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Rui Bandeira

Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium – A true Wacom competitor?

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In recent years, new pen tablet brands have appeared, some have presented interesting products, but the vast majority of them have tried to gain space in the mora affordable pen tablets, or at least cheaper than the brand considered as the reference, Wacom. As far as I can remember, no new brand was really capable of beating Wacom. But that has changed.

Now, Xencelabs has arrived, which although it is a new company, has a team that already has many years of experience in the development of Pen Tablets, and they are aiming to the premium market. Xencelabs has just launched the Pen Tablet Medium, which can be purchased with or without the Quick Keys Remote. the version with the Quick Keys Remote is the Pen Tablet Medium Bundle, this is the one I have to test.

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Reviewing the low-budget XP-PEN Deco mini7W Bluetooth graphics tablet

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XP-Pen has just launched its new tablet, the Deco mini7W. It’s a small but powerful table and the fact that it connects wirelessly to the computer makes this tablet much easier to use and much more versatile. I just had to test it, and when XP-Pen sent me this one to test, I was completely delighted with it.

I’ve been editing my images with a pen for a long time. With the mouse, I can’t get the level of control and detail that a graphics tablet and a stylus pen can give me. Working with a stylus pen is, for me, much more natural.

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How I shot this “Fructis” product image

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I decided to make this image for my product portfolio. I think it is important to build images with total creative freedom, without having to follow a client’s needs. This way, we can experiment and look for new concepts.

I already had the Fructis shampoo containers in the studio for a long time to make an image. I’d had the mirrors even longer, So, I decided to make this image inspired by some other images I’d seen with a similar concept.

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A review of Hähnel Pro Cube2 battery charger

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In recent years we have seen a demand for lighter and smaller cameras, and manufacturers have responded to that demand, mainly with mirrorless cameras, but despite the concern, on the part of photographers, to have less weight hanging from their necks or shoulders the same has not happened with what we carry in our backpacks. If you are like me, the space in your backpacks is never enough.

I always find something else to take with me. In my case, when I go out to photograph music festivals, mainly festivals that last several days, I cannot forget anything, I have to take everything I need and also take backup equipment, in case something goes wrong.
In these cases, at festivals, one thing that cannot be missing is the battery and battery chargers and here the problem begins, each charger needs a power cord, the battery charger, depending on the model may need a power cord or of an external transformer, if, like me, you work with two cameras, and each camera has a grip with two batteries, that makes 4 batteries in total, which requires at least 2 chargers so that we can charge any battery whenever we need.

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Canon EOS R5 in concert photography – a review

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(It goes without saying that) This article is not sponsored or commissioned by Canon, this article represents what I really felt when using the Canon EOS R5 at concerts, and I don’t even intend to convince anyone to agree with me or buy the camera, it’s just my opinion.

For the sake of this review, I took the EOS R5 with me to shoot a concert. It was a perfectly safe concert, with no live audience. The lighting, stage, and singer were very real though. So aside from the minimalistic audience, this was a real, live show. That allowed me to test the camera in a real-life concert-shooting scenario.

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I spent a week photographing concerts with the Canon EOS R and here’s what I think

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Canon Portugal sent me a Canon EOS R with the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens for me to test. Unfortunately, it was only possible to keep it for a little over a week, but I still managed to make the first day of the MEO Mares Vivas Festival where I am the official photographer. This gave me the opportunity to test it during the day in good light for the assembly of the venue, but also at night in concert, which was what I was most interested in seeing.

I had already tried some mirrorless cameras, from other brands, and I confess that I was never very satisfied. Certainly, never to the point of wanting to chang I had already tried the Canon EOS R once, but only for a few minutes, which was not nearly enough to form an opinion about it.

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Yes, gear matters when you shoot concert photography

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Yes, you have read it right. When doing concert photography Gear matters! Compact cameras, bridge cameras, DSLR, crop cameras, full frame cameras, mirrorless cameras, zoom lens, prime lens, the list goes on and on. But I’m not going to talk about camera bodyies and lenses (surprised?). That really doesn’t matter, the best cam or lens are the ones that we have, we just have to learn how to use them and how to make the most out of them.

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This is what’s in my bag for Music Festivals and why it’s in there

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Now that the music Festivals are starting, I think it’s a good time to share what’s in my bag for Music Festivals. Last year, I was the official photographer of eight Summer Festivals here in Portugal, and this was the gear that I’ve used on all. On one of them, I also took an extra monitor, but not in my bag.

As the official photographer, I have a place to safely store my extra gear. I also have a place to transform into my office for the festival days, so I don’t have to carry all the stuff with me.

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The advantage of camera WiFi when shooting concerts

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As soon as I received my Canon 5D Mark IV, I turned off the Wifi. I thought that it would not be very useful to me and that it would only serve to drain the batteries quickly. As I divide my work between studio and concerts, the WiFi did not seem very useful to me.

In the studio, the USB cable was perfect for working with tethered to the computer; in concerts, the WiFi also did not seem to be of great utility. But even so, one day, I decided to install the Canon Camera Connect application to at least find out how it works. Quickly the WiFI has become a fundamental tool in my work, both in the studio and in the concerts.

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How to prepare for music festival season

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Now that the Festivals season is starting, I already have 3 confirmed festivals and 3 more to confirm, I thought it would be a good idea to write an article about how I prepare for the beginning of the season.

This text is about my process, other photographers do it differently, and serves only to share what has worked for me. If you have any other way to prepare for the festivals please share it.

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