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CIPA’s latest numbers show camera production, sales slashed by half in March

27 Apr

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the camera industry particularly hard with a dramatic downturn in both production and sales during March. Traditionally a period when sales of new products announced after the New Year begin to come on-line, this March saw production and shipments from Japanese companies drop to only 48% of levels reached in the same month last year.

Figures released by the Japanese Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) show world-wide shipments were only 47.8% of the volume last March, with the number shipped to Asia (excluding Japan and China) only 39.8% of last those shipped in March 2019. Shipments to ‘Other Areas’ (including the Middle East) are most healthy but still down to 68.2% of last year’s volume, and this region accounts for a very small proportion of sales. Shipments to the USA were at 44.7% and those to Europe were 48.3%, while Japan managed 54.5%.

Production and shipped data for March 2020. Column 2 is for comparison to February 2020 and column 3 shows a comparison to March 2019. Column 4 compares Q1 2020 with Q1 2019

It seems SLR cameras have fared far worse than mirrorless models, which may be partly down to the fact that there are fewer new SLR models around at the moment. Production of SLRs reached only 32.6% of the levels for last March, while mirrorless models reached 56%. China was the only region to receive more SLRs than mirrorless cameras, but that figure was still only half of what the country took last March.

The CIPA figures are reflected in the sales reported by Stackline, which showed online camera sales in the USA were down 64% in March. With many camera shops with closed doors too, sales across the counter are also likely to be very poor. The market research company rated cameras no. 3 in its list of the 100 fastest declining product categories – with only briefcases and luggage doing worse. Unsurprisingly, disposable gloves were the fastest-growing product.

Last week Canon reported a drop in camera revenue of 27% for the first quarter of the year – slightly ahead of that across the total Japanese camera market which recorded a drop in revenue of 31.1% compared to the same period last year. The revenue drop for SLRs shipped from Japan was 40.2% while that for mirrorless models was 25.8% in the months January to March 2020.

Sales of lenses have held up a little better with the total volume produced in March dropping by 46.1% and those shipped falling by 44.8%. Production of full-frame lenses dropped by 34.5%, while those designed for smaller formats fell by 53% by volume. In better news, the value of smaller-format lenses shipped to the USA was up by 1.5% over the value shipped to the region in February – and I’ll take that as a positive.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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A beginner’s guide to lighting tools – with stay-at-home-friendly DIY versions

26 Apr

DIY studio lighting solutions

One of the most important skills that photographers can learn is how to control and manipulate light. After all, it’s the very definition of photography! So if you aren’t already a master of photography lighting, use this quarantine time at home to explore and practice lighting techniques. In this article, I’ll show you some of the most popular lighting solutions that professional photographers use, and DIY versions that you can make with regular household products.

This guide is geared towards those with little-to-no knowledge of lighting, but it can also be useful for professionals. Gear can malfunction at any time, and it is helpful to know how to hack quick solutions, especially on paid jobs.

Light sources: Pro Photographer Version

The lights that professional photographers use can fall into two broad categories: natural light and artificial light. Natural light simply means any available ambient light, most commonly sunlight. The plus side to natural light is that there is plenty of it available, and you can use it as-is or with modifiers such as a reflector (more on this below).

However, the downside to natural light is that it changes throughout the day, and is not always consistent. Natural light at sunrise or sunset has very different qualities than that of midday natural light.

While it’s beneficial for pro photographers to know how to use natural lighting, understanding how to use artificial lighting is also valuable since one cannot always rely on natural lighting to be available. Most photographers incorporate artificial lighting in the form of strobes, Speedlights, or LED panel lights.

Strobes and Speedlights are external flashes that produce a bright burst of light at high power. In comparison, LED panels are external lights that are always on, giving you a real-time preview of what your subject will look like with lighting on. The main downside to LEDs is that they are generally not as powerful as strobes or Speedlights.

Light sources: DIY Version

The best DIY light source is a flashlight. This can be a dedicated flashlight or the one on your cell phone will do just fine.

