Gear

So the much awaited Blackmagic Production Camera 4K is finally shipping, according to a press release put out by Blackmagic this morning. But on top of that, Blackmagic has announced a major price drop, down about $1000 to $2,995. That's a big deal for those of you interested in the camera, especially if you were impressed by prior video footage we've shown here.

Sigma today announced the new generation of high image quality compact cameras “SIGMA dp” that incorporates a newly developed Foveon X3 direct image sensor (generation name: “Quattro”). Sigma is saying it is unique and without peer among image sensors, the Foveon direct image sensor is similar to traditional color film in that its multiple layers capture all of the information that visible light transmits.

The new Nikon "lens only" rebates are now live - a total of 15 lenses are now up to $400 off, and the good news is that you don't have to buy a DSLR body in order to qualify! If you were in the market for buying a lens, now is the perfect time.

GoPro, basically the name synonymous with action-camera mobile HD video, is one of America's most recent super-success stories. Well, they look to be taking things a step further as they have announced they'll be conducting a registered initial public offering of its common stock.

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.

I always thought the point of mirrorless was to make things compact, but Panasonic looks like they want to expand my mind and believe it also means raw power, as they have announced the Lumix DMC-GH4, a new camera that features 4K 24p cinematic video (4096x2160), plus 4K 3840x2160 30p/24p with 49 points of autofocus. The build is all metal, and it's obviously aimed at the professional market.

RODE downsized their popular Videomic with the new Videomic GO, half the size and can run without a dedicated battery through the use of in-line power. This looks like a perfect run-and-gun mic, but would the smaller size affect audio quality? You decide, as I compare the two against on-camera audio and a lav mic.

As far as digital products from Pentax go, the 645D Medium Format has always been the king of the hill for the company. Fans of Pentax, such as myself, have been anxiously awaiting an update to the original digital medium format offering from Pentax which was released nearly 4 years ago in 2010. Nipping at the heels of the recent Hasselblad and Phase One CMOS Medium Format announcements it appears Pentax finally has its own Medium Format announcement to make... and a 50MP CMOS no less.

The Nikon D4s seems to be all the buzz lately. Nothing is official yet, but rumors are going around that match up across multiple sources. Nikon displayed the new D4s body at CES this year and since then we have been able to find some rumored information about the camera and what is to come. Officially, we are told that the D4s will include a new image processor and “more advanced autofocusing performance”. Which both, in themselves, are great announcements.

Ahead of the Japanese trade show CP+, Tamron has announced two more mega-zoom lenses, the 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD (Model A010) and the 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD MACRO (Model B016). The lenses follow the 150-600mm f/5-6.3 announced in late 2013. The two new lenses feature Tamron's Vibration Compensation and a PZD (Piezo Drive) which will supposedly deliver faster, quieter autofocus.

Right before Christmas a sale popped up for the FitBit Flex (a fitness tracker) and even though I didn't "need" it, the FitBit would help me stay in shape. So of course I bought it. Over the last couple of months I have been making a conscience effort to make sure I am active. I love seeing how different activities affect my daily step count and, well, shooting a wedding sure does.

With modern technology within Adobe Camera Raw, you're limiting yourself considerably when shooting in JPEG. However, by shooting in Raw, you're removing the purpose of many of the features within the camera. Settings such as 'Picture Style' serve no real purpose when shooting in Raw, because all the adjustments added to photos, will be stripped when put on your computer. Regardless, I shoot in monochromatic, and it has helped my work considerably.

Well despite the CMOS back announcement last month, Hasselblad hasn't done much in the ways of innovating (and it can be argued they haven't really done anything yet since the back was only announced, but no specs or information on it has been released). That didn't change yesterday when they announced the Hasselblad HV, a rebranded and reskinned Sony a99 that will retail for €8500.

I don’t know about you guys, but when Sigma announced the 24-105mm f/4 lens last year, I got very excited. The Canon 24-105mm f/4 was one of my favorite video lenses early on. It’s an extremely versatile focal length that, besides the slow f/4 constant aperture, was largely pretty usable in nearly any environment. Sadly, the lens was only good for video because it just wasn’t very sharp. That’s why Sigma’s attempt got me so jazzed. Based on prior experience with their Art line, I had high expectations for Sigma's new zoom lens.

Last month we posted an article about a unique LED lighting solution called “Strahlen” that was crowdfunding. On paper, the specs of these lights look great, but how well do they perform in a real production setting? I got my hands on a kit of Strahlens, and after an interview shoot with them I found out that they were the real deal.

Over time every DSLR will collect dust on its CMOS or CCD sensor; there really isn't anyway around it. Cleaning your own camera's sensor with liquid wipes or other wet processes has always been a bit risky. Luckily the Sensor Gel Stick is a safe and easy product that top manufacturers like Leica, Nikon, and Canon have been using in their own factories for years. Now YOU can use it too!

If you don't like lav mics rearing their ugly heads in your video productions but love the sound quality (like we saw in a video from Wistia), then maybe Rode's latest product is the perfect solution. It's called the invisiLAV, and it adheres to the interior of clothing and skin and supposedly eliminates the need for those pesky lav clips.

Flashpoint’s 14” Fluorescent Dimmable Ring Light ($140) is by no means a perfect product. It’s not the sturdiest of creations; it seems to have about as much metal in it as a pair of sunglasses. It’s bright but not powerful; bright enough to want those sunglasses if you find yourself on the business end. With all that said, this light may be the best value in the lighting market today.

Fan of the E-Mount or already an owner of the pretty sweet Fuji X-mount systems? Then you might like this: Zeiss just announced a 50mm f/2.8 macro lens for both mounts that sports the styling of the Zeiss lenses we've come to love over the years. It will be available at the end of March for $999.

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.

As consumer electronics continue to improve in quality and price, there are more opportunities for professionals to save some money and create DIY solutions. I thought it would be worth sharing my latest DIY project (inspired by video director Joe Simon).

Fuji’s latest camera in their popular X-Series line up, the X-T1, has been officially announced. Although I wrote a brief summary of the features and spec’s being passed around the rumor mill, the official announcement has just been made so we can now confirm details.

If there was a camera that really got people talking in 2013, it was the Sony a7 and a7R. Hailed as a “game changer” and “camera of the year” by both PDN and PopPhoto, it’s gotten a lot of attention. A full frame, powerful and purportedly pro-level mirrorless compact, what’s not to love? Many Sony fans were quick to hail it as the beginning of the end for the DSLR, and even many DSLR shooters seemed ready to join them. I’ve been shooting with the a7R for a few weeks now, and it’s time I laid down my personal verdict on this camera.

A while ago we wrote about the Kickstarter project aimed at bringing the historic Petzval Lens to modern day 35mm DSLRs. Shortly after another Kickstarter was launched to bring this Petzval to the medium format crowd. While off the shelf options such as these can appeal to the masses there remain a few inventive photographers such as Dr. Dirk HR Spennemann who prefer to mix their passion for photography and history with some good old ingenuity to bring us a project simply called "The Antique Camera Simulator".

Lately we've been seeing a lot about the Nikon Df. Everything from Lee Morris' Nikon Df Hipster Review to Chase Jarvis' First Impressions, and it seems like the early popular opinion has judged the Df as lacking. Adding to the growing list of underwhelmed reviews is this video from DigitalRevTV as they compare how the D4 sensor performs in both the Df and D4 models.

When it comes to shaping the light sources photographers use, there are a lot of modifiers available. Each lighting modifier has it's own characteristics which can make it difficult to determine the best light for your project. Karl Taylor has produced one of the best videos I've ever seen showing exactly how the light fall off, contrast, and specularity differs between the parabolic reflectors, beauty dish, and large octabox softbox.

