This is by no means a final review, it is more of a fun post so take it in the manner it is intended please. I have a thing for camera bags, its an addiction really and many photographers suffer from it. Many journalists and ‘hard-core’ photographers will tell you that for some of the toughest assignments there has only been one bag for the job, a Think Tank. I have an assignment that perhaps the people at Think Tank did not intend there bags for…
Photokina 2010 had some incredibly exciting camera announcements, the Fuji X100, the Sony A33 and A55 with their Translucent Mirror Technology and the Nikon D7000, a successor for the D90 which two years prior had launched as the first DSLR to shoot video.
In this eBook,* duChemin explains how to achieve greater depth in ones photos. In photography, depth can mean many things but he makes it clear of what type of depth he’s referring to. He isn’t referring to emotional depth, conceptual depth or, in his own words, “rich symbolism that illicit the “”Whoa man, that’s deep,” responses from the black-turtleneck, art-nic crowd.” He discusses spacial depth and 3 dimensionality in the physical world. In essence, how to take a 3 dimensional world and portray it the way you want to in a 2 dimensional medium. Continue reading »
So what makes one SD card better than another one. The brand? Is the brand name just something you pay extra for like in many other cases? Speed? What makes one card faster than another one? Reliability? Is one card more reliable than another one? What about the effect on your camera’s battery life?
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The last couple of weeks have been terrible since we got samples of both the NEX-C3 and Alpha A35 but were sworn to secrecy as – at the time – there was no official release date for either camera. Now the news is official and we can share our first thoughts and begin our reviews a little more publicly.
A few months ago when the X100 was first announced , I immediately became very excited. Despite being of a completely different generation to when rangefinders were commonplace, I love their simplicity and style of shooting. In the modern world of DSLR’s and digital compacts, rangefinders are becoming scarce. Due to the nature of how a rangefinder works, today’s method of trigger happy shooting where just holding down the shutter button to take hundreds of photos, hoping at least one will be a “keeper,” isn’t encouraged. Composition requires effort and focusing requires time. Because time is taken, it forces the user to think hard about shooting and usually the result is better photos. Continue reading »
The Power of Black and White – In Adobe Lightroom & Beyond by Piet Van den Eynde (Craft and Vision, Vancouver, Canada) is an e-book that, at $5.00 to download, is an incredible value. It is a 100 page Masterclass course that should be on every photographer’s “bookshelf”.
Post processing black and white images has been the subject of countless discussions, and it would be easy to assume this e-book is simply recycling. In this case, that assumption is wrong. Van den Eynde brings a fresh, new approach in both technique and presentation.
Those of you who listen to me on the podcast This Week In Photo are likely already aware that I have been a big advocate of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, you are also likely aware that I very recently got an iPad as well. I have found that both devices are flawed and my opinion has changed little from that expressed in my review for This Week in Photo here so I wont be going in to that. This post is going to focus on what is in my view, the best iPad app around, Photogene.
I recently posted about the Nissin Di622 Mark II flash that we received to review. Well last week was my first opportunity to take it out for a bit of an impromptu shoot with Tristan Wrench who first introduced us to the guys at Parkour SA. I got my hands on a Canon EOS 7D with 50mm f/1.4 thanks to the guys at Lens Rentals so we could check how well the new Nissin flash’s wireless system worked.
Let me state now that this is one of the few times I have enjoyed myself shooting for a review. This image was shot with the flash off to the cameras right on a self standing monopod (yes that is an oxymoron) and then imported to my iPad and processed using Photogene Pro. All of these things will be reviewed in the coming days and weeks, this is just a taster and part of my fulfilment of the promise I made earlier this year “to shoot and share” with you all, our readers. Feel free to leave your comments, I think I can take it.
So, as you will have spotted by now, last night I attended the South African launch of the Fuji 2011 lineup and there making its first appearance on our shores was a sample of the Fuji FinePix X100. Choosing to let the crowds go first I waited till near the end of the evening to get some solo time with the camera and thought I could share with you my first impressions of it. We hope to get to do a full review of it soon.
On Thursday I got an NEX-5 from Sony to play with. It has taken some nagging as we have had one before but then it was still running the old firmware. In checking back though I have realised that while we had the NEX-5 at launch, we never published the review. So, over the next few days – remembering my post last week on “Stop Making Excuses” – I will be giving the NEX-5 with the new firmware a run through and sharing my thoughts (and photos, GULP) with you. Just my first impression on the cosmetics of the black body with those greyish silver lenses… its the first camera I have played with in a while that I don’t like in black.
Its just gone live, my view on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab as a tool – or not possibly when compared to the iPad- for photographers on This Week In Photo. Be sure to check it out. You can also find Greg and my joint review of the Galaxy Tab on our sister site, SA Review.
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It is my personal belief that almost every photographer out there faces the decision at some point or another, of whether they should charge for their photographs turning a passion into their trade. If you have or are in the processes of making that choice, or if you already are working as a professional photographer, then VisionMongers is the perfect book for you.
David duChemin is an accomplished photographer and author. When I reviewed his book “Within the Frame” I found myslef itching to go out and shoot within the first few pages and so with great enthusiasm I began VisionMongers. Truth be told… this book review is several months overdue. I wanted to consume the pages to their utmost depths before writing the review but life gets busy and it has taken me some time to get to the point where I can type this. I must apologize for that.
For those who may have missed the review in the January edition of PhotoComment Magazine, here it is in post form for you.
The PEN is Mightier than…
For those who know me, they will know how of late I’ve been complaining that conventional DSLR cameras are to bulky, heavy, inconvenient to carry every where, every day. For this reason I have been a great advocate of the new developments in mirrorless cameras.
This said, the war has become rather fierce among the the combatants in this new photographic world. Having tested Panasonic’s GF1 as well as Sony’s NEX-5, I was rather anxious to get my hands on the Olympus PEN E-PL1.
You may recall a little while ago we said that we received a b-grip to review. Well with our Pretoria CBD Photo Walk the perfect opportunity to review the b-grip came.
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This is another great book from Craft and Vision with a great launch discount (details at the end of this review). Winter in the Canadian Rockies by Darwin Wiggett is filled with fantastic images which have been taken over years through all seasons though it is in the winter that Darwin prefers to photograph this location. Right from the beginning of the book he states “As you can see from the photos, I have a warm fondness for the coolness of winter.”
The images are inspirational, making one wish that we had the opportunity to explore such winter wonderlands just for one week in our sweltering South African summer. One image that stands our particularly to me, perhaps as I so wish to experience it first hand, is an image with the green glow of the Northern Lights. Continue reading »
Yesterday we received two new items for review. First off is the Olympus SP-800UZ, a big zoom compact camera with 14mp , HD movie and a whopping 30x optical zoom starting at 28mm wideangle.
The other review item is the ‘b-grip’ which is a made in Ital. Rather than trying to explain what it is, check out the video below and have a a laugh at the same time.
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