John Aldred, Author at DIY Photography

Get your Color Theory game on point with this fantastic video

February 17, 2016 by John Aldred 1 Comment

Color is something that’s on my mind a lot throughout the shoot process. It’s something to consider when planning, shooting or doing post work. This video from motion graphics artist Rhea Lelina Manglapus does a decent job at making color theory both fun to watch and pretty easy to grasp.

Starting with the basics, Rhea takes us on a journey that packs a lot of information into a relatively short amount of time. If you have started to dive into color (which we have lately), this would be a great refresher.

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Make a DIY Motorized Camera Slider from Your Old Junk

February 17, 2016 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

Did you ever think that you could build a motorized camera slider from the junk laying around in your garage? Well, the folks at Make: have you covered.

We’ve covered some very cheap DIY camera sliders builds in the past, but if a $50 DIY slider or even a $20 DIY slider is still beyond your wallet, then this one beats all other budgets, hands down. This super down and dirty setup can cost as little as nothing if you have a bunch of old junk laying around.

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Sony announces Industry 1st stacked CMOS sensor with hybrid autofocus and 3-axis stabilization

February 16, 2016 by John Aldred 5 Comments

Following from last year’s announcement that they were raising 440 billion yen (nearly $4 billion) to further development and production of new sensor technology, Sony have started to reveal the fruits of their labor with the announcement of their new IMX318 sensor.

Aimed squarely at the mobile devices market and with a pixel size of only 1.0μm, they’re able to pack an impressive 22.5MP into a sensor that has a diagonal of only 6.858mm.

Boasting a more compact size, greater image quality and higher performance, the IMX318 is the industry’s first to be equipped with built in high-speed hybrid autofocus system, able to lock on to a subject as quickly as only 0.3 seconds.

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Short Movie Shows How Happy Casual Social Media Photos Are Really Taken

February 16, 2016 by John Aldred 1 Comment

I’ve always held the opposite opinion when confronted with the phrase “The camera never lies”. If you ask me, the camera’s always lied and that lying often causes controversy.

This amusing video by Bí Kíp Sống Ảo goes some way towards showing just how true this is, especially when it comes to social media photography.

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First Hands On Review of the Nikon D5 and D500

February 15, 2016 by John Aldred 3 Comments

You may know that I’m already pretty sold on the Nikon D500, and the Nikon D5 doesn’t look too shabby, either.

This hands on video by Jeremy Smith looks at both bodies and answers a couple of questions that I was having about the AF system and wireless capabilities of the D500.

It also goes somewhat towards squashing the fears I had over how Nikon might implement the touch screen interactivity on the D500.

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Build Your Own Variable Temperature LED Light Panel For Ultimate Control

February 15, 2016 by John Aldred 1 Comment

When it comes to LED lights and light panels you usually get what you pay for.

Durability, battery efficiency, CRI and color consistency are just some of the factors which are going to contribute toward the price of commercial LED lighting solutions, which is often very high (although, there are exceptions).

But what can you do if you just want to have a dabble with artificial lighting for video, or just try out LED lights for stills, without having to make a huge cash investment first?

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