Articles from Jaron Schneider

Last month we reported Sigma's total revamp of their lens lineup. Their new organization would place lenses in one of three categories: Art, Sports, and Contemporary. Those categories were then immediately filled by three new lenses: The 35mm f/1.4, the 120-300mm f/2.8, and the 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0 macro. The new offerings looked extremely appealing, and this past week we got a hands-on demo with the prototypes.

Derrick Story of thedigitalstory.com has been a fan of the Olympus portable cameras for a few years now, and has really taken a liking to the Olympus OM-D E-M5 mirrorless camera. He recently traveled to Cologne, Germany armed with the micro four thirds compact camera, and his story proves that you can get a whole lot of bang for such a small package.

There are a few names in this industry that have always meant something. Nikon. Canon. Hasselblad. Fuji. Kodak. The latter has had a rough go of things in the past couple years, culminating in what can essentially be called a final meltdown in early 2012. Chapter Eleven bankruptcy and a rapidly collapsing stock price have left the company a shell of what it was. This week at PhotoPlus, I saw the realization of that at their booth, and it was one of the saddest things I have experienced in recent memory.

I can’t have been the only one caught by surprise when I first heard of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera earlier this year. Let’s be honest: to those of us in this field, there are only a handful of companies from whom we expect to see new cameras. Sure, once in a while we get a newcomer to the field, but they rarely capture our attention for long. Fact is, they just can’t hold up in a market saturated with top quality equipment. We as consumers only have so much money to spend. Blackmagic Design turned that stigma on its head.

Reviewing this lens has not been a simple task. As is the case with, say, a new Apple product, many can argue that the original 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens is so good that any improvement would or should simply be a minor enhancement or fix. A new version should just address what little quibbles we all have had over the past several years. Little things. And with little changes should come minor price adjustments, if at all. This did not happen with the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L II, and thus I am hit with the daunting task of wrangling in this new piece of hardware.

Yeah, I know. None of us really love Facebook anymore, but it can't be denied that it is still a great tool to communicate to a vast community of people. For us, that means staying in contact with the people that make us who we are. Fstoppers has never been about us, but about the creative community that is constantly growing. Today we hit a big landmark: 100,000 fans. Thank you everyone, and now we humbly ask you to tell us what we can do to keep getting better.

We just received word from B&H that the Canon EOS M, which was expected to ship yesterday, was delayed until October 31. No word on why as of yet, but for those of you expecting the review from us or to pick one up for yourself, you'll have to wait a bit longer.

Perfect travel or street photography is a delicate concoction of the right place and the right time mixed with a superb eye for the extraordinary. William J Palank is one of those individuals who managed to brew that concoction with a supernatural elegance. While traversing the globe, his weapon of choice these days is the Leica M9, a digital rangefinder that produces an uncannily beautiful image. To help us celebrate Mirrorless Month, Palank describes what about the Lecia M9 allows him to shoot at his best.

Normally RED cameras can be purchased from the RED online store for $11,900 USD. However, due to a project where a large number of RED cameras were needed simultaneously for one shot, there are now a limited number of RED cameras that can be purchased at a $5K USD discount. They all have only a few minutes of footage that was ever shot on them. Talk about a deal!

Aokatec has released new AK-G GPS units for Nikon DSLR cameras (and also the Coolpix P7700) which are available on Amazon for $80. The pricing is in stark contrast to the Nikon's GP-1 GPS unit, which costs a rather hefty $194.95 (the GP-1A version for the D600 costs $312).

Felix Baumgartner is up in the air, and if all goes well he will be the first man go to supersonic without the use of a propulsion device: Just him and his space suit. The first launch was aborted due to high winds, but this one seems to be going smoothly. You can get more information outside of the video here at Red Bull Stratos.

Creating new ideas in the lighting industry isn't an easy thing. Even if you have a great new idea, getting people to accept that new concept is a long and tedious process. That said, I'm always excited to see innovation. New company SpinLight 360 is about to release a new line of products that look a little unusual.

Some might argue not to fix what ain't broken, but then again, where's the fun in that? Whether or not these designs actually result in a camera that works better than those we have become accustomed to, I'm happy that there are some out there who just aren't satisfied with resting on the design laurels of others. Check out these five interesting, and perhaps really innovative, camera designs. Would you pick one up if you saw it on a shelf?

Redrock has announced the release of a pro-grade baseplate specifically for taller DSLRs and Red Scarlet/Epic called the lowBase. The lowBase is designed specifically for taller camera bodies so cinema accessories can be easily adapted and rigs can be quickly configured. It also works with popular DSLRs configured with a battery grip, such as Canon 5D MKII, Canon 5D MKIII, Canon 7D, Canon 60D and Nikon D800, all starting at a price Redrock hopes you'll love: $200.

