Gear

For those who don't follow Apple news (who are you?), Apple announced their rumored 5K 27" Retina iMac today. While we're sure options can drive the price up, the new iMac starts at a lower price than many of the decent 4K displays sell for on their own: $2,499. With shipments beginning today, there's no doubt this is the best new deal in the Apple Mac lineup.

When my friend and filmmaker Marc Donahue of Permagrin Films told me about the idea behind his "GoPro Array", I was speechless. Place 20 GoPro Cameras side by side in a slightly curved custom holder, set them all to film in super slow motion, and then use the footage to create a "bullet-time" look at break dancers performing some super cool moves. The results are a unique and exciting look at one of America's coolest dance forms.

Over the years Yongnuo has built quite a reputation as an affordable and competitive product to the big names. Now nearly a year after their last trigger update, Yongnuo is announcing its latest version the RF605 trigger, which comes with some nice features that may pursuade you to upgrade if you are holding on to the old versions.

Since digital cameras came into our lives like a storm a decade ago we photographers became more dependent on post processing programs and many times prefer to achieve the needed result by retouching instead of using on-camera products and in-camera settings. "I'll just fix it in post" is something we all say to ourselves during photoshoots, but it's not always the right or smart thing to do. This video gives a short overview of some of the less known lens filters many photographers don't even know exist and shows how it can elevate images in no time.

Ever since I briefly introduced it in my Photographer's Grip Kit video, people have been emailing and messaging me regarding the utility cart I use to haul gear around a job site. As a result, I figured a video was in order to talk about the cart in more detail, along with the modifications we've made to better adapt it to our workflow.

I'm often asked about the best way to get started with off-camera flash. The problem is, there's no single answer for everyone. There's a lot of different ways to accomplish the same end goal of getting that flash off the camera. In this video I'll break down the three main choices when choosing your method of strobe lighting.

After the wildly successful Ditch the DSLR event in Times Square, Samsung has taken their event out west to Los Angeles, giving attendees the opportunity to trade in their DSLR, lens and battery for a new NX30 or NXMini Smart Camera. Not only that, they're also planning to set a world record hosted by Nick Cannon and Julianne Hough that afternoon.

7 years ago I created a portable softbox that could fit in my pocket while I shot weddings. Three years ago, Patrick and I attempted to patent that idea and bring the product to market. In December of 2013, we put our first 1,000 units up for sale on Fstoppers and sold out within 24 hours. 10 months later we finally have our second order of 5,000 units and they are currently up for sale on Amazon.

If you aren't using some sort of software to sync audio, you're sitting in your edit bay manually matching audio to video queues, be that sounds, video hints or timecodes. But what if you could just dump all your camera footage from an interview and all the audio from your recorder into one program and hit one button to sync them all quickly and accurately? You can with Red Giant Pluraleyes, and it's nearly perfect.

Blackmagic Camera 1.9.7 update is available now free of charge from the Blackmagic Design website. The biggest feature? The long-awaited format disk option! The new disk formatting feature allows you to format SSD’s and SD cards in camera so they don’t need to use a computer to prepare disks for recording. This new disk formatting feature is unique because unlike computers that format disks for general storage use, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera can format disks optimized for high performance video use.

We’ve all been there, stuck with bad light and fresh out of ideas. I may spend up to an hour pre-lighting before a model or subject steps onto set, I work out the kinks and make sure everything is how it should be. But, despite my best efforts to make it right, every now and then I run out of time and have to wing it. We all have our “go to” lighting scenarios, but when you’re standing in unknown territory, keep the following tips in mind and you just might make it through the storm.

Profoto extends their existing 12 model12-model umbrella lineup with six new 6 variations. The new models are available as a deep parabolic in translucent, white, and silver. The S model is 33” while the M model is a bit bulkier at 44”, which is still significantly smaller than the 51” L model. The umbrellas will also be available with a variety of diffusion socks as accessories, which effectively turning them into something like an octabox.

We got a fleeting glance of all the updates being made available to creatives today during the Adobe MAX keynote, but Adobe spent a majority of their time talking about mobile and connectivity. We managed to get a complete list of software updates that are coming to your desktop apps too and have it here in one place for easy perusal.

Adobe Max is a creative conference where artists from around the world the chance to interact with beta designs, see great speakers and learn from professionals and of course, see what new software and hardware advancements Adobe is adding to the fold. This year, Microsoft made a surprise appearance, and at the end of the keynote they gave everyone attending MAX a Surface Pro 3. This is a big deal, and not just because it's a free 2-in-1.

