Announcement Review : Olympus OM-D E-M10 III

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Announcement Review : Olympus OM-D E-M10 III

It wasn't a deep dark secret that Olympus would be bringing out a follow-on to the E-M10 Mark II, so surprise!  Here's the III.

With the micro four thirds space occupied by Olympus and Panasonic and the introduction by Olympus of serious grade lenses over the last year and a bit, the M43 space is really getting traction beyond the entry-level consumer space.  These are no longer tiny, lightweight offerings, but very credible image creation tools, that are still quite a bit lighter than DSLR alternatives.  Professional bird photographer Scott Bourne has switched completely, and weight was a key factor, and if you listen to his podcast on the PPN Network, you will hear that he really believes in the platform.

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Announcement Review and Media Briefing : The Nikon D850

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Announcement Review and Media Briefing : The Nikon D850

The D850 announcement had to be a big deal for Nikon.  Financially they have been struggling, the D5600 got a resounding "meh" in the marketplace, and while the CEO has finally stated that mirrorless is important, there has not yet been a how or by when commentary.

How nice that they aimed high, and announcement specs being accurate, have likely hit their goal.  

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Cheap Ring Lights for Portraits

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Cheap Ring Lights for Portraits

A client asked if he could use his macro ring light for portraits outdoors.  It's a somewhat common question for folks who have spent good money on a macro ring light seeking to get more out of it.  In controlled indoor conditions, it can work, but the limited power of most macro ring lights necessitates very close proximity to the subject and you lose some of the look that way.  So how do we deliver the ring flash look whether indoors or outdoors and make it work?

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REVIEW : Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4K

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REVIEW : Blackmagic Design Video Assist 4K

Do you shoot video?  If not, you probably should, I mean you have a powerful camera that likely does a superb job at video.  Pretty much everything does excellent FullHD and some cameras are now doing very nice UHD 4K.  And by cameras, I mean your still camera, not a dedicated video camera.

So the camera can shoot it, why aren't you doing it?

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A Follow On Look at the Fujifilm X-Pro2

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A Follow On Look at the Fujifilm X-Pro2

When Fujifilm did a major firmware update to the X-Pro 2 as well as the X-T2, I wanted to see what changes came to what had been my favourite crop sensor mirrorless.  Since my loan, Fujifilm have updated again, to V3.1It's this commitment to maintaining the value of existing products that I love Fujifilm for.  They do more than any other manufacturer to support older products with fixes and updates.

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REVIEW : Loupedeck - the ultimate controller for Lightroom

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REVIEW : Loupedeck - the ultimate controller for Lightroom

Last year, I heard about this piece of kit coming in 2017 that sounded really interesting.  It's called the Loupedeck and comes from a company of the same name in Finland.  I reached out to them and they were a real pleasure to speak with and they just sent me a unit to review.  Since the Loupedeck is set to release in July 2017, I wanted you to get a chance to learn about it right away.

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Medium Format Mirrorless for Street Photography

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Medium Format Mirrorless for Street Photography

There's a school of thought for street photography that basically says "hide and be sneaky".  I understand the root of this attitude, the idea being that you will get more authentic images and perhaps more of an emotional charge from sneaking shots of people.

I hate this.  The world has changed in the time since I started photography.  Where in the past, you could walk around with a camera making images and no one cared, today people are much more concerned about being observed and their actions tracked.  That worrying about a single person with a camera when you are tracked by innumerable surveillance cameras that you don't see is, to be blunt, a bit wacky, seems immaterial.  People are rightly concerned about privacy and about how their image may be used.  You may have heard of this thing called the Internet.  Truth and it are not necessarily entwined.

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REVIEW : MAGMOD - Real Innovation in Speed Light Modifiers

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REVIEW : MAGMOD - Real Innovation in Speed Light Modifiers

When speed lights aka hot shoe flash became easier to use, we started to see the advent of light shaping tools for speed lights.  These took two forms, the first being relatively portable and directly mounting to the speed light, and those that were downsized from their strobe origins to allow speed lights to be used in ways similar to a strobe, albeit with less power.

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REVIEW : Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro

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REVIEW : Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro

A few weeks ago, I was very fortunate to be able to borrow a new Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K video camera kit.  The camera is very much in demand, so my hands-on time was limited.  In the time I had it, I used it primarily in the field, shooting off my shoulder but also very briefly in my studio on sticks.  Am I impressed?  Well that's what the review is about.

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A New Solution for Photo and Video Travel from Think Tank Photo

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A New Solution for Photo and Video Travel from Think Tank Photo

As creatives, many of us travel to do what we do, and the potential legislation that will prevent the carry on of expensive equipment has many of us concerned.  We're also seeing more airlines behaving in customer hostile ways about what you can actually carry on.  There's a new solution to these issues.  Read on and see what I mean.

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