Announced back in March of this year, was the Nikon Coolpix P900. It seemed like your run of the mill affordable point & shoot camera, with a 16MP sensor, fixed lens, and basic video functionality. But what this camera also has, is what originally looked like a typo, with a 24-2000mm 35mm equivalent zoom, allowing you to see further than ever.
A few weeks back I spoke about one of the advantages of mobile videographer. One of the key features I highlighted was the ability to shoot in slo-motion in 720p on most mobile devices. Let's not forget other DSLR's and video cameras that are able to shoot slo-mo in even higher resolutions.
The ever popular Loka and Loka UL were favorites among many outdoor adventure photographers and filmmakers I know, including myself. With F-Stop Gear's recently updated line of Mountain Series packs, the Loka has been reborn and is now known as the Ajna. I've been using it for the last few weeks and discovered some surprising details about it.
What inspires you to pick up your camera? For Ivan Agerton, it’s people – and for all the talk about convergence between the worlds of stills and motion, Ivan is doing it. His ‘stills from motion’ portraits are both a visually gorgeous treat with their sublime use of slow motion, and thought provoking in the connection with the subject Ivan has captured.
For those of you who get into situations where you have limited time to set up, manually light and fine tune it to how you would like, well-known photographer Joe McNally shows how quick and easy using TTL can be when pairing an Air Remote with a Profoto B1 strobe unit. This would be great for event shooters, and setting up for quick portraits.
If you haven't been keeping up with Casey Neistat's daily vlogs, then you absolutely need to start. They're a great source of creative inspiration, lots of running cut-scenes, and the occasional viral video. In this particular vlog, Neistat tells a story on the importance of not quitting and, while filming, experiences an error with his Canon 70D. You may not believe how he solves it.
Denali is the story of the relationship between photographer Ben Moon and his beloved dog, Denali. This short film is about friendship, loss and the beautiful fight for life. The filmmakers caught every ounce of heart they could in the last month of Denali’s life, and his memory truly lives on through this amazing video.
Yesterday was World Oceans Day (it's okay if you missed it; you can make up for it today) and to celebrate, Google released an amazing new feature powered by its popular Street View technology: Street View Oceans.
Being an adept problem solver is a key skill found in most successful photographers, and with complex photo shoots, the likelihood of something not going according to plan gets pretty high. On a recent project, Ben Von Wong had everything lined up, only to have things change and be forced to cancel the shoot, or make something else happen in a very short time.
In the growing wake of low-budget, special effect action minis whose audience has become larger and larger on YouTube, Sam and Niko's "Real GTA" steps the game up once more with a perfect assimilation of the popular "Grand Theft Auto" video game into real, Los Angeles life.
I'm not much for gambling, but I've always said that if I spent some time in Las Vegas that I would check out a show by Cirque Du Soleil. This short film absolutely confirms the kind of creativity and magical displays that I've longed to see in person.
From St. Louis’ Bruton Stroube Studios comes the impressively cinematic tale of food preperation as it battles the elements within the kitchen. At just over a minute in length, “Cooking Up A Storm” manages to breathe an extraordinary amount of drama and depth into the culinary practice.
The era of 360-degree filmmaking is upon us. Google, in collaboration with The Mill and production company Bullitt, has released the 360-degree short film "HELP" for free on Google's mobile storytelling platform Spotlight Stories. The film is full of explosions, aliens, and action all within a beautiful 360-degree world.
With less expensive gear being introduced all the time, we have seen a boom in time-lapse films in recent years, making it easier for just about anyone to make their own time-lapse clips. But with the deluge of videos comes innovation and the need to differentiate yourself.
The Shot on iPhone 6 World Gallery launched at the beginning of March and features some of Apple's favorite customer photos in a global outdoor and print campaign that spans 70 cities in 24 countries.
Google has announced Jump at their 2015 I/O conference, a new 360-degree virtual reality platform that will be launching this summer. Google's hope is to make virtual reality more accessible. Jump will use raw video footage to assemble a 3D virtual reality space. It's aiming to be the premiere workflow for assembling virtual reality worlds.
