CHIP SHOP 2006
December
Military Spec Protection
Kata bags for professional photographers are now available in the UK.
Professionally Compact
The continuing search for a professional-quality compact camera: the Panasonic DMCLX2 and the Leica D-Lux 3.
November
The Eyes Have It
At Photokina, Cologne, and Photo Plus Expo, New York, 2006 John Henshall finds that medium format digital is not only alive and kicking but flourishing in the maturing digital marketplace.
Hasselblad H3D camera, SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash, SanDisk Extreme Firewire 800 Reader, Leaf Aptus 75, Sinar eMotion 75, Phase One P45+.
Photographers Martin Parr, Shelley Lake, Laurel De George, Shelia Bernard and Elliott Erwitt.
Lenses for Nikon from Zeiss
October
Photokina 2006
John Henshall has been walking miles of aisles at the world's largest photographic trade show. Cameraphones and video cameras from Nokia. Cameras: Canon 400D, Nikon D80, Panasonic Lumix L1, Pentax K10D, Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro, Sigma SD-14 amd DP-1. Medium format from European manufacturers European manufacturers Hasselblad, Jenoptik, Leaf, Phase One and Sinar and Japanese manufacturers Pentax (645D) and Mamiya ZD. From Hewlett-Packard -- the new Designjet Z2100 and Z3100 wide-format printers with print longevity which means that if William Henry Fox Talbot had had one of these new printers in the mid nineteenth century, his prints would still be as fresh today as the day they were printed.
September
Eat Dust
More ways to get rid of the bits we don't want. Just Ltd's Professional Digital Camera Cleaning Kit and CameraBivvy.
Creative Maskerade
The Publimaster suite of new time-saving professional masks for use with Photoshop
Getting your Backup
Various methods of backing up your camera cards. Avoid tears after the shoot.
August
Photography at the Flick of a Switch
A new lighting angle in Jay Myrdal's Oxfordshire studio -- digital light switches to order.
More Meetings in Arles
Has Magnum's Elliott Erwitt gone digital? 'I still use film -- but sometimes I forget to put it in the camera.' Meetings with Harald Johnson, Jack Dugann, Elliott Erwitt, Stephen Johnson, Douglas Kirkland, Joel Mayerowitz and Eli Reed.
July
No More Dirty Pictures
A look at the most time wasting aspect of digital imaging -- dirt on the sensor -- and how to brush the problem away using CleanSkies Sensor Cleaning Brushes and a phenomenon known as the triboelectric effect.
Les Rencontres d'Arles
In discovering that 'rencontres' means 'meetings' John Henshall meets some great photographers - including Mark Alberhasky, Stephen Johnson, Bruce Fraser, Elliott Erwitt, Douglas Kirkland, Don McCullin, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Johnson, Peter Marlow, Eli Reed and Joshua Greene -- the son of Milton H Greene.
June
Ansmann in Total Charge
The most important aspect of digital imaging -- battery power
Canon EOS 30D to China
John Henshall went up the Wall in China with the new Canon EOS 30D on a recent trip to Beijing and found it to be a gentle but worthwhile upgrade to an established classic.
May
Panasonic's Little Gem
A compact digital camera which can produce truly professional quality images -- the Panasonic DMC-LX1.
April
Sigma 10-20mm
An ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for half-frame DSLR cameras.
Sigma 18-200mm
Tony Briselden goes out to the far frozen south with this eleven-to-one ratio half-frame zoom lens.
To Infinity and Beyond
The easy way to photograph items for articles and picture libraries. The Tre-D Still-Life Table model 7373.
And the winner is ... ... FotoNation
The 2006 John Henshall's Chip Shop Award goes to a multi-national team of imaging boffins headquartered in Silicon Valley with engineers in Galway, Ireland, and Bucharest, Romania.
"FotoNation richly deserves this award for its innovative technology of benefit to the whole digital photographic industry."
March
Photo-Industry in Meltdown
Report from PMA Las Vegas 2006.
Although we have seen huge changes in photography, the biggest changes are undoubtedly still to come. The photo-industry we have known is indeed very close to meltdown.
February 2006
Nikon's Beautiful D200
Near-perfection in Nikon's new bargain-priced DSLR
How to Survive and Thrive in the worst High Street in Britain
Creative marketing brings success and local prestige to a photographer in Leatherhead, Surrey.
January 2006
Fujifilm FinePix S9500
Fuji's new 9 megapixel 'bridge' camera makes you two feet taller -- and also keeps your knees clean.
Imaging the Changes
George Orwell got the message right but the date wrong. His nightmare vision of 1984 was more than twenty years out. But his fiction is turning out to be fact in 2006 -- and in ways which are nothing less than scary. A look at some of the many changes which photography has faced and is about to face.
Other changes: Farnk Hatton of PMA, Carl Koch of Sinar, Lord Patrick Lichfield, Contax, Agfa, Ilford and Dan Carp of Kodak.
Are the labs committing suicide?
