All tagged Review

Apple Creator Studio Review: the Good, the Bad and the Weird.

Apple Creator Studio Review: the Good, the Bad and the Weird.

Thomas Fitzgerald
Software, Apple

A few weeks after the initial excitement of the announcement, Apple’s new “Creator Studio” bundle is finally available. Now that I’ve had a chance to take it for a test drive, I wanted to write about the experience. I’m not going to go into every detail on all the new features, but instead I wanted to take a look at the bigger picture here, and what this might mean going forward. Because, while this bundle does offer great value if you don’t have any of the apps already, there are a lot of questions and a few issues with the new bundle and how it was released.

(I’ve published this on my Medium blog as it’s not entirely about Photography.)

Pure Raw 5 - Image Quality and X-Trans Conversion Review

Pure Raw 5 - Image Quality and X-Trans Conversion Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
DxO, Software

When PureRAW 5 was announced a couple of weeks ago, I had only briefly tried it and the initial release had an annoying bug in it, so I wasn’t able to test it properly. However, since that was quickly fixed, I have been trying it out properly to judge how much of an improvement it is over previous iterations. In particular, I have been looking at two main areas. Firstly, how good is the new X-Trans specific mode and secondly, does Deep Prime 3 address some of the issues of the previous version on non X-Trans images. 

A Personal Review of the Fujifilm 16-80mm lens

A Personal Review of the Fujifilm 16-80mm lens

Thomas Fitzgerald
Fuji X-Series, Gear, Review

The Fujifilm Fujinon 16-80mm lens is one I’ve wanted for a long time, but it has been surprisingly difficult to get hold of here in Ireland. Ever since it came out, the standalone version has been back-ordered, and it was only really available here as part of a kit. I finally managed to get one second hand a couple of months ago, and I’ve been using it a lot since, including taking it on several trips. So, I wanted to do a non-technical review of this lens for those who might be interested.

Luminar AI Review

Luminar AI Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Luminar, Software

I’ve been writing reviews for over ten years. I’ve covered all sorts of things from hardware, to software, and I’ve never had as hard a time writing a review as I have with Luminar AI. Since the application came out just before Christmas, I’ve seen many reviews and coverage extolling its virtues, but this wasn’t matching my experience with it. I wondered what I was doing wrong because it seemed like I was reading about a completely different application.

Capture One 21 Review

Capture One 21 Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Capture One

It’s been a little while now since Capture One 21 was released. The new version of Capture One has been accompanied by a bit of a backlash about the amount of new features. Putting that aside, for now, In this review, I wanted to focus on a couple of things, namely the headline features of Dehaze and Speed Edit, and I’ll discuss some of the other improvements too. I’ll also look at whether or not the criticism of this release is justified.

Luminar 4 Review

Luminar 4 Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Luminar

It’s weird writing a review of something that a lot of people have been talking about for quite some time now. Luminar 4 was pre-announced a while ago now, and the company has been drip feeding information about it to the public. Lots of people including myself have already shared details on some of the new features, the new interface and so on, so what’s left to review? Well, I wanted to wait until the software was actually released to put all the disparate threads together and talk about the application as a whole. So with that in mind, here are my impressions of Luminar 4, its new feature and what it is like to use.

K&F Concept TM2515T Tripod Review

K&F Concept TM2515T Tripod Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Gear

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!

Spyder X Capture Pro Rolling Review Part 4: Calibrating my lenses

Spyder X Capture Pro Rolling Review Part 4: Calibrating my lenses

Thomas Fitzgerald
Gear

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.

Mastin Labs Fujicolour Original for Capture One: A Quick First Look

Mastin Labs Fujicolour Original for Capture One: A Quick First Look

Thomas Fitzgerald
Capture One, Software

I’m a little late with this but following on from their first Capture One set, Mastin Labs has released another film emulation style pack. This set, called “Fujicolour Original” covers Fujifilm negative stocks, and is similar to their previous Kodak set, and the company’s Lightroom presets of the same name. They sent me a set to try out, and so here is my quick first impressions review.

Datacolor Spyder X Rolling Review - Part 1

Datacolor Spyder X Rolling Review - Part 1

Thomas Fitzgerald
Gear, Review

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.

Luminar 3.1 Review

Luminar 3.1 Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Luminar, Software

Today, Skylum Software releases the first major update to Luminar 3. The release brings a couple of new features along with lots of other fixes and tweaks. The two headline features of the new version are Accent AI 2.0 and Raw + Jpeg management. I’ve been trying the beta for a few days and here’s what I found.

Luminar 3 Review

Luminar 3 Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Luminar

It’s been over a year since the developers of Luminar teased that the upcoming asset management side of the software would come as a free upgrade to Luminar. Since then, people have eagerly waited for it, but for the longest time, it seemed like the rollout was getting further and further away. Finally, the first iteration of Luminar with this new “library” add-on is here. Unfortunately, it’s not quite what I think people were expecting. It’s a step in the right direction, but the software still has a long way to go.

Lensball Review

Lensball Review

Thomas Fitzgerald
Review

If you haven’t seen them before, a Lensball is basically a polished glass sphere. That’s pretty much all there is to it, but once you’re aware of it, you start to see them cropping up everywhere, in Instagram and other online photos. A little while ago, the company that makes them sent me one to review, and I’ve been having fun with it ever since.

Two Street Photo Lenses for the Sony A6000 (Sigma 30mm & 19mm)

Two Street Photo Lenses for the Sony A6000 (Sigma 30mm & 19mm)

Thomas Fitzgerald
Gear, Sony, Video

When I did a recent episode of my “Street Photo Diary” series of videos, in which I shot with the Sony A6000, I got a lot of questions about the lenses that I use. The two that I probably use the most when shooting street photography, str two Sigma Lenses, the 30mm and 19mm f/2.8. In this video, I go shooting with these lenses and give you a quick review as well as showcasing the process.

A Photographer's First Thoughts on the New iPad (And Apple Pencil)

A Photographer's First Thoughts on the New iPad (And Apple Pencil)

Thomas Fitzgerald
Apple, Review

It’s been a while since I’ve had a new iPad. In fact, it’s been a while since I had an iPad that was actually usable. I hadn’t upgraded since the iPad 3 as I had nothing but trouble with that model, and it kind of put me off. But with the numerous apps coming out on iOS for photographers, I was starting to feel a little left out. I had been considering an iPad Pro, but I just couldn’t afford it. So when Apple announced the new 6th generation iPad with Apple Pencil support, I decided it was finally time.

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