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First impressions: DJI Mavic 2 Pro and Mavic 2 Zoom

04 Sep

The DJI Mavic 2 is a foldable drone that comes in two versions: the Mavic 2 Pro features an integrated Hasselblad camera with a 1” sensor and the Mavic 2 Zoom has a 2x optical (4x digital) zoom lens.

The bodies of the two drones are identical. Both include 10 sensors which combine to detect obstacles in any direction, utilize a 3-axis mechanical gimbals, come with 8GB of internal storage and feature a number of automated flight modes. I had a chance to test both drones in flight before launch and was generally impressed with what I saw.

Like the original Mavic Pro, the Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom models are foldable—making them ideal for travel. Unfolding the drones and preparing them for flight is as easy as you would expect it to be. The Mavic 2 has a solid feel and is slightly larger and heavier than the original Mavic Pro. A button on the top of the drone turns it on and within seconds the camera orients itself to give you a straight horizon line once you take flight.

The Mavic 2 Pro (front) and Mavic 2 Zoom (rear) are physically identical except for their cameras, though the Mavic 2 Zoom has a couple of extra tricks up its sleeve that require a zoom lens.

The controller is also foldable. Your smartphone clicks right into place, and it uses the familiar DJI GO app, along with the physical controls, to pilot the drone. The controller is similar in size to the one from the Mavic Air, and I found it comfortable to hold. Like the Air, it also features joysticks that can be unscrewed to make its profile smaller when packed. I found all the controls to have well designed ergonomics, and all were easy to access with your thumb and index finger. The controller for the Mavic 2 also features its own display, making it useful for things such as monitoring battery levels on the drone.

During my flight I found the controller to be quite responsive—a light touch gave me the movements I was looking for, although you’ll surely be able to adjust this within the DJI GO app to match your preferences. Since both models are identical except for the cameras the experience of flying them was the same.

I found the experience of flying the Mavic 2 so intuitive that I was able to focus on getting epic shots, rather than worrying that the drone might drift into something and crash.

The real beauty of the Mavic 2 is that you don’t have to be an expert flier to keep this drone in the sky. The omnidirectional obstacle avoidance sensors, along with a variety of automated flight modes, make the Mavic 2 a drone that you can essentially launch into the sky and with minimal movements on the controller grab beautiful and seamless footage. I found the experience of flying the Mavic 2 so intuitive that I was able to focus on getting epic shots, rather than worrying that the drone might drift into something and crash.

The compact Mavic 2 controller is similar to that seen on other recent DJI models, and includes its own screen to display much of the information you would normally monitor through the DJI GO app. One of the dials on the back of the remote can be used to control zooming on the Mavic 2 Zoom.

Zooming while flying Mavic 2 Zoom is also a breeze; you control the zoom function of the camera using the dial on the back right side of the remote. If you’ve spent limited time with video game controllers or previous drones it’s an intuitive movement.

The Mavic 2 Zoom features two new automated modes: Dolly Zoom and Super Resolution, both of which leverage its 2x zoom lens, and I tried out both during my test flight. Dolly Zoom is an automated video mode where the drone physically moves away from a subject while the camera zooms in—it’s an old cinema effect popularized by folks like Alfred Hitchcock that was once quite tricky to pull off. With the Mavic 2 Zoom it’s all automated and can be found in the quickshot menu in the DJI GO app. It takes just a few steps to activate the feature and in use I found it very smooth.

The Mavic 2 Zoom can create dolly zoom effects by automating the process of synchronizing the drone’s movement with its optical and digital zoom, keeping a subject in place while changing the perspective of the surrounding scene. Video courtesy of DJI

Super Resolution is a photo mode which uses the optical zoom to shoot 9 overlapping images of a scene and then automatically stitches them together to create a 48MP image. I wasn’t able to take the sample images with me after my test flights, so we can’t comment on the level of detail captured, but the process of shooting the images and stitching them together was quick, and from the phone screen appeared to be quite accurate.

The Mavic 2 Zoom can capture 48MP ‘Super Resolution’ images by shooting nine overlapping photos and stitching them together automatically. Image courtesy of DJI

The drone’s updated OcuSync 2.0 gave me nearly instant access to the photos and videos from my flight, including 1080p video and full resolution JPEGs. These can be saved to your phone and immediately shared.

