This is down to reputation and reviews both online & in magazines.  The problem comes when you purchase far eastern 3rd party components off ebay is the poiont at which you get a bit scared and worry about quality and wither it will work.

The Canon BG-E2N for the 20/30/40D ranges from £100-£150 depending on the store which is a fair bit of money to some people.  Hahnel &  Ansmann both make grips and cost about £70-80 again depending on the store but even thats a bit too much for a poor student like me.

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A small search on ebay turned up the Phottix BP-40D Grip for £39.00 posted from Honk Kong Supplies.  Google turned up a few reviews for another phottix grip which did not have replaceable batteries and it was a well liked product so I ordered one and just over a week later it arrived.

The Grip can take 1 or 2 BP511(a) or 6 AA batteries which fit in a small tray and slides into the grip.  The Grip is well made from plastic with the standard extra shutter button and the exposure lock & focus point buttons like on the canon grip.  The grip attaches well to the camera although the slider for screwing it in is a bit flimsy it locks in place with no movement.  There is also a strap attachemnt on the bottom

In use the grip is plesant to hold in in portrait and does not get in the way in landscape orientation although first time uses may find it a bit odd.  There is the bog standard tripod attachement at the bottom and my manfrotto QR plate from the MN410 junior geared head fits the grip better than the camera alone.

Overall this grip is well worth alook at less than 1/2 the price of the canon offering for those that have little money this would seem the obvious route and I have no problems in recomending it.  I also took the oppertunity to buy a couple of phottix bp-511 equivelents to go in the grip and I’ll comment on them later.

My phottix BP-40D battery grip was purchased from Hong Kong Supplies who also sell a really a really cheap WB lens disc which works reall really well

edit - turned up a problem with the Grip - I can’t get 6fps in AI servo only one shot and AI focus. According to the instructions you won’t get full fps with AA batteries in the grip however there is no mention about when using BP511a batteries.  I suspect mine has a fault with it as it would be pretty stupid not to give you the full FPS when you add the grip.

Having contacted the vendor they cannot guarantee that another would give me 6.5fps and I quote

“This is not original Canon grip.
We can not make sure another one will do 6.5fps.
You pay only half of original one and we think that it is worthy for what you pay.
Kindly understand this”

I have emailed Phottix themselves to get an answer.  I suggest you don’t buy from this vendor as they are clearly unwilling to help after you have bought a product.  once I have got more info from Phottix themselves I’ll be leaving feedback accordingly.

Email back from Phottix and its actually the vendor HK supplies.  They have no idea, my advice is to ignore this product if you need 6fps in AI servo mode.  Clearly  a case of too good to be true which is a shame considering the build quality

second update the camera now seems to be working at 6.5fps now so I suspect there is maybe a faulty connection somewhere.

A quick internet search revealed a few companies that provide a DIY solution for the more concerning printer.  Hahnemuhle, Innova, permajet are the big name companies producing DIY print albums with the inkjetmarket also selling My photobook (which is the same system as the permajet).

Hahnemuhle make both standard and leather bound covers for A4 and a standard cover for A3.  Their system comes with 20 sheets of natural art duo 276gsm paper and interlaced paper too.  The standard books cost £25 and £45 for the A4 and A3 respectively with the leather bound A4 costing £57.

Permajet make a couple of variants, the fine art porfolio comes in textured and smooth 260gsm portfolio paper using a hole tag system (unlike the staple and glue system of the others) which means you can update and change the prints. These are priced at £35

The second system Permajet make is the bookart which is the standard staple and glue system (look at the video on the my photobook page above).  The bookart is avalable in double sided portfolio 200gsm, double sided matt 220gsm and double sided luster 285gsm.

 Innova Art make the opus album which is a hole tag system and is supplied soft textured natural white 200gsm or smooth cotton high white 225gsm paper.  These come in both A4 (£26) and A3 (£47).

The inkjetmarket sell My Photobook which is basically the same as the permajet double sided luster but comes with 15 sheets of double sided photopaper for £15 or comes without paper for £12.50.

