There are a few companies out there known for high-quality medium format digital solutions. But few are as highly regarded as PhaseOne, whose popular 'won't get crushed by an elephant' and various freezing and heating Youtube videos helped people see its products' durability.
The 35mm focal length is one of the most popular primes made, probably only second to the 50mm if second to anyone. It’s popular because it is good for so many things, making us feel like we have to own fewer lenses to capture more amazing images. Most of you know that I’m very attached to my Sigma 35mm f/1.4, but when shooting with Canon’s new 35mm f/2 IS, I did my best to remain objective.
Magic lantern is by far the best thing to happen to the DSLR cameras. It offers so many options not given to you by the normal Canon firmware that it should be sin not to install it. This is a quick little walkthrough on how I use ML for easy, accurate free-lensing.
I've always been fascinated with underwater photography. As you may recall, I even featured some of it from Nick Pugay last month. Not only is underwater photography incredibly complicated in terms of lighting, but its incredibly expensive too. Outex is looking to change that with their new underwater kit, but they need your help with their latest Kickstarter project.
Photobooths have become a standard attraction at any big shindig and snapshots of people wearing mustaches and funny glasses on sticks have become the norm. So what is next in the evolution of photoboothing inebriated party people?
Often, we’re talking about the latest and greatest camera body or lenses to help our photography business flourish. However running a photography business requires many more tools than just a fancy camera, lens or even lights. We are all using other tech tools to help us manage our lives easier, and run our business more effectively.
Do you like to remotely trigger your camera? Do you also like iPhones? Enter Satechi's BT Smart Trigger. For $44.99, this little guy will happily trigger your camera's shutter via Bluetooth. It also works as an intervalometer, meaning you can time lapse with the greatest of ease...in between Angry Birds Star Wars.
In October, we had a huge month dedicated to all the great mirrorless cameras that are out there. While the Fuji X-Pro 1’s technology was promising, the Olympus OM-D E-M5 took away the best mirrorless camera award. While it’s all worth it, the OM-D E-M5 is a bit pricey, and therefore, not for everyone. So how do some of Olympus’ other cameras line up? Today, we have the PEN E-PL5.
Introducing the latest and not so greatest product from PhotoJojo, the Look Lock. The Look Lock allows you to attach your smartphone to your hotshoe mount using a large and out of place aluminium arm, proving once again, that the camera accessory market is completely out of ideas.
Some people love filters. I personally really like neutral density filters and I know there are those who swear by UV filters. For those of us who love these little glass lens enhancers, we have to separate from that love when we use ultra wide-angle lenses. That is, we used to.
If you haven’t heard of TetherTools.com yet, well… you have now. Tethered Tools makes a wide range of fantastic products to make your tethered shooting go more smoothly. They are THE one stop shop for all of your tethered shooting gear needs including software. They have seemingly infinite customizable tethering configurations that you should definitely check out.
For anyone who might have missed it, I did a little review of VSCO 3 last week. VSCO Film emulsions are great at emulating an analog film look for your digital photos and also offers custom profiles for your camera manufacturer, if you are shooting Nikon, Canon, or now Fuji (just for Film 03), to further improve performance of the presets.
Here's a little cinematography humor to brighten up your lazy Sunday. From the people over at Autodesk and filmmaker Jeremy Hunt comes a coming of age story of a dude. A dude who just wants to go about his business and a visual effects editor who ruins said dude's day.
I have been looking to buy a light meter since I have been shooting more film . At the same time some light meters can cost the same as a lens and it isn't something I will be using everyday. I stumbled across the Luxi kickstarter project and my problems were solved.
Kickstarter product "LUMENATOR™" is a portable and battery powered LED light stick. The 1200 lumen bar has a dimmer on it so you are able to adjust the power. The bar will have attachments that allow you to change the white balance and even add on a color hue bar.
Guest writer, Julius Ise is a professional photographer based out of Germany. In January he traveled to the beautiful beaches of Miami. While he was there he called around to several modeling agencies to set up a shoot. This is a great example of shooting personal work. He was able to get some great shots for his portfolio while at the same time helping out the models at DecoModels.