From here on out, we’ll talk about lighting modifiers. The most important thing to understand about a modifier is that it (naturally) can’t be any brighter than the light that already exists, so it is best to start off with the most powerful light you can find. For the DIY versions of these modifiers, don’t worry if your materials are wrinkled, stained or dirty. All we’re doing is using them to reflect light, so little imperfections are fine.

Light Modifier: Reflector – Pro Photographer Version

The most basic and inexpensive light modifier is a reflector. This tool manipulates light by bouncing it off of reflective surfaces. There are several different kinds of reflectors out there, but the handiest by far is the 5-in-1 reflector. This gives you five different tools to work with:

  • A silver side for highly reflective, neutral-colored light.
  • A gold side for highly reflective, warm-colored light.
  • A white side for reflecting soft light.
  • A black side for absorbing or blocking light.
  • A translucent panel for diffusing light.

Light Modifier: Reflector – DIY Version

5-in-1 reflectors are quite cheap, so get one if you can afford it. But if you want to use household items, you can recreate the effects of the 5-in-1 reflector with some common materials:

Tools Needed

  • Tape, scissors, binder clips or clamps, large foam boards (most of these can be found in a craft or hardware store).
  • A silver side – aluminum foil works fine.
  • A gold side – this is more tricky to reproduce, but gold gift wrap could work.
  • A white and black side – white or black foam board is the best option.
  • A translucent panel – parchment paper (explained use is in the next section).

Step 1: Cut the large foam boards into your desired size, but keep it in a rectangular or square shape to help it stay balanced. Determine the ideal size by figuring out what kind of photo subject you are trying to light. A larger photo subject = a larger foam board.

Step 2: The foam board can be used as-is if you simply want a white or black surface to bounce light off of. Simply attach the binder clips or clamps to the bottom of the reflector to give it feet to stand on, and start using it.

Step 3: If you have aluminum foil or metallic gift wrap, take it a step further by wrapping the foam board cutout with the reflective material. It doesn’t matter if the foil or gift wrap is wrinkled – all you want is the reflective quality of the material. After your foam board is wrapped and secured with tape, attach the binder clips or clamps for feet, and you’re ready to go.

Light Modifier: Softbox – Pro Photographer Version

Similar to the translucent panel of a reflector, a softbox diffuses light. It can turn harsh light with heavy shadows into soft, even light. Like all other lighting modifiers, softboxes vary in terms of size and shape. When choosing softboxes, consider the size of your photo subject – a larger softbox is needed to light larger subjects – and if your subject has any reflective surfaces. Softboxes can often be seen in reflections (ie. glass bottles, or a photo subject’s eyes). This may impact the shape of the softbox that you should use.

Bottles of wine or other beverages are often shot with rectangular softboxes so that the reflection compliments the bottle’s form.

Light Modifier: Softbox – DIY Version

In the previous section, the use of parchment paper was not explained because you would use the parchment paper in much of the same way you would make this DIY softbox.

Tools Needed:

Tape or glue, Exacto knife (or scissors), large clamps, large foam boards, parchment paper (most of these can be found in a craft or hardware store).

Step 1: Cut the foam board into a certain size, if desired, but it is best to use the largest foam board that you have available.

Step 2: Cut out a generous portion of the middle of the foam board, leaving a foam board frame. This is easiest done with an Exacto knife.

Step 3: Tear off a piece of parchment paper large enough to fill in the foam board hole. Tape or glue the parchment paper to the foam board frame.

Step 4: Depending on the size of your DIY softbox, you may be able to balance it on a surface if you use large clamps as feet. If you have a really large softbox, use an assistant to hold it in place, or set your camera on a timer and hold the softbox yourself.

To get the best light out of your DIY softbox, play around with the placement of your light source and the softbox. A good rule of thumb is that the larger the softbox, the softer the light quality. However, the proximity of the softbox to your photo subject also affects the light output – the closer your photo subject is to the light source, the softer the light appears.

