News

Our favorite weird lens guru Mathieu Stern has been testing out some unusual Soviet-era Russian lens and the results have been surprisingly impressive. In fact, in the below video, Stern pairs the Jupiter-9 85mm F/2 portrait lens on a Sony A7 II mirrorless camera and some of his still photos and video are actually quite amazing.

The F. J. Westcott Company is building a place on its newly remodeled web site
for imagemakers to share their knowledge with others and learn new ideas and
techniques through discussion. Going live in July, 2008, the Westcott Community
will offer a contest for the Top 100 Westcott Endorsed Pros, an Image Gallery,
a Forum and an Ask the Expert advice panel.

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The first rental website for Scenic Backgrounds by Westcott will be available online October 31, 2008. With over 100 backgrounds to choose from, these backgrounds will appeal to everyone including the high end professional, photo enthusiast and even the parent or scrapbook mom. The rental program will allow photographers creativitywithout the expense of investing in a lifetime commitment to a background. Rentals will list at $49.99 for a 5’X6’ and $69.99 for the 6’X8’ line. Customers can save $20.00 with a coupon from their local participating dealer and the postage-paid packaging is provided to return it.

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The F.J. Westcott Company has introduced their new Spiderlite for still and
video imagemakers. The Spiderlite is less than five inches deep and is constructed
of solid metal. The inner metal surface of the light offers a highly reflective
surface. Any light falling backwards is again reflected back into a Soft Box
allowing for maximum output of the lights. Built-in points allow for direct
attachment of a Soft Box onto the Spiderlite itself. This not only cuts down
the cost of purchasing an adapter ring, but also allows the end user fewer parts
to carry or lose as well as quicker set-up.

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Photo Basics announced the addition of three more 5-in-1 reflector sizes to the product line. The new reflectors provide more options to the aspiring photographer at a very competitive price. Each reflector contains a slipcover with gold, black, white and silver as well as a 1-stop diffusion panel and comes in a cloth round carry case for ease of transport.

The new 20” 5-in-1 Reflector (#306) opens to 20” and collapses down to 8”. Weighing less than a pound (0.55 lbs), this is the ideal reflector for any on-location photographer. The street price is $19.90.

On Sunday, the 30th of November 2008 the fourteenth WestLicht Photographica Auction was ended successfully. The most recent auction was able to hold the high standards of previous auctions both in total turnover as well as the percentage of sold lots. Over 90 per cent of the total of 917 lots were auctioned for a total of more than one million Euros.

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For this year's auction WestLicht has succeeded in being able to offer a selection of around 900 lots of the highest quality in their Vienna auction house. As with previous auctions numerous unique cameras and classics of photographic history that will appeal equally to institutional collections, dealers and private collectors with a feeling for something special are to be auctioned.

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