Brooklyn-based photographer Jessica Lehrman is the subject of Format’s first video in their new documentary series, InFrame. In this debut episode, Lehrman brings us into her unique childhood experience, explains her start and development in photography, and explores the inspirations to her raw style of images that she is well known for.
Summer movie season is here, and so are the movies with the biggest budgets trying to up the wow factor against their cinematic competition. "San Andreas" is the latest disaster flick to showcase some of the best effects Hollywood has to offer right now.
In his physical prime, Bruce Jenner and his Olympic success made him a household name. With the start of his step-daughters' show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," Jenner's name became familiar to a much younger audience.
Singer Enrique Iglesias was injured by a flying drone recording footage at one of his concerts in Tijuana, Mexico. The drone is used during his concerts to capture the audience and various points in the show for more dynamic vantage points.
In just about every video I edit, during my last or second to last round of revisions I find myself having to add titles, credits, name graphics (lower thirds), and one or two other pieces of text to help explain and give context to the video. Here are my go-to techniques for cranking out decent looking graphics both quickly and efficiently.
One of the best camera backpack series just got an update, along with a few new bags. F-Stop Gear has been making quality backpacks for outdoor adventure filmmakers and photographers for a while now, and their latest products are looking to be even better. If you've owned or used the popular Loka series bag, you'll want to check out the new version, called the Ajna.
If you're a filmmaker on a budget, you've probably lusted after the various camera stabilizing offerings from Steadicam. With this tutorial, some hardware store components, and a little bit of elbow grease, you'll be up and running with a DIY Steadicam in a flash.
While I was flying my DJI Phantom 3 from Ponte Santa Trinita—one of the beautiful bridges of Florence—during our recent Italy Dream Photo Tour a wonderful thing happened.
Are you tired of using a kit lens for your video projects but don't know the first thing about what makes "Cinema" lenses all that special? In the latest video from Gear Dictionary, Zeke Kamm explains what makes these lenses different, and preferred, for filmmaking applications.
Photographer Anand Varma was always curious about the natural world and when he was a teenager he discovered that picking up a camera could help him explore it. By combining his two passions (biology and photography) Anand gets up close and personal, exposing some of the wonders nature has to offer. Anand latest work is facinating.
In many of our respective nations, we take news and the photography that accompanies it for granted. We expect to be shown anything and everything that is happening in the world around us. Our daily lives are so filled with photography; everything from our friend's meals to events from around the globe. In Taliban controlled Afghanistan, this was not the case.
Photographer Bert Stephani might just be the luckiest guy on the planet as one of the first people in the world to use the much-anticipated Fuji 90mm f/2.0 portrait lens. The lens, officially known as the Fujinon XF90mm f/2 R LM WR is currently available for pre-order and will likely be shipping in mid-July 2015.
New technology from the University of Washington allows for millions of photos taken by different people over the duration of years and years to be sorted through, selected, and pieced together to create jaw-dropping time-lapse videos.
Panasonic has announced the Lumix G7, a compact 4K mirrorless camera with a kit price of less than $800. Offering a solid list of features for an entry-level camera, the new Lumix G7 is perfect for amateur photographers looking for a inexpensive camera with both quality video and photo capabilities at almost half the price of the GH4.
4K video camera systems are now quickly becoming prevalent in the market, and with even more on the horizon, it's a safe bet to assume that many filmmakers stepping up to 4K aquisition will be investing in peripherals and other accessories that are needed to capture and edit at that resolution. One of these expensive extras comes in the form of CFast 2.0 cards.
As a huge movie car buff and lover of the original "Mad Max" films, it goes without saying that I am more than excited for the release of the latest iteration of the series. I'm going to assume statistically that you are too because it is rating incredibly well among most of the movie reviewers. One of their biggest compliments toward the film?