Light Modifier: Snoot – Pro Photographer Version

The last type of photography lighting modifier I’ll discuss is the snoot. A snoot is a long tube that fits on the front of a light, producing a targeted beam of light, similar to a spotlight. Photographers often use snoots as a hair light in portrait photography to create separation between the subject and background.

Light Modifier: Snoot – DIY Version

There are many ways to DIY a snoot. Which tool is best for you really depends on the size of your light source, since the snoot needs to tightly fit around the end of your light. Assuming that you are using a relatively small flashlight, the cheapest and easiest way to DIY a snoot is to use the inner cardboard piece of a toilet paper or paper towel roll. Simply cut and toilet paper piece and rearrange it to tightly fit around the end of your light, and tape or glue the shape into place.

And there you have it – plenty of ideas to experiment with around the house. Watch the video below to see these DIY solutions in action, and let us know your best household item lighting hacks in the comments!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Exposure X5 software review: blazing fast and subscription-free

26 Apr

Exposure Software Exposure X5
$ 119-149 | exposure.software

Although we’ve reviewed both of its immediate predecessors – Alien Skin Exposure X3 and X4 – here at DPReview, I’m personally a newcomer to the long-running and retroactively-eponymous Exposure series. Since the last release, Alien Skin has changed its name to match that of its most popular and best-known app, and now goes by Exposure Software.

Exposure’s roots can be traced all the way back to a 2006-vintage film simulation plugin for Photoshop. And while it’s grown vastly across the 14 major updates launched since then, its interface should still prove fairly familiar to anyone who’s used it in at least the past five or six years since the basic UI was defined by the sixth and seventh versions.

Blazing-fast browsing and editing that won’t vanish into the ether if you don’t upgrade every year

An alternative to the likes of Adobe’s category-dominating Lightroom or Phase One’s popular Capture One, Exposure X5 stands out from its rivals thanks to its blazing-fast image browsing and editing. It also boasts a treasure trove of manual adjustments plus a vast library of quick yet professional-looking presets.

Key takeaways:

  • Very competitively priced, no subscription
  • Blistering performance in comparison to Lightroom
  • Interface is a bit rough around the edges
  • Tons of controls and presets at your fingertips
  • Good high-DPI monitor support, not-so-good touch support
  • Fewer profiles for automatic corrections than competitors

Not much more than a Benjamin, with no subscriptions in sight

And yet despite its depth and swiftness, it’s also extremely affordable. Without adding on any of Exposure Software’s other tools, you can get the full Exposure X5 experience for just $ 119, almost two-thirds less than a perpetual Capture One License at $ 299. And even if you add both the Snap Art and Blow Up plugins for artistic effects and easier enlargements, the pricetag still comes in below $ 150.

Adobe, meanwhile, charges you $ 120 every year for an ongoing Creative Cloud photography plan subscription. In fairness to the company, that gets you not just the Exposure X5-rivaling Lightroom but also Adobe Photoshop. But then, Exposure X5’s perpetual license doesn’t vanish into the ether if you decide not to pay for an upgrade in a year’s time.

Results of the new Complementary – Orange and Teal filter.

Great upgrades to masking and lens correction

The step from the Alien Skin-developed X4 to the Exposure Software-produced X5 is very much an evolutionary one, with many features carried over unchanged. But that’s not to say there aren’t any significant changes; on the contrary, there are several upgrades that are well worth having.

The most significant changes are to be found in two main areas: Masking and lens correction. On the masking front there’s a new 3D Color Masking tool which allows you to quickly make complex layer masks based on subject hue, saturation and luminance ranges, allowing other adjustments to precisely target your intended subject.

You can profile your own cameras for better color out of the box

Exposure Software has also added tools to correct chromatic aberrations and vignetting, and extended the distortion correction tool to allow for manual corrections. You can keep aberrations on an even tighter leash with a new Defringe tool, and you can profile your own cameras for better color out of the box.

Also new to your toolbox are more presets than ever before, as well as support for more camera and lens profiles. Exposure X5 also gains greyscale TIFF and JPEG support, new horizontal / vertical flip controls and an undockable, resizeable tone curve editor.

