Happy new year!

Merry Christmas!

Normal service will be resumed once all the good food has worn off.

BBC iPlayer Now for Mac!

Ok, so you can't download content but I like the interface and free is cheaper than Sky+!

Check out the iPlayer here.

Off to China

I've just booked a holiday in China!
First I'll be doing a two week "Discover China"tour with Jules Verne then I'll fly from Shanghai to Hong Kong and hang out there for 5 days at the Eaton.

My biggest dilemma so far is whether to lug the laptop with me. I'm thinking no, but then I'm gonna need one of those hard drive backup thingies. I saw the Hyperdrive Colorspace on Luminous Landscape. Looks pretty cool, especially the 4AA battery pack. I'm figuring that power may be an issue on parts of the tour. I've already contacted the UK distributor to try and get them in the shop, we'll see how that goes.

Anyone got any recommendations?
What should I see in Hong Kong?

Video tech tips, usefull?

I've been considering the idea of making some short video clips to illustrate the use of various light modifiers and other accessories.
Would tips this basic be usefull? I think they would. You could spend 5 minutes trying to explain the difference between a snoot and a grid or demonstrate it to them in a 1 minute video.
What do you think?

Dodgy Chinese Capacitors

Found this pic on the net.
I can't believe anyone would get away with this, the cap inside is a totally different rating, not even the voltage is the same!

See the world through books

After a huge breakfast at the Kingsway Hall we took a stroll down
Longacre and popped into Standfords book shop.
As a big Amazon patron it takes a lot for me to like a bricks and
mortar store but this place has me hooked.
Because it specialises in travel books and covers three floors it has
everything from lonely planet guides to NYC to strange (hand drawn?)
maps of the amazon.
The next time I travel, I'm coming here to buy the guides!

PhaseOne Christmas Night Out

A huge thank you to eric and phase one for the night out in London. A
lovely meal at The Forge on Garrick St was followed by Spamalot, which
as a Python fan, I found hillarious.
This is Eric, our host, getting in the biggest round ever...,

Strobist Makes Lighting 101 Into FREE PDF

David over at the Strobist blog has turned his superb Lighting 101 series into a pdf for free download.

Grab it here

Fraser goes Flying

Fraser here at TFC went over to Airkix yesterday to show them some lighting and ended up having a go himself.
Incase you don't know, Airkix is an upward facing wind-tunnel that simulates skydiving.
Check out the pictures here.

He's not been in today.......

Sitting on the Tarmac.

After a lovely week in Belfast enjoying the city and watching my
oldest friend get married I'm now stuck on the Tarmac.
Apparently they've just moved the air traffic control centre at
heathrow and 'as expected, it no longer works' (those were the pilots
words!)
Why is it that companies like google can roll out infrastructure
changes perfectly even though they are not safety critical systems yet
something like air traffic control gets screwed up so royally?
Alex Ray

http://www.theflashcentre.com
http://alexanderray.blogspot.com

Sent from my iPhone

First iPhone incident

Managed to drop it today!
Went and did the tourist thing at the giants causeway and whilst
scrambling over the columns I heard an ominous thwack. I looked down
to see my iPhone laying face down on a rock. With great trepidation I
picked it up and turned it over, fully expecting to find the screen
smashed or at least cracked. To my utter amazement it was fine! On
closer inspection I have found a small scratch on the back but nothing
major.
Even as a hardened Apple fan i'm amazed how resilient this thing is.
This evening I was showing the image browser to some friends kids. As
soon as they saw the pinch and stretch they totally got it, I've never
seen kids so totally enthused by a piece of technology so quickly.
That has to say something about the ui design.

Alex Ray

http://www.theflashcentre.com
http://alexanderray.blogspot.com

Sent from my iPhone

Belfast, cool city.

Not sure what I was expecting but so far I'm impressed. Of course it
is raining (heavily).

Alex Ray

http://www.theflashcentre.com
http://alexanderray.blogspot.com

Sent from my iPhone

Camera rig drives past the Brunswick

I saw this camera truck driving past the Brunswick this evening. They
were shooting video of a couple on a moped. The moped was on a very
low trailer, not sure I'd want to be riding over speed bumps on it!

Greenpeace likes something!

The environental protesters seem to like the idea of us all getting
the eurostar instead of flying.

Cool video shows some great optical illusions

It includes quite a few different types of illusion. You might want to
keep the pause button handy as some of them go by a little too quickly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOP37A1EhEs

New lightware lens tube

This one takes a 400mm but others are available. The solid construction and thick padding means they are quite happy in an aircraft hold. You can also use it as a handy seat!

posted from an iPhone

my  Phone

Booom!

I'm guessing that's the noise this head made when the inside of the capacitor shot out like a piston and destroyed the circuitry!




(2 days to iPhone)

Microsoft and Phase One Seen Holding Hands

We knew about this a few days ago but now I see MS have published the Press Release I don't mind blogging it.
So, it's a 'strategic alliance', sounds like some unlikely friendship between the Klingons and the Romulans! I have a feeling it'll just mean better RAW file support in Vista.
Or......
Microsoft Surface meets P45+, for those who need a 3 foot touchscreen interface on their digital back (more like a big ass table ;-)
Or......
Microsoft ups the ante against Google in the street level imaging war, by mounting 6 P45+ on top of each of it's Tahoe fleet, giving you a 700MB panorama at each node.

Nah, it'll just be better RAW in Vista.

Hasselblad Open Letter to Users

We received this today:

An Open Letter to Hasselblad Photographers and Partners.
There have been several announcements from Hasselblad over the past several weeks, and I wanted to take a moment to write to our photographers and partners to make sure each of you are aware of all of them.

The New H3DII DSLR Family
In the past few weeks, we have been busy around the world launching our 4th generation medium format DSLR, the new H3DII family. Following in the footsteps of the H1D, the H2D, and the H3D; the H3DII is the continuation of a product line that is one of the most successful in Hasselblad history. In addition, we have this week announced our newest camera, the H3DII-39MS a multi-shot version of the H3DII-39.
The H3DII has been available for delivery since the day it was announced. New features in the H3DII include a larger display, a new, more efficient "fan free" cooling technology, an integrated GPS option, and many more features and benefits that can be found on our Web site at www.hasselblad.com.
All of our "H System" cameras, whether film or digital, including the H3DII, continue to take advantage of our HC lens line, which independent testing has shown are the finest lenses Hasselblad has ever offered. This is important to us, since we recognize that many photographers have significant investments in HC lenses, and lenses are the most important and significant long-term investment a photographer makes.

