The Fixation Blog | Fixation

Jonny Helm Feature January 23, 2018October 11, 2023 0 Comments

Wex Rental at Fixation

Back in October 2015, Fixation was acquired by Wex Photo Video, the UK’s largest photo and video retailer, and since Wex’s 2017 merger with Calumet, that now extends to 13 well-stocked showrooms across the UK.

The merger also coincided with Calumet having to relocate their flagship London store from Drummond Street to its new location in Commercial Road, and a decision was made to move the Calumet rental department to Fixation’s workshop in South London and merge the two rental offerings to form Wex Rental.

Be assured – although the name has changed, the commitment to our customers hasn’t and we now boast a wider range of products for stills and videographers.

I caught up with Leonie Johnson, the Wex Rental manager to see how she and her team are settling in to their new premises, and to see what plans she has for Wex Rental going forward.

Leonie Johnson, Wex Rental manager oversees a team of eleven

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule – how are you settling in to the new location?

Moving to a new location was always going to be a challenge, having been established in Drummond Street for almost half a century! However, settling in to this part of London has been great. We’re seeing a number of new customers from south of the river join us and what’s also heartening is seeing our regular faces who have moved with us too, which is fantastic.

Moving has also given us the opportunity to expand our customer offer and we now have a click and collect point in our Wex Photo Video showroom in Commercial Road, enabling us to continue to serve our customer base who may not benefit logistically from where we now are.

Vaughan at Wex Rental helps a customer with an equipment query

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself; how did you get involved in photographic rental?

I took media studies at university and have worked in management for a variety of sectors, including finance, retail & facilities. I always think everything comes full circle in life, so when I got the call about this position, it just felt like the right step. I’ve been running the rental department for just over a year and it’s been an interesting and exciting journey so far!

Are you a keen photographer yourself?

I enjoy photography but I’m by no means an expert. I do love to get out and shoot when I can – especially street photography and portraiture. It’s also surprising the amount you can shoot in your living room!

Wex Rental carry a wide range of lenses, including such beasts as the Nikkor 800mm ƒ/5.6G

You have quite a large staff, and from what I can see, they’re always busily running around. Can you tell us a little bit about how the rental department works?

We’re essentially responsible for handling the client bookings for rentals, checking equipment in and out on a daily basis and offering advice to customers who may not have shot professionally before. We also speak to a lot of assistants who are starting out and help them get their foot in the door.

I suppose we’re lucky in the fact that we have such an extensive range of equipment available and can pretty much cater to anyone looking for a camera, lighting or sound solution.

How are the roles split among the team?

There are three main areas in the department: front of house, support centre and the kit room and I’ll generally place team members where I think their skillset suits them them best. Saying that, the roles are fairly interchangeable, so I’ll rotate the team from time to time to make sure they’re getting the best exposure to new items and processes.

The support team handle hundreds of calls each week

How would you describe your typical day?

No one day is the same! We have hectic days where orders are coming through thick and fast and the support team are dealing with numerous calls and emails, while the technicians in the kit room are having to prioritise what needs to be checked over and readied first. On other days, some of the team could be out on location with Profoto or Sony, training on the latest kit. And sometimes I’m out visiting clients and studios, to understand exactly what their needs are and what more we can do to help.

Each rental job is thoroughly checked before it is sent out

What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

I would have to say it’s knowledge. The photographic industry is changing constantly and to stay ahead of the competition you have to keep up to date with the latest releases and technologies. For me it’s a matter of pride – being able to give clients the best advice, so it’s important to me that my skillset and knowledge is up-to-date.

For more information, visit the website at rental.wexphotovideo.com or speak to a rental advisor on 020 7383 5127

Jonny Helm Feature January 16, 2018October 6, 2023 3 Comments

Workshop | Nikon D810 repair

Have you ever wondered what’s involved in replacing the front body on a DSLR?

Chris, one of our experienced Nikon technicians, spends his time working on pro and semi-pro bodies and lenses. This D810 landed on his desk recently and Chris was kind enough to let us bolt a camera to his desk so we could film him in action.

The video shows the disassembly of the camera, fitting the replacement part and re-assembly. Following this, the camera would have been cleaned, calibrated and given a sensor clean.

Music courtesy of www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

Jonny Helm Tips & Tricks January 9, 2018October 11, 2023 9 Comments

Tips & Tricks | Camera maintenance

For over 30 years we have been providing professional photographers with an unrivalled service facility from our London workshop. Our large team of dedicated technicians have been professionally trained with many of them repairing cameras since the days of film. We’re keen to share our nuggets of information, gleaned through years of servicing top brand equipment and in this article we’ll focus specifically on looking after your camera’s sensor.

