Latest Gear Reviews

We spend thousands of dollars on the best cameras and lenses, but we often forget about the smaller accessories that come between us and our subject. Switching out your eyepiece for something better is an extremely underrated and cheap improvement you can make, and from special coatings to magnifiers, you actually have a few more options than you may have known.

As photographers, we have a never-ending, ever-perpetuating growth of photos piling up on our hard drives. Inevitably, whether that work is professional or personal, our photos end up taking space on cloud storage accounts that we keep upgrading whenever we reach the limit. But what if you could cut the size of these files in half without losing any visible quality? You could save a lot of headache, not to mention, money.

Hasselblad is touring the country (and the world) with prototypes of the new 50-megapixel X1D camera and the two lenses launching alongside it. Priced way below any other Hasselblad on the market (and in line with Pentax’s 645Z), the X1D ushers in unparalleled portability while creating a entirely new segment: the medium format mirrorless camera. Earlier this week, I got a few minutes with this interesting hybrid.

Pelican cases have long been an industry standard for top-of-the-line protection of cameras, lenses, lights, hard drives, and all other forms of fragile video or photo gear. Their new “Air” line of cases bring that same protection, but at a lower weight. I got to try the Pelican 1535 Air out and see how it performed on a travel video job.

There’s no question that if Sony wants their mirrorless system cameras to succeed, they must be supported with a vast and varied collection of lenses. Today they unveiled the FE 50mm f/1.4 ZA lens, a large aperture prime lens utilizing a Planar design that will soon be found in portrait, wedding, and street photographers’ bags. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to see and use this lens for a day’s worth of shooting, so take a look at some sample images and my first impressions.

Today Sony finally announced pricing and shipping times for their upcoming release of the FE 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master OSS lens and teleconverters. First introduced in early February alongside the FE 85mm f/1.4 GM and FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lenses, the 70-200mm GM will be shipping in July and cost $2,600. The 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters designed to exclusively fit the new 70-200mm GM will each cost $500 and ship in July as well. Sony allowed me to use one of the first retail production models off the assembly line and share my images with you, so let’s dive into sample images and my thoughts on how it stacks up.

Over the past few weeks I have been touting the Sony a6300's video performance. This past week I decided to take the camera to the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course to film a track day. Oddly I ended up not using the auto focus, as the fences were proving to be a challenge with adapted EF mount Sigma lenses. On native lenses like the 70-200mm f/4 or the 70-300 f/4-5.6, this likely wouldn't have been an issue. Aside from that, the camera continued to impress me and exceeded my expectations.

KitSplit offers more than its already unique combination of a peer-to-peer gear rental platform with a traditional store-to-shooter online storefront that allows renters to compare all possible options. Can’t find the gear you need? KitSplit’s customer service will source it and find a way to get it on the site for you to rent. Too daunting or taxing on your schedule to list your gear yourself? Send KitSplit a gear list, and they’ll list it for you. You can set the prices or let them recommend that part based on availability and prices in your area. KitSplit brings full-service treatment to the business of connecting people with the gear they need.

It's all in the details. Adding elements like wind is a great option to add more life and emotion into your photographs. Studio photography and natural light photography can be very different genres. In the studio, you’re in total control of your environment and surroundings, and having an industrial fan that plugs into a wall is pretty standard in most studios. Unfortunately with natural light, you’re at the mercy of Mother Nature. But that’s OK; with this inexpensive tool you will add a little “studio flair” to your natural light portraits.

Tripods are an essential piece of equipment for most photographers. They steady your camera in order to capture the sharpest details, allow you to take exposures with long shutter speeds, make it easier to take multiple images of the same scene for composites, and help create those perfect panoramas. Like most photography equipment though, there are low end tripods and high end tripods. The offerings from Novoflex is on the high end of this spectrum with some really cool features.

I have to admit, I have become quite the collector of camera bags. So after entering the world of mirrorless cameras, I thought, what better excuse do I need to get a new, smaller, lighter camera bag? Enter the Bob Cut medium messenger from Barber Shop bags.

