Lunch at my Keyboard

Elinchrom Quadra Umbrella Modification

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:42:00 +0000

I know a lot of people want to fit other makes of brolly to their Quadra head (but they don't fit in the 7mm holder).
By removing the lower half of the stand adapter you can mount the head on a Manfrotto litetite.
The knurled ring is acting a a nut on top of the spigot, you could use a real nut, I didn't have one to hand.
The new brolly holder is not quite as central as the original but, it is tilted, so the head should still illuminate the brolly evenly.
Obviously the usual caveats apply, it's not my fault if you break something, electrocute yourself, void your warranty or start a global thermonuclear war.

Super Cheap Lighting!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:53:00 +0000

I just ordered one of these Draper 59111 500W Halogen Lamp on Telescopic Stand. I'll be using it in the garage and garden but it will also make a great constant light for photography.

£22 for a 500W light, cripes, I know some places that sell the bulb for nearly that ;-)

I'll post again once it's arrived and I've tried it out.

Quite Possibly The Best Two Days of Photography and Learning Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:32:00 +0000

At TFC we're doing a really cool 2 day workshop at Studley castle next month.

I have to admit that I just can't wait. There are so many cool photographers coming it'll be a great chance to catch up with them and introduce some of them to each other.

On the second day there will be a round table discussion which I'm very tempted to record.

If you're interested check out the flyer here or book it here.

Easy File Sharing Finally Comes to MobileMe

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Yay!!!!!!
A long time ago, in a keynote speech far, far, away, a feature was shown.
That feature was part of the newly relaunched .Mac service, hitherto known as MobileMe.
A file, sitting on a server (that we now know as 'the cloud') was selected, a button was pressed and an e-mail was sent. That e-mail, it was promised, would let it's recipient download the file, regardless of their OS, technical expertise and even gender.
Limits could even be set on the amount of time the file would be available. For extra security, a password could be set.

This feature never made it to MobileMe. It languished for a while but eventually every trace was removed from Apple.com. It was as if the demonstration had never been given.

But somewhere the feature festered. Hidden in the drawer of a developer, in a minimalist cubicle in Cupertino. It waited, growing stronger by the day, feeding on the energy emmited by a thousand angry Apple discussion forum posts.
Until, one day....
Apple let loose this spawn of usefullness and productivity and e-mailed all it's MobileMe subscribers to announce the birth of an amazing new feature.

So if you have a MobileMe account, go to www.me.com/idisk , select a file, click 'share', choose a friend and hey presto! No more need for yousendit or any of those other weird services.

Simpsons - Mapple Store

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:41:00 +0000

The Simpsons finally get Apple!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck9gvN241Z8

Sent from my iPhone

How to deal with Irate People

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:45:00 +0000

In retail we have to do this all the time (late deliveries, declined cards, DOA goods etc). Reading this, I realized it's exacly what I do, empathize, make sure the customer knows you're inconvenienced too, then, bring things down to a normal level of sanity.

Open Loops: How to Deal With An Irate Person

Motion Video Effects for the rest of us

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:17:00 +0000

just watch this.

More 5D MkII visuals from Laforet

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:04:00 +0000

As we're slowly finding out, it does take effort to get get good footage from the 5D MkII, but, when you exert that effort, it pays you back big time.

Check out the latest from Vincent Laforet here.

Indy film making is going to get very interesting this year, will it make it to the silver screen?

How the hell am I gonna convince myself NOT to buy one of these things?

5D MkII finally out in the wild

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:19:00 +0000

Well Dan Chung seems to have nabbed himself one of the first retail examples (jammy git!)

Check out his first video here

Just makes me want one more.

Oh, note the redrock micro DSLR cage, Mr Chung obviously knows the right people.

Update: another nice video here

What Credit Crunch?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:16:00 +0000

Nobody seems to have told the shoppers at London's new Westfield
centre that we're on the brink of global financial meltdown.

XDR-TB

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:56:00 +0000

5D MkII initial thoughts.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Oh where do I start? I think a list in no particular order will have
to suffice.

This was a preprodution camera, any findings listed here may not be
acurate for shipping units.

