RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Heard’

The two most-produced 35mm cameras of all time? You’ve probably never heard of them

28 Aug
Photo: Stephen Dowling

What were the most-produced 35mm cameras of all time, you ask? Perhaps the Kodak Brownie, or the Argus C3, the Olympus Trip 35, or maybe the Nikon F? Nope, those cameras didn’t even come close the the number of Soviet-era Smena-8’s and Smena 8M’s that rolled off the assembly line; a combined 21 million in total. The next closest of the cameras mentioned is the Olympus Trip 35 with 5.4 million units made.

So what’s the deal with these apparently ubiquitous cameras, produced by Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie (Lomo), which many of us have probably never seen/heard of? Our good friends over at Kosmo Foto have the full scoop and more. Click the link and read on!

Read: Kosmo Foto – These are the most produced 35mm cameras of all time

About Film Fridays: We recently launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we’ll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at KosmoFoto and 35mmc.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on The two most-produced 35mm cameras of all time? You’ve probably never heard of them

Posted in Uncategorized

 

The SeaLife DC2000 is the best tough camera you’ve never heard of

13 Jun

Introduction

The SeaLife DC2000 in all its 1″-type sensor glory, and near its natural habitat.

I have an addiction to small cameras with big sensors. I’ve owned a Ricoh GR, original Fujifilm X100 and still have a Nikon Coolpix A knocking around. The EOS M100 and 22mm F2 combo also fits the bill.

But with just how good 1″-type sensors have gotten lately and how well they can balance the compactness and speed of their lenses, I’ve been left wondering: Where are all the fixed lens, 1″-sensor compacts? The Canon G7 X II and G9 X II, Sony RX100-series and Panasonic LX10 all have short zooms in front of their sensors, and most manage to have pretty wide maximum apertures. Just think about how fast and yet compact a (possibly collapsible) prime lens could be on one of these.

I deliberately underexposed this image to protect the highlights and brighten up the Raw file in post. With smaller-sensor rugged cameras, this would result in way more noise than you see here, even at base ISO.
ISO 125 | 1/800 sec | F1.8

Which brings us to the SeaLife DC2000, a compact camera with a 1″-type 20MP sensor and a 31mm-equivalent F1.8 prime lens in a waterproof, shockproof body. Despite being, on paper, pretty close to the ideal pocket point-and-shoot for me, it is most definitely not marketed toward me. It’s really targeted at the diving community, not land-based photography enthusiasts. It’s also not manufactured by one of the more ‘traditional’ camera companies, and as such, doesn’t benefit from the years of refinements and iterations that the likes of Canon and Nikon can take advantage of.

Key features

  • 20MP 1″-type BSI-CMOS sensor
  • 31mm-equivalent F1.8 lens
  • Without housing, waterproof to 18m/60ft and shockproof to 1.5m/5ft
  • Full manual and aperture controls
  • 80MB internal storage, microSD slot
  • 1080/60p video recording
  • 3.5in / 9cm close focus
  • Assortment of underwater and above-water scene modes
  • Battery rated to 200 shots (CIPA)

I’ve been carrying the SeaLife DC2000 around with me over the past couple of weeks and attempting to use it as I use my Nikon Coolpix A – a fun snapshot camera to have on me that takes better quality images than my smartphone. Here’s what I found.

Image quality

The sensor / lens combo on the SeaLife DC2000 is plenty sharp, with moiré apparent on the building in the distance.
Processed in Adobe Camera Raw | ISO 125 | 1/320 sec | F4

First of all, the DC2000’s image quality is pretty darn good. With what is likely the same sensor as a Sony RX100 III, you can expect good dynamic range and low light performance, particularly if you shoot Raw. The JPEGs out of the camera are solidly above-average with pleasing color most of the time, but sharpening and noise reduction are a little aggressive (no real surprise there). White balance strays a bit to the cool side, but whether you like that or not is really a matter of personal taste.

The lens is a great performer at all apertures

One criticism I have is that the tone curve applied to JPEGs can result in highlights that are a little abruptly clipped; it doesn’t happen all the time, but I was happy to have Raw files to play with to smooth the highlights out when this happened. Though there are an abundance of scene modes (I almost exclusively shot with it in Program Auto or Aperture Priority), it’d be nice to see some JPEG fine-tuning adjustments on future models.

