We heard that this was going to happen, but now it's official: GoPro has filed for IPO after their 2013 sales shot up 87.4% to $985.7M. Amidst other camera companies like Sony and Nikon who are struggling of late, GoPro is stands tall with outstanding growth and sales.
Sony posted some pretty staggering losses last week, and Nikon is apparently not faring much better as the company stock value fell "4 percent to 1,567 yen, its lowest close since March 2011. The company announced net income of 46.8 billion yen for last fiscal year, missing its own forecast of 50 billion yen.*" When peering at the chart of stock value over the last year, it's not a great outlook.
If you have been wanting to get into using the new Sony full frame compact cameras, they're on instant rebate today. The a7 is $200 off and the a7r with the E-mount adapter is $250 off. Before you pick one up, make sure to check out our review. If nothing else, the sensors are beautiful.
Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week you can Nikon 1 J1 mirrorless camera and a NIKKOR 10-30mm VR Lens by submitting your "Dirt Road" photo. This contest will be judged by Vitaliy Zalishchyker, a photo student based in Hamburg, Germany.
A few weeks ago I released a video featuring my friend and fellow photographer Blair Bunting in the backseat of an F16. The video blew up on Reddit (#1 in r/Videos making it to the top 5 of the front page), was featured on Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Daily Mail, Telegraph, CNN, ABC World News with Dianne Sawyer, hundreds of other blogs and even was officially recognized by YouTube. But for reasons still unexplained to me, it has been removed from YouTube and there is nothing I can do about it.
Sony, a company I think many of us really want to succeed in the imaging space, posted their fiscal year results that ended March 31, 2014. The company reported a $1.29 billion loss overall with the imaging division down 2% over last year, the third straight year of losses for the division.
There has been significant chatter on both the Fstoppers staff and in the general comments we've been hearing and reading regarding Canon's move to introduce slower lens iterations, but with image stabilization, of their older faster glass. We've heard arguments on both sides of the table, but we're curious: what do you think?
Canon has added another STM (stepping motor) lens to their lineup for those of you who are already fans of the 70D and Rebel T5i (though the T5i does not take advantage of the STM technology nearly to the degree the 70D Dual Pixel Sensor does). The 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 EF-S IS STM LENS has just been announced, and though it's not what many of us desire in a lens, being the unpleasant combination of variable aperture and slow, it does come in at a very enticing price point.
Sound is critical to a successful video. Clear sound. Crisp sound. Real sounding sound. Once you get into audio (and I mean really get into it), it's hard to get out. "Pictures say a thousand words? Sounds say 10,000 words." It's rather literal, but it's true. Sound is often under-appreciated in video and that's a shame. This video is an ode to sound.
Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! This week you can win a Tamron SP 24-70 F/2.8 Di VC USD by submitting your best golden hour photo. This contest will be judged by Michael C. Snell, a travel photographer based in Lawrence, Kansas.
If you've been a long time reader of Fstoppers, you might recall one of my original editorial pieces: How China Changed the American Lighting Industry. At the time of its publication, I had just come off a recent spell of a few years at an American photographic lighting company and got to see first hand how American greed led to a Chinese takeover of the industry. In the years following that article, the problem hasn't gotten any better. If anything, it's gotten far worse, and to the detriment of you as a consumer.
Earlier this week Samsung showed me their new NX3000 consumer-level camera via video call. You might not know it, but Samsung is flying up the sales charts in the mirrorless interchangeable lens compact camera market. They're number two behind Sony, mostly because their aimed specifically at the very wide consumer market with well-priced items. The new NX3000 is no different at $529 and will fit into the current line between the NX300 and the NX Mini.
Check out this footage taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Montery, California (my old stomping grounds!) from Cheesycam.com. The footage is, because it is on Vimeo, not 4K obviously since it's not supported, but you can download the original footage here. What do you think?
It seems that anyone can make a camera, but it takes a true visionary to craft a truly excellent camera. It's not the camera we want, but the camera we need. the WALLEY POS-86 is that camera, and it's going to redefine what we think of cinematography from this point forward. 16-bit RAW processing, 3D capabilities, beautiful on-camera light built-in, and all in a compact and well-built ergonomic design.
Fstoppers has partnered with the awesome folks at ViewBug to bring you sweet, sweet contests weekly! We're starting things off with a bang by giving away your choice of a Canon 5K Mark III or a Nikon D800, arguably two of the best DSLRs on the market. The theme of the contest is "Creative Compositions." The contest will be judged by Dan Carr, a senior photographer for the Canadian ski magazine Skier.
Videos like this help bring awareness of disaster situations which in turn brings aid and funding for recovery efforts. It can be argued that videos like this are pivotally important in the modern age for any area of the United States to get the help they need. But the FAA, still miffed about drones in general, is considering fining the videographer $10,000 for taking the footage.
Sony has announced the successor to the α77 in the α77II. The camera, according to Sony, is designed for "advanced amateurs" and has enhanced features like "the world's highest number of AF points in a new phase detect autofocus system with 79 focal points" and can "shoot at up to 12 fps for 60 total frames with continuous AF." Sony has also purportedly increased the sensor sensitivity by 20%, which means better low-light performance.
