Cameras are constantly improving. Keeping up with the latest model and its arguably better performance can instill a need for a perpetual upgrade and a bad case of G.A.S. Well, I'm here to turn back the clocks and look at a 20-year-old compact digital camera that is a lot more capable than we might give it credit for. Read on to remember, reflect, and be surprised by this forgotten gem.
There has been a rise in tourism and exploration of our natural world and with that, a rise in interest at photographing these beautiful places. Of course, with that rise, we have also seen an increase in accidents as more and more people venture off the trail hoping to capture even better images.
Last month, the Portland-based Lensbaby announced a new mobile photography kit aimed at bringing their unique lens esthetics to the mobile platform. This new creative mobile kit includes two lenses and a magnetic kickstand. I had the opportunity to review it over the last few weeks.
The guys at no film school have done it again. In a recent guest post by the awesome director, Rubidium Wu they show you how to make a cheap DIY multi-camera video rig. The cool thing about this setup is that you can shoot multiple focal lengths in one take giving a similar ascetic to Tommy Wiseau’s in his 2005 film, The Room.
When it comes to retouching as best as possible, a graphics tablet is crucial. It gives more control and allows for fine adjustments that are extremely hard to get with a mouse or trackpad. I’ve been a longtime Wacom Intuos Pro user and always loved it. However, I’ve always wondered what it was like to edit on a screen. Recently, I've had the opportunity to try a couple of these including the Acepen 2150, a cheap alternative to the Wacom Cintiq line. In this review, I’ll explain what I loved about it but also tell you why retouching directly on a screen is not for everyone.
Focal length is by far one of the most important choices you can make when it comes to portraiture, as it makes a huge difference on how your subject is rendered. This helpful video will show you how five different common focal lengths render the same subject.
Delivering an updated product once a year every year guarantees a spike of hype and sales, but brings with it some challenges — challenges that continue to get bigger as a product matures and competitors arrive. The GoPro HERO11 Black launched last month, but what do the latest upgrades mean for a company whose value has fallen by 90% from its peak just a few years ago?
It looks like there’s a “new” kid on the block, and it happens to be our old friend Polaroid (Or is it "old guy on the new block," or "new old kid on the old new block," or something else entirely? I don't know...). There are a number of instant-print cameras on the market, but to me, they’re all missing at least one of two things: the brand recognition of the Polaroid name and the classic form factor of the camera that made it famous decades ago. The Fujifilm Instax camera is missing both. Even the current Polaroid offerings, such as the Polaroid Snap or the PIC-300, probably don’t have what it takes to rule the market. So, here it is. The Polaroid OneStep 2.
Being a master of keyboard shortcuts isn’t just a party trick to impress friends and clients, it’s a path to a faster and more efficient editing process which makes you more of an asset as a video editor. Whether you’re hoping to earn a Pro Certificate or just become faster in post, one way to get you there sooner is to invest in a dedicated keyboard.
The Pelican 1510 is the ideal case for a ton of photographers and videographers, as it has Pelican toughness, loads of great features, and it's the maximum carry-on size, making it the perfect solution for those traveling to tough locations. Today only, you can get a great deal on the Pelican 1510.
Modern digital cameras can shoot remarkably quickly, but as impressive as they are, they have less machinery to move around than film cameras. This fun video shows the incredible mechanics behind an old 16mm film camera at 1,000 fps, allowing you to see how it all came together to produce watchable footage.
In this video Canon Australia challenges singer-songwriter Guy Sebastian and Canon Master photographer Graham Monro to change the story of three different scenes simply by changing between lenses. Specifically the macro Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens, the portrait Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Lens , the landscape Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens and the sports Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Lens.
Almost every manufacturer has a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens or something similar, as it represents a useful and versatile telephoto focal length range for many photographers without the stratospheric price of supertelephoto primes. This great video review takes a look at Sony's version, the FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens.
I love seeing weird and quirky lenses and this one from Samyang certainly ticks those boxes. Is it any good though?