Discontinuing the H2
We have made a decision to discontinue the H2 camera line. Starting with the H1 in 2002, both the H1 and H2 products have served us well, but demand simply no longer justifies the dedicated manufacturing line required for its production. The clear mandate we have received has been to continue to develop products and technologies to help create the best images possible, so we are transitioning resources and bandwidth from the H2 line to the H3DII. This will enable us to keep up with H3DII demand (which has been tremendous), and also help us respond to what the market is asking for – DSLR's.
By trimming our product portfolio of models that are no longer in significant demand, we can concentrate more of our resources on what photographers tell us they want – the ability to create great images. The best way to do this, as we have stated for years, is in an integrated system where all of the components, from the lens to the capture unit to the software, are designed as a system and are communicating and working together. In short, via an integrated DSLR. The great success of the H3D and H3DII families, as well as the huge success and product strategy of industry giants like Canon and Nikon (as well as products announced by Sinar, Leaf and Mamiya) all confirm that this is the way to go.

The launch of the H2F
The H2F is a greatly simplified "film only" version of the H2, and consequently does not require the same level of manufacturing, R, and support overhead the H2 does. It allows us to devote our resources to developing and supporting products that are in demand, while continuing to support film.
We have over half a century of history with film, and don't want to abandon film manufacturers or photographers. We feel an obligation to continue to offer a film camera as long as possible, and the H2F is a good compromise that allows us to continue to offer a film alternative, while directing most of our R, Manufacturing and Support efforts to the digital products that photographers tell us they want.

Future support for the H2 and HC/HCD lenses
At Hasselblad we continue to devote considerable resources to the support of camera systems that, in some cases, are over 40 years old. We pride ourselves on this, our legacy of support. You can be assured that this support will continue with our H1 and H2 installed base, for a minimum of 10 years from the date of purchase.
In addition, a decision to invest in HC/HCD lenses was a good one. Lenses are a critical and important investment, and we are proud that the HC lenses we produced in 2002 are just as useful and valuable in 2007 as they were the day they were produced. The image files captured through these lenses have improved every day since: with new lens perfecting software, with new natural color rendering, and with several other new advances in digital image perfection. This will continue.

Future Support of Hasselblad CF Digital Backs
We will continue to develop new products in the CF camera back line for Hasselblad photographers as well as photographers using other camera platforms, and will support the CF product line as we do our other product lines.

"Hasselblad Care Program" for H-system owners
To support our commitment to the owners of H-system camera products, on November 1, 2007, we are launching the "Hasselblad Care Program". This program is designed to include owners of all H-camera systems, including digital capture devices, regardless of manufacturer. The "Hasselblad Care Program" consists of a set of product enhancement options, all designed to support our photographers and increase the value of Hasselblad H-system products, including:
- Options for trading in current H-system products for a newer or more powerful model. This includes H1/H2 owners, owners of Hasselblad digital back solutions, as well as owners of a H1D or H2D cameras.
- Options for refurbishing a H-system product to full current factory standards
- Options for access to new H-system product information

Last of all, but most importantly, I want to thank you for your continued support and patronage. It is you who have made our great success possible, and we value your business. And, of course, thank you for helping make the H3D and now the H3DII two of the most successful products in Hasselblad's 50+ year history. I hope you find our new product offerings interesting and I trust you will take advantage of our "Hasselblad Care" program .

Best regards,

Christian Poulsen
CEO of Hasselblad.


You'll notice at the end they say indirectly that H1 and H2 users can upgrade to 'a newer, more powerful model', I don't see how that's possible as the H2 is a camera body but the H3 is a DSLR (a different thing) and there is nothing an H2 user can upgrade to.

Also they'll 'refurbish an H-system product to full current factory standards' wow, thanks for that, given that it's the Law that they continue to repair products for 7 years after they are discontinued!

HCP, Hasselblad Care Program. I'll leave it to you to come up with other things it could stand for...

Canon (Finally?) Admit Hardware Fault with 1DMkIII Focusing

So it turns out the sub mirror assembly (the thing that bounces light down to the focusing ccd) doesn't like hot weather!
Cameras will need to be returned to Canon for the fix (Canon will release details of the exact process for this on a later date.)
This fault will not be present on the 1DsMkIII.

More details on the Rob Galbraith site.

Lightware bag closes Airport

A great piece on sportshooter.com tells the story of a photographer who's Lightware bag (more precisely it's content) closes an airport and attracts the police, fire and news crews.
It goes to show that you can buy the right case to put your gear in, but, as a photographer, you've just got to accept you'll be stopped more than others.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1833

As an aside, I'm off to The Baby Show at Earl's Court tomorrow to help Canon photograph hundreds of babies and their parents. I'm quite sure the babies won't be screaming horrors.
Yeah right!

Big News From PhaseOne and Hasselblad

Phase One released some very interesting news last night....
1./ Hasselblad are discontinuing the H2, replacing it with the H2F, which will have limited features when used with a digital back.
2./ Phase One will be releasing their own camera system early next year.

So Hasselblad are continuing along their crazed path of closing off the H platform to other manufacturer's backs. Limiting the choice you give photographers is never a good thing. Imagine what would happen if Canon decided no-one could use their lens mount to make third party lenses! It's a very short sighted plan.
It seems Hasselblad don't care about their H1 and H2 customers unless they also happen to own a Hasselblad back.
We all had our suspicions that this would happen eventually.
Phase One have stocked up on H2 bodies for those customers who still want them and will of course continue to offer platform swaps for those who want to change camera systems.

Anyway, the good news is that Phase One will have their own camera platform at the beginning of 2008. I'm afraid there are no more details than that so the speculation and rumour mills will have to fill in the blanks. Will it be a Rollei Hy6 clone?

