fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

Submit A Story

After months of speculation the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV is finally here with 4K video and dual pixel RAW

by 7 Comments

So, the guesswork and speculation can end. Canon have now officially announced the 5D Mark IV DSLR. As expected, some photographers are a little underwhelmed, if the comments I’m seeing on Facebook are anything to go by. The video guys seem happy, though, mostly.

But it does have a few fairly significant upgrades for stills photographers. The new 30.4MP CMOS sensor is one, sure it’s not the 50MP of the 5DS, but it’s still a nice jump over the Mark III’s 22.3MP. Dual pixel RAW files are another great feature, albeit at the cost of storage space. This works on a similar principle as Lytro, allowing you to slightly adjust your focus in post. But let’s have a look at the full specs.

[Read More…]

Amazon’s Unlimited Cloud Storage is now available in the UK for only £55 a year

by 4 Comments

It’s no secret to most people who know me that I’m not a huge fan of online cloud backup services. But I know many of my fellow UK photographers are. Amazon’s unlimited cloud storage launched in the USA in the middle of 2015. Now, Amazon have introduced the service to the UK, with prices starting at only £55/yr (£4.50/mo).

Even as somebody who doesn’t like cloud storage, that’s a hell of a deal. £55/yr to store everything. DropBox and Google Drive cost £6/mo for a mere 1TB of space. Dropbox does offer a small discount if you pay a year up front, though.

[Read More…]

The candid honest moments of a commercial videographer captured 2 seconds at a time

by 1 Comment

Whenever you work with an action camera, there’s a process. The general sequence of events goes something like this. You pick up your camera, power it up, point it towards yourself to see the lights flashing and start recording. You point it at what you want it to see and record away. Then when you’re done, you turn it back to you and turn it off.

Eventually, you notice an interesting phenomenon. The beginning and end of much of your footage will feature you. It only lasts a second or two, but it’s candid, honest footage. You’re not putting on a show for the camera, because you know you’re cutting it out in the edit. It’s something I’ve certainly noticed since finally picking up some action cameras a couple of months ago. Commercial videographer Tyce Hoskins turned his GoPro moments into this short film.

[Read More…]

A simple trick to help you adapt any lens to your camera

by 25 Comments

Photographer Mathieu Stern tests out a lot of weird lenses. From modern CCTV to 135 year old large format lenses, nothing is too large a challenge. Many modern lenses have adapters available for all kinds of camera system. Not so much with older or more obscure lenses. So, how does he fit all these to his modern DSLRs?

In this video, Mathieu’s going to let you in on one of his tricks. This helps him figure out how he can build his own adapters for these lenses. It’s an interesting technique, and once you understand the principle, making a solution is simple.

[Read More…]

DJI wants people to learn how to fly so they opened a drone school

by 2 Comments

DJI, manufacturer of the very popular series of Phantom drones, have opened up a new facility in South Korea. Named the DJI Arena, it allows drone owners to learn more about how to fly their craft. It’s a fairly substantial size, with 1,395 square metres (15,015 sq ft.) of space. It also offers an obstacle course, for those wanting to test their aerial prowess.

Their goal is to “help foster the local drone culture and play an important role in building a healthy UAV ecosystem in Korea”. A noble goal, but I do hope they consider doing this in other parts of the world, too.

[Read More…]

Edelkrone’s new Wing gives slider-like motion without rails and fits in your pocket

by 10 Comments

If there’s one thing we can expect when Edelkrone announce a new product, it’s that it’ll be different. One only needs to look at their PocketSkater2 or StandPlus to realise that. When they first showed off the Wing back in 2014, it was simply a concept device. Now, it’s here for real.

The final version presented today isn’t quite as large as the one shown at NAB in 2014. It still has a fairly decent range of motion, though, relative to its small size. Capable of taking everything from a GoPro or cellphone to mirrorless and DSLRs, it’s a potentially handy bit of kit.

[Read More…]

Photographer makes multitasking in the kitchen a breeze with some post processing magic

by 2 Comments

For most of us, it seems like there just isn’t enough time in the day. With a little help from Photoshop, photographer Sarah Santiny found the perfect multitasking solution. This really is levitation photography taken to the extreme.

When I saw the above image scroll though my Facebook feed, it drew me right in. The idea is fantastic, and the execution equally as good. So, DIYP got in touch with Sarah to get some insight into how the idea came about and was made.

[Read More…]

You can now shoot Panoramas and 360 degree photos with the Syrp Genie Mini

by 11 Comments

Moving the camera is the single biggest way to add impact and production value to your video and timelapse sequences. In fact, camera movement has almost become expected these days. The Syrp Genie Mini is a fantastic tool which lets you do exactly that. You can check out our recent review here and see for yourself.

Now the Genie Mini has just got even better, especially for stills photographers. The latest software now allows you to easily shoot panoramic stills and 360 degree photos.

[Read More…]

SmugMug rescues nearly 200 million photographs from closed cloud service Picturelife

by 3 Comments

My biggest problem with “the cloud” has always been that many cloud services seem to pop up overnight from nowhere. This means that they can also disappear just as quickly. This was the case with Picturelife, an image hosting service which was bought out by Streamnation last year.

After 18 months of new ownership, Picturelife has shut its doors. Normally, this means that those hosted files would disappear forever. At least for those who hadn’t downloaded their images first. This time, however, SmugMug have stepped in to keep those images available.

[Read More…]

How to shoot a dialogue scene for a movie – a primer

by Leave a Comment

You’d think that recording a simple conversation would be quite straightforward. But it’s not as easy as it often looks. If you want to add a little drama you need to put some thought into it.

This video from CinematicJ is primarily aimed at those shooting some kind of dramatic conversation scene for a movie. But, you can also apply some of the techniques and suggestions mentioned in other filming situations.

[Read More…]

Recent Posts