Why Ultraman is cool

For those of you who don't know about Ultraman (shame on you!), it's a Japanese TV series that started in 1966, featuring an ever-growing number of 'global super police' who can, at a whim, change into giant protectors of the earth. And by giant, I mean as big as Godzilla.

Now, this series had (and still does have) typically Japanese superhero series production values. As in, the heroes and villains battle in model cities while wearing painted rubber suits. It also has traditional kids' show social values. It promotes self-belief, knowing your limitations, reliance on friends and respect for others.

This is why this poster, promoting the latest Ultraman film (Ultraman Saga) is perfectly appropriate for the series. Because it's not just a poster; it's a public safety warning. The headline reads, "It's an earthquake! Make sure you are safe before anything else!". The subhead says, "Make sure you have prepared your furniture so it does not fall over, fall down or move". And at the bottom? Ten vital points about how to act in times of an earthquake. The poster was created in conjunction with the Tokyo Fire Department.

See, this is why Ultraman is cool. Because not only do he and his buddies save the earth, not only do he and his buddies have time to promote their latest adventures, oh no, they also have time to try and save your skin in an earthquake, too! My hero!

Late CP+ post: Hands-on with the Pentax K-01

I fully expected to hate the K-01 when I hit the Pentax stand at CP+. After all, it was not exactly a looker in the initial press shots. In fact, my initial impressions were, "Oh dear. Pentax is going down with this one". I honestly thought it was that big a mistake.

However, having seen it in the metal, I was blown away. It was the surprise of the show for me. Despite my initial thoughts, it is gorgeous in real life and even better, feels brilliant to hold. Say what you like about Marc Newson, if this is his idea of a camera, he knows his stuff.

As you can see from the hands-on video below, the buttons and controls are sparse but well laid out, and in my half-Asian hands, all controls felt brilliant to the touch. Plus, the aluminium chassis gives a true solidity that no plastic camera can match. It just feels 'right', which is always a good sign.

Even the super-thin, 40mm f/2.8 lens looks OK! And let's not forget the K-01's ability to use any K-mount glass in existence. Legacy glass users rejoice!

I really applaud Pentax for going out on a limb with this camera, and as long as people can get past the initial looks (and if the image quality matches the exterior design) Pentax deserves to sell truckloads of these.

Queuing - a Japanese pastime

You know you've got the most popular models at the show when people are willing to queue for an hour just to get a moment's hands-on time with your new hotness. In contrast, when I walked past earlier, Olympus had a 45-minute wait time for hands on with their OM-D, and Fujifilm had a 30 minute wait for their X-Pro 1.

Given the paucity of time I had at the show, I had to pass on both the latter two (thankfully, I'd already had hands on with the D4 and D800 at Nikon's HQ as part of my Nikon Asia launch junket), so can't report on those, but hopefully will get time with both very soon. Although given my comments on the X-Pro 1, I'm not sure about that one...


Disclosure: I travelled to Japan as part of a Nikon Asia tour for the D4 and D800 launch. So yes, they're getting coverage. They would even if they didn't pay for the trip. Here's yet another part of it. I will and have been posting about other cool stuff, too, and my coverage will not favour Nikon in any way, shape or form over another brand. Seriously. 

The coolest thing on the whole Canon CP+ 2012 stand

When you come across a great idea, you want to shout it from the rooftops. This is one of those times.

To whit, Canon Japan introduced their Photopresso system last year, whereby you could publish your own photo books via a special Canon website. You simply upload your photos (any image, including scanned drawings or paintings, is cool), pay your money, and get beautifully bound books sent out to you. Totally customised, totally unique, and a brilliant gift for your friends.

Yes, I know you can get photo books from other companies, but these are just cooler, at least to me: They look better, are unique in style, and are so very Japanese. I love them.

They do cost a bit (starter price for a 40-page book is 1700 Yen - about AU$20 - and they go up from there to 5700 Yen - about AU$65 - for a 100-page book), but they are a great gift idea, and something I'd like Canon to introduce in Australia.

Pleeeeeaaaasse Canon Aus? Pleeeeeaaasse?

Disclosure: I travelled to Japan as part of a Nikon Asia tour for the D4 and D800 launch. They've had coverage already on this blog, but they were going to anyway, as who would go to a camera show and not cover Nikon? I have and will be posting about other stuff from the show (like the post above) so please don't think their buying my plane ticket in any way influences my coverage. 

Just because I want to...

Drooooool...



Disclosure: I travelled to Japan as part of a Nikon Asia tour for the D4 and D800 launch. They've already got coverage, but they were going to anyway, as who would go to a camera show and not cover Nikon? I have and will be posting about other stuff from the show (like the post above) so please don't think their buying my plane ticket in any way influences my coverage. 

Canon and Tamron's IS systems up close and personal

Following on from my earlier post, one of great things about CP+ is the number of cutaways and technical demonstrations available. For a camera geek wanting to learn how things work, it's a joy.

Take image stabilisation, for example. For most people, the IS system in their current lenses (or bodies if you're a Pentax user) is a modern marvel that just happens to help them take better photos. You only miss IS when it's gone, and for me, at least, I don't really think about it when I'm shooting. There are other things on my mind.

But let's take a look for a moment at how a modern stabilisation system works. Basically, as you might be able to tell from the picture above, the way most work at the moment is by suspending one lens element (always towards the back of the lens) in a ring of piezoelectric motors, controlled by a system of gyroscopic sensor chips and control chips (like the ones in the front-most element above). The rearmost element in Canon's set-up is the actual power ring that moves the whole lot. 

As you can see from the video I shot at the Tamron stand below, what happens when a vibration hits the lens is as follows: The sensor chip/s (highlighted with a blue square in the video) pick up the vibration and tell the controller chips what direction the vibration is coming from and with what g-force. The controllers then tell the piezoelectric motor ring (below left) to move the floating lens element (left) a corresponding amount the other way to compensate. That's it, really. Not much to it, but it's taken years for us to get to the level we are at now. 

The fact we can squeeze all that into a modern lens is a marvel to me. Hope you find it as cool/enlightening.

Disclosure: I travelled to Japan as part of a Nikon Asia tour for the D4 and D800 launch. They've already got coverage, but they were going to anyway, as who would go to a camera show and not cover Nikon? I have and will be posting about other stuff from the show (like the post above) so please don't think their buying my plane ticket in any way influences my coverage. 

Lens porn

There are just certain things all camera geeks want to do when it comes to photography gear, and one of them is to peek inside. You want to know how things work. How bits interlock. How the focusing mechanism works. How the optical stabiliser works (more on that later).

Sadly, the only way you can normally do that is either go to the factory and see the thing made, take apart your own gear (potentially very expensive) or see one of these cutaway models. And even these are rare. So when the chance came up at the Canon stand at CP+ to see how three of their superb L-series super telephotos worked, I couldn't say no. Included are shots of the 600mm f/4 (above), 500mm f/4 and 400mm f/2.8 (below).

As you can see, the construction is virtually identical in each one. The same number of lens elements, the same groupings. The same autofocus and stabilisation mechanism placements. The only difference is size. And you wonder why these super telephotos weigh so much!


Disclosure: I travelled to Japan as part of a Nikon Asia tour for the D4 and D800 launch. They've already got coverage, but they were going to anyway, as who would go to a camera show and not cover Nikon? I have and will be posting about other stuff from the show (like the post above) so please don't think their buying my plane ticket in any way influences my coverage.