Canon has released firmware version 2.0.3 for its flagship EOS-1D X full-frame DSLR. The update improves accuracy and versatility to AF and exposure systems, as well as adding significant customization options. Some of the new features include: AF point switching according to camera orientation, improved low-light performance, and expanded minimum shutter speed in auto ISO. Get the update
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
When you own a digital camera, you’ve got to treat it right, almost as if it were your very own baby. Wait…just a second there! It IS your very own baby, so you had better hold it gently and carefully. If that’s not convincing enough for you, then maybe a practical reason will affect you better: To avoid buying a Continue Reading
The post Holding Your Digital Camera Properly Like It’s Your Baby appeared first on Photodoto.
CES 2014: We got our hands on the recently announced Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm F1.2 ASPH OIS at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. It’s an ultra-fast portrait prime for Micro Four Thirds that offers an 85mm equivalent field of view. We shot some quick samples mounted on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3, including an aperture progression series. See gallery
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
CES 2014: We already snagged a little quality time earlier in the week with Canon’s latest PowerShots at Digital Experience, but a visit to the booth was still in order. If nothing else, we wanted to see some really nice lenses chopped in half. Take a look at what Canon has in store for CES attendees this year.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
CES 2014: We got our hands on the recently announced Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm F1.2 ASPH OIS at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. It’s an ultra-fast portrait prime for Micro Four Thirds that offers an 85mm equivalent field of view. We shot some quick samples mounted on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3, including an aperture progression series. We’ve just added 16 more images to our previously-published gallery, taken with the new lens attached to an Olympus OM-D E-M5. See gallery
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]
A simple illusion with so much potential – wrap an object, paint the wrapping plastic and presto, a central section appears to disappear before your eyes.
In the the case of this collaboration between street artists Daniel Siering and Mario Shu, it would seem the trick only works from one perspective. Still, in a consistent landscape, the effect could work in potentially all directions.
The only problem one might worry about in the case of this roadside attraction is the impact on surprised drivers doing a double-take as they pass by.
Working in a similar vein, another artistic duo (Joakim Kaminsky and Maria Poll) installed Clear Cut in the Medelpad, Sweden.
They circled trees with mirrored material to create a less-consistent but still-impressive and (in this instance) fully-circular effect.
Cayetano Ferrer likes putting prints on ordinary objects and capturing everyday scenes in strange ways on videos. This new project expands his approaches. Click Here to Read More »»
Artist Kumi Yamashita winds a single black sewing thread around a grid of galvanized nails on a wooden board to create intricately detailed portraits. Click Here to Read More »»
New Zealand artist, illusionist and urbanist Mark Hewson has a good many tricks up his sleeve involving spatial deception, convincing citizens there is less … Click Here to Read More »»
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Among the cameras launched at this year’s CES were a handful from JK Imaging, a worldwide licensee for Kodak ‘PIXPRO’ digital cameras and lenses. JK doesn’t have a booth at the show, but we visited them in a hotel suite for a briefing and some hands-on time with the new S1 Micro Four Thirds camera, and the company’s two new ‘Smart Lens’ camera modules. Click through to read more, and see some pictures of the new cameras.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
“But how will I zoom in and out?”, I blinked my eyes in disbelief.
“You’ve got feet, don’t you?”
My first encounter with the concept of fixed or prime camera lenses was when they were explained to me (a baby photographer) when I met with a local wedding photographer whose work I was (and still am) crushing on. I was so surprised to hear that there were lenses that (gulp) didn’t zoom. ‘What’s the point of that?’ I wondered. Why pay more for less?
Clearly, I had lots of catching up to do!
There are many merits to utilizing prime lenses in your photography. One is that you may find you can achieve mind blowing sharpness and quality with a lens that isn’t 10 lenses in one. I like to say that the 50mm prime lens doesn’t have to try to be anything other than 50mm. It only needs to focus on (pun intended) being the best 50mm it can be. Of course, there are many fantastically sharp and capable zoom lenses out there, but you will find that you’re not only paying for quality, but versatility. Prime lenses aren’t very versatile, but what they lack in versatility, they can make up for in quality which may leave you asking, “what zoom?”
So with so many to choose from, how do you choose the perfect prime lens for you? You can be like me and buy-to-try a whopping 14 lenses in 5 years, to the tune of $ 10,250, (true story) or you can try these great 5 steps:
If you use multiple lenses (or even just a few), there’s a super cool way to use Lightroom to see all the images taken with a particular lens. First, make sure you’re in the library module. On the left (under the smaller preview image) click ‘all photos’. Then on the top bar, click ‘metadata’. You’ll then see many sorting options depending on what photos you want to see. In the middle is the box which shows every lens you’ve used for all the images in your catalog (if you don’t see that use the pull down menu to select “lens”. How cool is that?! Then you can sort by focal length and see which one(s) you use most often.
As I mentioned before, I’ve experimented with many different zoom and prime lenses. As for primes, I’ve owned the following Canon lenses: 50mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.8, and 24mm f/2.8. After all that, the only one that remains in my collection is the 50mm f/1.2. I personally love quite tight portrait shots so although I think the quality was fantastic, the 24mm was too wide. The 85mm had phenominal sharpness and quality, but I sold it to help pay for the 50mm. I find the 50mm great on my full frame camera for wideish family shots but also tight-enough portraits. The f/1.2 means it’s my best lens for ultra low light and the sharpness is a little mind blowing. For me, it’s the perfect prime lens.
Now, there are many lenses from which to choose and that’s where you fine people come in! If you’re a prime lens aficionado or even just a fan of a particular lens, get involved below and tell us what prime lenses you have experience with, and which are your favourites!
The post 5 Easy Steps to Choose the Perfect Prime Lens for You by Elizabeth Halford appeared first on Digital Photography School.
[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]
Like a speculative fiction novelist, Margot Krasojevic creates fantastical work that manages to combine real design challenges of our times with futuristic solutions. Whatever your position on their feasibility, these improbable concepts are daring and their renderings marvelous.
Krasojevic‘s previous rock climber resort proposed unusual accommodations only accessible to the extremely adventurous – those who could and would scale cliffs to stay there. In this newest pair of projects, she tackles another harsh and dangerous environment: the planet’s oceans.
One of these two projects, an Artificial Reef Station, serves a pair of radically different but essential functions, stimulating coral growth underwater while defending nearby shores from tsunamis.
The first task, promoting coral, is accomplished via solar panels that introduce low-level electrical currents to the surrounding area (not enough to shock divers). This creates a field around the steel frame that condenses dissolved calcium carbonate out of seawater.
The second goal, diffusing tsunamis, is achieved by virtue of the shape of the station. The organic breaks up incoming waves via complex geometries, themselves derived from chaos-driven mathematical models of wave behavior.
A beautiful hotel in Chile, nestled in the middle of a nature preserve, looks just like a mountain with a waterfall spewing from the top. Click Here to Read More »»
This ‘Hanging Hotel’ is only accessible to rock climbers, offering a customizable dreamlike interior of pods and platforms that provide a restful refuge. Click Here to Read More »»
It sounds at best far-fetched and at worst frightening, at least at first, but this unique water-based energy station is already under construction and is … Click Here to Read More »»
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