Take a look at all 500+ presets at your disposal over at Exposure’s site.

Browsing images in Exposure X5 in the default view. Click through for the full version.

A bit rough around the edges compared to Lightroom

There’s really no escaping the fact that right out of the box, Exposure X5 looks a whole lot like its dominant arch-rival, Adobe Lightroom Classic. Your chosen image or folder of images sit front and center between two columns of informational displays and controls.

If viewing a single image, thumbnails of others from its folder or collection sit beneath. And all panels but the centermost area can be hidden, individually or as a group, to help you focus on the images themselves.

But there are also some important differences for the Lightroom user to consider. Firstly, Adobe’s app has a modal interface, with sections appearing or disappearing from the sidebars as you switch from, say, the Library to Develop modules.

Exposure X5, though, has a non-modal design which means there’s a lot more to fit in those sidebars. Most of what Lightroom fits into both its Library and Develop modules is crammed into the sole interface for Exposure Software’s app, plus a truly mind-boggling number of fun and useful presets.

A selection of some of the new presets in Exposure X5. Clockwise from top left, we start with the original image on which the other looks are based. Next is the Light and Airy – High Contrast filter, then Kodak Recording 2475, and finally Ilford PanF Plus 50 at bottom left.

The sidebars are jam-packed full of controls

Each sidebar is split in two vertically, with each panel in the sidebar being scrollable if needed, and a handle in the center of the divider allowing you to choose how much of the screen height to devote to each panel.

There’s less handholding in Exposure X5 than in Lightroom

I found that with so much stuff in there, I was constantly resizing panels to fit the controls I wanted on-screen, and scrolling up and down within them in search of individual controls I wanted to tweak. Right-clicking on any section header and switching to “Solo” mode helps a lot, though, simply by minimizing all but controls in any section but the one you’re currently browsing.

One other point to note is that there’s less handholding in Exposure X5 than in Lightroom. Adobe’s app can, for example, adjust white balance, most basic exposure settings and even perspective transformations automatically. Exposure, though, offers only presets whose actions are predetermined, and don’t vary significantly based upon image content.

Clockwise from top left, the same image processed with the new Seasons – Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter presets.

The lack of a catalog has pros and cons

The other major difference to consider is where your adjustments are stored. Adobe’s Lightroom is based around managing a library of images, storing its processing information in a single monolithic database. Exposure X5 instead stores its processing information in sidecar files which, in the interest of tidiness, are deposited in a subfolder of that in which the processed image was found. (And if you just browse images without editing them, no sidecar is created at all.)

I was honestly a little gobsmacked by how much faster Exposure feels

One upside of this is that the sidecars – and therefore the processing information – reside in the folder right alongside the images, and so if you share a folder of images, you also share the processing information. But while backing up your Lightroom catalogs is just a matter of backing up a single folder’s contents, if you want to do the same in Exposure X5 you’re faced with tens or hundreds of thousands of files scattered in folders among your photos.

Let’s now take a closer look at Exposure’s performance, as well as some more of its more powerful features on the next page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VXD sample gallery (DPReview TV)

26 Apr

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What better time to shoot with a telephoto zoom? Chris and Jordan took the Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 and a Sony a7R III into the empty streets of Calgary for some appropriately-distanced street shooting – with a few family portraits to round things out. See all of the samples from this week’s episode right here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview TV: Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VXD review

26 Apr

The Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 has its flaws – its sunstars are uninspiring, there’s no built-in IS and the reverse zoom-ring-in-front setup drives us a little crazy. But it’s an incredibly compact F2.8 tele-zoom with weather sealing, and it’s no slouch in terms of sharpness. Chris and Jordan venture into the empty streets of Calgary with the lens – and walk away quite impressed.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

  • Introduction
  • Sample images
  • Size and weight
  • Lack of stabilization
  • Build quality
  • Sharpness
  • Teleconverters?
  • Bokeh
  • LoCA
  • Close-up performance
  • Video applications
  • Focus speed
  • Sunstars and flare
  • Who's it for?

Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VXD sample gallery

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Camera strap manufacturer Lucky introduces new quick release system

25 Apr

Australian accessories manufacturer Lucky has announced a new line of camera straps that feature new alloy clips that allow the strap to be taken off in a matter of seconds. A hoop of webbing is passed through a sprung clip and hooks on to the new clip and a safety latch is activated to ensure the clip doesn’t open by accident.

The company says the idea was to produce a quick release system that doesn’t need any attachments that have to be left on the camera when the strap isn’t in use. Users can then fit the camera into underwater housing for example without having to remove attachments from the camera’s lugs to make it fit.

Lucky has manufactured the webbing on the straps from a non-woven material called Dyneema that is claimed to be very strong and which makes the Lucky straps cut resistant. The company says the webbing isn’t cut-proof but demonstrates in a video that it can withstand rough treatment from a pair of scissors with only minor damage.

The straps are designed to be worn across the body and feature leather shoulder grips which can be personalized or there’s a choice of cotton. As well as regular and long length straps the company has introduced a wrist strap that uses the same quick-release system and webbing.

It’s worth noting the quick-release system bears a striking resemblance to that found on Peak Design’s Clutch hand strap, which also uses a carabiner-style quick-release system for attaching and detaching the strap from the camera.

The straps with the new quick-release system cost up to AUS $ 140/US $ 91, while the wrist straps are AUS $ 95/US $ 62.

For more information see the Lucky Straps website

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Aputure’s Light Storm system gets adjustable color with the new LS 300X continuous light

24 Apr

Lighting company Aputure has announced a new studio light for still and movie shooters that offers color temperature settings of between 2700 and 6500K. The LS 300X joins a system of lights in the Light Storm range, but is the first to offer bi-color controls as the other lights in the series are designed with a daylight color balance.

The LS 300X uses both cool and warm balanced LEDs in its head and mixes the two sources to achieve the desired color temperature. As such the head is at its brightest in the 4000-5500K temperature range, and the company claims that when combined with its Fresnel 2X lens adapter an output of 65,000 LUX can be reached. The output is a little below that of the company’s daylight-only LS 300d ll, which can produce 80,000 LUX at 1m with the same adapter.

The LS 300X has two modes for color adjustment that allow users to prioritize color accuracy or maximum output, and oft used color temperature can be pre-set into the main control wheel to make switching easier and quicker. Dimming is possible between 0-100% and color temperature can be adjusted in 50K increments. Nine special effects are built-in to the head, including flicker to emulate flash bulbs, fireworks and a TV.

A series of lenses can be used over the LED, as with the other LS series heads, to modify the light and a Bowens S mount fitting around the front panel allows softboxes and accessories to be used. Power comes from either V-Lock or Gold Mount battery on the control box and mains electricity, and a smartphone app can be used to control the head’s settings.

The Aputure LS 300X retails at $ 1199 and is available now. For more information see the Aputure website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Blackmagic Design’s Pocket Cinema Camera 6K now costs $1,995 after permanent price drop

24 Apr

Blackmagic Design has announced it’s dropping the price of its Pocket Cinema Camera 6K (BMPCC6K) by $ 500, bringing the retail price down to $ 1,995.

Although Blackmagic Design doesn’t explicitly say the price drop is due to the current COVID-19 pandemic in the press release, it does suggest the decision was made alongside the release of its ATEM Mini switchers to help the current demand for at-home livestreaming efforts, saying ‘With the current demand for multi camera live streaming from home broadcast studios, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K makes a perfect studio camera when combined with the recent studio camera software update!’

The BMPCC6K offers 6K30p recording on its Super 35 sensor (6144 x 3456 pixels), up to 13 stops of dynamic range, built-in SD UHS-II and CFast card slots, HDMI output, an expandable USB-C port, a built-in 5” touchscreen and Blackmagic OS to run it all. All of that is packed inside the carbon fiber polycarbonate composite frame, which comes with a built-in Canon EF mount.

You can find the new price live at retailers around the globe, including Adorama and B&H.