Sensor care

The sensor on your digital camera is arguably the most necessary, the most fragile and the most expensive component, and should therefore be looked after with care.

As we’re all painfully aware, dust is the bane of all digital photographers and it seems that no matter how careful you are when changing lenses, dust will creep in while you’re least expecting it.

In many cases, these dust marks are hidden by busy backgrounds and detail, but a good way to check is to photograph a white sheet of paper or a clear blue sky. Shoot using a mid to small aperture and even better if the shot is out of focus; you’re trying to capture the dust on the actual sensor, so a lack of detail in the image will actually help.

A shot from a Sony A7R II, clearly showing a hefty build up of dust

Professional sensor cleaning is just one of the services we offer at our London workshop (and Manchester and Leeds service counters), and although we don’t actively discourage photographers from cleaning their own sensors, we do see a lot of cameras that have suffered from less than perfect DIY efforts. And replacement sensors don’t come cheap.

An actual repair that arrived in our workshop recently | Canon EOS 5D with a clearly scratched sensor

We’re not trying to scare anyone off here, but we offer a professional sensor cleaning service that in many cases can be turned around in less than a day. Our team of technicians have had many years experience and can guarantee a thorough result.

If you are going to try and clean your sensor at home, please bear in mind the following precautions.

Compressed air

Under NO circumstances should you use compressed air on the sensor. It’s perfect for blowing dust off the exterior of your camera and lenses (although be careful near the glass), but pointing it near a sensor is asking for trouble.

A good reason why you should never use compressed air to clean a camera sensor. To get this shot, we tilted the can slightly, depressed the trigger and then expelled some more air with the can completely upright!

If the can is tilted even slightly – especially when full – propellant will be expelled and will land on your delicate sensor. Removing this gunk is not a task for the faint-hearted… We’ve even seen a case where the end of the nozzle was loose and actually hit the sensor with such force that it cracked the surface!

Dust prevention

There are some basic rules you can follow that will go some way to avoiding dust for as long as possible:

Always change lenses with the camera pointing down. Any larger pieces of dust that have collected in the mirror box should follow the rules of gravity and not end up on the sensor. It’s not a guaranteed solution but it will certainly help.
Make sure the rear elements of your lenses are free from dust. If any lens that you mount has dust on the rear element, you’re simply asking for it to end up on the sensor. The same rule applies to camera body caps.
Attach a double-sided sticky tab on the inside of your body cap and rear lens cap. If any large pieces of errant dust are floating around on the back of your lens, or in the mirror box, they will stick to the tab and not the sensor. We sell low-tack tabs, sourced specifically for this purpose, at just £5 for 10. They’re easy to apply and simple enough to remove when the stickiness has exhausted.

Sticky tabs on the inside of body and lens caps will help keep unwanted dust off the sensor

Vacuum your camera bag. It may seem obvious but a dirty camera bag can have a knock-on effect with dust issues. A bit of housework every couple of months can make a huge difference to keeping your kit spotless.

A clean camera bag will help reduce dust collecting on your lenses and sensor

If you have any questions regarding sensor cleaning, or indeed any other repair related questions, speak to a member of our admin team on 020 7582 3294 or email admin@fixationuk.com

Jonny Helm ProFiles January 2, 2018October 6, 2023 0 Comments

ProFiles | Neil Emmerson

Neil Emmerson, aka The Travelling Photographer, has photographed just about every major city in the world during his 30 year career.

He began in Australia, shooting yachts in the Whitsunday Islands (“It was the furthest place I could get to from here..”), before taking a job with Scandinavian Airlines, living in Oslo and photographing new routes and images for their Leisure Brand. A spell with Emirates followed – a similar role to Scandinavian, but covering the entire globe.

5 years ago Neil set up Art For Big Spaces (www.artforbigspaces.com) – a website offering, as the name suggests, large fine art prints, beautifully printed and mounted. I caught up with Neil in his Mayfair studio recently as he reflected on his years of travelling.

Going back to your airline work, how did you approach these commissions? I imagine it can be quite daunting to arrive in a capital city with an open brief?

I would do my homework thoroughly and spend a lot of time looking at existing images that other photographers had shot, but I’d always try to be a bit different in my approach and the airlines seemed to like what I gave them. I would also get inspiration from paintings; for example, I would look at Canaletto’s work and shoot the scenes that he depicted in his works. I wasn’t trying to copy his paintings, but I figured if it was good enough for a grand master, it was good enough for the airlines!

