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Matt Granger

This is why you need to stop shooting at apertures smaller than f/11

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Lenses these days have all kinds of aperture ranges, with some opening as wide as f/0.95 and others stopping down as much as f/32. But shooting at either extreme can cause potential issues. At the wider apertures, those issues are obvious. The shallower depth of field can mean you don’t get enough focus to get everything you need looking sharp. And most lenses are a little soft wide open anyway. Then as we stop them down, things get sharper. But is there a limit?

Well, yes. With many lenses, as you start to go past f/11, you’ll see things will become soft again. This is due to something called diffraction. We’ve covered diffraction here on DIYP before, a couple of times, actually, but it’s always good to have a reminder, and this video from Matt Granger does exactly that, explaining what diffraction is, what causes it and how you can prevent it (by basically not stopping down smaller than f/11).

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Ten things you may not like about the Nikon Z9

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The Nikon Z9 was officially launched in late October and on paper, it looks fantastic. It’s still only available for preorders, but Matt Granger got his hands on a pre-production model to test it out. Even though the camera comes with a bunch of excellent features, there are some things that you may not like about it – and Matt guides you through ten of them in his latest video.

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Take these five steps to instantly improve your portraits

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Although I generally believe in “instant improvement” as much as I believe in fairytales, there are situations in which you actually can instantly improve your photos. You just need to pay more attention to what you’re doing and take a few steps to make your images a whole lot better. In this video, Matt Granger gives you five steps you can take to shoot significantly better portraits.

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Here are three main reasons why you don’t want to shoot wide open

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Why would you want a super-fast lens if you can’t shoot at the maximum aperture, right? Well, that’s not really the case. No matter how tempting that shallow depth of field might be, you probably don’t want to use your lens at its widest aperture. In this video, Matt Granger gives you three big reasons why it’s generally a good idea to stop down your lens even just a bit.

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Sony appears to have finally fixed most (but not all) of their major issues

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With a title like “The Truth about Sony”, I thought this video was just going to be more fanboy hate, but I was convinced to watch it and was quite surprised. Matt Granger is a pretty notorious Nikon die-hard, so you can understand my initial reaction. But in the video, he takes a good look at the issues that Sony has had over the years of its mirrorless camera development and how it’s overcome almost all of them.

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What does bit depth even mean? And does it matter?

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Bit depth is a topic that always comes up whenever a new camera is announced. But what does it all actually mean? And why is it important? Given that most monitors can’t even display 14-bit images and jpg files are 8-bit anyway, is it even important at all? In this video, Matt Granger explores the topic, explains what it means, and why it’s relevant for your images (and video).

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Five tips for taking purrfect photos of your pets at home

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If you have a pet (or pets), if you’re anything like me, you love taking photos of them. Still, it can be a challenge to get good, sharp and well-lit images at home. In this video, Matt Granger shares five tips to help you take amazing pet photos at home and depict them in all their cuteness!

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Introducing Nikon’s full frame DSLR Killer – The Nikon F6

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The year is 2004, and Nikon has just announced their latest flagship 35mm SLR, the Nikon F6. Matt Granger, who I’m surprised wasn’t wearing a “That Nikon Guy” t-shirt for this, has managed to get his hands on one. So, he’s posted up a review. Strangely, despite the fact that he says it’s 2004, he’s managed to shoot the review in 4K.

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How to avoid checking in when flying with camera gear

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Imagine coming to the gate at the airport and the staff forces you to check in your camera bag. There is thousands of dollars’ worth of gear, and checking it in means it can get lost or damaged. We recently covered the story Michelle Frankfurter shared, claiming that American Airlines lost her $13K worth of gear. Inspired by Frankfurter’s story, Matt Granger shares two ways you can avoid checking in your camera bag at the airport.

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Three Nikon F to Sony E adapters go head to head. Which is best?

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Since Sony started to produce their range of mirrorless cameras, we’ve seen a mass exodus of DSLR shooters making the switch. The overwhelming majority of them have come from Canon. While a few Nikon shooters have made the switch, many of them haven’t. Canon users have had one big advantage, though. The array of reliable lens adapters that let them keep using their Canon glass.

For Nikon shooters, this option hasn’t really been there. There are few adapters, but most haven’t been very good in the past. And switching to another brand is an expensive move that a lot don’t want to risk all at once. Now Nikon shooters have a few more options, though, and Matt Granger puts three of them up against each other in this video to figure out which is the best.

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