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Konig Air Blower
by Huomenna
What is the purpose of the Konig air blower?
It was made to blow debris from various areas of photographic type equipment and many people use items like this when trying to clear marks from their sensors.
What does it look like?
Visually the shape is a bit like a rugby ball or a grenade. The red plastic pipe on the ... end directs the flow of air onto the subject.
What is it made of?
The tube is of plastic construction and the blower part itself seems to be rubber - the smell of it is slightly unpleasant and reminds me of swimming caps.
Is the build quality any good?
There aren't too many parts to the construction so in theory it should be easy to make a quality product. At work we have a couple of these that are around a couple of years old and the rubber is perishing - the blower still works, but as it's compressed you can see splits in the rubber which are only going to continue getting worse over time, eventually rendering it useless.
Does it do the job?
Well that all depends on what you're trying to clean with it! The blast of air delivered is reasonably powerful, but nothing like a tin of compressed air and as such it isn't capable of removing anything stuck to a surface or wedged behind different componenets. When it comes to using blowers for camera sensors it isn't really something I'd recommend for the following reasons:
a) quite often dust gets stuck on sensors so this won't shift it and you'll need a sensor swab
b) blasting air around the small confines of a camera interior will often just result in other particles being shot around the inside, these could land on the sensor making it worse than before (an air canister with a suction attachment is more appropriate).
Is it cost effective?
Well seeing as I can't think of a use for it that can't be done better with something else, I'd have to say no. That said if you want one, you can buy these on the highstreet for around £8.
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Canon STE2
by clarkjames
off camera flash is the easiest way to better photos. But the idea of being attached to a flash via a long cable is very unappealing, the canon st-e2 wireless flash trigger is a perfect product that always seems to be forgotten compared to the more reliable but more expensive radio triggers like pocket wizards.
It is an old ... product, i'm not sure if jessops used to stock it and canon don't really advertise it, but it has just been replaced with a new version- the st-e3 which I think uses radio triggers?
The st-e2 uses IR as it's trigger mechanism, which means it's working best with line of sight (or with a solid surface to bounce off). It works fine for everything except bright sunlight, and areas where the front IR window (the red part) of the flash is covered up.
The reliablity of the trigger is great- maybe 1/20 flashes don't fire- that's fine for me but if you need 100% reliability you need to spend more.
Build quality is great, it's plastic but it's solid and i've dropped mine many times with no issues. The best thing about the st-e2 is that it supports ettl, so exposure is automatic and you can alter flash settings from the back of your camera, the worse part is that it does make the camera much more bulky- but the unit is lightweight and it doesn't get in the way too badly.
recommended
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Novoflex OP/Tech Pro Strap
by Huomenna
All SLR's come with their own strap, usually proclaiming the brand, and often model number in huge garish letters. Some people love this as they like to show off how expensive their camera is, others either prefer subtlety in general or what something less showy to discourage potential thieves. Another possible reason for wanting to ... purchase another strap is the comfort factor - manufacturers straps tend to be very coarse nylon which is hard and digs into the skin.
I chose to replace my Nikon strap with the above Optech one. Why? To be honest it was because we sold them in the shop I work in so I could see and feel it before buying rather than buying blind online, otherwise I would have had no idea if it was better than my existing one.
What are the features?
The mid section of the strap is constructed from a stretchy, foam like material which is slightly shaped to account for the contours of the neck. The thinner end pieces are of nylon construction and attach to the camera by the normal method of threading through the lugs, the other ends clip into the central section for each of separation. On the rear of the middle panel are little circular beads, which look like silicon to me, these are designed to provide grip against the skin even when sweating. Further more the stretchy section is supposed to act in a weight reduction capacity which is a bonus for bulky equipment.
Available variations:
Optech make a number of different straps in various styles, however this particular one is available in 2 colours: black and camouflaged. Both have 'Optech USA' branded across the middle.
Packaging:
This is kept to an absolute minimum with just a small plastic hanger attached to enable the shop to hang them from a display hook.
My opinion:
Personally I found the strap easy to use and I have made use of the detachable strap feature. I went for the black version and don't particularly like having the name written across it, but this is something I have to put up with as it's just a minor annoyance. I wouldn't say this reduces weight, but if you think about it, that's an impossibility - the same camera is still hanging round your neck, what it does do is distribute the weight more evenly. In this sense it is comfortable, a lack of defined edging and the stretch make heavy weights dangling from your neck as comfortable as possible. I haven't measured it, but I'd say the strap is of average length - certainly similar to my pre-exisiting Nikon original and as can be expected it's adjustable within bounds.
Price:
Anything less than £20 is reasonable.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, it isn't ridiculously expensive and it's much superior to the branded straps that come with SLR's. If you have your camera hanging around your neck for a prolonged period of time you'll appreciate the higher level of comfort obtained by using Optech, but you're still likely to have back ache at the end of a long day.
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