Team Digital very excited to be a sponsor of “The Landscape 500 Photo Competition”. It promises to be more than just photo competition. More details to come soon, but all we can say is get your very best landscape ready. Game on.
Some great prizes on offer
A trip on the True North , experience the ultimate in luxury
The amazing Epson Pro 3880 printer, one of the best Epson printer ever
The Gigapan Epic Pro automated head, the latest tool in the landscape photographers kit bag
And a day with Christian Fletcher himself , not sure if its priceless but it promises to be a great day
There are also offering from Kata Bags and Hoya filters
For more details check out Christians Blog
Team Digital has received stock of the New Gigapan Epic Pro.
We have had some great fun with it over the week . See the unit in action and have a laugh at
http://www.christianfletcher.com.au/blog/2010/07/gigapan-video/
Just as a bit of a covering comment re video there was three takes all a bit of fun .
Take 1) was because we had set the Gigapan to do bracket exposure . Which it can do up to 20 exposures per frame
Take 2) was because we had someone walking through the shot
Take 3) was because we used the Canon 100mm IS and the IS was on and everyone knows that you shouldn’t have IS on when you are shooting on a tripod, if you want sharp images .
The actual shot took under a minute to do 28 frames.
We also now have our hire unit which you can hire after this weekend at $ 100.00 per day. If you decide to purchase a Gigapan after you have hired it and we know you will want to. We will give you 100% of hire costs off the new unit ( conditions do apply )
We have been testing it now for a week and we love what the unit does. We will have a full review very shortly.
We were lucking enough to get a fully working Pentax 645D with a 55mm for the day yesterday.
Heres some of our thoughts and the photographers who tested it.
The functionality of the camera is great, the ability to change a number of camera setting externally from the menu is a real plus ie Mirror Up, Bracketing settings , Raw to Jpeg it very much feels like a SLR in this area.
The body while bulky is quite well-balanced and relatively light with the 55mm lens. It is very evident that have gone to a lot trouble to make the camera as robust as possible and as weather proof as possible. Although we really didn’t test out the weather proofing bit. We didn’t think Pentax would like soaked demo camera back , but from what we have read and what you can see on the camera it looks good in this area.
Single battery is handy , which lasted into evening shoots . We are told it’s about 800 shoots. The point was made to us re the battery why do other systems have a need for two battery systems. Put simply other systems can be used in a number of different configurations, meaning the back is separate from the body allowing us to use the back on 4×5 cameras etc so the body needs to be powered independently. This is not the case with the Pentax 645D as it only has one configuration.
DNG how good is that, when ever we get a new camera to test it is always a battle to get the RAW files converted. Not with the Pentax its DNG which meant we could convert the raws on what ever we liked. Now that’s smart thinking Pentax.
The over all image quality was great. The camera and lens performed very well. Great clarity and sharpness ,so the 55mm seemed to do the Camera and sensor justice. We didn’t get to test an older film lens on it so we will reserve our opinion on that front until we can do so. In regards to the size of the files we processed a RAW out to 226.1mb in 16bit or 113mb in 8bit but why would you.
We will get some more thoughts posted , but we must say we had a great time using the camera . And yes we were very impressed. Well done Pentax
We had a good look at the new Pentax 645D medium format camera system. It looks great , we unfortunately havent been able to look at the files as the cameras is a prototype and we can’t take any files from it. Though it was great to see the operation of the camera from the point of view menu function focus etc.
Well worth a look, especially since a kit will come in at less than $ 15000.00. We will have the camera mid next week if you want to have a look for yourself. Limited stock arriving soon let us know if your interested in placing an order or booking a test drive.