2008 is going to be a very exciting year in the digital back world!

And... Relax.

I spent my Thursday last week at a Spa (thank you Vicky). A very nice Spa too I might add.
Stoke Park Club is where OddJob demonstrated his hat throwing antics to James Bond in Goldfinger and where Bridget Jones took a Romantic weekend away.
It was worth every penny for that moment when I thought to myself "Ah, this is what it feels like to be relaxed" So I'm desperately trying to hold onto that moment but even after 2 hours back at work I can feel the tension beginning to ease back into my muscles and the stress burning at my temples.
Oh well, I wonder if I can find a quiet place in the warehouse (that isn't already occupied by a sleeping Fraser)....

Sunbounce in L.A.

Check out this cool California Sunbounce video with photographer Michael Grecco. It reminds me that every time I use a Sunbounce I'm surprised at the incredible effect it has on an image (and how much lighter it is than even a small portable flash!)
You can check out the Pro size frame and the Sunswatter on the TFC site.

Automated Image Editing, WOW!

I wandered into this youtube video showing a cool technology for expanding and contracting images based on their content. It means you can scale an image to fit the space you need but the important content inside the image is not distorted.
It works by finding complex routes across the image that are least interesting and removing or interpolating along that route.
It not easy to describe, just watch the video...


And this isn't just some sci-fi technical paper, you can now get it as a plug-in for the UNIX image editor, GIMP.

Amazing Discounts on PhaseOne refurbs

I've just update the TFC website with some amazing prices on PhaseOne Factory refurbs:
You can now get...
P45 for £9995+VAT
P30 for £6495+VAT
and
P25 for £7495+VAT
We also still have P20s and P21s from just £3995+VAT
That's pretty incredible, a 39MP portable digital back for less than £10,000.
All factory refurbished units include a 1 year warranty which can be upgraded to a high priority service level agreement.

Halo 3

WOW
'Nuf said

It gets hot in there!

This is what happens when you switch on a head and leave the protective cap on.

The cap has completely melted, leaving residue all over the tube (which is probably shot), reflector, modelling bulb holder (the bulb is long gone, leaving it's legs behind) and accessory mount (most of which is also melted!)
Blimey!
Remember this next time you use a snoot or other enclosed light modifier.
Update...
This is what it should look like:

Shiney!

Shure Cusomer Service

Last December I treated myself to a pair of Shure E2C In-Ear Headphones for my then new iPod Nano.
They were perfect for my commute on the tube as they go right inside your ear canal, blocking off almost all external noise. In fact they work so well that I can put the iPod on 50% of the previous volume level and get better sound than before!
But, recently the cable had started to degrade, just in the position that it loops over the ear. It seemed the moisture from my skin had attacked the cable, making it brittle.
I googled the problem and found that it had happened to a few other people, so, armed with this info I went down to the apple store to see what could be done. "Ah, yes, you neeed to call Shure, and they'll send a replacement" said the nice Apple lady. Most people would feel palmed off by this answer, but, working in retail, I know that it is usually quicker to deal directly with the importer, if they allow it.
So, I e-mailed Shure and they replied straight back with a number to call. 15 minutes later, the phones are in the post on their way to Tottenham.
They specifically told me to just send back the 'phones, not the case, not the foam tips, just the phones.
Two day later, in the post is.... A brand new boxed set of 'phones, including case, tips, everything. Cool! (And I was expecting a pair coiled up in a baggie stuffed in a jiffy bag)
So if they ever read this, many thanks to Shure for your helpfull, speedy, complete, customer service.

Lumedyne Legend Comes to Visit

DJ La Dez, head man at Lumedyne, our favorite super-portable flash company, is coming to visit.
He'll be making an appearance at the Birmingham branch on October 8th to do a day of training, hints, tips and ideas.
More details to follow.......

Wahey!, I'm a Professional!

Yep, I'm back from Denmark with a framed certificate that lets everyone know I'm officially a Phase One Professional. (I've only been selling them for 8 years!)
It was a great trip, many thanks to Jesper, Claus, Ulf, Mia and Ditte for an informative and entertaining three days.
For those of you hoping for the inside scoop on Capture One 4 Pro, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, they're being very tight lipped about it, we couldn't even get a sneak peek!
We did have a day looking at the Beta of Capture One 4 (formerly LE) though (this was the best bit of the week for me).
I much prefer the new file navigator to the old system and I love the fact that you can zoom all the way into an image without having to use a separate focus tool window.
You can see that the software developers have really listened to the feedback they get from users, in fact, whilst we were there we gave them a few 'wouldn't it be great if's which were eagerly noted down and I'm sure passed on.
It was good to meet Ulf who despite being an installation manager seems to spend most of his time looking after customers on the Phase One Forum.

Oh, Danish beef, wow!

If you have any questions, put them in the comments....

Any Questions?

I'm off to PhaseOne for a few days, if anyone has any questions for them, leave them in the comments below and I'll do my best to get an answer.

Training Day 2, Return of the Accessory

We had another day of training up at the Brum branch yesterday.
Jerry from Intro 2020, one of the biggest photographic importer/distributor came along to show us the range of goodies they sell.
Here's a quick roundup of my favourite parts:


New Tamron 28-300 Vibration control lens - definitely built for the budget end of the market, this is Tamron's first image stabilising lens. I have to say that it wasn't bad for a 'cheap' lens, the 'VC' worked pretty well, although the pre-production unit we saw seemed a bit jumpy, locking on well but then suddenly skipping before locking on again.

Microsync Digital radio slave - I've seen alot on the web about these, comparing them to skyport and the various chinese units available. The first thing you notice is how small the transmitter is, it's tiny, even smaller than the Elinchrom Skyport, and it's really nicely built. The receiver, however, although not large, is heavy, possibly due to the fact that it runs on 2 AA batteries. Specs for the kit are average, 110ft range, 4 channels. But unlike Skyport, the 4 chanells don't have sub-channels, so you can't fire just one light and then flip a swich and fire all lights. This seems to me like a major drawback. Oh, and then there's the price, £189 inc VAT for a transmitter/receiver kit, that's more than £75 more than skyport!

