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Everybody is looking up the ceiling where lights and air-conditioners are vibrating with some noise, 2 seconds later we are all outside. No damage done. Only a 5.1 magnitude, shindo 4, but we are right on the epicentre: south Ibaraki prefecture.
Lunchtime
With Fumihiko.
My first time
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…with a digital SLR was last Saturday, as mentioned before. It appears that Canon had invited about 200 people over the whole weekend, spread over time slots of around 3 hours. We arrived just after eleven in the morning and were greeted -as it is custom in Japan- by staff with Canon signs lined up at the station and on the way to the venue, where we checked in.
Naturally, we underwent a setsumei-kai i.e. a meeting for the purposes of explaining how the basics of the camera worked, fire some test shots, changing lenses and cards etc. After that we were given our zoo tickets and were free to roam until 2:30. Due to the rainy weather and the fact that it was lunchtime and we had not eaten yet, we missed the return time slot by an hour, but again as it is custom in Japan, nobody raised an eyebrow.
When we returned, we were given a pack of 10 sheets of paper and led into a conference room filled with desks, on them Canon Pixus printers with cables ready to connect our camera to. Again we were explained how it all works and spent almost another hour or so printing, with staff looking over our shoulder. When we were finished (otsukaresamadeshita) we handed our gear back to the reception and received a bag full of marketing materials, as can be expected. All very well organised, courteous staff (even hovering around us in the zoo, offering to take pictures; not very good photos though, still appreciated) and generally appearing very generous.
Oriental fibre paper
Oriental Seagull is a well-known and high quality black & white printing paper made in Japan, that has been available for many years. We have updated our selection with the addition of Oriental New Seagull VC-FB paper. This double weight paper is fibre-based, variable contrast and has a smooth/glossy surface. We have added three different paper sizes, but please feel free to ask for other sizes. At this point shipping rates are estimates only and you will be refunded any difference.
The slow summer seems to be over and I am pleased to see new orders are coming in steadily. Unlike the hot summer, autumn is a great season to go out and shoot and I tend to do the same myself. Enjoy!
Digitally kissed
Just finished our Family Satsuei, courtesy of Canon.I will write something in more detail soon. For now all I can say is that I am quite impressed by the equipment and event and enjoyed the afternoon, despite the bad weather.
Digital Kissing
That’s what I will do next Satuday. Canon is running some sort of promotion where they invite families for a day in Ueno zoo and you can use the New Kiss digital SLR camera (aka 350D or Digital Rebel XT, depending on where you live) with a couple of lenses for the day. Yesterday we received a note that we have won this and I am pleased to mess around with a DSLR for a while without having to buy one.
Too bad I have sold or lent out most of my Canon lenses, as the stuff they provide are just the slow consumer zooms. But it is during the day, so it should be bright. The other thing is that they will print 10 prints only, for the rest you have to bring your own CF cards to take the pics home. I was expecting that you would get the images on CD at least, but that does not seem to be the case. I only have one 128MB card and two 32MB cards, but if I set it to smaller file sizes and compression, maybe I’m OK.
Let’s see how it goes with my first DSLR experience.
Black & White contrasts
At the time of the Louisville Flood (1937) © Margaret Bourke-White/Timepix
I came across this remarkable photograph by Margaret Bourke-White the other day in a black & white photo magazine.