Press release:

Blackmagic Design Announces New Low Price for Pocket Cinema Camera 6K

Fremont, CA, USA – Friday, 24 April 2020 – Blackmagic Design today announced a new lower price for the popular Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K of US$ 1,995. This is a reduction of $ 500 which will help make this camera more affordable for users working on digital film as well as live production with the new ATEM Mini switchers. With the current demand for multi camera live streaming from home broadcast studios, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K makes a perfect studio camera when combined with the recent studio camera software update!

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K is available immediately from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for US$ 1,995.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera now works as a studio camera for live production when used with ATEM Mini. Video and control is via the HDMI connection, which is available as soon as customers plug the cameras in. The record light becomes a tally light so customers can see which camera is on air. The ATEM Software Control camera page has a camera control unit (CCU) style interface for adjusting and matching their cameras. Move the CCU control vertically for iris and left to right to adjust black level. It’s the same as a broadcast CCU. There are also controls for color tint to balance camera as well as focus, gain and shutter speed. Customers can even ISO record Blackmagic RAW in the camera for editing later.

The elegant design of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera packs an incredible number of high end digital film features into a miniaturized, handheld design. Made from lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite, the camera features a multifunction handgrip with all controls for recording, ISO, WB and shutter angle right at their fingertips.

Featuring a larger 6144 x 3456 Super 35 sensor and EF lens mount, the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K model lets customers use larger EF photographic lenses to create cinematic images with shallower depth of field, allowing creative defocussed backgrounds and gorgeous bokeh effects.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras have an incredible 13 stops of dynamic range which means they preserve more detail in the lightest and darkest areas of an image than simple video cameras can. This allows customers to set exposure for an indoor scene and still retain the details of bright outdoor light coming through a window.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera features built in CFast and SD UHS-II card recorders, and a USB-C expansion port for recording direct to an external media disk. Customers can use regular SD cards for HD or higher performance UHS-II and CFast cards for native 4K or 6K when using Blackmagic RAW. Imagine capturing over an hour of full resolution 6K images on a single 256GB SD UHS-II card. The ProRes and Blackmagic RAW files work with all video software.

Blackmagic RAW is a revolutionary new format designed to capture and preserve the quality of the sensor data from their camera. Video formats such as H.264 are highly compressed, plus add noise and artifacts, causing original sensor detail to be lost forever. Blackmagic RAW eliminates this problem and gives customers stunning images with incredible detail and color throughout the production pipeline from camera to edit, color and mastering. It also saves camera settings as metadata so customers can set ISO, white balance and exposure in camera or override them later while editing, all without any loss of quality. Blackmagic RAW files are also small and fast to use making them easy to work with.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera features a large, bright 5 inch touchscreen that makes it easy for customers to frame shots and accurately focus. The touchscreen displays critical information while users are shooting, menus for setting up the camera and intuitive touch to focus controls. On screen overlays show status, a histogram, focus and peaking indicators, levels, frame guides, playback controls and more.

With the advanced Blackmagic OS, customers get an intuitive and user friendly camera operating system based on the latest technology. The interface uses simple tap and swipe gestures to adjust settings, add metadata and view recording status. Customers also get full control over advanced camera features such as on screen focus and exposure tools, 3D LUTs, HDR, metadata entry, timecode, Blackmagic RAW settings and more.

Both Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera models feature a mini XLR input with 48 volts of phantom power for connecting professional microphones such as lapel mics and booms. The four built in microphones have an extremely low noise floor and are shock and wind resistant, allowing customers to capture great sound in any location. There’s also a 3.5mm audio input for connecting video camera style microphones, along with a built in speaker for playback and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

“We have worked very hard to build this camera at lower cost, and we think even more people will be able to take advantage of this price reduction to move into a more advanced and much higher quality digital film workflow,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “This has become more important with COVID-19. Many broadcasters have been setting up home studios for presenters, which have used ATEM Mini switchers and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras. We think with the recent software updates for switcher control of the Pocket Cinema Cameras from the ATEM Mini switchers, combined with this more affordable price it will greatly help this workflow.”

