Articles written by Lee Morris

Many photographers don't know it, but Canon used to produce a 50mm lens with a F1.0 aperture. Yes, one-point-zero. At the time, this was the fastest SLR lens in production. While it was being made the lens retailed for $4,210. In 2000 the lens production was stopped and was eventually replaced by the F1.2 version. Why? The lens actually wasn't very good... except for the bokeh.

We have teamed up with PremiumBeat.com to give away what may be the most anticipated video camera of 2012, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. This camera is has a 2.5k sensor that shoots in 12-bit Raw with 13 stops of dynamic range for less than $3000. Up until now, these specs were only available in cameras over $10,000. Just like our last 3 major contests, this is a Facebook contest and it is extremely easy to enter.

Earlier today Lauren wrote a humorous, opinionated, post about ‘Morning After’ Boudoir Photography. This post was met with great hostility and inappropriate personal attacks towards Lauren. Is Fstoppers too big now to have a voice? Are we only allowed to report news stories without expressing opinions? Did we go to far or did commenting get out of hand?

Leave it to Leica to produce the worlds most expensive lens. Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani of Qatar had this lens specially designed and shipped to him for a cool $2,064,500. This 1600mm 5.6 lens is the biggest and heaviest Leica has ever made and although it is a one of a kind product, you can see the prototype of this lens (the one in the picture above) in Leica's factory showroom in Solms, Germany.

Today, during a photoshoot in Canada a bride slipped in less than 1 foot of water. The Photographer attempted to pull her out but the dress became too heavy. The bride was swept down stream and then pulled under the water. The bride's body was found a few hours later on the bottom of the river. This will come as a complete shock to most wedding photographers because shooting near or even in water is a very common theme these days.

I've seen some examples of some goofy poses for wedding pictures but this is the first optical illusion. The idea is a bit strange but innocent enough; "let's have the groomsmen kneel down and the bridesmaids sit on their knees." Who would have thought this could make the girls look like dwarfs. I'm shooting a wedding this weekend and now I have one more thing I know not to do.

When most photographers stumble upon an ad on Craigslist for a $300 wedding photographer, they get angry. Not only is this "Craigslist photographer" claiming to to be professional when they are not, they are also lowering the value of wedding photography in general, right? How can us "real" professionals ask for thousands of dollars when there are others willing to do it for almost nothing? These are fair assumptions, but I believe bad wedding photographers have made the industry better.

I'm usually not a huge fan of stop motion videos but this 6 minute short by Derek Kwok and Henri Wong is incredible. Every detail of this video from the lighting to the sound is top notch. The design of the action figures and their animations were sometimes so good that they appear to be real. Even if stop motion isn't your thing, this video is worth checking out.

In Lord Of The Rings the Hobbits, who are supposed to be very small, are required to interact with much larger humans. I always assumed they did this by recording each actor separately and then combining them in post but I was very wrong. By using a telephoto lens and very small aperture that produced a long depth of field, they could place the actors on different focal planes and keep them both sharp. With some incredible set design they could fool the viewer even while the camera was in motion.