The Photography show 2017

On Sunday I went to this year’s Photography show; this 4-day event runs from Saturday 18^th to Tuesday 21^st March at the Birmingham NEC. Like previous years, I visited the show with my friend Richard Brown; the only difference is that he drove this year as I no longer have a car. Richard has already written his report of the show and this can be read here.

Although there wasn’t a lot of new equipment to see this year (my local LCE stores do stock a lot of photographic gear between them) I was very interested in seeing a number of photographers, manufacturers and suppliers this year.

We left Lincoln at about 07:15 and as the traffic was quite light we arrived just after 09:00, we had a similar drive time back too. Unfortunately, the public are not allowed in until 10:00 so we had to order a quite expensive coffee at Starbucks to help with the wait. After the coffee, we joined the hoards as we ventured into the staging area. Whilst here I picked up my show guide and shortly afterwards a large 5 second countdown started on the a big screen we were allowed in when it reached zero.

What follows are the parts of the show that was of most interest to me.

Olympus:
The Olympus stand was at the top of my list and the first stand I ventured towards once we were allowed in. I picked up my complimentary show copy of the Olympus Magazine and then had a quick look around the stand. I noticed that all the reps were present; I know most of them by name now: Lewis, Dave, Jez, Claire and Aiden who I haven’t seen for a while since his promotion. I also checked out the dedicated talks that would be held at their stand. There were 4 scheduled for the day from Tesni Ward, Steve Gosling, Damian McGillyCuddy and finally Gavin Hoey. Although I missed Steve and Damian this year I did manage to attend Tesni’s and Gavin’s presentations.

Whilst at the stand I played with the other OM-D and PEN models and have to say that for a second cheaper body I would prefer the E-M1 (Mark 1) over of the other OMD or PEN models. The best choice would be a second OM-D E-M1 Mark II but these are the most expensive Olympus cameras now; maybe I’ll be lucky enough to win one from this month’s Olympus Competition as featured in the magazine – I can hope.

The other items of interest were the two new flash units, the FL-900 Speedlight and the STF-8 Macro Flash unit. I didn’t get much time with the STF-8, but this is a very well designed unit, simple to control and can be part of the Olympus optical RC system. The FL-900 whist being a weather sealed unit that has a metal foot and gaskets for the weather sealing. This very light (no pun intended) unit has a very small display, what I do find confusing though is why it costs £550! This is more expensive than Canon’s 600EX II-RT* and Nikon’s SB5000 (both flagship Speedlights) and these have both radio and optical RC modes over the Olympus optical only RC mode!

*The Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT is usually £539 but currently has an £80 cashback offer bringing this down to £459. The Nikon SB5000 is currently £499.

I see the STF-8 in my future but I don’t think I can justify the £550 for the FL-900 unit, not when I can get a Nissin i60A TTL radio controlled unit for only £239 and a radio trigger for £80. Two flashes and a trigger are only £8 more than the FL-900. However, whilst the FL-900 is weather sealed, the i60A units are not. All of the flashguns mentioned have similar guide numbers so that’s not a deciding factor.

Tesni Ward’s presentation featured an excellent collection of photographs mostly from her Mountain Hare project. The images were all amazing and the character for each of the different hares shone through and were sometimes very amusing. Tesni also showed some of her other work too (videos and photos), these were also amazing; the video of the snakes and story behind them was very intriguing. Initially I was slightly worried that the presentation would be similar to the one we saw at Marwell Zoo but was that was quickly dispelled within a few minutes. I cannot wait until May when I will be taking part on one of Tesni’s workshops.

