does not appear on either
the transmitter or receiver, but only the company name "Phottix" appears on the front
of both, and the model number "WXD-188" appears on the back of both.
The receiver needs to be connected to the camera's remote shutter release connector
via a cable supplied with the Plato. Rather than having a cable hard-wired
into the receiver, the receiver has a 3.5mm stereo socket, and different Plato models
come with cables to suit different cameras.
Plato receiver
The base of the receiver has a plastic shoe, which allows the receiver to be mounted
on the hot-shoe of a camera body. Note that this is purely for convenience - there
are no electrical contacts in the plastic shoe on the receiver.
The Plato transmitter is a little larger than the
Cleon
and Cleon II
transmitters, and is much more rectangular.
The larger size is primarily due to the fact that the Plato transmitter
uses two AAA batteries rather than the small 23A battery used in the Cleon and Cleon II transmitters.
However, it's still a compact unit, and fits easily into my camera bag.
The Plato receiver is marginally larger than the Cleon and Cleon II receivers, and this
is again due to the use of larger batteries, ie, 2 AAA batteries rather than the much smaller
23A battery.