testing

A little while ago, when Apexel asked me to review the 200X LED Lens microscope adaptor, I told them I was interested in both the microscope and the macro lens kit. Due to stocking issues, they were able to send the microscope adaptor.

I received a request from Apexel to review a phone accessory that connects to microscopes, telescopes, or binoculars. I replied to inform them that I had none of those pieces of equipment but I might be interested in reviewing a macro or microscope attachment to mobile phones.

Low-cost lenses started appearing in the market in the last twenty years or so, with prices coming down steadily. When I saw another inexpensive lens in an article a couple of months ago, it grabbed my attention not with its price but with its core feature. It was a shift lens. An 18mm, fixed-aperture at f/8, shift lens at $119 was worth trying.

Documentary photographer Francois Nadeau lives in Beijing, China, and has to have a COVID test almost every 48 hours. This gave him an idea for a project.

Not just any camera can be used to capture content that is designed to be streamed on Netflix, and many do not have a firm grasp of why these particular cameras were selected. Netflix is finally shedding a bit of light on what makes a camera "approved."

Instagram is testing the ability to pin posts to a profile, which would allow users to highlight specific photos at the top rather than hiding them under a deluge of newer ones.

Last week, Intel announced the 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors (codename Alder Lake) with a new hybrid architecture that utilizes a mix of performance and efficient-cores. So, how good are they?

Instagram is finally adding the option for everyone to upload photos to the platform directly from their browser. The long-requested feature was tested this past summer but not made widely available until today.

Shortly after taking delivery of the new Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S lens, I made a series of photographs to test its diffraction and bokeh characteristics using the 45MP Nikon Z 7II camera in a real-world situation.

Hasselblad has released the third episode in its "Hasselblad Home" series where the company provides an intimate look into the "core of Hasselblad" and the thoughts and processes involved in the development and manufacturing of its medium format cameras.

Lighting is one of the most complex topics in photography. There are literally hundreds of light shaping tools and countless scenarios they apply to. No wonder many photographers are reluctant to learn lighting, despite it being one of the core skills any photographer should have.

The megapixel race has picked up steam lately with most new models exceeding 45-megapixels and rumors circulating of 100-megapixel sensors on the horizon. But what if low-resolution images from cameras like Sony's a7S III and Canon's R6 offered more detail along with added low light benefits? Now they can.

Photographer Mathieu Stern was browsing a flea market when he came across a Zenit Fotosnaiper, a Soviet-era camera rig that looks and feels more like a rifle. Stern jumped at the opportunity to have a copy of his own and to go hands-on with the camera.

The single most important thing that you can do to look better in a Zoom meeting is to add better lighting. This will give you a significant quality improvement on a minimal investment. So... I decided to test out four different lighting options, ranging from a cheap little $10 ring light all the way up to a $1,000 professional studio light.

I had a chance to test a very rare lens: the Zuiko Auto-T 180mm f/2 ED-IF, an Olympus super-telephoto lens from the early 80s. Back then, the OM-system bodies that Olympus had were OM-3 and OM-4. Olympus had a very nice line up of Zuiko lenses for those cameras and other OM-system bodies. The one lineup they did not have was pro-grade fast telephoto lenses.

If you’re a photographer who has to work or is choosing to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, then you’ve probably been looking for a good mask. I was too. I wanted mask that looked professional and felt comfortable. After doing some Amazon searches, I thought I found one that was perfect. Well, I’ve shot a few weddings while masked in the heat now, and it caused me to reevaluate my decision and try other masks out.

I like the Microsoft Surface Book 3. In fact, I like it a lot. The build quality is great, and the design is both useful and pretty much unique right now. But it's also flawed... critically flawed by the selfsame design that makes it a unique product, which is why I can't recommend it to most working photographers.

Trevor Jones of AstroBackyard recently got his hands on a niche camera that will be extremely interesting to astrophotographers... and just about nobody else: the Canon EOS Ra. In the video above, he takes it out for a test shoot to show off the two features that set this camera apart when it comes to serious night sky shooting.

The trinity is now complete. Since the release of the Canon EOS R about a year ago, the mirrorless camera is my go-to tool for shoots. Not least because of its size and weight, as well as the amazing lenses (RF 28-70mm f/2, RF 50mm f/1.2, and my RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 expedition lens) the EOS R has benefits over its DSLR counterpart.

Being in the photography game over 12 years has given me some fixed routines that are hard to break. Routines like focusing solely on prime lenses. In the last few years I've been carrying 20mm, 35mm, 85mm, and 200mm fixed focal length lenses on my camera bag while occasionally wondering if the grass looks greener on the flexible focal length side.

Father and son wedding photographers David and Luke Edmonson were recently commissioned by Godox to test its new V1 round-head flash. The duo decided to shoot this 9-minute video and a creative photo as a tribute to English photographer Henry Peach Robinson.