In the air the two new drones are noticeably quieter than the original Mavic Pro as well. There is of course some noise, but the familiar drone hum isn’t found here.

The Mavic 2 is larger than DJI’s Mavic Air (pictured), and is also slightly larger than the original Mavic Pro.

Landing the Mavic 2 is just as easy as getting it into the air. I flew during the middle of the day so I didn’t get to see the auxiliary LED lights in action, but according to DJI these additional lights will help with landing the drone in low light conditions.

I was impressed by the performance of both Mavic 2 models during my brief hands on time with the products. They’re compact, easy to fly and the number of automated flight modes should make the Mavic 2 appealing to enthusiasts and even some pros. We’re planning a full review of both models to see how they stack up against the competition, as well as to see how the different cameras perform.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Blackmagic releases first Pocket Cinema Camera 4K footage

30 Aug

Blackmagic Design has released three videos demonstrating the performance of its upcoming Pocket Cinema Camera 4K. It updates the Pocket Cinema Camera introduced in 2013, was revealed at NAB 2018 in April and is expected to launch next month.

Ahead of that launch, Blackmagic Design has published the videos “Nature” by Mark Wyatt, “Models Walking at Night” by John Brawley, and “Models Walking in Daylight” also by John Brawley, each showcasing the upcoming camera’s capabilities. This is the first time footage from the camera has been published.

Both Wyatt’s and Brawley’s experiences with the camera are provided in each video description. In describing his time with the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, Wyatt said:

I had the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K for only a few days, but overall I was really impressed by it. The weight of the camera is very liberating, especially when you are used to using larger camera systems. The screen is big and bright enough to use in daylight, which I found great for judging focus and exposure. And, the colors too on the screen, were also nicely represented. In fact, I would argue it is Blackmagic’s best screen yet.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K features a full size Four Thirds HDR sensor offering a native 4096 x 2160 resolution and 13 stops of dynamic range. The upgraded model also features dual native ISO, a USB-C expansion port with direct support for external storage drives, a new multi-function grip design, and much more.

Via: Newsshooter

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview TV: Nikon Z 7 hands-on first impressions

26 Aug

Join us behind the scenes for this special episode of DPReview TV as we go hands-on with the new Nikon Z 7 mirrorless camera. After a couple days of intense shooting, we’re ready to share our first impressions of this exciting new product.

Also, make sure to read our in-depth Nikon Z 7 First Impressions Review.

Read our in-depth Nikon Z 7 First Impressions Review

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon Z 7: what you need to know about Nikon’s first mirrorless full-frame ILC

25 Aug

Nikon Z 7: what you need to know about Nikon’s first mirrorless full-frame ILC

The Nikon Z 7 is a full-frame mirrorless interchangeable lens camera built around a 46MP full-frame sensor – likely very similar to the sensor inside the D850. In fact, despite a 26% weight difference, the Z 7 and the D850 have quite a lot in common.

But the differences run deeper that the removal of the mirror. The Z 7 is a camera designed from the ground-up to always work in live view mode. So what does that mean for the camera as a whole?

Body and design

Nikon will probably hate me saying this, but the Z 7 looks a lot like the Sony a9, with the grip from a D850 glued onto the side of it. And that’s not a bad thing, to be honest. The Z 7 is very comfortable to hold, and generally speaking it works in much the same way as the D850 from its twin control dials down to its near-identical menu system.

Nikon claims that the Z 7 offers the same durability as the D850, which should reassure its loyal user-base, and while we don’t have specific details we’d expect it to be sealed against dust and moisture incursion at all major seams and control points. The Z 7 certainly feels well-built, and while more angular than Nikon’s current DSLRs, it should feel pretty familiar to any seasoned Nikon DSLR user. The Z 7 even has a nice high-contrast OLED top-plate information display.

Unfamiliar to some Nikon DSLR users will be the Z 7’s card format. Nikon is breaking from the past and only including a single XQD card slot in the Z 7, with support for next-generation CF Express media (which shares the same form factor) coming later, via a firmware update.