You know how sometimes you get that annoying flare when taking a photo? I mean yeah, sometimes it's artsy, but other times it's just annoying. Don't you wish there was an easy way to get rid of that flare? It's an achievement that would change photography forever. Apple leads the way in pioneering new ways of thinking, as yesterday they solved this issue. Photographers rejoice!

Mirrorless cameras, also known as ILC (interchangeable lens compact), are here to stay. What was once a small, experimental segment of the market has ballooned into the fastest growing camera style over the past two years. At first only available from the market pioneers Olympus and Panasonic, now nearly every camera brand has jumped on the ILC bandwagon. Even Hasselblad wants a piece of the action. You've probably been considering picking one up yourself, so Fstoppers and Lowepro are here to make that decision easier. Welcome to Mirrorless Month.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony is buying up a healthy share of Olympus stock, furthering on their previous announcement that the two companies would share tech and co-produce product. This is a huge, bold move that makes real Sony's promise to continue to build their camera division. Sony, I am impressed. You're on your way to making me a believer.

What does it take to turn a blue BMW M5 into a bullet? A little of this, and a little of that, but mostly it takes a team of talented individuals with a dream and the know-how. With a limitless imagination, impeccable understanding of light and meticulous attention to detail, photographer/director Marek Glaser and Big Block digital productions took the imaginary and made it reality.

The universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years old, and a recent composite of images taken on NASA's Hubble Telescope show 13.2 billion of those. Earth years, that is. Called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, the photo was assembled by combining 10 years of NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken of a patch of sky at the center of the original Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The XDF is a small fraction of the angular diameter of the full moon.

Update: Warner Brothers has asked us to remove the images.

Some images have surfaced on Imgur that show some white backdrop, studio images taken for the release of the original Dark Knight. From what I understand, these are images that poster designers would use to craft the extremely popular and highly lucrative (both as a movie advertisement and as individual sale) designs to support the movie.

BorrowLenses recently published a test they did looking at the sharpness between Canon's latest 24-70mm f/2.8 L II lens and the original, and were pleased to note several distinct reasons you might want to pick up the new one. The new version two has less chromatic aberrations, less vignetting, and is also sharper than the original. Though we are still testing this lens and haven't yet reached a verdict, their test might help you decide one way or the other.

So you've been thinking about the iPhone 5. And if you're not, you still probably upraded to iOS 6 today (well I did anyway). What if you don't want to go through any more hassle with Apple? What if you want to upgrade your camera, but don't want to buy a new phone? BorrowLenses came up with a kind of ridiculous option in case you find yourself looking to do the preposterous.

Zeiss has announced the impending release of a new line of full frame DSLR lenses for Canon and Nikon. They will be a family of lenses independent of the current ZE and ZF.2 lenses. At the moment, they are focusing on the development of prime lenses for release in fall of 2013.

SmugMug is celebrating its 10th birthday, and want you to partake in the festivities by giving away a year of SmugMug Pro (awesome website/portfolio hosting service) and a copy of Lightroom 4 (the best combination photo editing and photography workflow program) for either PC or Mac! We have extended the deadline until tomorrow, so get your entries in!

Lensbaby has released a new member to the selective focus family: the Spark. A manual pull focus lens, the Spark joins the Composer, Scout, and Control Freak lenses that have become popular with portrait photographers around the world. So what's special about the Spark? Let's take a look.

Rather playfully, Hasselblad's press release this morning stated "Hasselblad Plans Lunar Launch," which obviously did not make me instantly think "camera." And I don't think any of us would put a real lunar launch out of the realm of possibility for Hasselblad. But the truth is, Hasselblad has revealed plans for a new mirrorless camera called the Lunar that has plans for a 2013 release.

We leaked the photos earlier this afternoon, and not an hour later Lowepro officially announced the Rover Pro AW series bags. These two lightweight, technical backpacks are built for active outdoor professional and enthusiasts photographers who need a comfortable and supportive way to hike with heavy loads of equipment over long and varied terrain. Travel Photographer Michael Clark has already taken this horse through its paces and given it a clean bill of health.

Our sources have cued us in on the impending release of a new Lowepro DSLR travel bag called the Rover Pro AW, and from what we can see this thing looks pretty sweet. We anticipate two different sizes, the 45L and the 35L, which goes in line with what Lowepro has done in the past. It looks to be a mountain-climbing, hiking, and otherwise sporty outdoorsy bag that is tailored for that "rough-and-tumble" photographer.

Here's a little interesting development: Starting immediately, all newly produced interchangeable lenses from Sigma will be designed for and organized into one of three product categories: Contemporary, Art and Sports. Sigma is also launching three new lenses. Haven't seen this from anyone done quite the way Sigma is going at it. So what does it mean?