Personal disclaimer: These photos were taken by me with my iPhone 6!  I am not a professional (or very good) photographer and the environment at CES is one of lots of people bumping into you, shadows and bad lighting.  The images are not going to be good and for that I apologize as I recognize that we are a camera store.  Please accept my apology in advance.

At CES, I saw everything from robots to self driving cars to virtual reality to a Nikon D5 cut clean in half!  It turns out that the future is officially here.  This post is here to give you an overview of some of the major trends that were represented at CES and that I see as making their way into our lives over the next few years in a much more prominent way.

1. Virtual Reality: it is everywhere!

2. Home Automation: it seems like pretty much everything now (even robots) is created to connect with Alexa or Google Home to assist with tasks like turning down the temperature in your home or closing a garage door from your phone!

3. Drones are still a huge category and expanding rapidly! 

DJI is still the most advanced and well known brand name in this category and their booth had a huge draw with everyone wanting to see the new Mavic in action!

4. Audio: Bluetooth speakers, headphones and microphones are picking up in steam in a big way!  Look for brands like Klipsch, JBL, Sennheiser, Blue and others to become bigger and better over the next few years.  Oh, and Roberts carries most of these brands currently!

And don’t worry, while the world of imaging is changing and evolving, it was still well represented by big names that we know and trust like

Nikon, Sony, Canon, Panasonic and others!

Nikon always has one of the most impressive displays of photo specialty products at CES!

Very cool to see the Nikon D5 cut right down the center!

Panasonic had a huge display with all of their capabilities and there was great excitement about the release of the new video beast, the GH5!

Sony had their full line-up of mirrorless cameras, lenses and video cameras prominently displayed!

And Canon had a great display of their EOS line, Cinema line as well as printers!

All in all, CES is always inspirational and it always leaves me pondering what the next big thing is.  It makes me re-evaluate what our customers may be looking for and what brands our customers want to see at Roberts.  We hope that we are always changing and evolving to meet your needs because our customers are the most important piece of our business.

And as a side note, I got to meet Corey Rich, who is one of the most amazing photographers and kindest people that I have encountered and I got to visit another photo specialty store similar to Roberts called B&C Camera!  Those guys are awesome and they have an amazing store!  If you find yourself in the Vegas area with photo needs, make sure to pay them a visit.

See you in the future!

The post My Adventures at CES! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

1. Consolidate Photos from Your Camera and Smartphone in one easy place like a family computer.

Most of us have multiple cameras, smart phones, USB drives, Facebook, pictures that have been emailed to you, etc, etc.  Accumulate all of these photos on to one computer for the best organizational results.

FirmBee / Pixabay

2. Create a filing system to fit your habits

Many people (including myself) like to create folders and sub-folders to organize your files in a way that makes sense to you so they can be maintained over time.  For example – I have a main file folder of ‘photos’ and a sub-folder for each year and then sub-folders within that year for different events, i.e. ‘Avery’s Birthday.’  There is no best way to organize your photos.  It has to make sense to you and fit your lifestyle.

3. The mass photo exodus

This sounds very intimidating and extremely time consuming, but will actually be very fulfilling and stress relieving when you are done! As you sort your pictures into the proper folders, make sure that you are deleting pictures that are duplicates, blurry, too similar to others, or too dark. Because I mean…do you really need 35 pictures of your kids running down the beach?  You can probably capture the memory in about 3 pictures.  This will free up a lot of space on your computer and other storage devices.  Once you have finished the transfer and verified that your pictures were safely moved to your computer, reformat your media card using your camera’s format function.  Reformatting your card a few times a year will help maintain the card’s efficiency and reliability for future photos.

4. Find Your Favorites:

This step is optional, BUT it is a fun one!  This is a step that many photographers find very helpful in locating specific photos (especially if you are making a book or printing photos later on).  Most image editing programs have a tool for marking favorite images.  Many programs also have facial recognition features which can come in handy because it is a lot less time consuming than tagging each photo individually.

5.  Back Up, Back Up, Back Up!

I cannot stress this step enough.  As someone who has personally paid $350 to have their hard drive on their Mac rebuilt after it crashed – backing up is the most crucial of all the steps.  If you like pictures, you should also like hard drives.  Get a large external hard drive! You can get a ton of space for not a ton of money.  Two fantastic brands that are both easy to use and extremely reliable are LaCie and G-Tech.  They come in a variety of sizes and price points (starting at $74.99) and work with both Mac and PC. If these brands are good enough for the pros, they are good enough for me!  You can also copy the images to a DVD-R, but this may require spreading the pictures to multiple discs.  You can also back up your photos to an on-line photo sharing site.  When you are looking at these companies, consider reputation, fee, and make sure you read the policies and FAQ section of the site.  Our friends at Promaster recommend Mylio.com, who offers multi-device backup with or without the cloud.  And, call me old fashion, but you should also consider printing your favorite photos because printed photos don’t crash.  Roberts can help you with a huge array of printing options through our lab!  We can do anything from standard prints to canvas to metal to wood to coffee mugs!

geralt / Pixabay

I know that you probably have a million projects on your plate for 2017, but this is one that should not be overlooked.  It is easy to put off, but if something happens to those photos you will be way more devastated than if you still had some old sweaters and shoes that have not been cleaned out of your closet yet!  Happy New Year, and Happy Organizing!

Instagram Organization Tip: Some people think hash tags are stupid #hashtagsarestupid.  And I don’t completely disagree in some circumstances.  BUT, they are very helpful for finding all the photos that you and everyone else took of your event.  So, if you are trying to locate all the pictures that guests took at your best friend’s wedding – just search the hash tag (I’m sure they had one) to find all your favorite photos from the event! And consider creating some of your own to track the photos you take and everyone else takes at your favorite events during the year.

