Stansted Airport Quadra Qaundry

I'm on the plane now, flying out to Belfast for a nice environmental portrait, having negotiated airport security at Stansted Airport.

I have all the gear with me that I packed but it could all have been so very different.

Stansted Airport security has always had a bit of a curse on it where I'm concerned - it is rarely smooth and I once missed a flight while waiting in a queue for more than an hour.

Bag packed.

1 x Canon 5d mkII with 'L' series 24 -105mm F4 lens, Fuji X100 (as back up) 2 x Canon Speedlights, Pocket Wizard TT5's, 2 x Manfrotto 5001B lightstands, two Lastolite reflective brollies (perfect for the job in hand) and 2 x Elinchrom Quadra systems, which all fit inside my Manfrotto Lino bag.

As I packed my bag a little voice in my head said 'why take the Speedlites as well as the Quadra's ?'

I'm now pleased I did, because this choice could have saved the day.

At security my well packed bag was subjected to an extra through fingertip search post scan, and was swabbed for explosives as per usual.

But this guy was beyond thorough.

I was polite and helpful.

Clock ticking, time to departure getting uncomfortably close.

Then he 'found' the Quadra packs and started a minute examination.

All clear - then he started to read the labels on the pack, where he found the words 'Lead Acid Gel'

'You can't fly with this'

'Oh really?' I replied 'I fly with it all the time and I believe it is safe to fly with'

'I'm going to take these to my supervisor' he said

I eavesdropped on the prolonged debate which swung back and forth between the powers that be, between a 'yes' and a 'no'

They let me through in the end but with more than a sideways glance - leaving me to run to the gate and make the plane by the skin of my teeth.

I understand their concern, lead acid batteries per se can be an issue but I understood gel to be different.

Lithium Ion is and issue too which they are even more stringent about.

I think Elinchrom have a certificate/document for download to show the security guys at airports.

I will be checking this one out pronto to ensure this does not happen again, or at least give my argument more of a persuasive fighting chance.

Location:Stansted Airport

The honesty of 36 Fames.

I have been a fan of David Burnett for sometime.

If you are not familiar with his work, do check him out.

He has lived many lifetimes through his work and by all accounts is a true gent too.

This week he is interviewed in the Washington Post about the moment he missed one of the key images of the Vietnam war, which some argue played no small part in ending the conflict which claimed so many lives.

We live in an age where we don't have to think of the limitations of 36 frames.

Put a 32GB card in a Canon 5d MkII and stays on 999 frames and you can shoot for an age before it falls below that number.

I have talked in the past about my own experiences 'managing' 36 frames under sniper fire in Kosovo.

Back in the day the moment of switching a roll was a nervous moment indeed.

David's account is honest and illuminating, and perhaps should give us all food for thought.

What would your photography be like if you had to shoot 36 frames at a time?

I in no way at all hark back to the days of spending hours on end in the darkroom getting dermatitis from the chemicals and ruining endless pairs of trousers.

I am prepared to wager though that if we shot in a more controlled way our photography would be more thoughtful - and all the better for it.

Olympic Golden Great Webinar today

Olympic Gold Medalist David Hemery

A last moment announcement on my blog though it has been trailed pretty heavily elsewhere.

I have been rather busy of late and blogging and tweeting have been far from my mind....more of that to come.

Tonight I will be talking about the 'Olympic Golden Greats' series which Lucinda and I shot over the past two years on webinar hosted by Manfrotto.

There are still some spaces left if you click here

Even if you care nothing for sport you may be interested in the location lighting side of it.

Please come and join me.

Canon missing a trick with their new cinema lenses?

Canon kicked off the DSLR revolution (it was just that despite what others may tell you...) and have progressively updated DSLR's in the line through new models and clever firmware upgrades to the MkII to dominate this segment.

They followed this impressive foot hold with the Canon C300 and have shown the C500 which when released will answer many of the (mostly unfair) criticisms levelled at the C300.

To cap this, Canon have started to roll out the release of a range of cinema lenses too which are very serious offerings indeed.

I'm delighted that Canon are doing this, I even suggested way back in 2009 to the mass of Canon representatives at 'Converge 1' held at the National Film Theatre in London that this would be a good idea.

So why do I think that Canon could be missing a trick?

I had been mulling this over in my mind for a while but what crystallised the thought was the announcement of the Canon 14.5 - 60 Cinema lens which looks to be a superb offering(check out the AbelCine Review) but has a very high estimated street price, while these figures are not confirmed I have seen numbers of anything up to $20,000 banded about.

$20,000 per zoom lens is way out of my league.

