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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. A prototype of the camera was spotted in Hong Kong and published by Engadget.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
As the year comes to a close, I can't help but think tax season is just around the corner. Taxes are surely my least favorite things to do, even worse than a root canal in my book. We cannot avoid giving money to our loving & watchful government, but we can make some last minute buys to invest in our business before forking over the remainder.
You finally got that Canon 5D Mark III camera you have been desiring and now you are trying to figure out how best to take advantage of all it's great new features. Here are five ways I have customized my camera to best fit my needs while shooting weddings, events and portraits.
We talked about SmartAlbums a few weeks ago with their black friday launch and there was an overwhelming majority that agreed it was a complete game changer. I've been on the beta for about two months and have had the chance to do a review for you guys. The program is so simple to use but if you're too lazy to read there is a screen-share video at the end.
If you have a little bit of Christmas cash from grandma burning a hole in your pocket consider this lens. BH Photo just announced the Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD lens for Nikon and Canon. It is available for pre-order now and is expected to ship January 17th, 2014. Also check out the link below to save $400 on the Nikon D800.
This year for Christmas I wanted to surprise my father with his dream car, an original Chevrolet Camaro convertible in hugger orange with white rally stripes. Being that I'm a photographer I decided to photograph the car and give my father a framed print of the car before I revealed that I am actually giving him the car.
We recently shared test footage directly from Blackmagic's CEO, but today more footage has shown up online from some of the Blackmagic testers. Captain Hook, a cinematographer out of New Zealand, made this compilation of footage for you to take a look at. At this point, since I doubt many of you have 4K monitors, we should focus on detail and quality of the footage. What do you think?
Sigma, feeling rather in the holiday spirit, created this fun, seasonal size comparison graphic to showcase their line of lenses as we near Christmas. I thought it was a cool look at the diversity of lenses and might actually help you decide what to get and what you can fit into your bags. I want that one the size of a bazooka.
Click below to get the image at full resolution.
Boasting a CRI of 90, bi-color options, and an output 1600 lux at 4ft, this Indiegogo campaign for an LED light takes a look at technology that's not old, but not exactly new either. Read on to find out what makes this LED light unique from others on the market today.
Blackmagic fans have been eagerly awaiting news of the 4K production camera, as well as test footage shot with it. Today Blackmagic confirmed they are in the final stages of testing the camera, and released several gigabytes of ungraded 4K footage to the masses for blanket toying with.
Yesterday I got my hands on the new Sony a7R for a review here at Fstoppers, and I was instantly and somewhat begrudgingly a fan of it. It feels great in hand, doesn't lack physical buttons like with other interchangeable lens compacts (ILCs), and it sounds fantastic (the shutter has an absurdly glorious “click” that you can’t help but love).
As 2013 comes to an end, many of us are starting to think about fresh starts and goals for the New Year. For most, 2014 will mean expanding and upgrading gear or even taking a leap of faith. Personally, I’ve taken a very counter-intuitive leap of faith. I sold the most expensive video asset that I've ever had: My RED Scarlet.
The Fuji XE2 and I started out with a classic love-hate relationship. Initially, it felt too small, I couldn’t hold it comfortably, kept mashing buttons that felt poorly placed and it wouldn’t lock focus fast enough. As I was getting ready to kick it to the curb, I found my groove. "Too small" became unobtrusive and nimble. I adjusted my grip and it became comfortable to use.
Tamron has announced the launch date of the newly-designed 150-600MM F/5-6.3 DI VC USD today, saying they anticipate the lens to be available in the USA on January 17, 2014. For more information on the lens, please see our original story on the upcoming Tamron glass. If you are interested in how it performs, we also posted sample images purportedly taken with the lens.
Lenstag is fighting theft with the device in your pocket, not the small six shooter but your smart phone. Lenstag has launched their mobile platform on both iPhone and Android. The new app makes logging and verifying your gear a breeze.
Are you looking to add food photography to your portfolio? Chances are you may already have a lot of gear that you need to get started! Here is a list of the cameras, lenses, lights, modifiers, and other items that I use to make beautiful images anywhere!
Camera Body
The first automobiles were controlled by something called a tiller (similar to how ships were steered). It was, obviously, not the most practical or efficient means of control. However, in 1894, the first steering wheel was fitted on a four horsepower Panhard for a race from Paris to Rouen. Within ten years, nearly all tillers had been replaced by steering wheels.
The latest release from NikonHacker brings with it some awesome news for D5100 shooters, and apparently the feature was there all along. Now you shoot manual in LiveView! When it comes to why the feature wasn't enabled in the first place NH member Coderat has this to say:
UPDATED: Canon representatives have confirmed they have no current plans for an announcement in the United States. Canon Japan and Canon China both outed the anticipated EOS M2, but there hasn't been (and won't be) any such announcement from Canon USA.
The Blackmagic Cinema Camera isn’t new, but when it was first introduced it created such a buzz that actually getting one’s hands on the new video camera proved difficult. Though Blackmagic has since pumped out the Pocket Cinema Camera and the 4K Cinema Camera, the original 2.5K camera is still quite the looker.
My passion is shooting outdoor lifestyle and documentary projects, and those shoots often require me to be on the go and in remote areas. Historically, getting an expensive jib or crane in those locations was not possible. With the Aviator Carbon Fiber Travel Jib, taking a jib into the field is not only possible, but easy for everyone.
Tonight Amazon unveiled that they are working on a new system called Amazon Prime Air. The delivery system will use drones that will be guided by GPS. The goal is to have delivery to the customer in 30 minutes or less. I wonder if they can deliver a pizza as well?
The majority of successful filmmakers tend to have very similar stories about their humble beginnings. Cheap cameras were often strapped to skateboards or car hoods to emulate the high budget movies or commercials.
CamRanger, maker of one of the must-have products that architectural photographer Mike Kelley uses on a daily basis, today announced a new set of products: the CamRanger PT Hub and MP-360 motorized tripod head. If this new product works anywhere as well as the current camera control device, we all have a reason to be excited.
The winter is coming. Actually, it's already here. Temperatures are dropping quickly and snow is falling, but we need to keep shooting and working. Here are few small (and cheap*) items that can help you survive the winter as a photographer, make your life easier and make the winter less annoying.
Each week, we have a segment called "Fstoppers Answers" where we invite our community to ask our writers a question pertaining to the industry or their workflow. Last week, you asked "Does Not Having The Latest Gear Make You Feel Less Adequate?" and this week, we want to see your workstations for editing photos and video footage.
UPDATED: Black Friday deals from Totally Rad, LensRentals Promote and Photoflex have been added! If you're one of the millions of people who are brave enough to go shopping this Friday, be sure to check in and see what great photography related deals can come your way.