Down Memory Lane - The Hill Trolleys

Out of the history book - one of the very first photos I ever took in my life circa 1953 (yse 60 years ago).
In our backyard at No 2 Marlow St Wembley our pride and joy our hill trolleys. My mate Peter and I built them and terrorised neighbours by ploughing through their garden beds and racing them down Reabold Hill against the traffic.

In the backyard is our cubby house built by my Pop (grandad). You can see the chookyard and lemon tree in the background. Over the back fence is the Brigidine Convent where I attended school for three years with the Brigidine nuns. I still remember getting bthe 'long cane' from head nun, Mother Joan for letting down the tyres on Terry and Brian Burke's tyres. Some might say I should have let down more than their tyres but I would never say that.

You may have noticed the photo is not all that sharp; the main reason for this was I was perched atop a six foot step ladder balanced on the thick couch lawn to get a better view. Things were shaky and I am not all that great with heights. About that shadow; all I can say is it wasn't there when I pressed the shutter on my Pop's Brownie 620.  

Seven hot tips to save money on your next overseas trip

1. Use a travel money card - you pay no commission and you can 'work' the wthdrawals to profit from currency fluctuations.
2. Claim your TRS on departure
3. Check best baggage rates with airlines
4. Turn off International Roaming on your mobile
5. Keep a small amount of overseas currency from previous trips
6. Use a travel agent who monitors air fare fluctuations - even after you book and pay deposit!
7. Most importantly - get the very best guide you can and talk to them prior to journey. They are worth every cent. They will take you places average guides won't and will save you heaps.

Our guide Yomna in Egypt at the Great Pyramid of Giza

Three session Travel Photography Workshop at UWA Extension: 

Click HERE for details.

Unravelling Sensor Sizes

If you've ever been confused about the way sensors are named and their sizes, join the club! It looks very much like it was organised by a circle of confusion in a Siberian gulag. I mean who would have thought that there are 5 different versions of APS-C sensors!!

I've just spent a day, armed with a calculator and Excel spread sheet calculating the pixel densities for new camera recommendations. Really tedious but, believe it or not, very useful. DP Review used to publish pixel densities but they stopped several years ago. So, I've taken on the task as a labour of love.

Simply put, having a whole bunch of megapixels in your camera does not guarantee a top camera. Its like a farmer who owns 20 million sheep. The farmer has to have space to put the sheep, otherwise the sheep starve, get skinny and die. So a moderate number of sheep in a big paddock is the way to go. Then all the pixel sheep are fat and smiling and happy. And you have a top camera!

From a photographic perspective, noise reduces, tonal values improve and you get improved skin tones. Even sheep would be happy.

There are some really poor performers when you get into the so-called compact mirror less cameras. Some have sensors slightly larger than match heads with results that should be lit with a match.

As a  Nikon owner, I was surprised but honour bound to report that the top performing camera based on pixel densities is the Canon 5D MkIII. It narrowly edges out theNikon D600.

There are a dozen other factors that influence image quality. However, pixel density is one that is often overlooked when choosing a new camera. And nobody publishes the specifications!!

To see what workshops I'm running for UWA click HERE.