BenQ has finally launched the SW270C monitor, the successor to the best-selling 27-inch SW2700PT model, which has been a favorite among budget-conscious photographers. I had the pleasure to be one of the first European photographers to test the new SW270C, and made sure to properly put it through its paces for one whole month before writing this review.
I shot a full portrait session using a Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Sweet 80 Optic. Here’s how it went…
The Meike MK-MT24 is one of the most interesting lighting products I’ve ever used. The concept of this product is similar to some macro flash systems that have been on the market for years -- especially the Nikon R1C1 -- but while I knew of their existence, I’ve never once considered them due to their exorbitantly high price (the R1C1 is over $700).
Make no mistake, the new iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max smartphones from Apple are all about the camera system. From the new ultra-wide angel camera, to better Smart HDR, to Night Mode and beyond, Apple has gone to great lengths to catch up with the Google Pixel, and photographer Austin Mann thinks they've done it... and then some.
For several years I had believed that shooting a medium format camera at high ISO would yield terrible results. Most likely there would be no point in trying, I thought. However, a few days ago I nevertheless brought the Pentax 645Z and the Pentax 25mm f/4 out into the darkness where the zoombies reign — in my imagination anyway.
Roger Cicala over at LensRentals has been doing extensive MTF tests on lenses to figure out the landscape of optical quality in the camera industry. One of his latest findings may be a surprise to many: the best 35mm lens on the market optically is one made by Tamron.
A few days ago, Panasonic released their new LUMIX S1H. The S1H has gone to town with new features designed to match most filmmakers needs. The features that filmmakers have grown to love in the GH series are now available and improved upon in the full-frame S-Series.
I can't even begin to describe how excited I was about trying out the new Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS.
Back in early July, Sigma announced the development of three new mirrorless lenses that were designed to be used with Sony and Panasonic full-frame mirrorless cameras from the start, unlike their previous E-mount Art Primes, which looked like they had an MC-11 grafted onto them.
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.
The quality of a camera's shutter sound probably isn't high on the list of what any photographer considers when looking to buy a new body, but Lensrentals has just published a tongue-in-cheek review/comparison of shutter sounds anyway.
If you’re going to get serious about shooting all the time, the best camera you can buy yourself is a quality compact. High-end DSLRs and interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras can be intimidating to shoot with for the everyday photos, not to mention an unnecessarily heavy load to carry. A compact is a camera you can take everywhere that will distinguish you from other "phonetographers" in both improved control and image quality.
A few weeks ago, Sony asked me if I wanted to do a quick test run with the (at that time) unannounced Sony a7R IV. I was pleasantly surprised as I (and I am sure many others) expected the a7S III to come out first. I agreed and was excited to be one of the first in the world to test the new camera.
In the film days, which for me ended in late 2004, instant film was the only way for a photographer (and everyone else on set) to see what was being captured.
Lensbaby has become a bit of a household name in recent years and for those of us searching for a more unique look to our images, Lensbaby has been there to provide a whole host of creative solutions. Its latest product is no different, but this time around it isn't producing a new lens, but instead a ‘creative filter system’ called the Omni.
After using a Leica Q for 3.5 years, I decided to pre-order the eagerly anticipated Q2 in early March 2019. Despite owning a number of cameras over the years, the Leica Q had become my go-to camera for its light weight, small size, and high image quality.
Photography is amazing, but it does require gear. I recently moved from Canon to Sony, so I had to offload a camera body, lenses, flashes, and triggers. I purchased out-of-pocket insurance on all of my gear packages just to have some peace-of-mind.
There has never been a camera that combines such stunning image quality, resolution, dynamic range, autofocus performance, overall handling, and ergonomics like the new Fujifilm GFX 100 does.
At first glance, all we see is a dinky point-n-shoot camera; not much to it. It slips inside my front pocket, I mean, how powerful can it be? Well, photographers shouldn’t be fooled by its size and minimalism; like many of our subjects in the street. The Ricoh GR III is called a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” for a reason.
It is June 15th, 1999. The box office is being dominated by the release of the first new Star Wars in 16 years, even though it is tainted by one Jar Jar Binks. Until this day, photography was largely dominated by a technology that had existed for over a hundred years. It was a technology pioneered by George Eastman in his invention called, the Kodak. Over the many years from 1885 onward, it became known to the photographic community and to the world as “film.”
My Huawei P30 Pro arrived at 4:30 pm on April 6th, and I knew the night sky in Mersing would be amazing for me to try out this low-light beast. I had read a lot of good reviews on P30 Pro, but I was still skeptical, so I booked a room at my regular resort on the same day and drove 3 hours to get there.
Back in February, Tamron announced the development of three new lenses: the 35mm f/1.4 for DSLRs, the 17-28mm f/2.8 for Sony FE, and the 35-150mm f/2.8-4 for DSLRs. We just received the 35-150mm f/2.8-4 Di VC OSD for Nikon F mount to test out for a few days. It’s always exciting to test out new gear, and especially exciting when it’s a unique lens like the 35-150mm.
If you ever feel like quitting your job and buying a plane ticket to some exotic location with only your backpack in tow, you might wonder which lens to bring. The Nikon 300mm f/2.8 would be on the top of my list.
This article is not meant to be an in-depth review of the Samsung S10+. The review will chiefly discuss the cell phone’s camera capabilities from a landscape photographer’s standpoint.
The Godox V1 round-head flash is coming to market despite the loud protests and legal threats of Profoto, which claims its A1 design was stolen (something Godox denies). If you're wondering how the $259 V1 compares to the $995 A1, photographer Robert Hall has a sneak peek for you.
