DIYPhotography.net

I am not really sure what's going on in this video by Gramatik, but it seems that their bokeh experiment went out of control. 

Director Brad Hasse & cinematographer Andrew David Watson teamed up with artist Gramatik and built a story about an old guy seeing goblins in cityscape light. Those goblins eventually take over the city.

Here is the nice part, Gramatik releases his music for free, which makes this project even cooler.

I could not figure out which city this tale is taking place. If you know, please share.

If you wanna know how it was made, check our Everything You Wanted To Know About The Magical Shaped Bokeh page. Click to continue ›

A few weeks back I wrote about what rapid prototyping is doing to the traditional photography industry (well, any industry for that matter).

So it was a nice surprise to see this printable micro 4/3 tilt shift lens project from Joe Murphy. It is based upon the popular plunger lenses from Bhautik Joshi but is more rigid and does not use a toilet accessory.

That specific lens fits the MTF system, but the tutorial explains how to make lenses for other types of mounts.

The only think lacking in this system is a good name, "Tilt-Shift Micro Four Thirds Lens Adapter" is not very catchy. I suggest "The Bender".

Below is a short tutorial on how to make this lens (or order one using its thingiverse object), and tweak it for others systems, followed by some sample shots. Click to continue ›

Today's 60 seconds video is short and sweet. We share a tip on how you can use your house keys to help you rid of annoying ambient sound when you record video at home.

For our video, we used the Zoom H1, which is an entry level decent recorder, but this tip will apply for any recorder used. Click to continue ›

Under hanging straps are awesome and while there are plenty of high quality options out there (Cloop and carry speed are two of them), there is also plenty of room for DIYing one of those.

Click to continue ›

Photographer Rick Nunn "documented the crap" out of it modding a 100 years old Kodak Vest Lens and fitting it on a Canon 5DmkII.

While the idea sounds complex Rick takes a very simple route, fitting the Kodak vest on a M42 extension tubes and connecting it to the camera using a cheap M42 to EF adapter.

A video describing the build along with some pictures is right after the jump. Click to continue ›

We featured some crazy starbucks hacks before and we featured some lens-hood hacks before, but we never featured any lens-hood coffee hack before.

Well, there is a first for everything. Flickr user Nick Cool just submitted this interesting lens hood hack made from a disposable coffee holder.

here is how Nick describes it:

Sometimes a lens hood is needed, but unless they are integrated to the lens, they are big and not easy to transport.

I used a hot cup sleeve as lens hood, not a brilliant idea but good enough to save the day.#

Looks like today is hacking new cameras day. After the unobtrusive $30 WiFi hack for the D4 comes a much braver hack for the 5D MKIII. Film maker James Miller was brave enough to break open his brand new 5D MKIII and removes the anti aliasing filter (or Low Pass Optical Filter - LPOF) from his camera.

The anti aliasing filter serves an important function in the camera's digital workflow. It removes some of the "real world" data so it matches the resolution of the camera sensor. This artificial "downgrade" contributes towards a smoother image.

But anything comes with a cost, and the cost of using an Anti Aliasing filter is decrease in resolution.

So, here comes James Miller and surgically removes the anti aliasing filters from his 5D mkIII. On the plus side the modified Canon now produces drastically sharper movies. On the down side, he must have had a heart attack. On the down side, it seems that a piece of glass needed to replace the filter to prevent back-focusing. Click to continue ›

If you are one of the lucky few who now own a Nikon D4 (which means you could both shell about $6,000 and managed to get in line early enough) there is a good chance that you wondered why Nikon did not include WiFi on its flagship.

It does include an Ethernet port allowing for wired control and live view, but no WiFi.

You could of course, add WiFi with the WT-5A, but that would mean saying goodbye to another $900. This is kinda weird of Nikon side, especially when the lower-end, soon to be announced, D3200 is rumored to have WiFi capabilities.

Nikon Rumors shares a great hack an interesting, and more affordable option to add WiFi capabilities to the D4 (or any camera with an Ethernet port for that matter) - using a VAP11G portable WiFi bridge.

Click to continue ›

As we start getting into video production in DIYP (see our steel wool tutorial) I am constantly amazed with the production quality that can be brought to ghetto productions like ours.

I anticipate that as video gets bigger and bigger, small productions will have higher and higher production value, even if made at home with a limited budget.

One of the ways to increase production value is by using a jib (or a crane). A jib allows for a wide range moving shots, and after getting a slider, this will probably be your next piece of gear.

Click to continue ›

Long lenses can sometimes be hard to aim. It is hardest when you try to find a subject against a featureless backdrop, and even harder if the subject is moving fast. Think tracking a bird in the sky with a 500mm lens.

Click to continue ›