Articles from Jaron Schneider

Over the past month I've been hard at work testing the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema (BMPCC) camera in a variety of situations for an Fstoppers review (since they updated the firmware, it's like an entirely new camera).

Quick update: Sigma's newly announced 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens (unveiled last week) already has a confirmed price point: $1,999. It will be available some time in October, with a specific date not yet given.

Though they are excellent for photographers, Pelican seemed to fall into the industry rather than build specifically for it. But with options between the ubiquitous Velcro inserts and foam, there hasn't been a lot to complain about in the design and function. They do exactly what they claim to, extremely well.

Think Tank has announced a set of new bag offerings at Photokina including the massive 15.7” x 40” x 12.6” Production Manager roller case, designed specifically to carry large amounts of lighting equipment long distances. It is a large roller with room for multiple flash heads, power packs, monoblocks, softboxes, and light-stands.

Following up their massive 512GB SD card announcement last week at IBC, SanDisk today announced that they are releasing the fastest microSD cards on the market, capable of producing 95MB/s transfer speeds and intended for use with 4K capable cameras.  

Profoto just released a video showcasing their popular B1 units on location with wedding photographer Brian Marcus. Marcus shows how he uses the lights through new York with ease, obviously taking advantage of the size and weight of the B1 heads. This particular video focuses on the NIkon TTL Air remotes that were just released.

Lowepro, who makes some of my favorite bags, has finally refreshed their entire line and included something I think we all expected from them a long time ago: hard cases. Under the new "Hardside" line, the hard cases look to take on Pelicans in the photography market. Also new are the Trekker, the Toploader and Protactic lines. 

Samsung has been trying to hit the digital interchangeable lens camera (ILC) market for some time, slowly clawing their way to #2 in market share in the US. That said, they haven't done a lot to impress professionals.

We recently reviewed the insanely awesome G-SPEED Studio 4-bay platform, and if you think that thing was cool, you'll love what they announced late last week at IBC: the G-SPEED 8-Bay Thunderbolt enterprise-class hard drive platform. If you, like me, are a video or timelapse shooter, this should appeal to you greatly. We can never have enough storage. 

RØDE makes some of my favorite audio equipment across the range of prices. Today at IBC they announced something they seem really proud of: the Stereo VideoMic X, an on-camera microphone that excels at capturing amazing audio in short ranges, making it ideal for foley and ambient scene-setting audio in productions.  

Sigma has announced several new pieces of gear in preparation for Photokina this coming week. Firstly, they have announced the availability of two different versions of the150-600mm f/5-6.3, one a Sport line lens and the other a Contemporary line member. They also announced the 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 lens, also a member of the Contemporary line.

Sigma is adding to their dp Quattro line with the dp1, a 19mm f/2.9 fixed lens (28mm equivalent to full frame). To those fans of the system, this now completes two of the three cameras in the lineup with the last one surely not far behind.  

Nikon has announced the latest member of their full frame camera family, the D750. The camera is an advancement specifically for Nikon in the video realm, as the new camera's 24.3 megapixel sensor captures full HD video at 60p, a feature that is becoming a necessary standard for any modern video camera.

This morning at IBC in Amsterdam, SanDisk announced the impending release of the highest capacity SD card in the world: the 512GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I card, 90 MB/s recording speed with 95 MB/s transfer speed. They also announced a faster CF memory card, with 128GB capacity with a write speed of up to 440MB/s and transfer speeds up to 515 MB/s. Dang.

We’ve teamed up with SanDisk for a product bundle giveaway featuring the Extreme PRO CompactFlash, newly upgraded Extreme Pro SDXC UHS-I cards and the Ultra Dual USB Drive to bring you the ultimate memory storage bundle. All you need to do to win is tell us what you will shoot with all that storage space! 

I have used a lot of hard drives over my career and that includes what was to me, at the time, the rather excellent Lacie d2 Thunderbolt. It wasn't long, however, until other manufacturers came up with better options leading to the d2 feeling a bit underwhelming. That changes today with the announcement of the d2 Thunderbolt 2. 

