I’m a clumsy clot and I’m always knocking my phone off my desk. OK it’s ruggedised and the floor is carpeted. Nevertheless, ruggedisation has its limits. Also my phone is a heavy old beast, weighing some 360 grams. That’s around 3/4 lb in “old money“. Which means that those flimsy plastic phone holders you see…
I’ve been flirting with affordable LED in the studio for over a decade. And on each experiment, I’ve had change out of fifty quid. My latest sortie involved a pair of these things They have simple removable diffuser, reducing the need for a soft-box, they’re fairly robust and in addition to being dimmable they also…
A thread on a photographic forum to which I belong started me thinking about using gobos. I always liked the idea of a proper gobo projector, but for a modifier that I would likely only use occasionally, I didn’t like the cost. So I decided to have a look around to see if there were…
Today I decided to make my own affordable detachable camera and equipment lanyard straps. I used some cheap generic “Peak Design compatible” buckles, bought direct from China via Ali Express, together with some generic anchors from the same source. I also used some 25mm nylon webbing I’ve had kicking round for ages. Granted, perhaps bright…
I always rather fancied a decent 500mm catadioptric lens. I bought a cheap Korean one off eBay a few years back and frankly it was not very good. But the old Tamron 500mm mirror lens has quite a good reputation. And as luck would have it, one turned up cheap on eBay a few weeks…
How do I calculate the kWH on my studio flash heads? Do I use 300 watts of electricity each time I fire them?
For reasons I won’t bore you with now, my wife and I need to be rather careful regarding respiratory infections. I did my last model shoot 2020-03-08, shut everything down pro tem due to COVID. Amongst other projects, I used the time-out to undertake a fairly major refurbishment of my studio. I wanted to get…
I needed a few pictures for another article I’m writing. While I had everything set up, I thought I’d take a few additional snaps of various bits-and-bobs I have kicking around the studio.
OK, so we are still in coronavirus lockdown here in the UK and I have spent the afternoon playing! 🙂 I saw the basic idea on a web forum on a photography site, and decided to look around my garage and see if there was any thing suitable to produce something similar. I also took…
A little thing like Covid was not going to prevent my Zsuzsi creating one of her Easter displays. We photographed the 2020 edition in the garden.
An interesting question came up a little while back on one of the photography fora to which I belong “I’d be interested in knowing how you swapped the halogen bulbs for LEDs because I have the same problem and as you say those bulbs are hotter than hell, makes using modelling lights with a grid…
I recently treated myself to a laser gobo. The patterns it makes remind me of the speaker grille on my old Roamer Ten kit radio. So I thought it might be interesting to combine the two and capture a few snaps.
Just bought an RGB laser gobo cheap on eBay. So I thought I’d have a little fun with it around the studio and garden.
Zsuzsi’s Easter display through wacky 60’s filters. I just bought a set of these things cheap on eBay and wanted to try them out…
Cheap and cheerful overhead camera mount for mirrorless camera. I reckon this is actually pretty safe up to about 2kg. Though I normally use a heavy cable tie as an emergency strap.
Today I had to spread some nematodes around our recently planted Portuguese laurel trees. But before I put the nematodes in water, I thought it would be fun to look at them under the microscope, and possibly take some photos with my recently acquired 26mm eyepiece to µ4/3 camera adaptor. The camera is my little…
Experimenting with Fujian 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens. This is a cheap £10.00 lens off eBay. It is designed for CCTV. However with a simple £1.00 “C” to µ4/3 adaptor it fits nicely and works well with my little Lumix DMC GX7. These are some of the results… Actually, I’m a big fan of the…
I treated myelf to a new lens the other day, a Fjujian 35mm F/1.7. This thing has no stop clicks. But it’s astonishingly well-made, of all metal/glass construction and behaves very much like a Victorian Petzval lens. It’s a “C” mount and fits nicely (and fills the frame) on my µ4/3 cameras with a simple…
A couple of odds and sods I rediscovered when I tidied up the studio earlier this month…
For continuous lighting, one needs a light source that has good colour balance, uses power efficiently, is reasonably robust and does not present a health or fire risk. I am also a tightwad – interested primarily in “bangs per buck”. Whilst I love new technology, I am not prepared to pay silly money for it….
Editors note: this article is a few years old and there are a few are updates and related posts that some readers may find helpful… 2016 – Converting inexpensive LED flood lights for use in the studio 2017 – Cheap but effective continuous studio lighting 2018 – Cheap and cheerful overhead camera mount for mirrorless…
I have always been rather fascinated by the fractal-like properties of the romanesco. It really does look like it is not of this planet. SO I thought it would be fun to team up a romanesco, some cheap RGB LED lighting and a couple of broken silver coloured mannequins. Just in case anyone is wondering:…
A couple of days ago, I purchased an “amazon basics” camera+laptop rucksack, for the princely sum of £ £35.49. delivered. Well it just arrived. So time to check it out, and move in. I have to say I’m actually quite impressed. This model also has a built-in laptop carrier too that comfortably holds a 40…
I rather like LED lighting. I never cease to be amazed what one can do with it – and do very cheaply. So I decided to have a bit of fun in the studio, with some of the latest budget RGB LED and a couple of Cokin starburst filters.
More LED experiments – this time using some small daylight LED and a 12 volt DC power supply to light the Dexion racking.
