Just a quick note to apologize for leaving so much off the blog. This is all a very part-time thing I'd like to make almost-full time (we start shooting a documentary short tomorrow), Still sorting it out. Will try to get a pile of YouTube videos reposted here over the next couple of day, but you can always go straight to our YouTube channel. Thanks for your patience!
Read moreSleepless Over Sony's a9: what is it really, and for whom?
Sony a9 Aimed at One Thing: Dethroning the DSLR Kings of Pro Sports Photography
We are in NYC at the Sony press event announcing the $4,500 a9, and one thing is staggeringly clear. Sony may demur in public, but everything about this camera --along with the simultaneously announced $2,500 FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G-Master OSS lens screams "DSLR technology is so last-century, especially for sports photography." Here's why.
Read moreSony a99II Hands-On: Specs Gone Wild
The a99II [B&H|Amazon] is sick-fast with a unique pellicle mirror arrangement enabling hybrid phase detect autofocus. Along with a pile of other specifications including the 42 megapixel sensor from the a7r II, this a-mount camera is aimed at giving existing a-mount users a reason to keep investing -- and maybe even toppling the Canon 5D franchise. But it's never that simple, is it?
Read moreB&H GH5 Livestream Event March 29th at 1:00PM
Hands-on with Fujinon MK 18-55mm T2.9 in Sony E-Mount!
The Sony E-Mount lens ecosystem just got a big boost from Fujinon/FujiFilm with a pair of baby Cabrios at 1/10th the price, starting with their 18-55 T2.9. Brilliant.
Read moreSony-ICD SX2000 Audio Recorder vs Zoom H1 (I'm buying the Sony)
They sound the same to me, but even at twice the price I prefer Sony's ICD-SX2000 field recorder with brilliant IOS app. I'm buying one.
Read morePRomptBox ONE: Best Teleprompter Under $150, Maybe a Whole Lot More
At the end of the day, a teleprompter is a pellicle mirror reflecting scrolling text from one side, allowing you to shoot through it from the other to give the illusion that the on-camera talent isn't reading. It works well, and you can even build one yourself for a few dollars. But the first high-quality, well-designed prompter and inexpensive prompter I've seen (for use with tablets and smartphones) is called the PRomptBox. At $139 (B&H), it's not only inexpensive -- it's brilliant.
Read more2016 Year in Review and Award Winners
It's a much smaller and more tightly focused set of winners this year, along with what I hope will become the annual Elephant Award. I began with a quick recap of 2016, and then go on to each of our winners. Camera of the year? Panasonic GX85 [B&H|Amazon] . Lens of the Year? Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 G-Master [B&H|Amazon]. Trend of the Year, Peeve of the Year, and then the Elephant Award to...the Native American Drone Pilots of Standing Rock, ND. Let me know what you think!
Read moreHands-On with the Sony a6500: an Imperfect Icon in the Hands of An Imperfect Man.
The Sony a6500 [B&H|Amazon] is a great camera, as it is essentially an a6300 with in-body image stabilization, a few ergonomic tweaks, a much bigger buffer, and an imperfect touch auto focus system. Here's my freaking half-hour review, with plenty of footage. I tell you which of the two -- along with the original a6000 -- you should buy.
Read moreSony FS7 II: A Conversation with Senior Product Manager Juan Martinez
Canon Cinema EOS C700: A Conversation with Canon's Tim Smith
This is Canon's brand new, top of the line, $30,000 camera designed specifically to meet Netflix standards for the $6 billion they're planning to spend on content...
Read moreI Don't Normally Do This, But GEEZ: Great Deals (Truly) This Black Friday
Oh yeah, I definitely make coffee money when you click on one of my links (and it doesn't cost you a dime), but I'm posting these links because these really ARE big deals.
Read morePhotoPlus Expo, Part 3: Hasselblad Sells Out First Year's Run of X1Ds in 10 Days
Looks like Hasselblad has a monster hit on its hands with the X1D. I speak with their product manager to get the details.
Read morePhotoPlus Expo, Part 2: New Sigma Cine Lenses Should Worry Canon, Zeiss
It was only a matter of time before Sigma went up-market to take on Canon and Zeiss in the cine lens space. With pricing just announced on their 18-35mm and 50-100mm zooms of around $4,000 a pop -- and a meaty, solid and precise 85mm T/1.5 in my hands for all of 90 seconds -- it seems clear to me that Canon and Zeiss should be worried.
Read morePhotoPlus Expo 2016, Part 1: Looking at the Cameras I Usually Don't Review
I missed Photokina (I had to head home from Europe two weeks before Photokina began), but with announcements of Fuji's GFX 50S medium format digital camera, Panasonic's GH5 and Olympus' OM-D EM1 Mark II, there's no way I was going to miss PhotoPlus Expo in New York City hot on the heels of the German show for a chance to see and feel these puppies in the metal. Too bad ALL of them were still under glass. Still, with my mind already expanded, I found (just like the manufacturers wanted!) that their current cameras were more interesting than I'd imagined.
Read moreKamerar's D-Fuse: Light Modifiers for Aputure's Excellent Amaran LED Panel
It was Aputure's $299 Amaran HR672C [B&H|Amazon], an ipad-sized, bi-color LED panel with high color accuracy, wireless remote control, and dual Sony NP style batteries all tucked away in a small travel case that put the final nail in the coffin of my ARRI Softbank IV Fresnel Lighting kit. I kept pestering the guys at Aputure to bring out some light modifiers for it, which they subsequently did with their $49.95 EZ-Box and Grid combo [B&H|Amazon]. Now accessories manufacturer Kamerar further burnishes the Amaran line's reputation with their own dedicated versions of these modifiers for the same light, the $29.95 D-FUSE Soft box [B&H|Amazon] and $24.95 Grid [Amazon]. They're easier to set up and take down than Aputure's originals, but they're not without issue either.
Read moreSony's Z150: Son of the RX10 III and the FS5 -- and Shockingly Good. But You Shouldn't Be Surprised
Want the 4K, all-in-one convenience, and reach of the non-interchangeable lens zoom of an RX10 Mark III; the 10-bit 4:2:2 HD, long battery life and freedom from worrying about thermal shut-down or 30 minute recording limit of the Sony FS5; and a price and image quality that splits the difference? Welcome to the Sony Z150.
Read moreRX100 Mark V, Part 1: First Images, First Footage, First Thoughts (What Would HCB Do?)
I had the opportunity to go hands on for a short period of time with Sony's new RX100 Mark V ($998 at B&H) at their NYC press event. At some point I switched over from JPEG extra fine to RAW, only to realize once I started loading the files onto my computer that Lightroom, Photos and even Capture One do not yet have the RAW driver. So: JPEG's only for the moment - I will add once the drivers are available.
Read moreSecced Reach Plus 1 Tripod: Inspired by German Company Sachtler, Priced by Chinese Capitalism - But No One's Sitting Still
The Reach Plus 1 is a Sachtler-inspired tripod kit from Chinese manufacturer Secced. It also competes against my own Cartoni Focus HD -- even though the Cartoni has much higher payload maximums -- because it demands to be taken seriously and my A-cam is the light weight Sony a6300. How well does it succeed (geddit)? Read on.
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