Canon announces 50th Millionth EF lens

Canon announces the production of its 50 millionth EF lens for its EOS range of cameras. It is indeed incredible news given that Canon had only announced the milestone of 40 millionth EF lens just two years ago in 2008!

“Today’s announcement shows an immense achievement in our ability to grow and adapt to reach this impressive target in such a short space of time,” said Kazuyuki Suzuki, General Manager,Lens Products Marketing Management Div. Canon inc. “We are proud to support so many photographers of all abilities through our extensive range of DSLRs, including the recently launched 7D designed to create a whole new photographic experience.”

We're photographers, not terrorists!

Be careful now... the police might not be able to distinguish between a telephoto lens and a rocket launcher...

In a unusual display of unhappiness, photographers in the United Kingdom have gathered in London's Trafalgar Square to protest against the police's treatment of photographers in the country. Under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000, the police were endowed with greater powers to step up their efforts against terrorism, and this included the capacity to search anyone they deem suspicious, regardless of whether they had reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

Numerous working photographers, amateurs and even tourists have been stopped and searched by the police, on the suspicion that they might be conducting "hostile reconnaissance", and the tension between photographers and police increased over the past few years. The photographers alleged that their civil liberties were being violated for the most innocent act of photographing famous buildings or indulging in basic street photography, all from public areas and street where photography is permitted.

"We are photographers, not terrorists" became the slogan for a group of disgrunted photographer's campaign against the terrorist act's power to "stop-and-search". It is really unfortunate that the police chose to equate terrorism with photography, simply because it is a high-profile and easily spotted activity that a terrorist might use to gather information. One might even postulate that the police might be targeting photographers as an act of publicity to show how serious they are in protecting the homeland.  The sad fact is that the police are even harassing photographers taking photos of well-known and well-documented buildings, which terrorists can easily download readily-available photos.

Read more about the protest here:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/23/photography.protest/index.html?hpt=Sbin

http://photographernotaterrorist.org/2009/12/mass-photo-gathering/

All-terrain light stand

Light stands are great – in the studio. In the outdoor conditions, they struggle to cope with uneven grounds. Strobe-enthusiast Reuben Krabbe found a neat way to modify a standard light-stand to work on uneven grounds such as slopes or stairs.

The modification is simple – Reuben removes the rivet from one of the legs with a drill, creates a series of holes in that leg and installs a clip to hold the leg into the new hole position. The end result (after 5 minutes of work) is a light stand with a leg that moves independently to adapt to any ground terrain!

Amazing French landscapes

I came across this series of astounding landscapes by Italian photographer Juza Ea, and I knew that I must show it to you readers. The images are breathtaking and very inspirational. Although this is a gallery and there are no details on the techniques, Juza’s website has some interest articles and reviews for you to read up on.

Check out Juza’s landscape of France at Juza's website!

How many lights were used in this photo?

I’m sure many of us envy the photographer with a ton of gear (and many assistants) at his disposal. But more important than equipment is a sense of imagination. Being imaginative lets us think creatively to achieve great images with what we have, instead of being restricted by our gear.

The photographer Zack Arias was tasked with taking a photo of a group of photographers, and as luck would have it the group included famous strobists such as Joe McNally, David Hobby (Strobist blog) and Chase Jarvis. I think most of us would dig a hole and dive in when given a task to shoot a group who are THE experts in on-site location lighting and photography.

Read on to see how Zack created this stunning shot with a little gear and a lot of imagination. (Editor’s note: see how the shot works because there’s an individual standing in the back with a wooden background. The photo wouldn’t have worked half as well if the person wasn’t there to balance the composition.)

Check out how Zack Arias did it at http://www.zarias.com/?p=340

Confessions of a photographer

Check out this hilarious clip by photographer Joe McNally as he confesses to "Father Bob Krist" about the "sins" he committed in 2009! I'm equally guilty as Joe McNally when it comes to some of the "sins"... time to repent in 2010!

Plan your studio set-up on your iPhone

Janis Lanka and Isa Goksu have released Strobox, a (free) app for the iPhone. You can create lighting diagrams directly on your precious (iPhone, that is). There are more than 25 lighting equipment including backdrops, strobes, softboxes, umbrellas, hairlights and diffusion panels. You can simply drag, position and rotate the equipment to tweak your set-up. The software even generates PNG files that you can share via email.

My main gripe is that the canvas size is too small for more lights for a more complex set-up, limited layout space doesn’t allow you to place more subjects (two is getting crowded). And those whom I showed Strobox to wondered if the app can show the effect of the lighting once the equipment is “finalized”. C’mon guys… it’s a free app! We can expect that in the paid version perhaps?

http://itunes.apple.com/app/strobox/id339112815

How to fold a large reflector

Just about two weeks ago, I bought a huge reflector that measured 2m by 1.5m. I have no problems folding standard sized reflectors, but this is so large that I couldn’t fold it back into the case! I wasn’t amused when I failed to fold to back after struggling for 20 minutes in the car park (the onlookers were having a nice time seeing a grown man fighting with a panel of fabric), before I gave up and stuffed the half-folded reflector into my car.

Once I reached home, I searched for “how to fold a giant reflector” in YouTube. Within minutes, I had the answer and folded the reflector back into the case (it's easy when you know the right technique). Brilliant! So here’re a couple of the videos that I want to share with you readers…