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...
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. Here are my top 10 "buy it before the government takes its chunk" purchases. Spoiler, #1 is a nice trip to a tropical location.
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. It's a quick walkthrough of me building a personal album, it's silent though, so you should probably suck it up and read it, oh and then buy it.
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.
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. Though we didn't grade or otherwise edit the footage other than what you see here, we encourage you to give it a shot!
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). My feelings for the a7R were such that I began to wonder why Canon and Nikon can’t seem to get it right in the ILC market. The answer to making the perfect compact appears so clear, but they don’t seem to have any interest of going this direction.
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.
Oh man, less than two weeks until Christmas and you STILL haven't finished shopping. It's ok everyone, we're in the same boat. That's why we are continuing to update our Holiday Gear Guide to reflect the best gifts between $200 and $500 so you can make a big splash with some amazing stuff stuffed in those stockings.
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. Firmware upgrades and some practice improved AF performance and handling issues. As soon as I learnt how to shoot with it, it became fun. A LOT of fun.
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. So if your state doesn't let you have a carry permit check out the app and help fight theft in the photography community.
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!
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 mouse, although all-purpose, is the tiller of Lightroom. Ladies and gentlemen, the PFixer by Pusher Labs is the steering wheel we’ve been waiting for.
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:
"...D5100 and D7000 firmwares are built
