Tag Archives: gear
Lighting Review: Rogue Flash Benders
One of the most common search criteria on Google that coincides with photography is that of lighting. It’s no surprise as photography really is all about the light, and when making and taking photos (yes, there’s a difference), one of the key things that people can grasp quite easily is the success of a photo is often very dependent on the lighting.
It’s not the body, it’s the glass! (New Canon gear…)
Okay, while everyone is salivating (or slamming) on the new 60D Canon just announced, let’s not forget that it’s not really about the body upgrades – it’s the glass we want to invest in. And, true to form, there are also a significant number of additions and upgrades to the Canon lens line-up that bear some discussion, so here we go: Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens – Touted as the worlds widest fisheye zoom, it’s an impressive feat, but not many shooters really need such a lens. At $1400 price point, the price point will likely be too … Continue reading
49 Photo Tips – The Sequel
About eight months ago, I cobbled together a laundry list of almost 50 photo tips and tricks to help with everything from gear to composition, photoshop, and more. Given the penchant for sharing these things online, I decided to launch it as an eBook – but in the interests of keeping it simple, didn’t add much of anything. It was basically a spreadsheet with a category on the left and the tip or trick on the right. Given the minimal overhead I had put into the design, decided on a bargain basement price – $1.99. Half a cup of coffee, … Continue reading
The Photographer’s Workout
You’d think with toting camera bags chock full of bodies, lenses, field drives, lighting equipment, filters, tripods, monopods, and batteries would be enough to give anyone a workout who carries it all day. It is a lot of stuff to carry, and you can certainly accredit some cardio to this activity, but there’s other ways to work out as a photographer. Today, I give you: 5 Photography Exercises
Lexar Pro 300X CF Cards – Giveaway and Review
Got the need for speed? These new Lexar cards are just insanely fast. I got a few of these recently to give away on the LDP contest series over on Flickr (which is underway now by the way). It was actually a set of three, but a review was in order, so one of the three got opened for testing.
The Droid Hath Come
That’s right folks – the time has come for an upgrade to my rinky dinky 1990′s flip phone. I’ve gotten with the decade and upgraded to a Droid from Motorola (yes, I am on Verizon). The upgrade was pretty smooth, although the “tech” at Best Buy had trouble migrating my contacts over. Since I use Gmail for most of my contact info anyway, I figured it would migrate in pretty seamlessly once I got online and sure enough, everything pulled down no problem. So, how is this related to photography? Well, I can now take and share 5 MP photos … Continue reading
Cameras at Ten Paces…
If you think about it, cameras often share terminology with them…we go out to “shoot”. We aim, we fire, and our shutter release is often analogous to a trigger not only in what it does, but in the proper technique (slow and steady as you exhale). So, when I read recently about a camera holster, it kind of made sense. The entire system seems kind of cool, and they claim it’s designed for “even the heaviest of professional grade camera gear”. In a line of work where gear is often just off-the-charts expensive, I was surprised to find the Spider … Continue reading
An interva-what?
A friend of mine asked me if I had any recommendations the other day about time lapse…specifically software for post production. It’s a great question and brings up a subject that I am actually quite interested in, although I have no hands-on experience with as of yet. He’s got a Nikon D300, which apparently has the feature built in, so lucky him, because I need to go find an intervalometer now! An interva-what? You heard me – an intervalometer! It’s just a fancy name for a remote control timer. I like the former though as it’s cool sounding word! … Continue reading
Putting the Pieces Together, Dream Camera #4
You may recall that a while ago, I decided to start building my ideal perfect “dream camera”! In fact, I devoted 3 blog posts to it, and you’ve patiently waited for the grand finale, so here it is – what rounds out the list for the ultimate dream camera! For those that need a refresher, here’s what’s included so far (click the title to go the blog post where each item is explained in detail): Part 1 Full Frame Sensor EF-S support Low Light Performance ISO handling Multi-card compatibility Part 2 Megapixels Video Frame Rate HDMI support Internal wireless/Bluetooth Part … Continue reading
Saving Money is Always Good
In photography it’s pretty much accepted that you get what you pay for. If you want super fast glass with pristine optics, then expect to pay for it. Alternatively, if you’re on a budget, don’t expect apertures in the 2.8 range do bring the sharpest images. You can also kiss things like Image Stabilization goodbye (Vibration Reduction for the Nikonian crowd). So, yeah, we all know that photography is a field where you have to spend money. But, this does not mean you have to spend money unnecessarily. When there are savings out there to be had, I am all … Continue reading
Building the Perfect Camera, Pt. 1
One of the more recent episodes from the guys over at This Week in Photography had them wrapping up their coverage of PMA, where they talked tech about all the latest cameras to come out from the various vendors. Canon was noticeably absent from the show, but it didn’t detract from an interesting comment I think Ron Brinkmann said where he wished he could pull all his favorite features from each of the cameras and basically make his own. To me, the idea screamed “blog post”! So, I decided to go for it. I went through every major SLR on … Continue reading
Please stand by…optimizing
You know these things, right? The hourglass in Windows, the spinning color wheel on the Mac – all signs that your computer is doing important stuff, right? Well, it happened to me last night in the middle of, well….nothing really, I was just surfing the web, reading some of my daily hits. Whenever I get these kinds of messages, it’s a sign to me that things need to be cleaned up. I’ve installed too many trial programs for testing – my working drive is getting cluttered. I’ve not re-booted in a few days. We all know the drill, and we … Continue reading
Traveling and Photography – Episode #40
So, the weekend was spent on lots of photography stuff – we had the February edition of our Creativty Workshop Series here with the Denver Photo Meetup group and that was a lot of fun. The theme for this outing was contrast, and the group came up with a lot of great examples. For a peek at some of the member shots, be sure to stop over there and look at the photo gallery: Denver Photowalk Creativity Workshop Series In other news, Erik Bernskiold and I got together again to do another episode of the Learning Digital Photography podcast. Episode … Continue reading
Hardware Review: Rapid R Strap
I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to talk about my Rapid R Strap. This is a very cool camera strap developed by the folks over at Black Rapid. I had been wanting one for a while, and made it known to everyone prior to the holidays over a year ago (think pre-Christmas 2008). Thankfully, my wife saw the writing on the wall, and I ended up with one on Christmas Day! So, let me tell you what makes this camera strap unique. First off, it’s unique design has a built in “stop” so that you just let your camera … Continue reading
The Canon Rebel T2i – A First Look
Yes, that’s right, I am looking at the T2i, but like everyone else, my look is virtual rather than real, so for those expecting a hands-on review, you’ll have to wait until it ships. For what it’s worth though, here’s some initial thoughts on looking through the specs that Canon released. First off, their PR description from the landing page on their website:
Camera Bag Must Haves?