Body and design

It is clear that Nikon has made every effort not to alienate its existing DSLR userbase with the Z 7, even down to the battery that the new camera uses. The Z 7 ships with an EN-EL15b battery, which is the same basic shape as the EN-EL15a that’s used in the D850 and D7500. As such, the same batteries can be swapped between all three cameras (and any other EN-EL15-compatible DSLR) although in-camera USB charging is only available with the new EN-EL15b.

To make it easier to tell between the batteries, the ‘b’ version is more angular than the previous versions. The general rule is that the ‘a’ and ‘b’ versions, with grey cases will work well in the the recent cameras, but the original version in the black case may not.

The Z 7’s CIPA rating is a middling 330 shots per charge, but as usual this is likely to prove extremely conservative in normal use. On a recent video shoot, we managed more than 1600 images and several 4K video clips on the Z 7 with a single EN-EL15b before the battery started blinking red, so it’ll depend to a large extent on how you shoot.

Sensor

At the heart of the Z 7 is a 45.7MP BSI-CMOS sensor, based on the sensor used in Nikon’s popular D850. As such, it’s most likely fabricated by Sony Semiconductor from a Nikon design. ISO sensitivities range from 64-25,600 and at ISO 64 we’re expecting the Z 7 to offer the same class-leading detail and dynamic range as its DSLR cousin. For JPEG shooters, the Z 7 offers a grand total of six sharpening levels for fine-tuning sharpness, plus a new ‘mid-range sharpening’ setting for even finer control.

One major difference between the Z 7 and D850’s sensors is of course the addition of on-sensor phase-detection autofocus pixels in the mirrorless camera. These give the camera an understanding of subject distance that a DSLR would gain from its dedicated autofocus module. They underpin the camera’s ability to assess distance changes and also allow it to drive adapted F-mount lenses in the same manner as a DSLR would.

Autofocus

The Z 7 offers 493 PDAF points, which cover a total of 90% of the frame both horizontally and vertically. Outside of this area (and for added precision within it), contrast-detection autofocus comes into play. With F2 and faster lenses, the Z 7’s autofocus system is rated down to -3EV, provided that you’re shooting wide open (more on that in a minute).

In briefings with DPReview, Nikon representatives have told us that autofocus performance should be broadly comparable to the D850. A direct comparison is impossible given that the Z 7 is launching wth only three native lenses, but it’s certainly true that with fast-aperture F mount lens attached via the FTZ adapter, autofocus response is impressive.

When it comes to keeping your subjects in focus, the Z 7 offers highly effective face-detection, and very ‘sticky’ object tracking. It’s a shame though that the vocabulary of the Z 7’s various AF modes is different to what we’re used to in Nikon’s DSLRs. The functionality of subject tracking is different too – unlike the 3D AF Tracking systems in Nikon’s DSLRs, the Z 7 doesn’t provide as easy a method for initiating tracking on a subject, nor changing subjects to track. There’s also no easy way to instantly activate any of the company’s other AF modes with a single button press.

The Z 7 does not offer an equivalent of the excellent Eye-AF modes that we’ve come to appreciate in Sony and Olympus ILCs

Sadly, the Z 7 does not offer an equivalent of the excellent Eye-AF modes that we’ve come to appreciate in Sony and Olympus ILCs. And like Sony’s a7-series and a9 cameras, the Z 7 follows Nikon’s old DSLR live view logic, by stopping down the lens to your shooting aperture (or F5.6 – whichever is wider) all the time. This has the advantage of always offering an accurate preview of depth of field during shooting (at least down to F5.6) but it also starves the camera’s autofocus system of light.

While perhaps not a particularly common use-case, this means that if you’re shooting stopped-down in dull conditions, you will see AF performance drop compared shooting wide-open. We’re really hoping that this is fixed in firmware, to allow the Z 7’s autofocus system to take advantage of the maximum amount of light coming through the lens, before stopping down at the point of exposure. Compounding this issue is the lack of the red-grid autofocus assist when using the company’s own on-camera flashes. The only option is a bright green LED on the front of the Z 7 itself.

In-body stabilization

In a first for Nikon, the Z 7 features in-body image stabilization, which is effective up to a claimed 5EV. With Z-mount lenses, the camera can compensate for movement in five axes (rotation in three dimensions and translational movement up/down and left/right).