The post New Year = New Project, Organize Your Photos Now! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Photo by Robert Garner

On Friday, November 11th we held a photo workshop at the “Hoosier Gym” in Knightstown, Indiana with Profoto and Nikon Ambassador, Andrew Hancock. Thanks Andrew for a wonderful workshop in a truly epic location.  And a huge THANK YOU to our friends at Profoto for providing the amazing lighting equipment that was used for this workshop, as well as sending Andrew out to do this workshop with our customers!  Below are some of the photos and the photographer that shot them. A great time was had by one and all who attended. Andrew Hancock is one of the absolute best in the business and it was great for him to take time off his busy schedule to put on this workshop. Thanks attendees for the wonderful images.

Photo by Antonio Chapital

Photo by C. Mark Tomlin

Photo by Antonio Chapital

Photo by Rick McIntye

Photo by James Yee

Photo by James Yee

Photo by C. Mark Tomlin

Photo by Kent Graham

Photo by C. Mark Tomlin

Photo by Kent Graham

Photo by Rick McIntye

The post Sports Portrait Photography with Andrew Hancock at the ‘Hoosiers’ Gym! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Canon 1Dx, 320ISO, NEW Sigma 500F4, 1/200th@F4)

First off, as usual I’ll mention that I am not being paid to review or write about these Sigma lenses. Not by Sigma, and not by Roberts Camera which is why sometimes it takes a little longer to get the reviews out (sorry). Roberts Camera did provide me with the Canon 1DX to test the lenses though out of their rental department though. Next I’ll mention that Sigma shipped the lenses to me via UPS, which isn’t important until you learn that I demanded to open the box containing the 500F4 at the store before leaving because it was so light I didn’t think the lens was in the box.

You read that right. I was positive that there was a mistake. So positive that I demanded to open the box in the shop to see what was in it. I felt both sheepish and super amped after it was all said and done because the NEW Sigma 500F4 weighs only 116.7 ounces and is set to cost $5,999.99. Canons newest 500F4 costs $8,999.99 and weighs 112.5 ounces. The newest Nikon 500F4E weights 109 ounces and costs $10,299. A lot of you reading this are probably thinking, well ok they weigh the same, so what? So WHAT? To put that into perspective the Canon 1DX attached to the Sigma 500F4 weighs 54 ounces. That’s only a few ounces shy of HALF the weight of the 500F4. If that’s not enough perspective for you then how about the fact that my Nikon 400F2.8VR (not the most current FL Glass one) tips the scales at 163 ounces. That’s a solid 3lbs more than the Sigma 500F4. What does this mean? I feel like I could have easily shot the football game without a monopod. That my friends; is insane.

I don’t have a Nikon 500F4, but on bottom is my older Nikon 400F2.8VR (the older VR not the new FL one like this one) next to Sigma’s 500F4. They are pretty comparable in size considering that the 500 is 25% further reaching than my 400. The F4 is to thank for that, but there isn’t a 500F2.8 on the market; if there was I bet it would be a monster. With that I’ll say that I’m impressed. After shooting some squirrels and birds in the back yard trying to dial in my auto focus a bit I was ready to go. I loaded the Sigma 500F4 into the car with ALL my other Nikon gear. Admittedly I was mentally preparing to be defeated and have to switch back to my Nikon 400F2.8 for football at the game, but I was dead set to give it a try though and in the end without question I hate to admit that I regretted my decision.

(This is pretty close to a 100% crop on an image out of the 500F4. Canon 1Dx 1000ISO NEW Sigma 500F4, 1/4000th@F4)

I regretted my decision to carry my Nikon 400F2.8 into the stadium at all. Sucker weights 10lbs vs the NEW Sigma’s 7lbs and I never even took my 400 out of the bag. It sat on my desk in the media area taking up a ton of space, and opened the door for copious amounts of heckling at the sheer volume of gear that I had brought with to shoot the game that I did not use. I’m sorry Sigma 500 for ever doubting you. I’d shoot any football game or auto race with Sigma’s new 500F4 in a heartbeat without question. It was that damn good. Not only is it damn good, but it’s got a bunch of little obscure features that I wish Nikon and Canon would have thought of a hundred years ago. (Off topic, but the 1DX made me realize how much I use the backlit buttons on my D4 and D5. Talk about a shock shooting in the dark there). Some of these features include a quarter turn screw head to rotate the lens on the monopod, or the ability to have or not have a click when the lens hits 90 degrees in that tripod ring. Whaaaaaaaaat?! Yup. There is a switch to turn that click on and off. If I had a buck for every time I wanted my camera exactly at the 90, and I was just guessing? Who am I kidding I guess every time and in all reality it’s not something I’d use every day, but it’s nice. Nice like how the screen on my Phottix Indra500s automatically rotate upside down if the head is turned upside down. That kinda nice. Anyway, I know Canon’s 200-400 is notched but that’s the only one I know of, and you can NOT turn the notch off.

(Yes, the white on the left bothers the hell out of me, but the action makes the frame worth it. Canon 1DX, 800ISO, NEW Sigma 500F4 Sports, 1/4000th@F4)

The images produced were sharp, the Autofocus was snappy and it tracked as well as a 1Dx could track. Any issues I ran into were either myself or the fact that I shoot Nikon as my every day body. In your mind you are saying, “well gosh that’s easy to say it’s not the lens if you aren’t shooting your gear” and you are right. Thing you have to remember is that at one point I had BOTH a Nikon NPS membership AND a Canon CPS membership. At the same time. I’m very familiar with Canon’s line of cameras and have shot numerous assignments with them. Any issue I had was because I needed to tweak a few autofocus settings to get them the way I wanted. Second half of the game I had it dialed in, and baby was it dialed.

