Just Posted: our group test of travel zoom compact cameras. The travel zoom/compact super zoom category is one of the great success stories of recent years, with all the major manufacturers offering at least one small camera with at least a 10x zoom. And that success is understandable – few other camera types offer such a balance between size, price and flexibility. We’ve looked at thirteen of the latest models and narrowed these down to a shortlist of six for the full review treatment. Our 18-page grouptest shows how these six perform in a variety of situations, but all thirteen have both real-world samples and studio comparisons. Click here to find out what we thought and which cameras prevailed.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Just posted: Our group test of travel zoom compact cameras
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Lego 3D Anaglyph Brickfilm-TEST
3D Anaglyph TEST wit the Logitech C910 Shot in 12 FPS. Stereoscopic-Video could possible too with other prameters in the edeting Much work for a few seconds of animation. What you think about it?
Video Rating: 4 / 5 -
Nice Visual Art photos
Some cool visual art images:
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART – 53rd St. Manhattan NYC
Image by asterix611
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART – 53rd St. Manhattan NYCMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART – 59th St. Manhattan NYC
Image by asterix611
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART – 53rd St. Manhattan NYCMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART – 59th St. Manhattan NYC
Image by asterix611
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART – 53rd St. Manhattan NYC -
I AM STYLISH (DEKAT BEHIND THE SCENES)
Nikon in South Africa and Dekat shoot for Abigail Betz at the Fire and Ice Protea hotel, Melrose Arch. Have a look at the Dekat July/August edition for more info.
In this video I talk about the types of pictures I take when it is a completely overcast day. This video was filmed out in the field. I used a Nikon d3x in the video, pictures were with nikon d300 and nikon 12-24mm lens.
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Summer Paddling near Fort Collins and Loveland
Horsetooth Reservoir is very busy as usual in the middle of summer and boating season. Fortunately, it is possible at least to avoid using boat ramps to launch a kayak or canoe. I am using a newly reopened Sunrise Area. You can now drive down to a swimming beach and park close to water.
Numerous fishing reservoir provide opportunity for a more calm paddling. I often paddle Boedecker and Lonetree Reservoir southwest from Loveland (below Carter Lake). Pictures below were taken on two recent trips to the Lonetree Reservoir. Water level is still high. There is a lot of water vegetation in coves, but not yet too dense to stop paddling. I usually like to squeeze around trees and log jams to explore the supplying ditch all the way to the main road. The bridge has a pretty low clearance at this water level.
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if ( ch_selected < ch_queries.length ) { ch_query = ch_queries[ch_selected]; }Related posts:
Fisheye Lens Perspective for Paddling?
Springtime Paddling on the Horsetooth Reservoir
Icy Horsetooth Reservoir – Opening Lake Paddling Season
Paddling Horsetooth Reservoir in Winter Scenery
Early Morning Shot of the Horsetooth Reservoir and Paddling Links
160 Lakes and Reservoirs of Colorado
Horsetooth Reservoir map
WSBS Thunderbolt-X Kayak on the Lonetree Reservoir
Paddling through Forest and Irrigation Ditches -
Xenia Beliayeva – Just A While
Xenia Beliayeva – Just A While – released on Shitkatapult, taken from the Album “Ever Since”. www.shitkatapult.com _ Video Produced by Xenbel.net + Estudiogomo.com Featuring : Xenia Beliayeva and Rabih Aidar Director / Photographer: Manuel Nogueira manuelnogueira.com Stylist : Maurício Mariano Beauty: Simone Barcelos @ Beautybox Edited and color graded by : estudiogomo.com Photographer Assistant : Sara Dalila THANK’S TO : CLAYTON and ROSANA.
Video Rating: 4 / 5Fixing the Shadows – Part 2 of 4 Fixing the Shadows tells the story of the birth of photography itself and the profound question that it raised, and which has never been satisfactorily answered: what is photography for? Detailing the rival methods of the pioneers Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre for ‘fixing the shadows’, the programme examines how photography took its place alongside other new technologies like the railway and telegraph to transform our understanding of the modern world. It describes how pioneer photographers like the portraitist Nadar asserted the status of photography as an art only for this status to be transformed by the Kodak revolution, which put the camera into the hands of the masses who unlocked its potential for surreality, randomness and surprise. Finally it examines the case of Jacques-Henri Lartigue, the schoolboy photographer who demonstrated the true genius of photography in the hands of the amateur. Includes interviews with Chuck Close and David Byrne.
Video Rating: 5 / 5 -
Rango Trailer HD (2011)
blog.onthebox.com Courtesy of Apple Trailers The Story of a chameleon with an identity crisis. We’d tell you more but we know bugger all about this project.
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Through the Layers Looking Glass with Dave Hill
LA-based photographer Dave Hill is known for lighting and shooting each segment of his photos separately, then later combining them with mad Photoshop skills to create the final image. That also gives him the ability to do something you have probably never seen before — expand the layers after-the-fact for a 3-D trip through his 2-D images with the video above.
Created for the launch of the redesign of his website, this video is made from images in his “Adventure Girl” series. If you follow Dave you’ll definitely want to head over for more, including new images and plenty of behind-the-scenes footage from his shoots.
As you’ll see in the BTS vids, Dave lights the crap out of everything. How he keeps track of the lighting continuity is completely beyond me.
For those interested in knowing how someone goes from shooting local skateboarders in Nashville to doing this kinda of stuff, check out this interview from 2008.
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DIY Photography Ring Flash Review
DIY Ring flash + ambient light sources. Flash at 1/32 power, 1/160sec F7.1 ISO320, 51mm.
The assembled DIY Ring Flash with my Canon 580EX and Cybersync radio trigger.