When a photographer wants to start expanding their lighting options they usually look to something beyond their pop-up flash. However, if you are one of those stubborn ones that simply must use what is probably the worst possible flash option...you're in luck. Preston Vance has launched a Kickstarter campaign that attempts to make your mostly worthless pop-up flash somewhat less so. Apparently based on the idea of a beauty dish,

Adventure Sports Photographer Tim Kemple was one of the only photographers in the world who was lucky enough to try out the new Phase One IQ250 that was just announced earlier today. Check out the behind the scenes video, but also read the full article for my interview with Tim, where he shares his thoughts on the system, as well as what it's like to beta test cameras.

For years, medium format cameras have been stuck with digital CCD sensors that are poor-performing at high ISO's because creating medium format CMOS sensors was prohibitively expensive. Well, that has all changed now. Hasselblad teased their new CMOS medium format camera earlier this week, but today Phase One announced their new CMOS digital medium format back and not only is it ready to ship on Monday, but it already looks like it will be a class dominator.

Cranes can add that extra bit of "oomph" to a video, giving it that one extra piece to make for compelling and dynamic footage. If you saw Patrick Hall's review of the Rhino Slider, you probably noticed some footage from a crane in there too. Pro Am just announced a new $300, 12-pound, 3-foot crane that can support a camera rigs up to 20 pounds and manually tilts cameras up to 10 pounds.

Before I heap on the apologies, I do want to say that I get sent a lot of gear. Gear that varies in required skill level, genre of photography and purpose. I've reviewed a lot of equipment over the years, and eventually I was bound to make a mistake- I'm pretty much the furthest thing from infallible. Well it happened, and I'm sorry. My initial review of the Fotopro tripod was negative due in most part to, you got it, user error.

About two months ago, I posted a highly controversial post called The Nikon Df Represents Everything Wrong With Photography. Even though I completely stand behind my original article, I began to wonder if I had not given Nikon's newest DSLR offering a fair chance. Today I decided to take the Nikon Df out into the real world and not only test it's photographic capabilities, but also hear what normal people had to say about it.

The new Nikon Df retro styled camera is rustling the feathers of the photography world. People seem to either love it or hate. Today Chase Jarvis unboxes Nikon's newest offering and gives his first impressions. Could the Nikon Df DSLR be the ultimate travel camera or is it just another alternative to the modern DSLR?

Hasselblad, who hasn't done a heck of a lot of innovating in the past few months, might finally have something worth talking about. They announced that they are working on the world's first 50 megapixel CMOS sensor back for their medium format cameras, rather than the CCD format previously used. This means faster capture rate, longer shutter speed capability and much greater ISO performance.

The first ad for the new Fuji X-Series camera, the X-T1, greeted Japanese commuters today. As they were picking over the detail, a host of leaked images showed up online simultaneously, which provided unequivocal proof that this was the much discussed and touted X-T1. If all these specs stack up, this camera looks set to cause quite a stir.

In the photography world it is all about lighting, lighting, lighting. For videographers the main emphasis is not necessarily lighting as much as it is motion. Perhaps the easiest and most affordable way to add motion to your DSLR video is by using a slider. In this video we take a closer look at the Rhino Slider and why it might be the best sub $800 slider on the market.

Shooting events is like running a marathon, it often feels like it's never ending. At the end of the day you are sore, dirty, and you may have blacked out for a portion of it from dehydration. Using an ergonomic camera sling for one or both cameras is a great solution for saving your neck and back and also keeping your cameras secure on your body. This is a no-brainer investment if you are an event shooter and may change your life if you haven't been using one.

The Adobe product manages and developers that I have spoken to praise the new Creative Cloud process mostly for the ability to instantly update users with new features and stability enhancements. While we have seen a plethora of updates that mostly contain "bug fixes" over the past few months, Adobe has finally given us three new features for Photoshop to get excited about: 3D printing integration, linked Smart Objects, and what is most interesting to photographers, Perspective Warp.