(Canon 1DX, NEW Sigma 500F4 Sports, 1/4000th@F4)

I did not get an opportunity to try out any of the Sigma teleconverters. I did however discover that the Canon teleconverters do NOT work on the 500F4. After the fact I realize I probably should have asked Sigma about this instead of just trying it as it could have ended my day real quick. Luckly it didn’t. Also my understanding is that Sigma’s lens dock does wonders for changing AF speed and other various settings in the lens. At some point I’ll end up buying a dock since I will have 3 Sigma Art lenses once the 85mm arrives but that means I did not try that with the 500mm either.

(Canon 1Dx, 800iSO, NEW Sigma 500F4, 1/5000th@F4)

SO there you have it. Does Sigma’s gamble pay off? In my opinion that’s a resounding YES. If I was in the market for an exotic telephoto this 500mm would fit the bill without question. Hands down it’s the best 500/F4 for your money right now. I love me some Nikon and Canon, but at $9k, and $10k for their counterparts this is easily well worth the $6k. That includes a carrying case, and a lens strap I’m told, but I don’t have specifics as my sample did not come with that stuff. I’m really curious to see if Sigma jumps into a 300F2.8 or 200F2 next as right now I’m sure they have raised the eyebrows of lots of manufacturers. Their primes have totally blown everybody away including me. I had several Sigma lenses when I got started in photography and I couldn’t get rid of them fast enough. Now? I can’t wait for my Sigma 85F1.4 Art to be delivered. CAN NOT WAIT. I digress. Until then, if you get a hankering to pre order this bad boy, do it at Roberts Camera. The folks with the most kowingest knowings as it comes to cameras. I buy about 95% of all my gear there, and they will do you right. More soon.

(Canon 1Dx 800ISO, NEW Sigma 500F4 1/4000th@F4)

The post The NEW Sigma 500F4 Sports Review! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The Panasonic G85 is the successor to the G7 intro/advanced level mirrorless camera. So what is new about it? The G85 gains 5-axis in body combining with 2-axis in lens Dual I.S. 2 versus the G7’s lens-only Optical Image Stabilization. Panasonic is claiming this gives us a 5 stop boost in the ever present fight against user handshake which is never a welcome addition to beautiful stills and video.

The G85 also gets a new 2.36M dot OLED electronic viewfinder for increased magnification and quality. The G85 carries the same sensor as the G7, but with no anti-aliasing filter which can lead to a sharper image than its predecessor, provided the right conditions.

The G85 is also toughened up with weather and dust sealing Electromagnetic shutter and features a new in-camera focus-stacking mode. Also 9 fps AFS and 6 fps AFC with a 39 frame buffer shooting RAW+JPG or a 99+ JPG only, which is very formidable for a camera at this price point.

Video record time limit? Whats that? The G85 has left that behind totally on both AVCHD AND MP4 so you are free to keeping going and going as long as your battery life and SD card will allow it.

This camera has stellar low light capability going all the way to 25,600 ISO; however, quality is not very impressive past 3200 ISO. Still, if it comes to getting a rough shot or not getting the shot at all I will push it as high as I need to every time.

Weather and Dust, eh? Let the Games begin! So when someone claims their camera is now weather and dust sealed it must spark some sort of subconscious urge to push my limits with things. I did what any sensible person would do and went out and played with it in a cold rain for a little under an hour. Lo and behold it is still a camera. This little guy is going to be a fantastic companion for those of us who cannot be stopped by the weather reports. Not having to baby a camera has such a liberating effect on the photographer. It is so nice when we “well love” our gear and it loves us right back when it keeps coming back for more. Now keep in mind every product has its limits so do not drop or dunk it and make sure you keep the covers closed and locked when you are in the elements. That in mind though the weather sealing and the magnesium front on this camera give it a solid boost over most of its counterparts.

Battery Life:

Panasonic has always seemed to do batteries a bit better than most other manufacturers which is why you will see even some Canon DSLRs using Canon branded batteries made by none other than Panasonic. With the G85 Panasonic is also boasting a new economy mode to reduce battery usage especially when our camera is not in use. But still lets see if this thing has the Mirrorless battery-killer effect that this breed of camera are so infamous for.

Test 1: How many continuous shots we can pull off while we have a charge? 766 shots later I find I have only used one bar of power (1/3rd the battery.) And a while later I gave up after I overran my 32 gb sd card. So this camera is no joke when it comes to rapid shooting with no flash and power usage .

Test 2: How long will this Economy mode get me without turning the camera off?
Result was a total of 1 day and exactly 623 pictures (no flash).

Test 3: How much flash can I run continuously? After a brutal run of continuous shots of full intensity flash, only pausing to let the capacitor recharge, I had 521 shots in with 2/3rds of a charge left.

Test4: How much video can one battery pump out? I got a combined total of 113 minutes of video off a full charge.

Battery summary: This thing is shockingly efficient and more than equipped for a full day’s use.

G85 vs G7

When I first got the G85 I was thinking it had a big bill to fit if it was to prove itself a notable successor to the Panasonic G7. The G7 was a real game changer for the informed consumers. It was such a brilliant combination of excellent still photography and video that not just spoke but sang to the beginner all the way up to the complete control freak like me.

What did it inherit?

The Panasonic G85 is working with the same digital sensor and venus engine processor as it’s predecessor the G7. It is nearly identical in form and feel. Touch screen and one of the best Wifi features on the market are also included when you get one of these cameras. The G7 also gave the G85 its 4k video/Photo feature which not only allows us to record videos with dazzling resolution but it also allows us to take single frames from that video and make large still prints from them since a single frame of 4k video is the equivalent of an 8 mega pixel jpeg still image. That’s right, we are now shooting at 30 frames per second.

What did it gain?

