Andrew Macpherson

Think Tank Photo who make rather good camera bags, are doing an advent accumulator with their “In a Bag” promotion.

It’s free to enter, so probably worth following this link and filling in the entry form to get a chance to win. I quite fancy the bag itself, but there are already a whole lot of really worthwhile goodies added, and a daily chance at one of their superior shoulder bags

Good luck!

New Nissin Flash

After the problems with the YN565 I was a little more circumspect when looking for an affordable slave flash, and checked with the vendor that the unit I was considering would indeed work with my Canon ST-E2.  With a positive response I went for the NISSIN Digital Di866 Mk II this unit operates both in the hotshoe, and as an IR triggered Slave.  Missing features would seem to be

• High Speed sync Button — only available from the Camera menu
• Second Curtain Sync, also only on menu.

As is usual with high end flashes, there will be various sets of things that don’t get used by individual photographers — at the moment I don’t see myself using Multi for instance, but so far I’m pleased with a unit that’s half the price of the Canon equivalent, it “just works”

A note for Mac users: be prepared to go online to download the manual, as it is delivered on a mini-CD incompatible with the mechanised media slots on Macs.

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At £102, tax paid,this looks like a real bargain, and for some people it may be.

The Speedlite works in hotshoe mode perfectly, has no flash master mode, but makes up for that with 3 Slave modes. ETTL (Canon and Nikon), plus S1 and S2 (S2 is supposed to ignore pre-flash).

It’s billed as working with the ST-E2 which is what Canon call their Speedlite trigger.  It turns out that Yongnuo make their own ST-E2, and any attempt to use it with my Canon transmitter results in a premature flash (it does recognise which channel is in use though) It also ignores the test firing signal from the ST-E2, but does operate with DoF preview (button to the left below the lens on Canon).

My Speedlite 580 is out of commission (with Canon for £104 fixed price repair) so I did not test it using that as Master, but as the whole point was to have 2 powerful speedlites for off camera use, it would be unsatisfactory even if that worked.

The EBay trader who sold it to me  accepted the return, but was unable to furnish me with a unit that would work with the Canon transmitter, so refunded my payment.  I’m left £3.50 lighter (return postage), so I hope this will help anyone else looking to use this unit who might also be misled by the description.

Anyone got any other suggestions for a lower cost unit? (Already got EX430)

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• Macro and short depth of field
• For want of a nail — a belated review of the TrekPod Go
• Help my menu settings keep vanishing!
• So… What is “Pro” a code for?
• Photo Selection Slideshows
• International Power
• Eye-Fi vs Shooting Tethered
• YN565 E-TTL Flash Speedlite fails with Canon ST-E2
• Another Speedlight replacement
• Seasonal Toys & Games
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David Hobby (Strobist) is running a “Boot Camp” to take people out of their comfort zone in using small flashes to make photos of local significance.  The exercise is as much about interacting with your community as the technicalities of the photographs produced, though to win the associated round prizes, the technicalities have to be good too.

Locally prominent person, Jonathan Forgham

The first exercise was to pick a locally prominent person and take their portrait.  Fortunately Jono Forgham had just been elected chair of the Little Hadham Parish Council, and was in need of one…  2 off camera strobes — one in a softbox to camera right, and a warming low power fill from the left.  The hat needed photoshopped to trim the broken straws round the edge , and a little attention was needed for reflections in his spectacles obscuring his right eye.  Of course the exercise is really about getting things right in camera, but this is balanced by the sitter’s available time…  You can see the Round 1 results HERE some pretty impressive s / dramatic shots.

Round 2 has been a bit more challenging:

 For this assignment, you will be required to photograph a local object — something of significance to your community. As with the first, the most difficult part of the job will be deciding exactly what to shoot — and why

The problem is the plethora of things in the area, going right back yo Roman Empire times:

• Hadhamware Roman Pottery
• The sculptor Henry Moore lived and worked here, and the Henry Moor foundation is a major attraction.
• The local shared Roman/Anglican Church with it’s Henry Moore Stained Glass window
• The Forge Museum with Elizabethan Wall Paintings
• William Morris’ Cottage (Arts and Crafts Movement)
• Nettswell House birthplace of Cecil Rhodes and now the Cecil Rhodes Arts Centre
• United Distillers in Harlow, birthplace of “Bailey’s Irish Creme”
• Local Tomato producers, pioneers in the use of Bio-gas
• Smit-Klein-Beecham pharmaceuticals
• Standard Telephone Laboratories — birthplace of Optical Fibre Communications

(continue reading…)

Three weekends ago, just before I went off for an op, we had a stand at Hatfield Heath Festival to try to raise awareness of the club, and raise some cash for the projector fund.  I havn’t quite got round to writing about it, having been slightly distracted, so it’s time to make amends

Hatfield Heath Public Photoshoot, © 2011 Paul Lambert

Photo given to sitter as 6x4 print

The Saturday session was in direct competition with Bishop’s Stortford Carnival, where we also had a stand, so each event had one of the two print stands, usually used for print competitions

We had a selection of member’s prints for sale, both ones that had been in competition, and some framed or mounted specially for this event.  Mainly though the exercise was to engage potential members, and enthuse them to come along for a trial club evening, and I think we were moderately successful in that.

We were also offering free “Hollywood Look” 4×6 portrait, retouched with “Portrait Professional”  (continue reading…)

Yesterday, while waiting fro UPS to arrive with my new iPad I tweeted “What App will I buy first?.” It’s probably interesting to the App authors/sponsors both what the priority was, and also where I went to validate my choices.

By far the coolest review site is Terry White’s Best App Site and his associated Technology Blog in which he writes clearly about what he finds useful, sufficiently so that one can readily decide whether his needs match the problem one wants to solve, or if necessary move on and continue looking.

As it turns out, the first app was not one I selected, but rather an Apple-sponsored upgrade as they start moving toward IOS5 — the iBooks app.  However I did spend some money at the App store yesterday, in order:

1. Prompt (ssh terminal)
2. Air Display (uses the iPad screen as a second monitor)
3. On-One Camera Remote HD — remote camera trigger with BIG review
4. Snapseed for iPad (How cool is this photo editing?)
5. Kelbytraining.com playback app
6. Rich Sammon’s Light It

If I  hadn’t already bought it, Easy Release (as recommended by Alamy) would have been #3, as it was, I simply had to load it from iTunes.

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