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Canon EOS R5 in concert photography – a review

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(It goes without saying that) This article is not sponsored or commissioned by Canon, this article represents what I really felt when using the Canon EOS R5 at concerts, and I don’t even intend to convince anyone to agree with me or buy the camera, it’s just my opinion.

For the sake of this review, I took the EOS R5 with me to shoot a concert. It was a perfectly safe concert, with no live audience. The lighting, stage, and singer were very real though. So aside from the minimalistic audience, this was a real, live show. That allowed me to test the camera in a real-life concert-shooting scenario.

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Convert any Android phone into an HDMI monitor

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Whatever your camera is, you probably have an App to turn your phone into a wireless monitor. Sony has Imaging Edge;  Canon has Camera Connect; Fuji has Camera Remote; Panasonic has  Lumix Sync and Nikon has Wireless Mobile Utility. What’s common to all those remote control apps is that they work over WiFi and display horrible Lag. That the lack of creativity in the apps’ names.

What if there was a cheap way to convert any Android phone into a wired, low latency, high brightness HDMI monitor? Youtuber Neon Airship shares how to accomplish that for about $20. It involves as little as a tiny capture card and an OTG cable.  The good news, you already own the expensive monitor, it’s your phone.

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Canon EOS R5, R6 take first sellers in B&H despite stock issues and heating concerns

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If you thought that the Canon EOS R5 will take a beating for its heating issues, think again. The R5 just won top seller over at B&H, and is ranked as the #1 seller in the mirrorless category. The second and third in line are EOS R6, and Sony A7III which held the first position for a very long time is now only ranked in the third spot.

[note: if you look at the B&H site via mobile Canon EOS M50 and Sony a6100 hold places 3 and 4, I suspect that it has more to do with their usage as streaming cameras and not with those bodies being used for actual shooting, but we will have to see what happens to sales once COVID-19 goes away. More on that below]

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Kodak’s paper and chemistry business sold to Chinese company, a report

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According to the Australian website, Inside Imaging, the Kodak paper and chemistry business was just sold to a Chinese company, Sino Promise Holdings. Sino is a relatively young company and according to their website, they were established in 1993 and are the largest distributor of Kodak Alaris in the world.

According to Inside Imaging, Kodak made an internal announcement about the purchase on July 7th.

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VSDC is a must-try video editor for creators on a budget [giveaway]

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This is a sponsored giveaway with VSDC. Click more to enter

For this giveaway, we’ve partnered with VSDC to give away five annual VSDC Pro licenses to five lucky winners. [even if you didn’t win though, the free version brings an extensive toolset every beginning to intermediate level video maker will benefit from.]

When you start looking for free video editing software, it often feels like the choice is limitless. But when you start testing, you find out that most programs either put a watermark on your video or cut video export resolution options. Such surprises may come at a high price, especially if you discover them after hours of working on your project.

At the end of the day, there are quite a few free video editors that are truly worth your time investment. VSDC Video Editor is one of them.

VSDC offers a free and a Pro version of its video editing software. Since our last giveaway, it has received several major upgrades including a more intuitive timeline, modern interface, features like motion tracking, LUTs, 360 video editing, and tons of trendy effects.[Read More…]

First real life review of the new Manfrotto 504x head and 645 fast video legs

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With the brand new release of the 504x and the 645 Fast Twin Leg Video Tripod by Manfrotto, I thought it would be a great time to talk about your next tripod.

When we spoke to Manfrotto at IBC they had just announced their new “FAST” tripod system. The name fast comes from their super quick usability. You can open a latch and pop open the full length of the tripod with just one click.

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The SMOOTH-X is a sub $60, foldable smartphone Gimbal

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Zhiyun just announced a smartphone gimbal that is cheaper than a cup of soup in some restaurants – the Smooth X. I am actually kinda surprised by the number of features you can cram into a gadget that costs so little.

The biggest highlight of this gimbal is the fact that it folds down to pocket size. Ideally, that would make it easier to have the gimbal ready whenever you want it. In a world that may soon rid of smartphone gimbals (See Huawei P40), this is a big move in the direction of reducing the overhead of carrying another gadget.

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The Sigma fp is a webcam right out of the box

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COVID-19 got everybody to create and upload content. If you are just using your webcam, you need nothing more. If you want to up the quality, you need a DSLR or a mirrorless camera to utilize the bigger sensors, better lenses and nicer overall look.

Most “serious” cameras, though, can not operate as webcams and need a gizmo called a capture card. It’s a device that turns your camera’s HDMI output into a stream that a computer can take via its USB port. Elegato HD60 series (ranging from $179 to $350) is a family of such devices for example.  But! Sigma took the Sigma fp a step further and you can use it as a webcam right out of the box. Sigma’s blog details the exact steps to use the fp as a webcam.

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Power ONsite offers, well, power on site – a 110V on-site solution review

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ONsite is a system that provides 110 volts of power from DTAP batteries. If you are coming from the video or movie industry you are probably familiar with DTAP. If you are coming from the stills industry, DTAP is a port often used on V-Mount (and Gold mount) batteries to supply a second power port aside from the main connector. This family of batteries packs a lot of power in a small form factor. you usually use a V-Mount battery to power a big camera, a monitor, some lights and more accessories; they are mighty.

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This software lets you shoot full fledged studio photos with multiple models even on lockdown

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If you are on the creative side, it’s hard to stay at home without any humans to shoot. If you are not familiar with Set.A.Light 3d, it’s a piece of software that creates realistic studio setups, including pretty realistic models.

So if you are stuck at home, and can’t transform it into a studio, or if you have no one to shoot, this can be a perfect way to feed your creative needs.

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