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Features

  • Works as a studio camera when connected to ATEM Mini.
  • Designed from carbon fiber polycarbonate composite.
  • Wide 13 stops of dynamic range for film looks.
  • Built in SD, UHS-II and CFast card recorders.
  • Features incredible quality Blackmagic RAW recording.
  • Built in 5″ touchscreen allows accurate focus when shooting 6K.
  • Blackmagic OS as used in URSA Mini and URSA Broadcast cameras.
  • Professional mini XLR input with 48 volt phantom power.

Availability and Price

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K is available now for US$ 1,995, excluding local duties and taxes, from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Film Fridays: 9 analog photography ideas for isolation

24 Apr

Introduction

Whether you’re stuck indoors due to the global pandemic, or other reasons, there are plenty of ways to keep busy and to keep your photographic senses sharp. We’ve already covered some general photographic ideas for isolation as well as ways working photographers can keep busy. But what about old school analog shooters?

What follows are nine ways film photography lovers can stay occupied and have fun, all from the comfort and safety of your own home. Activities range from building your own cameras, to making your own strange film stocks, to learning to develop and print at home. Let’s dive in!

Build a pinhole camera

Building a pinhole camera is a classic Photo 101 exercise, but one that truly conveys the beauty and simplicity of “painting with light.” The Internet is filled with tutorials about making pinhole cameras from everyday materials. The most basic generally employ an aluminum can as one’s light-proof container, a piece of photo paper as the light-sensitive material and a small hole in the can as the aperture and lens. A simple piece of gaffer’s tape can function as the shutter, controlling when exposures begin and end.

For a more refined pinhole experience, many brands offer build-your-own kits ranging in their sophistication and complexity. Also a brand called Lensless offers a very cool line of wooden pinholes with different focal lengths, image size formats and made of different wood types. We’re also big fans of the Solarcan (above), a single-use pinhole meant to capture multi-day exposures of the sun’s path in you guessed it, a large can.

Learn to develop B&W film at home

Whether you’re new to developing B&W film or you have some experience, home developing is a fun, easy and reasonably inexpensive hobby. It’s also the kind of activity that’ll likely help you better appreciate the magic of photography and the nuances of chemistry.

We’ve put together a complete guide with everything you need to known to get started, including which supplies and chemicals to buy, how to clean up, how to digitize your negatives and other best practices. Read it below:

Developing film at home: everything you need to know to get started

Set up a home darkroom and make some prints

While we’re on the subject of developing B&W at home, why not make some B&W prints with your freshly-dried negatives while you’re at it? Home printing is almost certainly easier and cheaper than you might think.

Our pals over at the analog blog 35mmc.com have put together a handy guide to home printing on a shoestring budget. They even address concerns like: printing in a small space (such as an apartment) and how to best source equipment on the used market. You’ll also find some very handy tips for improvising darkroom gear with ordinary household items.

Read: How to build a darkroom for cheap

Digitize old negatives / experiment with sandwiching negatives

Whether you’re a former film shooter sitting on a box of aging negatives, or a modern analog maverick with current work in need of digitizing, scanning film can be a very rewarding, though often time-consuming activity. It can also be approached in many different ways. One of the most popular methods involves digitizing using a flatbed scanner and film holders. Epson’s V600 series is one you’ll hear mentioned often by film shooters because it is both affordable and fairly easy to use.

For quicker results, you can try photographing negatives with a macro lens on a digital camera with a diffused light source behind the negative; there are quite a few solutions out there for how to best mount/flatten one’s negatives when using this method. We personally think Nikon’s ES-2 film adapter works fairly well, and we’re also fans of the Pixl-later.

Another way to breathe some fresh creative life into old (or new) negatives is to experiment with sandwiching them together when digitizing. This can lead to some fun and funky results.

