ISO performance on cameras has improved exponentially over the last decade, and now you are able to use higher values than ever before more or less without punishment by way of noise. Sony's new videography titan is raising that bar even further it seems.
Ken Block, owner of DC Shoes and action sports mogul is well known for his incredible skill in a rally car. He's also been known to make some incredible videos, such as his original Gymkhana piece. For this installment, Gymkhana 5, Ken decided that he wanted to take over San Francisco: and that is just what he did. He also made sure that it was captured to perfection: I can't imagine that any less than one hundred cameras were used in the making of this piece.
We can all agree that there's nothing wrong with a little publicity stunt, as long as it's awesome, right? I think that Intel has achieved that with this video they released during their CES keynote last week in Las Vegas. It's pretty straightforward actually, just 100 drones flown simultaneously in the sky while performing a choreographed light routine as a live orchestra played Beethoven's 5th Symphony. Go big or go home, right?
Commercial Photographer and Videographer Jay P. Morgan has spent the last 25-plus years mastering light, production, and the business end of photography. He shares most of his insights on The Slanted Lens, his site dedicated to providing step-by-step instruction on how to light for photography and video. His latest video finds him in Gettysburg, combining strobes with ambient light, featuring Honest Abe and a couple of sweet cannons, while he shows us how to light a scene during sunset.
We all love big sensors, affordable glass, and cheap camera bodies, but is DSLR videography a dying breed? If so, what are the alternatives that we should be looking at?
A few months ago I got an email from Rhino Camera Gear asking if I would like to beta test their new slider. I didn't really know anything about this product and I quickly forgot about it until it showed up at our office a few days ago. I had no idea that this would be one of the most impressive products I've tested in years.
Dave Dugdale of LearningDSLRVideo.com just published this great demonstration of the differences between recording video in raw and H.264 formats using Canon DSLRs and free Magic Lantern firmware. The difference is pretty astounding to me, as someone who has only ever shot video in H.264.
Adobe Premiere Pro CC is an incredibly powerful video editing suite with a lot of nuance. Here are 11 great tips and tricks for getting the most out of the software in your next project.
In a dramatic scene from "Interstellar," the space crew was nearly overcome by a massive wave on a distant planet. Take a look behind the scenes to see the filmmakers and actor Wes Bentley discuss the lighting and composite work required to produce this daunting visual effect.
The guys over PHLEARN have a lot of cool content, and this is their most recent. The original idea for this photo shoot was inspired by childhood, drawing on references from stories such as “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak and the classic comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes." The result is a playful look at the imagination of a child.
One of the most overlooked, yet most used items in a photographer's arsenal, is the grip kit. A grip kit isn't something most photographers set out to buy, build, or assemble, it's generally born from necessity. Over the years we find ourselves on jobs needing certain things that we don't have readily available and we end up improvising to get the job done. Usually we make a mental note of how we can be more prepared in the future, which often times leads to adding small "grip" items to our pack list. When we collect enough of these items, they typically make their way into some sort of crate, bag, or box also known as a grip kit.
Earlier this year Lukas Renlund, a 30-year old professional photographer from Scandinavia, sat down and tried to imagine what the photography industry might look like in 5 or 10 years. That imagination-session lead him to quickly start a new photography/media company named 'Not So Fast | Media'. Instead of offering still photographs to their clients, the new company focuses only on creating motion photographs- Beautiful moving images.
There are so many options when choosing a camera body, and for most the price tag plays a huge factor. Understanding what your plans are for shooting and what the capabilities of each body can do will help to determine if that hefty price tag if worth saving up for.
In my old hometown of Houston, Texas, residents and officials are assessing the damage left in the wake of Hurricane Harvey which has left entire highways underwater, small towns decimated, and approximately 30,000 people evacuated. When a tragedy like this happens in our own backyard, we have a plethora of photographers to thank for capturing the aftermath. Erin Trieb is a Texas native who lives in Turkey but happened to be visiting family in Houston when Hurricane Harvey hit. Trieb has a history of documenting trauma left by war and conflict in the Middle East due to her role as a conflict photographer for National Geographic.
If you are shooting 36mp still images, you're going to be able to see a pretty significant difference when comparing cheap lenses to their pro level counterparts. Does the same hold true for video? Not really.