I don’t mind some intentional lens flare, but those sensitive to it will wish for a hood as the DC2000 can lose contrast with bright light sources near the edges of the frame. That said, despite having a flat glass protective element in front of the lens, flare is reasonably well-controlled.
Processed in Adobe Camara Raw | ISO 125 | 1/1000 sec | F5.6

I have to say I’m impressed with the lens on the DC2000. It’s a good performer at all apertures, is more than sharp enough edge-to-edge and even makes some decent sunstars. I just didn’t expect this sort of quality from such a compact lens in a small waterproof body, and it’s nice to be pleasantly surprised here. That said, there can be some green and purple fringing (lateral chromatic aberration) on high-contrast edges (see the image of the backlit trees earlier on), particularly if you’re shooting backlit subjects and brightening in post. There’s no profiles to correct this automatically in Adobe Camera Raw, but it’s easily taken care of manually with a few sliders.

In use

The 1″-type sensor really makes a difference when the ISO value climbs.
Processed in Adobe Camera Raw | ISO 1600 | 1/125 sec | F1.8

Alright, so the images out of the DC2000 are pretty darn good. But what’s it like to use?

It’s a mixed bag. As you’d expect from a rugged waterproof camera, build quality is exceptional. The camera feels dense and solid, and though most buttons feel a bit mushy (a side-effect of the sealing no doubt), the shutter button has great feedback and an easy-to-feel distinction between the focus half-press and a full press to capture an image. The mode dial is likewise better-feeling than I expected.

The controls, though, are downright strange if you’ve ever used a digital camera from one of the more established manufacturers.

While the actual controls take some getting used-to, the layout is at least familiar.

When browsing your captured images in playback, you go back by hitting ‘up’ on the four way controller, and forward by hitting ‘down.’* You will forget this, even after shooting with the camera for several weeks, and you will occasionally hit ‘left’ to go back. This will rotate your image 90 degrees counter-clockwise. You will then curse under your breath as you prepare yourself to hit that same mushy button three more times to turn the photo the right way around, with each press being followed by a pronounced delay if you’ve been shooting Raw files. There’s also no way that I can find to view your shooting settings in playback.

However, once you enable the ‘delete’ function for eliminating single or multiple images, ‘left’ and ‘right’ on the directional pad become the method for browsing images.

The controls are downright strange

As far as the Raw files go, they’re great to process but frustrating to capture. With around five full seconds required for the camera to write the huge 40MB files to the microSD card, this is not your next ‘caught moment’ burst camera. My old Coolpix A positively smokes the DC2000 in terms of interface and shooting responsiveness, regardless of whether I’m shooting JPEGs or Raws.

A macro mode helps you get up-close-and-personal with your subjects.
Out-of-camera JPEG | ISO 125 | 1/1000 sec | F4.5

There’s also a wireless button that does absolutely nothing most of the time. Only after you’ve established a connection to your smart device with the ‘Link 123 Plus’ app does the wireless button bring up a menu option to automatically send each image to your phone. You can’t reassign it. I just downloaded my files from the card at the end of the day.

Lastly, when you go to change exposure parameters, you must press the ‘OK’ button before you can then adjust them by pressing up/down on the four way controller. Curiously, they work the opposite way I would expect, though, with ‘up’ lengthening the shutter speed and widening the aperture. You get used to it, but there’s still a bit of a disconnect there.

Some of this should be qualified, though, that simply putting the camera into ‘P’ or Auto modes gives generally good results for casual shooting (much of the gallery was shot this way). Unfortunately, if you’re hoping to fire off a quick shot or two to check settings (or if you’re underwater, check framing), this does little to mitigate the lag if you’re capturing Raw files.

Should you buy one?

This is a tough one. I’m absolutely in love with the idea of this camera, but am having a hard time rationalizing purchasing one.

Out-of-camera JPEG | ISO 125 | 1/800 sec | F5

If you’re in the market for a tough camera, like the Olympus TG-5 (a perennial staff favorite), the SeaLife DC2000 will absolutely reward you with higher-quality images if you can live without the zoom. It’s a great beach or vacation camera that can stand up to a fair amount of abuse. Power-on is quick, and you can also take an image quickly after startup. And then you’ll have to wait five seconds before the next image if you’re shooting Raw.

