Product Photography

If you don't own one, then you're currently drooling over one of Freefly Systems' MōVI systems (we know the feeling), which have gained incredible acclaim as cheaper and more nimble Steadicam alternatives. This week at NAB, Freefly introduces not one, but four completely new and exciting products, apparently striving for the industry's continued droolworthiness.

We are living in an amazing time for filmmaking and video production. The MoVi was absolutely a gamechanger when it first hit the scene, but DJI's Ronin gave it a run for it's money (actually, a bit less) in the last year. Now, DJI, makers of the Ronin, are releasing an updated version that addresses most users major issue: weight.

In September 2014, Zeiss announced their new Loxia line of manual-focus lenses for Sony’s full-frame E-mount cameras. Ever since covering the announcement, I’ve wanted to try out these stylish lenses, namely the Zeiss Loxia 2/35 because of its extended usefulness in landscape photography. I was very much interested in seeing how a modern Zeiss manual-focus lens designed for a technologically-advanced mirrorless camera would fare, and in the end I was left blown away by the results.

The extreme wide-angle focal length is an area that I had long ignored. When I was first starting out, I just wasn’t interested in it. I was interested in people – and that meant 85mm f/1.4, 105mm, 135mm, and 200mm lenses with both great compression and bokeh. Leave it Tamron to bring me back to the wide side with the world’s first ultra-wide-angle zoom with vibration control: the Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD.

The One Man Crew from Redrock Micro was a treat for small interview productions, whereby a fully automated slider could capture subtle camera moves and add tremendous production value. It wasn't without a few issues though, and for the last few years we had been hearing about a version 2 that would address these. Redrock has finally delivered.

Cloud Spot was created by full-time photographers who were tired of the available options for photo delivery. Nothing before truly placed the photographer's brand first and cut precious time off of their workflow. The goal was to beautifully display images in a branded and modern gallery, be super fast and easy for the photographer to share, and allow clients to easily download images sent directly in an email and/or in the galleries. After using Cloud Spot for the past few months, I can say that they've succeeded.

Two weeks ago we saw Tony Northrup comparing the Canon and Yongnuo 50mm 1.8 lenses with his thorough video. Now Kai of DigitalRevTV has decided to bring you his own version of this same comparison. In typical Kai fashion, his presentation is perhaps more humorous than scientific, but in between the jokes are some real kernels of truth. Take a look at how his analysis compares with Tony's and whether the Yongnuo copy is really worth the savings.

If you're into macro photography, Adaptalux could be your new best friend. The new Kickstarter project is aimed to solve a lot of the lighting issues macro photographers face and offer new ways to light objects in creative ways. The Adaptalux is a small device with five ports and five adjustable LED lighting arms with different color outputs. The device can be mounted on the camera itself for on-the-go outdoors shooting, or can be placed off-camera in more controlled environments.

TenOneDesign, makers of the popular Pogo and Pogo Connect tablet pens (among other things), are the first to market with a Mac desktop application that takes advantage of the Force Touch trackpads in Apple's new MacBook and refreshed 13" Retina MacBook Pro. Rather sweetly named Inklet, the application runs in the background to allow users with any capacitative tablet pen to convert the capabilities of the new trackpad into a pressure-sensitive writing and drawing pad -- no Wacom needed (sort of).

One year after the announcement of the original Sony Alpha a7, the new Sony a7II takes calculated steps towards improving function and ergonomics in their full-frame compact system camera series. With its revised exterior design now fashioning a pronounced grip with a DSLR-like forward-angled shutter button as well as the internal introduction of five-axis sensor-shift image stabilization, Sony turns their base model a7 into a not-so-basic specialist of its own. In this Fstoppers review, I examine the good and bad of how the Sony a7II performs with real-world use.

It goes without saying as photographers we prefer gear to be highly attractive in both form and function. Usually taking a hit in one department or the other due in part by price or depth in features, it's never a flawless combination. These two things for many companies is difficult as they balance high-end product design with outstanding thought in function all while fitting it inside an appropriate price point. Enter the perfect blend of both with the Union Street Camera Bag by ONA. It's not just another accessory in the world of camera gear, but rather a perfect pairing of design and functionality that I can truly stand behind and wear with distinction.

This year has already been filled with some compelling DSLR camera releases and announcements and the new Nikon D5500 is no exception. For the a quarter of the price of the Canon D5 Mark 3 that I purchased a couple of years ago, you can have more resolution, full HD video function with a wide-array of frame rates, comparable ISO range, and even its own built-in WIFI transmitter to send images to your favorite mobile device on set. Pretty impressive with what Nikon has been doing with its pro-sumer camera bodies these days. Check out Digital Rev's full review.

Yongnuo recently released a 50mm F1.8 auto focus lens to compete with the very popular Canon version. The Canon 50mm F1.8 is already considered a bargain lens, so with the Yongnuo coming in at half the already bargain basement price, can it possibly perform equally or even better? Tony Northrup put together a fantastic and comprehensive video that pits these two lenses side by side in a comparison that will answer all your questions.

The photographer makes the photo, not the gear. That being said, it’s essential to have the best tools for your career. Would a doctor go into surgery with a blunt scalpel? There's a lot of debate when it comes to the topic "best portrait lens." Personally, my choice of lens until now has been the Nikon 85mm 1.4G. A few months ago I decided to rethink my choice of lens and tried the Nikon 200mm f2 and Nikon 135mm f2. Here are the pros and cons for both lenses and examples of what they can do.

PRO.edu has released its newest tutorial, "The Complete Guide to Product Photography and Retouching." This in-depth tutorial features over 20 hours of content on shooting and retouching, taught by Tony Roslund. The tutorial is currently available and being sold with a $25-off early-bird discount, this week only. Use the promo code 25OFF to recieve the discount at checkout. RGG brings us a curriculum based approach to teaching photography with 55 Pre-production, 11 Photo Shoot, and 11 Retouching tutorial videos.

Lens Distortions is a Photoshop plugin that allows you to easily add lens blurs and light leaks to your images for creative effect. With the continual proliferation of digital photography, there is still a great demand for the look and authentic feel of 35mm film. There are certain colors, textures, and tones that are unique to the format many of us grew up with. Lens Distortions Legacy Plugin allows you to build on the replication of analog photography by adding carefully placed imperfections to your photographs.

We’ve heard plenty about the death of the humble photo as video proliferates. But photography is still far more accessible than video, often because video editing is still so time intensive. Instagram introduced video more than a year ago yet it is still predominantly a platform for sharing still photographs. But all that could be about to change. Last month I shot video as Flixel partnered with Lindsay Adler and saw something very interesting take place that got me thinking - could we be about to usher in a completely new era for photography?

The humble memory card is perhaps one of the most overlooked and neglected pieces of gear. It has the incredibly important and difficult task of accurately, quickly, and securely recording and storing all the data our cameras capture and it must do so time and time again. All this is demanded from something that we generally see as a disposable item, and one which we are prepared to save money on, but is that really the right mindset for something so important? Linus of LinusTechTips.com has put together an incredibly informative comparison video that explains it all!

Elinchrom has been the brand of choice for years many Europeans and Australians photographers alike. They are cheaper than Profoto or Broncolor, offer a good range of modifiers and – unlike Paul C. Buff – have service centers outside of the USA. To many photographers they also have been a great way to get into studio photography before moving up to Broncolor or Profoto. With the Elinchrom ELC Pro HD, it seems like the brand wants to change that and offer a higher-end light.

The ELC Pro HD were developed by Elinchrom to:

[...]combine everything a...

With the recent announcement of the Profoto B2, Elinchrom's position in the ultra-portrable strobe pack market was somewhat overshadowed as the former exceeded the Elinchrom Quadra Hybrid in many aspects. Not to be outdone, Elinchrom has now announced the release of its next generation on-location pack and head kit known as the ELB 400.

Announced this morning at the opening of WPPI, was the new Echelon collection from LowePro. The Echelon collection is designed to blend form with function to create some of the best, and most stylistic bags available for photographers. Not only am I able to announce the new series, over the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to try these new bags out.

The calendar just turned its pages to 2015. We have tiny and versatile cameras like the GoPro Hero 4 filming 4K video, camera companies making 50-megapixels DSLRs, and artists making mind-blowing stop-motion/hyper-lapse/time-lapse films. So why is it still so hard for artists and big brands to easily connect to collaborate on photo and video projects?

It's already been a couple weeks since Serif announced the release of the Affinity Photo beta. I, along with literally thousands of others, have downloaded the program and started putting it through its paces, trying to fit it into my own personal workflow. In this little first impressions review I'll focus on Affinity Photo as a raw converter, a basic retouching platform, and put it up against the big dogs: Affinity versus Lightroom, and Affinity versus Photoshop.

I’ve been shooting stills and video alongside the rest of the crew with Clear & Cold Cinema, while working on the Michigan Ice Film. Before I departed sunny Colorado, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Mountainsmith Descent Pack, and I don’t know what I would have done without it.

I haven't had the Meike MK-DR750 Battery Grip and Wireless Remote for long, but I can already tell I'm definitely keeping it. Not only does it fit well enough and do everything as promised, but it also comes with a wireless 2.4GHz (not infrared) remote control that can trigger the Nikon D750 to which it's attached. Meanwhile, Nikon's grip costs upwards of $350, and their wired remote cable release timer clears the $150 mark. Naturally, there have to be a few caveats for a grip and remote package to come in at an astoundingly low $80, but I was hard pressed to find any at all.