The Neewer Flat Panel Reflector is a great tool designed for those looking for the benefit of something such as a V-flat or large reflector frame without the bulk of having to haul them around. The Neewer Flat Panel Reflector is basically a 3 foot by 6 foot wind sail that you can use as reflector or flag during virtually any shoot. At $69.99 the Flat Panel Reflector offers fantastic value for an innovative new light modifier to add to your arsenal.

A camera bag can really make or break your work. I'm one of those people who is terrible at packing light, so when it comes to carrying 50 pounds of gear, I want a bag to be well organized, comfortable, ergonomic, and durable, because I pretty much place my studio on my back. Enter the Mountainsmith Borealis.

Sharing your images on the web from point A to point B, in this case, from your desktop to Instagram, can be quite a hassle. You have to make a separate folder in your Dropbox, email it, or send it to yourself (there are a variety of ways), and clog up a bunch of storage on your phone. Yes, I know there several back door methods that have been discussed prior on this issue, and while Instagram has not yet made a plunge into the desktop world, we'll have to make do until then. But in the mean time, I came across this super user-friendly, free Lightroom plug-in that solidifies a solution!

Last year I shared my method of how I export my photos for sharing with clients and social media without losing quality. While that method is proven, it was always still a pain to share a separate file for full resolution, not to mention that full resolution photos can push 20 MB a piece. Thankfully, I was introduced to an app that overcomes all of this.

I am going to be completely up front with you: this is an expensive camera bag. It is, in fact, the most expensive camera bag I have ever owned, and I have owned many. Instead of buying this bag, you could easily purchase a very solid prime lens. But you know the old saying "you get what you pay for"? Well sometimes that turns out to be 100 percent true.

If you were looking for a tool for tracking your online as well as offline purchases for your business, look no further, because I have personally found the best tool that will end all tools for you: OneReceipt.

When I sat down to read the copy of Picture Perfect Lighting by Roberto Valenzuela my first expectation was a book that parroted much of the same content that many other photography books had already laid out many times in the past. Basic lighting tips, the exposure triangle; the usual sorts of stuff that you'd expect from a typical book on photography. To my surprise, however, Picture Perfect Lighting offers a delightfully unique glimpse into lighting that can help beginners and veterans alike.

We demand a lot of portraits lenses. They must be sharp wide open. They must focus well. Their bokeh must be pleasing. A stellar portrait lens is the holy grail for a lot of photographers. So, just which lens is the ultimate Canon portrait lens?

Underwater photography is becoming more popular as technology progresses. The use of an underwater housing dates back to the mid-1800s when William Thompson was utilizing a watertight box over his camera to photograph seaweed near Weymouth, England. Since then, underwater photographs have become an incredible way to explore and understand the life under the surface.

Much to the excitement of the Fujifilm community, Fuji released their XF 90mm f/2 WR in the middle of 2015. Many a voice hailed it Fuji's best yet, and pixel-peepers rejoiced. Some claimed it had the nicest bokeh from a Fuji lens yet, and others the fastest autofocus. Just how good is this latest prime offering from Fuji?

Petzval-type lenses have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years. Lomography's wildly successful Kickstarter campaign was a springboard for their Petzval 85 and later, their Petzval 58 lenses. Now, Lensbaby, well-known for their unique optical products, has thrown their hat into the ring. It's a fun and interesting lens.

It’s easy to be astounded by statistics such as 14 fps and ISO 3,000,000. But when you put everything that Nikon’s latest flagship body offers together, you get a machine that is the first of its kind, and that's really thanks to the combination of two features Nikon obviously pushed to new heights: autofocus, and — yes — ISO sensitivity (which has itself been a point of controversy for the Nikon D5).

If you follow big name photographers or pages like FamousBTSMag on Instagram or elsewhere, you’ve likely seen a parabolic reflector. Even more likely is the prestigious names that are Broncolor or Briese plastered on the side. The results that these modifiers produce are absolutely gorgeous, there’s no doubt there. They offer the most even light spread of any modifier, a large range of sizes, and incredible versatility. If you’ve done some research, however, you’ll throw the idea of shooting with one out the door because of their incredibly steep price. A few months ago, I stumbled on a company by the name of Parabolix. What I found seemed entirely too good to be true.

It's not every day when you come across a camera like this. We took a look to how the new Sony RX10 III fared with its impressive spec sheet, and it did not disappoint!