About

Going back to the early 70's I became seriously engaged with photography as a hobby, when my father brought me a Canon "Demi" camera, coming back from a trip to Japan.

That was a nice little half frame camera which produced 72 pictures out of a 36 exposure film.
The opportunity to join the Photography club in school, gave me knowledge and the pleasure of experimenting with own processing, initially with b/w film. Then in the 80's I experimented with colour film and slides.

Next step in the early 80's was the acquisition of the legendary Canon AE-1 35mm SLR camera which gave me the opportunity to experiment with different lenses and focal lengths.
Digital photography caught me up in 2005 when I felt that the resolution of digital photos was comparable to film. That mostly came out of a need for new creativity and to be also able to format and publish my photos in various sites and fora easily.

As a dedicated fan of Canon, I use Canon cameras and lenses. While for other equipment like support gear I am always in a quest for better stability and lower weight, according to uprising needs as I go deeper in different fields.

When my primary occupation with IT permits, I like to experiment in the fields of landscape, portrait, sport, macro and product photography. And as much as I get challenged by a new subject, so much I like to play with light and thus have built a small home studio, with multiple flashes and reflectors.

However, photographic equipment do not make good photographs, the photographer does. But well designed equipment make the life of the professional or serious amateur photographer easier.
Therefore, in my quest for economical solutions in order to build apparatus for certain projects, sometimes I come up with ideas and technical shortcuts which I felt like sharing with anyone interested.
Further, I like to test hands-on new but primarily innovative equipment in order to justify their status and quality.

So, this website was created in order to publish some of these ideas and their realization, as well as to review some items that I feel they have something noteworthy to offer.
It is addressed to the cost minded person but the one who would not sacrifice quality. Which means anyone that appreciates good value/money.

Selecting Photo Album from the top menu you may view some of my photography work, either expressing feeling, or colour, or fields of experimentation, even my mistakes that I consider worth sharing.

I hope you find this website and blog useful and support us in our endeavor.

Moto:

Nothing lasts forever but... the ideas.

Sotiris C. Vlachos

Disclaimer
Almost all items presented or reviewed in this site are purchased and paid for, as of principle, in order to maintain an utmost objectivity.
In the case of products offered for evaluation by their manufacturers / distributors, it is and will be specifically noted, while this will not affect my judgement or criticism if there are issues with any product or service.
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If you are interested in aquariums, aquascaping and aquarium photography you may visit my S.C.V. Aquascaping ideas blog.