In early October, Sony announced a new addition to their a6000-series of APS-C mirrorless cameras. This camera, the a6500, is the new flagship of Sony’s crop-sensor line and costs $400 more than the previously released a6300. So what are we getting for that extra cash? Check out my first hands-on look of the 24.2-megapixel Sony a6500.
Canon has always been known for its fabulous portraits lenses: the 85mm f/1.2 and the 135mm f/2. I used to own and love both of them, with a preference for the first. When I bought into the Nikon system, I was afraid I would miss these two optics. But truth be told, the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 is at least as good as its Canon equivalent if not better! Regarding the 135mm, that’s a whole different story as the Nikon’s is quite old now. However, they recently announced the 105mm f/1.4, and I had the chance to put my hands on it for a few weeks! Let’s see how it compares with other portrait lenses and if it could potentially replace a 135mm.
Since the broad commercialization of photography, many brands of cameras have graced the shelves of camera stores across the world. Canon, Nikon, Leica, Mamiya, Pentax, and others have become common names in the lexicon of photography. However, of all the camera manufacturers, few have become as synonymous with quality as Hasselblad. Since I began shooting in 2004, I'd always heard how wonderful these machines were but never had the opportunity to play with one, as even a complete used system can command well over $2,000. Well, I finally got my grubby little hands on one: the Hasselblad 503CW. Spoiler alert: it's pretty sweet.
This is a quick review of something very simple: a charging cable. "A charging cable?" you may wonder. "Now, why would anyone care about that?" Well, the cable reviewed is a special kind of cable: it combines an Apple Lightning connector and a micro-USB connector. That is nothing new, but it is done well here and actually a much more useful thing than you'd expect.
With the (mostly) positive reception to the Fujifilm 35mm F2 WR lens, following its launch earlier this year, the announcement a sibling 23mm F2 WR lens was in development caused quite a stir amongst Fuji X-Mount shooters. So much so, that when the lens finally started shipping, supply quickly became an issue, with many struggling to get hold of this prized new lens. But now the lens is finally hitting mainstream retailers in decent numbers, I thought it would be a good time to take a proper look at Fujifilm's latest lens.
We all work with expensive gear, but sometimes, we don't want the world to know that we're carrying the monetary equivalent of a nice car on our backs. Brevitē recognized and addressed that earlier this year with its announcement of the Rolltop and Rucksack, both of which embody the look of a fashionable backpack over a specialized gear-hauler. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, that's exactly what the bags are. The Rucksack serves that purpose quite well while also providing the sort of discreet look that many photographers desire.
I am a photographer who started shooting with daylight only, and I moved to discover new possibilities of lighting only after mastering daylight and craving more tools to create the desired images in my head. I don't believe the idea that you have to have all the possible equipment to be a good photographer or that the equipment makes you the photographer. My credo was always to master what you have available and only afterwards move to a new tool. This way, you can have all the understanding of your tools and avoid a bulk of unnecessary equipment.
Think Tank has long been regarded as one of the go-to companies for bags for the working photographer, and their line of Airport and Airport Security bags in particular are considered by many to be the gold standard of rolling photo bags. The newly released Think Tank Photo Airport Security V3.0 adds some small improvements to an already fantastic bag, helping ensure its continued reign as the king of this category.
Luminar is Macphun’s latest editing platform, and it’s the company’s first try at an all-in-one solution that can go head-to-head with Adobe Lightroom and Apple’s discontinued Aperture programs. Still in beta, Luminar recently received an update that helped improve speed and fixed over 300 small bugs, making it nearly ready for its public release on November 17. So, how does it hold up to platforms such as Lightroom?
The rain washes heavily onto the window, and I’m sitting in the candle-lit windowsill with a pint of inky black ale and a good book. That book is Alexandre Deschaumes’ forthcoming “Voyage Éthéré” (Ethereal Journey); a collection of his work over the past years. Following the release of his Blu-Ray documentary, “La Quête d'Inspiration” (The Quest for Inspiration) by Mathieu le Lay, Alexandre looks to be on the path to becoming increasingly known for his work. And with good reason.