Kenko Light Meters - Many people mourned the loss of Minolta's Meters when they stopped making them a couple of years back, well they need mourn no longer! Kenko (maker of the age-old Teleplus teleconverter) have bought the rights and tooling to the old range of Minolta meters (although they don't have the rights to use the Minolta name). The new range is:

• KFM1100 - £199 inc VAT - Flash and ambient meter, scene contrast measurement, rotating head.





• KFM2100 - £299 inc VAT - Flash and ambient, contrast and latitude measurement, swivel head and spot meter with viewfinder display. Highlight and shadow preservation .





• KCM3100 - £599 inc VAT - Ahhhh..... the classic old minolta colour meter is back, but this time the same head does flash and ambient measuring, and the old meter used to cost over a grand, so this is a bargain!





• 
  

Gossen Meters - Synonymous with quality, the Gossen name has been going for ages., We saw their bottom end meter, but even this was really well made. The DigiPro F is a simple meter, not dissimilar to the classic Sekonic 308bII. One nice thing I noticed is that you can use it with just one hand, you never need to press 2 buttons at the same time or press a button and rotate a dial, this means you'll never have to let go of your camera. Did I mention that this lovely meter is only £129? Bargain!



Seculine IR camera remote - £59 inc VAT - this is two products in one: A cables bulb release and an IR wireless release. Most of my experience with IR releases of any kind (camera or flash triggers) has been flakey, they tend to be OK indoors, at short range, but outdoors they are useless, the receiver is flooded by the light from the Sun. This kit was an epiphany, we took it outdoors connected to a camera and fired it whilst walking away. It finally stopped working 80 paces away. Oh, the receiver was pointing INTO THE SUN! That just shouldn't have worked! But it did, so now we love them, and hey it's only a few quid more than a Canon wired release!

Sunpack Flash diffuser - £29 inc VAT - This was one of those cool little accessories that you know is going to punch above it's weight and really improve an image. The photo says it all really.



CLB light Balance Target - I wrote about these in the newsletter quite some time ago. Using a complex mix of textured surface, lenses and mirrors they give a really accurate white balance, integrating light from all directions and including highlights and shadows, not just some random mid-grey. I liked them back then even though they cost nearly twice as much as they do now. At £79 inc VAT (and that's for the biggest size) They are great!

ZigView S2 - This is a small video camera/screen which attaches to the viewfinder of your DSLR giving you a remote live feed and shutter firing. The S2 also has a detachable screen which can be placed on a 10m extension cable. Useful for surveillance it can also be used in the studio, just pop the camera on a tripod and you can walk around interacting with the subject whilst checking framing and firing the camera. £250 inc vat gets you the S2, camera firing cable and short remote cable, £29 adds the 10m extension.

So, as you can tell, it was a long day (I haven't even mentioned the Metz!) but really useful. Many thanks to Jerry and also to the ladies over at the cafe for the lovely bacon roll.

iPod Touch, makes me want an iPhone

I've just seen the new iPod Touch with it's wi-fi web browsing ability." OMG, that's cool"
is what I thought. I'll be able to browse the web, get my e-mail (via webmail) and not have to splash out on an iPhone.
But then came the realisation that actually, wi-fi is pretty useless in the UK. The only two places where I have access are the two places I'm never without my laptop, home and work.
There's no such thing as municipal wif-i in the UK and hotspots are incredibly expensive.
So, I need and iPod Touch but with moble internet.
Damn, I need an iPhone.

Apple, hurry up and give us a 3G UK iPhone. I've decided I will be wanting it after all.

Apple's Announcements, Always When I'm on the Tube!

Why do Apple insist on always having their mystery product announcements at 10 am PST?
It' s a real pain 'cos it coincides with my tube journey home. I leave work desperately wanting up-to the minute news and arrive at home after it's all happened.
So tonight I will arrive home, open my laptop and find out about all the new iPod Nanos, widescreen iPods and any other cool products Apple has invented.
That's if I ever get home, damn tube strikes may have been suspended but the Met line still isn't working, I guess the RMT members couldn't get back from their holidays in time for this morning!

Credit card frustrations

People keep telling me that cash is dead and we'll all be using credit cards to buy everything.
Well the way things seem to be going, that ain't gonna happen any time soon.
The reason... It's getting increasingly difficult to process credit card mail orders.

Let me explain the problem:
When we process a mail order we need these details:

1. card number (plus expiry date and CV2 code from the back)
2. the cards billing address

We then input the card details into the streamline machine followed by:

1. the numbers in the billing address
2. the numbers in the postcode of the billing address

And that's where everything goes horribly wrong. You see, these two addresses look the same, read the same, and if you used them to post things they'd both work:

joe bloggs, flat 9
7 any street
anytown, NW4
1AB

joe bloggs
flat 9, 7 any street
anytown
NW4 1AB

But in the first address the 9 is on the 'name' line so it doesn't count and the first part of the postcode is on the wrong line, so the 4 won't be part of the postcode numbers, but it will be in the address numbers.
So we'll type in: 97 and 14. But the machine want's: 74 and 1.
We call the customer and tell him that the address appears to be wrong (but we don't know why, just that it's wrong), he insists it's right (not surprisingly, he thinks he knows his own address!)
We can use a voice authorisation service, but this costs £3 each time, and it doesn't always help.
The only way to solve this problem is for the customer to phone his bank and ask them to check his address details AND that they match the details the card processing companies have.

So, if you order something from us and we call back asking all sorts of strange questions about your address, this is the reason....
.... Some keyboard monkey in a bank somewhere, charged with the job of copying addresses from one database to another, screwed up.

Sorry.

Capture One v4 Beta Finally here!

Blimey, I've forgotten how long we've been waiting for this!

Get the beta here, you might be surprised how different it is ;-)

let me know what you think in the comments below......

Test your skill in colour

These are some cool games that test your colour perception:
http://livelygrey.com/exercises/submenu.html

You just have to put the colour swatches in the right order, kinda like the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test.

Enjoy.