The Panasonic G1 was the first mirrorless digital camera on the market mind you so Panasonic has quite a bit of invested in keeping its name as “First in Mirrorless.” So after sitting back and letting Sony and Olympus run the market in 2014 and the very early part of 2015 Panasonic came out with the G7 (a game changer.) But there were these pesky little things that they’re competitors could still tout over them like Weather proof bodies and in-camera 5 axis image stabilization. Well, Panasonic humored them for a moment but only long enough to out do them completely when they combined a new 5 axis in body stabilizer with the already tried and true in-lens stabilizer. So now I have the best of all worlds. The G85 also gains a better OLED viewfinder with better magnification than its predecessor. And let’s not forget the ultra subtle electromagnetic shutter mechanism and magnesium front to toughen this model up.

Panasonic is even more aggressive than ever and will not settle for less if another manufacturer is doing something better.

Shooting with the G85:

Knowing it was a refined version of the G7, I expected much out of the G85 since I adore the shots I got from its predecessor. To start, I took the G85 out to the park with my girlfriend for a fair weather photo walk. I found it to be a very good companion and very easy to tote around weighing only 715g / 1.58 lb (SD card, Battery, H-FS12060 lens included.) The image quality was everything I would expect from it for landscape shooting. I did not see anything notable about it vs the G7, so I moved on to other things. I took it out to playgrounds with my daughter and to the zoo. Still couldn’t say I saw any sort of difference between the two. However that was about the time that I remember that I was following the rules of technical shooting to a T as I usually do without thought. This is not what you do when you are testing a new camera. So I waited till after work one night to take it out for some street shooting in downtown Carmel near my work. It was dark out and I only had street lights to help out. With my ISO set at 1600 I went about shooting but this time I made sure to break the rules. I would only hand hold the camera and I would keep my shutter speed no faster than 1/5th of a second and really run that new image stabilization thru the numbers. This time I was truly wowed by what I saw. With only a few exceptions my clicks turned out very sharp only blurring the motion of passing cars to gain the fun effects I would normally only get if I had a tripod. So take that hand shake! I also noticed a very large difference when I tried out some telephoto glass on the G85. Though normal laws of space and time had not changed, the rules for slowest shutter speeds to hand hold your camera with have been broken forever. The only place I can say this camera falls a little short is the image really comes apart a bit faster than some of the larger sensor cameras out there is if you go beyond 3200 ISO, but considering the fact this allows for a much smaller camera and lens combination. Given the fantastic performance for a camera in this price range I make no apologies for this one hitch.

Fun at the park

Video:

Panasonic tends to be a very heavy hitter when it comes to the video market. The only time you are going to find someone passing them up is when there is a need to drop a few grand and go for a full frame sensor for better shooting in very dark situations where adding light is not an option. But the micro 4/3rds sensor is a very common cinematic standard and these guys are capable of breathtaking quality. The Panasonic G85 is a very capable video camera as one would expect considering its pedigree but where it truly stands apart from the rest is it is a 4K capable camera that you can take on a walk. The 5 axis dual OIS 2 works magic when moving and hand holding this camera while recording. The cameras will never be able to eliminate our motion entirely (or will they?…) but instead of sharp up down and side to side motion the new Dual OIS2 softens the visibility of these distracting motions. So if our motion while holding the camera could be described as a jagged mountain range this new system downgrades us to wavy hills without sharp peaks or deep valleys. I will critique the G85 on one thing though. Panasonic for some reason (possibly to accommodate the weather seal) decided to move the mic input and HDMI in lower which works fine but will hinder the motion of your touch screen if you swivel it a certain way. Pros v Cons though easily make up for this.

Build Quality:

I am pleased with how this camera was crafted. It is almost identical to the G7 which has a very solid design with great ergonomics and solid controls which are easy to switch on the fly once you learn where things are. The G85 takes a big boost in street cred with the addition of weather sealing and a magnesium front. I do have to dock it on 2 things however. The first which I mentioned above is the placement of the mic input and HDMI jacks. Honestly I really like the addition of a dedicated memory card slot, but I would almost rather have kept it like the G7 if that would clear room to move the plastic covers for the MIC and HDMI jacks out of the way of the tilt swivel screen. I realize that they did this to also accommodate a battery grip, but the battery does so well that I am not sure I would trade one for the other. But that is my opinion. Also I am not a fan of how far forward they chose to move the tripod mount thread. My tripod plate is so far forward on it that it is nearly running into my lens. That being said the only thing I have found it actually does obstruct is my metabones adapter and that piece can be removed anyway. As a whole, this camera is a dream to work with and even though there are smaller and definitely cuter mirrorless cameras out there (it takes after the classic DSLR look which only a mother could love) its controls were really well laid out and allow the camera to be adjusted on the fly without having to dig into menus to get to the most important adjustments. I also love that this camera has a grip on it that you can get your hands around.

To Sum it all up:

The Panasonic G85 has been at my side through an entire week and I have loved its company. I have bigger and more expensive kits but this is easily what I would rather have on me daily. Even though it is more of a refinement than a true successor to the Panasonic G7, I can say with all confidence it is a bit more my speed than its predecessor with both build and capability. And if video or street photography is the emphasis, it is a no-brainer for its ability to keep up with you while you are out. And though it is not a fashion statement in itself, what it lacks in looks it more than makes up for in function. I know where my money is going.

#LUMIXG85

#PanasonicAdvocate

#LUMIXLOUNGE

#WHERELUMIXGOES

The post Field tests with The Panasonic G85 appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Image courtesy of Roberts Camera’s Website)

First off, let me say that I am not paid for this review or overview of any Sigma products. Roberts Camera does not pay me, but they do loan me a camera to do this for us to publish the findings on my blog and their blog! That said, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got my loaner copy of the NEW Sigma 85F1.4 Art lens. I LOVE my Nikon 85F1.4D lens but it’s seen its fair share of miles the last 1o years or so that I’ve owned it. I never upgraded to Nikon’s newest AF-S 85F1.4 primarily due to cost (which was $2100 when it was released!). I knew that Sigma had been killing it with their primes and decided to wait and see what happened. Considering it’s now in my hands, and its list price is $1199 to be released soon? My wait was not in vain.

