testing

Torture Testing Sony’s TOUGH SD Card to See What It Can Survive

Sony claims its new TOUGH line of SD memory cards are the toughest and fastest SD cards ever made, so the folks over at Cameta Camera decided to put that claim to the test. Here's a 12-minute video in which the NY-based camera store subjects a card to a variety of torture tests to see how it holds up.

This is How Nikon Tests the Durability of the D850

Nikon Asia released this promo video for the D850 that offers a peek at how the company tests the DSLR for durability in harsh environments, ensuring that it's reliable through things like drops, impacts, vibrations, extreme temperatures, and humidity.

Instagram’s ‘All Caught Up’ Feature to Ease Your FOMO

Instagram's decision to move away from a simple chronological feed to an algorithm-based stream can make it difficult to keep track of whether you've seen everything "new" from people you follow. But help is on the way: Instagram is now testing an "All Caught Up" message to let you know when you're up to speed.

Hands-On with the Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 Art ‘No Distortion’ Lens

For Canon and Nikon shooters looking to get a fast ultrawide, the choices in the past have been the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8, and Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 VC. Or, go with an f/4 lens and get the Canon 11-24mm or Sigma 12-24mm. Sigma has now joined the mix with its own 14-24mm f/2.8, and we got a chance to use it for a few days to see how it performed.

Water Torture Camera Test: Canon and Nikon Shine, Sony Fails

Weather resistance is an important attribute of professional cameras that need to endure difficult shooting environments. To see how well some of the top cameras on the market would fare in the rain, Imaging Resource decided to conduct a water torture test, which you can watch in the 5-minute video above.

Testing the Sony a7R III with the $5,700 Canon 200mm f/2L

Sony's latest mirrorless cameras are much improved when it comes to shooting with adapted lenses from other manufacturers. To test just how well it works, photographer Manny Ortiz got his hands on a $5,700 Canon 200mm f/2.L IS lens and mounted it to his new Sony a7R III camera.

This is the Amazing Tethering Speed of the Sony a7R III

I purchased the new Sony a7R III last week as an upgrade to my a7R II. I’ve used my a7R II in hundreds of shoots over the last year and it has always given me amazing results, but I’ve had one major issue with the camera: tethering speed.

I Tested 10+ Photoshop Alternatives to See How They Stack Up

To Adobe or not to Adobe. That is the question many photographers are asking with the spate of new image processing programs vying to “kill Photoshop.” I tested more than ten contenders as alternatives to Adobe’s image processing software, evaluating them for the specialized task of editing demanding nightscape images taken under the Milky Way, both for single still images and for time-lapses of the moving sky.

Instagram is Finally Testing a Regram Feature

Reposting an Instagram photo you like currently involves uploading a new version to Instagram, an act that can put you on the wrong side of copyright law. Instagram may finally be getting ready to unveil a "regram" button that lets you safely share other people's photos in your feed without making a copy of them.

Testing Sony’s New Pixel Shift Feature in the a7R III

The new Sony a7R III has a new function called Pixel Shift. This function basically increases the resolution of your images by 4 times. In short: the camera takes 4 photos and shifts the sensor 1 pixel in between. By combining these images later (the camera itself doesn't do this) you get an image that has 4 times the resolution of a normal raw image (4 x 42 megapixel).

This is What Photos From a $63,000 Camera Look Like

What kind of images does a $63,000 stills camera produce? Here's a 19-minute video by Ted Forbes of The Art of Photography in which he uses a Phase One XF medium format DSLR to show the bang for your buck that you get when you spend 63 grand on a camera kit.

Review: The Nikon D850’s Negative Digitizer Isn’t Ready for Prime Time

A couple weeks ago, I got a chance to run the Nikon D850 through its paces as a scanner. The “Negative Digitizer” feature, which can automatically flip negatives to positive got a lot of buzz as the camera was being released, and I was eager to try it out.

Torture Test: See the Moment a Canon DSLR Shutter Dies

DSLRs generally have life expectancies based on how many "actuations" (i.e. openings and closings) their shutters can handle before they die and need to be replaced. To see what happens when a DSLR "dies" in this way, ContinueCrushingTech decided to torture test a Canon 7D Mark II with non-stop shooting until the shutter fails.

A Review of the Olympus STF-8 Macro Twin Flash

Last year, Olympus Singapore loaned me a pre-launch unit of their new STF-8 Macro Twin Flash, together with their OM-D E-M1 and M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro for a test-run in the field. I've had the set for about a week -- it was easy to use and the results were pretty good, although it took some time for me to get used to focusing using the LCD.

Sony Mirrorless Cameras Still Eat Stars

Sony recently released firmware v.4.0 for its a7S II and a7R II mirrorless cameras. The announcement that this firmware version “Improves image quality when Long Exposure NR setting is off” raised hopes for many photographers that Sony had at last addressed the issues caused by their automatic smoothing of all exposures of 4 seconds or longer, sometimes referred to as the "Star Eater" effect because of the way that it removes stars in astrophotography images.

The Fujifilm GFX 50S’s High ISO Quality is Insane

The Fujifilm GFX 50S's ISO invariance makes it so easy to shoot the Milky Way that it's not even funny. I was able to take an "impossible" shot, capturing the Milky Way in the middle of Sydney, during a light festival, without bracketing on the Milky Way. The sensor captured so much info on the highlights that this was possible.

Testing Nikon’s New 28mm f/1.4 Lens in Morocco

Last year, I was fortunate enough to earn a Nikon ambassador badge. I took this as a recognition of my work from a the institution I admire for making the best tools to meet my creative needs.

How an $80 1000mm Lens Performs on a $1,400 Sony a6500 Camera

Let's say you spent pretty much all of your camera budget on a shiny new $1,400 Sony a6500 mirrorless camera, yet you want a super telephoto lens for getting way up close to subjects. Here's a thrifty option you could consider: buy a cheapo 500mm lens, Sony adapter, and 2x teleconverter for just $80.

X-Trans vs Bayer Sensors: Fantastic Claims and How to Test Them

Since the introduction of the Fujifilm X-Series line of cameras, reviewers and consumers have struggled to compare them directly to the competition. Fujifilm’s is a tightly integrated system, wherein everything is a little bit different.

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?

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.