Over the weekend in between packing and moving boxes, I spent a little time with the Twitterverse and had a chance to get some fun dialogs going. One of the questions posed was “Camera body aside, what are the must have essentials for you in your camera bag?” My answer was my two filters, the polarizing filter and the ND filter for the wide angle (10-22) and telephoto (70-200) respectively. I got some great responses from people that I thought would be interesting to share here on the blog today. Here’s the responses from each twitter name: tcrpmg: Charger, extra … Continue reading
I Got a Camera for Christmas – Now What?
With the major holiday of the year behind us, many are proudly wielding new cameras…but many are also asking questions. The most popular question I am getting via emails is something along the lines of: “I got a new ______ for Christmas. Now What?” (Insert your own camera make/model in the blank) The answer to this really depends on what, if anything, you had before the new item made its way into your hands. For simplicity sake, I’ll break the response down to 3 different categories: 1. This is your first “serious” camera, and you are making the foray into … Continue reading
Last Minute Gift Guide
Is your shopping done? Mine isn’t – I am going to be braving the stores tomorrow for some last minute ideas I had that popped in my head over the weekend. Unfortunately for Tracy, she is not a photographer, so camera-related items are not really an option. But, if you are running out of time and ideas, rest assured, I’ve got a few more here for you today. Fair warning though, because when you’ve waited this long to shop, the sticker prices for items are generally in the higher end rather than the lower end. (You may recall that I … Continue reading
The Nifty Fifty from Sigma
After a couple weeks there of some touch-and-go blogging, rest assured, things are back into high gear this week. Today the trusty hardware review returns, and regular content is on the horizons for sure. Thanks for all the patience of those who have stuck around during some down time. Today, we’ll be taking at the Sigma 50mm lens, f1.4.
The 1D Mark Huh?
You knew it was gonna happen. A new camera body has hit the market from Canon. It was only a matter of time. The latest? The Canon 1D Mark IV! (That’s four in Roman numerals…) What’s it got going for it? Lots of features and functions. Everything is being discussed ad infinitum from Megapixels to frame rates, to video, to shutter speeds to ISO’s, and everything in between. In the end, I’ve come to one conclusion: the camera market is always changing, always advancing, and new gear is coming out all the time – from all the vendors. Want some … Continue reading
Sigma Lightstand – Hardware Review
This week’s hardware review is the Sigma Lightstand. Specifically, the Impact 8 foot Air Cushion Lightstand. While you may think that this is something that wouldn’t garner much discussion – I actually have found this to be a very handy tool. “Tool?”, you ask. Yes, a tool. Sure, it’s primary function is to hold lights, but look at the variety even there – I’ve used it for small flashes (like my 550 EX II), studio strobes from Smith Victor, and water bags. Lest you do a double take, that’s right, I used it along with a makeshift boom (arm that … Continue reading
Steady as She Goes…
This first day after a long Memorial weekend, things are a little slow out of the starting gate, but as luck would have it, slow and steady is the theme for today, because my gear review that I postponed from yesterday is none other than the trusty tripod! The tripod is probably one of the most basic and easy-to-understand pieces of equipment in a photographer’s gear bag – yet likely one of the least used. I can’t tell you the number of times (myself included) I have heard someone utter “Argh! I left my tripod back in my car!” We’ve … Continue reading
The 70-200L f4.0
In keeping with the last few weeks of hardware reviews, I am taking a look in my own bag one more time to bring you this weeks’ hardware review: the 70-200mm L lens from Canon. Canon has several variants on this lens, with different minimal apertures both with and without Image Stabilization (IS). So, in the interests of full disclosure, this is a non-IS lens, and the aperture range is the standard one, 4.0 to 5.6. So, with that distinction being made, we’re off and running: The “L” distinction is one that bears discussion right off – Canon only gives … Continue reading
Cactus, Trigger, Zebra, Oh My!
Remember the old game of password where you said a related word to one on your card to get your partner to guess it? Well, here goes: What do the words cactus, trigger, and zebra all have in common? If you answered “flash photography” you’d be right! As you may have realized, that does mean that the podcast will not come out today – I simply didn’t have time to get all my thoughts and notes together. So instead, here’s a review of sorts that I did just earlier this evening. A while back I decided to ditch the Canon … Continue reading
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