I’ve seen a few posts recently about Westcott’s new FJ400 strobe, with a couple of sites labeling it the “best value strobe” on the market. We even covered the announcement here on DIYP and it looks fairly impressive, holding up to competitors like the Godox AD400Pro quite well in many respects. But is it really Westcott’s new strobe? Or is it Jinbei’s HD400, released over a year ago, just with “Westcott” stamped on it?...

“It’s a camera bag, for God’s sake. Just pick one already.” Therese was losing patience. We had been standing in the “Shoot and Sparkle” booth looking at camera bags for the past 20 minutes, jostled about like riders in a packed subway car. The camera bag booths at photography trade shows are always the busiest. Women packed shoulder to shoulder. You’d think it wouldn’t it would be that way, right?...

If you browse through random wedding photos on the internet, you could soon get bored. You’ll also probably notice something: they’re all kinda similar. But why is this so? In this video, Jamie Windsor discusses why wedding photos are boring, but he also suggests how this can (and should) be changed. Jamie gives a couple of examples from TV series and movies. He notes that their creators have developed a sort of “cinematic archetype” over time, which they use to tell stories....

I am hopelessly pragmatic. I feel this the most when I am out with the camera and conditions are very favorable. My approach then is to shoot as many compositions as possible in shortest possible time. Depending on my mood, this may result in fits of anger when I turn a camera wheel in the wrong direction, or when the tripod legs won’t extend as fast as I desire. I am trying to point out that I am all over the place when mother nature smiles at me,…....

The wireless microphone space is growing. Content creators, particularly mobile content creators, are looking for great sound solutions. In this article, I want to talk about what happened when I put the DJI Mic and the Røde Wireless Go 2 head-to-head. I did this in partnership with Kersten Luts of the Camera Shake podcast for some real-world results. Whilst this fight is between DJI and Røde, it’s worth noting that there are plenty of other options available....

As good as Godox equipment can be, it has one fatal flaw which puts many photographers off using their equipment. There’s no easy, native way to update the firmware on a Mac. And firmware updates do come fairly regularly for their various models of flashes and triggers. It’s a question I see pop up regularly in Facebook groups, and I’m asked personally quite often, too. But there is some hope, using an application called VirtualBox to run a virtual Windows operating system inside your MacOS desktop....

Yongnuo has announced a new 25mm f/1.7M autofocus lens for Micro Four Thirds. Shockingly, it appears to actually be an original design and not a copy of somebody else’s (like just about all of their DSLR lenses). Other than the it-had-so-much-potential Yongnuo YN450M, Yongnuo hasn’t released much since joining the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group in February last year. The new lens is nothing special, of course, being the MFT equivalent of a cheap nifty fifty....

Yongnuo’s still on their Android-powered camera kick, and this time they seem to have brought some neat improvements, at least on the surface, over their previous attempts. Yongnuo joined the Micro Four Thirds group back in February of last year, so it’s no surprise they’re pursuing the mount. No word yet on whether or not this will extend beyond China this time, though. According to a report on Photo Rumors, the Yongnuo YN455 comes with a 20-megapixel sensor that shoots 4K30p video, an 8 core 2....

Since we can’t really visit many places nowadays, there are solutions that let us experience them at least virtually. And now, you can even do it through Instagram. The platform has added exhibitions from the Smithsonian Museum and two other museums to its AR effects lineup, so you can “visit” exhibitions from your phone. Other than Smithsonian, Instagram has also paired with the Palace of Versailles and Le Grand Palais in France....

What does a stressed owl look like? If you’re one of many amateur wildlife photographers who snap images of snowy owls, you could be unwittingly contributing to it. According to the Bangor Daily News, several social media groups are actively banning photographs of snowy owls in a bid to protect the birds from disturbances. The Facebook group Maine Wildlife is one such group instigating the ban. With over 127,000 members, their reach is quite broad....

Legendary Russian brand Zenit made a comeback last year with a full-frame digital mirrorless camera Zenit M. After a long wait, the camera is now available for orders in the US. And although Zenit has been famous for being budget-friendly, the Zenit M camera is priced like a Leica. The initial rumors said Zenit M would be based on a Leica SL, but it’s actually a modified Leica M (Typ 240)....

Zhiyun has today announced their new Crane M2S gimbal. Targeted towards the same audience that would go for the Crane M3, this one is even smaller and lighter, weighing in at only 549g(~180g lighter than the Crane M3). But don’t be fooled by its size. This thing caters to everything from a smartphone to a Sony A7S III and includes many of the Crane M3 features, like a built-in LED, USB-PD fast charging and “flagship-grade” quick release tech....

Photography. It’s expensive. And who really has the money to buy all the name brand photo gear? I certainly don’t. With that said, expensive equipment does NOT make the photograph. The photographer does. Which is why I am exploring various non photography specific gear and using it for my photography. Let’s take seamless background paper for example. A roll of Savage 53″ x 36′ will cost you $30 at B&H....

Ok, imaging AI is just getting ridiculous now. By now we all know of the Prisma app. It lets you take photos and turn them into images that resemble paintings by artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, etc. A team of reseachers at UC Berkley have come up with a system that does the exact opposite of that. It looks at paintings and turns them into something that resembles a photograph....

A few days ago, Getty and Google announced the upcoming changes as a result of a licensing deal. The announced changes have arrived, and now you can’t see the “View Image” button on Google any longer. Instead, if you want to see the photo, you’ll have to go directly to the website where it’s hosted. Perhaps you remember the dispute between Google and Getty, which is what eventually brought to these changes....

It’s getting to that time of year again for folks in the northern hemisphere. The days are getting shorter, and wetter and the sun’s starting to stay a little lower in the sky, but with that comes the beginning of autumn and some beautiful woodland colours. This time of year is rich with colour and just begging to be photographed. If you’re planning to brave the chilly weather and head out with your camera into the wilderness, here are 10 tips from Photo Tom to help get you going in the right direction....

Good composition is one of the key elements of what we’d call a good photo. Sometimes, it’s what turns a decent photo into a great photo. In this video, Peter McKinnon shares three composition tips that will help you improve your photos instantly. Other than newbies, I believe all those who feel they need to work on composition will find it useful Framing Framing your subject within the scene will accentuate them, and add depth to the image....

Last week we covered three of the main tips to bear in mind when trying to get sharper manual focus images. Ambient lighting, contrasting elements to focus on and actual focusing technique. Although all of these tips are essential in giving us the best possible chance to get more of our manual focus shots pin-sharp, there are still going to be times when we need a little helping hand to consistently nail those manual focus images....

Like the roaring exhausts of two supercars, no two camera shutters sound the same. They have their own personalities defined by the format, camera design and speed at which the shutter goes off.Advertisements To show off just a few distinctive voices of different camera models, Davin Lavikka of Lavikka Photography has put together a short video comparing the shutter sounds of a Pentax 645z, Canon 5DS, Nikon D810, Olympus OMD EM5 II and Sony a6000....

Are you a portrait photographer in search of a 2019 New Year’s resolution? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been really stressed over the prospect of another year of not reaching my photography goals. In 2018, I was supposed to shoot a minimum of 3 days a week… and I was supposed to finally kill my Aperture library and be 100% on Capture One Pro… and I was supposed to sell my old unused gear....