I can’t help but wonder how wide an aperture they could give this sort of prime lens if it were retractable and could forego the environmental sealing. That said, the SeaLife files stand up pretty well to those from my Nikon, and because of that sealing, I’ll never get dust on the sensor (this is an ongoing battle I have with retractable-lens cameras that I always seem to be on the losing side of).

I’m going to keep hoping and praying for one of the established manufacturers to make something that can approach the philosophy of the DC2000, but with greater responsiveness and more modern controls (though it’s possible SeaLife could address some of my qualms with a firmware update). If you can live with the operational quirks, it’s easy to recommend the DC2000 on the merits of its image and build quality. And of course there’s something to be said for the camera that’s always with you to also be able to take a knock or two.

Sample gallery

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_5090018911″,”galleryId”:”5090018911″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

*Our Senior Editor Barney Britton was kind enough to educate me on early Nikon digital bodies, such as the D1, which also have this control philosophy. Without going into detail, I’ll say that was before my time as a photographer.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on The SeaLife DC2000 is the best tough camera you’ve never heard of

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Brands, breakthroughs and bias: Here’s why you’ve heard so much about Sony recently

15 May

If it feels like we’ve been writing a lot about Sony recently, you haven’t been imagining things: we’ve been writing about its products and technologies quite a bit. But there’s a good reason for that – the company has simply given us a lot to write about.

A period of intense, sustained activity, set against a backdrop of relative inactivity from its competitors has seen Sony receive probably more coverage than any other brand.

Ever since it bought Konica Minolta’s camera business, Sony has been trying to find a foothold in a market sector that’s historically been dominated by two camera makers. Its first attempts were to crowd-out the shelves with ‘me-too’ SLRs. Actually, that’s not quite fair, the a350 was pretty innovative, in its own way. But despite offering lots of models often at low prices, this didn’t yield the desired results.

Sony’s attempts at innovation don’t start with the RX and a7 cameras, but the relentless pace of its updates are a relatively recent trend.

But Sony’s more recent moves, particularly the embrace of full-frame mirrorless and 1″ sensor compacts, along with numerous additional features arriving in the realms of video, sensor technology and autofocus, have included some significant steps forward for the industry. And ones that are relevant for a broad range of photographers.

This has left us with a lot of technology and features to write about. Sometimes this comes in the form of a standalone tech article, other times in the reviews themselves, as we try to explain the real-world benefits and shortcomings we’ve encountered while using them.

Of course we’ve seen this before: periods of innovation from various manufacturers as the industry grows and changes. The introduction of the first mirrorless camera by Panasonic, for example, or its subsequent improvements in video (we often joke that the launch of a GH series camera means we all have to learn more about film-making). Fujifilm was the first to offer on-sensor phase detection and, while divisive, its X-Trans color filter array and DR Modes have given us plenty to talk about.

Mirrorless cameras, as pioneered by Panasonic and Olympus have been the area with most innovation in recent years. Again, this has meant we’ve written about them a lot, as the technology has improved.

What’s unique, though, is the continued drive, this sustained flood of products and of new technologies that Sony has recently been responsible for. And, more starkly, this has come at a time when the industry’s largest two companies have been comparatively quiet. Over the past four years, Sony has released around 60% more new high end (>$ 1000) models than any of its rivals.

This has come at a time when the industry’s largest two companies have been comparatively quiet

This has meant that we write a lot about Sony right now. Not because it’s Sony, specifically, but because they’re the company doing so much of the running at the moment. And of course, our coverage isn’t always positive. Our job is to cover technology and innovations regardless of how well they perform, so in addition to being impressed by the capabilities of DRAM-backed Stacked CMOS sensors, we’ve also written about banding, striping, and work that still needs to be done on the menu systems.

Sony isn’t the only brand innovating, of course. We continue to be impressed by Canon’s Dual Pixel AF design, particularly in terms of the benefits it brings for video shooting, and Nikon launched the D850, arguably the best DSLR the world has seen. But neither brand is delivering the constant innovation that currently sets Sony apart right now.

This is to be expected: the dominant players in the industry will be keen not to change an apparently winning formula, while the insurgent newcomer needs to offer something suitably different to entice people away from the tried and tested ‘safe’ choice.

