Photography Gear

With some lengthy upcoming trips for personal work, I have been doing some research into ways to keep my photographs and video footage backed up in the field. One of these trips involves a three-week stint in remote villages. A particular concern on this trip is data loss; so, I have been working to create a backup system that is durable and can run without access to mains power.

If you've ever used a GoPro in the water, you know that just about as soon as you get in, the lens can start to fog up.

At some point every photographer uses a backdrop of some sort. The problem is that they are usually large, heavy, and cumbersome. Hanging them can be a bit of a pain and mounting hardware can get pricey especially if you are dealing with multiple backdrops. Jay P.

Despite making cameras that so many people love, Nikon seems to be suffering a severe camera parts shortage at a number of its repair facilities for certain cameras. While these tend to be older cameras like the D7100, others are still in production, like the F6 (which has been the same camera since its release in 2004).

Sony A-Mount users have reason to rejoice, as the company has announced the α68, featuring a 24MP APS-C Exmor sensor, OLED viewfinder with 100% coverage, and what Sony calls "4D FOCUS." 

A couple of weeks ago, Elinchrom released the Skyport HS, a new iteration of the very old and rudimentary Skyport. The Skyport HS seems to have everything a strobist could hope for, from the laser grid to focus in low-light conditions to the Hi-Sync mode. This new radio trigger is a welcome addition to Elinchrom's product line. At least, it is on paper.

As recently as yesterday, we've seen all kinds of articles comparing various cameras' qualities to one another, pixel-peeping to see which one edges out the competition by a razor-thin margin. You can put your magnifying glass away, however, and trade it in for a beer as you sit back and watch a real comparison.

Last month we had the three highest megapixel cameras by Nikon, Sony, and Canon in our office, and we filmed a pretty polarizing review pitting them against each other. Many viewers pointed out an unfair bias in our studio test so we redid the test again using the same lens on all three cameras.

Each week, we get contacted by a range of different companies asking us to review their products. Normally, we don't accept the majority of these products, but for your entertainment, we've decided to review every single one of these products in some sort of entertaining (and unfair) way. Today, I got the BOOMR camera strap in the mail and put it through a stress test. 

Having the right gear for the job is essential in being able to handle the barrage of lighting scenarios that a wedding photographer will encounter on each outing. I, like many others, am constantly thinking about the next piece of gear.

While some photographers stay close to home, others travel quite regularly. I’ve been traveling my entire life for one reason or another.

Photographer Davin Lavikka released this short and neat video documenting the shutter sounds of several popular camera's. It's a great comparison for those photographers who have a legitimate concern over shutter noise. The video also showcases the Olympus silent shooting mode, which as seen in the video, is virtually inaudible. 

For one reason or another, this has been the week of all weeks for those anxiously awaiting firmware updates. While some are rather mild updates to fix various bugs (which is still important, granted), other updates like the one for Leica's T camera boost things like autofocus speed twofold. Fresh updates! Come and get 'em! 

I don't have specific numbers. I don't even have vague numbers. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me Adobe's mobile photo editing apps have seen a huge success. The biggest reason: they're free. And the second: they really work, which makes the first reason even better.

You had me at f/0.95. When I saw Fiction Brand's tribute to my favorite lens in the whole world, the $10,000 Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH, I knew I had to have one. But once I got my foot in the door, I realized there's more to this brand than just a novelty tee shirt as I reviewed their camera strap, hat, and pocket SD shirt. 

For the past few weeks I've been able to play with the new DJI Inspire 1 Pro drone and X5 Micro Four Thirds camera and gimbal. The entire system is amazing but I have to admit that I thought it was a bit overkill for the average drone user... That is until I saw this video and realized the X5 works with the Osmo. 

Simply put, cameras are tools. It is up to the artist to create the image. Digital photography is everywhere nowadays. Point-and-shoots and iPhones are capable of some amazing things, and consumer level DSLRs are cheap enough to bring a high level of image quality to the masses.

AIG's recent move to begin insuring unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) marked the beginning of the first large, national insurance company to get ahead of (or catch up with) the "drone movement." Like this season's migration of Canadian geese, everyone seems to be flocking in droves, clearly intent on getting to the online shopping outlets and local electronics stores that sell the

GoPro announced last month that it is working on bringing a drone to market in early 2016, and the go-to action-cam company just released the first video taken from their drone. Thankfully, the footage looks incredibly stable — so stable that some shots look incredibly similar to something that would come from a track-mounted or cable-mounted rig on the ground.

Each week we get contacted by a range of manufacturers asking us to review their products. Once I had someone ask me to review a bag of lavender. When I explained that Fstoppers is a photography website, they said that even photographers like lavender and I should review it.

To be clear, STARVIS is a new sensor whose technology is mostly meant for applications in scientific, industrial, and security spaces. And Sony won't give out any "normal" number with respect to ISO yet, either.

I love my Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens. Or was it a 1.4? It turns out that even though it says f/1.2 on the barrel, the story is more complex than that. 

You, me, and the rest of them, we've all wondered why people are so infatuated with lightning-fast memory cards. Sure, it's great to bump up the speed so your camera can shoot relatively quickly and to enable fast transfers to the computer or backup drives. But at the end of the day, most of us have settled our minds on the idea that we really don't need more than 90MB/s cards.

One of the first things I heard when I sat down at a large white table with Light CTO and Co-Founder Dr. Rajiv Laroia and VP of Marketing Bradley Lautenbach was that, when it comes to lenses, plastic is better than glass.

