The new Nikon "lens only" rebates are now live - a total of 15 lenses are now up to $400 off, and the good news is that you don't have to buy a DSLR body in order to qualify! If you were in the market for buying a lens, now is the perfect time.
GoPro, basically the name synonymous with action-camera mobile HD video, is one of America's most recent super-success stories. Well, they look to be taking things a step further as they have announced they'll be conducting a registered initial public offering of its common stock.
Last night Panasonic revealed their new Lumix DMC-GH4 capable of producing 4K video and seemingly aimed directly at pro video shooters. There are some who are skeptical of cramming 4K video into such a small sensor and others who can't believe how amazing the camera reads on paper. Check out this sample footage from Lumix and you can draw your own conclusions.
I always thought the point of mirrorless was to make things compact, but Panasonic looks like they want to expand my mind and believe it also means raw power, as they have announced the Lumix DMC-GH4, a new camera that features 4K 24p cinematic video (4096x2160), plus 4K 3840x2160 30p/24p with 49 points of autofocus. The build is all metal, and it's obviously aimed at the professional market.
RODE downsized their popular Videomic with the new Videomic GO, half the size and can run without a dedicated battery through the use of in-line power. This looks like a perfect run-and-gun mic, but would the smaller size affect audio quality? You decide, as I compare the two against on-camera audio and a lav mic.
Ahead of the Japanese trade show CP+, Tamron has announced two more mega-zoom lenses, the 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD (Model A010) and the 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD MACRO (Model B016). The lenses follow the 150-600mm f/5-6.3 announced in late 2013. The two new lenses feature Tamron's Vibration Compensation and a PZD (Piezo Drive) which will supposedly deliver faster, quieter autofocus.
Well despite the CMOS back announcement last month, Hasselblad hasn't done much in the ways of innovating (and it can be argued they haven't really done anything yet since the back was only announced, but no specs or information on it has been released). That didn't change yesterday when they announced the Hasselblad HV, a rebranded and reskinned Sony a99 that will retail for €8500.
I don’t know about you guys, but when Sigma announced the 24-105mm f/4 lens last year, I got very excited. The Canon 24-105mm f/4 was one of my favorite video lenses early on. It’s an extremely versatile focal length that, besides the slow f/4 constant aperture, was largely pretty usable in nearly any environment. Sadly, the lens was only good for video because it just wasn’t very sharp. That’s why Sigma’s attempt got me so jazzed. Based on prior experience with their Art line, I had high expectations for Sigma's new zoom lens.
If you don't like lav mics rearing their ugly heads in your video productions but love the sound quality (like we saw in a video from Wistia), then maybe Rode's latest product is the perfect solution. It's called the invisiLAV, and it adheres to the interior of clothing and skin and supposedly eliminates the need for those pesky lav clips.
"Beauty" is a short video by Rino Stefano Tagliafeirro, and it's a captivating 10 minutes that brings to life still paintings with a somewhat eerie soundtrack that almost forces rapt attention. The manifesto is described as delving into the "enigma of beauty." I would say more, but this is just one of those things that needs to be experienced. Warning, this does contain painted nudes.
Fan of the E-Mount or already an owner of the pretty sweet Fuji X-mount systems? Then you might like this: Zeiss just announced a 50mm f/2.8 macro lens for both mounts that sports the styling of the Zeiss lenses we've come to love over the years. It will be available at the end of March for $999.
PhotoShelter regularly releases awesome guides and data they collect from the industry and today's release of The Photographer's Outlook on 2014 is no exception. This guide has insights from over 5700 photographers worldwide on the business goals and challenges they expect this year. They also highlighted the blogs that pros & enthusiasts read to keep up on industry news (of which we are honored to say Fstoppers was listed), plus the photographers they follow for inspiration.
The much speculated Facebook reader is real, it's called Paper and I have to say it looks beautiful. As shown in the the promotional launch video, the app is all gesture driven (though some of the gestures look impractical) and it looks to be a new and pleasant way to stay up to date with the stories that matter to you, with a design UI that takes a lot from other established reader apps like Flipboard.
Early this morning Olympus announced the new OM-D E-M10 (that's a mouthful), combining aspects of two popular cameras the E-M1 and E-M5. It features the new TruePic VII image processor, the same found in the OM-D E-M1, 16 megapixel Live MOS sensor, Wi-Fi technology, a large, high-speed electronic viewfinder and 3-axis image stabilization.
Yes, you read that right. This is indeed a short tutorial on color grading video in Photoshop. Unconventional? Yes, but it is effective. Not too long ago I was having a conversation with the other Fstoppers writers when the conversation of quickly color correcting video footage came up. Without the hassle of Premiere, Speed Grade or any other grading software, was there a simple way to make adjustments that were easy and intuitive? I believe the answer is Photoshop.
If there was a camera that really got people talking in 2013, it was the Sony a7 and a7R. Hailed as a “game changer” and “camera of the year” by both PDN and PopPhoto, it’s gotten a lot of attention. A full frame, powerful and purportedly pro-level mirrorless compact, what’s not to love? Many Sony fans were quick to hail it as the beginning of the end for the DSLR, and even many DSLR shooters seemed ready to join them. I’ve been shooting with the a7R for a few weeks now, and it’s time I laid down my personal verdict on this camera.
Cranes can add that extra bit of "oomph" to a video, giving it that one extra piece to make for compelling and dynamic footage. If you saw Patrick Hall's review of the Rhino Slider, you probably noticed some footage from a crane in there too. Pro Am just announced a new $300, 12-pound, 3-foot crane that can support a camera rigs up to 20 pounds and manually tilts cameras up to 10 pounds.
Before I heap on the apologies, I do want to say that I get sent a lot of gear. Gear that varies in required skill level, genre of photography and purpose. I've reviewed a lot of equipment over the years, and eventually I was bound to make a mistake- I'm pretty much the furthest thing from infallible. Well it happened, and I'm sorry. My initial review of the Fotopro tripod was negative due in most part to, you got it, user error.
Wistia is a video player (think Youtube and Vimeo) for businesses who want a high quality player but don't necessarily want the social features you get with the mainstream platforms. In addition to being a quirky and fun culture and offering a sweet product, the Wistia team also provides tutorials and tips on making your own great company videos. This one offers some great info on choosing a microphone.
Hasselblad, who hasn't done a heck of a lot of innovating in the past few months, might finally have something worth talking about. They announced that they are working on the world's first 50 megapixel CMOS sensor back for their medium format cameras, rather than the CCD format previously used. This means faster capture rate, longer shutter speed capability and much greater ISO performance.