Really, really good news out of Blackmagic today, as they just informed me that they have updated the firmware of the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K to allow for in-camera formatting of the SSD. So will this be coming to the Pocket Cinema Camera and the Cinema Camera? Yes, yes it will. 

A lot of my work is on the road, which is why I spent a long time looking for the best mobile storage options before eventually landing on the WD My Passport Pro and the LaCie Rugged SSD. But when I'm not on the road, I'm at my desk editing a wide range of video. It's here that I realized I needed not only a reliable backup, but also a powerful and fast working drive to burn through edits.

I live in constant fear of either accidently formatting a card or having data corruption of information before I get back to my main workstation. Because of this somewhat totally rational fear, I tend to back up cards on location during or right after shoots.

Case Logic has been making bags, tablet sleeves and accessory holders for quite some time, but this was my first time reviewing, and using, a dedicated camera bag from the company.

Though we have no confirmations that the price drops are permenant, we can probably assume them to last a long time if not forever. Canon has cut prices from $1000 on the higher-end lenses to $50 on the more affordable glass across their product line. In all, there are 26 lenses discounted as of today.  

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week if you impress the ViewBug community, you could win yourself a feature on Fstoppers.com!

Advertising photographer, historical Fstoppers contributor and good friend of mine Blair Bunting today published a blog detailing exactly how he achieves his iconic images, specifically his popular football portraits. Blair has become known in advertising circles for his excellent use of rim light and kickers, and now you too can get this iconic look.

B&H has launched what is easily the most comprehensive platform for understanding Canon glass that we have ever seen: the Canon Lens Experience. Backed by 15 powerhouse photographers including Gregory Heisler, Jeremy Cowart, Jim Wark and Randy Kerr, the new platform lets you get a very in-depth look at lenses, what they do and what images taken with them look like.  

As much as I like to rely on Tamron VC for moving video shots, it only make the footage less shakey and doesn't make the footage more fluid. This is where camera stabilizers like the Steadicam and the Glidecam have come in, but both options tend to be extremely heavy and take a long time to properly calibrate.

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week, we don't want you to forget to enter to win Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers, 2014 Release by Martin Evening! All you need to do is share your best photos showing human faces. Be creative!

Blackmagic Design today released Camera v1.9.3, a firmware update that adds histogram, audio meters and media time remaining indicators to the Blackmagic Cinema Camera and Pocket Cinema Camera. These features were also recently added to the Production Camera. 

The updated firmware in v1.9.3 does the following:

ONA, makers of some fine fashion-forward camera bags, has announced the availability of new camera bags: the Prince Street and Berlin II. The bags are designed to carry a camera, two lenses, an iPad and personal items. The Berlin II is a Leica collaboration and made for the Leica M-System. It features one signature red rivet and a red interior.  

Today is World Photo Day and to celebrate 175 years of modern photography, Lytro has released a pretty snazzy infographic that shows the history of camera innovation from the inception of the photograph all the way up to present day (ending as expected with their Light Field camera the Ilum).

There is no denying it: there are a lot of motion control devices and even more slider options out there. With the success of Kickstarter, it seems like we get a new awesome idea every week and it can be hard to keep up.

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week your best "old and rusty" image enters you a chance to win... a mystery prize! Once you submit your image, the prize will be revealed. You could win awesome prizes and have your photo reviewed by renowned photographers. Don't miss out!  

I think it's fair to say that the 7D II is coming soon, with a lot of signs pointing to a release at Photokina this year. This fire sale on the camera only bolsters that possibility, with the body only now at $999 and bundeld with a 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 at $1,099. This is still a darn good camera, if not a bit dated, for such a low price. [via B&H] 

Syrp's timelapse machine, the Genie, rocks at what it does despite some limitations. You can read our full review of the unit here. Many of those limitations are made easier to swallow once you see what you can do with the new Magic Carpet slider, a tool with a lot of options for both video and timelapse.  

The Samsung NX30 is a very affordable, DSLR-like mirrorless camera with a lot of features and a lot of promise.

Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week you can win the entire suite of Macphun software and an Instax 90 Mini camera. This contest is judged by photographer Karen Hutton. 

The What: