Mois : mai 2021

Just come across this new lens adaptor from FOTODIOX.

FOTODIOX are an American company that make camera and lens adaptors. I got to know of them when I discovered that they were the only company (at the time) that produced a filter holder for the bulbous front element of my NIKON 14-24 f/2.8 lens.

Anyway, this new adaptor is made to fit NIKON Z series cameras, and it allows the use of Hasselbald lenses – which is neat, ‘cos I’ve got a bunch of those…

What’s more, it allows the creation of much LARGER square images because the mount allows the camera to turn 360° – I’ll let FOTODIOX show how it’s done.

The photographer takes 4 images, one after another, turning the camera through 90° after each image is taken. Then it’s a simple matter to merge the images in Photoshop to produce the final square image – equivalent to a 46 x 46 mm square sensor.

This is an excellent idea, and for someone who likes square images, this could be great fun to try…I just have to find the 300$ to fund it…

A strap on a camera is a bit of a problem for me – I obviously need to be able to carry the camera when I’m not actually using it, but straps do tend to get in the way when you’re working, I find.

Op/Tech an American company, make an excellent strap, the Mirrorless Strap

This is a 40 cm strap, roughly 4cm wide with a non slip interior – this clips onto the long adjustable camera connectors (shown in the image above) so ideally you can detach the camera from the strap.

Yes, but…this still leaves the long connecters.

Peak Design came up with a very neat (and small) system for attaching things to cameras that they call Rapid Anchor links – these consist of a thin cord which fits through the D-rings on the camera, and a round plastic button which clips into the Peak Design camera straps. When these are fitted to the camera they are virtually invisible and don’t get in the way while using the camera. They also resist a weight of 90kg apparently…

Great – so now, how do we put the two together?

Simple – with these…

These are simply straps with the correct size snap links for the shoulder strap, and open ended flat braids which are the right size for the last item needed – the Peak Design Anchors

The flat braided strap passes through the top of the connector, and the round buttons clip into the lower half.

Now I can have a comfortable strap when I need one, and virtually nothing attached to the camera when I need that – simple!

This is a camera that makes images in black and white.

This in itself is not really remarkable….and I can see the advantages. LEICA, the camera manufacturer, have been making B&W only models of a number of their digital cameras for some years now. This model, with a fixed 28mm lens, will set you back 5590€ (or ‘only’ 5090€ if you buy the Q2 version that makes color images.)

Yes, it’s expensive, but the build quality is exemplary, and as they only make 8 they have to make some profit after all.

What I find amazing is the text found at the end of the ‘what’s in the box’ list:

Le Leica Q2 MONOCHROM est fourni avec pare-soleil et son bouchon. Si vous préférez utiliser l’appareil sans pare-soleil, le bouchon livré n’est pas compatible. Le bouchon d’objectif est disponible en accessoire supplémentaire.

The LEICA Q2 MONOCHROM is supplied with a lens hood with it’s own lens cap. If you prefer to use the camera without the lens hood, the lens cap supplied will not fit the lens. The correct lens cap is available as an optional extra.

What the fuck???

With the release of the updated mirror-less Z series ‘ll’ we now have to possibility to bolt on a brand new battery grip, the MB-N11

It’s a hugely expensive piece of kit – and most sane human beings will ask how can NIKON have the balls to ask 400€ for a battery box?

It’s easy – it’s NIKON. Point.

The fact that mirror-less cameras burn through batteries at a rate of knots means that, with a single battery lasting less than an hour (in a production situation) it’s such a pain in the arse losing any temporary setup changes when you turn off the camera to replace the battery, that having two available makes perfect sense – yes, even at 400€, sadly.

The frustrating thing with this design is the ‘stalk’ that replaces the battery in the camera. Up until now, all the pro and semi-pro battery grips connected to the camera electronics via a set of contacts on the underside of the camera – making it a simple job of just screwing the. battery grip onto the camera and the job is done.

NIKON, for reasons best known to themselves, have decided that it’s a much better idea to make people take the battery door off, take the battery out, replace it with the battery grip, lose the battery door (or worse, break the tiny plastic hinge pins…) before being able to turn the camera on…

Brilliant – many thanks to the NIKON designers – sterling work my friends.

This is what it all looks like once it’s in place. Sure, it does have the added shutter and AF-ON buttons and front and rear thumb wheels for adjustments in a vertical configuration, and with two batteries should last (me at least) a whole show…but I must be f*****g mad to pay all that….for this….but I probably will.