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Posts Tagged ‘Video’

Video: Using the $5,700 Canon 200mm F2 on the Sony a7R III

04 Jan

Photographer and YouTuber Manny Ortiz recently put together what he calls “the sexiest camera and lens combo” he has ever held: combining the DPReview Product of the Year Sony a7R III with Canon’s beastly 200mm F2L IS USM. He wanted to see if this $ 5,700 lens could live up to its potential on Sony’s latest mirrorless flagship, so he took it with him to a family photo shoot and brought along the vlogging camera to give us all a behind the scenes look.

He adapted the Canon lens to the Sony body using the Sigma MC-11 mount converter, and despite the fact that he was using three different brands at once, the Sony and Canon played well together. In particular, Manny was impressed that Sony’s Eye-AF worked as well as it did with the Canon 200mm, keeping focus locked even on the edges of the frame.

Summing up his final thoughts on this camera and lens combo, he says:

The performance of the Canon 200mm on the Sony a7RIII is really impressive […] It actually blows me away how far [Sony] have come in terms of improving autofocus performance with adapted lenses.

I did notice that in low light, autofocus, especially Eye-AF, isn’t as consistent […] but in good light I didn’t miss any focus.

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Beyond the low-light limitations Manny mentions, it’s also worth noting that you don’t exactly get “all of those” AF modes Sony offers. You still don’t have access to Zone or any of the Lock-on AF modes of the Sony a7R III with Canon glass. Also, max burst rate is just 3 fps. Still, for portrait photographers like Manny, face recognition and Eye-AF are the big ones, and the a7R III seemed to perform very well in those modes in Manny’s test shoot.

To see more of Manny’s photos or tag along on his next photo shoot, head over to his website, give him a follow on Instagram, or subscribe to his channel on YouTube.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video pits the GoPro Hero6 against the ‘GoPro Killer’ Sony RX0

27 Dec

A new video from YouTuber and former host of DigitalRevTV Kaiman Wong compares the Sony RX0 and the GoPro Hero6, putting Sony’s miniature camera up against GoPro’s latest flagship action cam.

Many are hailing the 1-inch sensor Sony RX0 as a “GoPro killer,” and despite the fact that it isn’t even explicitly marked as an action camera, both the RX0 and the Hero6 are capable of shooting in similarly challenging environments. Each camera ultimately brings its own features to the table, raising the question Kai’s video attempts to answer: which one is better?

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: Travel Photography Tips – Shoot with a Purpose

15 Dec

The challenge with travel photography is that you may not get back to a location again anytime soon. So many photographers try and squeeze out as many photos as possible. The issue is lack of attention to detail and having any intentions or purpose before shooting.

What do you want your image to show?

Waiting for the right gesture, or even right subject to enter your scene is critical.

In this image shot in Trinidad, Cuba I found some amazing light skimming across the cobblestone streets. But it lacked something.

By waiting for a subject, the couple, to enter the scene it is more of a complete story.

In this video, photographer Mitchell gives you some great examples of how to shoot lots of images but end up with better results than just rapid-fire shooting.

The key points mentioned in the video are:

  • It’s not about shooting as many images as possible, but to shoot as many as possible with a purpose and intent.
  • Don’t settle for one or two shots from each scene. Get out of the mindset of needing to get the perfect shot in as few frames as possible. It’s not a contest.
  • Don’t spray and pray. Have an idea of what you want to capture.
  • Explore different framings and camera settings.
  • See how the light changes from different angles.
  • Experiment with different perspectives.

Another example

Here you can see some shots I took of two men deep in conversation in Cienfuegos, Cuba. But it still wasn’t quite what I wanted. The first (upper left) was too busy. The second (right) was more focused on the med but lacked context of the busy street scene. The third (lower left) shot from across is getting closer. 

Finally with the addition of the cyclist I had the shot I had envisioned. It shows context, has layers of activity, and interest. To me, it really speaks about daily life in a Cuban city. 

Do you photograph with purpose? Slow down and think about each frame you shoot. Be intentional.

And come home with great photos!