I purchased the permajet system with the double sided luster as I wanted some of the paper but I used 10 sheets Harman FB AL gloss paper rather than the luster paper.  Next time I print one I will be buying the MyPhotobook without paper.  I purchased the my Harman paper from photooptix which had a BOGOFF offer on the trial packs.

Cover of the photobook.

To staple the paper together I used a large staple gun with the paper resting on a ripped up cardboard box.  This ment the staple had a soft target to enter once it went through the paper, I then bent the ends back with a pair of pliers.

make sure the front cover is lined up before you stick the ends to the book unlike me so my front pictures is slightly squewiff lol

My over all impression of the book is good although I’m not sure how long the bits you fold over and stick the cover will last so it may be worth while using some better glue.  For me the myphotobook cover only is the best option since it allows me to use what ever paper I like rather than what is currently on offer.  The book offers a great way to present a portfolio or just to make a coffee book table of your own where you have complete control over your printing.

On the shelf next to the large packs of paper I noticed a few small silver tins and on closer inspection these tuned out to be packs of 30 6×4 sheets of hahnemuhle paper. 

These are avalable in photorag 308gsm, photorag pearl 320 gsm and fine art baryta 325gsm.  I purchased the fine art baryta version.

After I scanned the photographs using my epson 4990 I adjusted and fixed most of the damage to the images.  Some of the originals where not worth printing out again but my mum has a record  saved now anyway. 

 My mum (on the bike), Aunt Isa, my Gran and my Grandpa in their back garden in Calcutta circa 1953

I printed the images  in my R2400 using the ABW function giving the prints a slight warm tone.  The texture of the Hahnemuhle baryta paper really suited these images and my wife actually thought they were old photos rather than reprints. 

The paper is not particuarly cheap at £12 for 30 sheets but for special prints its worth it and the silver tin makes for a great presentation of the images.  Looks like I’ve found a christmas present for my gran lol

My R2400 uses 8 carts and it’s not shy on ink usage so getting a cheap reliable supplier is a must for any user.  I normally keep a stock of the most heavily used colours so I tend to only order when I’ve fitted a new cart. 

Lewis in my porch printed on Innova ultra smooth gloss

I have a varied stock of paper and use a different surface depending on the image and where it is going.  Currently I have very little of my bog standard Ilford smooth pearl paper in both A4 and A3+, plenty of innova cotton rag, fibaprint ultra smooth gloss, fibaprint semi-matt and Harman FB matt paper. 

I needed to get hold of some harman warm tone gloss ASAP but I could not find any places with it in stock.  A quick phone to my contact at Harman and I was pointed in the direction of a couple of stores.  I checked the prices online and gave RK photographic a call and spoke to Claire who was very polite and chatty (plus she liked Glasgow).  Claire took my details and sent me my paper which I recived next day at my lab via a courier.

Ullswater fuji neopan 400CN + canon eos5

 I’ve complied my list below with links for R2400 ink and my paper suppliers.  These are based on price incl P+P and service. 

 R2400 OEM ink                           play.com 

Epson A4 & A3+ paper                7 day shop

Fotospeed A4 & A3+ paper        RK Photographic

Hahnemuhle A4 & A3+ paper     Speed Graphic

Harman A4 & A3+ paper             RK Photographic

Ilford Smooth A4 & A3+ paper    7 day shop

Innova Art A4 & A3+ paper        Online photopaper

Olmec A4 &A3 paper                   7 day shop

Permajet A4 & A3+ paper           Warehouseexpress

Somerset A4 & A3+ paper          online photopaper   

Before I go to the studio I know excatly what I am going to do with the model and the lights.  I generally write this down and sketch a light set up which helps in the moment when I sometimes forget what to do next lol. 

Claire - click for larger image

This is quite a tough pose to hold so giving the model ample time to recover between frames is essental as is making sure the model is warm particulalry when they are nude. 

Lighting layout for the shot - click for larger image

As you can see because the softbox has a grid this has reduced light spill and the high up position has created shadows which make the curve of the pose stand out.

The psd file can be found here so right click and save then unzip.

