John Aldred, Author at DIY Photography

The Rode VideoMic Pro Plus sets a new standard for on-camera microphones

April 16, 2018 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

The Rode VideoMic Pro has been the staple of vloggers and YouTubers the world over since its initial release. It’s also extremely handy as an on-camera mic to get a good track in camera to let you more easily sync footage to a master audio track in post. But the VideoMic Pro is not perfect.

Rode listened to feedback from its customers about the VideoMic Pro and last year announced the VideoMic Pro Plus. We had the opportunity to see one side-by-side against its predecessor recently at The Photography Show, and chat with the guys about the differences and advantages that Plus offers.

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A first look at the new Sony A7III mirrorless camera

April 16, 2018 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

The new Sony A7III is undoubtedly the hottest topic in the photography world right now. As a “basic model” costing under $2,000, it’s insane how well it performs and the features it contains. It contains many of the same features found in its more expensive A7RIII and A9 siblings, and is a significant upgrade over the previous model A7II.

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First look at the Elinchrom ELB 500 TTL portable battery powered strobe

April 16, 2018 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

Announced at the beginning of March, the Elinchrom ELB 500 is the most powerful battery powered TTL strobe in Elinchrom’s lineup. That in itself is cause for celebration amongst Elinchrom fans. But that’s not the headline feature. The biggest deal with Elinchrom’s new strobe is the fact that you no longer need multiple different heads for different purposes. The one head satisfies all the needs of the different Action, Pro and HS heads you’d require on the ELB400.

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The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K is also a stills camera and 10 other things you need to know

April 16, 2018 by John Aldred 3 Comments

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K seems to be all people have been talking about since its announcement a few days ago. A 4K raw cinema camera capable of shooting ProRes and CinemaDNG RAW video for under $1300. And while the design might have suggested it, did you know that it’s also a stills camera, too?

YouTuber Kinotika had a quiock play with one during NAB recently and put together this list of the most important things you need to know about this camera.

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The GH5 and GH5S go head to head in this Panasonic Mirrorless Showdown

April 14, 2018 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

Panasonic says that the GH5S is a direct response to feedback they received from filmmakers about the very popular GH5. We got to check one out for ourselves during The Photography Show recently, and it does have some noticeable improvements.

It has a new sensor, dual native ISO, the maximum framerate has gone up to 240fps, V-Log L gamma curve is included, and a host of other features. The Slanted Lens put the two cameras through a range of side-by-side tests to see how well the real world experience matches up with the on-paper specs.

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First look at the new Panasonic GX9 and GH5S mirrorless cameras

April 13, 2018 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

The Panasonic Lumix GX9 was announced in February and was originally expected to ship in March, but according to retailers, it’s still only available for pre-order. We got to check one out in person recently, though, during The Photography Show. We also chatted a little about the new Panasonic Lumix GH5S and how it differs from its older sibling, the Lumix GH5.

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Google Lens can now identify your pet in photos to create photo books and make movies

April 13, 2018 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

It doesn’t feel like almost a year ago since Google announced Google Lens. It’s Google’s machine learning system to assist your camera to help make your life easier. It helps it to identify what it’s looking at and then do or show you things based on what it sees. Now, Google has announced that it can see your pet. And not only see them but identify them. The goal is to offer you photo books and videos dedicated to your furry friend.

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Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi considering purchasing GoPro, report says

April 13, 2018 by John Aldred 6 Comments

It’s not much of a secret that GoPro is struggling. They’ve dropped from a value of more than $10 billion at their peak to around $761 million today. Thousands of staff have been laid off over the last couple of years. And they also tried, and failed, to expand out into the drone industry. Recently, they announced that they’re opening up not only their technology and patents for licensing, but also the GoPro name itself.

Now it seems that the entire company may be getting sold after a report suggests that Chinese electronics giant Xiaomo is considering putting in an offer. Xiaomi are not new to action cameras, having previously been the main distributor and brand for the original YI HD Action Camera. But adding a brand like GoPro to their portfolio would certainly open them up to a huge global audience outside of China.

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First look at Fujifilm’s video-focused X-H1 mirrorless camera

April 13, 2018 by John Aldred 1 Comment

A couple of big areas where users have felt Fujifilm have lacked a little in their cameras are their video capabilities and lack of in-body image stabilisation. Well, they’ve addressed both of those concerns with the new Fujifilm X-H1 in a big way. But while the X-H1 is more video-focused than previous Fujifilm cameras, it’s no slouch when it comes to stills, either, capable of shooting up to 14 frames per second. DIYP had the chance to check it out in person and have a chat with Fujifilm UK about it during The Photography Show last month.

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