GoPro Hero HD Review

by

goPro_review1_dancarrI picked up a HD Helmet HERO helmet package back in January and have taken it with me in my camera bag for most of the winter. The Hero camera is available in several different packages depending on what you want to document. I picked the Hero Helmet package as I primarily wanted to have it with me when I was skiing. But you can also buy an HD Motorsports Hero if you want to record some laps at your local track day, an HD Surf Hero if you want to show your off your surf skills from your summer holiday. Or simply get the HD Naked Hero which forgoes any possible mounting options and allows you to pick and choose the mounts that best suit you from the web store. All of the packages contain the same GoPro HD HERO Camera and the fully waterproof housing that you can see in the photo on the left here. On top of that the Helmet package contains multiple methods to attach it to your helmet, and also a head strap that allows you to wear it without a helmet.

Read more

Pocketwizard brings control to Elinchrom and Alien Bees strobes.

by

Users of pocketwizards and Elinchrom or Alien Bees flashes rejoice! A couple of days ago Pocketwizard announced a couple of pretty cool sounding new products. The PowerST4 and the AC9 adapter for Elinchrom and Alien Bees strobes respectively. They both work in different ways so let me break it down differently… Pocketwizard AC9 Firstly if you have just purchased the new Paul C Buff Einstein lights let me break your heart now and let you know the AC9 does not work with those lights (though intriguingly Paul himself has hinted that there is something else in the works that we …

Read more

Sony NEX-3 & NEX-5

by

nexThe popularity of smaller form-factor cameras such as the Panasonic and Olympus Micro 4/3 cameras in on the increase. Samsung recently introduced their version, the NX-10 with its mirrorless design and APS-C sized sensor. Sony announced their intention to join the so called EVIL camera market back at PMA when they displayed prototype cameras, but today the NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras were finally made official. And at first glace it looks like they will have been worth the wait!

Read more

Apple iPad for photographers. What use is it?

by

A few days ago Apple announced that it has sold 1 million iPads in the device’s first month on sale. Less than half the time it took the original iPhone to achieve the same feat. Lots of photographers like a good gadget and many are users of other apple products already, but is there actually any practical use for one? It seems as if the iPad might be the catalyst for a fundamental change in the way that we receive what was previously “printed” media. The iBook store has sold 1.5 million books along with that first 1 million iPads …

Read more

Test driving Photoshop CS5?s Content aware fill

by

Adobe release Photoshop CS5 a couple of days ago and one of the most talked about features is the content aware fill tool. I recorded a quick demo of it this morning with a couple of potential uses. I don’t think its quite the “black magic” that it seemed to be when Adobe demonstrated it but it could be a time saver in some situations. Just using the tool on its own though rarely does the job, it still needs considerable touching up with the healing tool and brushes but at least it can get you in the ball park …

Read more

Creating a bootable external drive in OSX and why you should think about doing it.

by

usbleopardCatchy title huh? This is a short post but one that I hope might help a few people out. Firstly, if you are a PC user then i’m afraid I can’t help you with all the details, but at least read the first few paragraphs to find out why you might want to do this. In the past 18 months I have had three hard drive failures, 2 in laptops and one in an external USB drive on my desk. It happens and I hope by now we all know that. I’m not going to preach on backing up your files, that’s for another time…..

A few times in the last few months I have found myself working in a location that is fairly remote. No Apple store or computer parts store within a thousand miles, and not somewhere that gets any kind of speedy mail-order servicing either. So what would happen if one of my laptop hard drives had failed in one of those locations? This is mostly relevant to photographers who travel a lot, and especially those who visit remote locations, but the solution is actually fairly simple and remarkably cheap. A bootable external drive that can run Mac OSX is the answer. It doesn’t even need to be a 2.5″ hard drive, you can actually boot to Snow Leopard directly off a USB keyring as long as its big enough!

Read more

Snow Photos 101 – Long lens selection

by

So you’ve mastered you wide-angle lenses and medium telephoto zooms like the ubiquitous 70-200. The next step is inevitably looking at longer lenses in the 300mm and up range. Firstly, be prepared for your wallet to take a bit of a hit For the most part, once you start heading north of 200mm the price of lenses can take a bit of a jump for the higher quality ones. I can’t cover every lens option but here’s a few thoughts on some of your options from the main two manufacturers. During my years shooting skiing I have rarely needed a …

Read more

Nikon Announces the new 200-400mm F4 ED VRII

by

Nikon has today announced a brand new version of their beautiful 200-400mm F4 zoom lens. Everyone knows I shoot Canon, but I appreciate a good lens and this is one! The original 200-400 was a highly regarded lens and this new version adds Nikons VRII image stabilization (equivalent to roughly 4 stops) and also the new Nano Crystal Coating that we have seen on their latest 300mm f2.8 lens. The new AF-S NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G ED VR II lens weighs in at 7.4 lbs (3.4 kg), and it will retail for $6999.95 (USD) If I was a Nikon shooter this …

Read more

Geotagging in Aperture 3

by

6a00d8341ce76f53ef012876db2b3a970c-800wiPicture 7This sort of follows on from the review I did a few days ago of the Gisteq PhotoTrackr. I was not overly enamored with the software that came in the box with the PhotoTrackr but it did allow you to export the GPS track to a .gpx file and that meant you can upload it to other software. With the introduction of Aperture 3.0, Apple added compatibility with geotagging to the popular photographic organizational tool. The new “places” tool in Aperture 3 lets you sort and view your photos by location, and also lets you geotag your photos either by uploading a .gpx file from a third party tracking device or by syncing with information in your iPhone photos.

Read more

News from NAB 2010

by

I know a lot of people who check out this blog are interested in video as well as photography, and especially in the current convergence between the two. This years NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show has just wrapped up, and even more than last year the buzz about the show was all about DSLR video technology. There were many noteworthy announcements at the show but these are a couple that caught my attention. Carl Zeiss Compact Primes II When major cine lens manufactures start producing a lineup specifically designed for shooting video with a DSLR the whole industry sits …

Read more

Gisteq PhotoTrackr review

by

phototrackr-mini-dpl900-1I’ve had a mild curiosity in geotagging for a while. Years from now, i’ve always thought that it wold be very cool to know exactly where some of my photos were taken. Especially my backcountry skiing photos where they are not necessarily taken near any recognizable landmarks. As I travel more and more to other parts of the world too, it would be nice to look back at that in the future and see exactly where I was.

For Canon shooters you instantly run into a problem though. So far Canon has refused to add geotagging to any of their cameras and they have also refused to add the ability for third-party developers to come up with their own solution. Nikon users have it pretty easy by comparison with their G-P1. It connects directly to the camera and writes the GPS location of the photo straight into the metadata. If you shoot Canon though you are going to need to do a little extra work and I was intrigued to find out how much effort it would be to integrate this into my current workflow, especially now that Apple have integrated geotagging into Aperture 3.0. A bit of research led me to the Gisteq PhotoTrackr mini.

Read more

Industry news for April

by

There has been a few announcements in the last week that are worth of note for photo and video people out there. Here is a quick summary. Adobe Creative Suite 5 Today Adobe announced the 5th version of their Creative Suite. I will concentrate on Photoshop CS5 as that is the most relevant to most readers. Notable new features: Revised lens correction interface with specific profiles for different lenses. Camera Raw updated to V6.0 Content aware fill. Check out the very impressive video demonstrating content aware fill HERE This feature looks like it could be a huge time saver in …

Read more