Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Here is some exciting news. A while back Sony Alpha Rumors reported on a new Laowa 15mm f/4.5 full-frame W-Dreamer shift lens. We now have an exclusive look at the image this lens produces.
While the full specs are secretly kept close to Laowa’s chest, we do have some photos of the lens used on a Fuji GFX100.
In a bold move, Nikon just announced that they will not attend this year’s NAB show due to Coronavirus concerns. Nikon’s announcement comes only two days after AJA, a leading video gear manufacturer pulled out of the show.
Things are not looking good for the tradeshow industry, with many conferenced baing canceled. AS a quick recap: Google have announced that they’ve canceled two of their conferences. Microsoft’s MVP Summit in Seattle, Google’s Cloud Next in San Francisco, and Facebook’s F8 have also now been canceled, days after the cancellation of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. CP+ and MWC were both also canceled last month.
A little while back, Laowa (A.K.A. Venus optics) announced a very exciting new 9mm f/5.6 full-frame lens. (Laowa already has a 9mm 2.8 lens for crop sensors, but this lens is for full-frame and lower aperture).
One of the exciting features of this lens is that it is a Rectilinear, low distortion lens and does not create any fish-eye distortion. It is not as distortion-free as Laowa’s Zero-D, but still has very (very!) low distortion for a 9mm lens.
We managed to get our hands on a few sample photos for the lens made with various cameras, click on each image for larger resolution.
The world’s biggest phone show, MWC in Barcelona, just notified that world that it will not happen this year. GSMA CEO John Hoffman said that “With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event“.
The show has seen a few big companies canceling participation over the last month, starting with LG and ZTE. Then the flood gates opened with Ericsson, Nvidia, Intel, Vivo, Sony, Amazon, NTT Docomo, Cisco, Nokia, BT, and HMD. If the show was to be held, it would have been empty halls.
While this show does not relate to photography, NAB released a statement that it is closely monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation:
It sometimes amazes me how big artists can be ignorant of copyright laws. Take this latest incident with Lady Gaga from earlier this week.
Lady Gaga tweeted a short “can y’all stop” message. Now, this message would have been a no-story unless it was accompanied by a photo of a masked girl wearing headphones. Headphones and a Shutterstock watermark.
Shutterstock replied to that tweet with a link to the image page on Shutterstock, a message about supporting the artist and a winking smiley: “.@ladygaga We hear you! We like artists to be paid for their work too. Here’s a link to the photographer’s work where you can license these quality images: shutterstock … and shutterstock … 😉”
Funnily enough, that tweet was Lady Gaga’s response to her new song that was leaked – Stupid Love. According to some sources, this is Lady Gaga’s way of saying stop stealing my song.
Tim Wallace is a top-notch photographer, he has shot for McLaren, Peugeot, Lexus, Aston Martin, and a bunch of other global clients. It’s always fascinating to me how some “potential clients” approach Tim Wallace for free work. It fascinates me, even more, when Tim takes the time to converse with them. The result of Tim patiently explaining to the client why he will not work for free is absolutely hilarious. Other than that, it serves as a good reminder to always be aware of your value.
Chris Vanderschaaf is a cinematographer specializing in slow motion video. He goes to the world armed with a Phantom Flex4K to capture amazing footage (check out @chrisvtv).
Today though, Chris shares with DIYP readers some of the tests he regularly makes to show how different frame rates affect final footage.
Some of the tests are absolutely stunning, especially when they involve liquids, fire or explosions that are hard to fully see with the naked eye.
Here is a video pushing my faith in humanity just a bit int he wrong direction. Greek photography site, PTTL, shared a story and a video showing a person borrowing a Sony camera and a lens from the photographer’s bag.
Last week we shared that Apple is opening up their specs for using an external flash with iPhone 11. That means that you will be able to use an external flash with the iPhone native camera app. (This is different from, say, Lume Cube’s dedicated app, or Goodx A1).
Now, Power Bank maker, Anker, is the first to make a dedicated flash built on the lighting connector. Here is we know:
A few years back we tested the original Lume Cube vs the Litra torch. We were pretty aggressive and we threw the lights, froze them, and dunked them in water. Since then, Litra advanced to Litra Torch 2.0, and Lume Cube recently released the Lume Cube 2.0. We wanted to revisit our review and see how the two new Action Lights compare. This time though, no lights were hurt during the shooting.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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