Canon didn’t achieve its market dominance by chance. Cameras such as the EOS 5D and EOS 300D/Digital Rebel offered something none of its rivals did.

Looking back, we’ve been here before. Canon didn’t achieve its recent market dominance solely by chance: a combination of investment in CMOS technology and aggressive pricing of its mass-market DSLRs played a big role. This combination gave it several years in which its cameras had a distinct edge over most rivals.

Similarly, Nikon made great strides forward around the time of the D3 and D300. These two cameras brought hugely improved autofocus as well as a move to CMOS sensors which greatly increased low light performance (and dynamic range, in subsequent iterations).

The Fujifilm S3 Pro was the first DSLR to offer live view. It could be argued that we failed to recognize its significance at the time.

The long-expected thinning-out of the camera industry hasn’t yet happened: there are still plenty of players in the market. The thing that’s changed is that they’re all competing for a slice of a much smaller pie than they were, just a few years ago. This is likely to mean more brands trying the aggressive, fast-iteration, constant innovation approach that Sony (and, to a lesser degree, Fujifilm) is taking. It’s also unlikely that Sony can continue at this rate indefinitely: there’s every chance that its strategy is to capitalize on being first mover by staking out as much territory as it can before everyone else responds.

Manufacturers are all competing for a slice of a much smaller pie

As the remaining camera brands fight for recognition and search for tech and features to distinguish themselves, we should have plenty more to write about. Especially if, as all the rumors suggest, Canon, Nikon or both end up introducing high-end mirrorless cameras in the next twelve months. After all, despite being well-entrenched in the DSLR market, they’ll both be relative newcomers to serious mirrorless, so may feel the need to be more innovative than we’ve seen in a while.

Busy times, then. And we will cover these with the same vigor and enthusiasm we try to show for every innovative launch. Regardless of which name is on the front of the product.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Brands, breakthroughs and bias: Here’s why you’ve heard so much about Sony recently

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Things People Say to Photographers – What Have You Heard?

10 Mar

If you’re in the photography business you’ve likely heard some pretty outrageous comments made by clients. In these three videos let’s have a humorous look at things clients say to photographers. Remember this is all in fun, and we, as photographers, value our loyal clients fiercely. Right?!

Things Clients Say

I this first video by Queen Photographers we see some of the most common phrases and things heard by photographers. Some just make our eyes roll. Have you heard any of these gems?

Shtuff People Say

Here’s another tongue-in-cheek look at “shtuff” people say to photographers. What’s your favorite? How about, “Wow your camera takes really good pictures!” If you aren’t a professional, even as an amateur or hobby photographer you’ve probably heard that one right?

Kid Edition

This one is probably my favorite of the lot. It was made by a photographer and his kids, using the kids as models. I think they did a fantastic job.

?

Let’s hear from you

So now it’s your turn. What are some of the doozies you’ve heard from people? Here are some of my faves:

  • Your camera takes great photos. (Never mind the two years of photography school, and years of experience I have been doing it.)
  • Much be nice charging that much for a wedding, you hardly have to do any work at all. (Said a wedding guest who has no idea a wedding takes up to 40-50 hours of work before, during and after the big day.)
  • Can you take a photo with my camera? (A father of the bride asked me this once, and I was the paid wedding photographer taking their family photo at the time!)
  • Can you NOT put your name/signature on our prints? I might want to get them copied and the copy shop won’t do it if there’s a professional mark on them. (Asked of me by an actual paying client.)
  • Can you NOT put your signature on any of my family’s prints? That is only for art and artists. You’re just a photographer and what you do isn’t really art, so I don’t want your name on it. (He then proceeded to convince everyone in the extended family why they didn’t need 20×24 prints which they have purchased and they all downsized to 11×14 or 8×10, thanks, buddy! But I refused to not sign them so he had to take it or get none.)
  • Can you give us the wedding photography package we want but just throw in a free 16×20 wall canvas? The studio down the street said they’d do it for less. (To which I suggested they go meet with that photographer and hire him if they liked his work. After 2 days they hired me at my price PLUS the 16×20 at full price.)

Let’s hear yours. Remember – this is dPS so please keep it clean folks, no curse words (use a bleep if you have to), or name calling. Keep it light-hearted in the spirit of the videos. Just do an eye-roll and move on.