These are the instuctions but I find it easier to open a second blank document in photoshop and then just drag the various bits and bobs over to the new document. to rotate the items you just use free trasform.

To use…
1) Download file LightingSetup.psd.zip (size 200k)
2) Unarchive the Zip file
3) Open the Photoshop file: LightingSetup.psd. (size 500k)
4) The file defaults with a Background, Subject and 35mm Camera.
5) To view (add) an item, open the appropriate folder and click on the item (as seen below). You click on the “eye” icon to make it visible or to hide it.
6) Move and rotate into place.
7) Save a copy of your finished setup. Don’t save over original file (for future use).

Restrictions:
• For personal use and to share your setups only!
• NO commercial use
• Please leave the copyright on ALL setups…Thanks!

I tend to print off the images I best like from any photoshoot and for this quickie I printed the above shot on Harman warm tone gloss.  You can use standard paper and tone it accordingly as well if you wanted to.

February 2007 saw the launch of Harman MATT FB Mp, with the warm tone version arriving a month later in March.  These papers have true-photo Baryta base with a silica coating for improved archival permanence. The baryta layer gives the prints greater detail and definition, an extended tonal range and the look and feel of real photographic paper. The specially developed anti-curl system ensures the prints remain flat after printing. 

These papers enjoyed an enthusiastic reaction and wet the appitiete for the future Launch of the Harman FB Gloss AL paper in the July of 2007.  The Harman FB Gloss AL paper has an alumina coating which ensures a high gloss finsh while the nanoporus ink layer makes the print exceptionally sharp.  In Febuary this year Harman lanched the warm tone gloss AL paper to wrap up the current catalogue of papers*

Rhyl Beach - Adox CHS 25 shot with a bronica ETRS + 75mm lens

The big push that Harman (and other makers) of Fibre (Fiber if you’re a yank) based papers is the comparison to silver gelatin prints of old with great DMAX, high archival permanence and wide tonal range.  TBH I have no idea what they were like so can’t compare my prints to them I did however choose to print both digital and film B&W pictures. 

For film I used a bronica ETRS with kodak plus-x 125 and adox CHS 25 film.  All photographs printed on an Epson R2400 with OEM ink.Both the matt and the gloss papers cost the same A4 15 sheets £13, A3 15 sheets £31, A3+ 15 sheets £34 from speedgraphic. 

I’m not going to compare them to other papers since it’s a personal and finacial choice what paper you buy the one thing I will say is that I’ve never had a head strike with the harman FB gloss/matt paper or Innova art fibaprint paper but have with all the other makes

Lynne at Ayr beach kodak plus-x 125

HARMAN FB MATT

Since the matt papers where released first I’ll start with them.  I’ve never really been a fan of gloss paper for my B&W prints and a lot of matt papers don’t really cut the mustard with colour so when Harman released their matt FB papers I could not wait to get printing. 

The paper is very smooth and for the normal matt is very white while the warm tone is off white but not overly yellow.  The surface of the paper is prone to scuffs and once printed on can scratch easily so its best to be careful.  On the Harman matt FB, the prints are wonderfully neutral and bright with the warm tone FB paper giving a slight but not intrusive warmth. 

I find that while the highlights to mid tones are pleseant the very dark blacks are not resolved very well with the tonal range for deep blacks being a bit muggy.  If you wanted to print a photograph in which had a lot of shadow detail I’d not use the Harman matt FB paper but thats the only downside. 

Printing photographs which less shadow detail produces wonderful prints in B&W so its just a case of choosing the right paper for the job.

 Sarah by torchlight

The Harman matt FB is capable of producing wonderful skin tones both in both warm and faithful tones with colour saturation that punches way above other matt papers I’ve used.  The colours blends into one and other very smoothly and the prints are very sharp for a matt print. 

The colour prints have the same  deep black resolution grade (not unsurprising) but its really only noticable up close and to the untrained eye e.g the general public would not notice it.  I never printed colour images on the warm tone matt as I have found in the past there are not to my taste. 

