In December, I went along to my friend Paul’s leaving do. He was departing the UK to live with his family in the US, and was spending his last few weeks visiting friends in Britain and Europe before the big move. This was the turn of his London friends to get together and toast his departure – a Christmas dinner in an Indian restaurant, and a chance to wish him well for a new stage in his life....
As you can see from the embedded YouTube video above, Blackmagic is going live in a few hours to announce “new developments in cameras”. Blackmagic does “camera updates” like this fairly regularly, but usually, they come with a pretty big announcement. Sometimes it’s a major firmware update that adds major new functionality and sometimes it’s a whole new camera. If it is a new camera, though, what could it be?...
Here is something we did not see coming. SmugMug, a photo management company, just bought Flickr, one of the foundation pillars of online photo sharing. The purchase amount remains unknown, as well as the other terms of the deal. Alastair Jolly, Global Marketing Manager for SmugMug tells DIYP that “Through this acquisition, SmugMug will now extend this dedication to the largest photography community in the world benefitting tens of millions more photographers and putting their work and inspiration first....
With Halloween already over for half of the planet, it might be a bit late for this video. But, it’s never the wrong time to put a spooky horror set together for a photo shoot. With that in mind, here’s Jay P Morgan from The Slanted Lens to show us how he built this Halloween set in his living room for under $100. It’s some pretty thrifty spending to get a set built for under $100....
3D printing offers us some wonderfully creative options for developing, prototyping, and ultimately making excellent practical tools to help us with our photography and filmmaking. It also allows us to be as silly as we want to be, too. Sometimes, the best of both worlds can be combined into something practical, yet also hilarious. As is the case with this particular design. If you’re a Canon shooter with a 3D printer and a cookie addiction, this model uploaded by FloridaMan999 (what a name!...
While I don’t typically miss the digital cameras of old, I’ve really been quite enjoying the recent trend for “reviewing” these older cameras. And while I never owned most of them, I do still have a pair of 20-year-old Nikon D100 bodies and remember seeing many of the other popular models of the day. One such camera was the Nikon Coolpix 990, a strange little camera with a swivelling lens and handle....
Pentax might be clinging onto DSLRs for dear life, but if it wasn’t already clear the Canon had pretty much abandoned its DSLRs – what with the 7D line discontinued and the EOS R5 and EOS R6 effectively becoming replacements for the 5D and 6D DSLR lines respectively – I think their decision to kill off a number of popular higher-end lenses speaks volumes. According to a report on Canon Rumors, who is also running a tally of recently discontinued Canon lenses, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM II and the somewhat legendary Canon EF 85mm f/1....
It was three years ago, in 2015 when Canon released the EOS C300 Mark II. It came with some pretty significant advantages over the original EOS C300 cinema camera. But it’s time to start thinking about another refresh. And that’s exactly what Canon Rumors says is happening in 2019. But that C300 Mark III refresh may include the option of an 8K sensor. CR reports that, at launch, the EOS C300 Mark III will be announced as a 4K DCI camera, like the C300 Mark II, but that it will be able to be upgraded to 8K for an additional cost after purchase....
Canon has published the financial results of the first quarter of 2020, and as it was probably expected – they’re not good. The results show that the sales have dropped by 25% in the Q1 of 2020. Of course, there’s an obvious cause of such poor results: the coronavirus. In the quarterly report, Canon writes that the coronavirus pandemic has caused the global economy to decline. “The U.S. economy remained on a path of modest growth until February, thanks to the strong employment situation,” Canon writes....
If you’ve ever wanted to bring together the quality of the DSLR and the spontaneity of an instant camera, C.P. Goerz joins them in Citograph 35mm f/8 lens. The lens is always in focus, and it’s aimed to “put the ‘Insta’ back into Instagram.” and “bring the spontaneity back to photography while maintaining the highest standards of photo creation.” The Citograph 35mm f/8 lens is a compact, lightweight Tessar-type lens that doesn’t have any moving parts....