The post Things People Say to Photographers – What Have You Heard? by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on Things People Say to Photographers – What Have You Heard?

Posted in Photography

 

Audio Hop: Best NYC Art Gallery Tour You Have Ever Heard

20 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

nyc gallery audio tour

A new way to experience galleries, their artwork and the city they inhabit, even calling it a tour sells short this extremely impressive multimedia experience. Complete with props and layered audio recordings, all interspersed with civic trivia and high-speed humor, the whole Audio Hop production feels like an well-executed piece of dynamic performance art, in which you can play any number of parts. Launching next month, this hop is well worth a stop, a look and a listen.

David_Chelsea

earbuds on the sidewalk

miroslaw balka_gladstone gallery

David Behringer, the curator of this experience, is exuberant, knowledgeable and very dedicated, visiting over 250 galleries in Chelsea each month to find the five most worthy ones to show any given group (and rotating with each tour). From start to finish, his personality and enthusiasm make it work. For an simple sample, check out his video recap below showing ten of his favorite exhibits from 2013 – then click here to buy tickets for the program starting next month.

Unlike a traditional audio walking tour, this one features both live and prerecorded sound, all delivered wirelessly to an inconspicuous device, letting its guests meander through the galleries but also break away from the group. The clips include carefully curated and edited interviews with artists and other soundbites related to a given work or its context. “A hidden radio transmitter allows you to hear your guide from any distance (in total secret) AND listen to insightful audio clips of the artists themselves while you’re in the gallery.”

installation art rebar piece

olafur eliasson_tanya bonakdar gallery

Effectively, you and your fellow half-dozen tour-takers feel both empowered to enter galleries that might seem open or feel welcoming you but also liberated from the the feeling of being tied to a traditional clustered bunch of gawking tourists. You can fall behind and linger, or stride ahead to the next stop, all while absorbing auditory input in the background.

nyc gallery wall art

andreas gursky_gagosian gallery

30 out of 30 reviewers on TripAdvisor rated David’s private tours as ‘Excellent’, effectively a unanimous a 5-star recommendation. WebUrbanist’s own Executive Editor had the opportunity to a sneak peak at his new and more-public offering this summer and was beyond impressed – what were individual tours are morphing into something suddenly more accessible.

audio hop chelsea tour

mark di suvero_paula cooper gallery

If it was not already clear: we would strongly recommend taking a trip with David to anyone who wants to get a glimpse of the art world … or simply wishes to take a artfully curated walk through New York City, learning about the neighborhood, its architecture and artwork alike. Even if you are not in the area, you can still check out the blog to learn about fantastic new works.

new york audio tour

rain room gallery installation

Above: The Mots Amazing Art of the Year in NYC, 2012 edition. From TheTwoPercent.com: “New York City contains the highest concentration of contemporary art galleries in human history. The result is the opportunity to enjoy the best art on the planet in a museum-like environment, without the crowds, for free, IF you can sort through the ever-changing 500+ galleries to find the most unique, jaw-dropping experiences. Good news, we found them. You’re invited on an unprecedented live audio experience of the most cutting-edge art in the world.  It’s a secret tour that takes you to the best, lets the artists speak for themselves, and give you complete freedom to wander.”

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Tourism Tech: Audio Tour App Takes You on a Tram Ride

Avoid the crowds of tourists and take your own tour with the Tram Sightseeing App. Available only for Gothenburg, the app gives you a virtual tour using GPS.
Click Here to Read More »»


RedBall Project Takes Interactive Urban Art on Tour

A huge inflatable red ball travels around the world, showing up in cities like Toronto and Abu Dhabi, squeezed into entryways and hovering above the street.
Click Here to Read More »»


Surreal Art Spaces: 15 Stunning Gallery Transformations

These 15 art installations transformed galleries and other spaces into surreal, often interactive environments with amazing visuals and optical illusions.
Click Here to Read More »»


Share on Facebook



[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]


WebUrbanist

 
Comments Off on Audio Hop: Best NYC Art Gallery Tour You Have Ever Heard

Posted in Creativity

 

Phottix Mitros+ Review – the Best Flash System You Have Never Heard of

05 Jun
First dance

Photo taken using the Phottix Mitros+ system

As a professional wedding and portrait photographer, I would say the most important accessory in my kit bag besides my main camera and lenses would by my flashes. So when it came to making a decision on what flash system use, I did a lot of research and in the end I opted for the Phottix Mitros+/ Odin system. I don’t normally write gear reviews as I think the internet has enough top quality content. I realized however in my research that the Phottix Mitros+, although sold internationally, is comparatively less well known and not well documented on the web.