With adapted lenses, this drops to three axes, with only rotational movement: pitch, yaw and roll being corrected. When a VR-equipped F-mount lens is attached via the optional FTZ adapter, the 3-axis system hands off pitch and yaw correction to the lens, with the body dealing with roll. As such, a VR-equipped F-mount lens should offer superior stabilization on the Z 7 compared to a DSLR (where roll cannot be corrected).

Our initial impressions of VR performance are very positive with the native Z lenses, in both stills and video shooting. We’ll be thoroughly testing this feature as soon as we get hold of a reviewable camera.

Viewfinder

In on and off-record conversations with Nikon over the years, one thing has always been clear – the company did not feel comfortable replacing optical viewfinders with electronic versions until it could guarantee a truly comparable shooting experience.

It’s reassuring, then, that the Z 7 offers one of the best electronic viewfinders we’ve ever seen. A Quad VGA (3.6m-dot) OLED display and 0.8X magnification (compared to 0.75X in the D850) is augmented with a complex optical assembly within the finder (which includes aspherical elements and fluorine coating). The result is a bright, crisp and extremely detailed viewfinder image, even when shooting in low light.

Unlike the other cameras we’ve seen using comparable viewfinder panels, there’s no difference in perceived resolution when in preview and playback modes or during burst shooting and focusing, suggesting the Z 7 is making better use of its display by always displaying the sensor’s full resolution.

Touch-sensitive rear LCD

Like the D850, the Z 7 has a touch-sensitive rear screen, but the Z7 makes much more extensive use of touch control than any Nikon DSLR, with AF point positioning and all menus now touch sensitive. This includes a revised and now customizable version of the camera’s ‘i‘ menu. The touch panel can also be used in playback mode to zoom in, navigate around and scroll between images.

What’s missing, though, is the ability to use the rear screen as a touchpad to position the AF point when the camera’s held to your eye. This might not sound like a big deal, since the Z7 has the same AF point joystick as the D850 but its absence becomes an issue because of the way the Z 7 handles AF tracking.

The screen itself is lower resolution: with 2.1M dots rather than the 2.36M dots of its predecessor, but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. The Z 7’s screen is 3:2, rather than the taller 4:3 aspect ratio. This allows the camera to be smaller but is also a match for the camera’s sensor. This means the Z 7 ends up giving the same 1024 x 680 pixel resolution for its live view display as the D850, it just overlays the settings on top of the preview, rather than having a stripe of settings taking up the bottom of the screen.

High-speed shooting

The Z7 isn’t being marketed as a sports and action camera, and it can’t compete with the likes of the Sony a9 for pure speed, but at a maximum burst rate of 9fps (12-bit Raw, with AE locked after the first shot) it offers decent high-speed performance.

Drop to 5.5fps and autoexposure will update between frames, and you’ll get a live preview in between shots, but the buffer depth only allows for around 23 compressed 12-bit Raw files. This isn’t terrible, but don’t go selling your D5s quite yet.

4K video

Nikon’s 4K-equipped DSLRs have a small but quite loyal fanbase among enthusiast videographers, but the Z 7 is Nikon’s first really convincing video camera. Full-width 4K video is possible at up to 30p, and in the DX crop mode (roughly equivalent to Super 35mm in filmmaking terms) full-pixel readout should offer optimal 4K quality. The ‘FX’ mode footage is produced by line-skipping, so will have a resolution and noise cost.

Unlike the D850, the Z 7 can offer focus peaking in 4K mode; we’re hopeful that this can be used at the same time as highlight warnings, but we were unable to test this on our pre-production loaner. As well as 4K, HD video capture is also an option, at up to 120fps.

In video mode, the Z 7’s in-body VR system is augmented by electronic VR, to help further smooth out vibration in hand-held footage.

Perhaps the biggest news for committed videographers is the camera’s 10-bit 4:2:2 ‘N-Log’ output over HDMI. This higher bit depth greatly increases the processing flexibility of Log footage and is a feature matched only by Panasonic’s GH5 models. This and the addition of timecode suggests Nikon is taking video pretty seriously.

Connectivity

The Z 7 comes with Nikon’s latest iteration of its SnapBridge suite of wireless features. These include 802.11ac + Bluetooth, and there’s now an option to Wi-Fi transfer images direct to a PC instead of just a smart device. The WT-7 wireless adapter can still be used.