Canon 1Ds MkIII waiting list opened

We've never bothered to have waiting lists before but we know demand for the 1Ds MkIII is going to outstrip supply for some time.

A formal list is the best way of ensuring fair distribution of the limited stock.

Basically, we're taking a £50 non-returnable deposit, once a unit is available you'll then pay the balance.
The deposit is there to stop people putting themselves on the list loads of times and selling their places when the cameras become available.

Sign up here to get on the list.

Canon Launch 2 cameras and 3 lenses.

Well we didn't see this coming ;-)
direct from Canon:

EOS 1DSmk3

- 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS sensor
- 5fps – 56 Large JPEG burst/12 in Raw
- Hi-precision 19 cross-type AF points
- "Live View" Mode
- Dual “DIGIC III” Processors
- ISO 100-1600 (L:50 H:3200)
- Highlight Tone Priority
- 14-bit A/D convertor
- UDMA card compatiable
- Picture Styles
- EOS Integrated Cleaning System
- 3.0" LCD Screen
- Lighter Magnesium Alloy body
- Optional Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E2) with External HDD and GPS
compatiability
- EOS Solutions Disc with RAW processing software and Picture Styles Editor


EOS 40D

- 10.1MP CMOS sensor
- 6.5fps - Up to 75 Large/Fine JPEG burst
- Hi-precision 9 cross-type AF points
- “DIGIC III” Processor
- ISO 100-1600 (H:3200)
- Larger & Brighter viewfinder
- 14-bit A/D convertor
- Picture Styles
- 3 Custom Modes
- EOS Integrated Cleaning System
- "Live View" Mode
- 3.0" LCD Screen
- Strong Magnesium Alloy body
- Optional Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E3) with External HDD and GPS
compatiability
- Complete compatibility with all Canon EF & EF-S lenses and EX Speedlites


EF14mm f/2.8L USM

- Replacement to the existing EF 14mm f/2.8L USM
- Improved edge performance
- Circular Aperture
- Dust and weather sealing
- 0.2m Focusing distance
- Latest USM algorithms for fast AF
- Flare and ghosting suppressed


EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS & EF-S 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 IS USM

- Newly developed 4-stop Image Stabilezer units
- Lightweight and compact
- High image quality for all focal length
- Closer focusing distances
- Improved handling
- Lens coatings to minimise ghosting and flare

Amazon jump the gun and launch Canon's 1DsMKIII (and 40D too!)

Yep, thanks to an overzealous web monkey at Amazon we now know all about Canon's next super camera!
The replacement for the 1DsMkII will be the 1DsMkIII (no surprises there then!)
The important facts are:

• 21.1MP (full frame of course)
• 5fps
• Dual DigicIII parallel processors
• 45 point AF (same as the 1DIII)
• 3 inch live view LCD
• 14 bit A/D
• Self cleaning sensor
• Dual CF and SD cards
• New battery pack (same as the 1DMKIII)
• WFT-E2 compatable
• Same USB port (with cable clamp) as the 1DMkIII

So, this is the camera we've all been dreaming of? Well it ain't far off perfect. The extra bit depth in the RAW will be worth seeing and I can't wait to see the live view in use in the studio (how long will it take before the chip over heats and turns off?)
My big worry is how many extra lens faults we're going to see with all that extra resolution. Give them their dues though, Canon have thought about that and added a Lens Aberration Correction Function to Digital Photo Pro. Apparently this will work with 12 different EOS cameras and 29 EF and EF-S lenses. Sounds a bit like the fancy Hasselblad system to me. So long as Canon don't use it as an excuse to make crap lenses under the pretence that it will all be OK in the software (not that I'm suggesting Hasselblad would do that)!
Check out the full story at Engadget.
And thanks to Jim in Brum for flagging this up!
I give it until Tuesday before Canon make the launch official.
Oh, and Amazon made the same booboo with Canon's 30D replacement imaginatively titled 40D.

Updates

Added this extract from the D-Lite DVD to the D-Lite category and product pages.

Updates

Camera Armor now up with a joint permajet button on the front page.

Camera Armor Review and the Duck Tour

Last weekend I went on the famous london duck tour (thank you vicky xxx). Incase you haven't heard of it, it's a bus tour of some of the most popular london sights. The unique thing about it though is the bus itself. You're driven around in a world war 2 DUKW amphibious truck. This allows the tour to go places that normal tour busses don't go, like in the Thames!
Anyway, it turns out that although they give a great view, the back seats aren't the best place to be once you get in the water. Thanks to the boarding steps, there's quite a lot of splashery.
I had two cameras with me on the tour, a 1DMkIII with a 100-400LIS, which was of course fine with getting splashed, given that it's fully weatherproofed. I also had my own 5D with a sigma 12-24.
Now, out of the box the 5D isn't weatherproofed but luckily mine was dressed in a Camera Armor rubber suit. I'd been trying this out for a week or so beforehand and liked the 'knock protection' it afforded but with all the water flying around it really started to show it's worth.
Don't get me wrong, Camera Armor won't make your camera waterproof, far from it. What it does do though is stop 80% of the water from touching the camera. It comes with a universal lens hood made from the same rubber which you have to stretch over the front of the lens. The hood will offer some impact protection, especially for the cheaper lenses that come in camera+lens kits. The 12-24 I was using had few moving parts (just the focus and zoom rings) so I wasn't too fussed about water ingress and it has a fixed metal petal shaped hood which protects the lens well on it's own so I didn't bother using the rubber one.
The Camera Armor has flaps and access holes so you can easily get to the battery and memory compartments. It also has copies of all the cameras buttons moulded onto it with raised lettering mirroring the cameras own printed labels. Of course, because you're pressing the buttons through a layer of rubber they do feel different, less positive, but you get used to this and just learn to press a bit harder (just a tiny bit, nothing serious).
One of the best parts is the clear plastic screen protector that fits over the LCD. This really does give good good protection to possibly the most vulnerable part of the camera. It's a separate, removable part, which is a good thing as I found (ironically) that it does scratch quite easily!
The rubbery feel of the skin actually made the camera feel more secure whilst holding it, but it does make the grip physically bigger (which suited me fine, but may not be so great if you don't have gorilla hands) in fact, this could be a very good thing on cameras such as the 400D which seem to be ergonomically designed for petite ladies and the Japanese (which makes sense really, as they are a Japanese company!).

