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Tangentsreview: Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lensAugust 6, 2011
review: Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom (lens review)Venturing out again after posting a few initial test images with the Canon EF 8-15mm f/fL fisheye zoom lens, I tried for a more diverse range of images to show what this lens is capable of … and also compare it with the Canon 15mm f2.8 fish-eye lens to see how the brand-new zoom lens stacks up against the older fixed focal length lens.
Filed under: Canon,equipment review — Tags: Canon 8-15mm fisheye zoom, Canon lens review, lens review — Neil vN @ 4:28 am
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initial images – Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lensAugust 2, 2011
initial images – Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens (review)I got my hands on the brand-new Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fish-eye zoom (B&H) today, and I just had to try it out. And what better place than Times Square in Manhattan. Enough tall buildings and billboards to fill the frame of a lens that gives a 180 degree view! Now, before I continue, I have to admit that even though I have a fish-eye lens in my bag, (the Nikon 16mm f2.8), I only occasionally use it. I feel that a fish-eye lens can be over-used very quickly when it draws too much attention to the distorted view that the lens gives, rather than the photograph’s content. That said, I haven’t had this much fun with a new lens in a long, long time! [ updated: review of the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom ]
review: Fuji X100 camera – photo shoot with a modelJune 22, 2011
photo session with the Fuji X100 – camera reviewFirst of all, for those who haven’t heard of the Fuji X100 (B&H) yet, it is a beautiful retro-looking rangefinder-mimicking 12 megapixel digital point & shoot camera (with a fixed 35mm equivalent f2.0 lens), that gives remarkable image quality. That about sums it up. For all those reasons, quite a buzz developed around this camera. Quite unlike anything since … oh, the Leica X1. Or the Olympus Pen EP-2. Or the Sony NEX-5. There was greater excitement building up around the Fuji X100 though than other cameras, specifically for its looks initially. And then when news hit about the incredible image quality, the excitement and interest became more substantial. It’s a hot item right now, and for good reason.
Filed under: equipment review,fuji x100,gear,general photography,photo shoot — Tags: Fuji X100, Fuji X100 photo shoot, Fuji X100 review, photographing a model with Fuji X100, review Fuji X100 — Neil vN @ 10:46 pm
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review: Frio ColdShoe MountJune 20, 2011
review: Frio ColdShoe Mountby: Stephanie Zettl Have you ever tried to connect your very expensive speedlight to a light stand or flash modifier with a coldshoe? Have you tightened the coldshoe around your very expensive speedlight and had that bad feeling in the back of your mind that with a little bump, the coldshoe would loosen and your very expensive speedlight would go crashing to the ground? I know I have. Ten years ago, I did not have many problems with coldshoes. Part of the reason was because the coldshoe tightened around the flash foot and the flash itself had a rotating locking wheel that tightened the flash to the shoe. Since speedlights have gone to a pin and lock system, coldshoes have become much more unreliable. Most coldshoes are not built to have a pin lock into them. Then came along the Frio (B&H). I have never been so excited about a $15 piece of plastic. If you use off camera flash or any coldshoes mounts, this is a product you might be interested in.
review: Fuji X100 – photographing a weddingJune 13, 2011
review: using a Fuji X100 for wedding photographyBeing impressed so far with the image quality from the Fuji X100 (B&H), based on my initial impression of the camera, I was tempted to put the camera to a real test. A test where we remove the luxury of using the camera just as a walk-about fun camera. Instead, I wanted to shoot an event where there are real expectations from the images. With that idea in mind, I asked around if any of my wedding photographer friends would consider using me as a freebie 2nd shooter, where I would use only the Fuji X100 as my camera. My good friend, John Arcara, who is one of the outstanding wedding photographers in New Jersey, was kind enough to allow me to be Uncle Bob at a wedding he photographed this weekend. The couple, Megan and Joel, were quite cool with the idea as well. It was surreal walking up to the wedding reception venue on Saturday with only this tiny camera in my hand. I normally shoot weddings with two Nikon D3 bodies (each with a zoom lens and a flash) slung over my shoulders. I usually look like the Photo Terminator as I determinately stagger forward with all that gear. But not this day. Just the Fuji X100 in hand.
I had the opportunity earlier this week to buy the brand-new Fuji EF-42 flashgun (Amazon), but I decided against it. My intention with this camera is that I have a light-weight high-quality machine to take photos wherever I find myself. Adding a flashgun to this would make it that little bit less portable, and then I might as well go all the way and take a Nikon D3 as my carry-around camera … which I’ve been doing until now. So this is how I found myself second-shooting a wedding with only the Fuji X100. Not even a flash. Just a spare battery. And the verdict? I’m still very much in love with this camera, but frustrated by some short-comings.
