Gear Check: LensCoat LensSack

September 12, 2023November 15, 2016 by Dan Carr

Anyone that dabbles in wildlife photography should have a photography bean bag in their kit. There are many opportunities to photograph wildlife from a vehicle, whether it’s your own car or a jeep on safari. When you do that, you’ll need a place to rest your camera! In fact, bean bags are much more useful than that. You can also use the on the ground to get beautiful low angle images of shorebirds on a beach, or any number of other small creatures. The first bean bag I got was the Gura Gear Sabi Sack, now sold by Tamrac under …

My Biggest Annoyance with the Canon 5D Mark IV

June 8, 2019November 11, 2016 by Dan Carr

There’s no such thing as the perfect camera, and whilst I have been extremely happy with the 5D Mark IV in general, there’s something that really began to frustrate me on my recent trip to The Canadian Rockies: Cropped 4k video. Although Canon might tell you otherwise, the 5D Mark IV is not a camera that has been designed for video professionals. It lacks even basic video camera software functions like focus peaking. That said, it does shoot in 4K and delivers video files that can look pretty good. Since I had this 4k capability in my day-to-day camera, naturally I …

The Lens I Wasn’t Sure I Could Love: Canon 11-24mm f/4 L

September 12, 2023October 13, 2016 by Dan Carr

I picked up the Canon 11-24mm f/4 L earlier this year, and at the time it was a bit of a rushed decision. Canon was about to implement a significant price increase, and I’d had it in mind that I might buy the lens later in the year anyway. I had two worries about this lens before I bought it. Firstly, I knew it was huge compared to my other small zooms like the 16-35 f/4 L IS, and the 24-70 f/2.8 L II – lenses that are basically always in my bag. Secondly, the bulbous front glass element prevents you …

Gear Check: GoPro Hero5 Black

September 12, 2023October 11, 2016 by Dan Carr

GoPro recently launched the new Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session, alongside an impressive looking drone called the Karma. I often take a GoPro on photography trips because I like to use them to capture some behind the scenes content, like this aerial timelapse that I posted earlier in the year. Up until now, I’ve been using the Hero4 Black which shot 4k video, but didn’t have an LCD screen. If you wanted the LCD screen, you had to use the Hero4 Silver, but this didn’t shoot 4k. Frankly, GoPro’s product lineup was rather silly up to this point, but now they …

Automated Cloud Backup – I’m Testing CrashPlan For Photographers

December 3, 2016October 10, 2016 by Dan Carr

I’m forever tweaking my backup routine to suit my evolving business, and refine my workflow. For a long time I have ignored cloud backup services like BackBlaze and CrashPlan because I wasn’t sure if my glacial Canadian upload speeds would work well for something like that. CrashPlan For Photographers Recently I was having a re-think about this though, and since I’ve received so many questions about these kinds of services in the past, I decided to give it a try. Given that a year’s subscription to CrashPlan for unlimited uploads is only $59.99, it’s not the end of the world …

I Sold My Sony Cameras – Here’s Why…

September 12, 2023October 9, 2016 by Dan Carr

Some of you may remember that last year I purchased both the Sony RX100 IV and the RX10 II. I primarily wanted the smaller RX100 IV as a camera that I would always have in my pocket, and the larger RX10 II was the camera I used in my office to record all my Youtube videos. I recently sold both of these cameras, despite them being critically acclaimed cameras! Here’s why… Both cameras used the same sensor, so there was nothing to choose between them in terms of image quality. For a point and shoot camera, there’s no doubt that …

Reader Question: Which Kayak Do You Use to Photograph From?

July 9, 2018October 4, 2016 by Dan Carr

Photos of my kayak photography setup always draw a lot of attention and result in a lot of questions. In order to answer these definitively, I’ve added a new “Photography from a Kayak” section to my Gear Guide that explains which kayak I use, why I chose it, and what other accessories are needed to complete the whole setup. PS. Did you check out the Photography EDC kit section that I also added recently?

Gear Check: BG-E20 Battery Grip for Canon 5D Mark IV

June 9, 2019September 13, 2016 by Dan Carr

Continuing my coverage of the Canon 5D Mark IV, today we’re taking a first look at the BG-E20 battery grip for this exciting new camera. A battery grip serves two main purposes: firstly it allows you to use two batteries simultaneously, thus prolonging the period between needing to actually swap batteries, and secondly it mimics the main camera controls when it’s held in a vertical orientation. If you find yourself shooting with the camera in portrait orientation a lot, there’s no denying that a battery grip is a heck of a lot more comfortable, and it gives you a sturdier …

5D Mark IV Is Here! Initial thoughts and Unboxing

June 9, 2019September 10, 2016 by Dan Carr

The Canon 5D Mark IV began shipping this week and I was able to pick mine up immediately. As has become traditional, I recorded a short video for those that want to live vicariously and see what comes in the box. You can find the video a little further down the page. The video also contains a side-by-side comparison with the 5D Mark III. The first thing I noticed about the camera after unboxing it was that the 10% weight saving from the Mark III is noticeable. I’m pretty pleased about this, and I think it’s a great achievement when …

Am I Buying the New Canon 5D Mark IV??

June 8, 2019August 27, 2016 by Dan Carr

I wanted to write more about this camera a few days ago when it was first announced, but I’ve simply been swamped with work this week! Canon finally announced the 5D Mark IV and from my perspective, it really didn’t disappoint me apart from the fact that is uses the old CF cards when everyone, including Canon with the 1DX Mark II, is moving to CFast cards. I ordered my new 5D Mark IV the second I was able to, and it should be here in the first half of September. I’m also going to check out the newly announced 24-105 …

Gear Check: Canon Extension Tubes

September 12, 2023July 18, 2016 by Dan Carr

Extension tubes are a great little lens accessory, and I almost always have at least one of the Canon ones in my bag these days. At first glance they look like small, black extenders (sometimes called teleconverters), but actually they don’t have any optics inside them at all. It can be a bit confusing because extenders and extension tubes look similar, so let’s be clear from the start which is which, and what they do: Extension Tubes (what we’re talking about today) These sit between the lens and the camera body and act as a spacer to move the lens …

Gear Check: New Canon 400mm f/4 DO IS II

June 9, 2019June 7, 2016 by Dan Carr

It’s always an exciting day when a big brown box arrives, especially when it says Canon on the side. This year, due to economical situations in Canada (where I live) and Japan, Canon raised their prices on all their lenses and cameras. Whilst this is always a bit of a blow, they were at least kind enough to let people know that the increases was coming, and they even honoured the old pricing for people that placed orders before the April 1st deadline on out-of-stock equipment. Some of the price increases were close to 20% on big ticket items, so …