After becoming the best selling off camera flash light modifier on Amazon.com in 2014, we were sad to announce that we had completely sold out of our entire Fstoppers FlashDisc inventory. If you have been waiting patiently for our stock to replenish wait no more; our US Amazon Store now has a fresh batch of inventory. For those of you who have been waiting for the FlashDisc in your region of the world, we have good news for you too!

Camera manufacturers are still cramming ever more pixels into their sensors. Canon has recently announced that it is releasing a 50MP full frame camera which has left many speculating about its technical limitations due to sheer physics. One solution of course is to move up to a larger medium format sensor but prices can be prohibitive for many. Olympus, in typical Olympus fashion, decides to tackle the want for more pixels in an innovative way.

Sigma's hot, new sports telephoto-zoom lens is now available for pre-order in both of its configurations, the Sport and Contemporary models. The Sport model features superior image quality along with increased weight and a heftier price tag. It comes in Nikon F, Canon EF, and Sigma SA mount options for $1,999. The Contemporary Nikon F, Canon EF, and Sigma SA options accompany a more compact size along with fewer lens elements, only one FLD coating (as opposed to two), and a couple other "sacrifices" for a very reasonable $1,089.

Just announced by Sigma is the newest in their covenant Art series of lenses with the 24mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art. In the past couple years now, the Sigma Art lenses have been considered by many the best in their class in terms of sharpness, so the news of a 24mm Art has gotten photographers everywhere excited. Along with this announcement is the dp0, an update to their mirrorless camera systems.

With companies like Profoto and Elinchrom offering an increasingly broad range of self-contained strobes, Broncolor was no doubt feeling left out with its predominantly pack and head oriented lineup. That’s all changing now with the release of the new Siros strobe; a compact, wall powered, feature rich and wallet friendly flash unit.

Thunderbolt docks have always been something that I've wanted, but haven't absolutely needed. The $300-$500 price range of these little all-in-one boxes didn't spark urgency in my search for the perfect dock either. Given a little time for the excitement (and price) of Thunderbolt-related technology to die down a bit, however, the prospect began to grow more interesting. An improvement on their previous dock, CalDigit's $200 TS2 seemed to be the perfect connection dreambox at the right price. So how did reality fare against expectations?

After weeks of rumors and speculation, Canon has finally confirmed that the megapixel monster known as the 5Ds/5Ds R is real, and coming to stores here soon. Boasting 50.6MP full frame sensor, Canon has surpassed Nikon and Sony, offering us the highest resolution to date for a DSLR camera system. Alongside the new cameras, is the 11-24mm f/4L, finally bringing an updated ultra wide angle to the Canon lineup.

The CASE remote is a wireless device that creates a mobile hotspot attached to your camera, providing you with live-view connectivity on your mobile device. One can easily control shutter triggering, HDR, focus stacking, time-lapse, and photo transfers from your iPhone, Android, or tablet. Fstoppers had the opportunity to give this device a spin and here's what we thought.

After endless hours wasted, I found the solution for an issue I've had using the Intous tablet with my Macbook Pro. The brush would get stuck and I couldn't hit Photoshop shortcuts between brush strokes. I went through the hassle of reinstalling all drivers, buying a new tablet and setting all my Photoshop settings back to default before finding the following simple 30-second fix. This issue pertains to people using Apple computers with Photoshop CS6 or CC and a Wacom Intous tablet. The fix is for the following issues:

Everyone's favorite point of view action camera is about to get even better. According to a post on the GoPro website, firmware updates are coming for the HERO4 camera lineup that will add features and capabilities users have been requesting for some time.

Rokinon/Samyang have been throwing around cryptic teasers hinting at the fact that a new lens was coming in January 2015. "3 digits and they are all odd" read one of their promos. Everyone's best guess to date was a 135mm but we really had no information about it, that is, until now.

Argentina-based food stylist and illustrator Anna Keville Joyce has managed to take the art of food styling to a whole new level, for her recent creations are true culinary masterpieces (so what if they’re not made to eat?). While food photographer Agustín Nieto had quite the task of doing justice to these mouthwatering works, he managed to capture them perfectly, but as he readily admits, it didn’t come easy.

Formerly Photo Raw, Raw View Magazine has taken a new approach to the construct of a photography magazine. Raw View is made up of a completely voluntary staff of talented writers, photographers, and documentarians. With a specialized focus in documentary photography, Raw View has made it a mission exhibit imagery from the highest caliber of photographer with a focus on print quality. The self-proclaimed mission of Raw View is not just a crescendo of visual journalism, but it is to tackle complex and difficult subjects within the world of photography. The ultimate goal is to inspire, stimulate, and entertain.

