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Zacuto Kameleon Overview

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A while back I wrote a review of the Zacuto Gratical HD, where I wrote about some of the benefits of using a third-party EVF. This time, I want to look at the other EVF from Zacuto, the Kameleon.

Let’s start with the why though. Essentially, third-party EVF offers you consistency across any camera no matter how good or bad the built-in EVF is. If you use a product like the Zacuto EVF, you always know exactly what you’re seeing in the EVF is consistent. You can trust that the colors are what you think they are. It’s good to know that the scopes and focus assist are accurate. Some cameras don’t allow you to install custom LUTS, which is another very handy feature that the Zacuto EVFs have.

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I found the perfect drone bag for my Mavic

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Backpacks are a tough sell for me. I think that over the course of ten years in the game, I’ve accumulated more bags than a shopaholic. Everything from travel bags, to slings, to mini bags, TSA Approved bags, the whole nine yards… But there is one bag I have been waiting a while to switch, my drone bag. I just have not found the perfect drone bag yet.

Even with how small drones are getting, they, along with all their accessories need space and security, two things that regular backpacks, are hard to come by. Especially when you consider bags that are made either for photography or drones. In comes the Torvol Drone Explorer Backpack. The drone bag which is here to solve the problem of carrying both photography and drone equipment in one bag!

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I ordered two prints from Flickr and wanted to share my results

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After a popular post last week on Reddit, I decided to check the cost of prints on Flickr. I want to build a physical portfolio, and was unhappy with the quality of prints from local shops; I expected to get what I paid for (not a ton) and even then was disappointed. I ordered two prints from Flickr, both 8×10″, both black and white.

I only did this because I can’t afford to print my entire (current) portfolio at once, and these two were the images I was most displeased with from local shops. So this, unfortunately, can’t yield any information about colour. I ordered one glossy print (I normally hate glossy, but wanted to see what it was like), and one “lustre” print.

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This is, hands down, the best gaffing system I’ve used

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Any Gaffers out here? You will immediately get this system. For anyone who is new to this, let me share a bit of an intro. (Gaffers, feel free to skip to the good stuff).

As a gaffer, my main job is rigging things in the three-dimensional space. The director and DP decide on the lights they want, but getting it into position is my job. Same goes with rain machines, flags, gobos, diffusers, reflectors and basically any gear you’d need to execute a shot.

There is a lot to be said about this job, but today I want to talk about that magical tape that got us our name. Gaffer’s tape (Gaffer or gaff for short). Gaffer’s tape is that magical tape that gaffers use to stick things into position. “Give me enough gaffers tape and I can move the world” -Archimedes. Gaff tape It comes in a whole lot of colors and widths, but the common ones are black and white, 2″ and 1″. See, Gaffers constantly have to use gaffer tape. A lot of gaffer’s tape. Being able to easily use, dispense and tear tape is crucial to my work. This is why I love ToughGaff.

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The Feelworld FW279 is a super bright 7″ external monitor that can’t be beat at its price point

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If there’s one certainty when it comes to shooting video, it’s that at some point, you’ll want to pick up an external monitor of some kind. One big problem that many of them have, though, is that they can be quite difficult to see outdoors when it’s bright. I’ve tried a few from different brands over the years, but when it comes to bang for your buck, one company that’s pretty tough to beat is Feelworld.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been using Feelworld’s newest super bright 2,200 nit 7″ Feelworld FW279 monitor, now that the sun’s starting to make brief appearances here in Scotland. And so far, I really like it.

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I spent a week photographing concerts with the Canon EOS R and here’s what I think

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Canon Portugal sent me a Canon EOS R with the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens for me to test. Unfortunately, it was only possible to keep it for a little over a week, but I still managed to make the first day of the MEO Mares Vivas Festival where I am the official photographer. This gave me the opportunity to test it during the day in good light for the assembly of the venue, but also at night in concert, which was what I was most interested in seeing.

I had already tried some mirrorless cameras, from other brands, and I confess that I was never very satisfied. Certainly, never to the point of wanting to chang I had already tried the Canon EOS R once, but only for a few minutes, which was not nearly enough to form an opinion about it.

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A comprehensive optical snoot review

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When photographers use terms like ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ light, it’s actually incredibly vague. You would rarely describe your meal as simply a ‘meat’ dish, so when a photographer says they are using hard light in a portrait, it’s just as open to interpretation as your mystery-meat.

Hard light can be anything from strong sunlight, to snoots, grids or even simple barn doors in a studio. But even with all that, none come close to the true crisp, brilliantly contrasty light of ‘Optical Snoots’.

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My adventures and experiences with the Panasonic S1R mirrorless camera over the past three months

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If you’re wondering why someone who loves Sigma cameras and gets called the ‘Foveon Wizard’ by his peers is writing about the Panasonic Lumix S1R I need to take you back to 2007.

Back then my love for gadgets and tech-related things eventually lead me to buying a Panasonic Lumix Fz8, a small bridge camera with a 36-432mm f2.8-f3.2 zoom lens. That was my first entry into the world of photography.

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