Nikon Z 7: what you need to know about Nikon’s first mirrorless full-frame ILC

The Nikon Z 7 will be available at the end of September, body-only or in a kit with the new 24-70mm F4, for $ 3299 and $ 3999, respectively. As always, let us know what you think in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon Z 7 First Impressions Review

24 Aug

Nikon Z 7 First Impressions Review

The Nikon Z 7 is the company’s first full-frame mirrorless camera: a 46MP, 4K-capable machine built around a variant of the D850’s BSI CMOS chip, but with the addition of on-sensor phase detection. It’s designed to offer an experience familiar to existing Nikon DSLR shooters in a smaller, lighter camera. The Z 7 is based around the all-new Nikon Z-mount but an adapter is available for use with existing Nikkor F-mount lenses.

We were lucky enough to get our hands on a pre-production camera before launch and we’re impressed, despite the model we used running very early firmware. The build quality is great and the interface is responsive, while JPEG images show pleasing color and good detail. From our initial impressions of image quality it also seems that the camera balances noise and detail retention well as light levels drop.

We have a few reservations regarding the autofocus interface on our pre-production camera (though its accuracy was quite good), but overall, the Z 7 we used felt very polished. This is all the more impressive given that the Z 7 is Nikon’s first entrant in the full-frame mirrorless space and the company is clearly aiming it at the higher-end of the market.

Key features:

  • 45.7MP BSI-CMOS sensor with on-sensor phase detection
  • In-body 5-axis stabilization (rated to 5EV)
  • 493 PDAF points with 90% horizontal and vertical coverage
  • ISO 64-25,600 (expandable to 102,400)
  • Up to 9 fps shooting (JPEG and 12-bit Raw)
  • 3.69M-dot OLED viewfinder
  • 2.1M-dot tilting touch LCD
  • OLED top plate display
  • Single XQD card slot
  • UHD 4K capture up to 30p
  • 10-bit 4:2:2 N-Log output over HDMI
  • Up to 100Mbps H.264 8-bit internal video capture
  • SnapBridge Wi-Fi system with Bluetooth, including to-PC transfer
Pre-production sample JPEG.
ISO 64 | 1/500 sec | F7.1 | Shot using the the Nikon Z 24-70mm F4 S lens at 51mm
Photo by Wenmei Hill

We see the Z 7 as not only a ‘D850 without a mirror’, but also (perhaps more) ‘a D850 with a more consistent stills/video experience and greatly improved video AF.’ And straight out of the gate, that makes it a pretty well-rounded do-everything camera.

Three ‘Z-mount’ lenses will be available initially: a 35mm F1.8, a 50mm F1.8 and a 24-70mm F4. Nikon has also announced it is developing a 58mm F0.95 ‘Noct’ lens and has published a roadmap to show how it plans to expand the system. A battery grip will also be available at some point, but a release date hasn’t yet been set.

Three Nikkor S (for ‘silver’) lenses will be available for the Z-mount initially: a 50mm F1.8, a 24-70mm F4 and a 35mm F1.8

Nikon has also released an F-to-Z mount adapter (formally known as the FTZ adapter) that will allow the use of F-mount lenses on the new cameras. This has a mechanical aperture lever built in, allowing full use of AF-S and AF-I lenses. Older AF-D lenses will offer auto exposure and AI lenses will have full metering. There’s no aperture tab for use with ‘AI’ or older lenses, though.

What’s new and how it compares

The Z 7 isn’t just a D850 without a mirror: we look at the key additions and what the Z 7 offers…

Read more

Body and handling

How the Z 7 feels in the hand may be crucial to its acceptance. We have a look at the camera and the control points it offers.

Read more

Operation and controls

The Z 7’s user interface will be very familiar to existing Nikon shooters. Up to a point, that is.

Read more

Z 7 Autofocus behavior

The Z 7 offers impressive autofocus performance, but there’s some adjustments to be made.

Read more

Video

Nikon has done a lot to enhance the Z 7’s video, even if that’s not immediately obvious from the specs.

Read more

Thoughts so far

What does the Z 7 say about Nikon’s direction, who its trying to appeal to and what does it mean for F-mount users?

Read more

Sample gallery

We’ve had time with a pre-production Nikon Z 7 in the field, and have preliminary JPEG images that look quite impressive.

Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Panasonic DC-LX100 II First Impressions Review

22 Aug

Panasonic Lumix LX100 II First Impressions Review

The Panasonic Lumix LX100 II is a 17 megapixel enthusiast zoom compact with a 24-75mm equivalent F1.7-2.8 lens. It uses up to ~85% of the area of a Four Thirds-sized sensor to give a choice of aspect ratios without narrowing the field of view.

Like the Mark I, the LX100 II features extensive external control points but it now also gains a touchscreen to speed up processes such as AF point positioning and interacting with the customizable function menu.

Key features:

  • Up to 17MP (from 20MP Four Thirds CMOS sensor)
  • 24-75mm equivalent F1.7-2.8 zoom
  • 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1 aspect ratios using selector switch on lens
  • 4K video at up to 30p
  • 2.76M-dot equiv. electronic viewfinder
  • 1.24M-dot rear touchscreen
  • Wi-Fi with always-connected Bluetooth

Along with the higher-resolution sensor, the LX100 II gains a host of clever features the company has developed since the launch of the original model. But, perhaps more importantly, it also gains the improved color rendering Panasonic introduced with the GH5, which should mean more attractive JPEG output.

While we’ve yet to put the LX100 II through our full suite of tests, we have gotten hands-on time with a pre-production unit to get a feel for the improvements Panasonic’s brought to the table. Read on to find out what we think.

The LX100 II is expected to ship in October at an MSRP of $ 999.

What’s new and how it compares

The LX100 II gets an updated Four Thirds sensor, all of Panasonic’s latest 4K photo features and more.

Read more

First impressions

DPReview editor Jeff Keller was a big fan of the original LX100 and finds the updates in the LX100 II make it an even more compelling offering.

Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon mirrorless system beta testers share first impressions in latest teaser

20 Aug

Nikon has posted teaser number five for its full-frame mirrorless system that will be announced in just three days. In this one, early users of the camera share their first impressions, and there’s also a quick glimpse of an F-mount adapter.

You can find the rest of Nikon’s teaser videos here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

13 Aug

You’ve just splashed out a vast sum of money on a shiny new camera to do amazing travel photography, but what’s next? There are so many different lenses, accessories, and even filters to choose from. Most people would not be able to afford to buy everything they need in one go. So what should you buy first?

Fear not, here is a simple guide on what to purchase, and in what order, after you have bought a new camera.

photo on the back of a DSLR camera - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

1. Lens

It may seem pretty obvious but you won’t be able to do much without a lens for your camera, so naturally, this should be the first purchase.

But the lens you choose will impact on the quality of your photos. For travel photography, you will be able to get away with only using one lens most of the time so try to buy the best lens that you can afford. Look for something that has a good focal length range and is fairly fast.

Something like a 24-70mm lens will often mean you can get 95% of the shots that you would take.

24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

Left: 24-70mm f/2.8. Right: 70-200mm f/2.8 lens.

2. Memory Cards

The next vital purchase is at least one memory card to be able to store your photos.

Again this is something that is worth spending a little more money on in order to buy a higher capacity memory card. If you are going to be shooting in RAW format (which you should be doing) then your file sizes will be large. This means memory cards can fill up pretty quickly. Something like a 32gb or 64gb memory card should usually last a few days, depending on what you’re shooting.

Whether you buy more will come down to your budget. Using one card will mean that you have to clear your memory cards each day or every few days. So if you can afford a couple more, it will be worth the investment.

CF memory cards in a case - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

3. UV Filter

A UV filter might seem like an unnecessary expense, but the real benefit of buying one is to protect your lens’s glass.

They are pretty cheap to buy compared to having to repair a lens so consider getting one straight away. I fit every one of my lenses with a UV filter the day that it comes out of the box.

Canon L-series lens with a UV filter fitted on the front. The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

Canon L-series lens with a UV filter fitted on the front

4. Tripod

Most travel photographers would put a tripod at the top of the list of their accessories. This is with good reason. If you want to capture the best possible photos at the best possible time of the day a tripod is a must.

During low light conditions, you simply will not be able to hold a camera steady enough to take a sharp photo. The only way will be to raise your ISO which will in turn mean noise in your final shot.

