The main strap we had was the Black Rapid which we spent a week trying out.

The purpose of a double strap is to allow you to carry two camera’s on straps at the same time.

We have decided not to put the review on the web site, but instead if you have any question relating to it, please email us with those questions.

Our next review will be posted in about 2 weeks time and will be the Sigma 24-70 F2.8 Wide Angle Lens.

Happy shooting

Team Gotcha.

The 2009/2010 wedding season is coming to a close and has been great for Gotcha Imaging and Photography. We are now preparing for the 2010/2011 season. The months of June/July and August are normally our months for some R&R, but for a very limited time we are offering wedding photography during June/July and August 2010 at 35% discount off our wedding packages.

For further details on this amazing offer and our interest free payment options (for wedding albums) contact us on the details above.

This is strictly limited to the months of June/July and August 2010, subject to availability.

Gotcha Imaging and Photography

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The P7000 is the latest in the range of MV’s from Epson, and is a vast improvement on the previous models.

What I really liked.

• It has a beautifully clear 4″ LCD screen using Epson’s “Photo Fine Premia” technology, sporting 16.7million colours. So, as you can imagine it is clear and bright. Even when zooming in on an image you get a very sharp picture.
• The previous models only had 80gig of storage space, where as the P7000 is giving you 160gig. That’s enough space for anyone needing a back up drive on the run. Or storing some movies when away on a business trip or photo shoot.
• It is able to import Jpeg and RAW formats.
• It’s importing speed is pretty good.
• The software boots up quite quickly and is very simple to use, again an improvement on previous models.
• The jog wheel is a great little tool for being able to scroll through your images and menu options.
• The ability to rank images that will import into your computer editing software like Lightroom.
• It’s light in weight.

Let’s look into the P7000 a little closer.

In the box you have: The P7000 multimedia viewer, a battery, USB cable, charger adapter, and soft case.

The first time it’s switched on you are asked to input some basic information for date and time (boot up time is less than 5 seconds, and shut down is a little less than that). As you go through the menu on the back, the options are very simple. There are some nice sample images already stored, but the fun starts when you begin to import your own images.

On the top of the P7000 are two slots, one for SD cards and the other for CF cards. I imported raw files from an 8 gig CF card, and and time it took for importing was approx 10 minutes although I didn’t use a stop watch.

Once I had my images imported, scrolling through them was a breeze, and the images were displayed so beautifully, bright and sharp. I loved this side of the P7000.

So after talking about all the things I love about this, lets look at what I don’t like about it.

The price! It is very expensive. I think for anyone that has the money to spend on the P7000 will absolutely love it. If you are looking at the price against a laptop, then the positives to this are the nice weight, the size although small has a beautifully sized screen, the boot up and shut down speed, and the image upload speed which appears to be considerably better than a laptop. If you are considering one of the lower models with a smaller hard drive, for the extra couple of hundred bucks, I would get the 160gig version. It will give you double the space compared to the 80gig.

Which market is this targeted at?

I would imagine the most likely buyers of this product (other than Inspector Gadget), would be anyone travelling who wants to be able to back up their images without dragging a laptop around, and wedding photographers. As peace of mind, any wedding photographer would benefit greatly from this for being able to back up their images very quickly while shooting.

The price is the only thing that lets it down.

RRP on this is $999.00, but the guys at Camera Electronic are offering a discounted price for anyone mentioning Gotcha and this review. The review price is $879.00. Price is subject to change without notification.

It’s been a few weeks since our last review, and as promised this review is about some of the most impressive software available for digital photography.

NIK Software Inc. is a multi award winning company and has a package program that is used as an add-on for Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture. The complete package contains the following programs; Viveza, Colour eFex, Silver eFex, Dfine and Sharpener.

Our review will cover each of these amazing plug-ins.

Viveza.

One of the most difficult situation hitting digital photographers today, is making changes to specific areas and colours. Today when using Photoshop we are required to use layer masks, well not anymore. Nik Software Viveza is the answer to all of our prayers. This incredibly simple and powerful program allows us to make changes to saturation, brightness, contrast, hue, warmth, reds, greens and blues to those specific colours and it’s done so painlessly.  Nik Software uses a technology called U-point first found in the Nikon Capture NX software. It allows us to add a control point to make our changes.