Today marks the end of a full week at Photo Plus Expo in New York City. In the mayhem that comes with such a large expo, one of the stand out presentations for me was hearing Gregory Heisler speak at the Canon booth on Saturday.

The classic straw grid for speedlights; it might be one of the most attempted DIY photography projects. It's a popular project because it works well, it is cheap, and it is incredibly easy to make, but one clever photographer has found an even simpler way to make on of these popular modifiers. Check out this easy to follow video for step by step instructions. 

Our friends at B&H have put together a tremendous list of instant savings in celebration of PhotoPlus Expo! Even if you couldn't attend this year, there are still great offers to be had from home. Many of our favorite pieces of gear and software are included in the promotion. 

The master of the headshot, Peter Hurley, has collaborated with Westcott to create a complete lighting solution for headshot photographers. Meant to be easy to set up, portable, and flexible, the kit looks to be a great option for anyone looking for an all-inclusive option for fashion, beauty, and commercial photography.  

In the world of off-camera flash, there are two sides: the full manual side and the TTL (through the lens) side. I have always been on the full manual side, because when it comes to triggering a TTL flash off camera, things start to get complicated.

We spoke, and PocketWizard was listening. The Plus III transceiver gets a highly coveted update, and you can say goodbye to sync cords. They have essentially turned the Plus III on its side and added TTL pass-through, along with a few other goodies. 

On Monday I got an email from Microsoft telling me that a $2700 Surface Book was waiting for me at my local FedEx. I hurried over to pick it up and then I immediately went to the Apple Store in town to buy (what I thought was) as comparable MacBook Pro. 

Fujifilm X-Series owners will be happy to hear that today, the corporation has announced a new prime lens and teleconverter for their highly-regarded system.

A few weeks ago Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 4, an updated version of the very successful Surface Pro 3. The day after the event they gave me one to test and I'm really enjoying it.  

After seeing an initial release in June of this year, Phase One is now releasing its first big platform update for the XF camera system. The update brings new controls and functionality, plus more refinement to its operating software. 

A brand new full-frame mirrorless camera has just entered into the game, and it comes from the German-based luxury camera brand Leica.

I find myself saying this a lot these days, but that's not a typo. In fact, the listed ISO range for the new KONO! Donau film is actually ISO 3-6. With such a low sensitivity, photographers can capture longer exposures in daylight.

With a slightly more enterprise-solution twist, Amazon has announced a new 50-terabyte "Snowball" drive that ships itself to your address, gives you ten days to load it with as much data as you can, and then gets picked up by UPS to transfer the data back to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud storage — all for $200 per job.

Just days after we saw the release of the world's widest full-frame f/1.4 lens, we're now seeing the release of the world's longest full-frame f/1.4 lens. Zhong Yi Optics, mostly known for their ultra-fast mirrorless lenses, has put up a pre-order page for their new Mitakon Speedmaster 135mm f/1.4 lens. 

Recently, the game of artificial lighting, including flash, has started to change. LED lights have become more common, but also TTL and HSS have become available to studio strobes, not just hot shoe flashes anymore. Today, it is Elinchrom's turn to join in this new era. The Elinchrom Skyport celebrates its 10th birthday this year, and over 400,000 units have been sold since its launch.

The Sony a7S II is the latest full-frame mirrorless Alpha camera to be released and builds upon the head-turning low-light capabilities its predecessor was made known for.

The ME20F-SH is Canon's latest, crazy-high ISO camera, able to record clean video at over ISO 4 million (not a typo). Early footage was lackluster in content, and early media stated the natural security-field uses for such a camera.

According to NBC News, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is getting close to announcing new rules for recreational drone use, beginning with the requirement to register every drone a person buys.

Are you just not happy with the detail you're getting from your new 50-megapixel camera? Wish you could resolve your client's eyelashes from across town? This is the sensor for you. 

Sony has just announced their latest full-frame mirrorless camera, the 42.4-megapixel RX1R II. This very sleek fixed-lens 35mm f/2 digital camera packs many of the same imaging features you’ll find in the new Sony a7RII (along with some surprising new ones), but in an even smaller, true compact-sized design.

I can't honestly say I know where the XQD format is going. So few cameras have adopted the new format, but as bit rates will need to continue to increase to match the continuing rise of megapixels and video resolution, perhaps the format will begin to take hold out of necessity.

As mobile photography continues to grow in popularity, so does the creativity that goes along with it. It is truly amazing to see some of the images and videos that people are creating using smartphones, GoPros, and other devices. It is no surprise that companies are creating mobile accessories designed specifically with mobile photography and videography in mind.

Landscape, street, and astrophotographers have reason to rejoice. Today, Sigma announced the latest addition to their much-lauded "Art" line of lenses, the 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, making it the world's widest full frame f/1.4 lens. Coupled with some other intriguing design characteristics, this looks to be another hit for the already popular line of lenses. 

A few weeks ago I wrote a post mocking the new Holga Digtal Kickstarter campaign. Holga's PR team caught wind of my post and decided to send me the new Digital Holga. At the same time the Impossible Project sent me a Polaroid 600 camera with Impossible Instant color and BW film. Which is better? Let's find out.  

There's a myriad of ways us photographers interact with our computers on a daily basis. While Wacom tablets are certainly the luxurious way of editing, many of us still love our trusty mouse for plenty of tasks.

Cinema5D founder Sebastian Wöber's latest three-part tutorial on drone shooting starts off with quite the introduction in Part I. Wöber could honestly be saying anything to accompany his to-die-for footage, but what makes it so fantastic is how great the information in this video is.