Don't Buy This Strap

The Luminous Landscape introduces to its readers a touted-to-be ultimate mirrorless camera strap. For the fast release connector to quickly detach the camera from the strap by way of a buckle, leaving a short section possible to connect to a wrist strap, it earns a rave review from the reviewer. Well, this is as good as it gets. Apart from the ubiquitous design of such a connector system -- I didn't say this design lacks originality but it has been long used for the strap in the extendable sleeves for the local Octopus card and such similar straps for smartphones, I for one will not trust a pricey camera to a strap that can be easily detached. This is from my experience some ten years ago when I bought a camera bag using the same release connector. On many occasions it detached accidentally, falling off with the camera in it with a thump. In the end, I fastened the buckle with exactly that twist tie the reviewer used to thread the ultimate strap.

But my camera was in a bag. Imagine the possible damage if yours falls naked.

As for the wrist strap, I don't recommend it for a legitimate concern. Some five years ago, you know some photographers have this habit, a photographer wound the neckstrap around his wrist and the index and middle fingers while shooting. Bad luck struck him when he tripped over and instinctively pushed his hand against the floor to stop falling. Unfortunately, the camera was stuck in between the railings next to him. Two of his fingers were torn off.

The ultimate camera strap. Think over it again.

Comments

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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