Recent Gear Articles

Maxell Revitalizes Its Brand with New Camera Accessories

Maxell Professional Media, in an effort to continue diversifying from its well-known CD/DVD manufacturing business, announced it will release various camera accessories including three-way power shoe adapters, USB and other power connectors, and an interesting shoe clamp that will let you add a cold shoe just about anywhere.

WANDRD's Bags and Accessories for Photographers and Travelers

If you're like me, you have a lot of camera bags: some you use all the time and some, well, let's just say they are collecting dust. As my needs evolve and I travel more, I want versatile bags that can adjust and keep up. I find myself reaching for my WANDRD camera bags. So, let's deep dive into some of their popular bags and accessories for photographers and travelers. You might just find your next go-to bag.

A Review of the Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM Lens

A wide-aperture 35mm lens is a great choice for a wide range of genres and scenarios, and Sony's FE 35mm f/1.4 GM offers the company's G Master standard of excellence for photographers and filmmakers looking for high levels of quality and performance. This great video takes a look at the lens and the kind of performance and image quality you can expect from it.

A Review of the Very Portable Sigma 17mm f/4 DG DN Contemporary Lens

The Sigma 17mm f/4 DG DN Contemporary lens is so small that it barely reaches past the grip of the camera to which it is attached, making it an intriguing option for anyone looking for a highly portable wide angle lens. This great video review takes a look at the lens and if it can back up that portability with the performance and image quality professionals demand.

A First Look at the New Canon EOS R10 Mirrorless Camera

The Canon EOS R10 is here, and it offers a lot of performance at a very affordable price, making it a great entry into the company's mirrorless systen or a reasonable backup body for photographers already shooting in it. If you are interested in adding the camera to your arsenal, check out this fantastic first look video that will show you the performance and image quality you can expect from it.

Gearing Tripod System Review: The Most Modular Tripod Ever?

A new company called Gearing has produced a tripod that could be described as the most modular system on the market. From being a tabletop tripod it can be built up to being a full-sized travel tripod. Not only that, if the occasion calls for it you can even use the tripod legs as ski sticks for those slopes that you come across during your travels.

Sony RX1 Rumor: Full Frame Sensor in Pocket-Sized Package

Now this is an unusual bit of rumor news: Sony is apparently on the verge of unveiling a new pocked-sized digital camera, except that unlike the others out there this one has a full frame sensor. If this is true (which it probably is), though it may not have immediate acceptance due to price inhibition, it shows that we are quickly on our way to full frame sensors becoming more common.

[Review] Lightroom 4 Tutorials DVD Guide by SLR Lounge

It’s rare these days to find a product that is so well rounded that it can appeal to an entire market of users. Especially in photography, it is not uncommon to find products that claim to be designed “for beginning to advanced users” but suffer greatly from the attempt to spread out over such a vast range. SLR Lounge's Lightroom DVD is advertised to be an A-Z Lightroom mastery experience, so does it live up to it's claim?

Lowepro Hypes New Hardside Case with Fun-Filled Action Video

Lowepro announced new hard cases last week (which we reviewed), and to build up some more hype around how secure they keep your gear, they released this fun-filled action video that shows how much punishment the new cases can handle.

A Review of the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR Lens

Fujifilm revitalized the popularity of medium format with their GFX line of mirrorless cameras, which offer impressive sets of features traditionally not seen in cameras with larger sensors in tandem with highly competitive prices. For GFX users looking for a wide angle zoom, there is the new GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR, and this great video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.

We Review the V-Flat Karl Taylor Light Cone

When V-Flat released the new Karl Taylor Light Cone, the comments ranged from dismissive jokes about "the cone of shame" to excitement for a product designed by esteemed commercial photographer Karl Taylor. I decided to take the cones into my product studio and see for myself if this simple tool really delivered the effortless results it boasted.

[Video] How Much Does Flash Duration Affect Photo Sharpness?

Unless you shoot fast moving objects with flash on a regular basis, you might not be aware that a strobes "flash duration" has a huge affect on an image's total sharpness. Flash duration is simply the time at which your flash is emitting light. Technical gurus will break it down into T.1 and T.5 times but for simplicity the longer the flash duration, the more your strobe light acts as a constant light for extremely fast moving objects (great article here). Recently Broncolor did a test between their Broncolor Scoro power pack and the Profoto Pro 8 Air to see which one had a faster duration. As biased as it might appear, I think it's fair to say that the Scoro does produce a sharper image especially since you can digital select the flash duration on the power packs themselves. The Broncolor packs do cost about 20% more than the Profoto packs so unless you are shooting extremely fast moving objects then you probably won't ever notice the difference. I think it could be interesting to throw something much cheaper into the mix like an Alien Bee but my suspicion is it might fail the color accuracy part of this test.
Go Retro-Nouveau with Kodak and Its Dreamy Super 8 Reel

Film lovers and analog purists are not-so-patiently awaiting the release of Kodak's new Super 8 camera, which should finally come out sometime this year at a cost of $2,500-$3,000. In the meantime, Kodak took CES as an opportunity to release some new test footage that looks rather incredible. At times, the reel displays a properly vintage look reminiscent of 1960s French films. Yet, in other sequences, the footage looks much more updated. It's sharper and boasts much higher contrast, which gives hope to directors that this will be a very flexible, very capable setup.

Nikon 1 V1 Mirrorless Camera Review

Nikon is one of the big names in the camera business. And they do have some competitors in the mirrorless market: the 1 series V1 and J1. We’ll be reviewing the V1, as it’s priced and featured as a more ‘professional’ or ‘prosumer’ line and will provide us results from the best of what Nikon now offers in the mirrorless market.

The Fujifilm X100VI: Is It Worth Hype?**

The Fujifilm X100 series has garnered a cult following, and the X100VI is the latest iteration to capture the hearts of photography enthusiasts. But is it all hype, or does this camera truly live up to its reputation?

Will We See 3D-Printed Camera Accessories Soon?

3D printers have recently become cheaper, more reliable, and more capable at the consumer level. On the same token, photographers constantly need all sorts of miscellaneous parts: adapters, clamps, rings, etc. It seems like now is the time for at-home 3D printing to take hold.

A Comparison of the Viltrox 27mm f/1.2 AF and Sigma 23mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lenses

Both the Viltrox 27mm f/1.2 AF and Sigma 23mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary offer Fujifilm X Series users approximately 35mm full frame equivalent focal lengths in tandem with very wide maximum apertures, making them versatile options for a variety of applications. That being said, Fujifilm's new 40-megapixel sensor can be quite demanding. Can these lenses keep up? This excellent video comparison takes a look at the performance and image quality you can expect.

What Lens Should You Buy Next?

No piece of gear can have a greater impact on the technical quality of your images and your creativity than the lens you mount on the front of your camera. So, once you are ready to buy your next lens, how do you decide what to get? This helpful video discusses some of the things you should consider when deciding what lens to purchase.