Quick note about a deal that is really had to pass up. The Sony 16GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card is on sale for a very low $12.50 right now. I personally use a few of the 64 GB cards of the same class for all my video work and have found them to be very reliable. If you need a backup card or just want to pick up some cheap memory, now is your chance. [Go to Deal]
"Here come the G's." Words that might not mean anything to you sitting at your computer, but if you're strapped into the back seat of an F-16, it means remember your breathing training and don't pass out. Blair Bunting, recent addition to the Nikon Ambassadors list, took to the skies with the United Air Force Thunderbirds in part to see if he could sustain 9 G's.
Tamron's VC technology can't be beat: it's simply the best option out there for any type of optical stabilization. I can't live without it when it comes to video, and it's so good it often makes using a steady cam unnecessary. Common complaints with Tamron is often the build quality and sharpness, so let's see how their latest super zoom, the 150-600 f/5-6.3 handled a wildlife shoot.
For those who dabble in video but come from a photo background, you might not know the difference between a still lens and a video lens. If you do, you might not know why those differences exist. DSLR Video Shooter has this really informative video that breaks down the differences and shows you how to convert your still lenses into cinema glass.
Nikon today announced four new ambassadors to their rather impressive lineup of photographers who already included the likes of Dixie Dixon, Joe McNally and Corey Rich. The four additions include Fstoppers contributor and advertising photographer Blair Bunting, Bambi Cantrell, Doug Gordon, and Tamara Lackey.
The Lytro field camera was cute, but completely impractical for anyone who really wanted to take professional imagery. It was a weird rectangle that just never felt like anything more than a toy. Today Lytro intends to change that with the release of their professionally-focused Light Field Camera Illum. It comes with a 30mm-250mm lens equivalent with a constant f/2.0 aperture and will ship starting July 2014 for $1,599.
It's pretty easy to get caught up in the MoVI hype- it's an outstanding achievement in camera stabilization technology. Magnanimous Media, a large video rental house in Chicago, took some time to explain what the MoVI is really good at, while also tempering expectations on what it can do and what a traditional steady cam would better for.
Though no one at Sigma has ever told me they were gunning to best the Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus when they released the 50mm f/1.4 Art, it's been pretty widely accepted that was their goal (since crushing Nikon and Canon glass doesn't seem to be a challenge lately). But recent DxO tests show Sigma fell short of this. But it's pretty easy to see it's still the best 50mm on the market.
WD, of the Western Digital Company, released what I thought to be an outstanding addition to their line: a thunderbolt-powered dual hard drive that promised speeds of up to 233 MB/s. No additional cables, small, user-selectable RAID and fast? The My Passport Pro looked like it could easily be the road-version of my Lacie d2. But it's more than that. It replaced my Lacie.
We saw specs for the Pentax 645Z leaked a couple days ago, but now we can compare them to the official announcement made by Pentax. The 645Z is a medium format monster of a camera featuring a 51.4 megapixel sensor, 3 frames per second shooting, full HD video at 60i/30P frame rate and internal 4K resolution recording (3840 x 2160 pixels; in Motion JPEG or AVI video format).
If you had to guess, you probably would have guessed $1200 for the upcoming and highly anticipated Sigma 50mm f/1.4. It's the most common guess I've heard. It's a good guess, and one that takes into consideration the quality that Sigma has been putting out recently and the pricing of competitors. But it would be a wrong guess. That's right, Sigma has decided to keep the lens in the sub-$1000 price range at only $949.
Earlier this year at WPPI, ProMediaGear showed us something we thought was really awesome: a slider that easily flips between curved and straight. It's a really simple idea that no one had ever thought of: why can't the two types coexist? Now ProMediaGear wants to get their slider to market faster through crowd-funding on Kickstarter.
Apparently Blackmagic has been busy this past year, as not only have we seen the URSA at NAB, but also they just announced the Studio Camera. Inside its magnesium alloy body you get a massive 10” viewfinder, 4 hour battery, talkback, tally indicators, phantom powered microphone connections and built in optical fiber and SDI connections that let you connect to your switcher with a single cable.
Blackmagic has announced a new camera, the URSA. It has multiple accessories built in, including a massive 10 inch fold out on set monitor, large user upgradable Super 35 global shutter 4K image sensor and internal dual RAW and Apple ProRes recorders. It also has a swappable sensor, so you can choose EF or PL lens mounts, or even a broadcast video sensor with B4 mount, or even upgrade the camera in the future.
Sony's newly announced a7S is shaping up to be a video behemoth. Yes, this video really impressed me. With its light weight and quality sensor, if they hit the right price point Sony could have the camera I would be tempted to leave Canon for. "Features newly developed, wide dynamic range sensor with awe-inspiring sensitivity.
For quite some time now Samsung has seemed content to sell their SD card tech unbranded and basically unknown to the public. You might be unaware you're using a Samsung SD or Micro SD right now, either locked away in your phone or branded under a different name. But starting today, Samsung has decided to change that, offering three new levels from consumer to pro, with the pro 64 GB card showing impressive specs for a first-time seller.
A little over a year ago, we showed you the original SOLOSHOT, a fantastic idea that made it so you could make video footage that followed you based on your location without a cameraman, via a small tracking device you strap to yourself. It's a brilliant concept, and SOLOSHOT is releasing a version 2 with some great new features.
This week at NAB, Adobe Premiere and After Effects are getting some new features, including Live Text Templates (After Effects text effects can be directly edited in Premiere), and keying effects in After Effects to provide better keying results with compressed footage among a host of other improvements.
