News entries for February, 2014

 

 

Photo accessory company Gary Fong Inc. has just launched two new accessories aimed at making diffuse flash and video lighting more affordable. The LightBlade flash diffuser mounts on most speedlight flashes, and redirects some of the flash output to create a diffuse direct light, while the remainder continues...

 

 

My most recent trip to the annual CP+ show in Yokohama was my seventh to Japan to date, and the more I visit, the more I come to love the country. The Japanese people themselves are a very big part of that. They're endlessly helpful, exhibit a genuine compassion and caring for foreigners as well as each...

Now if that isn't a clever marketing stunt! For the launch campaign of the new Nikon D4S, the Japanese camera maker commisioned Nikon Ambassador Corey Rich to make a documentary film about three photographers using the company's new flasghip DSLR – with a D4S. As meta as this may sound at first, when you come to think of it, it actually makes...

 

 

If you're a paying Zenfolio member, then your account just got a little more useful—you can now upload Raw files directly to your portfolio, and share them however you want. So if you need to share the uncompressed image with a collaborator, or have arranged to pass on your .DNG to a client, you can now rely on...

 

 

One of the most eagerly awaited lenses in recent memory is the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens, the upcoming new entry into Sigma's well received Art line. While we don't know how much it'll go for yet, Sigma has made no secret of the fact that they're going after the big boys—like the $4,000 Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4. And...

 

 

This week, Firmware Friday brings news for owners of two Super 35mm-format, EF-mount interchangeable-lens video cameras, the Canon Cinema EOS C100 and Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. While Canon adds a brand new feature for customers shooting its camera, Blackmagic's update focuses on resolving startup...

Back in the day when the internet was young, when websites consisted mostly of text and hyperlinks, and when so-called 'modems' made funny noises, there was little multi-media going on in the WWW. Despite a lack of high-definition video and modern compression algorithms, the bandwidth of a typical mid-nineties 14.4k dial-up connection would've...

 

 

Three companies well known for their ventures into off-camera lighting have announced a new technological alliance that will see their gear communicate more effectively with one another. Bowens, PocketWizard, and Sekonic have announced what they're calling a "technology alliance" to allow for standardized wireless...

 

 

If you've ever wanted to go out ant start shooting the night sky, but feel like you don't know where to start, this tutorial could be exactly what you need. Presented on 500px by astrophotographer Dave Morrow, it delves into just about everything you'll need to get started shooting the Milky Way and stars.

It's a...

Since late fall of 2013, California has been experiencing a terrible drought that turned much of the state into a wasteland. One composite image released by the California Department of Water Resources dramatically sums up the situation. It shows the Folsom Lake reservoir near Sacramento in July 2011 and in January 2014, and the difference is...

 

Mr. Go Tokura
Group Executive,
ICP Group 2,
Image Communications Products Operations,
Canon Inc.

During the CP+ photography tradeshow in Japan, Imaging Resource publisher and editor-in-chief Dave Etchells met for interviews with executives from some of the best-known brands in the camera business....

 

 

Autofocus precision with Canon's groundbreaking Dual-Pixel CMOS AF technology (as found in the Canon EOS 70D) is a somewhat different beast than with the conventional phase-detect systems used in DSLRs.

In my recent interview with Mr. Go Tokura and Mr. Naoya Kaneda of Canon Inc., the company's Japanese...

 

 

We've just taken the wraps off our complete Panasonic GM1 review. This camera was the first of ours to be reviewed in our new multi-stage Shooter's Report installments, so many of you may have perused through the Shooter's Report section, but now with the complete review, we have all the nitty gritty details,...

Back in 1970, Polaroid created a unique instant camera that uses 20x24" instant film, and that can, when used from the right distance, yield life-size portraits. Now before we go into any details, just let that sink for a moment. 20x24" is even larger than most 'large format' film sizes, which typically go up to 8x10, and these days you have a...

 

 

In 2013, Oklahoma City dug up a century old timecapsule, diving into all manner of item stashed away from the early 20th century. What they didn't know was what was inside a perfectly preserve package of Westfall Drugstore wrappings, which they've only now opened. Its contents? An immaculate camera, and a developed...

 

 

With the Digital Bolex reigniting the dreams of the super 16 camera, it seems like the world is as ready for retro themed video cameras as they are for vintage looking still cameras. In fact, a recently spotted Japanese camera has taken the Bolex one step further, bringing back the style of the Super 8. Called the...

 

 

If you've ever taken a shot at shooting the night sky, you know that a bright moon can completely overwhelm everything else. Expose for the Moon, and you lose the stars. Expose for the rest of the sky, and the Moon gets blown out. But thanks to the capabilities of the Magic Lantern firmware hack for Canon cameras,...

 

 

French software company DxO Labs has made several interesting announcements over the last few days. First of all, its DxOMark camera testing site has published an analysis of sensor performance for the Leica S, a pricey medium-format DSLR -- with surprising results. The company's software arm has also...

 

 

Our focus here at Imaging Resource is obviously on photography, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate a great painting when we see one. Toronto-based artist William Fisk is clearly a man after our own heart, and he's identified what might just be the perfect subject matter for us. His "Portraits" painting...