Photography Gear

Photography gear keeps getting better and better, with 2017 bringing us some great products. The Fstoppers team has been working on a list of our favorite gear of the past year, and we're happy to present it now. Here's the top photography gear of 2017. 

Ever since HP announced the Zbook x2 portable workstation PC I have been eagerly anticipating its release. With the integrated touchscreen and Wacom EMR stylus functionality, it looks like an intriguing product for photo and video editors alike. Could this be the best portable laptop available for creatives in 2018? 

A new APS-C zoom lens has been announced by Sony, and is set to start shipping next month. The E 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens features Optical SteadyShot stabilization and comes in a compact, travel-friendly size for pairing with a6000-series mirrorless cameras.

Our video lighting of choice has become the Flex lights by Westcott. They are portable and extremely bright, but they certainly aren't cheap. Now, there is a cheaper option, but should you buy it? 

Moment has made a name for itself with its beautifully crafted lenses for smartphones. More recently they also teamed up with Freefly to create the Movi, a stabilizer and cinema robot for your iPhone. Today, they announced a new product that follows the trend of shooting professional quality videos and photos with a phone. It’s a 62mm filter mount for their lenses. 

Sharp has released an 8K television. It should wonderfully compliment their 8K ENG camcorder. Now that 4K is so 2017, why don’t we look at how much an upgrade will cost? 

Within a couple of years, Godox has grown from a small Chinese flash manufacturer no one cared about to a brand that most photographers know. Their products are affordable and offer what most of us need. They are far from being in the high-end market and able to rival the Europeans that are Profoto, Broncolor, or Elinchrom, but that may be changing.

While approaching the end to my holidaze, I stumbled upon the blog post of a friend I met at a photo workshop years ago. The title caught my attention: “Why I Ended My Nikon Professional Services Membership.” His reasoning behind it wasn’t what I expected, but in the era of information hacking, it kind of makes sense. 

Somehow, every three months, a new bag manufacturer figures out a way to bend the laws of physics to make a smaller bag that holds even more gear.   

We’ve heard plenty of comparisons between the iPhone and an industry-standard DSLR. It’s time to test the Google Pixel 2 to see how it stands up against a medium-format camera 20 times its market value. 

The Gnarbox was the most popular new product at this year's Photo Plus Expo. It's a waterproof external hard drive with card slots, USB jacks, and Wi-Fi. This tiny box allows you to backup and edit your photos and videos from your smartphone without the need for a laptop. But who would want to do that?  

Thomas Heaton has released his final YouTube video of his trip to Namibia, and it ended on a fantastic note. It shows what landscape photography can be, that for many it's not just creating imagery, but a personal way of learning who they are.

I'm no cinematographer. I mean I dabble, like a lot of still shooters do, but I wouldn't put myself under the category of video expert by any means. That being said, I do know what I like and what I think looks good. What I've always really liked is the depth and feel of large format in still photography and, now finally, in video.

Recently, Nikon released the D850, which is the latest upgrade to their high-megapixel DSLR line of cameras. Like the models that preceded it, the D850 stands as one of the most groundbreaking cameras in terms of image quality, speed, and resolution. I wanted to take this new camera for a test drive and see just how significant these upgrades actually are.

When you're first starting out shooting portraits, one of the most important decisions you can make is the focal length you shoot at, as it can vastly change the way a subject is rendered. This helpful video will show you how various focal lengths affect the look of a portrait to help you choose which one is most suitable for your work. 

As a professional photographer, I’m obsessed with my bags. I am pretty satisfied with the stroller bags I am using, but when it came to the shoulder bags, something seemed to be missing. As someone who constantly travels to shoot, a good shoulder bag is an asset. So when Think Tank launched the new Spectral 15 bag, I decided to try it out.

We all have a different bag setup. Some prefer to travel light and mobile while others go for a more heavy duty option. Some people want a stylish option that shows off some personal flair while others just want something practical. We each like a different layout and store our gear and accessories in a different way or in a different pocket.

