Dare To Crop
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Why do we stick to standard cropping ratios? Why don't we crop more of our images? Let's explore these and other questions together.
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Welcome to The Photo Video Guy. I share training, ideas, opinions and tips to help you make better photographs and videos.
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Getting Started with Off Camera Flash
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Off camera flash is the first step in managing light yourself. It’s a significant step where you are the boss and no longer a slave to the ambient light, and it’s a major step in becoming a better photographer.
Read MoreWhat Has Happened at Lastolite?
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I am really disappointed. I have been recommending Lastolite products for many years because they are well designed, work great and are very reliable.
Or they used to be.
Read MoreAnnouncement Review : Sony a9
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Earlier today, Sony announced the a9 camera and the 100-400/4.5-5.6 G Master zoom lens. While the lens definitely looks interesting and fills a needed gap in Sony's own lineup, it is the a9 that has turned the photographic world on its ear. Let's take a look at what we saw for the first time today.
Read MoreREVIEW : Fujifilm GFX 50S A New Look for Medium Format
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This review is about the GFX 50S. It's the first digital medium format camera from Fujifilm, but certainly not the company's first foray into medium format. For a very long time, Fujifilm delivered some truly marvelous medium format film cameras. The camera was supplied to me with two lenses, the 63mm/2.8 and the 120/4 Macro. For those more accustomed to full frame 35mm focal lengths these behave like a 50mm and a 95mm (approximately) respectively.
Read MoreVIRTUAL QUICK LOOK : The Nikon D7500
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The good people at Nikon's agency sent me the press announcement on the day of, but in reading it, I discovered that the camera would not be available until mid-summer. A local retailer is saying end of June on their preorder page. Given that it is only mid April, I wanted to get a virtual look up as an announced but non-shipping product can create stoppage in some user's processes. I have not shot the camera. I have no special insight, so I am sticking to the announcement data for this virtual first look.
Read MoreREVIEW : Broncolor Move 1200 L Studio Flash System
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The Broncolor Move system is a special case type of studio and field strobe system. It is a power pack based system, but the power pack uses a rechargeable lithium ion battery. It's small and compact, but it uses Broncolor's MobiLED strobe heads, heads designed to be used with much larger AC based systems. Lastly it packs a lot of power, 1200 joules to be used asymmetrically between two heads. There are alternatives in this space, but I thought you might be interested in learning more about the Move 1200L and to see why, if portability, power, consistency and speed are part of your use case, a Move system may be the answer for you.
Read MoreREVIEW : Fundy Designer - Professional Albums and Wall Art
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I believe that a photograph that is not printed is incomplete. An image that is not printed is sentenced to death on a hard drive somewhere, or buried in an endless stream of snapshots on a tiny phone screen. Given the alternatives, death is bad. In many cases, a single print, however wonderful, does not tell a complete story. This is where a proper album comes into play, and to solve that problem, we have Fundy Designer.
Read MoreQUICK REVIEW : Sigma 150mm - 600mm f/5-6.3 SPORT
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A client contacted me last week. She was finding that her existing telephoto zoom lens did not have the reach that she needed for birding, and had done some initial research and was interested in Sigma's 150-600/5-6.3 Sport telephoto zoom. She wanted to know if I had shot it and tested it before ordering one, because while priced competitively, they are not inexpensive. To learn what I discovered, read on...
Read MoreREVIEW : Fujifilm X-T2 - This May Be the Mirrorless You Need/Want
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The good people at Fujifilm Canada have made an X-T2 available to me for review. It came with the little flash in the box and two lenses, the Fujinon 10-24/4 and the Fujinon 55-200/3.5-4.8. Care to find out how it fared in my testing, and whether I recommend it? Read on my friends...
Read MoreREVIEW : MOLA Softlights - The Best I Have Ever Used
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A beauty dish is a wonderful light shaping tool. Using one well takes a fair bit of practice from a positioning perspective, but once you build the skill, there is no other light shaper like a good beauty dish. Some manufacturers such as Profoto refer to these light shapers as soft lights. In this review I look at the absolutely awesome MOLA softlight line
Read MoreCreative Live Class with Joe McNally
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I'm attending this and I bought the course! It's Joe Freaking McNally! The Magical Unicorn of Flash. Yes, that +Joe McNally, my favourite instructor, all around cool guy and a top mentor.
Read MoreREVIEW : Canon EOS M5 - Is this Canon's Best Mirrorless?
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The question being posed is whether the EOS-M5 is Canon's best mirrorless ever. The answer is unabashedly, and wholeheartedly, yes. The more relevant question is whether the EOS M5 is a competitive offering, coming as it does, late to the game, and onto a field with other better established and well respected competitors. Join me in this review, and you'll see my answer at the end, but more importantly be able to answer for yourself.
Read MoreAttend a Broncolor Event in Toronto or Montreal
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The team at Broncolor Canada have a great event coming up on March 29th in Toronto and on April 1st in Montreal. Come and meet acclaimed Swiss photographer Jessica Keller in a full day lighting seminar. Registration links are below. Cost for the seminar is $150
Read MoreREVIEW : Sigma ART 20mm f/1.4 - Scoping the Landscape
/Readers know that I am a fan of fast glass. I love the flexibility it gives me and I tend to shoot fast lenses wide open because of that flexibility. I have no fear of flash, I just like the ability to make an image wherever I might want to. My latest opportunity is the review of Sigma's ART series 20mm f/1.4
Read MoreQUICK REVIEW : Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10
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I was heading to a motorcycle show and wanted a small high quality camera to use, that would not involve me taking anything that would not fit in a pocket. I expected to be on and off bikes all day and wanted nothing swinging on a strap or requiring a bag. Bryan Weiss of Daytripper Photo, knows the high end point and shoot space better than I so I asked his advice. His first reaction matched mine, which was to reach for Sony RX-100 Mark IV. Then he asked if I was willing to try something new and thus began my working day with the Lumix LX10.
Read MoreREVIEW : Nikon KeyMission 170 and Keymission 360
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The folks at Nikon Canada have sent me a pair of KeyMission products to have a look at. I was initially curious as to why a solid camera company like Nikon would get into action and 360 cameras. To me this seemed a strange decision but I thought it would be worthwhile to have a look.
Read MoreThoughts on the Nikon Financial Announcements
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Based on the panic induced drop in stock price following Nikon's recent announcement of financials for the third quarter ending December 31st, 2016, there's an enormous amount of noise that Nikon is done, that the company is over, yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't think so.
Read MoreNikon Kills the DL Lineup Before They Are Born - Ramblings
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Nikon kills the DL lineup and some general ramblings on the future for Nikon
Read MoreREVIEW : Tascam DR-70D
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Field recording shouldn't be a pain or have to sound lousy. The Tascam DR-70D is an excellent field and in studio recorder. To find out more, read the full article.
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