Filed under: equipment review,fuji x100,wedding photography — Tags: Fuji X100, Fuji X100 review, review Fuji X100 — Neil vN @ 2:01 am
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continuous studio lighting – Westcott Spiderlite TD5June 9, 2011
continuous studio lighting – Westcott Spiderlite TD5When I undertook to do the recent webinars for the Clickin Moms forums, I knew I had to pull a couple of things together to make the webinar presentation as slick as possible. So there were a number of hardware logistics I had to take care of before-hand. The one thing that I knew I would need, was continuous light on me during the webinar. I couldn’t rely on the existing light in whichever studio I was going to broadcast from. I have previously owned a Westcott Spiderlite kit; one with with three lights. However, when I found it under-powered when using the daylight fluorescent tubes, I sold it again shortly after. Nothing beats the amount of light that a flash unit puts out. But, I needed continuous light now. Looking at my options, I checked out the latest Westcott Spiderlite kits again. They now sport larger and brighter daylight-balanced fluorescent bulbs. The Spiderlite TD5 Light Kit (B&H), that I settled on this time, puts out a total of 220W. Or as it is now described, 220 Total Fluorecent Watts. Quite bright! After the we had wound down broadcasting the latest webinar, we still had use of the studio … and my favorite model, Anelisa, agreed to linger a while so that I can play with the Spiderlite and see what we can come up with.
Filed under: equipment review,lighting,studio photography — Tags: studio continuous lighting, Westcott Spiderlite — Neil vN @ 3:38 am
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initial impression: Fuji X100 – not quite the review yetMay 11, 2011
initial impression: Fuji X100 – not quite the review yetThe Fuji X100 (B&H) must be one of the most eagerly awaited cameras in recent times. The camera just looks beautiful. Retro-cool. With initial reports being mostly very favorable, I was quite keen to get my hands on one of these. My X100 arrived last week, just before I was to leave for the After Dark Photography Education workshops in Cincinnati, OH. What better time to geek out over a camera with gorgeous models around and so much opportunity to play with photo gear and lightning techniques. The photograph above of Alyssa, (one of our models), was lit by LED video light. Now, when using video lights for photography, you’re dealing with wide apertures and high ISOs. An immediate challenge for a camera. And the Fuji X100 excelled. The image above was from the in-camera JPG, with the color balance tweaked slighting in Photoshop. The image was also slightly straightened. camera settings: 1/60 @ f2 @ 1000 ISO … manual exposure mode Now before I show the 100% crop of the shadow areas in that image …
comparison: Lowel ID-light & MicroPro LED light & Dedo LedzillaMarch 25, 2011
comparative review: Lowel ID-light & Litepanels MicroPro LED light & Dedo LedzillaThe use of video light for stills photography has become ever more popular in recent years, as high-ISO capable cameras made it possible to shoot in lower light without having to resort to flash. The immediacy of video light – the ‘wysiwyg’ nature of video light – makes it an interesting light source to play with and experiment with on a shoot. The dramatic quality of the light is also quite appealing. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of video light out there: The LED video lights have several advantages over the “proper” video lights: So to see just how this all stack up in actual use, I decided to compare three video lights: We’re going to specifically look at how bright they are and how their light spread is, and what their quality of light is like …
photo session – Shawna – with the PocketWizard AC3 ZoneControllerFebruary 28, 2011
photo session – Shawna – using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone ControllerWhile in Las Vegas for WPPI 2011, the team at PocketWizard asked me if I would be interested in them shooting a short video clip of me using the new PocketWizards for Nikon. I didn’t hesitate in saying yes! Here is the description of the setup of the one photo sessions I did. There was another one, which I will post in a day or so. I will post a link to the PocketWizard video clip as soon as it is up. For this demonstration of the PocketWizard FlexTT5 and AC3 ZoneController, I relied on Shawna, a favorite model, Shawna, again. (She featured in the recent posts on video light vs bounce flash and using the available light. I knew we’d be able to get some stunning images with such a stunning model and the new photo toys …
Filed under: equipment review,models,photo shoot — Tags: PocketWIzard AC3 Zone Controller, PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 review — Neil vN @ 9:44 am
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using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone ControllerFebruary 20, 2011
using the PocketWizard AC3 Zone ControllerThis portrait of musician, Josh Adams, was a fairly quick set-up. I deliberately chose an area in a large hotel conference room to shoot this. A bit of a challenge to see how quickly I could get a simple but dramatic portrait out of a ‘nothing’ scenario. Here’s the pull-back shot that will show you the area, as well as the placement of the lights:
The light came from three speedlights, all controlled with the PocketWizard FlexTT5 transceivers. They in turn were controlled via an on-camera FlexTT5 (for Nikon), with an AC3 Zone Controller piggy-backing on the TT5. Using the AC3 Controller made it a breeze to control the output (and mode) of each of the three speedlights. I could switch any of them to manual, or to TTL. I could control the TTL units’ Flash Exposure Compensation from the ACR3. And I could control the manual output, if I had decided to switch the speedlight to manual mode. All from my camera …
Filed under: equipment review,flash photography,portraits — Tags: flash photography, PocketWIzard AC3 Zone Controller — Neil vN @ 11:34 pm
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