But it’s also worth investing in a good tripod rather than something that is cheap and flimsy. I always find it astonishing when I see people with expensive cameras using poor quality tripods. Not only are poor quality tripods subject to vibrations which cause camera shake and blurred photos, but they are putting their expensive camera at risk of falling over.

So, always look to buy a good quality tripod that can support the weight of your DSLR.

camera on a tripod overlooking a landscape scene - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

5. Camera Bag

Over time most photographers will end up with a collection of different bags for different scenarios. For example, a long hike will require a bigger bag, whereas day to day, you will need something more compact.

But most people can certainly get by with one bag to start off with so look for something that you can use day to day. I would always recommend buying a day backpack as a first camera bag as opposed to a top-loader or sling bag.

Look for one that is carry-on approved as you should always take you camera equipment on board rather than checking it in when you’re flying. It’s also worth buying one that you can strap your tripod to and has space for a laptop.

There are so many choices out there so do your research and even test them out at your local camera store before buying one. It’s an important purchase that will not only keep your camera equipment safe, but also mean carrying things in comfort.

camera bag full of gear - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

6. Graduated Neutral Density Filters

Once you’ve purchased the above items it’s time to start building up an inventory of the more specialized things you might need.

Graduated Neutral Density filters are incredibly useful anytime you are photographing at sunrise or sunset. They help to even out the light across your image when you are faced with one area being too bright (the sky) and another area being dark (the foreground).

They will generally come as a glass rectangle that fits onto the front of a lens with an adaptor. There are also screw-in versions (like traditional polarizing or UV filters) but frankly, they are a poor substitute in my opinion.

There are a whole range of brands and options and buying a complete set can work out to be pretty expensive. But you will find them incredibly useful and use them for years.

Canon camera with filter on the lens - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

7. Polarizing Filter

The next thing that you should look to purchase is a polarizing filter. Primarily used for suppressing glare or reflections these little screw-in filters can be really useful when photographing water, metallic objects, or even glass (like shop windows).

They also have the added benefit of darkening blues and greens which makes them very useful for landscape and travel photography. Like most photographic items you are better off purchasing a better quality version rather than cheap alternatives that can have a detrimental effect on the sharpness of the image.

beach scene tropical location - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

Use a polarizing filter to darken the sky to a rich blue like in this image.

8. Neutral Density Filters

Whereas Graduated ND filters are used for darkening part of the image, these filters can darken the whole scene. They are essentially a square or rectangular piece of glass that come in different darkness levels (representing the same effect as stopping down you aperture).

You might be wandering when you will ever need to darken the scene? Well, for example, if you are photographing water during the day you could use a Neutral Density filter to help you capture a smooth moving water effect. Or cloud movements in the sky.

Again a full set of these filters can be expensive so build up your collection slowly over time.

waterfall and a river flowing - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

9. Spare Batteries

While most people can get by with one battery, it’s always worth having a spare. The last thing you would want is to run out of power mid-way through a shoot.

Keep in mind that long exposure photography will drain your battery more quickly than photographing during the day. So if you are going to be doing a lot of this kind of photography or if you’re heading to a remote place with no electricity, this item may move up on your priority list.

I tend to travel with around six batteries in total and charge the ones I have used each night.

camera batteries - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

10. GorillaPod

It could be argued that a cable release should be on this list, but as you can use your camera’s timer instead, I feel a GorillaPod will be a better purchase.

The great thing about these small bendy tripods is that they will often draw less attention than a regular one. So in places where tripods are not allowed, you might get away with a GorillaPod. The other great thing about them is that you can set them up on tables, which makes them great for food photography on the go.

Just make sure that the GorillaPod you select can support the weight of your camera and not collapse.

gorillapod - The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography

Conclusion

There you have the 10 items that you should buy in order after you’ve purchased your camera. There will always be exceptions and you might need to tweak this order for your needs. Building your camera and accessories collection up is expensive, so the key is to plan out your purchases in order and take your time.

What do you think? Have I missed anything? Anything you would swap with the 10 on the list? Share your answers below.