Lemkesoft's Mac-only GraphicConverter has been around since 1992. Version 10.2 has just been released, and now integrates into Apple's Photos app. This makes it a great small tool for light editing of images in the Apple ecosystem. Time to quickly review an indispensable little piece of software that doesn't get much love or recognition.
One of the best things about shooting film is that there are so many cameras to choose from! Of course, your wallet may disagree with me. The number of formats, combined with the different brands, form factors, lenses, and options make shooting with film almost impossible to get bored with. If you're at all familiar with my articles on Fstoppers, you know that I tend to focus on film and bringing it to a new audience. To that end, I've created a new video series profiling various film gear, some of it well known, some not so much! In my quest to learn about and use different systems, I hope you'll learn along with me. First up, a medium format rangefinder style camera from Fujifilm: the GF670.
Macro lenses are fun to play with, and besides they are essential for most photographers, in terms of their versatile usage areas. The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS Macro HSM is one of Sigma’s long-termed produced lenses, and I had a chance to review this lens before the “Art” version comes out.
Improving night photography is an ever closing gap riddled with tech-tips, tricks, and expensive gear. The Star Adventurer by Sky Watcher-USA seeks to be the reasonably, all-in-one option to improve your starscape photography. The built-in tracking head and accompanying accessories are the perfect companion to viewing and photographing the night’s sky.
Good nightscape shots have to be captured under ideal conditions. Well, just a cloudless sky will get you started anyway. I’m always looking for the next best piece of gear and darkest location myself. And around the start of this month, a particular dark location got proper recognition as the Dutch second Dark Sky Park. So let’s put location and gear together in this review of the Samyang 12mm f/2.8 for full-frame cameras.
I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I have owned and used more camera bags than any human being should. Some are better than others, and virtually all of them have pronounced trade-offs. Wotancraft is a company that has risen to prominence in recent years by producing bags that meet that rare intersection of top-tier form, function, and quality at a reasonable price. Today we're taking a look at one of their flagship bags for mirrorless shooters, the Ryker, to see what it's all about.
This one hurts. I don't think I've ever written a review for a product that I wanted to like more than this one. From its beginnings as a Kickstarter back in 2014, large format film photographers have been drooling about this camera. Finally, a low cost camera that, at about $300, would make 4x5 photography accessible to the masses. But, long story short, The Intrepid Camera just doesn't live up to its promise. Read on to find out why.
With my recent jump into shooting more and more with my mirrorless system, I have been looking for a camera bag that better fit the smaller kit. So when I got the chance to test out the Everyday Sling from Peak Design, I jumped at the opportunity. With how popular their Everyday Messenger was, in addition to completely destroying their Kickstarter goal for the new set of bags (going over their goal by more than $6 million), I knew it had to be a good bag. But once I got the bag and used it for a couple days, I was surprised by just how much I liked it.
It happens almost every time I scan some film. I look at my developed film on the computer and think, "That's a pretty cool shot. I wonder what my settings were?" Shooting film is amazing, but sometimes it becomes a pain in the rump to remember what you were doing when you shot a specific photograph, since there are no digital markers to log your work for you. Enter: Photomemo. It's a small, lightweight logbook that's specifically tailored to be a film shooter's friend.
In the world of mirrorless cameras, Fujifilm is among the elite. Their cameras have that vintage look and feel along with the performance that shooters require in a professional realm. So, when they announced the new Fujifilm X-T2, a lot of people took notice. It has the latest in sensor and processing tech and boasts a new autofocus system that claims to keep up with high-end DSLR cameras. But just how well does it perform in the real world?
The Shoulderpod S1 is a versatile and portable grip for any iPhone or smartphone. It promises to improve the stability of your mobile phone's video footage by letting you handhold the device safely as well as screw it on a tripod if needed without either limiting you to a simple cellphone clamp or forcing you to get a larger rig.
Last week Sony announced the RX100 V, their latest Cyber-shot compact camera, alongside the new crop sensor flagship a6500. Sony is quick to point out that the new RX100 V model features the world’s fastest autofocus speed, the world’s most autofocus points, and the world’s fastest continuous shooting for any compact fixed-lens camera. I had a couple hours of hands-on time with the new camera, and here are my first impressions.