You must have shot a lot of film on these assignments. Roughly how much stock would you take on a trip?

I would take around 200 rolls each time I flew, and I’d sometimes have to pick up fresh supplies while I was shooting. I’m a prolific shooter and I soon found that only around 5% of what was edited fulfilled the requirements from the airline and the rest wasn’t needed. So I edited this massive amount of work that I’d shot in all these locations, and filed it away in plastic boxes that I labelled with the place and year, and filed these boxes away in a dry cupboard where they grew and grew.

It sounds glamorous, jetting around the world to these exotic locations, but I imagine it lost its sparkle over time?

Yes and no. I still enjoyed what I was doing but the travelling was very tiring. I was averaging around 75 long haul flights a year over a ten year period, and in fact, I was chatting to a flight crew once and they couldn’t believe the amount of time I was spending in the air. Apparently the radiation levels I was exposing myself to were not that healthy! What ultimately made me decide to move on was as a result of a trip to Thailand. I was trying to get a flight from Bangkok to Ko Samui but there was a storm and I couldn’t get on a plane. I thought of getting a flight to Surat Thani and from there catch another flight to Ko Samui, but eventually I managed to get a direct flight from Bangkok that afternoon. When I arrived in Ko Samui, I got to the hotel and learned that the Surat Thani flight had crashed as it was trying to land. That was the turning point for me and I thought enough is enough.

That’s an understandable reaction and a pretty sobering thought. Did you have any ideas as to what you could do instead?

I’d already been speaking to MG Rover about the final Mini that was to be produced that year. I’d always had a soft spot for the Mini, and had fond memories of a family holiday driving to Italy in a Mini Traveller when I was a toddler. Rover wanted to celebrate the final year of production for the car but told me that had no budget for the project. I’d been used to airline company budgets for years and had absolutely no idea about budgets in the automobile industry, and as it turned out, ‘no budget’ was actually a lot of money! I worked for a year on the project and that then led to working with Land Rover and Harley Davidson.

So more travelling again?!

Yes, certainly with Harley Davidson. The assignments were not so much about the actual bikes, but more of the lifestyle and culture associated with the brand, so I spent a lot of time in Western USA, working in the desert. And of course, working in all these locations meant that I was still shooting way more stock than was required for the assignments, so I continued filling my plastic boxes with surplus images. At that time I still had a few travel related clients that were sending me round the world and that too helped fill the boxes.

Do you still shoot commissions or have you hung up your passport?

I suppose about 5 years ago I decided I’d had enough of all the travelling and the cupboard full of boxes was nagging away at the back of my mind, so I decided to see if I could really do something special with the thousands of images I’d collected over the years. Everything had been shot on film and I’d been careful to throw out anything that wasn’t up to scratch, so I had this idea to produce large prints and see if I could sell them.

That was the birth of ‘Art For Big Spaces’?

Yes. I sold a few initially and through word of mouth I began to sell more and more and I’m now at the point where it’s essentially taken over what I do. It’s funny that what began as an aside to the commissioned work I was shooting, has now become my main business.

I do still travel but it’s now for my pleasure and to shoot specifically for new artworks. When I was working for the airlines, I was fortunate to visit some truly incredible places, but I’d often have only a couple of hours to shoot before having to move on. I mentally bookmarked quite a few locations and I’m now in a position to re-visit and stay for a week at a time, really getting a feel for the places and having the luxury of shooting what I want, when I want.

To see more of Neil’s work, visit www.artforbigspaces.com and his personal website www.neilemmerson.com

From 5th January, the Café in Shepherd Market, Mayfair is holding an exhibition of Neil’s collection With The Elephants, shot in Zimbabwe & Zambia in 2017.

Neil was talking to Tim Stavrinou

Jonny Helm Review December 19, 2017October 4, 2023 0 Comments

Nikon D850 | Love at last?

Longtime Nikon user Holly Wren pitches the Nikon D850 against her trusted D800.

The announcement of a new camera gives rise to a wave of excitement in me, in a flurry of geeky activity I am researching for leaks and specs.

So when I heard about the D850, I reached a new level of excitement; my heart may have even skipped a beat. Could this be the one?

As a portrait and lifestyle photographer I’ve struggled for a few years with which Nikon I want to use. I started way back 6 years ago with the D800, then added a D4.

The D4 is an excellent camera; I bought it for the ISO capabilities and it didn’t disappoint. But for my use (and for my osteopath), it was too heavy and the resolution wasn’t quite what my clients demanded. It had astonishingly great shutter speeds, amazing focusing and is durable but sadly it spent most of it’s life on the sidelines, as I chose my D800 over and over again.