Yongnuo, known mostly for their low-cost near-clones of Canon flashes and lenses, has announced a new lens, a 14mm f/2.8 with autofocus. This lens is not a Canon clone and should offer photographers a lower-cost alternative for those looking for a wide-aperture, ultra-wide-angle option.  

Medium-format cameras have long been known for being able to produce incredible and vibrant colors. This is one of the main reasons behind why many professionals upgrade and spend so much on these systems. The colors that you can achieve with the 16-bit sensors are very desirable and allow much more flexibility in post.

As photographers, our friends, relatives, and significant others sometimes despair at trying to find what may appeal to us and be within their holiday budgets. We may casually let them know that we are super excited about this new gadget that will "really" improve our photography if we only had that one newfangled gizmo.

About a week after confirming that the company does indeed throttle the processors of phones with aging batteries, Apple has issued an apology while announcing changes that should ease the process for consumers with aging phones while also keeping them more informed. 

As a Nikon shooter myself, the stats on the Sony a7R III have my head turning. After watching Sony grow over the past few years and seeing how good their cameras are, I think it is safe to say that this new camera will not disappoint.

If you're looking to get into the Fujifilm world, it's hard to go wrong with X-T1. Though it was recently replaced by the X-T2, it's a highly capable machine that puts out amazing files and feels like a camera that was designed by photographers for photographers. Today only, B&H is offering a crazy deal, taking almost $1,000 off X-T1 bodies and kits.  

Given the choice, most of us would probably buy the latest and greatest camera bodies as soon as they came out, because hey, new toys are cool, right? But most of us don't have unlimited budgets, so it's important to know when you really need to upgrade and when it's just a case of gear lust. Here's what to consider when you're wondering if it's time to buy a new camera. 

So, you just opened your presents, and you received that amazing camera you've been staying up late reading reviews about for the last six months. Rad! Now what? Here are the first 10 things you should do with that new camera. 

Throughout the course of long, mentally intensive days covering events from behind a camera, likely the last thing on your mind is maintaining good balanced posture or equal weight distribution.

In theory, crowdfunding seems like one of the beautiful perks of the Internet: any entrepreneur with an idea and the will to bring it to fruition can receive the financial support of interested patrons from all around the world, and in return, those patrons get early and/or discounted access to an exciting new product.

Life as a photographer or videographer means cords — lots and lots of cords. Personally, I hate them, mostly because I'm a klutz and will invariably wrap myself in them and take down the entire set in one fell swoop. I've done my best to minimize wires in my life, but one area that's remained stubbornly dependent on physical connections is broadcasting anything on my television.

The Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art is a ludicrous lens, being the world's first constant f/1.8 zoom lens for DSLRs. And of course, the 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art is the long-awaited Art version of the classic portrait lens that has been enjoying rave reviews. Both are on sale today only. 

The iPhone seems to have become much more than a phone in the past few years. It is highly recognized for its sleek, simple design and its camera.

2018 is coming up fast and Tony Northrup has uploaded his latest video with his camera predictions. Although predictions can very often be wrong, it doesn't stop us from trying. On occasions, many of us, including myself, tend to make predictions based on what we hope to see in the future. 

Late last year, Photographer Marsel van Oosten received one of those phone calls that we all dream of: Nikon rang to ask if he would be interested in shooting a time-lapse to promote the global launch of their new, groundbreaking camera: the D850. 

We all make mistakes when it comes to purchases we make when we're first starting out. As we continue to grow and evolve we continue to make mistakes. Hopefully, our mistakes aren't too financially costly like a camera body or lens that we don't need and never use.

There aren’t many brands that have been so thoroughly lambasted over the past few years as Canon, and for good reason. Despite their reputation as a manufacturer of durable, functional camera tools, they are notoriously tight fisted with their technology.