I really enjoyed Gavin Hoey’s presentation, he showed what’s involved when you are given a short brief that (in this case) and how this can require 3 separate shoots involving the Fire Brigade. There were also a liberal sprinkling of tips, do’s and don’ts in there too. I must say that I recognised a lot of them and I am guilty of some of the don’ts mentioned. Gavin’s images were also excellent and it was nice to see how they look when printed which is not something you always have the experience of. I also want to finish by saying that Gavin is one of the nicest people I have ever met and an excellent teacher, thanks Gavin if you are reading this. 🙂

Nikon stand:
Richard and I briefly visited the Nikon stand where you could get a picture of you (and friends if wanted) holding up of one of Nikon’s “I AM …….” signs – I think that this marketing idea is a bit tired now but if you like Nikon I suppose it’s nice. I also picked up a Nikon D5 fitted with a 14-24mm lens, whoa! this is a heavy beast, heavier than I thought it would be. It’s at times like this that I am glad I moved to the Olympus OM-D range, I simply have no desire to carry around such a heavy camera/lens combo anymore. I also much prefer the sound of the Olympus shutter over the large “clacking” sound that the Nikon made. I think the OM-D E-M1 Mark II has the nicest sounding shutter around at the moment!

Canon Stand:
Although Canon probably had the largest presence at the show especially as they had their own video booth too, was a vendor I had no interest in seeing as they had nothing new to show. Both Richard and I walked past them many times; obviously, we were in a minority as there were loads of people in and around this area.

Panasonic:
As another one of the MFT (Micro Four Thirds) manufacturers I’m always interested in what Panasonic are up to and I had a chance to try out their full range of interchangeable lens cameras as well as the new FZ2000. Top of my list was the GH5 and Panasonic they had plenty to play with. Similar to the previous GH models, the GH5 looks like a mini-DSLR with its ample grip, central EVF and top mounted controls. The grip of the GH5 has changed slightly from the one of the GH3/GH4, although I have never used a GH4 I have owned a GH3 in the past.
The GH5 has a few features over the GH4 but as most of these are around video there wasn’t much to see. I also had a go with the Leica 42.5mm f1.2 lens on a GX8 and that is a seriously nice lens. I felt that the focusing on the GX8 seemed to be quite slow and has that focusing system that has to go past the point of focus and then back again.

Fujifilm:
The main attraction for both Richard and I at the Fujifilm stand (more so Richard) was medium-format GFX50S camera, although this is smaller than a “traditional” medium-format it is larger than 35mm “full-frame”.

I had a quick go with the GFX50S and was instantly surprised how light the camera was (even with a lens and battery). The focusing speed could do with a boost though – it reminded me of early X-T1 AF performance prior to the improvements that came with the firmware updates. Overall though I was impressed. I think a lot of users who were going to get a Nikon D5 or Canon 1DX/1DX II might go for one of these as the cost difference isn’t that great; £6,200 for the body and £2,200 for the standard zoom lens. However, I don’t personally see one of these in my future.

Sony
Like Canon, the Sony stand was by passed as they don’t have much new stuff that interests me. Don’t get me wrong, they (like Tamron and Sigma) have impressive new glass to show off but I don’t see a Sony 35mm full-frame mirrorless camera on my horizon. Sony also seem to be ignoring their APS sensor sized cameras as far as lenses go; I’m not sure why but they seem to have gone back to their old habits where new cameras come out very regularly but lens growth is almost non-existent. I suspect that new cameras are easier/cheaper to design and all of their lens technology and know-how is focused on the much larger and more expensive full-frame mirror-less cameras.

Sigma and Tamron:
I also did not visit the Sigma and Tamron booths and although they both have impressive new glass to show this is either for Sony, Nikon or Canon mounts. Although both Tamron and Sigma do agree that mirrorless cameras could offer them growth, if it isn’t for Sony there isn’t much to see. Sigma do have a few boring MFT lenses but Tamron have none.

NiSi Filters:
After a lot of searching I found the NiSi Filters booth and I was surprised at their presence at the show. Not only did we have (nearly) all their products on display they also had some “NiSi Ambassadors” present too. Each ambassador would do a talk and presentation at the stand from time to time explaining not only why they use NiSi filters but also how they got the shot when showing their very impressive images.

I was particularly interested in meeting up with Phil Norton who is not only one of NiSi ambassadors and also a distributer in the UK too. I have sent a few emails to Phil enquiring about the filters and their use with and OM-D camera and lenses and found him very helpful. Phil also uses the OM-D cameras and lenses so can offer very useful tips. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone wanted to talk to Phil too so I only managed to get 5 minutes of his time. We spoke about the system and he was going to show me the adapter for the Olympus 7-14mm f2.8 PRO lens but couldn’t get to it at the time as his bag was next to another ambassador who presenting. Phil’s personal adapter was not being sold at the show so was the only one there. I suggested coming back to see his presentation later and then see the adapter then. Although I did get back to see Phil’s presentation and spectacular images he was talking to more people straight after his talk and I gave up trying to see Phil again.

