DSLR Toolbox

Adobe blowout sale at B&H Photo and Video

Alfred B — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:14:13 +0000

B&H is coming out with some crazy deals! Check them out. The prices expire tonight, Feb 15, at 11:59PM EST

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Software for Mac & Windows – $69.95!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/720705-REG/Adobe_65081059_Photoshop_Lightroom_3_Software.html/BI/6988/KBID/7525

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 & Premiere Elements 10 for Mac & Windows – $69.95!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/822135-REG/Adobe_65136565_Photoshop_Elements_10.htm/BI/6988/KBID/7525

Less than 24 hours left to get your online holiday shopping done!

Alfred B — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:58:07 +0000

B&H Photo still has 2 day shipping if your order by 4pm EST tomorrow, Dec 21st. If you’re looking for that special photographer gift, there’s no better place than B&H to find that perfect gift! Some of the latest from Canon is the Canon PowerShot S100 Digital Camera (currently sold out at B&H but available for significantly more at Amazon.com) or if you want something with a little more focal reach in a compact format and not deal with a DSLR, the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS Digital Camera(B&H $50 instant savings) might fit the bill. Check out this video for more details on these two cameras.

One other great deal they have going on right now is the the Canon PowerShot S95 Digital Camera which was replaced by the S100. Probably one of the best point and shoot cameras out there with it’s f/2.0 lens, 720HD video recording capabilities, and 28-105mm equivalent optical zoom.

Crazy deals on the Canon 5D Mark II!

Alfred B — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:40:41 +0000

B&H has some great deals going on right now. The Canon 5D Mark II body for under $2000? That’s insane! If you’ve been looking to upgrade to some full frame goodness, then this is definitely a deal! Check it out!

The kit version is also at a reduced price.. Buy here.

Canon EOS 60D available for rent at BorrowLenses.com

Alfred B — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:30:38 +0000

The cool people over at BorrowLenses.com announced on Twitter the other day that starting Monday 9/27, they will have the Canon EOS 60D available for rent.

Looking forward to renting one to do my own in depth and real world review of it.

If you’ve been saving up for gear, you should try renting. It’s affordable and you can generally pass the expense to your client (if doing professionally). I just can’t justify purchasing some of the lenses I’ve used. I literally own only three lenses and then beg, borrow or ~~steal~~(j/k!) from other photographers or rent the gear I need! BorrowLenses.com has been a leader in the online lens and equipment rental industry. Check ‘em out!

JJ at Orange Wedding Films did a quick comparison of the Canon EOS 60D to the Canon EOS 7D.

Canon EOS 60D vs 7D short sample footage from Orange Wedding Films on Vimeo.

Or if you’re just interested in purchasing the Canon EOS 60D, check it out at Amazon.com:

Video comparison of the new Canon EOS 60D with the 7D and 550D

Alfred B — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 17:00:26 +0000

Found this article on UK site Which? while looking for Photokina news. It does a good job comparing the differences between the three cameras. I’m still not sure which one to get as a secondary/backup camera. So far still leaning towards the 60D.

Get your school on with Lynda.com

Alfred B — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Seriously, just before you master a application, a new, and improved one comes out. This means you have to re-learn all the differences, new keystrokes, where new menu options are located, etc, etc, etc. You all know what I mean right? Back in the day I would head down to the local mega-bookstore and peruse the dozens of different books for the one program. I’d usually walk out $50-$75 poorer for one, maybe two books. The kicker is, I’d probably only skim through the book only looking for the command or feature I needed to know. You should see my garage full of 300+ page computer books… Thank God for Lynda.com

I’ve recently contemplated on switching from Apple Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere CS5. That’s a topic of discussion for another day.. Anyways, I checked out the courses available for Premiere CS5. Needless to say, they have a lot of videos available from the simplest feature to some really complex ones. More than enough for me to get up to speed and working. But the beauty about this is Lynda.com has training videos for almost EVERY creative application out there and then some! Need to learn Microsoft Office a little better, got it. You can even geek out and learn Perl, or make your own app for the iPhone iOS with their SDK videos!

Lynda.com really has you covered to brush up or learn new applications. Check out this blog post by Ryan Koo of NoFilmSchool.com and author of The Free DSLR Cinematography Guide. He got a graphic design job at MTV from learning Photoshop on Lynda.com! I don’t recommend that path but it just shows how much you can learn!