PENTAX 645D
- 40 Megapixels sensor (44 x 33mm), designed by Kodak (1.7 times larger than a 35mm format sensor)
- Dustproof, weather-resistant and coldproof body (70 seals)
- Dual SD/SDHC card slots
- New SAFOX IX+ autofocus system, with 11 sensor points
- Dust Removal II mechanism
- Trapezoid-shaped glass prism viewfinder
- Weight: 1480g loaded and ready with battery and 2 SD cards
PENTAX D-FA 645 55mm F2.8 AL [IF] SDM AW
- Equivalent to 43.5mm in the 35 format
- Dustproof, weatherproof
- Weight: 416g
The Great Kata Bag Trade-In Offer
Elinchrom BX kit promotion
Manfrotto Lighting Stand Promo
A couple of new things as well
Canon 5D mkII Body only now down to $ 3050.00
NIKS Silver Efex Pro $ 230.00
NIKS Sharpner Pro $ 225.00
PICTURE STYLE
This is one of the most important settings. There are a number of ideas for the best settings to use so it is a matter of working out what you prefer by testing different settings. One setting for one condition may not suit another.
The idea is to capture as much information from the initial footage from the camera so it can be used for better results in the post production stage of your editing. This will result in a flat looking un-saturated image, which looks unappealing but will have more detail in the shadows and highlights. This image will allow a better end result in post production.
Select Picture Style
Select User Def. 1
Press INFO button on camera
Change Picture Style to Neutral
Scroll down to Sharpness – Use Setting from 0 to 2 (Reduces artefacts)
Scroll down to Contrast – Set to range of 3 to 4 stops to left of 0 point
Scroll down to Saturation – Set to range of 2 to 3 stops to left of 0 point
Color Tone leave as is – 0
So It looks like this 
The results were extremely interesting
Thanks to those of you who attended Michael’s first DSLR Video workshop ” The Moving Landscape ” . Sorry to the people who tried to book after it had been sold out. We are in the process of getting another course together.
It was an informative and inspiring day, it was great to see and hear how he created such a unique stunning body of work. As promised we’ve been able to post some of Michael’s insights into what settings to use with his favorite camera the Canon 5D MkII.
Part A covers the custom settings recommended
C.Fn II :Image Settings
Long Exp. Noise reduction – Off
High ISO speed noise reduct’n – Disable
Highlight tone priority – Disable, Enable will add grain
Auto Lighting Optimizer – Disable
Part B will posted later this week, which covers the “Picture Style Settings” which is so important to getting the best starting point for your videos.
Kata FlyBy-76 – when security & convenience matters
We have recently added the Kata FlyBy bags to our range because they fill an important need for those customers who travel regularly with a full photographic kit including laptop. The FlyBy 76 will house and protect a large amount of gear in it’s main compartment with accommodation for between 2 to 4 DSLR camera bodies along with 8-10 lenses (up to 600 mm), some flash equipment and a variety of photo accessories. The numerous modular Aeriform Dividers can be arranged to custom fit your gear needs and there is a full length Elasto-Guard protected 17” laptop compartment which folds out of the bag for easy access.The laptop slides out easily without having to fully open the bag, ideal for airport security checks.
The provided insertrolley further enhances the convenience of the Kata FlyBy 76 at airports and this can be removed when not needed so that the bag becomes a shoulder bag with the strap provided. Attach a tripod to the front of the bag with two fast connection straps and you have got the lot in one convenient package. Kata’s FlyBy series also comes in a slightly smaller version, the FlyBy-74.
Trade In your old Bag. – Until the end of June we will give $ 50.00 on any old worn out bag as a trade in on selected Kata bags. At $350 after trade, this makes the FlyBy-76 a very sound investment for the photographic traveller.
Team Digital will be stocking the new range of Redrock Micro products.
Redrock Microsystems design high quality hybrid support rigs for DSLR Video.
Ultra lightweight and Ultra portable, these rigs allow you to achieve cinema-quality output from your DSLR Video. There are number of different rigs to suit all your needs and budgets.
Gigapan is will soon be available at Team Digital. This month we are taking delivery of the amazing panoramic system. While the Gigapan systems have been on the market for some time now. We havent had a professional option but now we do the Gigapan Epic Pro which is compatible with most Digital SLR systems.
What is Gigapan , it is simply an electronic tripod head that automatically tilts and moves your camera to capture hundreds of photos of the scene, then stitches them together with its proprietary software into a huge panoramic image.
We will be adding the Gigapan into our hire list in July so you can try before you buy.
Some great prizes on offer 