All in all, I like Camera Armor skins and for DSLRs like the 350D which have a plastic body it seems like a no-brainer. £25 to £40 buys you great protection from knocks, splashes and grubby hands (did I forget to mention the incident involving a small child's lollypop covered fingers?).
Pros:

• Improved rubbery feel grip.
• LCD protector.
• protection from dings and scratches improves second hand value
• Improved ergonomics with smaller cameras and bigger hands.

Cons:

• Reduced 'feel' of the buttons (especially the shutter release)
• LCD protector scratches easily.
• Reduced ergonomics with larger cameras and smaller hands.

Place your order here, available for most current Canon and Nikon DSLRs.

Canon 1DMkIII Firmware released!

Hot in my inbox this morning was an e-mail from Canon about the long awaited Firmware update for the 1D MkIII.
in their own words it fixes:

This firmware update (Version
1.1.0) incorporates the following
improvements and fixes.

Improves the look of images when played back on the LCD monitor.
Fixes a problem in the operation of the dials (Main, Quick Control, Vertical-grip Main).
Reduces the tendency to autofocus on the background instead of the main subject when shooting in AI Servo AF under certain conditions.
Corrects errors in the Italian and Simplified Chinese menu screens.
Fixes a rare phenomenon in which the camera cannot start normally when the battery is inserted. (Version 1.0.9 only)

The upgrade can be downloaded here.

Note the very quiet mention of a focusing fix!

PhaseOne P30+ Digital Back frozen in dry ice, still works! (video)

To demonstrate how rugged their digital backs are, Phase One decided to drop a £13,000 P30+ into a bucket of dry ice until it reached -55°C.
Amazingly, after putting in a fresh battery and scraping the frost off of the display it worked perfectly! (Unlike the stress ball which accompanied it that went solid.)

Check out the video of the mad Danish Tech!

Updates

Added some lumedyne (batteries, kits, packs and heads) but I'm waiting for them to send product images.
Added DIGG buttons to this blog!
Added new birmingham courses, including portrait lighting and art nude ones with Chris Burfoot and album layout with Terry Hewlett

Capture One Feature Summary

I know it's an ad but this page gives a really great overview of what capture one does.

(but if you want to buy it, go here and save yourself from the 25% Danish VAT!

Amazing Vanity Fair Images

A Group Shot Master Class
The slideshow above has what I'm sure will be some of the most iconic images of our time (certainly so far as the film industry is concerned).
Can you imagine who would have been in these images if they were shot in the '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s?
I'm not a fan of Annie's shot of the Queen but I love these.
(Seen on Strobist)

(1DmkIII)+(WFT-E2)=Coolest thing ever

A bunch of us were in the Birmingham branch yesterday getting trained up on the 1DMkIII and WFT-E2 wireless transmitter.
The first thing we all addressed was the now infamous focusing issue.
My opinion now is this...
1. There is an issue with high contrast subjects (you might read this as sunny conditions), this is being fixed in firmware.
2. There are way too many customisation options for most photographers to deal with. This is especially true of the focussing system where it can be very easy to completely screw it up buy setting it up wrong.

So, we were happy with the conclusion that a good read of the manual and a flash of the firmware would sort everybody out.

The best part of the day by far came when we plugged in the WFT-E2 wireless transmitter. If you never had the pleasure of using the first version of this (the WFT-E1 strangely) you'll know it was an absolute dog to get working. I'm glad to report that Canon have definitely learnt from their mistakes. The new one has a short setup wizard (accessed on the camera's screen) that works like a dream. It shows you all the available networks, you pick one, enter a password (if needed) and you're up!
The system has two ways of working; PTP and http.
PTP works in conjunction with the new DPP (Digital Photo Pro) software and allows complete wireless control of every aspect of the camera, including manual focus adjustment, exposure and firing, you even get a live view through the camera courtesy of the cameras live video.
HTTP basically gives you a webserver running on the WFT-E2 so you can access it using any computer on the same network just by typing the cameras IP address into a web browser. Http access doesn't give you total control over the camera however, you can fire it ans see/download the resulting image and you can browse any storage the camera is using (SD card, CF Card or USB drive connected to the WFT-E2). However, there's nothing to stop you using port forwarding on your router to make the camera accessible from the internet.
This is the screen for firing the camera:
And this is the browser window:

The possibilities with this combo seem endless, I can't wait till we've got enough stock (read no back orders) to get some in rental.

Have you used the 1DMkIII? What did you think? What uses can you think of for the WFT-E2?

theflashcentre.com is down at the mo (now back up!!)

We're aware of this.
Apparently most of Fasthost's customers have been off for the day, sites are coming back online slowly, hopefully we'll be soon.

Update: It might be a coincidence, but fasthost's "secure" data centre is in this area, currently coloured blue (on a floodplain!)

Update II: Now back up!

See the images the world is uploading

Flickervision is a great example of a web 2.0 style mashup, mixing geotagged Flickr images with google maps.

Well now Flickrvision's in glorious 3D.

I could watch this all day!

Updates

Bit more Permajet done, I think I'm gonna do one paper per day, that should keep me sane.

New rental pricelist uploaded. It includes lighting and camera products across all 4 branches. No fancyness, just a simple pricelist.

Loads of referb Phase One backs are now sold out.

Last few places available on Norman Childs lighting course for architectural interiors so I've put it in the side bar to fill the last slots.

Updates

Starting to get Permajet papers and Lumedyne up.
New "buyers guide to light' TFC pricelist is now available as a PDF download!
The pricelist has some cool new products including Bacht flash heads from germany and some TFC exclusive Lastolight products.

The fate of Jessops.