1./ There is no way you can hold this camera steady whilst shooting video. Some kind of support is a must.
2./ Accurate focusing for video is easy before you shoot using a 10x zoom on the rear screen.
3./ Accurate focus whilst you shoot video is very difficult despite the awesomely sharp screen. The art of the focus puller is not lost.
4./ The HDMI port outputs a lower resolution whilst filming. Full res only on playback. Don't know what happens when viewing but not actually recording. I didn't get to test the hdmi at all.
5./ AF works during record but the AF on button causes the image to
brighten whilst the af works and this is recorded in the footage.
6./ Video became choppy when a lensbaby was used instead of a canon lens. Shame. Hope this is a firmware issue. Didn't have time to test if this was caused by a setting.
7./ Everything about this camera in low light is amazing. Stills and video. Just nuts.
8./ During video, ISO is used for auto exposure, like auto gain control I suppose.
9./ Nice grid option on live view.
10./ Peripheral brightness correction (vignette removal) works nicely in stills and video.
11./ Flash triggering of all kinds is disabled during video.
12./ To put 11 in context, whilst shooting video you can fire a full res still. Video is paused and a (roughly) half second key frame of the still is inserted, video then resumes. You are left with one video file and one image file.

More later as I absorb things and go over the footage and stills.

Unfortunately I can't publish the results or files publicly.

It's Nearly Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:36:00 +0000

And if you want to get me something, you can look here:

http://www.beermerchants.com/

Start at the mixed cases section :-)

Exciting times, now hurry up!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:29:00 +0000

This is an amazing time to be involved in photography.
Tomorrow I'm going out to show some people a camera that has more than 20 million pixels and shoots some of the finest full hd video ever seen. (If anyone has any questions or tests for the 5D MkII just ask.)

In a few months, Elinchrom will ship a lighting solution that is so well matched to the 5D you'd think they had inside information. The Quanta pack, with 400j of flash and a super bright LED modeling lamp is just perfect for the 5D.
Ideas:
Fig rig.
Hotshoe mounted mic.
Bracket with Quanta head and Chimera mini softbox.

I cannot wait!

It's out, the first short film from the 5D MkII

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:42:00 +0000

well done Vincent Laforete

Get your Photokina Fix (but not here)

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:06:00 +0000

So, I'm not going to Photokina this year (no, I'm not bitter at all, who needs a week of the latest photographic gear and gadgets interspersed with great German beer in the evenings?)
Here a few sites to keep an eye on for the latest updates and news:

Calumet's Photokina Blog which promises to have news and video interviews.
DPreview's front page has a list of the goodies so far, sure to get longer.
Luminous Landscape has a great page, starting with the new Leica S2 Camera.

I'll post more links here as I find them so do come back.

Phaseone and Leica in Strategic Alliance

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:44:00 +0000

So, first it was Microsoft, now it's Leica.
I think this pretty much firms up the rumour of a Leica MF digital camera of one kind or another.
Does it also mean some Leica lenses for the PhaseOne Camera?

I have a feeling the next few days may hold the answers.....

The Leica Press Release in full:

Leica Camera AG and Phase One conclude strategic alliance

Leica Camera AG and Phase One A/S have agreed to enter into a long-term strategic alliance. Both companies are in mutual agreement on the terms of close future cooperation in the technical development and marketing of premium products for the professional photography segment. The objective is to offer photographers innovative high-end solutions that guarantee the greatest possible creative freedom and set standards in terms of performance, quality and technological maturity. Close cooperation has also been decided upon for the expansion of effective service and marketing structures.

The CEO of Leica Camera AG, Dr Andreas Kaufmann, welcomes the collaboration with Phase One: 'Our two companies are an outstanding match for each other due to the similarity of their corporate cultures, their extraordinary innovative strengths and their dedication to absolute quality. We complement each other very well, particularly in the marketing segment. This will enable Leica to establish a strong and sustainable position at the leading edge of the professional segment. Together with Phase One we will soon be able to begin offering professional customers a new range of products and services.'

In addition to digital backs for medium format and view cameras, Phase One, the world's leading manufacturer of camera systems for the professional segment, also offers industrialgrade software and image processing solutions specially designed to meet the most demanding requirements of professional photographers. According to the CEO of Phase One A/S, Henrik Håkonsson: 'Thanks to first class internal development and technological alliances, Phase One maintains its leadership in the provision of software and image processing solutions for the professional segment. As a consequence of this strategic alliance with Leica, Phase One now has access to the vast optical expertise of the market's quality leader and we can improve our product offerings to the world’s best photographers.

Leica Camera AG in Solms offers precision optical products of uncompromising quality and mechanical precision for the industrial and private high-end segments. The Leica range embraces a broad spectrum of cameras and precision optical products for analogue and digital photography, projectors and a range of binoculars, spotting scopes and rangefinders for field observation. Thanks to systematic investment in the manufacture of aspherical optical elements, Leica possesses vast expertise in the manufacturing, the optical calculation, the measuring and testing technology, as well as in the construction of lenses and the assembly of aspherical lens systems. Further information about Leica Camera AG and its products can be found at www.leica-camera.com.