Quite possibly the most exciting product announced within the last year comes from lighting company Profoto with the announcement of the Profoto B1 studio strobe. Promising TTL within a 500 watt/sec studio strobe is exciting all on its own, but they also announced that this device is cordless, with a built in battery pack. But does the light live up to its hype?

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN MOVED AND UPDATED. When an idea is good, it’s bound to sprout imitators. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with this. Often it leads to a product that took the good from one idea and implemented other original concepts to make an end product amazing. But sometimes, and rather frequently in the photo industry, we end up with products that feel like hollow copies, existing to just take advantage of positive consumer feelings towards an existing product. That’s what I feel happened with the Fotopro tripod.

I'm a huge fan of the Profoto gear. When I came across this behind the scenes video on Profoto's blog, I just had to share it with you guys. To kick off the "Year of the Horse" Tokyo-based photographer Irwin Wong came up with a creative shoot in the middle of the forest.

It’s no secret that I have an unquenchable, near fetish-like lust for buttons and sliders or anything really that makes image processing akin to playing some freaky, incongruous musical instrument one might find in the Mos Eisley Cantina. This year, at CES 2014, Griffin announced an updated version of their PowerMate - an all-purpose, aluminum knob that will be wireless and wonderful and not out for a few more months. Luckily, there is a pretty great (and relatively inexpensive) wired version available now.

So here is probably the shortest review on a lens in the history of photography. Ready? Do you own a Fuji interchangeable X series camera? Yes? Go buy this lens. That's it. Not sure what else you need from me. The new XF 23mm F1.4 from Fuji is a BEAST. This thing renders stunning images and just gets out of the way. If you grab one lens before you go out to shoot all day, this is the one you’ll want. If you really want more detail, read on, otherwise, just go buy this thing and have fun.

Nikon's update to its flagship D4 DSLR will be on view today through Friday at the International Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. A new image processing engine and better autofocus highlight the improvements to come from the full frame HD-DSLR. There are scant details beyond yesterday's press release.

Sony announced a few new products to the photo and video world at CES 2014 earlier today. There were the expected offerings of new action cams, point and shoots and 4K TVs, and a few unexpected stand-out products: The first being an extremely affordable and lightweight 20 megapixel mirrorless camera and the second being an unexpectedly beautiful 4K prosumer camcorder.

(Updated with more images to whet your appetite until we see some test shots!) Sigma has just announced two new lenses, a redesigned 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM and 50mm F1.4 DG HSM. The pricing and availability has not yet been made public, so for now these two images of the lenses will have to do. The 50 f/1.4 has been highly anticipated, and I'm sure there are many of you who are ready to add this lens to your collection.

One of the previous year's best and most sought after cameras is getting a makeover, and now coming to you in a stylish black design. Announced today at CES in Vegas, the FujiFilm X100S is getting a visual upgrade, showing off an all black design from it's previous silver/black vintage look. Aside from that nothing has changed, it still sports all the same specs that we've loved from the past year's model.

With all the announcements in the past few months from manufacturers like Olympus, Nikon and Sony, it's easy to forget that Samsung has a large footing in the interchangeable lens compact (ILC) market. I know many of you may not consider their cameras presently, but Samsung is taking the development of their ILCs very seriously. I had a chance to sit down and chat with the folks at Samsung as they walked me through their latest announcement, the NX30.

Samsung saw enough success with their Galaxy Camera to build and offer a second version, due out sometime this year. The original Galaxy camera seemed to be an easy choice for consumers eager to maintain the comfort of an Android OS and smartphone-like functionality. The GALAXY Camera 2 includes an upgraded 1.6GHz Quad Core processor and the latest Android 4.3 JellyBean platform. It has a lightweight and what Samsung is calling a "retro" design.

Incase has been making some of my favorite iPhone cases for the past couple of years. When I saw their camera bags, I was intrigued but skeptical. After doing some research and drooling over how this bag (Incase Ari) looked I decided to buy one and take if for a test spin. I figured I could always return it if it didn't meet my needs...