Phottix Mitros 107

Phottix Mitros+ – comes with carrying case and accessories

I am a big fan of using off-camera flash and as a Canon shooter and have previously been using Canon 580 EX II / Pocket wizard combination for the last 4 years. The Canon 580 EX IIs in all fairness have served me well. They have been dropped many times, and rained on, but never skipped a beat. The problem occurs when I take them off camera. Using the PocketWizard Mini TT1 and TT5 trigger and receiver I have experienced a whole host of reliability problems that eventually was the catalyst for me to look for alternate solution.

I started by looking at the Phottix Odin TTL triggering system, which I have used before and has had excellent reviews. That was when I realized Phottix also sells the Mitros+ flash, that includes the wireless transceiver built into the unit. The “+” denotes that it has radio transceiver built in as they also do a non “+” version with no transceiver. The Mitros+ flash is great for a number of reasons;

  • It’s one less piece of equipment to buy and worry about
  • There is so need to carry more batteries or worry about connection issues between your radio receiver and your flash
  • The Phottix Odin trigger system is also a tried, tested, reliable market leader and so I was confident it would work well

Review – Phottix Mitros+ Flash System

First impressions when you take the Mitros+ out of the box; it comes in a nice pouch and feels solidly built to take a few bumps, which is essential as I will put it though the rigours of professional use. The first thing you notice is that it makes a beep, like studio lights, to tell you the flash is recycled and ready for use. This is especially useful if you are firing at full power, and can be turned off using the custom functions if you don’t like it. I fired off a few successive frames and it seems extremely quick to recycle. This is by no means a scientific test but I set the flash in manual mode 1/2 power and fired consecutive bursts. It seems to recycle at least as fast, if not faster, than a Canon 580 EX II. In the real world, it holds up very well; I tested it all day in different lighting situations and the ETTL worked consistently. The battery consumption seems about the same as the 580 EX II, I did a full day shoot and didn’t need to change batteries, so all in all I am very happy.

The real benefit of the unit however, is taking it off camera. It’s an absolute joy to use; no having to set up the PocketWizard receivers, and no misfires. I don’t have to do my usual five minutes of troubleshooting if the flashes aren’t firing. It just works like it is supposed to. With this system you can also control everything directly from my Odin transmitter, or using another Mitros+ flash. You can alter settings remotely such as TTL exposure compensation, manual power, high-speed sync and even flash zoom level. You can configure three groups of flashes and adjust each one individually. This basically allows you to control everything you need from the camera so no need to walk up and down making adjustments.

Phottix Mitros 101

Hands on it’s a quite a large flash as you can see here next to the Canon 580EX II

Features (as listed on the Phottix website)

  • E-TTL, M, Multi (Stroboscopic) modes
  • Auto/Manual Flash Head Zoom with 180 degree rotation and 97 degree tilt
  • High Speed Sync and Rear Curtain Sync
  • Flash Exposure Compensation: Manual, Bracketed
  • Fast Flash Mode: with 0.1-2.5 sec. recharge times
  • USB port for upgrades
  • 3.5mm Sync port
  • Canon-compatible IR Wireless Triggering with Master and Slave mode
  • Optical Slave Sync Mode
  • Uses 4 AA batteries
  • Port for external battery pack
  • Compatible with Phottix Odin TTL Flash Triggers for Canon
  • Battery Compartment for 4 AA batteries (below left)
    Phottix Mitros 103 Phottix Mitros 102
  • Rubber seals around metal hot-shoe for weather sealing (above right)
  • Mine also came with a plastic diffuser and 1/2 CTO which will come in handy (below left)
    Phottix Mitros 104 Phottix Mitros 100
  • Swivel and tilt head great for bouncing in all directions (above right)
  • Connections for USB power, 3.5mm jack for sync and external power the kit also comes with an adapter to convert the head for Canon’s CP-E4
  • The display a the back is large backlit and clear
    Phottix Mitros 106 Phottix Mitros 108
  • Menu System identical to Phottix Odin when set to Trigger Mode