I know that all of the iPhone 7 hype is on the portrait mode and DNG file capture that the new camera has, but I was particularly interested in another aspect of iOS's photo capability. Having been stuck on a Nexus 6 for the past year and a half, I missed out on a lot of the new tricks that the iPhones were offering. Specifically, Lightroom Mobile's new raw file support, giving it similar editing capability as the desktop version of Lightroom.
After ten years Animoto has just launched their next product, Marketing Video Builder. If you're not already familiar with Animoto, their first product has been a staple for photographers to easily make quality video slideshows. Their product lets you combine both stills and video to your favorite song (or songs), or use their expansive collection of over 2,000 royalty free songs, to produce a video slideshow that's perfect for marketing, client products and so much more.
During the recent years, Dell launched its affordable UltraSharp Premier Color wide gamut monitor series in different screen size and resolution options. The features and technical specs of Premier Color monitors are impressive on paper, but how about the real results? After spending 3 months with 4 different units of the 25-inch model, I have finally completed my in-depth review.
Aimed at DSLR filmmakers looking to invest in a larger production kit, the Blackmagic Video Assist 4K is a seven-inch touchscreen monitor that doubles as a video recorder. I was able to use the Video Assist during several shoots last month in Chicago, and I’ll go over the features, build quality, uses, and talk a bit about pricing as well.
It's been nearly two years since the people at Lume Cube launched their Kickstarter to bring their vision of an incredibly powerful and portable light to the photography community. For the last few weeks, I've had the pleasure to test these bad boys out in the wild and see what all the hype is about.
I always enjoy a good time-lapse. Making them is a hobby of mine, as I love getting to relax and work at the same time. Leaving your camera stuck on a tripod or Gorillapod doesn't always give you the most dynamic shot I've found. Fortunately, there are ways to add some depth to your time-lapse film without having to lug around several backpacks worth of gear. One such device would be the Syrp Pan/Tilt Bracket.
When getting into flash photography, it’s easy to look at camera manufacturers' flagship flashes and assume they are the best you can get. When I first started out, I made this exact assumption. But I always wondered how some of the cheaper hotshoe flashes would hold up against these higher priced competitors. So I ordered a few Phottix Mitros+ flashes and put them to work.
First, let me just preface with the fact that I have been outsourcing my album design for the past four or five years now. While I took the time to learn and use this product myself, I do still believe in outsourcing your non-photography work. But, regardless of whether you outsource your album design or do it yourself, you want to have the best and fastest designer.
I just got my hands on IKAN’s new Rayden Bi-Color LED kit, and man, it is a huge improvement from their last model! The lights are sturdier, the dials are stronger and easier to use, and the quality of light has improved drastically from the last series.
Parabolic softboxes are all the rage in the lighting world. It seems like you can't check out lighting videos on Youtube without coming across one. But with price points all over the place, I was reluctant to pick one up for fear of spending too much money on a modifier I wouldn't like or use. Then, I came across the budget-priced Selens Parabolic Softbox. With a price of about $100 and good reviews, I was ready to pull the trigger. Here are my thoughts and video review.
As photographers in a digital era, we all spend a lot more time in front of a computer than we would like to admit to. When a single one-hour photoshoot can lead to multiple hours in front of a computer, we start looking for ways to minimize that time. There are tons of options out there that can help you out too, from Bluetooth controllers to pens and tablets, but what you really need may just be a simple mouse upgrade.
I recently had the opportunity to try out Lexar's modular workflow line of products which is an array of modular components that fit into a multi-bay, hot-swappable hub that connects to your computer via Thunderbolt or USB 3. After spending a few weeks with this interesting product, here is what you need to know. In this review I will be covering the hub itself, along with the SSD, SD Card Reader, and USB Hub modules.
500px just introduced their RAW app. It uses the new iPhone raw image capabilities to make editing on the go easier and as intuitive as possible. The app gives you the capability to export to your social networks as well as your 500px profile, where you can sell the images and make 60% of the profit. It also has an Assignment section, which I believe will be used to give photographers paid projects depending on their location. Is editing raw images on mobile devices the future of post-production? By the looks of what Lightroom has done with their mobile apps in which you can edit your raw images by using a smaller proxy file, it might be the way the industry is moving.