In regards to the lens let me just say: THIS THING IS HUGE. My emails with Sigma have confirmed I’m not the only one shocked by its size. Most of my lenses have a 77 mm filter on the front (except for the exotic stuff), but this Sigma? 86mm. This is the Sigma next to my trusty Nikon 85F1.4D.

Yea. It’s like that. If that’s not enough, here is a shot of the Sigma 85F1.4 Art with it’s hood attached to a 5D Mark II sitting on my 15″ Macbook Pro. Yowza!

Despite the lens’s size, it feels just as well built as all the other Sigmas I’ve tested recently. Gone are the days of Sigma lens barrels made of plastic. This lens is high quality metal and it feels like it. The focus ring moves exceptionally smoothly and the lens snaps to focus much faster than I expected, especially on the 5D Mark II that I’ve had it mounted to (which as you recall, is not a camera known for it’s autofocus). The 85F1.4 has a close-focus distance of just inside a meter as well, which is solid. I don’t know off-hand what my antique Nikon 85F1.4D lens’s close-focus distance is, but it’s a good distance that’s for sure. Now with that data out of the way, how is it?

(Canon 5D Mark II, NEW Sigma 85F1.4 Art, 1/5000th@F1.6@100ISO. Phottix Indra500 to camera on a 7′ Kupo Click Stand with a 14″x72″ Phottix Strip soft box set to 1/2 power. Indra triggered by Phottix ODIN 1 for Canon on the camera hot shoe).

Bloody marvelous. This was a 15 minute shoot (and 20 minutes struggling to assemble a soft box) in my friend John’s driveway. John graciously agreed to have his photo taken for this project. John is also quite the capable photographer, whom I’ve shot with several times as he is the Team photographer for the Indiana Fuel. I also knew John would love to look at Sigma’s new 85F1.4 so this made a great opportunity to catch up before hockey season, and to play around. The lens did not disappoint me one bit in regards to sharpness while wide open. Did I test the lens at a variety of different apertures? Not really. I shot a couple shots at F5.6 and F10, but I don’t buy a F1.4 lens for its ability to shoot at F5.6 or F10. I buy them to shoot in the F1.4-F2 range so that’s what I did.

(Canon 5D Mark II, NEW Sigma 85F1.4 Art. 1/4000th@F1.4 at 100ISO. Phottix Indra500 to camera on a 7′ Kupo Click Stand with a 14″x72″ Phottix Strip soft box set to 1/4 power. Indra triggered by Phottix ODIN 1 for Canon on the camera hot shoe).

Here’s another shot of John in his driveway. Even at distance the 5D Mark II was able to keep this new 85F1.4 in focus significantly more than not. Even in ambient light, the thing had very few misses.

(Canon 5D Mark II, NEW Sigma 85F1.4 Art. 1/100th@F1.4 at 100ISO.)

That’s Nick. Any of you folks call into Roberts Camera to buy something likely you’ve talked to him before. He was at Roberts when I went to pick up the 5D Mark II, and he couldn’t resist seeing the 85. I don’t blame him, I was excited and the camera locked right onto him for what was 2 snaps to create the image above. While I don’t like the 5D Mark II, I must say I was impressed with how the lens grabbed quickly even under the fluorescents of Roberts Camera’s mail order department. Even Cheeto was impressed at the sharpness and speed at which the 85 Worked.

(Canon 5D Mark II, NEW Sigma 85F1.4 Art. 1/800th@F1.4 at 250ISO.)

(Canon 5D Mark II, NEW Sigma 85F1.4 Art, 1/125th@F1.4. 50ISO. Phottix Indra500 on a Manfrotto 13′ Stacker stand to camera left up about 9′ with a Phottix Luna Folding beauty dish attached. Indra set to 1/16th power from the Phottix ODIN 1 For Canon on the hot shoe.)

So in a word am I impressed? YES. Is the lens everything I thought it would be? YES. Is it more? I think so. Why do I think so? Because it’s on a 5D Mark II. At one time the 5D2 was a mecca of technology (except for the AF which came directly from the 5D1). I briefly had the lens on a 5D Mark III and it autofocused even faster, but was it anymore accurate? I don’t know. That said, if it’s just as accurate on a 5D3 as it is on the 5D2 (and there is no reason to believe it wouldn’t be) this is a no-brainer. I’m not sure when it’s expected to hit stores for Canon or Nikon, but one thing I can tell you is that I’m going to have Roberts put me on the list for one. The wait is finally over for Sigma’s highly anticipated 85F1.4 Art and it does not disappoint. If you are thinking about getting one, you should pre-order one over at Roberts Camera. They are good people and will do you right.

Keep on the lookout for more soon because tomorrow I drop the Canon 5D Mark II off, but I’m picking up a Canon 1DX.

The post Sigma 85F1.4 ART Review! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Let’s start with Panasonic’s exciting kickoff as they unveiled three new models to their camera line-up, the FZ2500, the LX10 and the G85!  And they put some teasers out on the “development” of the GH5 that is due to hopefully be announced later this year!  The rumor is that the GH5 will offer 6K photo mode that will allow you to extract 18MP images from the photo burst mode or 8MP stills from 4K clips – what?!?

The Lumix DMC-FZ2500 features Panasonic’s pro-quality cinema 4K video, a large 1″ 20.1 mp sensor and a 20x zoom Leica lens.  This superzoom camera is likely to be a video producer’s dream camera! When it becomes available, this camera will retail for $1199.99

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G85 is weather sealed, features 4K recording and has 5 axis image stabilization and a 16MP four thirds sensor.  The G85 will be available in body only for $899.99 as well as in a kit with 12-60mm lens for $999.99

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10 provides DSLR-like control in a compact point and shoot.  With a 1″ sensor, 3x Leica zoom and super bright f/1.4-2.8 aperture – this camera packs a punch.  While this camera appears to be catering to the enthusiast, it is a VERY capable point and shoot camera that will have Panasonic’s video skills built in as well!