Phottix Mitros 109

The litmus test for me to judge how intuitive a menu system is; if I need to read the manual, it’s probably not that intuitive. I very quickly figured out how switch from ETTL to Manual, activated high-speed sync and got the radio trigger system working. I actually think the menu system is better than the Canon 580 EX II, which took me a long time to figure out. Like the Canon speedlite, you can also control flash exposure compensation from the Canon 5D Mark III’s menu, although this is not recommended by Phottix. An advantage of the Mitros is that it has an indicator to see how much battery life left, which is absent in the Canon 580 EX II.

I recently took the Mitros+ system for an intensive four day shoot on Tinian Island and I am glad to report it has been flawless. I was asked to do a beach shoot at 1 p.m. in the blazing afternoon heat and managed to overpower the sun with three of Mitros+ flashes set up in cluster.

Mitros 100

Final image

Mitros 101

Lit with three Phottix Mitros+ flashes

The determining factors for choosing the Phottix system were twofold

Firstly, it is an open system. Odin can be used to trigger not just the Mitros+ but other studio lights as well. In comparison the latest Canon 600EX–RT flash and Canon ST-E3 trigger are only compatible with each other. I have also bought Phottix Odin receivers to bolt onto my old Canon 580s, so can use them with the Mitros+/Odin system together.

Another positive for Phottix is that it’s more backwards compatible than the Canon 600 EX-RT, which is not fully compatible with pre-2012 models, such as Canon 5D Mark II, which I also own. I read reports that you lose features like HSS, (High Speed Sync) and the sync speed is lowered to 125th/sec but I haven’t tested it myself. It seemed very odd to me that a third party company can get their flash working with older Canon cameras but Canon can’t. I have tested the Mitros+ system with both the Canon 5D Mark II and 5D Mark III. It works fine and it is even compatible using infrared with the Canon 580 EX IIs, so you can use the Mitros+ to trigger the Canon flashes and vice versa. The Mitros+ also has optical slave which is something Canon never put on the 580 EX for unknown reasons.

The final factor is the Phottix retails at $ 399 USD, which offers a significant saving to the Canon equivalent. At time of print, the Mitros+ is $ 150 USD cheaper than the Canon 600EX–RT flash.

I talked about comparisons with Canon in my review as I am a Canon user, but the Mitros+ is available for Nikon now also. It should be quite attractive to Nikon shooters as I think Nikon have yet to release a flash with a built-in radio transceiver.

Conclusion

Things really have moved on for third party flash manufacturers in the last few years. When I first researched into non-proprietary flash systems, they were generally cheaper, but vastly inferior product to the brand name equivalents. The Mitros+ is a great quality product, at a great price. It’s well built, easy to use and packed with features. Phottix as a company feels like they are selling products designed by photographers, and have really listened to their customers. Looking back at reviews of the original Mitros when it came out, customers were just saying “if only it had the Odin radio system built in that would be fantastic”, not long after the Mitros+ was released.

The Phottix Odin radio trigger system fully deserves all the praise it gets. PocketWizard, which has historically commanded such a market dominance in this sector, should be well aware of the new competition – which I think is a good thing. I remember paying nearly $ 500 USD for a PocketWizard TT1 Trigger and TT5 receiver, but had to as there was just no competition at the time. I experienced range issues, reception/connection problems, broken hot-shoe and general unreliability which is unacceptable for such a premium priced product.

The Mitros+ / Odin combination so far has been solid as a rock in terms of reliability. Time will tell if the build quality is as good as it looks but at least Phottix shipped with a two year warranty peace of mind. For those of you looking to either buy your first flash, or add to existing flash system, it’s worth keeping an eye out for products from third party manufacturers such as Phottix. Light is light at the end of the day, and I don’t care what brand name it says on the side as long as it gives me consistently good results and so far my Mitros+ has done exactly that.

Here are a few more images created with the Phottix Mitros+

Buggy 100

Food

Outdoor off camera flash

The post Phottix Mitros+ Review – the Best Flash System You Have Never Heard of by Garry Chung appeared first on Digital Photography School.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on Phottix Mitros+ Review – the Best Flash System You Have Never Heard of

Posted in Photography