The post The First 10 Things You Need to Buy After Your Camera for Travel Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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SLC 2L-03: Use Your Second Light to Hide Your First Light

27 Jul

As promised in the last sunset lighting tip post, a second quick hack for dusk/lit portraiture. This one involves helping your camera's chip see a contrasty scene more like the way our eye sees it. Read more »
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First Impressions: Sony FE 400 F2.8 GM OSS

27 Jun

First Impressions: Sony FE F2.8 GM OSS

We first gazed upon Sony’s new FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS lens at CP+ earlier this year. This past weekend I had the chance to use it in-person at a Major League Soccer match between the New York Redbulls and Dallas FC.

Paired with the Sony a9 and vertical grip, the combination easily met – and in some cases, exceeded – what I’ve come to expect in terms of AF performance, bokeh and handling for a pro sports camera+lens combo. Continue reading for my first impressions from the field, and check out our full gallery from the match below:

See our Sony FE 400mm F2.8 GM OSS samples

Fast AF speed

ISO 1000 | 1/2000 sec | F2.8

This shooting opportunity – arranged by Sony – felt like the perfect real world scenario to put a 400mm F2.8 through it paces. I’ve shot a lot of soccer at the collegiate level over the years, mostly with a 300mm F2.8, but never at the professional level. Despite my inexperience, I walked away with a hit rate close to 98% mostly using the Zone area AF mode; this really impressed me.

Though I initially set the camera up with the intention of using back button AF, I ended up using the half press shutter to activate autofocus nearly the whole time. Most sports photographers would avoid this as it can lead to missed shots: decoupling the two allows you to hit the shutter without the risk of driving focus onto the wrong subject or into a hunt. But the Sony drove focus in the correct direction, locking onto my intended subject, pretty much every time.

Prior to the match, Sony talked about how the lens’ design had been optimized for speed and super fast tracking even at the a9’s top burst speed of 20 fps. I mostly shot at 10 fps, but found the lens kept up marvelously.

Beautiful bokeh and background separation

ISO 1250 | 1/1000 sec | F2.8

While I started the game with the lens slightly stopped down, I opted to open the 400mm up to F2.8 as the sun began to set. These wide open shots in particular display beautiful background separation, with lovely bokeh, thanks in part to an 11-blade circular aperture. For sports photographers, the quality of a lens’ bokeh is obviously second to sharpness and AF performance, but lovely bokeh sure is nice to have.

A little lighter

At 2.9kg / 6.4lb., the lens weighs about 1kg less than the Canon 400mm F2.8, but make no mistake – this is still a heavy piece of kit. Sony says it’s light enough to shoot hand-held. I’ll admit I’m not the world’s strongest man, and 15 minutes of free-arming that lens definitely left me a little sore the next day.

Sore arms aside, it’s worth calling out that Sony’s 400mm feels exceptionally balanced. This is because much of the glass, and therefore weight, is located toward the back of the barrel resulting in a lens that doesn’t tend to pull forward/down as much as some similar telephoto primes. The build quality is also excellent – exactly what you’d expect of a pro-level tele. Above is the lens’ magnesium alloy shell.

Compatibility with teleconverters

ISO 1250 | 1/1000 sec | F4 | 560mm (1.4x teleconverter)

The 400mm F2.8 is compatible with both Sony’s 1.4x and 2x teleconverters. The former provides an equivalent field of view of 560mm and F4, the later 800mm and F5.6. The above is an example taken with the 1.4x teleconverter.

Other bits

As you would expect for $ 12,000, the lens has image stabilization with three different modes for various sports/action scenarios. It also has a customizable ring – located right in front of the focus ring – that can be set to do things like engage the APS-C crop mode on the camera, for more reach. There’s also a drop-in filter tray near the lens mount.

One of my favorites things about this lens is a bit more superficial: the snazzy orange ring around the front of the carbon fiber hood. Perhaps in years to come, we’ll see that orange ring more often along the sidelines.

Final thoughts

ISO 1250 | 1/1250 sec | F2.8

To many, the 400mm F2.8 was the final piece of the puzzle that had been missing in Sony’s glass line up. With this new telephoto prime, Sony is getting closer to being able to claim that it has a lens to meet the needs of any working photographer.

But now that the upper end of the market has been addressed, I implore you Sony, address the needs of the more modest end too. This $ 12K 400mm F2.8 is a huge accomplishment, but how about a reasonably-fast sub-$ 500 prime? A 35mm F1.8 perhaps…

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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