Like most if not all matt paper prints the images don’t jump out at you like gloss does but put behind glass the matt prints show their worth and I have no hesitation in using this paper for my own wall

HARMAN GLOSS FB AL

You may ask yourself why spend the extra money on the Harman gloss over bog standard photo gloss, when the asnwer is pretty simple - Prints on the Harman gloss FB AL look much better.  The Harman gloss FB AL  has a much nicer surface which gloss, semigloss or luster can’t produce and the Haramn  gloss FB AL has better archival permanence.

Prints made on the harman gloss FB do not shout shiny, like standard gloss paper, which I prefer as you get a nice sheen to the print but you are not over powered by the glossyness.  The lack of this is big gloss effect is most noticable in viewing pritners under unfavorable light conditions as the refection is greatly reduced although not totally lacking.

Civic VTi shot for F&M 2007

The Harman gloss FB is not held back in the deep black department clealy resolving a larger dmax in the darks compared to the matt FB paper.  The standard Haramn gloss produces nice neutral prints of B&W while retaining good colour rendition for colour.  B&W prints are a joy to view on this paper and colour prints just scream out “look at me”. 

The warm tone gloss FB is not a paper I would use for portraits, the warmth I found is sigificantly higher than that of the matt FB version and is too warm for my tastes however printing out some of my landscapes I was drawn to the warm tone prints over the standard gloss. 

 The prints had a certain creamyness that was hard to take your eyes off, the prints just seemed to work so much better on the warm tone gloss than they did on the neutral Harman FB gloss.

CONCLUSIONS

The harman papers have very little to fault with both the Gloss and the Matt papers able to offer me somthing for the type of photography I do.   I would more than likely use the matt papers not the gloss f I was putting behind glass in the home, for a naked print I would use the gloss paper. 

If I am showing someone my automotive portfolio, the colour and look of the harman gloss has everything you could want in that situation.  Its difficult to advise what paper to use since its all down to personal taste but for mine and my clients photographs they will be printed using the Harman photo range of fibre based papers since IMHO nothing comes close to the look I see. 

Printing onthe warm tone gloss with the ICC profile over the Epson EBW yeilds a lighter warmer toned print which is more pleasing to the eye IMO.

*ps a little birdy tells me that harman are working on a luster type version too which I expect we will see in standard and warm tone types.  I’ve only seen one other fibre based luster paper and thats from fotospeed but thats an unglazed paper which is unlike the surface you see with Harman (fotospeed EG PLATINUM Gloss V FB AI Gloss)

 Golf+ has a high calibre of automotive togs working for them so while I was very happy about getting the assignment I was very nervous about providing images of their high standard.  My secret agent provided transport to the shoot which was hampered with snow which piled on the pressure to provide Fabian (editor Golf+) with a high standard of images.  The car owner known as Moscow (actors names to protect his idendity till the feature is published) and my ginger secret agent asured me that the images where top notch so I soon got into my stride and forgot about the outside world.  Due to the snow we had to hide in an underground car park however I had brought lights with me so we could continue without the darkness interfering.  Cream eggs and soft drinks where provided by the ginger one to keep our blood sugar high as we were constatly on guard for the attendent.  Once the shoot was finished we left the car park a couple of minutes apart so not to raise suspecions.  On the way back to base ginger and me stopped off for drinks and muffins.  A couple of hours later we arrived back at base under cover of darkness and I went to bed. 

 Once the car has been featured I’ll update with some pics and behind the scenes info.

Still nothing from epson and thats been a week since the repair guy has been and no sign of a replacement

Update 18.04.08 - eventually got a replacement almost 5 weeks after the tech guy had been out :@

I recently purchased a Carl Zeiss planar *T 50mm f1.4 and will be comparing it to an old Yashica 50mm f1.4 ML lens on my canon 40D using a contax/yashica adaptor.�

update  18.04.08 - review can be found here

Harman were nice enough to send me samples of their paper range for a recent presentation I did on fine art papers at ayr photographic society . At focus on imaging Harman released a warm tone verson of their very popular gloss FB AL paper and although this was too late for my paper review it is in time for my blog. Sadly my epson R2400 has contracted a problem with recognising one of the ink carts so I’m having to put back the review untill it gets sorted.