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Overhyped camera gear you absolutely shouldn’t buy – unless you know why you need it

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When I first watched this video, I thought “well, I’ve got like five of those things on his list and I find them quite useful”. And you’ll probably feel the same way. But you have to remember who this video from Raphael Ludwig is aimed towards. Mostly beginners.

Every time a new piece of gear is announced, there’s a lot of hype and people new to photography and filmmaking get sucked in by it. Every new filmmaker thinks they have to have a gimbal, a motorised slider, a drone and a bunch of other stuff simply because they don’t know any better. And, well, the video’s right. Most of the time they don’t need it.

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Lens compression is absolute nonsense – It doesn’t exist, and here’s why

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This post will probably upset a few of you. Don’t care. Lens compression is a myth, I’ve been saying it for years, but when I try to explain why, peoples’ eyes start to glaze over. This video from Dave McKeegan, however, explains and demonstrates the principle wonderfully. Although, as Dave says, it really doesn’t matter.

Dave does go very in-depth into explaining the technical side of why lens compression doesn’t really exist, and if you’re not technically minded in the least, you’ll probably want to watch some parts of the video two or three times to fully understand what the demonstrations… uh, demonstrate. But it’s worth sticking with it. The better you know the principles, the better you’ll be able to use your gear.

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Viltrox to announce six new Nikon Z autofocus lenses – 3 for APS-C and 3 for full-frame

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Historically known more for its lens adapters and accessories, Viltrox has been branching out into budget lenses the last few years and they’ve released a mix of manual and autofocus lenses for a number of systems, including a couple for Z-Mount already, including a 20mm f/1.8 manual focus and 85mm f/1.8 autofocus prime lenses.

Now it seems they’re about to release six more lenses for the Nikon Z mirrorless system. All of them are autofocus. Three of them will be for APS-C format and three of them will be full-frame. The six new lenses were on display at the China International Photographic Equipment and Technology Fair (China P&E) in Beijing, China. Interestingly, none of them appeared on the Viltrox lens roadmap published last year.

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Fun fact: Zeiss lens families are named after bird families

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If you use Zeiss lenses, love birds, or both, here’s something you’ll find really interesting. Zeiss lens families all have names like Milvus, Batis, Touit, and so on. And have you ever wondered how they’re named? Well, Zeiss’s five lens families carry the same names as families of birds.

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Nikon: “Everyone chill, more gear is coming soon”

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It’s no secret that the past year has been difficult for Nikon. We’ve mainly heard about their financial troubles, layoffs, gear delays, and most recently about the killing of the DX lineup. On the other hand, the company’s been pretty quiet when it comes to new announcements. However, the company has now spoken, convincing fans that there’s plenty of new gear coming up.

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I Use a 70-200mm From 2001 and I’m Not Upgrading Anytime Soon

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How do old lenses fair against new lenses? The question is often easy to answer: new is better. How about Pro lenses? With most brands releasing mirrorless glass, it’s easy to dismiss the older pro lenses as bad. For me, a fashion and portrait photographer, the old 70-200 is as good as the new one. And not only because I have a sentimental connection to it. Here’s why I’m not upgrading my seemingly antiquated 70-200.[Read More…]

Samyang teases two new full-frame and APS-C astrophotography lenses

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Samyang has posted a teaser to its Facebook page suggesting that they have a couple of new astrophotography lenses on the way. One will be for full-frame and the other for APS-C cameras. Exactly what they’ll be as far as focal length and maximum aperture is unknown, but with a teaser being posted now, we probably won’t have long to wait to find out.

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The best 105mm lenses for Speed, Macro or Zoom

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One of the great things about photography is the wide range of available equipment. Particularly with lenses.  But this can also leave people wondering what might be right for them, particularly as they can often overlap in many ways.

To help, we take a closer at three lenses that can all shoot at 105mm: a fast prime, macro, and a zoom.

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The 2020 DIYP Holiday Gift Guide Megathread

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With all of our 2020 Gift Guides now posted, we thought we’d pop up one more just so you have a handy link to all of them in one place. We’ve covered cameras, lenses, lighting, tripods, sliders, gimbals accessories and more in our guides this year and we’ve seen quite a few cool new toys in 2020 – as well as one or two old favourites that still reign supreme.

What are you getting the photographer or filmmaker in your life this year? What are you hoping to receive?

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