Peter Matthews hasn't been one to go for this newfangled digital photography but when he used some of the new 35mm Fuji Velvia 100 film recently he was dismayed to find that his regular laboratory had closed down. So he sent his films to the lab in Warwick which operates under the Fuji banner, believing that this would ensure the best quality results from this state-of-the-art new film. What were the results?
CHIP SHOP 2005
December
Hot on the Press
Kata bags for professional photographers are now available in the UK.
Phase One delivers P45
John Henshall was a little apprehensive when Phase One's Eric Joakim said he had a P45 for him. (Note for non-UK readers: there's a pun here. In the UK a 'P45' is the government form you receive when your employment is terminated.)
November
Phase One Winner
Kevin Wilson is the delighted winner of the highest value prize ever in our recent competition to win a PhaseOne P20 digital camera back.
October
Delights of Passage -- the Lowepro CompuTrekker Plus AW backpack
With seven digital cameras, their lenses, a multitude of accessories and a large laptop
to take, John Henshall wonders if there’s any alternative to driving to Glasgow?
September -- November
Which DSLR? [complete] [14 pages] (PDF size 5.2MB)
A major fourteen-page comparison of nine of leading Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras -- and film. The Canon EOS-350D, Canon EOS-20D, Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro, Kodak DCS ProSLR/c, Nikon D50, Nikon D70s, Nikon D2x -- and Nikon F6 loaded with Fujichrome Velvia Professional 100 film.
Which DSLR? [part 1] [6 pages]
The first part, published in September 2005.
Which DSLR? [part 2] [4 pages]
October's continuation and conclusion of the major camera and film comparison.
Which DSLR? [part 3] [4 pages]
Just when it seemed safe to conclude this comparison, two new cameras are announced: the Canon EOS 5D and the Nikon D200. This November 2005 update includes new conclusions.
August
Canon EOS5D -- Full Frame & 12.8 Megapixels
Scouring the darkest corners of cyberspace for fact -- and fiction -- about this new DSLR from Canon which we may -- or may not -- see in October 2005. Rumoursbefore the 5D was officially announced.
Fujifilm's little wonders: FinePix F10 and FinePix Z1
Although we always want to carry a camera -- ready to capture that special moment -- we don't always want to be weighed down by the full pro kit. With these new cameras from Fujifilm, John Henshall is now spoilt for choice for a camera to carry with him at all times.
July
Sigma 300-800mm 1:5.6 APO EX DG HSM zoom
This versatile long-range zoom is put through its paces at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, UK,
Kodak Professional 1400 Digital Photo Printer -- a License to print Money?
Could Kodak’s new thermal dye diffusion printer pay for itself in just one evening?
June
Farewell to the Kodak DCS DSLRs
When Kodak introduced the the world's first totally portable Digital Camera System -- the DCS -- in 1991 it established Eastman Kodak as the world leader of professional digital image capture. Fourteen years later, Kodak announced that it was ending production of Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras. John Henshall looks at Kodak’s legacy as the end of its DSLR production is announced.
May
Scantastic -- a high quality scanning service from FreelanceImages.co.uk
Do you have a lifetime of transparencies sitting in drawers or cabinets doing nothing? Have you ever dreamt of submitting them to a picture library, where they can supplement your earnings and be part of your pension fund? But maybe you don’t have a high enough quality scanner, or can't spare the time to scan them? If so, read this article.
Nikon D50 and D70
Nikon's lowest-priced ever DSLR will be stiff competition for the other major DSLR brand.
The first ever Chip Shop Award
The Chip Shop Award joins this year’s Photo Industry Awards from 'The Photographer' magazine and goes to The Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro digital camera and the S1--S2--S3 range.
April
Shooting with the big Canons -- the state-of-the-art EOS-1Ds MarkII and the EOS-20D
John Henshall reports on his extended use of both these cameras.
New Films Debut at PMA
Report from the PMA Convention at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, USA, 20-23 February 2005.
March
Nikon D2x
A first look at this state of the art DSLR from Nikon.
February
Evolution of the Species -- the Fuji DSLRs
John Henshall takes a look at the latest FujiFilm FinePix S3 Pro DSLR and puts it in perspective in the series which changed photography.
More Tricks and Tips for your BIPP web pages
John Henshall gives some further advice to help BIPP members to customise the personal 'home' page on the BIPP website -- and gives a warning about copyright theft with examples from his own online experience with images stolen from this website.
January
Will Film Die this Year?
Filmless by 2005? was one of the headlines for Chip Shop in the December 1996/January 1997 issue. No, this prediction did not come from John Henshall, the Filmless by 2005 prediction was the result of a two year study by Keith Norman of Jessops, the UK's largest high street photo retailer, who were already seeing their business contract. The report of the death of film was not an exaggeration. Film is dead. Long live photography! said John Henshall in this article -- a statement which did not please some readers (who have of course themselves since gone digital).
CHIP SHOP 2004
December
Phase One P25 -- Medium format digital is unshackled
Phase One's completely self-contained 22 megapixel medium format digital back compared with 5x4 (US: 4x5) and 10x8 (US: 8x10) film. The test everyone has been wondering about!
New PDF versions of 2000-2004 inclusive are in preparation.