As one of the writers here at Fstoppers I do quite a bit of scouring the internet trying to find the best 'behind the scenes' videos to share with our readers. Sadly much of what I see lacks content, rather it is most commonly just a music video of a photographer on a shoot. Fortunately, this video by Simeon Quarrie documenting his shoot in Italy is quite the opposite. Packed with great information and lots of tips this video is worth checking out. Read on to see a lighting diagram and some of the photos from the shoot.
Relying on your camera screen to nail exposure is a sure recipe for disaster. Depending on the lighting situation, the contrast of your display, how it’s back-lit, as well as other parameters, you’ll see the luminosity values differently. To make sure you get it perfect, there are tools available to you. In this 10-minute long video, Haapoja from TravelFeels will list most of them and explain which is best for what situation.
It's hard to keep up with Casey Neistat's daily vlogs, but today's stands out in particular for its special ingenuity and because it's Halloween. Thanks to a little creativity with an electric skateboard, some red cloth, and an Aladdin costume, New York City has Neistat and his buddy, Jesse Wellens, to thank for a truly epic Aladdin and Magic Carpet sighting. Go behind the scenes and see how they filmed it.
In his physical prime, Bruce Jenner and his Olympic success made him a household name. With the start of his step-daughters' show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," Jenner's name became familiar to a much younger audience. Today, however, we can begin our goodbyes to the Olympic legend and welcome Caitlyn Jenner, who will be introduced to the world within Vanity Fair's coming issue (due June 9) with the front cover tagline, "Call me Caitlyn."
Photographer Mike Olbinski has been visiting the Central Plains to shoot it's storms since 2010, and last week he encountered a supercell straight out of an apocalyptic thriller. The views in this timelapse are breathtaking! It's incredible to watch this massive storm tear through the fields near Booker, TX. There really isn't much more that I can say, just watch the video. Well done Mike! Amazing footage
Last night Panasonic revealed their new Lumix DMC-GH4 capable of producing 4K video and seemingly aimed directly at pro video shooters. There are some who are skeptical of cramming 4K video into such a small sensor and others who can't believe how amazing the camera reads on paper. Check out this sample footage from Lumix and you can draw your own conclusions.
"If I want to shoot great video in the future with my 4K, video enabled DSLR, what should I buy first?" This is a question a get a lot of the time from photographer friends. Given they already own a tripod, my first answer is always to start with a cage. Here is why.
Sony's answer to many filmmakers' dreams comes in the form of the refined, lightweight, portable, and ever-enabling PXW-FS7. The FS7 offers internal 4K recording at 60fps and 1080p at 180fps, with a single extension unit and external recorder required to shoot 4K RAW footage. In addition to an ergonomic smart grip with customizable controls and a built-in, four-position ND filter to allow you to shoot truly on-the-go, the FS7 also makes use dual slots for a new 128GB XQD G-series card that supports 440MB/s read and 350MB/s write speeds.
These days, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the advertising hype surrounding a new cinema product. All it takes is a slick promo video and clever marketing for companies to set the Internet ablaze. As the hype and expectations build, words like “game-changer” and “revolutionary” are thrown into the mix.
One of RED digital cinema’s biggest strengths is building up hype around an upcoming product. The company is praised as innovators by the film community, for building cameras like the Epic and Scarlet. When other companies were content with 1080p, RED was building cameras with 4 times the resolution. Years later, RED users can’t help but chuckle as companies like Sony are developing 4k televisions – technology that RED’s competition once thought to be excessive.
Michael Zhang (PetaPixel) dug up this promotional video that shows in great detail how digital cameras work and how they are made. If you are a photographer (and I know you are) or have an engineering background then you will find this video fascinating.
Canon Premium Library:
"An introduction to how digital cameras work that also highlights Canon's unique
Last spring, I met a group of 4 cyclists planning a 35 day epic adventure from coast to coast across the US. Their goal was to cycle over 100 miles a day, resting only one day a week, in order to raise awareness and funds for the poor and needy in Burundi, Africa. I decided it would be awesome to tag along and film their journey.
When National Geographic calls and asks you to take on a project that involves capturing one of the most photographed places on the planet, how do you come away with something new or unique? Six photographers took on this challenge and shared their stories and images in this short video.
Benjamin Von Wong has done many crazy photo shoots in his career, but you would be hard pressed to find one that invokes a primal fear that is buried inside all of us as well as inspiration as perfectly as his latest series, "Superheroes on Skyscrapers."
