In an effort to keep us permanently confused with the rapid advancement of USB speeds and technology, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has published the specification for USB4. It was first teased back in March of this year, not long after USB 3 had all its versions renamed. Unlike the incremental updates from USB 3 to USB 3.1 to USB 3.2, though, USB 4 will be a “major update”....
Everybody handles their portrait sessions differently. Some just jump right into it while others take a little time to warm up. Typically, I’m of the latter variety, especially as most of my subjects aren’t models who are used to being in front of the camera. They’re regular people, they need to get comfortable, and I want to see how their face and body react to the light. And that’s what this video from Michael Zelbel at Good Light is all about....
In what can only be described as another incident of mindless stupidity, vandals have destroyed an iconic sandstone pedestal at Cape Kiwanda on Oregon’s coast. Described by local residents as a “natural wonder” and often photographed by visitors, the “Duckbill” rock is no more. A video sent to KATU News shows a group of people pushing the sandstone formation, bringing it to the ground. The creator of the video, David Kalas, was out with his friend flying a new drone when he heard a commotion....
VIVO has announced their new V21 series smartphones, two of which (the V21 and V21 5G) feature probably the best selfie camera out there today. It’s an optically stabilised 44-megapixel front camera with an f/2.0 aperture. OIS isn’t new to selfie cameras on smartphones, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it pop up on a front camera for a long time – if we’re not counting the back-to-front flippy camera of the ASUS ZenFone 6....
Photo editing app maker VSCO has filed a lawsuit against PicsArt, accusing the competitor of reverse engineering some of VSCO’s photo filters. In the lawsuit, VSCO claims that at least 19 filters were copied thanks to PicsArt’s employees who created VSCO accounts specifically for this purpose. VSCO explains that PicsArt is its direct competitor. In the lawsuit, VSCO refers to its terms of service, claiming that PicsArt violated them:...
Being a wildlife photographer can bring you many adventures. One of them is interacting with animals that trust you and don’t want to do you any harm (sometimes even bears!). Wildlife photographer, filmmaker, and conservationist Nick Kleer was recently lucky enough to gain the trust of a gang of meerkats. They didn’t only approach him – they climbed on him to get a higher vantage point and better see the surroundings....
A group on a safari expedition recently had a close encounter with a giant bull elephant. The group was in an African wildlife reserve near a herd of elephants, when one of them charged at their truck, nearly flipping it over. This group and the others who were behind them caught the incident on camera and it’s truly terrifying to watch. The incident took place at the Selati Game Reserve in South Africa on Sunday 28 November....
If you love timelapse films of landscapes and nature then you’re in for a treat. Into the Mountains is a short, experimental time-lapse documentary film created by photographer and filmmaker Christophe Anagnostopoulos. It’s a simple premise: capturing the beauty of the mountains of Epirus, Greece in different seasons. “The goal was to avoid capturing anything that was not created by nature”, says Christophe. Christophe started working on the film at the beginning of 2020 but was, of course, forced to put his plans on hold like the rest of the world....
Westcott has today announced a new Flex Cine lighting system. Carrying on from the popular Flex system launched in 2014, the new Flex Cine line gets full RGBW capability. Westcott says they haven’t just added RGB LEDs to their old lights, though. They’ve redesigned them from the ground up. There’s also a wireless DMX Dimmer. The Flex Cine LED mats are designed for travel and lighting in small spaces. Westcott says that the new mats are equipped with full colour spectrum RGBW leds and are also available in 2800-6000K bicolour or 5600K daylight flavours....
Back in 2016, Fujifilm announced the discontinuation of FP-100C peel-apart instant film. It made many film photographers sad, but SuperSense is on a mission to bring the peel-apart film back to life. They launched a Kickstarter project to fund ONE INSTANT, the “next generation” Type 100 peel-apart instant film. And Mathieu Stern got to test it out. He teamed up with Chris Holmquist of SuperSense to demonstrate what it’s like to shoot with the new version of the familiar peel-apart film....