I have been a fan of VSCO since their first film preset pack. Both VSCO Film 01 and 02 have a nice way of giving photos a subtle but believable film effect. This week I got the email that VSCO had released Film 03 and I was dying to check it out. It turns out that the effects seen in 03 are not quite as subtle as 01 and 02, because 03 emulates instant films.
Israeli based photographer Dima Vazinovich is specializing in news, documentary and wedding photography. One thing that separates him from other photographers in the industry is the unique and creative look his photography has. Recently Dima decided to try adding a new kind of look to his portfolio, and the results are truly amazing.
Ah the ProDot, tied for the win as recipient of the most baffled and confused responses from photographers along side Tiffen’s confusingly expensive flashlight. Many of you laughed aloud when you saw this product hit the market, and even more after you watched the launch video. But is it possible that you might actually like the ProDot? Actually, yes.
So much is done as computer graphics these days that I've grown to really respect photographers who still want to truly make an image. Last week Fstoppers twitter follower Patric Bergkvist asked us to take a look at an image he made, and I'm glad we did.
When I need to send a contract out to a bride or other photography client I never have a stamp. Which makes the document sit on my desk till I finally force myself to swing by the post office (which is never a happy place). Well now there is a website that can help you bypass the mail and hopefully speed up the contract signing process.
NEC is synonymous with high-end displays. Everyone knows they produce great monitors for professional imaging applications. But if they know that much, they also know they’re quite expensive. So why should you pay thousands of dollars for the PA301W 30” monitor when you can get one for a few hundred? What’s the difference? And is it worth it? Let’s find out...
Kickstarter product "Lil-Mule" is small, motor-powered camera platform that has been developed to capture timelapse or real-time video for lengths much longer than most rail or slider based systems can provide. It's aim was also to give the user a simpler feature set, doing away with the complicated math and setup that other systems offer.
Have you ever wanted to film yourself while doing a photoshoot for some behind the scenes action, but not one of your videographer buddies wanted to get away from whatever indie marathon was running that weekend and help you film it?
Photojournalist John D McHugh was so fed up with copyright infringement on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that he has taken drastic measures and built an iPhone app called Marksta specifically to add watermarks to images uploaded to social networks.
Do you really, REALLY love Pantone? Did you forget to send your all important retoucher a gift this holiday? Do you have some Christmas money left over that you want to blow on your beloved Pantone? Check out the new Perfect Matching Scarf. This collection of 6 scarves will leave you set for life to match any outfit you could ever wear. Also, you will look like a moron. Enjoy!
The Canon faithful were likely a little disappointed they didn't see the drastic price cuts that the Nikon D600 saw just before the holiday, but we can take slight solace in the current sale price of the Canon 6D this week on B&H and Amazon. Though not quite as steep as those D600 deals, the 6D can be grabbed for just a hair under $2000.
I use my iPhone camera more than any other camera I own. It is on me all the time and is so convenient to quickly share photos from. Even on photo shoots I always find myself pulling out the iPhone for a couple BTS snaps or video. I have had the iPhone 4 since it came out and it has been showing it's age.
Creative lenses have become a popular way to do things “in camera.” Sure, there are hundreds of options for numerous editing programs that can do creative effects in post, but there is something to be said about getting everything in camera as it’s happening, including tilt shift effects. Unfortunately for most of us, tilt shift lenses are just not in the budget.
From lifestyle to celebrities, Quavondo is a photographer that has a wide range of talent. He has a great ability to shoot many genres and do exceedingly well at it. Even prior to meeting him, everyone who knew of him would ask him how he would light his subjects, no matter what he shot. It seemed so effortless in execution but very appealing as an end result.
Like it or not, Instagram isn't going anywhere. I personally love Instagram because I can snap a photo, post it, and share it with everyone who follows me in less than a minute. With that being said though, I do miss the times I spent as a kid, looking at projected slide film with my family on the holidays. Now thanks to Projecteo I can have those times back again!
I love being a photographer. I also love showing the world my love of photography by wearing clothing that boldly states my profession. I've seen several t-shirt designs that have interested me, but none that catered to the old film cameras that I was brought up with. I was introduced to a new t-shirt brand a few weeks ago and my search was abruptly ended.
Our second-place mirrorless camera, the Fuji X-Pro 1, is discounted up to $600 with the purchase of a lens on B&H, where the body is $300 off its original price and adding a lens takes an additional $300 off (that's essentially a free 18mm f/2 lens over the price a few weeks ago). Just add the items to your cart for the automatic deal.