The image above shows the basic outlay of Viveza. You have a number of different preview options the brush option will allow you to pick your control point and head back into Photoshop and brush your choice of changes without setting up masks.

You will notice in this image I have made a change in saturation to the sky, the change is extreme and is done to show the effectiveness of the program. Once the control point is set on the colour we want to adjust, it’s as simple as altering the size of the circle covering the area to be adjusted. Then using the sliders shown to make the changes to the set colours we want to alter, Loupe view then shows us the before and after.
This is an amazing program and one that I would recommend having for saving time when trying to make those alterations to your images with Adobe programs and Aperture.

Silver eFex

The next part of our NIK Software review is on Silver eFex.

If you are finding that Photoshop and other programs are giving you very predictable results when converting your images to black and white but want something more, this program will interest you. Silver eFex opens a world of very cool and fun ways to make your images really pop. The options in this program are a little more complicated than Viveza, but it’s worth every second that you spend learning how to use it and it still is not difficult to use.

Once you have opened your image, the first thing you will notice is the way the options are set out. On the left are some nice pre-set choices and to the right are the more detailed options. The options on the left are as simple as they would appear to be, the fun begins when you start to play with the options on the right.

The image above shows the spilt view, this offers the before and after image.

This image above is the immediate change we get when using the ‘Holga’ filter. You can now see on the right hand side those finer details I have been talking about.

One of the really cool option we have is changing the film type. You will notice on the drop down menu on the right, a list of film types all having a different impact on the photograph. The other option that I like in this program is the vignette, it gives a great effect and lots of control.

This is a fantastic add-on for Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture. I would highly recommend getting this.

Colour eFex

This is the one NIK add-on that I use more than any other. This is a truly amazing piece of work. This one add-on would save me more time when working on images than any other I have tried. This program has some totally unique options that work incredibly well.

In the image above, going from left of the picture to the right: Group tabs will allow you to pick a filter that relates to the style of image you are editing i.e. ‘Wedding’ ,when you click the ‘Wedding’ option tab it will show a list of quick filters that relate to wedding photography. Next to the tabs you will notice a list of filters that we can pick from. In the middle, obviously we have the image, that can be viewed in a number of ways (my choice here is ‘split view’). To the right we have some options to make those finer changes, and every filter offers different options.

In the image above, you will notice that we have gone for a ‘Graduated Filter’, you can also now see how the options on the right have changed to something specific to the filter type we are using. I am able to make changes to the colour of the filter in the Colour Set option. Opacity….well that kind of speaks for itself. In fact, if we look through the options, we will see just how easy it is and simple these options are laid out.

Dfine

How many images have you deleted due to the amount of noise you have had in them? If you had Dfine at the time you were going to hit the delete button you would probably have thought twice about it.

Dfine is one of those add-ons that we probably wouldn’t use a great deal, but when we do, we get a quick reminder of how powerful it is.

Again as with the other add-on’s  from  NIK Software, it is incredibly easy to use.

The image below was taken at a recent wedding. I had a bit of extra Photoshop work done and then had the noise added to give the image a bit more of an arty feel.  So, seeing that I had added so much noise, I felt that it would be a great image to use to show how good this program is.

This split view shows just how well this program works.

We still have the use of control points to focus on specific colours as with all the NIK Software programs. Even if you did nothing other than open an image in Dfine and then hit ‘OK’, you will be amazed at the results.

Sharpener

The final part of this review covers the sharpening plug-in from the NIK Software package.

I don’t tend to do much sharpening to my images in, I try to get my images sharp in camera. On the odd occasion however I do need to add that little something to make an image sharpness stand out and that is when I call on Sharpener Pro 3.0. This plug-in has a couple of immediate options for sharpening: Output allows you to make changes to your jpeg files after your camera has worked it’s magic. Raw is a pre-sharpening tool, allowing us to sharpen from start to finish. Mostly used by photographers that have their cameras sharpening features turned off. I prefer to use the ‘Output’ option.