Ring flashes are famous from the fashion world, where the classical make-up ad often uses the light frequently. By surrounding the lens with the light source, a cool ’shadowless’ light gives a unique look. But even when not used as the primary source of light, a ring flash can be an excellent on-axis fill, as championed by David Hobby of strobist.com.
The only problem for the hobbyist photographer is the price. Ring flash units cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. In recent years a string of new products let the photographer use their speedlights with a ring flash modifier to achieve the same effect for $ 200-300 – I own an Orbis ring flash myself. Even so, $ 200 is a big investment for a student, or a photographer who doesn’t know if they’ll get enough use out of a ring flash.
DIY Ring Flash
Enter DIY Photography with their flat-pack, self-assembly ring flash for $ 24.95. You might think that a ring flash modifier at that price can’t deliver on its promises, or must sacrifice too much. Having used it in a few shoots now, I can tell you it’s the real deal.
Though the DIYP Ring Flash is not without it’s problems and compromises, it is an amazing piece of equipment that can deliver exactly what it promises with only the necessary compromises. In short, every photographer who can get their speedlight off their camera should have one of these!
The Compromises
I’m going to be thorough and list every problem I could find with the DIYP Ring Flash, and there were a few. If you’re expecting to get a $ 200 product for $ 25 you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re aware of the following, then you can judge for yourself if the minimal cost is worth it.
- Must be assembled. This is to keep the costs as low as possible and allow for easy shipping, but it only takes about 15 minutes, and isn’t too challenging.
- Not very durable. The ring flash is made of a combination of plastic sheets and cardboard, and naturally isn’t going to last forever. Transport could be difficult as it could easily get crushed. It is also vulnerable to water damage. Of course this isn’t a problem if you’re only shooting in a studio.
- Uneven catchlights. The light distribution can be a bit uneven, and may vary slightly from shot to shot. This is only apparent in reflections, such as catchlights in the eye. Illumination across the frame of your photo will appear even.
- It’s physically quite large. It’s not practical to make a self-assembled modifier curved, so the corners protrude a bit, and might make it tricky to get very close for macro photos for which ring flashes are often preferred.
- Less efficient. When compared with my Orbis ring flash ($ 200) using the same flash (Canon 580EX) and settings, the DIYP Ring Flash delivers approximately 1.3 stops less light.
- Cooler WB. Also when compared to my Orbis, the DIYP Ring Flash delivers a significantly cooler colour balance (5350K vs 6450K). Green/Magenta WB was the same.
- Can’t accept very large flash heads. The opening into which the speedlight is inserted is small, and larger flashes such as my 580EX require the corners of the opening to be cut to make room. My LP160 wouldn’t fit without cutting the cardboard further than I personally felt comfortable (but does into the Orbis). Good luck getting a Vivitar 285HV into this, or the Orbis.
- The flash isn’t held firmly. The cardboard opening doesn’t provide much grip on the flash, so it’s a little tricky to hold. An optional metal flash bracket is available ($ 9.95) for this purpose, but I found it to be a little bulky and preferred to handle it without. Also, the provided rubber bands to attach the flash to the bracket are a rather bright (and I think unattractive) pale blue.
Though greatly exaggerated in this photo with an extreme close-up, the unevenness of the catchlight is apparent. This typically is difficult to see, as in the photo at top.
With identical settings on the camera and flash power, the DIY Ring Flash (left) exposes approx 1.3 stops under the Orbis (right), and has a 1100K cooler white balance.
The Advantages
- It’s a ring flash! For $ 25! It’s hard to argue with the price, and the results are absolutely what you would expect when you use a ring flash.
- It’s light. Due to the flat pack low cost nature of the ring flash, it’s very light. Shooting for more than 15 minutes hand-holding my Orbis can be very tiring and painful. The DIYP Ring Flash weighs only grams.
- It works. Despite the lower efficiency and cooler WB, the resulting light is fantastic. If you are aware of these problems you can adapt and easily correct in post processing. Functionally, when corrected for, the light from the $ 25 ring flash is equal to that from my $ 200 Orbis.
When the differences are corrected, the results of the DIY Ring Flash (right) compare very well to the Orbis (left) which is eight times the price. The only apparent difference is the greater contribution of ambient light to the scene shot with the DIY ring flash, resulting from opening the aperture to compensate for the lower power. Alternatively the flash power could be increased to match the Orbis completely.
Get One!
I find a ring flash an invaluable tool in my lighting gear. Follow the link above to see how David Hobby uses ring flash, and you’ll open up a whole new realm of lighting possibilities. But do I recommend the DIYP Ring Flash as THE ring flash you should get? Well I won’t be giving up my Orbis. I use ring flash often enough that I need the durability of the tough plastic construction that comes with a more expensive solution.
However, unless you have a better ring flash, or are certain you need one, get this. If you are curious about ring flashes and want to try one out before you decide to get a more expensive model, get this. If you want to play with ring flash lighting but don’t have the budget for a more expensive model, get this. When you can get honest-to-goodness ring flash light for $ 25, why wouldn’t you?
You can purchase the DIY Photography Ring Flash here: http://www.diy-lighting-kits.com/ring-flash/
DIY Photography also stock a number of other products that will be of interest to photographers on a budget. Their product page can be found here.
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Just Posted: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 samples gallery
Just Posted: Our AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G sample gallery. We’ve had access to Nikon’s latest inexpensive 50mm prime lens for a couple of weeks and have put together a 41-image sample gallery to show some of what it can do. The AF-S G version means there’s finally an inexpensive Nikon 50mm lens that will autofocus on the company’s entry-level bodies, such as the D40, D60, D3100 and D5100. Here we’ve shot it using both the DX D7000 and the FX D3S to show how it performs on both formats.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