More Laforete

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:04:00 +0000

2 Days ago I'd never heard of him, now, not long after finding his 5D MkII review, I find an amazing panorama of the Yankee Stadium.
Make sure you view full screen.

Run: 10K, I did.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:19:00 +0000

So yesterday I did something I thought was impossible. I finished a Cancer Research UK Run:10K.
So today I'm feeling pain I never knew existed.

Feel free to donate.

5D, Game Changer

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:35:00 +0000

At least one person thinks so, I tend to agree.

New Elinchrom Products For Photokina

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Elinchrom have on their website two new products for Photokina.

The first is an upgrade to the mid range compact mains flash. The Elinchrom BXRi comes in 250 and 500Ws versions and adds the following cool features:

Recognition of pre-flashes by the slave cell
Built in Skyport RX radio for power and triggering control

But, IMHO, the more important new item is the Ranger Quanta, a 400Ws battery kit. The heads are a new smaller design, it works with Skyport RX and the pack and battery are tiny. Think along the lines of Lumedyne, but Swiss.

The side links don't seem to go anywhere at the moment but there are more details in a PDF if you click on the 'News" link.

Enjoy!

Elinchrom in Maine Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Check out this video from Tips From The Top Floor.
Loads of Elinchrom being used!

new videos on youtube

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:47:00 +0000

just uploaded the 30 minute Joe Craig intro to studio lighting (in 3 parts).

I'm going to give it a couple of days before sending a tfc e-mail just to see how they propagate on their own through subscriptions etc.

Bubbles

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:03:00 +0000

I'd like to thank the P30+, Mamiya 120 Secor D macro lens and my washing up for making that shot possible.

Woe Is My iPhone!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:47:00 +0000

I'm sitting on the tube writing this post with a pen and paper, oh, and I'm late for work.

Why? Two reasons:

iPhones take Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to restore from a backup. (Think that waaa... ...aaay was annoying? Read on!)
The iPhone does so much you become dependent upon it.

So, from the beginning...

6:30 am. I'm woken from my slumber. The first thing I hear is the alarm on my iPhone. I wonder to my office and turn it off. Yep, the iPhone is my alarm clock and it's loud enough to do that job from two rooms away.

My mind goes through the semi-automatic dock clicking that starts Mail and iTunes syncing and downloading. Off I go to the bathroom.

I return.

Mail.app: Oooo Canon have announced a new DSLR, the 50D. Mmm, it's not the 5D replacement we were expecting. But, it does have face recognition AF in live view mode, interesting.

iTunes: The phone is done syncing but I see that there are some podcasts downloading. Let's see if there are any app updates while I'm waiting... There are, may as well have them too.

Bag packing time.

Just need to make sure all the bits of the Phase One camera I borrowed over the weekend are back in place, including the not so good UV filters the rental department uses.

Back to iTunes and a final sync. Even though there are five apps, it's only 7am so plenty of time to sync.

Get dressed, spend ages looking for shop keys, notice iPhone is synced and rebooting.

Eventually find keys, ironically, under keyboard.

Oh Dear! iPhone is still rebooting.

10 minutes later, not good! Still rebooting.

A quick google informs me of the need to initiate restore mode. Oh well, I might miss the 7:30 but the 8:00 still gets me in on time.

Unplug iPhone.

Restart iTunes.

Hold home button.

Plug in phone.

Yay! Life! But what? It's downloading the firmware, but it did that about a week ago, surely it keeps it? And why is it downloading it so slowly, 246KB/s when my DSL will do 860KB/s? Are so many users restoring their iPhones that Appl is throttling bandwidth?

Half an hour later and the firmware and software are on. Now to restore from the backup (fortunately done at 0:31 this morning, just before I went to bed.)

At this point I'll probably be a little late for work, but I may as well hang around, how long can it take to copy 6GB over USB 2.0?

Answer: I have no idea!

After another 30 minutes of waiting, the progress bar stopped moving. It was moving so slowly before that it actually took five minutes to notice that it had stopped!

So I gave up. E-mailed the shop to let them know I'd be there soon (normally I'd text, but not today it seems.)

In the end my commute today consisted not of Diggnation, Twitter and mobile e-mail, but of writing exhaustively long blog posts and reading a book (Aperture 2 (Apple Pro Training))

I haven't written this much since I was forced to at school (not with a pen anyway)!

Kinda fun though.

Maybe we all need a bit of unreliability once in a while.....