Photography News 09

Kit reviews

Mini tests

Our new, regular look at some of the latest photographic kit to land on dealers’ shelves

Words by Will Cheung

Gossen DigiSky £310

SPECS

PRICE £310 CONTACT

www.intro2020.co.uk LIGHTMEASURING METHOD Reflected, flat incident,

Chillblast FusionPhoto OCV £1799 When you’ve a stack of images to process, speed can be of the essence – something a common PC might not offer you. If speed is crucial, then you need the right computer, nay, a dedicated photo editing workstation. Enter the Chillblast Fusion Photo OC V. Chillblast has been quietly doing its thing, ie. producing highly specified PCs, for more than a decade. Numerous pro shooters, as well as media artists, are already amongst its customers. This model is designed with photographers and their file sizes in mind, with the emphasis on speed and ease of use. The Chillblast will handle huge files from DSLRs like the Nikon D800 without batting a digital eyelid. Currently, the Fusion claims to be one of the fastest PCs on the market. Its spec list is truly eye-popping, with a powerful six-core Intel Core i7 processor driving the whole thing and 16GB of RAM that makes easy weather of editing high-resolution, multilayered images. If it’s not enough, you can upgrade the RAM to 64GB. For speedy reading and writing, the Fusion uses a 250GB Samsung 840 EVO solid-state drive, which uses little power and is virtually silent. The Asus For many, light meters belong in the dark ages, but they still have their place – achieving precision inmulti- head set-ups or accurate lighting ratios. Which is why units like the Gossen DigiSky are still in production. This highly advanced light meter works for ambient light and flash; I tried it out mainly for flash. The only time I charged the Li-ion battery was before use, and there was power left after my test. The DigiSky is comfortable enough to wear around the neck, but I’m not convinced it’s that robust. Its front is dominated by a monitor, which is packed with information. There’s no on/off button; simply turn the meter diffuser to the desired mode and the meter springs to life. After 60 seconds (or whichever time you choose), it powers down, indicated by a blinking orange LED, and pushing the M button wakes it up. You find everything you’d expect on the display – metering mode, aperture, shutter speed, ISO and battery condition – as well as extra details, such as exposure difference. You can also customise the display from the menu. Metering accuracy is down to 1/10EV when you take a reading; you get an f/stop and sometimes a fraction, ie. f/6.3 and +0.1EV so you know it’s 1/10EV greater than f/6.3. You can also use the meter to

dome incident SYNC SPEEDS 1sec-1/1000sec APERTURES (Flash) f/1-90

RADIOMODULE Elinchrom Skyport speed, Phottix Strato II POWER Dedicated rechargeable Li-ion DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 139x66x15mm WEIGHT 100g

The verdict Easy to use and accurate, the DigiSky is a joy to use. Although handling is generally sound, I’m not convinced by the on/off switch. Ultimately though that shouldn’t be enough to put you off what is a fine piece of kit – nor should the price deter you, it’s worth it.

trigger flash units with Elinchrom’s Skyport or Phottix’s Strato II system, without the need for an extra unit. Triggering via cable is also possible. Switched on and with the appropriate metering mode selected, push the M button and the display shows Waiting. Fire the flash and you get a reading. Untouched for 30 seconds, the meter displays Break; push M to reactivate it. If Range appears, you’re out of range. All very simple, and the meter consistently gave accurate results throughout my test.

PROS

Integral radio module, versatile, accurate, great display

CONS

Lacks solidity, feel of the on/off switch

SPECS

PRICE £1799 CONTACT

www.chillblast.com CONNECTIVITY USB 3.0 & 2.0, Ethernet, DVI, HDMI, eSATA MEMORY 16GB, 2x 2000GB SATA hard disks in RAID 1 COMPATIBILITY LG Blu-ray rewriter, internal card reader

The verdict

Working with images is the Fusion’s raison d’être. While it will, of course, also handle the mundane, like writing your opinion piece for PN , it’s really there to make your photographic life stress free. It’s not a cheap piece of kit, but if you need a powerful machine for your big image files, take a closer look.

X79 Deluxe Motherboard, Dual Intelligent Processors 4 with 4-Way Optimisation, Corsair Hydro Series H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2GB graphics card complete the picture – of a lean, mean editing machine. Oh, and squeezed in there too is built-in RAID storage to keep your images safe. Putting the Fusion together was a breeze, as was uploading 33.5GB of images from a 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro 90MB/s CF. Using the latest PNY USB 3.0 card reader, the images uploaded in just under six minutes and flicking through them was swift.

PROS

Processing speed, versatility

CONS

Price

Photography News | Issue 9