Adobe recently released a new version of its Lightroom Mobile app that takes advantage of the raw image support in Apple's just-released iOS 10. Taken on an iPhone 6S running the developer GM seed of iOS 10 (10.0.1), these images show just how good your mobile photos can now be. You'll need to have the latest versions of iOS 10 (running on an iPhone with a 12 MP camera) and Adobe Lightroom Mobile to do this yourself, but we're providing comparison files for testing purposes for those without such access. Tell us what you notice.
The clear night sky under a new moon is almost always the same brightness in the same location. I have blindly put my camera on ISO 6400 as a result. But after having read somewhere that Sony supposedly builds sensors that are ISO invariant, I wanted to test this claim with my own Sony-equipped Nikon D750.
Traveling as a photographer can be difficult. The issue we always seem to encounter is a lot like G.A.S.; we want to have the right lens for every shot, and we don't want to miss out. The key to circumventing this issue is planning. While some of the best shots can be unexpected, you have to have an idea of what you're looking for. When planning my recent trip to New York City, I had to find a way to pack the camera gear I wanted for a variety of work in a small, comfortable bag. Enter the ThinkTank Photo Turnstyle 20, the best small travel bag I've ever seen.
One of the biggest hits at a wedding reception (or any event) is the photobooth. It’s an area where guests can gather around and make ridiculous faces, dress in silly props, and have an overall great time. When running a photography business that shoots events, we are always asked if we offer photobooth services, so I think it's a natural evolution to want to incorporate one into your packages. When I first found the booth from Photobooth Supply Co, it instantly stood out from all the other options.
Peak Design’s last Kickstarter for the Everyday Messenger was the most successfully funded photography product on the crowd-funding platform. With two days to go, its latest for the Everyday Backpack, Tote, and Sling just beat that record with nearly $5 million in pre-orders. These are my first impressions after a week with a pre-production version of the highly anticipated Everyday Backpack.
It’s hard to pick a component of gear that’s most important for editing your color-dependent photo and video work. But it’s easy to say that a great, accurate, wide-gamut monitor is near the top of that list. NEC recently gave us a chance to review a monitor of theirs that's popular for its balance of features, size, and mid-range price for its tier: the EA275WMI-BK.
Lighting on land can be daunting when a photographer is first starting out in their business. Understanding the angles, the intensity, and the direction comes from education and experience. So when I started working with illuminating subjects beneath the water's surface, it felt like a whole new game.
MagMod has quickly become the go to flash modifier for a ton of photographers. Being able to quickly and easily attach grids, gels, and diffusers to your flash via small magnets makes shaping your light super simple. So when MagMod announced the new MagBeam, a lot of people got really excited. So excited that they demolished their $25,000 goal by raising just over $300,000 via their Kickstarter campaign. But does this new modifier live up to the hype?
It's about time for a new approach. There are a few online stores and stock libraries where you can get templates, videos, and music that help you save time when creating professional videos. Some of them can get really tricky when dealing with prices and licensing.
ORCA is the maker of a wide range of photo and video accessories: primarily bags and other protective gear. They sent me their new rolling camera bag to try out, and I was eager to give it a go. As you'll see below, I've been using a $50 suitcase from Target as a camera bag for the last four years, so I was excited to see how an actual camera bag would hold up.
First, I have to give a huge thank you to Adorama and Canon for inviting me to come play with the highly rumored 5D Mark IV. I'm completely blown away that they asked, and truthfully, I'd be lying if I didn't do a few skips at the thought of getting in on the new toy ahead of time.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. We don’t always need to bring four or five lenses, two camera bodies, and a portable lighting studio with us every time we leave the house. Sometimes it makes sense to own a lightweight secondary grab-and-go day pack that offers more than just camera storage. In this article I take a look at the Mountainsmith Spectrum, a $90 split-use backpack that’s ready to rock.
A good camera strap is something that a lot of people don't find important until they actually try a good camera strap. I have found that getting the camera off of my neck and onto my shoulders to make a world of difference while shooting and especially the day after shooting. This becomes even more important when you are dealing with the added weight of carrying dual cameras. Enter the Clydesdale Pro-DLX from RL Handcrafts.