Although, getting into a fully committed relationship with my D800 proved impossible when I found a few issues with focusing – an area that the D4 beat it hands down. The arrival of the D810 was beacon of light and although there were some improvements, I just couldn’t see enough of a difference between that and my D800. So I held fast, waiting for a game changer.

The announcement of the D5 had me tempted, but as my much as I knew how insanely good this camera would be, it didn’t tick all my boxes. My one true wish therefore, was that the D5 and D810 would spawn a love child. And luckily for me, they did. It’s called the D850.

I’ve had this camera since it’s launch, so have had the opportunity to use it a fair few times. I won’t give you a run down of tech specs – although if you want them, you can find them here. I want to tell you why I, a commercial portrait photographer, have started a love affair with the D850.

Firstly, high resolution. A 45.7 MP sensor is no laughing matter – certainly not for your bank manager when he sees the add on costs of shooting on a camera with these capabilities. Yesterday I spanked £239 on an XQD card, then I threw up. Unless you’re a rich amateur, this camera is not for the faint hearted.

But if you have the clients, and the deep pockets, this camera won’t disappoint. The image quality feels distinctly “medium format” and looking at my images, they took a little getting used to. Gone is the softness, this is all about detail, which arguably for portraiture, can sometimes be too much. Remember that bad skin you wanted to hide? No more. But if you can get through that, the camera delivers the ability to create outstanding portraits, with impeccable detail which can be printed large format. I personally love this look, and I’m never worried I can’t deliver large files.

But a word of warning, a large sensor means everything shows, and in order to keep camera shake or blur out of your images you’ll need to compensate with high shutter speeds – I’ve figured out that even 1/250 second may be a little risky….

Autofocusing – this is the biggest correction point for me. My struggle with the D800 and subsequently the D810 is that, on certain lenses there have, at times, been autofocus issues. The D850, in my testing thus far, hasn’t failed me once. Probably thanks to the fact it’s been blessed with full AF capabilities of Nikon’s flagship sports camera the D5 (which is arguably one of the best AF systems out there).

Of course, I’d always recommend that you calibrate your prime lenses for optimal performance, but knowing you have the AF hardware capabilities of the D5 is a mega helping hand. In my experience, it still struggles a little in lower light, but what camera doesn’t?

ISO capabilities – the official line is that you can shoot from ISO 64 to 25,660 standard (ISO 32 – 102,400 extended). Now let’s be honest, that sounds impressive but mainly it’s completely irrelevant. What I care about is how far can I push it with zero recognition.

I like to balance light, the UK weather demands I use flash, but I love ambient and natural light, and a large part of that relies on my ability to push the ISO. Push it but most importantly, not see it. I don’t like noise, I don’t want grain. And the D850’s improved ISO abilities, this is no problem. I can get to around ISO 5,000 without seeing too much, on my D810 I don’t go beyond 3,200, so I have a few extra points to award here for that improvement.

And they are my 3 key reasons I love the D850, but there are a few more I’d like to sweep up that have impressed and pleased me about this camera, those tweaks that were necessary and timely, but do warm my heart on a cold day.

The new backscreen, larger and brighter its now a touchscreen back, which for added enjoyment and ease also tilts. Battery life is also greatly improved, beyond recognition in fact – it now feels more comparable to that of the D4.

And finally, but most importantly, Nikon have ditched the pop up (should I call it compact?) flash – thank the lord. No more looking like an amateur, catching the flip up when using my TTL trigger and most astonishingly, bashing myself in the face. Thank you Nikon. You heroes.

There are rave reviews everywhere about the D850, so I am in no doubt that technically it outperforms it’s predecessors, so I’m happy to announce that, in my experience the reality does not disappoint.

In conclusion, do buy it if:

You want a “medium format” feel / shoot for large format printing
Want D5 performance Auto focusing
Need to push to high ISO’s
Want a noticeable upgrade to your D800 or D810
You’re sick of bashing your face on a pop up flash

Don’t buy it if

You expect the wifi file transferring to work perfectly (aka SnapBridge)
You don’t have money to burn on cards and hard drives
You shoot anything fast moving and are likely to work on low shutter speeds
You want to disguise detail not add it

All in all, this camera has me excited. At last, my problems are solved – I have a camera that I can fall truly, in love with. And I feel like the D850 and I have a real shot at living happily ever after…. (well at least until they D860 struts into my life!)

The Nikon D850 retails at £3,449 but you’ll have to put your name on the list, they’re still few and far between!

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