X-Rite:

Although I already have an X-Rite i1 Display Pro calibration device I did go and see them as the rubber on the outside of mu device has gone very “tacky”. I did try (many months prior to the show) get in contact with them regarding this but got no reply. Their reaction to the tacky-ness issue at the show clearly shows that this is a known problem, they were apologetic in the fact that no-one replied to my email and then logged the issue again on their site on my behalf. I’ll have to wait and see if anything comes of this beyond the standard email confirmation message I received. They did say that I would probably end up with a replacement device – hope springs eternal.

Other Vendors:
I had a good look around and the accessory space is alive and well, a lot of vendors were there showing off and selling luxury camera bags and (very expensive) camera straps each numbering into the hundreds of pounds but they will match your Leica camera nicely.

My favourite bag was being shown at the Olympus stand and is (currently?) only available with the EM-1 Mark II camera as a show offer promotion. The bag made by Gillis has an indigenous design and looks the part too, I want one and I suspect that some users who got the bag at the show might sell them on eBay later. Failing that I think that they will be available at some point a few weeks or months from now. The bag has an RRP of £299 – but it’s worth every penny!

Retailers
In addition to all of the camera and accessory manufacturers at the show we also had London Camera Exchange (LCE), Calumet and Camera World too. Whilst some of the offers at the show were nothing special (i.e. £5 off a £75 battery) there were also some fantastic deals to be had too. I went with the purpose of picking up the Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm f4 IS PRO lens and a Peak Design wrist strap. I went straight to the LCE stand and surveyed the Olympus offers page on one of their glass cabinets, the lens was being sold with a £500 discount! Soon after I had an LCE bag with my 300mm lens in there – colour me happy! LCE had the best deal for this lens as Camera World were only offering a £200 discount. I could not see any Olympus gear at the Calumet Stand although I did get my Peak Design wrist strap from them.

Wrap Up
I had a great day at the show, good company, met up with some fantastic people/photographers, got hold of the lens I wanted and might get my tacky i1 Display Pro device sorted out too. The only thing I didn’t like was the food – over-priced and not very good either. I’ll certainly come next year and bring my own food, at least that way I’ll gets something I like and not be fleeced.

Advertisements

Judge’s Lodgings Studio Photography Workshop

Following the success of the LCE arranged Doddington Hall Portrait Photo workshop, they have arranged several follow-on workshops. On 28^th February we had a Studio Photography Workshop that was hosted by John Clements and this time within the boundaries of Lincoln at the Judge’s Lodgings which is adjacent to the main entrance of Lincoln Castle and a short distance from Lincoln Cathedral.

There were 12 places available and (due to a last-minute cancellation) 11 workshop attendees, I recognised just over half of them from the Doddington Hall shoot last year. Like the previous workshop the camera you used didn’t matter and although I was the only one shooting with an Olympus (OM-D E-M1 MarkII) there was a good mix of Fuji, Canon DSLRs and Nikon DSLRs, surprisingly there were no Sony shooters. Although I was the lone Olympus user, the fact that had a E-M1 Mark II did generate some interest as not many had been seen in the wild. One of the users whose name escapes me for now (sorry not good with names) did show many things you could do with the OM-D, some I was aware of and some other things that were unknown to me – Thank you to whoever you are (if I found out their name I will update this post accordingly).

Taken straight from the LCE Events website here are the details for the course:
Photographing people is the most popular of subjects. But to do it well combines many skills such as lighting, composition and good guidance. So, join us on this workshop as highly respected pro photographer John Clements, shows and explains how to create a wide range of lighting skills and techniques, enabling repeatable and enjoyable results to be achieved when photographing people.

Following very positive feedback after his mini lighting sessions at our Doddington Hall event, imagine what can be achieved sharing a full day with someone who is used by major companies to teach and demystify lighting skills. Leave with a genuinely useful understanding of studio lighting, how it works, and how to shape light with it, to suit various face and body shapes, from the individual to small groups.