The post Video: Travel Photography Tips – Shoot with a Purpose by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Final Cut Pro X 10.4 adds HDR support, VR video editing, and (finally!) curves

15 Dec

Apple has released a Final Cut Pro X update that adds a slew of new features and expanded support to its video-editing software, most notable among those features being support for 360-degree and VR video. This is a major update for the software, which has been optimized to fully leverage the greater processing power of the new iMac Pro desktop systems.

In version 10.4, Final Cut Pro supports editing 360-degree videos and viewing them in real time using an HTC Vive VR headset. According to Apple, the software supports importing, editing, and delivering these VR videos, with available edits including “immersive effects,” removing camera rigs, straightening the horizon, and adding standard videos/images to VR projects.

In addition to its new 360/VR capabilities, Final Cut Pro 10.4 adds support for high dynamic range (HDR) videos in Rec. 2020 HDR10 and Rec. 2020 Hybrid Log Gamma formats, as well as new advanced color grading tools, including color wheels with controls for adjusting brightness, saturation, and hue.

The latest version of Final Cut Pro also offers color curves with multiple control points, enabling users to make “ultra-fine color adjustments,” according to Apple. Or, as our Senior Reviewer Richard Butler put it: “Curves! Curves! At long bloody last, Curves!”

Users have both manual white balance and eye dropper color sampling options, as well as the ability to apply custom lookup tables (LUTs) from Color Grading Central, PremiumBeat, and select other color grading apps. The latest version of Final Cut Pro combined with the new iMac Pro desktops also marks the first time a Mac can be used to edit full 8K-resolution videos.

Apple lists the following additional features as arriving in Final Cut Pro 10.4:

  • Easily import iMovie projects from iPhone and iPad into Final Cut Pro for advanced editing, audio work, motion graphics and color grading.
  • HEVC and HEIF support for importing and editing high efficiency video and photo formats from Apple devices.
  • Updated audio effects plug-ins from Logic Pro X with redesigned, resizable interfaces.
    Faster, higher quality optical flow analysis built on Metal, Apple’s advanced graphics technology.

The Final Cut Pro 10.4 update is available for free to existing Final Cut Pro owners, while new users will need to pay $ 300 USD for the application. Apple has also released Motion 5.4 and Compressor 4.4 for free to existing users, and at $ 50 USD each for new users.

To learn more or pick up a copy for yourself, head over to the Final Cut Pro website.

Press Release

Final Cut Pro X introduces 360-degree VR video editing

Apple’s Pro Video Editing App Also Adds Advanced Color Grading, HDR Support and More

Cupertino, California — Apple today announced a major update to its professional video editing app, Final Cut Pro X, with new features including 360-degree VR video editing, advanced color grading tools and support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) video.

Optimized to take full advantage of the incredible performance capabilities of the all-new iMac Pro, Final Cut Pro users can now edit full-resolution 8K video for the first time on a Mac. Apple is also extending 360-degree VR video support to Final Cut Pro companion apps, Motion and Compressor.

Today, with more than 2 million seats, Final Cut Pro X is the most popular version of the software ever and is used by professional video editors to create incredible works of art, from award-winning Hollywood feature films and commercials, to international broadcasts and the world’s most popular YouTube videos.

“With new features like 360-degree VR editing and motion graphics, advanced color grading and HDR support, Final Cut Pro gives video editors the tools to create stunning, next-generation content,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Apps Product Marketing. “When combined with the performance of Mac hardware, including the all-new iMac Pro, Final Cut Pro provides an incredibly powerful post-production studio to millions of video editors around the world.”

Final Cut Pro lets professional editors create VR content with the ability to import, edit and deliver 360-degree video and view the project in real time through a connected HTC VIVE headset with SteamVR. Users can easily add 360-degree titles in 2D or 3D; apply blurs, glows and other immersive effects; and use visual controls to straighten horizons or remove camera rigs from equirectangular videos. Standard photos and videos can also be added to VR projects and 360-degree video can be shared directly to popular websites including YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo.