It's Cyber Monday, of course. And all those deals are pretty tempting. But Promise has their own treat for us today: the J4 4-bay enclosure that holds 2.5" SSD or normal hard drives for extreme speed over a Thunderbolt interface. Pre-order this enclosure now with or without four 500GB hard drives for $387 or $775 respectively. There's another bonus, too, though...
Gearing up for the holiday season Canon released a funny new commercial advertising their T4i camera. I really enjoy how companies these days are focusing on videos that gain viewers through creativity and humor rather than pop down millions on a celebrity or buying a prime television commercial ad.
Earlier this year Stoli rolled out their most recent advertising campaign that revolved around three 'original' nights with their product. The first night, a lavish paint party (Dayglow anyone?). Second night, a club party in a power plant in West Berlin. The third, in an abandoned amusement park in East Berlin.
MyShoeBox is a new photo storage and sharing site that just launched the other week. It is a free and unlimited storage and sharing site that can be viewed from anywhere. Like dropbox but for photos only.
Anyone getting started out in DSLR video production can tell you that one of the biggest frustrations for them is changing focus during a shot. This is where FocusMaker comes in. It attaches to any lens and in just a few minutes you can have focus points marked on the big ruler, and easily jump back and forth from focus point to focus point.
Adobe released the new Lightroom 4.3 and Camera Raw 7.3 release candidates through Adobe Labs, today, giving support for the Retina MacBook Pro displays as well as full support for the Nikon D600 and more!
![Oops Olympus! Justin Bieber's New Music Video Was Also Shot With GoPros [UPDATED]](https://cdn.fstoppers.com/styles/med_16_9/s3/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/justinbiebergopro.jpg.webp?itok=ofdjEIi6)
A couple of nights ago a close friend of mine, Jesse, gushed over Justin Bieber's new music video, 'Beauty and A Beat'. How it was entirely shot with the new Olympus TG-1 (a point-and-shoot camera) and how I should write a post about it for the site. So, taking his lead I went ahead and did some research on Justin's new music video.
Fstoppers Mirrorless Month really got me rethinking the entire small-camera strategy. I’m normally someone who doesn’t mind lugging a camera mounted to an 18th-century cannon, so long as it can take better photographs than the thing before it. But holding so many small cameras every day gets me thinking, is there another, better way to do this? And if so, what’s the best...?
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 is a fine camera, if unassuming. But that quality might make it something you’d really enjoy using -- it’s a certain stealthy quality. At the very least, you’ll want to give this one a second look.
The GX1 looks average from the get-go. But start shooting with it, and you’ll instantly notice Panasonic is not playing around.
The Olympus OM-D E-M5 might have a complicated name, but it shouldn’t put you off in any way from considering it as a serious option for your mirrorless camera arsenal.
The Good Stuff:
The Fuji X-Pro1 is an amazing piece of imaging equipment, hands down. Apart from the professional build and lens offerings, there are certainly other features to consider that set this one apart from the rest of the crowd.
The Good Stuff:
Capture One is a fantastic program that recently released a new update. Capture One Pro 7 has many new improvements that are welcomed and expected. They have touted over 100 new features that makes this quite a worthy update.
Nikon is one of the big names in the camera business. And they do have some competitors in the mirrorless market: the 1 series V1 and J1. We’ll be reviewing the V1, as it’s priced and featured as a more ‘professional’ or ‘prosumer’ line and will provide us results from the best of what Nikon now offers in the mirrorless market.
The Pentax K-01 is certainly the most unique system I’ll be reviewing this month in terms of aesthetics. But I’m not a form over function kind of guy. So what does that mean for the performance of this mirrorless camera?
The Good Stuff:
Reviewing this lens has not been a simple task. As is the case with, say, a new Apple product, many can argue that the original 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens is so good that any improvement would or should simply be a minor enhancement or fix. A new version should just address what little quibbles we all have had over the past several years. Little things.
From the start, the Pentax Q has one thing going for it: it’s the smallest interchangeable lens camera in the world. At first glance, this little guy seems like the photojournalist’s dream. But does it do better than your average point and shoot?
The Good Stuff:
