Gear Reviews

Last week, Nikon unveiled the NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S Macro Lens. In an unusual move from the manufacturer, we have a hands-on video before the lens reaches the shelves. 

The Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini is one of the best and easiest ways to do more than just stream multiple cameras, and at first, it might seem like an expensive gadget for most photographers.

Fujifilm's X Series of cameras has gained a lot of respect over the years as a line of capable, well-designed bodies that offer photographers a functional and creatively inspiring experience. The X-T4 is the most recent flagship in the company's line of mirrorless cameras, and this excellent video review discusses how it holds up after a year of usage.  

I recently decided to upgrade to a nicer gimbal head for my tripod. However, I wasn't quite fond of the $500+ options available on the market. I'm sure they are nice, but I couldn't justify the extra cost because my current gimbal did almost everything I needed. 

I've been testing out the Centennial Tripod from Colorado Tripod Company and I love it. Buying US-made products is cool, but when those sellers offer top quality at a good price, it's even more awesome! Read on to see why I think your next tripod should be made in Colorado. 

With a relatively light and small footprint along with a wide aperture for its focal length, the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 20mm f/1.8G ED is a compelling option for Nikon mirrorless shooters in a wide variety of genres. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.  

There’s no shortage of lenses to choose from when it comes to the Micro Four Thirds mount, and so, for one to stand out, it’s got to offer something special.

Pentax may have a smaller market share than most, but their users are quite loyal to the company and its determination to keep DSLRs alive and evolving. The K-3 Mark III is their latest flagship APS-C DSLR, and this great video review talks about some of the improvements to the camera and shares lots of sample images to show what you can expect from it in practice.  

The Canon EOS R5 and RF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens are two of the company's best offerings, offering top-notch image quality, high resolution, and performance even with an extreme aperture, making them an especially exciting option for portrait shooters. This excellent video shows the kind of performance and image quality you can get from the combination.  

Sony Netherlands gave me a Sony a1 for a review. During two weeks, I dove into this amazing camera, learning about all the things that make the Sony a1 the top of the Alpha line-up. I shot a lot of pictures and learned a lot of things about this camera. These are my thoughts. 

As far as extreme lenses go, Canon's 200mm f/2L IS USM is near the top, with one of the most extreme focal length and aperture combinations out there. Though it was generally designed as a sports and wildlife lens, it has found a second home as a portrait lens, and this fun video discusses what it is like shooting with it, both the pros and the cons.  

Currently on sale for just $249 and weighing less than half a pound, the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 lens is an affordable, versatile, and highly portable lens. How does it hold up in practice? This excellent video review takes a look at the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it. 

Apple's M1 Macs turned the computing world on its head a bit, offering impressive performance and jaw-dropping battery life at prices that were much more affordable than traditional levels, ushering in a new era of computing for creatives.

The original Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens was well known for being a versatile performer, offering 1:1 macro capabilities, sharp images, excellent image stabilization, and reliable autofocus, becoming a favorite of not just macro photographers, but portrait and wedding photographers as well.

A quality macro lens can be one of the most useful optics in a photographer's bag, suitable for a huge range of applications from detail shots to portraits. For Sony shooters, there is the FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS, and this excellent video review takes a look at the kind of image quality and performance you can expect from it in practice.  

A superzoom lens can be tremendously convenient and useful in any situation where you need a lot of focal lengths at the same time or want to avoid changing lenses due to the environment.

The Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VXD is a new addition to the company's lineup, and it offers a very versatile focal length range. This excellent video takes a first look at the new lens and how it performs. 

Skylum's Luminar has had quite an impact on the editing market, with AI features for landscape and portrait photographers that have left some of the competition scrambling to catch up. Wanting to stay ahead, a new version of Luminar, called Update 3, will be available free for current owners today.  

Fujifilm has signlehandedly made medium format more accessible now than ever. Cameras such as the Fujifilm GFX 100S offer a whopping 100 megapixels worth of resolution for less than $6,000.

Is this precision tool worth considering for your photography workflow?  

One of the best and most complete solutions to post-processing is somewhat of a well-kept secret. Zoner Photo Studio X is growing in popularity and it's easy to see why. 

The EOS R5 was a major paradigm shift in camera design for Canon, and it has been highly lauded for its impressive capabilities and wide feature set. How does it hold up after extended usage? This excellent video review discusses how the camera has performed over eight months of usage. 

Canon's tilt-shift lenses are well known for being versatile and very sharp, useful for a huge range of applications, from avoiding converging parallels in architecture and real estate photography to controlling your depth of field independent of the aperture. This great video review takes a look at the widest in the lineup, the TS-E 17mm f/4L. 

A new company called Gearing has produced a tripod that could be described as the most modular system on the market. From being a tabletop tripod it can be built up to being a full-sized travel tripod. Not only that, if the occasion calls for it you can even use the tripod legs as ski sticks for those slopes that you come across during your travels. 

How many hours a day are you spending retouching portraits? I'd guess too much. Today, I’ll be comparing three different pieces of software that automatically retouch portraits: Luminar AI, On1 Photo RAW 2021, and PortraitPro Studio Max.  

The Fujifilm XF 50mm f/1.0 R WR gives bokeh lovers the opportunity for some of the most extreme images out there. With such a boundary-pushing design, you might wonder if its image quality and autofocus performance can keep up with demands. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens in real-world usage and if it can provide the results you need. 