The update also includes powerful tools for professional color grading. Unique color wheels feature built-in controls to adjust hue, saturation and brightness. Color curves allow for ultra-fine color adjustments with multiple control points to target specific color ranges, and eye droppers let users sample specific colors and apply manual white balance. Users can also apply custom lookup tables (LUTs) from popular color grading apps like DaVinci Resolve and websites including PremiumBeat, Color Grading Central and more.

With support for the most popular HDR formats, Final Cut Pro gains access to an expanded range of brightness levels to deliver incredibly realistic images. Editors can output video to HDR monitors using I/O devices from AJA and Blackmagic with brightness levels up to 10,000 nits. The new color grading tools support both HDR and Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) video, and with tone mapping, users can easily change HDR to SDR output for broadcast.

Additional Features in Final Cut Pro 10.4:

  • Easily import iMovie projects from iPhone and iPad into Final Cut Pro for advanced editing, audio work, motion graphics and color grading.
  • HEVC and HEIF support for importing and editing high efficiency video and photo formats from Apple devices.
  • Updated audio effects plug-ins from Logic Pro X with redesigned, resizable interfaces.
  • Faster, higher quality optical flow analysis built on Metal, Apple’s advanced graphics technology.

Motion 5.4 enables users to create immersive 360-degree VR titles and effects that can be instantly accessed in Final Cut Pro. The update also makes it easy to convert between any type of Motion project at any time, create realistic spring-loaded animations with the new Overshoot behavior and apply photographic-inspired looks with new filters. Compressor 4.4 lets users deliver 360-degree video with industry-standard spherical metadata. Compressor also lets users export HEVC and HDR video, while adding a range of new options for delivering MXF files.

Pricing and Availability

Final Cut Pro 10.4 is available as a free update today for existing users, and for $ 299.99(US) for new users on the Mac App Store. Motion 5.4 and Compressor 4.4 are also available as a free update today for existing users, and for $ 49.99 (US) each for new users on the Mac App Store. Education customers can purchase the Pro Apps Bundle for Education for $ 199.99 (US). For more information, please visit: apple.com/final-cut-pro.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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2017 Buying Guide: Best cameras for video

09 Dec

Video features have become an important factor to many photographers when choosing a new camera. Read on to find out which cameras we think are best for the videophile.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Quick Video Tutorial – 8 DIY Photography Hacks for the Kitchen

09 Dec

Here is another fun video from the team over at COOPH. This time they’re playing with ordinary household items found in your kitchen.

Here are 8 DIY photography hacks you can do at home

Watch as they play with some eggs, kitchen utensils, have fun with a cheese grater, make a DIY softbox for a flash, play with reflective surfaces, flour, and some fruit!

Get cracking (pun intended) and see what you can come up with trying these tips out.

The post Quick Video Tutorial – 8 DIY Photography Hacks for the Kitchen by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Video: Incredible 1,000fps slow-motion 4K lightning footage

05 Dec

If you need something to get your week off to an ‘epic’ start, look no further than DP Dustin Farrell’s incredible storm chasing video he just released yesterday. Captured mostly with a Phantom Flex4K slow-motion camera at 1,000fps, it’s a slow-motion masterpiece with lightning footage that left this writer’s jaw slack.

The video, titled Transient, is a compilation of Farrell’s best storm chasing shots from the 2017 season. Over the course of 30 days he says he drove over 20,000 miles—developing a deeper “respect and admiration for storm chasers” all the while. He also shared some technical details in the video’s description:

Most of the lightning footage was captured in uncompressed raw at 1000 frames per second with our Phantom Flex4K.

[…]

The Phantom Flex4K is a camera that must be post triggered while shooting high speed. This works out well for capturing lightning because the camera is always recording and rewriting to internal ram. As soon as a bolt appears in my view finder I trigger the camera to save what has been stored in the ram. Shooting at high frame rates requires a lot of light. Therefore, I mostly used my Zeiss Otus 28, 55, and 85mm lenses wide open at f1.4. In all, I captured 10TB of data during this production.

But don’t let the plethora of awesome footage fool you, this was an incredibly challenging project:

This is one of the most difficult projects I have ever attempted in my career […] Chasing storms with a Phantom Flex4K is stressful even when things are going well. There were at least 10 days where I returned home with my tail between my legs and nothing to show after a ten hour chase and 500 miles. There were also a couple of days that I drove home with an ear to ear smile that lasted for hours.

