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.
for my then new iPod Nano.