Samsung and Huawei are #1 and #2 (respectively) in worldwide smartphone market share, and now they're together at the top of the DxOMark smartphone camera quality test leaderboard. The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G just scored the same best-ever score of 112 as the Huawei P30 Pro.
I have gone through the gear of almost every major brand during my early photography journey, buying my way through cameras and lenses until I arrived at my current setup, which has remained more or less the same for my entire professional career. Despite settling on a brand known for its high price point, I have been comfortable with all of my camera and lens choices except one, which is what I’ll be discussing here.
If there’s a fundamental flaw with product reviews, it’s the typically short duration that reviewers have with the item before hitting a publishing deadline or needing to return the product to the manufacturer. With rapid product refreshes, the lifetime of any particular product can be short, which can often render longer evaluations as impractical.
I made a big purchasing decision a few months ago by investing in the new Fujifilm GFX 50R camera. It is a larger-than-full-frame ‘medium format’ sensor camera. The 50R was by far the most affordable medium format option in its class at the cost of $4,500.
Just as much of daily life is geared towards right-handed people, cameras are often geared toward right-eyed people. Photographer Michael Andrew (AKA Michael the Maven) made this 4-minute video pointing out Canon's "left eye problem" in its latest mirrorless cameras.
In this article and the 8-minute video above, we are comparing the $2,200 Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lens with the $880 Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD lens in sharpness, image quality, focal length, autofocus, and video.
I hate it when I see photographers writing articles like this. I always think, "why bother?… just let it go, this isn’t going to change anything." But here I am anyway, tapping away to release some of this pent up anger. And I don’t expect this to change anything for me, but I sincerely hope it can stop at least one other person making the same mistake I did: buying a Drobo.
Nikon's newly announced NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S, the first ultra-wide-angle Z Series lens, hasn't been covered by reviewers yet, but we've got our hands on a set of exclusive new sample photos showing what the lens can do in the real world.
Although it’s been six months since the Nikon mirrorless Z system was announced, there’s still a dearth of native Z mount lenses, and the ones that are available are in my opinion somewhat overpriced (starting at $599 for the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 S). While the FTZ adapter does work remarkably well, it adds quite a bit of bulk to even the smallest F mount lenses. This is where I believe the Meike 50mm f/1.7 finds its niche.
Sony's new FE 135mm F1.8 GM lens will hit store shelves next month, but it's already dropping jaws with its sharpness. According to one new test, it may be the sharpest lens of its kind on the market today.
I got an email notifying me of the release of Topaz Sharpen AI, a program that enhances details and fixes out-of-focus/blurred shots. I initially expected that it was something similar to Adobe Enhance Details, which slightly enhanced the details of some specific shots and didn’t work for many other images. Topaz provided a demo fully-functional for 30 days, so I decided to give it a try.
Could you and would you shoot with a digital camera without an LCD screen that costs and arm and a leg? I spent two days in Singapore wandering the streets with the Leica M10-D and here are my thoughts.
Like its predecessors, the Fuji X100 and Fuji XT, the Fuji GFX 50R is a marvel of engineering, ergonomics, size, image quality, and price.
I recently I canceled my PhotoShelter account after being with the service for 8 years, and I wanted to provide a better understanding of the pros and cons of PhotoShelter and Squarespace. I currently use Squarespace and while I wouldn’t say the service is without its faults, I do believe that it is a better service for my needs.
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.
Last week, after much anticipation, I received back my first rolls of the new Kodak Ektachrome 100, exposed in Chicago over the Christmas holiday (thanks to Denver Digital Imaging Center). After all the hype and fanfare surrounding Kodak releasing a new chrome film this far into the alleged afterlife of film, I was excited to see the results. Spoiler alert: the wait was worth it.
After I saw an ad on Facebook about an upcoming Best Buy photography workshop, I got the idea to attend it, and I thought other photographers would be interested in the experience, too. I signed up, paid the $50 to attend the workshop, and got an email confirming my registration.
To shoot medium format had been a longtime dream of mine, but I have to admit I didn’t know it would be such a mindblowing experience. The 51.4-megapixel Pentax 645Z arrived on the market in 2014 and was the first camera to ever exceed 100 points in the DxOMark sensor test. For some unknown reason, the score and review weren't published until 2017.
Those who follow my work know that I consider myself a large format photographer. I will photograph with a medium format camera, particularly when I’m trying to save weight on a backpacking trip or save time when I’m teaching a photography workshop, but 35mm has been somewhat shunned in my arsenal, being a format I deemed too small to be used effectively for my work.
2018 was a weird year and one that I’m glad is behind us. One highlight late in the year was Canon announcing the EOS R.
Want to hear a communist joke? Well, they are only really funny if everyone gets them, but if you still want to hear it, then Soviet: A worker standing in a liquor line says: “I have had enough, save my place, I am going to shoot Gorbachev.” Two hours later he returns to claim his place in line. His friends ask, “Did you get him?” “No, the line there was even longer than the line here.”
Back in May of last year, I finally made the move and got myself an a7 III. I had wanted a Sony body for quite some time but was hesitant to switch. Before getting into my long-term review, I’ll first explain what made me make the switch.
Sigma completes its “Holy Trinity” with the release of the all-new 70-200mm f/2.8 Sport – is it the ultimate 70-200mm on the market right now? Sigma sent us a review piece of the upcoming lens for us to try out for a few days.
While at Photokina back in September, camera reviewer Kai Wong got some hands-on time with a pink Kipon 40mm f/0.85 lens. This 11.5-minute video is Wong's brief review of the "bokeh machine."
I recently did a comparison between old and new Kodak Ektachrome E100 film. But first an amusing story about how these two rolls met.