Early this morning Olympus announced the new OM-D E-M10 (that's a mouthful), combining aspects of two popular cameras the E-M1 and E-M5. It features the new TruePic VII image processor, the same found in the OM-D E-M1, 16 megapixel Live MOS sensor, Wi-Fi technology, a large, high-speed electronic viewfinder and 3-axis image stabilization.
There’s an old bit of nonsense that states there are two factors that affect price when buying a tripod: stability and weight. Benro has proved there are two more. So, is their Hydra 2 worth their cost?
One of the best camera backpack series just got an update, along with a few new bags. F-Stop Gear has been making quality backpacks for outdoor adventure filmmakers and photographers for a while now, and their latest products are looking to be even better. If you've owned or used the popular Loka series bag, you'll want to check out the new version, called the Ajna.
The 24-70mm zoom range is versatile, and for many photographers and videographers, it's probably one of the best starting points when building out your lens collection for a new mount.
SanDisk and Lexar each have some deals going on today. SanDisk's Extreme SD cards with transfer rates of up to 90 MB/s are available at great prices at Amazon in sizes from 16 GB to 256 GB. Meanwhile, Lexar's super fast Professional 2933x XQD cards are an astounding 50 percent off at B&H (Amazon's prices are more than double).
Alex Jansen, who is currently on a deployment in Afghanistan, recently created this video showing off the weather and dust sealing capabilities of his Pentax K-5 and K-7 cameras. I know that even though my Canon 1D claims to be 'weather and dust resistant' it would be a cold day in hell before I ever voluntarily did something like this to my camera (and lenses!). Alex is clearly confident
One of the advantages to mirrorless cameras is the ability to see an exposure preview of the final photo while composing through the viewfinder or rear LCD screen. Tools like the histogram, focus peaking, and others can also be updated in real time and overlaid on the screen to make more informed decisions. This video, however, unwraps my favorite in-camera tool for Sony cameras.
In recent years, Tamron has entirely reinvented themselves as a company that produces competitive lenses that offer excellent performance and image quality at prices that are often significantly more affordable than many first-party options. One of their latest lenses, the 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD, offers a highly versatile focal length range suitable for a huge range of genres and applications. This great video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.
Over the past couple of decades, technology has changed every aspect of modern life both at work and at play. We now live in a digital era dominated by high-end digital cameras, mobile phones, smart tablets and even intelligent watches. However, what we often forget is that each shutter click on these devices captures a slice of history, a moment which felt significant enough to pull out our gadget and press that all-important shutter button. Most of these images stay rooted deep inside our device’s memory never to be viewed again. That is until now, where next month we see the release of ZenCam, an application which enables intelligent printing for portable devices.
Canon's new RF 600mm f/11 IS STM and RF 800mm f/11 IS STM lenses are quite unique, and they offer an affordable chance for photographers to check out extreme focal lengths. If you are interested in them, check out this excellent review.
Even just two decades ago, the photography industry was a vastly different place, and the sort of gear photographers used was quite different. This fun video follows a photographer as he discusses what was in his gear bag back in 2001.
I’ve used more than a few camera systems over my career. In the abstract, this can be a positive thing: diversity of equipment means you’ve got a lot of different ways to capture an image or tell a story, but more practically, this means I’ve got a lot of gear that doesn’t typically communicate well with each other. Sooner or later, I find preference in one system over the other, meaning a fair amount of kit ends up collecting dust.
When it comes to gimbals, there are so many great options available these days for almost any kind of setup. Feiyu-Tech is one of those companies that tend to make really good gimbals which have gained a lot of popularity recently. The Feiyu A2000 is one of those gimbals that offers plenty of features and its high weight capacity makes it a fantastic option.
The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4E FL ED VR Lens is an absolute whopper to look at, but it may well be Nikon's best super-telephoto lens. In this review, it's put through its paces in the gorgeous surroundings of Iceland, with some pretty surprising results.