Sony may have had the most interesting announcement in terms of being “out of left field.”  Sony has made such a huge impact and converted so many people with their a7 series, that I was surprised to see them switch gears and bring the focus back to their DSLR line with the a99 II!  As our sales manager so kindly put it, this will be the most killer DSLR that no one will buy.  But anyway – on to the details!  The Sony a99 II is the new flagship A-mount camera.  Let me say that again…this is an A-MOUNT system.  This is the first full frame camera to feature Sony’s acclaimed ultra fast 4D Focus system. It boasts 79 hybrid cross AF points¹ plus 12 fps continuous shooting², High Resolution 42.4 MP Exmor R^® CMOS sensor, 5-axis in-body image stabilization and more.  This camera is set to hit shelves in November and retail for $3199.99.

Olympus has had quite an entrance into Photokina with the announcement of the new PEN E-PL8, THREE new lenses and the “development” of the much anticipated EM-1 Mark II!

Let’s start with the big guns!  Olympus has indicated that they are working on the new flagship E-M1 Mark II and it should be officially out before the end of the year!  The OM-D E-M1 Mark II will be equipped with the newly-developed high-speed TruePic VIII Image Processor which is 3.5 times faster than previous TruePic processors and a new 20.4 megapixel Live MOS sensor equipped with 121 points of cross-type on-chip phase detection and contrast detection AF. These technologies will work with the camera’s electronic shutter to provide full resolution images at up to an unprecedented 60 frames per second in AF and AE lock, and up to 18 frames per second with continuous AF and AE tracking!!  Woohooo!  Between 4K video, dual memory slots, weatherproof, dust proof, freeze proof and improved battery capacity – this camera is set to blow photographer’s minds!!  Price and availability are TBD.

Olympus is also bringing out an upgrade to their PEN line in the new E-PL8.  This obviously replaces their E-PL7 and is designed with the sleek consumer in mind.  It especially goes after that generation that might be looking to transition from their camera phone.  While this might be a bridge camera, it still has Olympus’s smart technology and image quality.  It also keeps the rotating screen and has enhanced the touch screen to make it even more “selfie” friendly.  They E-PL8 with 14-42 is available for pre-order for $649.99!

AND, Olympus announced 3 new lenses to their line-up.  Two of those fall under their fantastic PRO line targeted towards the professional in-the-field with their light weight and compact design.  You will want to check out the 12-100mm f/4.0 IS PRO.  The image stabilization in this lens works with the in-body 5 axis image stabilization of compatible OMD and PEN cameras to give you the “world’s most powerful image stabilization system.”  The 12-100mm will retail for $1299.99 when it becomes available! The 25mm f/1.2 PRO is going for the perfect balance between high resolution and bokeh to create a beautiful dimensional image and will retail for $1199.99.  And you must check out the new 30mm f/3.5 Macro that is expected to retail for only $299.99!  All of these solidify Olympus’s commitment to creating a robust lens line-up for their cameras.

Sigma announced three new full frame lenses to it’s Global Vision Line!

I have to say, one of the comments we hear frequently around the store is “When is Sigma going to come out with an 85mm Art lens?!”  Well, Sigma has been listening! Today they announced the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens.  Portrait photographers will love this lens as it has been designed with Bokeh and resolution in mind. Sigma claims that the bokeh effect is so precise that you can focus on the pupil of the subject’s eye while blurring the eyelashes!  We look forward to putting this one to the test.  Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts are supposed to start shipping in late October and this will retail for $1199!

Sigma announces the new flagship lens of their sports line, the Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM.  This hyper telephoto lens is light weight and will provide top-level optical performance with functionality for challenging shoots.  The enhanced dust/splash proof construction is designed for shooters in tough conditions.  The front lens features a water and oil repellent coating that allows water to be easily wiped away and helps prevent oil from sticking to the surface…very cool and useful!  This lens will be available in Canon and Sigma mounts at the end of October and the Nikon mount will start shipping late November.  All mounts will be available for $5999 retail.

The Sigma 12-24mm F4 DG HSM | Art lens is an ultra wide zoom lens with edge to edge sharpness and brightness.  This lens is designed for the landscape pro, architectural specialist and documentarian in mind.  MAP is $1599. Canon, Nikon and Sigma mount are scheduled to start shipping in late October.

Nikon is on a mission with their new KeyMission line up of three waterproof, shockproof action cameras!

Although announced in January during CES, the Nikon KeyMission 360 will finally be shipping soon!  This action cam provides you with dual lenses to record your entire field of view and lets you create these 360 videos in 4K UHD right in the camera.  The KeyMission 360 will retail for $499.95.

Nikon’s KeyMission 170 allows you to capture 170 degrees of video and stills in ultra slow motion and the KeyMission 80 is a lightweight and compact camera that is actually intended to be used in the vertical sense and has a rear selfie camera as well as touch screen.  The KeyMission 170 will retail for $399.95 and the KeyMission 80 will retail for $279.95 when released.

There will continue to be more exciting announcements throughout the week and there were additional announcements that we did not even have time to go into detail on, like GoPro’s new Hero 5, Leica’s instant camera, the Sofort, Olympus’s weather sealed flash and more!  If  you are looking for the down and dirty details on each and everyone of these new products, you can find the full press releases in the ‘News’ section of our blog.  We will keep the info coming as more exciting announcements are made this week!

The post Announcements from Photokina! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The Ricoh Theta was easy to use – all I had to do was download the app, connect the camera to my phone, and away we went!