For over thirty years, Wacom has been the industry standard when it comes to pen and graphics tablets. Their tablets serve as an integral piece of gear in the kits of the world's best photographers, designers, and amateurs alike. Earlier this week, Wacom unveiled the two newest additions to their already impressive line of tablets: the Cintiq 27QHD and the Cintiq Companion 2, two blazing-fast graphic tablets that are sure to boost any creative’s workflow, from post-processing to graphics and design.

Nikon has announced their new 300mm f/4 telephoto FX lens. With an aperture of f/4 at its widest and up to a 4.5-stop gain via Vibration Reduction (VR), this new edition to Nikon’s 300mm prime series is up to 30 percent shorter and 1.5 pounds lighter than its predecessor. At 147.5 millimeters long and 755 grams, Nikon claims that this is the world’s lightest 300mm full-frame lens.

When people walk through my living room studio, they are puzzled that I do not own or rent a permanent studio space. What many do not know is that when I’m contracted for a commercial assignment, about 80% of the time I must travel to a location or shot at the client’s home base. And, in many cases that requires transporting several 9 foot seamless backdrops and a whole lot of equipment. I don’t have a giant bus to haul all of my studio gear, so it’s been a trying experience to find the right tools to efficiently pack and tote my mobile studio.

While familiarity with LaCie's signature, bright-orange-accented Rugged series hard drives comes with the territory of being in the photography business, G-Technology has always relied on the simple reliability of its HGST hard drives and Apple-inspired looks to gain them the same notoriety -- until now. G-Tech's announcements for CES 2015 concentrate on introducing greater shock, dust, drop, and even water protection for those reliable drives inside with an array of bumpers, enclosures, and even lightweight Evolution-series-compatible drives for the mobile creative.

Nikon has announced the latest edition to their upper entry-level DSLR 5000 series with the addition of the Nikon D5500. Given Nikon’s history of progressively incrementing each addition to the series by 100, the jump from D5300 to D5500 suggests at first glance a significant improvement.

Each year over 150,000 people flock to Las Vegas for CES, the world’s largest consumer electronic showcase. Major tech innovators from all over the world kick off the new year by showing off their latest and greatest gadgets and innovations to the public. This year, SanDisk unveiled three new products that are designed to increase your productivity and give your workflow a boost.

Back in September, Fstoppers announced the news that Panasonic's Lumix CM1 would be coming into the world boasting a 20-megapixel camera paired with some gorgeous Leica glass. Now we have word that the phone along with its sexy glass partner will be coming to the US this summer. Will this finally be the mobile device you ditch your iPhone for?

Announced for CES this week in Las Vegas, Samsung has shown off its impressive entry into the SSD portable storage world, with the Samsung T1 SSD. With storage options of 1 terabyte, 500 gigabytes, and 250 gigabytes, the T1 boasts impressive read and write speeds, all while weighing about an ounce and at a size comparable to a business card.

During a shoot with Tony Roslund and Gary Martin for PRO EDU this past December, I was lucky enough to operate a Movi M5 for lots of behind the scenes and "color" footage. The motion rendered from the Movi, even while running, was most impressive. Just recently though I learned of the Nebula4000 Lite, and at a fraction of the price, I think this might be the next big compact video camera accessory to have.

Preempting CES 2015's official start date as so many electronics manufacturers often do to beat the media buzz, Seagate announced the world's thinnest 500GB hard drive — and who knew it could be so beautiful? While many might inquire as to the actual excitement a relatively low-capacity hard drive should bring, the reality is that the Seagate Seven — a truly 7mm-thick USB 3.0 external hard drive — could drastically change our mobile workstations in ways that make our lives much easier. Along with the Seven, Seagate announced the LaCie Rugged RAID, featuring up to 240MB/s-access to 4TB of storage in a USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt enclosure.

Announced earlier this year, the Westcott Flex is now available in stores. This unique device bridges the gap between a light and a light modifier, as it is a little bit of both. This fully­ bendable mat features a 10” x 10” surface lined with 166 dimmable LED diodes and outlined with a moldable 1⁄4” black frame. Weighing in at just 5 ounces, its compact design allows it to be easily concealed on set and allows for easy travel.

Have some money saved from the holidays? Maybe a few B&H Photo Video gift cards? Now may be the perfect time to buy with savings of up to $900 and $850 on Nikon and Canon bundles, respectively. B&H Photo Video is offering instant rebates on most Nikon and Canon systems, including the newer Nikon D750, D610, and D4s, and Canon 7D Mark II, 5D Mark III, and 1D X.