Once you have your image opened in ‘Output’ you have the usual options of adding a control point and then choosing a colour range (if that’s what you prefer to do). Or you can start sharpening the entire image. The snapshot below shows an extreme of how powerful this add-on is. Again in the viewing option we can get a split before and after view.

I have taken the sharpening slider just about as high as it will go so you can see how well this works. The amount of control available is fantastic.

To conclude my review. This really is one of the most simple and powerful add-on’s for Photoshop, Lightroom or Aperture. Any one that is looking to save some time and have a world of filters when editing photographs, would highly benefit from the NIK Software package.

This set certainly deserves 5 stars and is highly recommended.

This package is available from our friends at Camera Electronic, usually sold for $799.00 rrp. Mention this review and get $100.00 off the rrp giving you this incredible all in one package for $699.00.

Click this banner to go directly to the CE site.

Prices from Camera Electronic are subject to change without notification.

As always, feel free to comment on this review or ask any questions. We will try our best to answer them.

Happy Editing

Team Gotcha

Before I begin my review on the Ricoh GXR, I want to mention this review is focused at the consumer and not the rocket scientist. The average consumer does not understand what ‘Chromatic Aberration’ means or many of the other technical words we  use in the photography industry, so I am going to keep this review simple so that the every day consumer can make a sensible choice when deciding whether they would like to purchase this camera.

This review and the camera I would suggest will be of more interest to the enthusiast.

If I were the consumer and wanted to purchase this product, one of my first questions would be “how easy is this camera to use and navigate?”…..80% of the people purchasing a new item (whether it be a camera, stereo or a new fridge) won’t bother to read the instructions. So considering this, the first part of the review is going to be based on how the Ricoh GXR feels and how easy it is to navigate.

The first thing that stands out, is that this looks like a compact camera but without the built in lens. I quickly realised that I am not reviewing the run of the mill camera so when purchasing one consider this and don’t expect the lens to be on the camera. This is obviously going to bump the price up a little. It will however give a great deal of flexibility, as you are able to purchase different lens units.

The Image sensor and processor is not built into the camera, but into the lens unit itself. Hence you will be purchasing a camera and a lens unit.

So how easy is the GXR menu to navigate? I would put myself in that 80% class, meaning I don’t read instructions until something doesn’t seem to be working the way I think it should. Then I will start skipping through the manual until I find what I want, then continue happily fumbling with the camera until I need the manual again.

Once the camera is turned on, the main thing that popped out at me is the incredibly clean and bright LCD screen on the back of the camera. It doesn’t actually pop out, but it may as well when you see how clean the image is. Once I headed into the menu options I found a world of fun. The options within the menu screens are very simple to move around, and don’t have bazaar titles that are confusing.

The back of the camera has a few different buttons that are quick options. The ‘direct’ button took me straight into the; ISO, White balance, Focus, Metering, Color management, Image size, Bracketing and Continuous shooting options. It’s just simply using the navigation buttons to select the option you wish to change. This would be the one area that will be used mostly in my opinion, it makes this camera very user friendly when taking photographs in ‘manual mode’. To be honest, I can’t fault Ricoh on how easy it is to make those manual changes.

Image Quality:

The Image quality at low ISO is great and the colour reproduction for such a small camera blew me away when I first saw it on the back of the camera. Obviously how good it appears on your monitor will be determined by how good your monitor is and whether it is calibrated correctly. Assuming you have all your ducks lined up with calibration and a half decent monitor, you will find that once you upload your images, you will be very impressed with the results. The drawbacks though when using the 24-72mm lens unit at much faster speeds of ISO 800 to 3200, is the noise in the images, it is quite high. Once you get up to 3200 ISO you may as well forget it totally, the noise is bad with a loss of colour in the images.

Using the 50mm lens unit is a different story, this is mostly due to the larger image sensor. I didn’t have any issues with the high ISO until 3200, and even then the image is quite good. This is no different to what I would expect from an entry lever DSLR. So the results from these settings are highly impressive.

The file size when using the fine image setting is about 3-4Mb and you still have the option of shooting in RAW.

Focusing:

The 24-72mm is ok when focusing (in terms of speed) and has the option of a pre-focusing option. In the pre-focusing option the lens will focus within a set range although not fully focus, this will decrease the time it takes to actually focus when depressing the shutter release button. The macro on the 24-72mm is ok but not fantastic.

The 50mm focusing is slow and can feel painfully slow when set to macro, but the image sharpness is great.

Some of the extras:

The TC-1 1.88x tele-conversion lens, HA-3 Hood and Adaptor, LC-2 Self Retaining Lens Cap, VF-2 LCD Viewfinder, GF-1 Flash unit can be purchased as extras to complete the kit.

TC-1: It’s a good quality tele-convertor for such a small camera, giving some good sharp images. My biggest issue with this is you need to purchase the Hood and Adaptor to fit the TC-1 to the 24-72mm lens unit.

HA-3: Hood and Adaptor. Great for reducing vigneting and lens flare on the zoom lens, as mention above, the adaptor is required for the tele-convertor.

LC-2: I would recommend this one to help protect the 24-72mm lens. It’s a good add on to the kit. (This item can be seen on the image of the GXR towards the top of this page).

VF-2: I wasn’t too exited about the LCD viewfinder, although it can be very helpful when photographing in sunlight.. I found that the camera LCD screen was perfect for looking at the subjects I was photographing.

GF-1. This is a great flash unit. It has settings in it so that the flash on the camera can be used to fire this as an off camera flash. Simply by reducing the power of the camera flash. and setting the GF-1 to slave. The flash is quite powerful, and gives good results. Remember you are not using an SB-900 Nikon, so don’t expect the earth from this flash unit, for what it is and the money, I actually thought it is good value. Add a good quality diffuser to the flash and you have something that will do justice to your subjects.

New Products:

Ricoh are releasing two new lens units for the GXR.

These Specifications are from the Ricoh Website.

http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/press/release/nr_gxr_unit.html

Overall.

My overall thoughts on the system in general are very positive. What we have is a camera that acts like an entry level DSLR but the same size as a compact camera. The image quality is nothing to snare at, anybody that loves strong vibrant colours and good sharp images will love this camera. Ricoh have done a great job with something that is totally innovative and little bit out there. The slow focusing is an issue particularly on the 50mm lens on macro. I love the idea of the image sensor being built into the lens unit as this eliminates the risk of dust on the image sensor.

Would I purchase one? If I was in the market for an entry DSLR, I would seriously consider this as a purchase. It has the advantage of being smaller, lighter and doesn’t require a large camera back for the optional extras that we find with the traditional entry level DSLR

I will rate the Ricoh GXR a score of 7 1/2 out of 10.

So what about the pricing:

Saul at Camera Electronic has come up with some great discounts for anyone looking to purchase this camera. You will need to mention this review to get the special prices though.

The prices below are current at Camera Electronic followed by the specials.

GXR Body: $699.00.

24 – 72mm Zoom Lens $649.00

50mm Prime lens $999.00

VF-2 Viewfinder $299.00

LC-2 Lens Cap $20.00

TC-1 Tele Conv: $299.00

GF-1 Flash Unit $349.00

HA-3 Hood and Adaptor $129.00

Special Price: Remember to mention this review for these specials.

GXR Body: $599.00.

24 – 72mm Zoom Lens $549.00

50mm Prime lens $799.00

VF-2 Viewfinder $240.00

LC-2 Lens Cap $18.00

TC-1 Tele Conv: $220.00

GF-1 Flash Unit $275.00

HA-3 Hood and Adaptor $99.00

Prices are subject to change without notification.

If you are interested in the Ricoh GXR system or any other photography equipment, then be sure to visit Saul, Howard and the team at Camera Electronic. They are a world of knowledge and always happy to talk about Photography and Printing.

Phone them on: 08-9328-4405

Please as always feel free to add any comments or suggestions on this review. We are always open to ideas of things to review, so feel free to ask.