Comica has announced its new Comica BoomX-D Pro wireless microphone system. There are two packages available including one receiver and either one or two transmitters that have a built-in microphone as well as the ability to plug in an external lav – one of which is included in the kit for each of your transmitters. The BoomX-D Pro microphone system includes a couple of features that so far have only been found in the Rode Wireless GO II....
In my newest video I compared the 6 different softbox options available from Cheetah. This includes the Quick SoupBowl (QSB-26, QSB-34, QSB-42), Quick RiceBowl (QRB-36, QRB-48) and Max20. 26″ QSB-26 34” QSB-34 42” QSB-42 20″ MAX20 36” QRB-36 48” QRB-48 Beauty Dish Plate for all quick softboxes Cheetah Rolling Boom Stand There’s plenty of details in the video as well as my take on the difference, but I wanted to use an article as a place where people could view the images at their own speed....
If you’re new to working with flash, especially when shooting portraits, all of the different terms for different lights can be quite confusing. With no context whatsoever, “key”, “fill”, “rim”, “kicker”, etc. are all kind of vague and non-descript. Once you understand the purpose for each, though, the naming convention becomes quite obvious. In this video, photographer John Gress walks us through each of the different terms used for different types of lighting position, as well as how and why each of them are used when shooting portraits....
A few years ago, Nikolas Moldenhauer of Media Division showed us how he and Kolari Vision modified and used an ultra-fast f/0.7 lens. And now, Nikolas and his team have gone even further and built something “impossible.” It’s an f/0.3 lens, faster than any lens you’ve ever seen. In a video, Nikolas shares the entire process behind this incredible piece of gear. What’s more, Media Division also filmed a short film on it to show you its capabilities....
Ever since it was launched to Mars, and especially since it landed, all eyes have been on the NASA Perseverance rover. The hype has been so great that we almost forgot about of its “big brother,” Curiosity. But it has reminded us of his presence on Mars with the latest photo it took, and it almost looks like a tourist selfie in front of a landmark. Curiosity has been up there on Mars since 2012 and it provided us with plenty of stunning photos so far....
Recently I got to interview, Dennis Dunbar. Dennis is a composite artist and retoucher who says ‘Ever since 1991 I’ve been adding the Photoshop Magic to movie posters and images for ad campaigns. And I love working on cool images whether they’re for the latest blockbuster movie or a shot of a beautiful model or a product shot for a new ad campaign.’ DIYP: Tell us a little about how you got into photoshop/retouching, and who your influences are....
The 1960s medium format Diana camera has inspired some interesting builds before. An interesting Kickstarter project brings you another Diana F+ inspired camera – this time it’s an instant camera with interchangeable lenses. The Diana Instant Square is the world’s first Instax camera with interchangeable lenses and a hot-shoe mount. And if you’re into instant cameras, looks like this one could give you plenty of creative options. The Diana Instant Square works with Fujifilm Instax Square Film....
If you’re in a market for a drone, there are many options to choose from. DJI launched Phantom 4 back in May this year, and two versions of Mavic 2 were launched a few weeks ago. In this video, Parker Walbeck gives you an in-depth comparison of the DJI Mavic Pro 2 and the Phantom 4 Pro. So in case you’re wondering which one to buy, or if you should upgrade from a drone you already own: this video is for you....
DJI has announced that they’re partnering up with Microsoft to announce new developer tools for Windows. The tools are designed to enable real-time AI and machine learning for drones. This, DJI says, will help businesses “harness the power of commercial drone technology and edge cloud computing”. It all sounds very cool, but I’m having some pretty serious Terminator 3 flashbacks. Of course, it’s not quite that type of AI. The SDK will allow direct connection between DJI’s drones and Windows computers to offer full flight control and data transfer....
A couple months ago, we had a family friend who got a hold of some really old family photos. She came over and asked me if there was any way that I could convert her old slides to digital images. Since I do not own a slide scanner, I was about to tell her that there was nothing I could do, that was until I came up with a plan B....
