Thomas is a professional fine art photographer and writer specialising in photography related instructional books as well as travel writing and street photography.
All tagged Gear
Last week was a very interesting week for those who want to shoot video professionally. We saw the launch of 3 cinema cameras. Well, four if you count the new iPhones. At IBC in the Netherlands, Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm announced their new cinema cameras. For Canon, it was a new form factor and price point for their cinema lineup, and for Nikon and Fujifilm it was their first entry into this space.
A year and a half ago, I wrote a piece about the Fujifilm X100VI and how it was (at the time) the last of the rangefinder style cameras. When I wrote that piece, Fuji had discontinued the XE-4 and the X-Pro3, and there was no immediate sign of replacements. I had speculated that Fuji had ended these lines as the X-T Series and X100 lines were more popular. As an X-E4 owner, I was saddened but resigned to the fact. But luckily, I was wrong and today, Fujifilm announced the new X-E5.
Fujifilm has just released its long rumoured, and much teased “half” digital camera, and it has, to put it mildly, decided opinions. The camera, which looks like a tiny X100 series, is an homage to half frame film cameras of old, with a 1.0 type sensor mounted vertically and a vertical screen on the back. Fuji has also designed the software of the camera to mimic film as much as possible, even including a film mode. When activated, this mode doesn’t let you see what you’re capturing it until you reach the end of the roll and “develop” it in the companion camera app. It’s either a nice nod to nostalgia or a gimmick, depending on who you ask. But the one thing Fuji really, really wants you to know is that this camera is “Fun”.
I recently upgraded my photography and video gear with the Canon R6 Mark II. On a trip to Brighton, UK, I tested the camera for the first time. I captured both test footage and stills, creating a short film of a moody morning on Brighton Beach. Additionally, I took a series of still photos throughout the trip, including some beautiful sunset shots.
Yesterday (Feb 21st) Sigma officially announced that it would start releasing lenses for Fuji’s X-Mount. The initial lenses to be released would be a trio of f/1.4 primes that already exist for other mounts. These are a 16mm, 30mm and 56mm. While this has been rumoured for a while, it’s an interesting development, as these lenses are well regarded on other platforms.
I had been looking forward to Monday’s Apple event for quite some time, even before the event was actually scheduled. When the M1 was originally announced, like many others, I was impressed, but my immediate thought was, I wonder what pro machines will be capable of. Well, yesterday, I got my answer. And it was worth the wait.
A little while ago, I decided to upgrade my Vlogging camera, and so I bought a Sony Z-V1. I had been using a Canon GX1 Mark II, but I wanted something with 4k recording, and the Sony seemed like a good option. I have been using it on and off for the past few weeks, and so here is some early first impressions of Sony’s little Vlogging camera.
Ever since Apple first announced the move to Apple silicon back in July, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I’ve been wanting to write about it for a while now, but I held off until there were more concrete details. Well, now that the first Macs with Apple silicon have been announced, I can share my thinking on the subject, and what these new systems might mean for creatives.
In this second part of my review of K&F Concept’s new filters, I look at the two Variable ND filters the company sent me to try out. Both filters are variable neutral density filters, and they were of two different ranges of ND. To test them out, I set out to try capturing some long exposures in a large park near to where I live.
K&F sent me some of their new filters to review. They included a polarising filter, a UV filter and two different Variable ND filters. In this post, I’m going to look at the first two, a circular polariser and a UV filter.
One of the things that every photographer should have is a good tripod. Over the years I’ve collected many different ones, and I’m always trying different designs and different models. Some can be very expensive, especially if you want a good and light model. One of the problems that I’ve always had is finding one that is light enough to easily carry but sturdy enough to hold a good DSLR rig. So when K&F Concept wanted me to try one of their bigger compact models, I said, sure, why not!
One of the interesting things that comes with the Spyder X Studio Package is the Spyder LensCal. This is a special test chart that makes it easy to calibrate your lenses on a DSLR. Because of the way that autofocus works on a DSLR a lens can sometimes be off with its focus point, and when you focus on an object it can be either very slightly infant or behind the point at which you’re focussing. Most camera offer a way to offset the focus, and the Spyder LensCal provides a way to reliably measure and set it, at least in theory.
The kind folks at K&F Concept sent me a Tripod to review, and I thought I would have a bit of fun and play around with some moody product shots while doing an unboxing. I’ll have a review of the tripod in full soon, but for now, here’s a little gear porn.
I’ve finally gotten around to something I should have done a log time ago. I have finally upgraded the graphics card in my Mac Pro. I had been owing the original and extremely bad (by today’s standards) ATI 5770 and its paltry 1gb or ram. Amazingly enough I managed to get by all these years, but it was becoming increasingly problematic, so I finally ordered a replacement.
I’ve had the Spyder X attached to my computer for over a week now, and for the most part there isn’t much one needs to do. It does continue to work away in the background though, so I wanted to give it some time to see what it was like to be using it over a longer period.
Having worked in both the print, photography and video industries for a long time, I’ve always appreciated the importance of having a properly calibrated display. It can actually make a huge difference, especially if you’re collaborating with others or having you work printed or so on. Over the years I’ve used a variety of calibration tools, and I’ve recently been trying out a new calibration system for my computer, the Datacolor Spyder X.
I’ve been managing to keep an ageing 2012 Mac Pro as my main computer for nearly 7 years now, and from time to time its really been a struggle. Over the years I’ve added various upgrades and replacement parts, and its somehow managed to keep going, despite getting a tremendous amount of use. Lately though it’s been driving me mad. It takes nearly an hour to reboot - from off to being useable. The OS comes up in about two minutes, but by the time everything loads and settles down and is useable - it’s nearly an hour. This is partly because of a slow system drive, and partly due to years of bits and pieces clogging the OS
Yesterday Sony announced the latest camera in its A6K line, and for the first time, Sony has embraced the Vlogging market somewhat seriously. The new camera, the Sony A6400 is a mid-range entry in Sony’s APS-C lineup, which borrows some features from higher end Sony cameras as well as adding some new features of its own, all for a relatively affordable price.