I set the 360 camera on a light stand to get some shots of our new location, so that our customers who can’t actually make it down to our store can see what it is like!

What do you think? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Exterior view and street parking

Roberts Camera – Exterior View #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Main entry way

Roberts Camera – Entryway #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Entering the store

Roberts Camera – Main Entrance #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Store main area

Roberts Camera – Sales Floor #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Tripods and accessories

Roberts Camera – Tripods and Accessories #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Main sales floor

Roberts Camera – Main sales floor #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Mirrorless cameras and tripods

Roberts Camera – Mirrorless Cameras & Tripods #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Checkout counter

Roberts Camera – Checkout #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Professional sales office

Roberts Camera – Professional Sales Office #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Photo lab

Roberts Camera – Photo Lab #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Camera bags

Roberts Camera – Camera Bags #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Education classroom

Roberts Camera – Classroom #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Lighting & studio equipment

Roberts Camera – Lighting/Studio Equipment #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Lighting & studio equipment 2

Roberts Camera – Lighting & Studio Equipment #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Darkroom equipment

Roberts Camera – Darkroom Equipment #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Canon Print Center

Roberts Camera – Canon Print Center #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Used Photo Pro

Roberts Camera – Used Photo Pro #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Used Photo Pro sales counter

Roberts Camera – Used Photo Pro Sales Counter #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

Used cameras sales counter

Roberts Camera – Used Photo Pro sales counter #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

The post Exploring Roberts Camera in 360 appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The 100 megapixel back isn’t available yet, so these images are only 50 megapixels. (That’s enough, right?)

The experience of shooting with a super high end camera was pretty great. I have used Hasselblad medium format cameras before, but never for more than a few minutes at a time, and only for random shots around a camera store, nothing planned.

I knew that I wanted to blog about the experience, so this time I did some planning. I grabbed a Leica rangefinder and lens from UsedPhotoPro and a buttery soft Ona bag.

The H6D offers some really great upgrades and new features, and I like the new golden shutter button!

The biggest change I found on the H6D is the LCD on the digital back. It is MUCH nicer quality, and has many more options than previous Hasselblad models. The camera now has an LCD touch screen, and I found it to be high quality and responsive. It was also great to use live view to compose images; however, I didn’t use it for these shots as I was shooting handheld, and that would have been incredibly difficult to nail the focus.

Speaking of focus, even though I have used Hasselblad cameras before, I have never found the focusing system to be as easy to use as my Canon 5D Mark II. Hasselblad has a system called True Focus, which basically allows you to lock your focus, and then the camera tracks any changes/movements, and adjusts the focus before you take the picture! Pretty awesome, right?

True Focus does work pretty well, but I found that more of my photos were out of focus than typically would be with my Canon. Granted, I have used my Canon gear for years, and it is like an extension of my hand, so it could just be that I am not used to Hasselblad.

Even with these issues, the Hasselblad H6D was a pleasure to shoot, and we had fun taking it for a spin. I am happy with how these images turned out, and the detail capture by the large sensor of the camera is phenomenal! That is the point of medium format, isn’t it?

These images aren’t full resolution, but below each image you will find a link. Click on that to download the full resolution image, and be sure to let us know what you think of these images in the comments below.

THIS JUST IN: Hasselblad has just announced the world’s first digital mirrorless medium format camera, the X1D!

(click here to download the edited, full resolution version of the above image)

(click here to download the edited, full resolution version of the above image)

(click here to download the edited, full resolution version of the above image)

(click here to download the edited, full resolution version of the above image)

The post Trying out the Hasselblad H6D appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

1. Location
Get to the location a bit early and try to collect information on the fireworks display, timing, set-up and from where the fireworks will be coming from. Find the right place with a nice foreground and background view to position yourself, and take a few test photos to get a feel of the focus. You will need to be quick in focusing, especially if the fireworks display is not going to last very long. Keep in mind that your auto focus might not work well once the sun goes down, so you may have to switch to manual focus.

2. Lens
A regular lens will do when you’re taking fireworks photos, so if you’re new to photography and haven’t purchased a wide variety of lenses, don’t worry because the lens that your DSLR came with will be just fine. You don’t need a fast lens to shoot fireworks. Remember, you are shooting bright light of the fireworks trails, not the dark sky. Zoom lenses are more flexible & they make it easier to compose, so if you have a great all-in-one zoom lens, this is a nice option.

3. Camera Settings
“Everything Manual is the key”. Turn the dial on your camera to the M setting, and make sure you know how to use the controls on your camera to adjust the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Check your manual or look online if you need some help!

4. Focus
Focus manually. One tip on setting your focus settings early is to pick an object about the same distance as the fireworks (such as a tree, building, car, etc). This is why it is important to know exactly where the fireworks will be coming from. Once you have a good idea of the distance, you can set you focus to an object approximately the same distance. When the actual 4th of July fireworks display starts, you will already have your camera focused.

5. Aperture
For your exposure settings, it would be good to set aperture to f/8 to f/16. Confused because you’ll be shooting in the dark? Don’t be because you may be shooting in the dark but your target (the fireworks) will be pretty bright, and will stand out from the dark background.

6. Shutter Speed
The best setting for fireworks photography is bulb mode. To catch motion blur of fireworks 4 -10 sec long shutter speed produces the best result. This will allow you to blur the fireworks, but feel free to change your shutter speed based on how much motion blur you want, how much available light there is, how close or far away from the fireworks you are, and which lens you are using.

7. Tripod & Remote
A good quality tripod is a must for fireworks photography. The beauty of fireworks photography is in capturing the light trail or blur of the fireworks, so you will need to keep the camera very still, which will make a good tripod your best friend.  For that bulb setting mentioned in #8, a remote provides more control because you can use the remote to manually trigger the shutter and hold the button down to keep the shutter down. Most remotes will have a long cable which will also allow you to stand behind the camera and actually enjoy the fireworks at the same time!

