Jordan Drake

What does Phase Detect autofocus mean for Panasonic’s future?

Jan 9, 2023 by John Aldred Add Comment

The Panasonic S5 Mark II announcement brought with it a big change of direction for Panasonic. One that Panasonic shooters (including myself) had been wanting for years. Finally, Panasonic has a mirrorless camera with Phase Detect autofocus. It seems that Panasonic has finally gotten around to addressing all of the complaints and issues users had with their DFD autofocus system, especially when shooting video.

But what does this mean for the future of Panasonic’s full-frame and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless lineup? This interesting video from Chris and Jordan at DPReview TV takes a look at this exact topic, discussing the benefits that PDAF brings to the S5 Mark II and what it could mean going forward.

What annoys you the most about your camera?

Jun 14, 2022 by John Aldred 3 Comments

If there’s one thing that photographers can do well regardless of their skill level, it’s complain! And there are few who complain about cameras quite as well as Chris and Jordan at DPReview TV. In this video, they talk about what they believe the five most annoying quirks on cameras today. Although they don’t limit their quirks to a particular model or even brand of camera, it does show that no brand is really perfect.

I’m sure all of us could come up with a healthy list of things that annoy us about our chosen camera or brand, though. I shoot Nikon for stills and Panasonic for video, and I’ve definitely got some complaints. I might mention a few of them later. For now, though, here’s Chris and Jordan’s list.

Mythbusting: Megapixels don’t matter – fewer doesn’t mean better low light performance

Aug 16, 2021 by John Aldred 1 Comment

If there’s one big giant myth that’s persisted since the dawn of digital photography, it’s that lower resolution means better low light performance. If you need to shoot a lot of low light stuff, get that lower resolution camera and your images will look better, right? That’s been the common narrative for years now and it seems to make sense, although it’s never really been true.

The resolution of a camera has never really been a factor for me when it comes to which body I grab – at least not as far as low light performance goes – but in this video, Chris and Jordan at DPReview TV explain why it’s a myth and why everybody’s been looking at this topic completely wrong for all these years.

How to set a great exposure when shooting video

May 28, 2018 by John Aldred Add Comment

Getting exposure for video isn’t all that much different from getting a good exposure with photography. The only real difference is that neutral density filters are more commonly used with video than they are with stills, so they need to be taken into account more regularly. So, the exposure triangle becomes a square. Well, a trapezoid, really. Shutter speed, aperture, gain (rather than ISO), and neutral density.

In this video, Chris and Jordan from DPReview delve into the topic of video exposure. They discuss the things you need to know to understand the exposure relationship, the difference between T stops and F stops, the 180° shutter rule, and everything else that goes into getting a good exposure for your shot.