Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Well, this is a surprise. Manfrotto has entered the world of memory cards. And they’ve done it with UHS-II V90 SD cards, V30 microSD cards, and UDMA7 CompactFlash. They’re called Pro RUGGED memory cards, and Manfrotto says that they are “the toughest memory cards on the market” for professionals.
Although unexpected, the launch of SD and microSD cards makes some sense, but the CompactFlash is an odd choice when everybody else seems to be piling onto the CFexpress bandwagon right now.
So far in this year’s DIYP gift guides, we’ve covered cameras, lenses, lights and bags. But whether you shoot stills or video, at some point you’ll likely need something to mount your camera to. So here are some of the new ones that have come out over the last year or so and the ones that we use the most.
Now that you’ve got your camera, lenses and lights, you’ll need something to store them in, and that’s where bags come in. Bags are one of those items that many photographers collect. There’s no such thing as the perfect bag, just bags that are perfect for specific uses. Here I’m going to show you some of my favourites from the last year along with a few that have been consistently useful and reliable for us at DIYP.
Remember that there are sales on right now, so some of the links show much lower prices than those listed here. Be sure to check all of them.
I’ve spoken about camera bags before. They’re one of those things that photographers just seem to collect. Each has its purpose, but ultimately, many of them fail to live up to expectations and just end up becoming gear storage to keep the dust off your kit when it’s not in use. I’ve owned far too many bags for years, so new ones rarely get me excited anymore.
Recently, though, I’ve been using the new Manfrotto Advanced2 Hybrid Backpack, and it’s very quickly become my favourite travel photography bag and one that I use all the time.
While billed as an on-camera LED light for video, the new Manfrotto Lykos 2.0 is a pretty powerful 2-in-1 LED light panel that can also be quite handy for photography, too. And, of course, you can take it off your camera if you wish.
It’s a bicolour LED ranging from tungsten to daylight and it’s water-resistant, but not waterproof, meaning you can use it outdoors even in not-so-great weather. Its array of LEDs feature built-in lenses, to optimise efficiency, and it can be controlled from your Android or iOS smartphone, too.
Grip is a completely undermined part of what we do as photographers and videographers. My cinema peers know what I’m talking about when I say that grips are absolute geniuses in their craft. I have seen people do amazing things with seemingly nothing, and after years of working next to some pretty professional people, I’ve accumulated a lot of appreciation for the work they do and the solutions they provide.
Manfrotto has an excellent line of grip accessories, everything from magic arms, to nano clamps, pumps, and a bunch more stuff! The problem is that it’s hard to recognize that a piece of equipment labeled as one thing, can actually be used for another. In the video, I discuss three nitty-gritty tactics I use outside of the comfort zone of a product description. And that’s really what I advocate when I try to get people excited about grip. You don’t necessarily have to be solving a problem, you can just be enhancing your workflow or creating options!
At IBC 2019, we stopped by the Manfrotto stand to check out their new “Fast” series video tripods. There are two products in the new line. There’s the 635 Fast Single Leg and the 645 Fast Twin Leg. The latter looks more like your traditional video tripod, while the Fast Single resembles a photo tripod, but with a bowl head at the top for a video head. Both offer setup speed and low weight for their size as their big advantages.
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The Manfrotto RC2 quick release system is one of the most popular in the world for photographers. Its only real competition for tripod mounting supremacy is the Arca-Swiss system. But while very useful, the Manfrotto RC2 base (otherwise known as the Manfrotto 323) onto which your plate mounts has a fatal flaw. The underside of it is not flat.
So, if you want to mount it to a cage, or stack it on top of a plate for a different tripod system, you may face something of a challenge. Fortunately, one enterprising user by the name of Eric Hasso over on Thingiverse designed a solution that can be 3D printed. The folks at LensVid are quite partial to the Manfrotto 323, so they decided to check it out.
Macro is one of the more difficult subjects that many photographers choose to shoot, especially when we’re travelling. Often, there’s not enough light to go handheld to get the depth of field we need when we’re close to a subject, or our tripods just don’t allow us to get the camera into a good position.
Well, Manfrotto offers up a solution to this problem with the new Befree GT XPRO. It’s a travel tripod with a centre column that can rotate 90° and get extremely low to the ground. It completes the Manfrotto Befree Advanced range of travel tripods and is available in both aluminium and carbon fibre flavours.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
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