When I was young my experience of buying photographic gear was dominated by one store. They had the biggest ads in all the magaznes I read, frequently running to 8 full pages, basically a small catalogue.
They majored on products that gave good value for money in an era when price hunting between shops was not easy to do and most items were sold at full retail price.
Back then there was no internet. Finding the best price for a product meant going out, buying a couple of photographic mags (usually Amateur Photographer and Practical Photography) and going through all the ads. Well thats how I bought my Nikon F90X, eventually settling on Robert White. Although my camera came from elsewhere all my accessories came from Jessops, including the own brand camera bag, Uni-Loc tripod, vivitar lenses (do they still make those?) and Centon flash. These are the kinds of kit that do the job so long as you treat them well, the stock kit of beginners in those days.
So what's changed? In a word, Internet.
If i get to have 2 words, the other one is Digital.
If I want to buy something now, what do I do?
1. I read a review site like dpreview to find the exact product I want. This explains to me why I should spend a little extra, it fuels the gadget lust to a greater level. I no longer want the low end product that 'can do' I want the high end one that can do with bells on. I might have to save up a bit longer but I'm willing to do that so I can get the same results as the pros (or think I can!). The point is, I don't want the cheap no brand stuff only Jessops has, so my shopping mall has gotten bigger.
2. Now I know what I want i need to know where to get it. No longer do I head for the magazine stands, I'm on google. Or maybe pricerunner. Or maybe I'l just go to the sites I usually buy from. Maybe I'll even have a look at Jessop's site.
The chances of Jessops being cheapest are slim, so they've probably lost my business if I'm buying online. But what If I want to play with my gadget before I buy? Well maybe Jessops can help me. I can go into one of their high rent, fancy looking high street stores and have a look, maybe even talk to the staff. But will I actually buy it there? Only if they can match the cheap price of, lets say, their own website!
And there's the rub, they're selling at online prices from bricks and mortar shops. And no-one can afford to sustain that.

So, we have a shop who's long tail of products has been spread around other, more efficient retailers. Who's high margin, own brand stuff isn't selling. And who's remaining sales can't sustain them because they're running an online business out of 200+ real shops.

I'm fairly sure they won't go down entirely, but what they'll look like in 5 years time is anyone's guess.
What would I do?
Sell up the shops.
Buy a huge warehouse, oh they already have one!
Make a really nice website selling all the bits no-one else has.
Build an affiliate scheme to increase traffic and brand visibility.
Cross my fingers and hope for the best!

Well, that's what I think.

Canon 1DMkIII Focus Problems

Is it crap? Is it great? Does it stop working in hot weather? Is everyone just using the wrong settings?
Of course Canon's line is the usual.... "We've heard that a limited number of people may be having problems and we're looking into it. The 1DMkIII is a complex camera and not just an upgrade to the 1DMkIIIN" blah blah blah.

Here are some of the better posts on dpreview ;-)
New MkIII Focus Test NEW
Scooter's scientific 1D3 servo analysis... NEW

Personally, I think that a camera should be able to AF on a static subject whatever the settings are! (But I also think it's weird that using IS on a tripoded camera can break your lens, so what do I know?!)
As soon as we have a spare one here to put into rental I'll give it a thorough bashing and post my thoughts.
Until then, let us know if you've had a problem.

The Brunswick Centre, a nice place to be.

If you haven't come to see us in London for a while, you're missing out on more than you think.
Your memory of The Brunswick is at best one of a building site, at worst, a concrete carbuncle reminiscent of those '80s images of Beruit (but with less bullet holes)!

But take a look at some of these Brunswick Centre images on Flickr and you'll see that things have changed.

Check out The Brunswick website for a list of all the shops and restaurants but in short we have:
Waitrose
Starbucks
Next
Carluccio's
Nandos (mmm, hot chicken. Damn I've had lunch!)
Hare and Tortiose
Strada
Square Pie
Giraffe (has a happy hour 5-7pm - buy one get one free cocktails and 2 courses for £7!)
Benetton
Baby Gap
Boots
New Look

The list goes on!

So with all these great shops on our doorstep and the British Museum and Oxford Street 15 minutes walk away why not make a day of it.
Oh, don't forget the carpark right underneath us and Russell Square tube station at the south end of the centre.
Before you ask, yes we are in the congestion zone. But hey, that's just more reason to make the most of the day!

Come and enjoy the new centre of Bloomsbury's Cafe culture.

Elinchrom Skyport Wins Award

Yeay!
The Photographer (The BIPP's Magazine) today awarded the Elinchrom Skyport Wireless System Best Accessory in the photo industry awards 2007.

Updates

Inspired by the video below and by the minimalist zen principles of Strobist I've put together a great kit of nano stand, tilt adapter and hotshoe adapter.
It has loads and loads of upgrades and options, including different stands, triggering systems (PocketWizard, Skyport and STE-2), brollies and softboxes, you can even get the speedlight bundled in!

So if you're after an ultra-portable kit, have a look at the new On-Camera-Off-Camera Kit.

Simple Lighting, Great Results

This short video shows how just a couple of Canon Speedlights can give you great looking shots.
Just shows that brains and creativity wins over a pile of expensive kit!

D-Lite Appears on Tips From The Top Floor!

If you don't listen to Tips From The Top Floor, you should. It's a really great podcast by Chris Marquardt from Germany (it's in English!)

Recently he's also been doing some great short videos and the last 2 episodes have featured his new D-Lites.

Here's Studio Lights 1

and Studio Lights 2

Updates

Just re-listed the Canon iPF5000 at £1099+VAT, reduced from £1695. That makes it an incredible bargain!
At this price it still includes the roll holder.
WOW!

This price will only be available for a short time, after that, it's back up to £1549 so you'd better get in quick!

Strobist starts Lighting 102

David over at Strobist has just started the much awaited Lighting 102 course. For those of you who want to start at the start, Lighting 101 can be found here.

These courses are completely free (although you can make a donation to help the site.)

David recommends Light - Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting as a course texbook, I haven't read it yet but I hear good things so my copy is on it's way from Amazon.

Updates

Just finished off some big changes to the front page (yes, it's Saturday!). I really think this looks much cleaner than what we had there previously, Lots more effort, but really worth it.
Let me know what you think...

...leave a comment.

When Studio Lights Attack!

