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Using the Beautiful Canon 50mm f/1.2L on the Sony A7RII… Wow

I have had a great weekend shooting with the now kind-of-old, well-known, and mostly-forgotten-about Canon 50 f/1.2L lens. This lens came out years ago, and has been reviewed hundreds of times by users, reviewers, and anyone with an opinion. So why I am dedicating a post and short review to this lens?

Using Vintage Nikon Super-Telephoto Lenses on a Sony NEX-5

A rare Nikon 1200mm f/11 lens recently appeared on eBay. The earliest Nikon non-refractive long lenses were the Nikkor-Q 400mm f/4.5, Nikkor-P 600mm f/5.6, Nikkor-P 800mm f/8, and Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11. All of them were on the market around 1964 and withdrawn in the mid-1970. These lenses are actually lens heads and require a focus unit to be functional.

Photo Studio Documents Some of their Funniest Stand-In Test Shots

Photography studio Bruton Stroube works with huge brands to create beautiful images, but not every step of the process is so glamorous. In a new Instagram series they call "Test Shot Tuesday," they're sharing some of the fun and ridiculous stand-in shots they capture on their way to a final image.

Pentax K-1’s Pixel Shift Rivals Medium Format Dynamic Range, Report

Pentax fans have been waiting for the full-frame K1 with bated breath, and the first impressions coming out of the review community seem to indicate they haven't been holding their breath for nothing. In fact, a new test report claims the K1's dynamic range can compete with medium format!

Video: Test Rig Shows What Happens when Drone Hits Flesh at 33mph

How much damage can a tiny drone propeller really do when it comes up agains something as solid as a person? That's the question Aalborg University in Denmark is answering with a rig that can ram a spinning drone propeller into a piece of flesh at 33mph... and record the results in slow motion.

Nikon D5 vs Sony a7R II… at ISO 3,276,800

The $6,500 Nikon D5 DSLR and $3,200 Sony a7R II mirrorless camera are two of the current leaders in low-light, high-ISO shooting, but how do they stack up against each other? This 1.5-minute comparison video will show you.

How the Mi 5 4-Axis Image Stabilization Compares to the iPhone 6S

Cameras are one of the key features consumers look for in smartphones, so phone makers are constantly working to break new ground in smartphone camera features, specs, and quality. Dual camera systems are starting to appear, OPPO just unveiled the first sensor-baser image stabilizer for smartphones.

The Chinese company Xiaomi has a few tricks of its own. Its new Mi 5 smartphone features a new 4-axis optical image stabilization system that appears to outperform the latest and greatest Apple stabilization system in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Here’s a Crazy Comparison Between RAW and JPEG

When starting out in photography, a lot of beginners are confused about RAW and JPEG formats while shooting. There are plenty of explanations out there, but with us being photographers, it's easier for us to comprehend a visual reference.

I've had the option of shooting RAW since my Canon 20D over 10 years ago and even though I've never shot JPEG since then, I never actually compared a RAW with JPEG to see the data I would've been losing if I let the camera compress the files itself.

Ball Drop Test Shows the Strength of Sigma’s Ceramic Lens Filters

Back in December 2015, Sigma announced the world's first protective lens filters made of ceramic -- filters that it claims are 10x stronger than traditional filters and 3x stronger than chemically strengthened filters.

Sigma has just published pricing and availability info for the new filters, as well as the above video, which demonstrates the filter's strength through a ball drop shatter test.

Here’s How the Sony a7S II Compares to the Human Eye in Low Light

The Sony a7S II is known to have amazing performance in low light and at high ISO. To see just how powerful its low light capabilities are, a Greek photographer who goes by Boji decided to do a casual test that pits the camera against the human eye. You can see the comparison in the 48-second video above.

What Canon’s Prototype ISO 300,000 Sensor Can See in Near Darkness

At Canon EXPO Paris 2015 this past week, Canon was showing off the capabilities of a prototype ultra-high sensitivity 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor. The 3.5-minute video above shows what the camera can see when taken into the "Blue Milky Way" of Waitomo glowworm caves in New Zealand, which make for dazzling long-exposure photos.

Lightroom’s Import is 600% Slower Than Competition

Adobe has already apologized for fumbling its latest Lightroom update, which was riddled with bugs and missing features. Now there's a new story that's putting a stain on Adobe's image: a new test has found that the latest Lightroom is about 600% slower than its competitors.

Hands-On with the Original Canon Rebel from 2003

The Camera Store TV recently found an original Canon Digital Rebel (AKA 300D/Kiss Digital/DS6041) from 2003 on their hands. Curious about how an entry-level DSLR from 12 years ago compares to cameras released these days, the team decided to do a hands-on field test.

Is Capture One’s Default Color Profile Any Better Than Lightroom’s Adobe Standard?

A few months ago I stumbled upon a very interesting article on PetaPixel titled "Why I Stopped Using The DNG File Format." In this article the author mentions that Capture One give us a better starting point for color processing. This point made me excited about the whole idea that my portrait images could turn up a lot better and that I only need to start using Capture One.

DxOMark: The Sony a7R II Has the Best Sensor We’ve Ever Seen

It looks like the hype surrounding the new Sony a7R II is justified... at least when it comes to sensor quality. DxOMark tested backside-illuminated full-frame sensor in the camera -- a world's first -- and the sensor received the highest overall quality score ever awarded by the testing lab.

Shooting 4K Video for Still Photographs: A Quick Test

My day job has me using the new Panasonic GH4 for video. While Panasonic did include a 4K photo mode that can be used in a similar way with specific advantages (that’s another blog post), I wanted to test shooting for stills in regular 4K video mode. The main reason for this was to also have the actual video clip to use for other things if I wanted.

Instagram Resolution Increase: Here’s How It Affects Image Quality and File Size

On Monday, we shared that Instagram had begun quietly storing larger 1080px versions of photos, up from the 640px resolution of the past (when the service launched the size was 612px).

Instagram has now confirmed the resolution increase across its photo-sharing service, and says that the change will improve the quality of photos while having minimal impact on file size and data usage.

How Much Does a Scratch Affect the Quality of a Lens?

I’m sure we’ve all heard the horror stories. “ONOZ! My lens got a scratch, it’s ruined!!” someone screams, then goes to quietly cry in a corner. “Welp, shoulda used a UV filter, if those get scratched you can just replace them, now you have to sell that lens for half what it's worth on eBay.”

How’s Your Color Vision? This Simple Game Will Tell You

Most of you have probably spent a considerable amount of time staring at the colors of photos in programs like Photoshop, but how good are your eyes at discerning colors? iGame's Eye Test is a simple online test that will assess the quality of your color perception through a simple game format.

Real or Photoshop: How Well Can You Spot Fake Photos?

When Adobe celebrated Photoshop's 25th birthday back in February, one thing that flew under our radar was a fun little "Real or Photoshop" test that Adobe put up on its website.

The site shows you 25 images, and your task is to figure out whether each one is an actual photograph or a faked picture that resulted from photo manipulation. Some are pretty obvious, while others may cause you to scratch your head.