South Carolina-based Taylor Engel's short, "The Pavement" — which got him into the top 10 for HBO's Project Greenlight — had me enthralled the moment it began. Through its rhythmic delivery, simple visual nature, and dark aesthetic, it pulls us through a sinister human story that gets at our primal nature.
When I was young, I first fell in love with photography as a kid in summer camp. I then went home and started pouring over the Time Life Photography books from the local library. All through grade school and high school I stayed up countless nights studying, reading, and learning everything I could about great photographers and their amazing photographs.
In this episode of Smarter Every Day, host Destin Sandlin takes a closer look at the construction of one of the most exclusive photography locations that humans have ever created: the International Space Station’s Cupola module. This seven-windowed observation module has allowed astronauts such as Dr.
Austin Reza is back at it with Bentley Motors for the second in the Intelligent Details series titled, “The Bespoke Driving Jacket.” We previously wrote about him last year in this article.
Joey Shanks, better known by his YouTube handle Shanks FX, has released another YouTube video based around the idea that Hollywood effects can be achieved by anyone and with only household items. This time he attempts to recreate the legendary Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights), one of the seven wonders of the world, with just some sheets of fabric and a handful of fans.
I'm not someone who is big into drones and flying cameras -- mostly because they take a lot of effort to learn how to fly. More importantly, there are typically many more things I'd rather spend my money on. Then I received an email from Antoine Balaresque, CEO of Lily Robotics, introducing me to Lily, and I threw all those reasons out the window.
There are few things that can boost your video production more than adding a smooth camera movement. One tool that every filmmaker needs to utilize from time to time is a camera crane.
I baby my external hard drives. I always wrap them in bubble wrap when taking them from home to the coffee shop, and I even have a little mini-pelican case for longer trips. I couldn't imagine how bad it would be if it happened to get even a quick salt water splash, let alone get stuck in the sand.
Documentary photographers, fashion photographers, businessmen, housewives, househusbands, you, the world – everyone should know the name and works of Sebastião Salgado. His work has moved millions of social workers, doctors, politicians, economists, and photographers alike. His work moves humans because it is human.
Tony Northrup and Chelsea Northrup continue to offer up informative videos to help photographers understand and Learn the Art and Science of Photography. This latest video has Tony breaking down: the pros and cons of using teleconverters, how using one effects your focal range, image quality, aperture, and autofocus capabilities.
Hollywood's latest A.I. thriller, "Ex Machina," promised to take viewers on a fascinating and thrilling philosophical, ethical, and human journey.
A few months ago I got an email from Rhino Camera Gear asking if I would like to beta test their new slider. I didn't really know anything about this product and I quickly forgot about it until it showed up at our office a few days ago. I had no idea that this would be one of the most impressive products I've tested in years.
As we all know, even the most stunning visuals require an equally amazing and unique soundtrack to bring the audience's emotions to their full potential. Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Designer Christopher Boyles from Skywalker Sound discusses his work and the burden of creating original sounds for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" that will stand the test of time.
The guys over at Alpine Labs have announced a new Kickstarter campaign to fund their follow-up time-lapse motion control system, the Radian 2. Packed with the same features as the Radian, this new version adds a wireless preview of your time-lapse and complete control of your camera via USB allowing you to change camera settings like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO while shooting.
In this episode of National Geographic’s fantastic series "Exposure," you go behind the scenes with street and portrait photographer Wayne Lawrence who describes photographing the “real Detroit.” Lawrence describes the challenge of shooting such a diverse city, one that includes familiar, comfortable suburbs and rundown, abandoned spaces.
This month I'll be traveling to 5 European cities with Vincent Laforet to shoot and edit video for him as part of Project AIR, his new night aerial stills project.
Gnarly Bay, the guys who brought you “Rambo Day,” are back with a compelling story aptly titled “The Important Places." The story follows lifestyle and adventure photographer Forest Woodward who sets out to reunite with his father and a sense of youth after unearthing a poem.
With May 4 behind us, it brings us one day closer to the release of the upcoming "Star Wars" sequels later this year. Whether you are a fan of the series or not, it's going to be one of the biggest releases in history.