In a recent article by Jaron Schneider about the Metabones Speedbooster on a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera, several readers had questions about the model designed for the GH4, whether this one would work with it or not, and other comments. I bought one of these a week ago and wrote this article to tell you what works, and what doesn’t.

In a world filled with videos and tutorials featuring every yahoo with a camera telling us how-to setup, pose, light, and edit, it's hard to know what's just noise and what's worthy of our time. Fortunately, there's experienced instructors like Karl Taylor and Urs Recher who have teamed up to share their techniques in the latest How-To series from Broncolor.

I'm always moving around, which can make doing work on the road an absolutely nightmare. Between travel for photography, workshops and the general need for some decompression, I find myself packing for travel much more often than I expect. After years of just shutting off while on the road, I've finally developed to ways to make traveling as a photographer easier.

To make handoffs and a more ergonomic experience, Freefly, makers of the popular MoVI, have announced the MoVI Ring Accessory for the M5, M10 and M15 handheld 3-axis stabilizers. The MōVI Ring is a rigid carbon fiber, hoop-shaped frame designed to enhance ergonomic handling of MōVI stabilizers.

The air blower bulb is an essential addition to any photographer’s toolkit. They do an incredible job at removing dust spots from the delicate sensors inside our cameras as well as taking care of pesky specks on our glass. However, there’s no reason to stop there. Here I give you three more perfect applications for these nifty cleaning tools that you may not have thought of before.

Just three days ago the latest rumored specs for the highly anticipated GoPro HERO4 came to light, and the internet came alive with both excitement and caution. Was this the real deal, or just more false internet hype? Well, GoPro put any doubts to bed this morning when they officially announced the HERO4.

It seems like everyone and their accountants have known someone who had the inside scoop on the details surrounding the highly anticipated GoPro 4. Every week, Facebook feeds would explode with the latest outlandish rumors, getting even the most tepid of us excited. Well, these latest rumors may in fact be the real deal.

You've finally made it - You booked your flight, double checked your gear and... You're in the Arctic. It's your first night, and the northern lights begin to form up in the sky. The adrenaline starts to flow as you're gearing up and rushing outside to find the perfect location for your perfect shot. It's only when you're settled in your spot that you begin to realize - It's not exactly a walk in the park to operate the camera with your warm and cozy gloves, and just as you get the hang of it - Your camera warns about low battery level. As you probably have guessed by now - photographing in the Arctic weather during the winter can be somewhat challenging and different, especially if you're coming from temperate climates.

Fotodiox just announced some very flat, very compact AC/battery powered LED edge lights for use in video productions. My experience with Fotodiox LEDs has been relatively positive, with strong power and excellent color consistency. The new lights, called FlapJacks look to be an excellent addition to your lighting arsenal.

We've featured ESPN photographer Brett Wilhelm's work before as he's taken us through numerous one-man setups for his events. This time, Wilhelm gives us a great video covering everything you need to know about wirelessly transmitting your images in the field with the Nikon system. From connecting to FTP servers through your iPhone or local wireless network to explaining the advantages and disadvantages between the WT-5 and WT-4, Wilhelm makes sure you'll be ready to shoot anything in the field for instant transmission back to your editing team.

Last week at Photokina, Phottix announced their battery powered TTL strobe the Indra500 to much accolades and this week they released a video on scet with acclaimed Hong Kong Photographer CM Leung and Hong Kong Arnold Classic Winner Brenda Lo. Though there isn't any talking or additional information on how the strobe handled here, you can get a feel for what it looks like in a real world use situation.

I’ve seen the future of film... and it is bright. In the next few weeks I will be interviewing companies that are pushing the film photography industry forward. As the large film companies cut film stocks from production, these people are pushing forward. Developing new films, cameras, products, and services. This week, I start with CineStill.

Photokina saw some really awesome product announcements, one release that you might have missed was the Voigtlander 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens for Sony's FE mount. This weird little lens is will come in Leica's M mount but will not, I repeat, will not, work on Leicas due to the lack of helicoid for focusing. Rather, it's been designed to be used with the VM-E close foucs adapter.

Lowepro announced new hard cases last week (which we reviewed), and to build up some more hype around how secure they keep your gear, they released this fun-filled action video that shows how much punishment the new cases can handle.

Oregon based photographer and filmmaker Ben Canales decided to take his shiny new iPhone 6 Plus to the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to create a short film to show off the power of the new pop tart sized phablet. The resulting footage is great, but is Ben in fear of losing some business to iPhone cinematographers?