Gear Check

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Hands On With The New Canon 40mm f2.8 STM Pancake Lens

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I’m away in Europe at the moment and I got word that a store in the UK had the new 40mm f2.8 Pancake lens. I’m pretty excited about this lens since I’m always trying to shave some weight off the gear that I carry and I’ve never been satisfied with ANY of Canon’s 50mm offerings. A pocket sized 40mm might just be the ticket so I ordered one right away. Below I have posted a hands on video with the lens so that you can get a bit of a feel for how small it is. I also give some …

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Le Mans 24 Hours – 2012 – What worked & what didn’t ?

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Whenever I set out on a lengthy photography trip there are always many considerations when it comes to packing. Every trip requires something slightly different and my recent trip to Europe was no different. This trip was firstly to shoot the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a motorsports event in France. I shot this race last year as well and wrote an extensive report on it at the time, along with a short video about the gear that I packed for that trip. Last year the sole purpose of my trip was to shoot the race, but this year my …

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Tascam DR-100 MKII Review & Comparison To Zoom H4N

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Small, portable audio recorders have become much more popular since the start of the s0-called DSLR revolution.  Of course they have always been around in the professional industry but when people began filming with DSLRs they quickly realized that the sound on those cameras was simply awful.  A solution was needed and a great many people jumped on the Zoom H4N as that solution.  At the time when the 5D MK2 was released there weren’t a lot of options at a price point that made sense to someone who is only shooting with a camera worth a few thousand dollars.  …

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Redrock Micro DSLR Baseplate Review

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If you are even remotely serious about shooting video with a DSLR then you’ll quickly find that you need to add a few accessories. For me a follow focus is the first thing I would pick up, as you’ll see in the following photos I use the excellent O’Connor F-Focus DM. To attach a follow focus unit, and many other cine style accessories to your camera you are going to need a way to add rods. In the cine world there are three rod standards: 15mm lightweight, 15mm studio and 19mm studio. If you aren’t familiar with these then O’Connor …

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Sonnet Echo Expresscard Thunderbolt Adapter Review

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I’m sure by now that you are aware of the Thunderbolt standard and how it has a theoretical throughput that is much faster than Firewire 800, USB 2 or 3 and eSATA. Like many people I excitedly bought one of the newer Macbooks last year when they first featured Thunderbolt ports but sadly Thunderbolt accessories have been relatively thin on the ground. Some blame high licensing fees imposed by Apple and Intel whilst some blame technical difficulties and incompatibilities with the implementation of the technology. I’ve had my Macbook Air for nearly a year now and until the Sonnet Echo …

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Affordable Stuido Gear From Impact

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The fine folks at B&H Photo were kind enough to send me some of their studio gear from the house brand Impact. I’ve written a little review about each individual piece and this post is designed to be the index. If the prices of studio support equipment usually makes you wince then you should definitely take a look at the Impact brand. Please do take a look at the reviews as there are some caveats with some products but over all I’ve been pretty impressed.

Impact Super Collapsible Background 8×16′

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Not everyone has the luxury of a proper dedicated studio space so what do you do when you need to set up a quick backdrop for a shoot ? The answer could be to use a pop up backdrop similar to the reflectors that most of us have probably used, only MUCH bigger! Impact makes what they call an 8×16′ background which is actually an 8×8 popup square with an 8×16′ fabric extension sewn onto it to use as your ‘infinite’ background. When you are done your shoot, the whole thing folds flat into a bag for easy storage in …

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Impact Multiboom Lightstand & Reflector Holder

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There’s a reason that this Impact product has a long name, it’s designed to do a lot of stuff! To begin with, it looks like a light stand and of course, you can use it in this way but, to be honest, its strengths are in other areas and there are better light stands.  The spigot on the top seemed to be an odd sizing when I tested it with my Einstein strobe, there was a lot of play in it and the metal was very soft and easily damaged with the screw clamp.  More so than other stands that …

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Impact Air Cushioned Heavy Duty Light Stand 13′ (4m)

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The first thing of note about the Impact 13′ light stand is that it’s actually not that heavy.  Heavy-duty yes, but not that heavy.  Sounds odd right?  Well, all I can say is that when compared to some of my small light stands it’s a comparable weight BUT it extends to a much larger height!  I was so happy to see this that I immediately threw it in a bag and flew off to a photo competition taking place in Austria.  Weight is important when you are trying to fit all your gear within the requisite baggage limits but I …

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Impact XL Digital Light Shed Review

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If you ever shoot a lot of still life or product photos then chances are you have looked at buying some sort of light tent or shed before. They offer a quick solution for softening you strobes or continuous lights and they tend to pack down small enough that storage is no issue. I was sent the Impact XL Digital Light Shed to take a look at and I’ve used similar products in the past to shoot images for product reviews or small products for catalogs. This particular Light Shed has a lot of options and accessories to get you …

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5D MK3 & Canon Wireless Flash System

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I’ve just taken delivery of my own Canon 5D MK3 and also the new 600 EX RT flash with ST-E3 Radio trigger. I’m really excited to try these things out on some upcoming shoots. I made a quick video yesterday with some first impressions on the flash and the new trigger. Stay tuned for more in-depth thoughts in the coming days and weeks.

Pearstone Articulating Arm Review

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This is one of those multifunctional accessories that every photographer should have in their kit box. I’ve owned several different versions from various manufacturers and this time I have been provided with the 4.2″ Pearstone Articulating Israeli Arm version. My favorite uses of such an arm are to hold accessories for DSLR movie making such as microphones, audio recorders and LCD screens but the actual potential uses are far too numerous to name. The 4.2″ Pearstone version is just the right size for mounting on the hot shoe of your camera and it comes with a hot shoe adapter that …

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