Easy to follow step-by-step, this inspiring day is equally suitable for those starting out, simply wanting a recap, or the pro, seeking a refresh and some new ideas. You will also create and leave with some fine images.

Some key areas covered include:

• Understanding studio flash.
• Camera settings for studio lighting.
• Using a light meter for simple and advanced studio lighting arrangements.
• Real world practical guide to using reflectors, umbrellas, soft-boxes and other common accessories for people photography.
• Repeatable and practical lighting arrangements for repeatability, inside and out.
• Working in and around the home or small studio/office environment.
• Solutions to common people’s lighting needs, such as photographing people wearing glasses and dealing with various body and face shapes.
• Posing & composition tips.
• Creating clean white backgrounds.
• Working with the ‘natural’ backdrop.
• Creating ‘the quick’ backdrop solution.
• Practical shooting sessions to cement the techniques and skills on the day.

The images:
Over the course of the day John would discuss a technique and then practically show the technique using the model who you might recognise as Katie from the Doddington Hall Photo-shoot. Some of these were part of an overall lighting strategy towards a final photo and some were single light effects.

The first 2 photos were from the same set of single light head-shots,I like both of these two especially Katie’s expression in the second photo:

The next photo was with two lights and has Katie’s hair undone:

We re-shot the “Black Widow” photo from Doddington Hall again, I’m much happier with this photo over my earlier attempt. Kudos to Katie for this one as it was very cold outside on the day and she only had the coat to keep her warm:

For the final session of the day we were split into two groups, and each group was given a room and brief for a photo shoot. We knew what Katie was wearing and our brief was to shoot an environmental photograph of Katie. I must say that this was a challenging part of the course and really makes you think about so many things, the room we were in was very big and there were so many distracting elements to avoid or camouflage in some way. I took a few photos and the only I really like is shown below:

I must say I had a great day and will join John on some other LCE courses he’s planning to run later in the year. I always enjoy networking with other photographers and I usually learn something new. If you would like to join any of the LCE courses, keep an eye on their Events page.

Lincoln Photo Show 2016

Today’s the day of the annual London Camera Exchange (LCE) Lincoln’s Photo show at the Lincoln Drill Hall on Free Schhool Lane and runs from 11am – 4pm, entry is as usual free

This year it is on a Sunday (previous years were the Wednesday nearest the 5^th November – so a bit earlier in the year too); LCE promises a great day out for everyone from the keen beginner to the seasoned pro. They have stands packed with products, advice and demos from the likes of:

• Olympus
• Canon
• Sony
• Nikon
• Sigma
• Panasonicv
• Fuji
• Tamron

Along with a wealth of accessories from:

• Manfrotto
• Metz
• Lastolite
• Hoya
• Tenba
• Hahnel

This year LCE have three guest speakers, each giving an hours presentation on their work and how they achieve the results they get:

11.45am – 12.45pm
Gavin Hoey – Portrait photographer and photoshop master, Gavin gives a unique presentation using Olympus cameras and “smoke and mirrors” to create photography like you’ve never seen before.

1pm – 2pm
Joe Cornish – One of Britain’s most experienced landscape photographers, Joe will present his work on the most amazing landscapes in the world, sharing advice and techniques acquired in years of experience using Sony equipment such as A7RII and G Master lenses.

2.15pm – 3.15pm
Bertie Gregory – 23 years old and travels the world for National Geographic creating amazing films for the National Geographic Channel using Canon equipment including the Eos 1DX MKII. Examples of Bertie’s work can be found at natgeo.com/wildlife

All presentations are free and will run within the main hall along with exhibitions from a group of local camera clubs.

LCE also promise special show only offers and great part exchange deals – I’m not sure what these are so we’ll have to wait and see.

If there’s anything of interest I might post my thoughts and my highlights.

I (like LCE) hope to see you there too!

Doddington Hall Portrait Shoot

At the end of last month (Tuesday 27^th September, the Lincoln – Silver Street branch of London Camera Exchange (LCE) organised (in conjunction with Canon, Nikon and Olympus) a Portrait Shoot at Doddington Hall here in Lincoln. The sold out event was well attended by a wide range of photographers with all skills and the variety of camera brands in use exceed the sponsors of the event including Fuji and Sony users too.