Check out the results for yourself above, but don’t forget to do it right: shades drawn, headphones on, volume up, and resolution set to 4K. It is 100% worth it. And if you like what you see, definitely head over to Farrell’s website or give him a follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: Shooting the Milky Way hand-held with the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art

05 Dec

More than once, we’ve called the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM | Art lens an astrophotographer’s dream lens. From the moment it was announced, we were dying to get our hands on it; and once we did, it did not disappoint. But what’s the big deal? Why pay $ 1,600 for this lens when the very capable Samyang/Rokinon 14mm F2.4 will cost you half as much and resolve nearly as much detail (if not more)?

Light… that’s why. A point explained beautifully by photographer Alyn Wallace, who recently took the 14mm F1.8 Art out for a spin in the night. After managing to take a hand-held photograph of the Milky Way—an insane and somewhat-pointless but also kind-of-fun experiment to see what F1.8 can really do—he pops the lens onto a tripod for some proper astrophotography and is immediately blown away.

“This lens is a light vacuum,” he says. “It’s like I’ve stuck a black hole on the front of my camera.”

DPReview’s Dale Baskin felt similarly after shooting the Aurora with the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art, writing in his Gear of The Year post, “Once I tried the Sigma 14mm F1.8 it was game over. I knew I had found the one.”

Of course, the lens isn’t perfect, and Wallace gets into that as well, looking closely at the corners and revealing where pushing this lens to F1.8 is going to cost you. To see his results and drool a bit over a piece of glass that may make its way onto your very own “treat yourself” list this holiday season, check out the full video up top.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video: Using the RGB tone curves in Photoshop, a crash course

02 Dec

Photographer Conner Turmon has put together a quick video tutorial that will get you up to speed on using the RGB tone curves to post-process your photos in either Lightroom or Photoshop (although this info will work with any photo editing program that gives you access to the tone curve).

The video will only take up eight minutes of your time, so definitely give it a go if you want to see tone curve editing in action, but the key takeaways can be summarized in two points:

1. Know your color wheel. This way, you understand what tones you’re ‘adding’ and ‘subtracting’ when you pull or push any particular combination of Red, Blue and Green.

and

2. Focus only on the area you’re editing. If you’re editing in the shadows, look only at the shadows while you’re doing it; if you’re editing the highlights, same thing, look only at the highlights.

As far as how you should approach each individual photo, Turmon shared a solid tip on Reddit:

I find it super helpful to either do complementary colors (e.g., Purple-Yellow, Red-Green, Blue-Orange) or emulate a film type that you like! For example, Fuji is notorious for green shadows and blue highlights (at least I think).

Another good tip: download photographs you like (tone-wise), pull them into Photoshop, and use the eye dropper tool to inspect the shadows, midtones, and highlights to see how they’ve been edited. This will give you a better idea of how you might approach editing your own work.

But before you do any of that, check out the video above to get a quick breakdown of how RGB curves work; and if you like what you see, check out Turmon’s website, Instagram, and YouTube channel for more.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Video Tips: Composition Dos and Don’ts For Creating Better Images

01 Dec

How you compose or arrange your frame is one of the keys to creating interesting and compelling images. So learning some composition rules, and when to break them is essential.

Here are three short videos to help you see what to do and what to avoid in your composition.

Composition Mistakes to Avoid

Learn what not to do in this video including:

  • Double subjects
  • Looking out of the frame
  • Tangents (lines cutting through the subject)
  • Lazy composition

Beginner’s guide to composition

In this second video, Jordan from Sleeklens gives you four tips you can use to help elevate your photography composition.

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The four tips covered include:

  1. Rule of thirds
  2. Balance
  3. Symmetry
  4. Leading Lines

9 Composition Tips

Finally, in this last video from COOPH you will see nine more composition tips based on the images of master photographer, Steve McCurry.

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Do you have any other composition tips you would like to share? Please do so in the comments section below.

The post Video Tips: Composition Dos and Don’ts For Creating Better Images by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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