Our next review will be on Nik Software Photographic Tools.

For now. Happy Shooting.

Team Gotcha

Some people will use the excuse that they don’t have the latest pro equipment so cant get those creative shots. This shot was taken with a Nikon D60 (entry level amateur camera).  The photographer realised that a line would be through the subjects reflection, so re-set the shot for a cleaner reflection and better composition. Once it was put on the computer, it was then cropped and turned into black and white.

To get this kind of shot just took a little bit of creativity and some thought….. possibilities are every where for something a little different. You just need to look at everything around you.

Feel free to add some comments on this post.

Happy Shooting

Team Gotcha

For todays post, we want to challenge you to try something a little more creative. This photograph was taken in a local burger restaurant. To see the end result of the photograph go to our ‘Portrait’ page.

Some people will use the excuse that they don’t have the latest pro equipment so cant get those creative shots. This shot was taken with a Nikon D60 (entry level amateur camera).  The photographer realised that a line would be through the subjects reflection, so re-set the shot for a cleaner reflection and better composition. Once it was put on the computer, it was then cropped and turned into black and white.

To get this kind of shot just took a little bit of creativity and some thought….. possibilities are every where for something a little different. You just need to look at everything around you.

Feel free to add some comments on this post.

Happy Shooting

Team Gotcha

Feb 21st 2010

Photoshop Wrap Effect

We thought for todays post we would add a video from You Tube. This is a very simple technique for wrapping a texture onto an object. If you are using Photoshop you will probably have a few fun ideas for this technique.

Happy Photoshopping.

Team Gotcha

Feb 20th 2010

Optical Zoom vs Digital Zoom.

As promised in our last post we are going to discuss the difference between Optical Zoom and Digital Zoom.

When you decide to purchase a new camera, one of the selling points is going to be the zoom (how close you can focus in to a distant object). We hear lots of rave about the latest digital cameras having a fantastic digit zoom rate. So what are you actually getting?

Digital zoom basically crops a part of your image and then resamples it again so that the image is at full resolution, the closer you zoom into an image, the more information and detail you will lose. Are you actually gaining anything from digital zoom? The answer is “No”. If you are sacrificing image quality to get closer to a subject, the final print is not going to be as good as you would expect.

Optical zoom actually takes a smaller area of the subject and forces it to fill the viewfinder. This is done with the use of a number of lenses, it works in much the same way as the eye. You do not sacrifice image quality when using optical zoom.

Be mindful though that the better the optical zoom, the more money you will pay for your camera. If quality is important to you, then it’s worth spending the money.

Happy Shooting

Team Gotcha:)

Feb 18th 2010

MegaPixels:

We thought for todays post we would talk Megapixels.  We hear so many times people talking about how many megapixels their camera has, thinking that it is the most important part of the camera. Things to take into account that are more important than megapixels with regard to image quality are:

• Lens Quality
• Lighting
• Proper Focus
• Correct Shutter Speed

So what about the megapixels? Megapixels will determine the maximum size that the image can be printed.  Below is a table that will help with this (These are based on average image quality).

2MP      8×10 in.

4MP     11×14 in.

6MP   16 x 20 in.

8MP    20 x30 in.

10MP 25 x 40 in.

The thing to take into account here is cropping. The tighter you crop an image, the smaller you will be able to print the image. If you are not going to be making large prints or you are looking at cropping most of your image out, then consider the features of the camera you are going to be purchasing. You may be looking at spending more money on a camera based on the megapixels, rather than considering features in a camera that will benefit you with image quality.

In our next post we will look at Optical Zoom vs Digital Zoom.

If you have a topic you would like us to cover, then please post them on here.

Happy Shooting

Team Gotcha

17th Feb 2010

The Rule of Thirds:

We thought for todays post we would discuss something that would help your images become a little more interesting. Nearly all professional photographers will use the rule of thirds when framing an image. At times you may have taken an image and at a first glance thought it looked good, then when it was on your computer realised something didn’t look quite right. Well the rule of thirds may help you with that issue (not to say that it will every time).