Learn how take to take great portraits in the stunning setting of Doddington Hall. We’ve teamed up pro photographers from Canon, Nikon and Olympus for a day long masterclass in portrait and fashion photography, using professional models and the stately rooms of the Hall as the backdrop. Your tutors are all experts in their field and will take you through the best use of cameras, lenses, speed lights and studio lights to get stunning results.

As already mentioned, LCE had support from Nikon, Canon and Olympus and each one had a Photographer or (in the case of Olympus) a representative from the company. The literature provided by LCE give the credentials of each photographer as well as an intended itinerary as follows:

John Clements (Nikon)
As a working pro photographer spanning over three decades, John has an impressive photographic pedigree. His clients include those from the corporate world, many household names, well known people, and the Great British Public. In addition, he was formerly Nikon Corporation’s UK “Advisor of Photography” for a number of years, a respected and privileged position. And has worked in an ambassadorial role and consulting capacity with other leading imaging companies.

John is particularly respected for his lighting skills. Author of over a dozen books, he also wrote about photography and road tested equipment for numerous photo magazines in years past. His workshop and seminar presentations excite people. Delivered with a clear, concise, motivational, and an approachable style, that delegates simply warm too.

A highly respected presenter, combining vast technical knowledge, an eye for the creative image, with clear explanations.

Been there and still doing it with an enthusiasm and a passion, you would be hard pushed to find someone within these shores, with as much Nikon expertise and shooting experience using it. Something willingly shared at our event.

John will present three workshops:

• Nikon Speedlight Photography, Inside Out.
• Nikon ‘Shoot It in the Studio’.
• Shoot People ’Nikon Style’ With Available Light.

Dave Newton (Canon)
David Newton is a professional photographer and videographer who avoids specialising in any one area. As the former technical editor of EOS Magazine and Canon Professional Network, his knowledge of the Canon system extensive. An active photo tutor, David often gives seminars for Canon at various camera shops and trade shows. He is also a SanDisk Extreme Team member, Manfrotto Ambassador and Koy Lab Ambassador

Dave will be running three workshops on Canon Speedlites

• Canon flash and ETTL
• Multiple flash indoors
• Flash and daylight

Lewis Speight and Dave Smith (Olympus)
Lewis Speight is one of Olympus’ newest recruits, bringing his ambition and excitement, and has over 2 years experience with other retailers being one of the best photography trainers in his team. This was after years of building his portfolio as a wedding photographer, and sports videographer. You’ll now find Lewis behind his EM5ii with a 7-14mm PRO, experimenting with light trails, off camera flash, and night time landscapes. David Smith has worked with Olympus UK for over 3 years, specialising in Product Technology, Training, Workshop and Event leading on all of the OM-D and PEN products. David has worked with various key photographers over the years including Damian McGillicuddy, Robert Pugh, Neil Buchan Grant and Jay McGlaughlin in areas such as Portraiture, Fashion, Wedding and Macro photography. His preferred area of photography is Macro, Street and Portraiture and specialises in teaching one to one Olympus tutorials as well as running various workshops all over Central England, the Midlands and East Anglia. David’s kit bag usually has 2 cameras in it, the OM-D EM-5 MKII and the PEN F, accompanied by the 12-40mm PRO lens, the 17mm f1.8 lens and the 25mm f1.8 lens, always ready to capture the moment, whenever it happens.

Content for the day will be:

• Using both ambient and strobe light for portraiture.
• Using tethering with the EM-5 MK2.
• Exploring the differences between the Olympus lens range.

Although the day was centred on these three brands everyone was made welcome to the event and could make use of the invaluable photographic advice that was on offer. Although the event was not free the very low price of admission to the event was only £30 – this was a very good price and great value for money.

The Day
If it’s not obvious, the 3 events were running simultaneously and so three models were also arranged to be present, they also moved around between each event from time to time so that the photographers could have the opportunity to take pictures of each one. All three (Brook, Katie and Chloe) were all very beautiful, friendly professional and very obliging of the photographers who attended the event; many of us are not very used to directing models and although I have improved from my first experience back with Damian McGillicuddy back when I sot with Olympus; I still have a long way to go.