Turn your house/apartment into a camera

Photo: Brendan Barry

Sure, can-sized pinhole cameras are fun, but why not turn an entire room in your house or apartment into a giant pinhole? Photographer Brendan Barry is no stranger to turning odd things into picture-making machines and in the tutorial below, he’ll show you how to create a larger than life camera and capture the results, all without leaving the confines of your home.

Considerations like which room to use, what kind of lens to employ and how to create a positive print are all covered at length. We just hope you’ve got some extra cardboard lying around to cover your windows!

Build a 35mm film camera

So we’ve covered making pinhole cameras both from household items as well as turning your house itself into a camera. Both these methods look to capture an image on light sensitive paper. But what if you want to build a camera that can capture images on film instead?

Given the complexities of any working film camera, there aren’t many useful tutorials out there for how to build one from scratch. But worry not. For a hands-on experience that’ll teach you the basic mechanical functions of how a film camera works, look no further than Lomography’s Konstruktor Camera. This affordable kit will take a few hours to put together and the final product is a fully-functional 35mm camera that’s actually pretty fun to shoot. There’s even a flash-compatible model.

For more on the Konstruktor, including samples, check out this review on Popphoto.com from several years back.

Hunt for a new analog companion

Gear acquisition syndrome is real and we in no way are trying to encourage those with enough cameras to add to their collection. However, if you are genuinely in the market for a new analog friend, we’ve put together two guides listing 20 of our absolute favorite film cameras.

These two lists include both medium format and 35mm cameras. It’s also worth noting we’ve tried our best to only recommend cameras that have a reputation for reliability and that are fairly priced on the secondhand market. So get ready to hunt through Ebay, here are the 20 best film cameras worth buying right now…

Analog gems part 1: 10 excellent, affordable film cameras

Analog gems part 2: 10 additional film cameras worth buying right now

Track down some unusual film or make your own

It may seem somewhat counterintuitive, but in many respects, we’re living in a golden age of film experimentation. For starters, the second-hand market is awash with tons of expired film to shoot with, often for very cheap. And brands like Lomography offer an impressive catalog of strange film stocks (we personally enjoy the Lomochrom Purple). There are also plenty of smaller, boutique brands making fun and whacky films.

For those of you already with a freezer full of film, try soaking a few rolls in everyday household liquids. For instance, the image above was from a roll soaked in pickle juice. Just be sure to give said roll a thorough soaking in fresh water and dry it before running it through your camera (and keep those processes light-tight). It’s also a good idea to give your film handler a heads-up about how you’ve treated the film, or better yet, develop the rolls yourself.

Give your well-used gear some TLC

It’s important to keep your analog cameras in tip-top working order. And while there are many repairs we would never suggest you try, like anything involving wiring or disassembly, there are plenty of smaller repairs and bits of maintenance you can do to increase the life span of your cameras.

One of the simplest repairs involves replacing the light seals and bits of foam inside the film door. You can pick up a generic pack of light seals / foam off places like Ebay for very little money. Another simple repair involves using rubbing alcohol to de-corrode electronic contacts and/or remove stuck-on grime from the camera body. And for those who are a bit more confident, cleaning or replacing a film SLR’s focus screen can go a long way towards improving usability.

The wrap

And there you have it, nine fun ways analog shooters can continue to keep busy in these strange times. Think of these activities as forms of self care, because for many of us, photography and photography-adjacent projects help us tap into a sense of calm and peace. Sure, shooting film won’t end the global pandemic. But at least nurturing your love of analog can help distract you while you remain safely at home.

Got any more fun film photography ideas for isolation? Drop them in the comments below and we’ll consider adding them to this list.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview TV: Create beautiful abstract photos with polarized crystals (DIY project)

24 Apr

Tiny crystals on a glass slide may look unimpressive to the naked eye, but with a macro lens and some polarizing filters they become magical. We show you how to make your own.

Know the answer to Don’s polarization trivia at the end of the episode? Tell us in the comments!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

  • Introduction
  • Making crystals
  • Now we wait…
  • Crystal depth
  • The fancy setup
  • Making art
  • The basic setup
  • See you next time
  • Wait… just one more thing!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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