Clients can sometimes be… tricky. Okay, “tricky” is an understatement in some situations. They can be absolutely horrific. I’m sure you’ve been offered an “amazing opportunity” to work for exposure at least once in your career. Or maybe you’ve even had an offer you just couldn’t refuse, like working for socks or spray tan. I wonder if people would apply the same logic to other professions. Guys from Foil Arms and Hog wondered the same thing, so they have created a really funny video that shows what it would like if you ask a plumber to work for free....
Lens adapters sure are super-handy and they allow you to combine lenses with one mount to a camera with another. This sure has a lot of perks, but are there times when you shouldn’t adapt your lenses? In this video, Michael the Maven discusses this matter and helps you answer the question: when using lens adapters isn’t a good idea? As I said, using adapters definitely has its advantages. It significantly lowers the cost of lenses if you switch systems, for example....
One thing that really irritates me is the price that camera makers put on their batteries. I mean an original battery for a sony A7II costs about $53, the same battery from a third party costs about $13, that’s quite a difference isn’t it? For the price of one original battery, you can get four after market ones. And it’s not just Sony, Canon’s popular LP-E6N are $62 vs $15 and the same goes for Nikon....
The flash market used to be rather simple. You go to one company for speedlights, usually your camera manufacturer or a specialist brand like Metz. Then, you go to another company, such as Bowens and Elinchrom, for strobes when you needed more power. The strobe market stayed largely stable, but then Yongnuo came along and upset the speedlight scene quite drastically. Last night, as I was in bed, browsing Facebook on my iPad, as you do, I ran across a post over on Flash Havoc....
A 26-year-old woman from Connecticut, USA has received a sentence of 7 days in jail for leaving the protective boardwalk in Yellowstone National Park. Madeline S. Casey was visiting the Wyoming based National Park in July when she was caught on video stepping off the covered path onto the fragile crust and approaching a thermal pool. Not only did she end up with a jail sentence, but she also has to pay over $2000 in fines and is banned from visiting the park for 2 years....
The megapixel wars for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras almost seems kind of dead, for the most part. Sure, there might be the occasional exception here and there, but things have generally settled down for the last few years. But they haven’t gone away completely. Instead, they’ve shifted over to smartphones. We’re just now starting to see the rise of 48-megapixel smartphones, but Samsung has been working on 64-megapixel sensors, and it looks like Xiaomi might be the first to release a phone containing one....
I covered an event some months ago over a period of a few days, where as you can imagine, many hundreds of photos were taken. Due to the popularity of this event, (we’ve covered it over a number of years thankfully) I knew the folks that were a part of it were really going to be anxious to see, share, print, etc. After editing, and uploading their photos to the online gallery, they ended up having a really great selection of photos that told the story of their event quite well....
Hot on the heels of… well, everybody, Olympus has announced their new OM-D Webcam Beta software, which allows you to use select Olympus OM-D cameras with your computer and have it act as a webcam for things like streaming and video conferencing. It’s still in beta, so Olympus doesn’t guarantee its reliability, and it’s only available for Windows right now, but it’s a start. It seems that despite Olympus selling off the camera side of the business, it is still business as usual, at least for now....
Just when you thought people couldn’t get much more stupid someone goes and surprises us all by proving us wrong. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared that influencer Trevor Jacob deliberately crashed his plane in California in December for the sake of a YouTube video. The FAA has since stripped Jacob of his pilot’s certificate, revoking any permission to fly any kind of aircraft. The video from December shows Jacob sitting in the pilot’s seat, flying a small aircraft complete with strategically placed cameras inside the cockpit, on the left wing, and on the tail of the plane....
There are plenty of ways to improve photography and tons of accessories and gear items that can help us do it. But what about something as simple as a notebook? With all the hi-tech gadgets, how can it be beneficial for photographers? In this video, Craig Roberts of e6 Vlogs gives you a list of 10 ways to improve your photography using a simple, modest notebook. Pre-shoot Before your shoot, write down the locations you want to visit, either local or abroad....