A 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is the workhorse of choice for a huge range of photographers, but such lenses are often quite expensive. Sigma's 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemporary comes in at about half the price of competitors, making it quite appealing for those who can live without 24mm on the wide end.

An ultra-wide angle zoom lens is a useful tool for many different genres, and while the professional standard of such lenses is usually f/2.8, those who do not need that extra stop can save a lot of weight and money by opting for an f/4 version. This excellent video review takes a look at one such lens for Nikon mirrorless shooters, the NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S. 

There are times when you need some extra protection for your equipment, even if you transport it in your camera bag. A pouch can offer that extra protection, or you can wrap it in a cloth. Haida has created the Magic Stick-It Wrapper Cloth for that.

While many reviews look at how sharp a lens can be, for this review, we’ll be looking at a filter that does the opposite. Haida's NanoPro Mist filter is actually designed to add a soft glow, while still keeping fine details. Now, before you think about the JCPenney portrait studio shots of the past decades, this filter is subtler.

The Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM lens is a bit of a legend, known for its insanely wide aperture and a favorite of numerous portrait photographers. Now that the mirrorless age is upon us, its natural successor, the RF 85mm f/1.2L USM, is here.

Sony's new FE 14mm f/1.8 GM lens offers an extremely wide maximum aperture for such a focal length, enabling both photographers and filmmakers impressive creative capabilities and looking like a dream for events and astrophotographers. This excellent video review takes a look at the lens and the sort of performance and image quality you can expect from it in real-world usage.  

The new iMacs are here, and Apple has updated its popular computer with a variety of new features ranging from new color options to the company's lauded M1 system on a chip. For photographers and filmmakers, it is likely to be a good choice for creative work.

When you buy a Zeiss lens, you do so because you want the absolute best in image quality regardless of cost, even if that means using manual focus only. At the 35mm focal length, the company's top option is the Milvus 35mm f/1.4 ZE, and this excellent video review takes a look at the sort of image quality you can expect from it in practice.  

Sometimes, all you need is a touch of brief inspiration to get your editing going, and if you enjoy high-contrast imagery, this may be a Lightroom preset for you! 

Fujifilm X Series shooters have a few options when it comes to telephoto zoom lenses, with one of the more affordable being the XF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 R LM OIS WR. This great video review takes a look at the lens and the kind of performance and image quality you can expect from it in practice.  

Canon's original EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens was widely respected for its combination of quick autofocus, sharp rendering, and impressive image stabilization that enabled more handheld work than ever before. The RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM is its successor, and it brings with it a bevy of improvements and new features.

Fujifilm makes a wide variety of fantastic lenses for its X Series camera, and at the top of that pile in terms of price is the XF 200mm f/2 R LM OIS WR lens, which offers an extreme combination of focal length and maximum aperture along with other impressive features.

If you shoot Sony and you're in the market for a fast 35mm lens, look no further. This comparison includes all Sony E mount full frame glass f/1.4 or faster.  

The Nikon FA is the arguably the best valued, vintage, manual focusing 35mm film camera you can buy today. It’s light weight, wonderfully modern for a vintage camera, and the built-in aperture priority mode makes use of the most modern metering of its day which is still unrivaled.  

For those of you that enjoy extreme levels of pixel peeping, you're in for a treat.  A recent video compares the image and video quality between the Sony Alpha 1 and the Fujifilm GFX 100s. Although both cameras sit in slightly different categories, it's interesting to see how both camera systems compare against one another.  

Now several generations in, the Fujifilm X-T series has become highly refined, powerful, and respected by a wide range of photographers and filmmakers for its ability to competently tackle a wide range of scenarios despite its compact and portable size. How does it hold up in the long-term? This great video review discusses what you can expect.  

If you are not keeping an eye on what you're putting in your cart, camera gear can quickly become jaw-droppingly expensive. Still, at those top-tier prices, you can get some absolutely spectacular equipment, and it is awfully fun to see what it can do.

A wide-aperture 35mm lens is by far one of the most popular choices for a huge range of genres and needs, offering a wide but still relatively neutral focal length combined with a lot of light-gathering and subject-isolating power.  Sony's FE 35mm f/1.4 GM offers the company's best optics in such a lens, and this excellent video review takes a look at it and the kind of performance yo

If you are looking for your first cinema camera or thinking of upgrading your current rig there are tons of options out there but if you are looking for the best bang for your buck. Then you will want to make sure you read this Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro review. 

I recently reviewed the SunwayFoto PCL-R5 L-Bracket for the Canon EOS R5/R6. Shortly afterward, I found another interesting L-Bracket made by Peipro, which has an interesting feature that other L-Brackets do not, so I chose to buy one and check it out.

Are you excited about finally resuming your wedding and events photography, but the editing stage is giving you flashbacks to countless hours spent in front of your screen? This is where ImagenAI might come in handy! Take a look at this review.

If you've grown tired of waiting for Canon's native EF/EF-S to RF lens mount adapter to become available, this cheap adapter might be the perfect stopgap alternative. It works on both Canon's native lenses and third-party lenses. Read on to see all the lenses I tested successfully with it. 

Pentax has always maintained a small but fiercely loyal set of followers, and the company is unique in that it continues to plow ahead with DSLRs with no intentions to get into mirrorless. The K-3 Mark III is their latest installment in its highly popular line of APS-C DSLRs.

Tamron has become well known for their ability to create lenses that strike intelligent balances between portability, image quality, performance, capabilities, and most importantly, price. The 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD offers an all-in-one solution that covers almost every focal length most photographers need in an impressively small and affordable package.