Ole Henrik Skjelstad, Author at DIY Photography

Photographer captures rare ethereal heavenly clouds in Siberia

January 26, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad 6 Comments

Svetlana Kazina recently captured a series of stunning iridescent clouds above Belukha mountain, which is Siberia’s highest peak (4,506 metres/14,783ft). Svetlana lives in the Altai Mountains which is a mountain range in Central and East Asia where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together.

Cloud iridescence or irisation is a colorful optical phenomenon that occurs in a cloud and appears in the general proximity of the sun or moon. The colors resemble those seen in soap bubbles and oil on a water surface. Check out Wikipedia for more information.

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Should you use a tripod or shoot hand-held for nature photography?

January 26, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad 9 Comments

When it comes to nature photography, should you shoot on a tripod or hand-held? Let me share some personal stories and then I would love to get your opinion.

I shoot the vast majority of my images on a tripod. I am fully aware that I sacrifice some flexibility in the field. However, such an approach gives me sharp images with a horizon in level. I predominantly shoot during the golden hour. This entails that I often shoot exposures where the shutter is open way longer than if I was shooting in bright daylight. If possible, I also almost exclusively shoot at base ISO. Base ISO means that the sensor produces very little noise and peaks in terms of dynamic range. I know that with my sub-par hand-held technique I’ll probably ruin many images during golden hour due to handshake. Even vibration reduction activated can’t save me there.

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Xiaomi to partner with Nikon, Canon or even Hasselblad for their next camera array, report suggests

January 25, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad 10 Comments

The competition is fierce among smartphone brands. The camera and camera features are now a critical aspect in phone marketing. More megapixels, more cameras, and better software are key features when it comes to market strategies.

R&D is expensive so establishing partnerships with other manufacturers makes sense twice: Firstly, it saves on development resources. Secondly, it validates the brand and puts a prestigious halo around it. Just look at the last crop of partnerships: Huawei & Leica, Motorola & Hasselblad and Nokia & Zeiss. (I could possibly say Sony & Sony, but that would just be funny). Now Xiaomi wants in on the camera “old money” and seeking out a partnership.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Night Mode reviewed – nice work, but a bit too late

January 24, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad Leave a Comment

When it comes to adding a night mode camera, Samsung was late to the party. The Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy S10 received that addition through an update last spring, whereas the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 came with a pre-configured Night Mode camera. Night Mode replaced Bright Mode which allowed you to take long exposures in low-light conditions. It was kinda automatic and you had no control whether to turn it on or not.

And this is my biggest issue with Bright Mode. It turned on automatically based on how dark it was. In other words, the software decided which mode to use in low light, not the photographer. Night Mode is a different story.

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Ricoh announces HD Pentax-D FA 70–210mm F4 ED SDM WR telephoto zoom lens.

January 23, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad Leave a Comment

Pentax just announced the HD PENTAX-D FA 70–210mm F4 ED SDM WR Pentax K-mount lens. For Pentax APS-C cameras that is equivalent to 107–322mm. The lens will start shipping mid-March with a price tag of $1100.

Pentax informs us that this is a compact, lightweight and weather-resistant telephoto zoom lens for use with 35mm-format full-frame digital SLR providing great portability.

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Visually Impaired Photographer creates stunning, moody images

January 23, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad 2 Comments

Dillen van der Molen was born in Ethiopia. Both his parents passed away in a famine not long after Dillen was born. His father managed to bring his son to a children’s home before he left this world, and Dillen was later adopted by a Dutch family when he was two years old.

At the age of three, it became clear that Dillen had developed cataract eye problems, sadly, in both eyes. A very rare condition for children. At that time, doctors just did not have the tech to operate on this condition before Dillen turned twelve. Once Dillen turned twelve though, he went into the procedure. His eye lenses were replaced with eye implants in both eyes, first his left eye and then his right eye a year later.

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Laowa ‘leaks’ a 9.5mm ultra wide angle rectilinear lens

January 22, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad 6 Comments

Laowa is absolutely killing it with new lenses! They already have a 4mmF/2.8 fisheye lens, a rumored F/0.95 ARGUS lens, and a 12mm t2.9 full-frame cine. Now it looks like they are about to add a 9.5mm f/5.6 rectilinear lens (Zero Distortion?).

Just so we are clear, we are actually talking about a rectilinear wide-angle lens, and not a fisheye lens. The Irix 11mm, for comparison, has a staggering 126° field of view, and Laowa 9.5mm will be mindblowing in that regard.

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Leica S3 medium format camera specs leaked, should come soon

January 22, 2020 by Ole Henrik Skjelstad Leave a Comment

We’ve been waiting for the Leica medium-format S3 for a while now. And it looks like it’s about to elbow its way into what has become a crowded medium-format segment pretty soon. According to Leica Rumors a 64MP Leica S3 medium format camera is just around the corner. and the full specs are available.

The camera will come with a Leica 64MP CMOS sensor with a 4.6μm pixel size. According to the report, there will be no low-pass filter for better detail and greater sharpness.

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