It may be of a 'modest' size in terms of cine lenses but weighing in at more than 8lb's (4.5kg's) really takes it out of 'Run and Gun' territory, even if you could afford it.

This is a zoom range which I use a lot with the C300 which leaves me little choice but to use the Canon EF-S 17-55 F2.8.

A lens which has a good zoom range, good optical quality, image stabilised (a real boon when shooting handheld) and a constant F2.8 f-stop.

That is the good news - now for the bad.

It's build quality and action of focus and zoom are shall we say, a little flaky at times.

As I'm sure Canon would admit, not really optimum for pro video use.

On occasion robbing you of very smooth actions that you need.

Not helped at all by the fiddly, tiny focusing ring.

The Canon EF-S 17-55 lens, used out of necessity

The choices open to a Canon user when the 14.5-60 cinema lens is finally launched will be to buy one of these for $20,000ish or $1000 on the EF-S 17-55.

This is further compounded by the fact that the new 'L' series Canon 24-70 lens, which even if you could live with the slightly too long bottom end focal length, lacks image stabilisation even though the new 28mm lens has IS (go figure?)

Canon are catering for the very top end cinema movie makers and the pro-sumers while, so far, passing by the large rump of C300 users( and 7D users too)

Prime lenses are all well and good, and there are some fine offerings from Canon and Zeiss but often a zoom is of much more real world use.

How about a compact 'L' series zoom lens which covers 17-55 range, with some of the features of its big brother, retaining IS which would have a street price of $3000?

Over to you, Canon, Zeiss or perhaps even Schneider?

Whoever pulls it off will have a sales hit on their hands in this so far neglected section of the market.

Celebrity Photography Webinar 17/5/12 19.00 BST

Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsey Vonn, in the Austrian Tyrol for Sports Illustrated

Next week I'm presenting a celebrity photography webinar hosted by the Manfrotto School of Excellence (It will be free of charge too).

I will be talking about celebrity portraiture and how to make it happen as well as some behind the scenes stories.

It will be about the technical side including lighting but it will be about so very much more than that.

Communication with celebrities and their agents is the key part, and so is planning.

Please join me for an insight into this world

Places are already going fast.

A wet Bank Holiday weekend in Whitstable, with a pleasant surprise.

Off with the family to one of my very favourite spots.

Whitstable in Kent.

A beautiful gem of a town which has class while still keeping its feet on the ground.

If you have not been, do go.

Right now would be a good time as we made a very welcome discovery.

Renowned shooter to the stars Brian Aris has an exhibition in the Whitsatble museum.

It is not the biggest show ever but what sheer quality.

If you have not familiar with him check out his site

www.brianaris.com

Bear in mind too that the lions share of his work in the show was shot on film, which meant you had to get the exposure right.....and post was not widespread.

What struck me about his work in addition to the craftsmanship was how personal the portraits are - the rapport which he has managed to strike up with some of the biggest names in show business tell you much about the man.

His portraits of the late Paula Yates were particularly poignant.

I'm trying to get hold of Brian at the moment to see if we can have a chat about his work.

The exhibition runs until June 10

If you do get down to Whitstable and like seafood, ring ahead to try to book a table at the amazing Wheelers seafood restaurant, a culinary institution which has changed little since it opened some 150 years ago....cash only and no drinks licence either.

You will need luck on your side as it only seats 12 covers at any one time.

Location:Whitstable, Kent

Out and about with the Canon C300.

A busy old week.

Out and about in London with the Canon C300.

The more I use it, the more I like it.

The medium format style ergonomics make so much sense and one feels at home with very quickly.

It's one thing doing low light tests in controlled conditions but in real world situations it is such an advantage.

We were shooting in the Victoria and Albert Museum were the light was very low indeed so we rated the shoot at 5000ISO and the quality was simply superb.

Something which would have been unimaginable with the otherwise excellent Canon XF305, which is not suited to low light.....at all.

Next stop street shooting in the West End.

We expected to hit some kind of trouble from some type of person in a uniform telling us we could not film but we were thankfully left alone.

I can't help but wonder how much of this was down to the fact that the C300 does not quite look like a video camera?

So great in low light and great inconspicuous run and gun camera too.

One gripe though....

It would be great if one could use XLR Mic's straight into the body instead of having to fit the clever but sometimes a little bit unwieldy LCD/XLR module to the top of the camera.

It is a bit of a pest when it is time to remove the module too.

The HiRos cables which plug into the body are super stiff to remove .

They are getting better with use, but they can be trying if you are under pressure.

I hope that someone soon comes up with a discrete and compact XLR solution.

More C300 adventures soon......

Location:London