This electrolytic capacitor was dug out of a 10 year old Elinchrom 3000W/s Combi Pack.
No, it wasn't taken out by a sniper, this is what happens when a 'Cap' lets go from old age.
Not surprisingly, the customer had described the fault as 'It went bang'.
This is a great example of the power and energy stored within a typical studio flash pack, keep in mind that there are 16 of these in a 3k pack and under normal operation their combined stored energy is released in about 1/1850s.
A couple of these would easily re-start your heart, 16 of them however would, well, if you're ever thinking of repairing your own studio gear, don't say we didn't warn you!

take 20 minutes to watch this...

Hot Tips from Drew Gardner

I'm sitting at the back of a studio in Holborn Studios listening to Drew Gardner talk about his experiences. Here are a few points he makes:

• Use the overlay tool in CaptureOne, saves time during capture and post prodution.
• Even if a job only needs small files, use your best gear (in his case a P45+), you never know what the client may ask for in the future.
• Make the Art Director a happy man during the shoot by showing him final shots, avoid the term "it'll be fine after it's been photoshopped". It's him who will hire you in the future.

That's a small sample, he's been talking for ages, they're actually pulling him off the stage now!

Updates

Linked to PhaseOne Seminars on front page and Phase One category.
Walter Borchenco is a great speaker, every time I see him it makes me want to sit and re-process all my images in Capture One trying out new settings.

Added Jim Marks Testimonial to Phase One category. I love the photos of Sir Alan Sugar (although he does look a bit like a chauffeur in one of them!)

Updates

Added three instructional lighting DVDs:
D-Lite DVD
DVD Guide to Better Pictures (Chris Burfoot)
Studio Portrait Lighting DVD (Joe Craig)

Improved the 'Our Products' category page with some images in a table, much nicer than a list of subcategories.

Capture One Pro and LE Feature Comparison

I seem to get ask about the difference between C1 Pro and C1 LE everyday.
PhaseOne do have a comparion list on their website but it takes a bit digging to find it.
You'll find it here:
Capture One Feature Comparison

Make sure you scroll to the bottom and check the box so you can compare Capture One Pro and LE features on the same page.

Updates

Added the new hotshoe to minijack cable.
Hand made by Sav and known in-house as the 'SavSync'.
Also added it (and other bits) as accessories to Pocketwizard and Skyport kits.

Added a new Careers category to display our current sevice department vacancy.

Updates

Art Nude course added. I think we've done OK with our use of images for this.

Added my Flickr stream to the bar on the right, just there===>

Added nice animated link to 'Looking to Learn' in the right side bar.

Made the Looking to Learn category much nicer.

The power of blogging

Back from my short break (and fully recovered from the 7 hr drive back!).
On my return I thought I'd check and see how our website was fairing stats wise. We use Google Analytics to track our stats, a very capable package with features way beyond those we use. Anyway, for the first time ever we didn't see a drop in visits over the weekend, actually, we got more visitors on Saturday than Friday. "What caused this?" I hear you ask.
One link on a blog. Thats it.
Not paid advertising.
Not a review in a Magazine.
So, a big thanks for the mention Strobist.
And we're glad you enjoyed your visit to the shop.

On holiday next week!

I'm off next week so it'll be quiet here.

Just having a few days away in St Ives, Cornwall. Hopefully the weather will be nice but typically the temp seems to be nosediving on Monday.

I have a feeling I might need the time off to recover from the 300 mile journey.


Anyway, should make for some good photos whatever the weather.

Todays updates

Added factory refurb Phase One P backs.

These are seriously good value for money!

Added some clarification to the checkout process regarding addresses and telephone numbers.

Art Nudes - taste and decency, censorship or corporate PC?

I'll be adding a page for Chris Burfoot's new Art Nude Photography course to the website soon.
Some of the example images will of course contain nudity, tasteful of course, but that's my opinion. And there's the issue, who am I to assume that our readers will have the same opinion. So, do we blur out the 'rude bits', have a warning before they appear, or avoid them altogether?
Waddya think?

A New Wave of Communications?

This morning I created Flash Central, a blog for all the staff here at The Flash Centre.
Hopefully this will give you, the customer, an insight into the lives of the people behind the company, especially if you've never visited one of our shops.

iFramed by Amazon

We're always being asked to recommend books on lighting, digital photography, photoshop, colour management.... so we're going to add a page with a few Amazon affiliate links to books we've read and can recommend.
The trouble is, our content management system doesn't like the iframe tags that amazon use to serve their nice picture links. This means I'll have to build the page in golive and paste the code into a simple editor interface. So long as i never try to change the page using the advanced editor, it'll be fine!
I'll try and think of a more elegant solution before 'webupdate wednesday.'
If anyone has any ideas........

Killer Web Content

If you want some ideas on how to improve your website have a read of: Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand
I've just got to the end of it and I have to say it's been very revealing. What have I learned? Well, loads of things that, to be honest, should have been obvious (isn't that so often the case?!) here are a few:

• If your website is just an online product listing don't expect any extra sales, you're just not helping anyone!
• Always keep in mind the task your reader is trying to perform (note 'reader' cos that's what they are!) and give them the tools they need to perform it.
• It's all in the detail when it comes to search engines. If a product does a task, don't forget to put that in the text. Then when someone searches for 'great begginer lighting' on Google, your 'Elinchrom D-Lite' product page might just be in the list of results. If you only put 'Lighting starter kit' the only people who will find your page will actually be looking for spares for their kitchen fluorescent lights!

With these things in mind, you'll see some changes on The Flash Centre's website. It'll take some time but hopefully you'll notice that it's all about what you want, not what we think you want!
Let us know how we're doing.....

Out with the old....

Deleted Pocketwizard Plus Kit from site.
Added pocketwizard to products/lighting/triggering systems.
Added "UK Mainland" to delivery options to clarify for overseas customers.

We get quite a few overseas orders, which we have to get custom shipping quotes for so we can't show a price on the web checkout, we're still looking for the best way of helping these customers with the minimum of hassle.

First Blogger Post

I love iWeb, it's a very easy to use app with simple drag and drop content placement. However Google simply refuses to index any of the pages i've put up.
So I've jumped ship and from now on I shall be bloggering. It'll be interesting to see how quickly this gets indexed.......