I started the day at the Olympus event as I thought that they were the closes to the Fuji camera (X-T2) that I was using. Although I got some nice shots of Brook I felt that the event was better suited to the Olympus users as this was where Lewis and Dave’s experience was better suited to. They were also were relegated to a small room at the hall when the Canon and the Nikon groups has larger rooms, this made getting he shot with a nice perspective difficult, I was grateful that a friends lent me his Fujinon 56mm f1.2 XF lend for the day (I now own my own 56mm f1.2 XF lens – it’s that good). As we were constantly worried about the weather we also did some shooting outside too.

In fact the itineraries of each group went out of the window to the most part so that we could all shoot outside on the day – fortunately the weather held and it didn’t rain all day although it looked like it could.

Here are my favourite pictures of Brook:

After the first session a nice lunch was provided by Doddington Hall in the coach-house where we were based and I had a chat with a few of the other photographers. One of them who I spoke to at the beginning of the day (who owns a Nikon camera) went to shoot with John Clements (Nikon) and was very impressed with John’s knowledge. I also spoke to a number of other photographers at the event and found the two other Fuji users, both of them also went John and he was giving out lots of good advice. So I decided for my next session to join my fellow Fuji users and go to John’s classes.

John was based upstairs and after a short talk we went outside with Katie and John had us all thinking about location, backgrounds, posing the model and trying to get us all thinking like photographers. We also tried various film simulations, playing with the white balance, setting the brightness of the rear LCD and fine-tuning the white balance (something I have never done before). He would also throw out tricks of the trade any other photographic gems. As we stepped through each setting John would check the rear LCD screens from time to time to ensure that you were on track and he was a great tutor offering lots of encouragement. I have to say I really enjoyed the second event more; it was also helped by having the other Fuji users around (also nice people too). As I still learning how to use the new X-T2 (at that point it was only a week old) having another X-T2 user and an X-Pro2 user helped when I wasn’t sure how or where to access some of the menu based features. We tried a number of areas in the rear gardens of Doddington Hall and I got a number of great shots too.

I have to add that although John is a Nikon shooter he was offering advice that was not necessarily Nikon specific; he was well aware of what other cameras are out there and many of their capabilities too.

My favourite pictures of Katie:

After a brief coffee break we went to or final session (again with John) and we did some shooting with Profoto studio lights (instead of speed lights). We mixed them with some ambient light (while it lasted) and the model for this session was Chloe. Whilst informative this session ran at a much slower pace as the studio lights were designed to work with Nikon cameras and we had to jury-rig a solution to make them work with the non-Nikon cameras. However John came up with a solution that worked (using a non-Nikon speed light to trigger them). Once this was working we all tried a few shots. As the day was winding down, John had Chloe move to one of the ornate staircases in the hall and we tried obtaining some nice shots from here – this was without any flash. Chloe was back-lit and again my shots didn’t come out – sorry Chloe 😦

My favourite pictures of Chloe:

I have to say a really enjoyed the day at Doddington Hall and I must thank everyone involved in setting this up as follows:

• Dave and Vincent from LCE
• John Clements representing Nikon
• Dave Newton representing Canon
• Lewis Speight and Dave Smith from Olympus
• Brook
• Katie
• Chloe
• Doddington Hall owners for allowing us to shoot there

Hopefully I’ve not missed anyone.

You can find details of the day at LCE Lincoln Silver Street’s Facebook page here, there was also a competition for the best picture taken on the day and details of this are here too (hint – I didn’t win).

Notes about using the Fujifilm X-T2:
As I already mentioned, I was using the Fujifilm X-T2 camera on the day. It performed admirably and although there were a few moments where is paused here and there (coming out of sleep mode I think) I did not miss any shots. I learned a few things about the camera thanks to John and the Fuji users and I am still wading my way through the manual and watching YouTube videos to get me up to speed. I only used two lenses on the day, first was the borrowed Fujinon XF 56mm f1.2 R lens for the inside shots and the Fujinon XF 50-140mm f2.8 R LM OIS WR Lens for the outside shots (these are equivalent to the 85mm and 70-200 lenses used in portraiture). These lenses focus fast and lock on instantly with the X-T2.