So what is the rule of thirds? Firstly when looking through your view finder or on the back of your LCD screen, you will need to imagine 4 lines….2 vertical and 2 horizontal. As below.

The theory is to now place subjects of interest in the intersections or along the lines. This will balance your photographs and make them more interesting to look at, rather than having the subject placed in the center of the image.

The more you use this idea, the more natural it will become for you and the more fun you will have with your photographs. If you look through the images we have posted in our image galleries, you will see this idea used quite a lot. Lets remember, this is to make an other wise dull image more interesting. Some images work just fine with the subject placed in the middle.  Give it a try and see how it changes your photographs.

If you have any questions on this or any other topic that you like us to cover, please let us know.

Happy Shooting

Team Gotcha!!!

February 15th 2010

What is a good entry level camera?

We get asked this question quite a bit. An interesting article was posted on a website (of course it was selling cameras though), that said “Today you can buy a DSLR camera and shoot like a pro”. Please don’t get caught up in the sales of hype of buying an entry level DSLR and believing you are now set to go and shoot for a fashion magazine, or that you now have what it takes to be able to shoot for a wedding.  Sadly it takes more than a camera to shoot for a living. We won’t go into all the technical aspects of photography in this post, but in the coming days and weeks we will talk about some of them.

So which camera should you be purchasing? Most people want to take pics of the kids in a park, or at a party, holiday shots, maybe some photographs of a mate fishing….what ever your reasons are you still would like to have something that will produce a nice picture.

Don’t get hung up on the whole megapixels debate…..unless you want to enlarge a picture the size of your front door, it’s not the most important part of purchasing a camera.

Lets look at a few of the best known models:

Nikon. D5000

RRP – $1115.00

Pentax. KM

Gotcha Imaging and Photography gift certificates make the perfect gift.

Certificates can be used for just about any occasion. If you are looking for something a little different to give to a family member, that special someone, or even to a friend, these certificates will result in photographs that will last forever.

The following vouchers can be purchased offering fantastic value and savings on portrait photography.

All certificates include a 1 hour shoot at one of Perth’s many amazing locations or as a studio photo session.

Gift certificates are a something that allows the owner of them to some fun, beautiful, exiting photography that are printed by one of Perth’s biggest and most professional labs. Resulting in memories than you will always have to hang in your home.

To purchase a gift certificate, simply click on the ‘Buy Now’ button. Once the purchase has been made we will post the certificate to you.

Gotcha Imaging and Photography uses PayPal as our preferred online payment system due to the security and ease of use it provides to our customers. You can pay through PayPal using your credit card or your PayPal account if you have one.

For just $100.00 you will receive a fun 1 hour photo shoot and a complimentary 5″x7″ print, total value $250.00. A saving of $150.00.

For just $200.00 you will receive a 1 hour photo shoot plus one 8″ x 12″ print, total value $300.00. A saving of $100.00.

For just $250.00 you will receive a 1 hour photo shoot, plus two 5″ x 7″ and one 8″ x 12″ print, total value $400.00, a saving of $150.00.

Perth based Menu Magazine has awarded Gotcha Imaging and Photography a 12 month contract shooting for their half yearly editions that are published and sold throughout WA. Menu magazine promotes Restaurants and Cafe’s throughout Western Australia

Scott Arnold-Ayers is the owner of the magazine and being a very down to earth and approachable guy would be more than happy to discuss advertising in the magazine. Scott can be contacted at www.westcoastcafes.com.au/

The photography is to include the front page shoot and a number of food photographs.

We are very experienced in commercial photography and this is a great win for the commercial side of our business.

Visit http://www.westcoastcafes.com.au/ for all the latest on Menu Magazine.

We focus on interacting with you and your guests to ensure we get those photographs you would expect from your wedding portrait photography and some of those amazing shots you were not expecting.

Contact us to discuss your wedding day, and how Gotcha Imaging and Photography can help you get the Wedding Photographs you will want.

There are more stunning photographs to view below so just click on the thumbnails and view them all.

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