Film photography is back, and one of the biggest pushes of the analog format comes from the especially and newly resilient surge of the instant photograph. Impossible Project is now the new Polaroid (literally), Fujifilm has found success with the Instax format, and Kodak is pushing right along with its Printomatic. How does this option compare with the former two?

In 2008, Olympus created a camera system in which lenses and camera bodies could be shared between brands and manufactures under what they called the Micro Four Thirds (M43) standard. The system based on the sensor size, a quarter of full frame, is easily one of my favorite to use and wildly underrated.

As someone who shoots 90 percent of my professional work with wide lenses, it seems like a daunting tasking to go reaching for a 70-200mm or longer when looking to capture a landscape. Long lenses require a lot more thought in how the compression is going to affect the way the viewer sees the image and its a focal length that the human eye can’t really grasp until you look through the

I remember when GoPro first came out with their action cameras and owned that corner of the market for a while. Fast forward a few years, the action cameras have been reduced in size while being able to capture higher resolution photos and videos.

This month, Canon announced three new options for pro-level and enthusiast videographers. These new camcorders are lightweight and compact. They all offer a 20x optical zoom lens, record full HD 1080p video, and range in price from $999 to $1,899. The lack of 4K capabilities has many consumers wondering who will buy and use these products. 

Buying a new camera is exciting! Yes, it's often a work item for most of us, but it's a fun tech toy as well, and getting to play with all the latest features can be awesome. However, it's easy to make mistakes as a buyer, and this great video outlines pitfalls to watch for when you're getting ready to pull out your wallet. 

Sony's RX0 has promised to be the latest competitor to GoPro's virtual monopoly in the action camera space. With features like a 15.3 megapixel 1-inch sensor, a Zeiss F4 wide-angle lens, and a highly durable body, it has certainly been hyped but the initial results and reviews have been mixed.

Since TTL and other fancy features have been introduced to strobes, flash manufacturers have had to develop a different remote for each camera brand. Profoto and others have tried their best to offer as much choice as possible, but the Fujifilm compatibility was lagging behind.

B&H has discounted two of Canon’s latest and greatest DSLRs with less than a week left before Christmas. With same-day shipping, this could be a perfect last-minute gift.

I’ve always been skeptical about the 10-bit mode on the GH5. Panasonic designed an incredible camera, but squeezing high color depth footage in a highly-compressed h.264 codec seems contradictory. Dave Dugdale from Learning Video did a quick comparison between the 10-bit mode of the GH5 and the Sony a6500 8-bit video. 

As you're doing your holiday shopping, it can be a bit daunting evaluating all the numerous options out there. To help, we've put together a complete guide of all the best cameras, lenses, lights, drones, and accessories. 

One of the coolest parts about Sony cameras is the ability to adapt a metric ton of glass to them, but in the past, that has generally meant taking a gamble on autofocus performance. Nonetheless, the a9 and a7R III have both made major steps in this area, and this video shows just how good things have gotten. 

Autofocus is probably the only auto-feature on my cameras that I like to keep turned on. Knowing how autofocus works in detail is not essential, but having a general overview of it is a must. It may affect your next camera purchase and the knowledge can be helpful in controlling situations where the autofocus doesn't kick in.

On the surface, this may seem crazy, performing a drop test on a glass ND filter, but, hear me out. I've been speaking with Breakthrough Photography about their filters and one of the things that came up was the fact that their filters are made of tempered glass. They seemed really confident about how strong their filters were so I, of course, wanted to know how strong.

With Christmas right around the corner, now is the perfect time to be buying gifts for family, friends, and significant others. As drones continue to become more and more popular, it shouldn’t be a surprise that these will be one of the hottest holiday gifts for anyone who is into photography and videography.

You may have read my review of the H6D 100c where I demonstrate how several of Hasselblads high-end lenses are being outperformed by regular full frame lenses. You may have also seen some reviews on YouTube where reviewers weren't too happy with the lens line-up or performance of said lenses for the Hasselblad X1D.