When I got home and looked at my photos I was amazed that apart from the shots where I mistimed or mis-focused they were all wickedly sharp. I wasn’t sure at first as there seems to be a 2-stage refresh happening in Lightroom. You would select the image and it would load the selected photo as a 1:1 and then a few seconds later the true sharpness of the image would load – WOW! The eyes of all three models were all in focus and you could see individual eye-lashes too. In some ways the image was too sharp as every pore in the skin could be see – I had to use a liberal amount of negative clarity to overcome this.

LCE Photo and Optics Show 2015

Two weeks on Wednesday is this year’s London Camera Exchange’s Photo and Optics show. I have been attending the show for the last few years now and it gets bigger and better every year, it’s a testament to the hard work that’s put into this by the LCE staff not only in Lincoln but further afield too.

This year looks to be no different, it looks like Olympus will have the biggest presence at the show which is good for me and Damian McGillicuddy is back again doing two events at the show; the events will also be better as the stage at the back of the hall is where they will be held. This was the only criticism I have from last year’s show, the event area wasn’t situated in the best place; I’m glad to see that my view were heard and acted upon – thanks Dave.

As well as Olympus we will have Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Lastolite and many many more, you can find more details about the show by clicking here. LCE will also have many show offers on for the day so bring your wallet and speak nicely to the bank manager.

I am really looking forward to the show and I hope to see you at the event 🙂

Off to The Photography Show 2015 today

Thanks to a day off work both Richard and I are off to Birmingham’s NEC today to see this year’s Photography show. Thankfully Lincoln is not too far from the NEC and so it’s only a 1.5 to 2 hour drive depending upon traffic. We both really enjoyed the show last year and although we won’t be going to the Superstage this year (last year we saw Joe McNally) there is still a lot to see.

This is the third day of the four day event and whilst many of the bargains will have been sold there will still be some good deals on gear – I am taking a list of a few times that I have been looking at – nothing exciting just a battery to two for my E-M1 and a new camera bag. Now that I shoot with an Olympus I will be heading straight for the Olympus stand so that I can book myself on one or two of their events running all day. I hope to see Aiden from Olympus there along with a few of the Olympus affiliated photographers such as Damian McGillicuddy and Rob Pugh as well.

However, just visiting the Olympus stand would mean that I will miss all of the other things happening on the day so I will visit many other locations to see what they offer and hopefully try out some of the more exotic gear too.

Canon
Canon have a few new items that will be on show including their new 50MP cameras the 5DS and 5DSR, these will be very similar to the 5D Mark III so beyond the handling I’m not sure what I will get from that. If we are allowed to take a few pictures on our own cards it might be worth it to see what a 50MP picture looks like. I also hope to have a go with the EOS M3 mirrorless camera too, I’m interested in how this handles and how good the add-on EVF is. The new 11-24mm f4 lens will most likely be there and I want to see how wide this is on a 35mm full-frame camera.

Colour Confidence
These guys are distributers for many companies in the Uk such as DXO and X-rite, they are also running some seminars during the day including one with Frank Doorhof who I wanted to see last year but his showing clashed with other ones during the day. I have one of his books and videos I really like watching him, I enjoy his style of teaching and this will be the first time I will see him Live.

Leica
I do not get a chance to play with Leica gear very often so certainly be heading there. Although I am curious to see what the Leica T is like I do know that Richard is very interested in everything that they have to offer; after all he does have a couple of Leica M series cameras.

Nikon
There isn’t much from Nikon that I have not seen, the new D7200 will be very similar to the D7100 but how good is the expanded buffer? I have yet to see the Nikon 1 V3 camera and again I’m interested in how this handles too. Finally a play with the big boys the D810 and D4s with big lenses is needed to remind me of how heavy they are – you cannot argue with the image quality of the D810 but you are going to have to carry a large DSLR with heavy f2.8 or better glass to get the most out of it.

