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The Zhiyun Crane 2S is a powerful 3-axis gimbal that’s small enough to fit in a backpack

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I’m going to open this post with a very subjective, but completely honest, opinion. The Zhiyun Crane 2S (first look review here) instantly became my favourite gimbal as soon as I took it out of the box.  Ever. That’s it. Review over. Ok, not really review over, but it really has become my new go-to gimbal for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

The Crane 2S is the followup to Zhiyun’s extremely popular Crane 2 (review here), launched in September 2017. Although already a very capable gimbal, the Crane 2S offers some very noticeable upgrades over its predecessor. So, let’s talk about those.

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The Insta360 ONE X2 has a touchscreen OLED UI, IPX8 waterproofing and longer battery life

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When Insta360 released the original Insta360 ONE X in 2018 (review here), it kind of shook things up for the pocket-sized 360 camera market. It shot 5.7K footage with pretty revolutionary, almost gimbal-like stabilisation with better dynamic range and more features through its smartphone app than just about any of its contemporaries at the time.

Well, today, Inta360 has announced an update with the launch of the new Insta360 ONE X2. I’ve been having a bit of play with one for the last couple of weeks, so let’s take a look at some of the changes, see how it differs from its predecessor and what I love about the new ONE X2.

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The Zhiyun Smooth X is the ideal gimbal to be the centre of attention in your smartphone content

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The first smartphone gimbal I ever purchased was a Zhiyun Smooth C back in 2016. Smartphone gimbals have come a long way since then, particularly from Zhiyun. So today we’re going to be taking a look at the Zhiyun Smooth X folding smartphone gimbal.

It’s a 2-axis smartphone gimbal that offers some unique advantages over its competitors in this sector. Of particular note is its small size. This is one of the smallest smartphone gimbals I’ve seen when folded, and easily slips into a pocket. It also has a built-in selfie stick, allowing you to capture more of the scene in the shot when vlogging or travelling.

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The Hohem iSteady X is a great smartphone gimbal for vertical video social media users

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It’s been a while since I last had need of a smartphone gimbal. Ever since I switched to larger gimbals and DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, gimbals for smartphones weren’t high up on my list of priorities anymore.

Recently, however, I’ve found myself in possession of several, including the Hohem iSteady X 3-axis smartphone gimbal. So, in this review, we’re going to kick things off with that.

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An underwater review of the Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera

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Without a doubt, the Canon EOS R5 is the top image-maker of 2020 and could potentially go unmatched in the camera world for another few years. It is the first full frame mirrorless camera to offer 8K video capability and features a specs sheet that puts it at the top of its class. The EOS R5 directly answers many of the concerns that photographers had with the EOS R and promises significant updates to important functions including autofocus, stabilization, continuous burst shooting, and video.

Despite Sony’s dominance in the underwater camera market over the last year with the A7R IV, it is likely that the Canon EOS R5 will be even more popular as the camera of choice for both underwater photographers and filmmakers.

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PIXII Leica M Mount digital rangefinder review

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French company PIXII SAS first announced their new PIXII camera almost two years ago (literally just a couple of weeks shy), and then it was radio silence until July of this year when it finally went on sale. It’s a Leica M mount digital rangefinder, but with a twist. It looks a lot like the Leica M10-D, but without a memory card slot.

The PIXII features an 11.1-megapixel sensor, comes with either 4GB or 8GB internal memory, has an APS-C global shutter (!) CMOS sensor and no LCD. Oh, and it costs over $3,000. Photographer Sam Hurd bought one and posted up a review with some sample photos. The opener doesn’t sound promising, but keep watching.

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Camera Conspiracies isn’t happy as he explains “Why I’m leaving Pansonic FOREVER”

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The whole “I’m switching from this brand to that brand” or “I’m done with whatever brand” videos have been done to death, but this one from Kasey at Camera Conspiracies popped up on my feed last night after the announcement of the Panasonic S5 and I have to say, it’s pretty hilarious.

He talks about Panasonic’s strengths (which are now mostly at least matched by the competition) as well as their weaknesses in the way that only Kasey can. The complaints mentioned in the video (the main one being the DFD autofocus) aren’t anything new, either. Panasonic’s flagship GH5 was plagued with autofocus issues and that was released three and a half years ago.

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This 5x macro is possibly the strangest lens you’ve ever seen

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There are a lot of oddball lenses out there these days. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Look at Laowa’s crazy lookin’ 24mm f/14 2x macro probe lens, for example. I’ve played with that one myself and it’s a lot of fun and pretty awesome. The Yasuhara Nanoha Macro Lens for Sony, though, takes the reach much further, going all the way to 5x. And the best bit? It costs a mere $399.

You might wonder what’s so unusual about it. Well, for a start it’s got a strange removable hood thing that houses several LED lights, powered by USB (yup, it’ snot for firmware updates, just powering LEDs).  But that’s not all. This thing… Well, Arthur Reutov’s made a video about it. So, why don’t you have a watch?

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Still the best motorised mini slider I’ve tried – Smartta SliderMini 2

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The SliderMini 2 is Smartta’s latest iteration of the SliderMini, its small form factor motorised slider. It’s largely the same as the original and you can read that review here, but it has received a couple of significant changes since the original that allows it to offer much more versatility.

Like the original, the SliderMini 2 is a super-compact slider that allows for easy portability for use just about anywhere. I’ve been using the SliderMini 2 for the past few weeks now in order to try to answer two very specific questions. But first, how about some pretty (yes, I know that’s subjective) sample footage shot using it?

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Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 vs Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 DS – Is it worth the extra cost?

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Canon’s announcement of two RF 85mm f/1.2L lenses for their mirrorless camera system was quite surprising. One of them has that “DS” moniker, or “Defocus Smoothing” and the other does not. It was announced early last year, but what does it actually do? And how do the two lenses stand up side-by-side?

The DS version of the lens costs significantly more than the non-DS version, at $2,999 vs $2,599. But is it worth the extra cost? Does it really make a difference? In this video, photographer and YouTuber Christopher Frost takes a look at the two side-by-side in order to find out.

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