Their service starts at $25/month. And really that’s a steal compared to some of the books I’ve purchased in the past. The best part is, it’s a no commitment monthly. So you can start and stop as you wish. Perfect for those new software releases!

If you haven’t checked out their free videos, click on the banner below to get a free unlimited 24 hour pass to see if Lynda.com can help you.

Frio cold shoe mount coming soon

Alfred B — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:00:37 +0000

Saw this on the Strobist blog yesterday. This is just what I was looking for! This is one of those things where you wished you invented it. The frio cold shoe mount makes swapping out shoe mount accessories quick and easy yet still secure. I see this coming in very handy on my HDSLR rig to quickly swap out microphones or lights or who knows what else! No word yet on how much these are going to cost, but I definitely see a couple in my kit soon. Check them out here: http://www.friocoldshoe.com/

*Photos snapped from the http://www.friocoldshoe.com/ site.

60D videos are now showing up on the net

Alfred B — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:40:05 +0000

I did a quick YouTube search on the Canon EOS 60D and it looks like there’s quite a few videos made with the Canon EOS 60D starting to pop up. Check out the samples below.

Watch in HD at YouTube

This one is my favorite in particular. Make sure you watch it in full 1080 HD! Shot with the Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II, Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L and Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L. Such a beautiful and crisp image with some amazing bokeh.
Watch in HD at YouTube

Canon 60D now available for pre-order!

Alfred B — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:32:51 +0000

How could I forget?!?! What kind of Canon fanboy am I and not posting about the Canon EOS 60D availability?!?! Well I’m sure you’ve heard about it already, it was announced back in the end of August. Finally, the xxD series of Canon cameras has caught up with the HDSLR game. This body should fall between the Canon EOS Rebel T2i and Canon EOS 7D, but according to a few reviews, it appears to have more features than the already popular Canon EOS 7D. Some of the features include an articulating screen with over 1 million pixels, in camera video editing, locking mode dial, in camera image resizing, and probably the biggest feature for video users, manual audio controls like the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

Looking at the images, size wise, it’s a bit bigger than the Canon EOS Rebel T2i and a bit smaller than the Canon EOS 7D. One downside I noticed is the body material. This time they decided to go with a polycarbonate resin with glass fibre on aluminum chassis a first for xxD bodies I believe. The Canon EOS 7D and 50D both sport magnesium alloy body. Another unique feature is that unlike previous models, this is using an SD card slot. Just as SD card prices start to drop, demand for SD cards by these new camera releases may cause a price surge and high demand! I do like the fact that it has the articulating screen. That’s a huge help when shooting video from a low or high angle. I’m curious to see if the viewfinder manufacturers will be adapting their mounts to this screen.

I’m looking forward to the real world tests when it’s released. I was considering picking up a Canon EOS Rebel T2i for a second camera/backup but the Canon EOS 60D looks like a better option. It’s the, for lack of a better word, “plastic” body that bothers me. Not that I don’t beat my cameras up but imagine this falling from a tripod on a hard marble church floor…

For the in-depth technical preview, visit DPReview.com’s site where it compares it to the Canon EOS 7D and Canon EOS 50D.

Pre-order it from Amazon here:

Here’s a video preview from Canon Europe:

Nikon D7000 now available for pre-order

Alfred B — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:39:04 +0000

The latest from Nikon, the D7000 is now available for pre-order. It looks like Nikon is playing catch up now with the HDSLRs. It features a 16.2 MP DX-format CMOS sensor, 6fps continuous shooting up to 100 shots, full 1080p HD movies WITH full time autofocus, ISO range from 100 to 6400, Nikon’s latest 39 point AF system with 3D tracking and 2,016 pixel RGB metering sensor, twin SD card slots, and 3″ LCD all housed in its magnesium alloy body.

I’m interested to see how well the full time autofocus function works. Also the twin SD card slots is a major win for pro photographers with file redundancy in camera. While I prefer the Canon cameras, this is one Nikon I wouldn’t mind checking out!

If you’re interested in the in depth, technical review. Check out DPReview’s, hands on preview with comparisons to the D90 and D300s.

Below are sample videos made by Chase Jarvis and a link to his blog post. Chase is one of Nikon’s ambassadors and amazing photographer.

Pre-order from Amazon.com here:

Short film made by Chase Jarvis with the Nikon D7000

Behind the scenes and photo samples by Chase Jarvis using the Nikon D7000

Check out Chase’s take on the D7000: http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2010/09/nikon-d7000/