Dan Chung´s Blog

Ben Curtis launches Snappertalk blog

Africa based Associated Press Ben Curtis has started a new blog called Snappertalk which has dicussions on a number of topics for photojournalists.  The site currently has a good roundup of the latest FTP and transmission software and some interesting Ben's views on Senegal.  Ben was nominated for this year's prestigious Bayeux-Calvados prize for war correspondants for his images from Africa.

Shanghai Image Gallery posted

I've just uploaded a gallery of images from my recent trip to Shanghai for the Guardian's G2 supplement.  I accompanied a team of 12 Guardian writers, an artist and fellow photographer Don McPhee to record one week in the life of the vibrant economic hub of the new China.   Working to a very tight schedule I took pictures from early morning to late at night trying to capture a flavour of the city.  All images are shot on an Eos1Ds or Eos20D camera.

IDE to USB2 convertor

Anyone looking for a cheap and easy way to store their data on hard drives might want to look at this IDE to USB2 convertor.  For under £20 it allows you plug your bare IDE hard disk or CD writer into a  USB 2.0 port and power it from the mains.  When you fill one drive up you can just unplug it and put another into the adapter.  I know USB and Firewire external harddrives are quite cheap now but if you are on a budget or have old disks that you want to recycle into something useful then this convertor is worth a try.

New Newswear products in the UK

I'm informed by my partner Helen that she has limited stocks of the new Newswear super long lens pouch for 70-200 with shade fitted and the new Flashgun pouch.  For those who are unfamiliar with these products they are the "standard" photo vests and pouches for many US news photographers and are rapidly gaining popularity here in the UK.

Both of these as well as the Vests and raincovers can be ordered here. 

JVC launch Everio microdrive video camera

JVC have launched a palm sized video camera that uses a 4gb microdrive instead of tape or DVD.  The Everio comes in 2 different forms, the "cube" style GZ-MC200 and the Vertical style GZ-MC100.  Both use Mpeg 2 to record up to 2 hours of high quality video on the Microdrive and feature a 10x zoom.  This camera proves that you can do full res high quality video on a CF card, I'm sure it won't be long before all new prosumer digital cameras offer the same functionality.

US Election photo gallery

I have uploaded a gallery of my recent photos from the US Presidential election, they are from my trip around the mid-western "swing" states which were the key battlegrounds between Bush and Kerry.  There was a small group of British photojournalists covering the election, but the level of access we gained from both Bush and Kerry campaigns was quite good, I got into most rallies that I wanted to attend.  Most of the Americans I met were very warm and friendly, often curious as to why I as a British photographer was actually interested in their way of life.

I travelled with an Eos1Ds,1dmkII and 20D along with lenses from 16 through 500mm.  All photos were shot as colour Jpegs and later changed to B&W.

Brando Screen Protectors

I've just ordered a couple of Brando screen protectors http://shop.brando.com.hk/ultraclearscreenprotector.php which are now available to fit the Epson RD-1 as well as my new Ipaq HX4700.  These protectors are supposed to be some of the best on the market, and come in all shapes and sizes with most Nikons and Canons catered for.
This is a Hong Kong firm that ships the protectors for free worldwide.  They say it may take up to 15 days to deliver though!  I will review them when they arrive.

Epson RD-1

I have recently started using a pair of Epson Rd-1 digital rangefinder cameras. Styled like a Leica M body but with a six megapixel CCD, it has a M mount and 1.53x crop factor sensor the camera has excellent image quality and feels wonderful in the hand. The crop factor however means that a 28mm lens has the field of view of a 42mm and a 50mm a 75mm, making it hard to get wideangle coverage. The widest rangefinder coupled lens available is currently a 21mm from Leica or Voigtlander, which is still only 32mm.  I have had a problem using my Leica M lenses on this camera, at wide aperture everything seems to be front focussed when it looks correct in the rangefinder.  There is discussion of the focus issue here.   

This is a real shame as I really wanted to use Leica M lenses on this camera.  The solution seems to be to use Voigtlander lenses instead, which are designed slightly differently and match up well with the rangefinder for focus accuracy.  I will report more detailed finding at a later date. 

Meanwhile you can find a good review of the RD-1 on the Luminous Landscape website here

Lanzarote

I´m in Lanzarote right now on a diving holiday with my girlfriend.  We´re staying with our good friends Chris and Natasha and their dog Roxanne.  They own the wonderful Rubicon Dive centre in Playa Blanca where we get the chance to dive every day.
You can see some of our holiday snaps in the photo galleries section of the site. 

Hello world

Hello everyone, this is the first entry in my new photo blog website.  To those who don´t know I am a staff photographer on The Guardian newspaper in London, shooting digital photos daily for a living.

I hope to put interesting information and news up on here from time to time, as well as to keep people informed of my current work.  Just lately I have been covering the US Presidential elections and also doing a feature on Shanghai for the paper.