Olympus
Thanks to a chance meeting with Adain about a month ago and my local LCE stocking it, there isn’t much to see that I have not had a go with yet. Whilst the OM-D E-M5 Mark II will be the big news of the show along with the 14-150mm Mark II lens it would be nice to see the add-on “dot-view” viewfinder in action – I have a few questions about this. As I said earlier Olympus are running many events during the day and I would like to see some of these whilst I am there.

Panasonic
I have yet to play with the GH4 but this will handle similarly to to the GH3 but a go would be nice I would also like to see and play with the 42.5mm f1.2 lens and if they have it the cheaper f1.7 lens too. I am interested in getting the Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 lens so want to see if this is better.

Sony
They were not present last year which was a shame but they will be here this year. The only items of interest for me are the new Sony A7 MarkII and some of the new glass that is coming out. I want to see how good the focus and IBIS (In Body Image Stabilisation) are too.

What Else?
I could go on and on but there is so much to see more than I can detail here. The best idea is to visit the Photography Show’s website here and see who else is there and what else is happening.

Solar Eclipse

As almost everybody in the UK knows as well as a good proportion of the world, on Friday 20th March at around 09:30 we had a Solar Eclipse of the Sun. This is where the juxtaposition of the moon places it directly between the Sun and the Earth therefore blocking out almost all or some of the sun depending on your location on the planet at that time. In Lincoln where I live we were never predicted to get a total eclipse and the best we would see would be around 80 to 90%; the more North you were, the greater the eclipse would be.

There are many methods that can be employed to view the eclipse; however, the one constant was that you should never look directly at the sun unless you had adequate eye-protection. An even safer method was to look at the sun via a projection method onto a piece of card via a pinhole device, Richard talks about one in his blog here. A good summary of the various devices that can be employed can be found in this article.

Like a large number of people I wanted to see what I could photograph, this is where having an EVF (Electronic ViewFinder) is an advantage, the screen on the EVF (or rear screen for that matter) was an electronic representation of what the sensor was seeing. This is not a true optical copy of the image which would be very dangerous especially a journey (of the light) via the optics into the pentaprism of an optical finder. That said I found it easier to use the screen on the back of the camera and have this tilted so that the camera and lens could be pointed at the eclipse whilst I looked downwards on the screen – much safer. Just to be fair to DSLR users that could do the same using live view but having a tilt-able screen of some kind (Nikon D5xxx series & D750, Canon 700D, 70D, 750D, etc.) would help; otherwise an award angle of view would be required – I disagree with people who say that a tilt-able screen should not be on a DSLR camera, I think that they are very useful particularly if you do video work.

I was using my Olympus OM-D EM-1 with the 40-150mm f2.8 PRO lens. I used manual mode with a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec @ f2.8 and ISO 200 this seemed to make the view on the screen quite dark apart form the sun which regardless of the setting would always be clipped at pure white. When I was viewing the photographs on the computer in Lightroom I still had to underexpose them by about 2 stops so I should have used a higher shutter speed such as 1/8000 sec. The white balance was set to “Sunny”.

The first shot before the full-eclipse was as follows:

As you can see the moon is definitely starting to block the sun.

As I started taking shots it never seems to get more eclipsed than about 20-25%, I think that a lot of the projection methods showed more of the eclipse. I was also expecting it to get darker outside and it never seemed that it did. There was also a streak of cloud that started to drift in the wrong direction that was threatening to obscure the eclipse:

As the eclipsed progressed, sure enough the cloud carried on its journey. From an artistic point of view I do like this picture -it’s probably unlike any photograph I will ever be able to take again:

Eventually the cloud totally obscured the eclipse. Thanks to the “Exposure” slider in Lightroom I was able to see the sun through the clouds:

So not a great selection of true solar eclipse photographs but I’m quite happy with the third photograph and I’m still playing with them in Lightroom to see if I can get something really artistic.

One final point to note was that again I was using Manual exposure mode, Manual ISO and Manual white balance -something that I have never been able to do before without complete disaster so something is after a lot of time is improving. Is it the OM-D E-M1 or is it me improving? I suspect that it’s a bit of both but whatever it is I still enjoy using this camera and the more I use it and read about is capabilities (there is a LOT to learn) the better it gets. Eventually, I would love to add another OM-D to my bag as a backup.