Latest Gear Reviews

In depth expert reviews and comparisons of the latest cameras, lenses, software, and other technology we as creative professionals rely on.

Fstoppers Reviews the Nikon F100

There are hundreds of 35mm film camera options out there. Everything from cheap drug-store point and shoots to beautiful, bespoke-feeling Leicas, to the Canon AE-1 hipsters wear around their necks with a guitar strap.

Fstoppers Reviews the Elinchrom ELB Portable Strobe Kit

A few weeks ago I introduced you to Elinchrom’s latest offering, the ELB portable strobe kit. Now that I’ve spent a few weeks shooting with it both on location and in the studio, I can finally tell you if it’s actually any good and whether it can compete with the newly released Profoto B2. 

Fstoppers Reviews the Westcott Apollo Orb

Anyone who likes to bring a light or two on-location knows the frustration of wanting soft, controllable light that won't weigh you down or break the bank. The Westcott Apollo Orb is, without a doubt, one of my favorite lighting modifiers.

Model Testing with the Broncolor Siros Monolight

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to shoot with the Broncolor Siros Monolights for the first time. Until now, my light of choice has been the Profoto D1. I, like many of you, have seen reviews on Broncolor's new monolight, and like many of you as well, have been a bit skeptical about their delve into competing with Profoto's D1 and B1 Series for the high-end monolight market.

Fstoppers Reviews Nick Saglimbeni's Mastering Lighting: Volume One

If you are one of the thousands of professional and amauter photographers in the industry at some point you’ve probably hit a creative rut in your work. It happens to the best of us. Lighting setups can quickly become repetitive and boring after shooting for several months.

Create Realistic Lighting Effects Using Knoll Light Factory

Flare has become a huge part of modern photography for how it can add both depth and excitement to an image. Many of us have resorted to manually creating lighting effects using Photoshop or by layering pre-made textures above our photos. Red Giant, however, looks to replace and augment this rather tedious process with Knoll Light Factory. 

How the Retouching Academy Beauty Retouch Panel Improved My Workflow

Since its first version, Photoshop has changed quite a lot. The functionalities it offers are greater now than ever before. But plugins are legion and for beginners it is hard to differentiate the ones that are truly useful and those that are just a waste of money. The Retouching Academy Beauty Panel has been around for a little while and was revamped very recently.

Introducing the New Pixellu SmartAlbums 2, Plus Review

A little over a year ago, we were introduced to SmartAlbums from Pixellu. They helped photographers all over increase their productivity by allowing them to stop hating the process of designing albums. This year, they brought us a bigger and better product, and I got to use it first hand. 

Filson’s McCurry Sportsman Bag: A Most Thorough Review and How It Did Me the Biggest Favor in the World

The world of fashionable photography bags isn’t unknown, but it’s not all that vast, either. As much as everyone might want to be fashionable, that desire simply isn’t as compatible with the necessary practicality we need from our gear... or is it? Can a bag look quite good while being quite practical? Or better yet, can a strict adherence to a bag’s fashion appeal aid its practicality?

Review: Meet Lily, The Throw-and-Go Flying Camera

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. 

Fstoppers Reviews the All New DroneGuard Kit From Lowepro

Just a few weeks ago, Lowepro launched it’s first grab-and-go protective and customizable quadcopter drone storage system, the DroneGuard Kit. Lowepro’s solution is an interesting one in that you can adapt it for different devices combining organization, portability, and protection using it as a stand-alone kit, or as an insert with some of their other bags.

Why I Love the Nikon 58mm f/1.4G Lens

In my experience, there are two kinds of great lenses. The first is the kind that gets the job done. These lenses are technically amazing and produce extremely high-quality images. The Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art is one of those lenses. It produces sharp, high-contrast images time and time again. But it doesn’t really have character — a feeling — of its own.

The Rhino Slider Evo Is the Best Slider We Have Ever Tested

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.  

Hands-On Review with Sigma's Newest 24mm f/1.4 Art Beauty

Coming off of its previous reputation as an extreme budget brand when it came to DSLR lenses, Sigma has now had well over two years to fend off quality concerns with their restructured Global Vision lineup that began with the superb 35mm f/1.4 Art lens.

New Shared Camera App by Hipstamatic Is Fun and Frustrating

A new filtered camera app that allows groups of mobile photographers to share in a timed shootout was released for iOS last week by app developer Hipstamatic. The free app, called DSPO, creates a collaboration of images via gallery or slideshow that none of the contributors can view until the session expires. But in a mobile photography world ruled by Instagram, Snapchat, and VSC

Fstoppers Reviews Rocky Nook’s ‘Street Photography’ Plus Free Book Giveaway

Photography book publisher Rocky Nook recently released several new titles which join their now expansive library of topics. I checked out two of these new books, and in this article I review “Street Photography: The Art of Capturing the Candid Moment” by Gordon Lewis. In addition to the review, we are giving away two free copies of “Street Photography” to two lucky readers. 

PhotoRec: The Free Photo and Digital Asset Recovery App

If you're a Mac user, stop what you're doing and download this. I'm serious. Digital asset management (DAM) isn't everyone's favorite topic but it's an incredibly important part of any professional's workflow. But when things go south, you need to have a recovery plan — that's where PhotoRec, the free text-based app by CG Security, comes in.