8. No Tripod?
However, if you don’t have a tripod with you, you can make do with something sturdy that you can brace the camera on. You will be shooting from a good distance from the actual fireworks display so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding something sturdy. The top of your car, or any other car, a steel railing or a fallen tree will do. Anything sturdy that you can use will work.

9. ISO
You will also want to use the lowest ISO setting on your camera (generally 100) to keep down the noise as much as possible.  Fireworks photographs are great if taken without too much noise and an ISO setting of 100 keeps down that noise as much as possible, especially with longer shutter speeds.

10. Composition & Tips
Once you’ve taken the first shot, take a short moment to analyze the photo so you can adjust your settings accordingly. You will most likely have taken quite a number of shots on your first try so you can capture the burst and not just the rocket going up. Quickly move to the frame where you captured the burst and analyze it. Apply the rule of thirds if possible. Avoid too many bursts in a single frame. The early part of the display is the best for shooting fireworks. Later the sky becomes cloudy & hazy.

Fireworks photography is actually pretty simple, the only thing to really be aware of is that you have to keep the camera very steady. Plan ahead so you can bring a tripod with you!

Extra Helpful Tools: Flashlight, extra battery (You’ll be using your monitor a lot!), knowledge of the current wind direction (Fireworks drift according to the wind.)

11. And lastly: PATIENCE! Don’t try and get as many images as you can. Regularly check your monitor to see the results you are getting and adjust your exposure accordingly. Quality over quantity. Remember to shorten your exposure on the grand finale, as there will be a lot more light with that than the earlier fireworks.

Good luck and enjoy!

The post 11 tips for great images of fireworks appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Sony A7s, ISO 100, NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C, 1/200th@F1.4)

To be honest I really didn’t know anything about the Sony A7s, nor would I ever have looked it up before being handed one in Roberts’ downtown location. I was surprised as to how compact the A7s was, and the Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens was what I would consider to be a standard sized lens for the package. First of all, the A7s was a great camera for this test. It’s 12 megapixels and full frame. This is a lens designed for crop sensor cameras, (Sigma calls it DC), so if you were to shoot full frame with it, you get this nasty vignette as shown below.

(Sony A7s, ISO 125, NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C, 1/250th@F1.4)

The A7s IS capable of being put into DX/DC mode, but the shots are only 5.1 megapixels like that. This is good and bad. It’s good because now I can see how the new Sigma performed, but my files are incredibly small.

That said, the Sigma killed it. I wish all my F1.4 glass focused this fast and this well on my Nikon bodies.

(Sony A7s, ISO 100, NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C, 1/2500th@F1.4)

The Sigma had zero trouble keeping up with moving targets even on AF-S(ingle). The continuous autofocus on the Sony seemed a bit ‘off’ to me, so I decided to just use the single focus and never looked back. The camera was surprisingly hard to trick, even at F1.4. All the shots I wanted were nailed and even the shots I decided I did NOT want were nailed. Very few were out of focus for reasons other than my own stupidity and this shocks me because if you put my Nikon 24 F1.4 or my Sigma 35 1.4 Art on my one of my Nikon bodies, there is always a way to trick them into being out of focus.

(Sony A7s, ISO 50, NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C, 1/8000th@F1.4)

As it comes to sharpness, current technology has made it so that any lens needs to be sharp in order to make it. The New Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C does not disappoint, and mounted to the Sony A7s it’s practically a dream combo since the A7s can practically see in any light. Having never used the Sony camera before this test I can tell you that I was quite impressed with how it handled the Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC lens, and in any light I could see this being a killer combo.

(Sony A7s, ISO 100, NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C, 1/640th@F1.4)

Here is the rub. I don’t shoot Sony. I very rarely come into contact with a Sony camera. I can tell you for 100% certain though that if I owned a Sony SLR, I would own the NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C. It’s a dream combo. Walking around snapping away in any light with almost guaranteed accuracy of the AF was incredible. I’m not sure how much can be attributed to either the camera or the lens, but 100% sure these should go together. Maybe Sony needs to work with Sigma on selling these 30mm lenses with bodies as a package deal because I can’t imagine using anything else being this good. We will get to see if I’m wrong though, I’ve got something on the way that will put a Sony in my hands for a few more weeks once again. Until then though, I dream of a lens like this 30mm 1.4 DC DN C that works as well on my Nikon bodies.

Consider the bar raised with this one.

(Sony A7s, ISO 12,800, NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C, 1/125th@F1.4)

The post The NEW Sigma 30mm 1.4 DC DN C… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Sometimes you happen to find a light that produces magical results, and you instantly fall in love.

The other day we put the Interfit 19″ Fluorescent Ring Light on display in our lighting area, and we all ooo’d and awe’d over it! We each grabbed a camera we liked, and started snapping selfies or taking pictures of each other.

Why such a fuss about a simple ring of light? It was incredibly easy to use (it just has a simple on/off switch, and a flexible arm to adjust the angle), produced a light that looks great, and got us get excited that we had finally found an affordable ring light.

Because of the shape, ring lights produce a light that is dynamic and full of contrast, and falls off quickly – this means that it is quite bright up close, but quickly gets darker as the subject moves farther away from the light source.

You can see from the video above that this ring light produces some unique lighting for a very affordable price point. If you are a studio shooter, this affordable ring light is a critical piece of equipment that will give you the high end fashion look for less than $100!

Here is a full resolution photo so you can evaluate the light quality yourself. This is a frame grab from the 4K video above so the quality isn’t as high as it could be, but it’s still great. Feel free to download!

The post An affordable ring light appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

To get the full feel of this camera, I took the Panasonic GX85 to a local park initially to get some landscapes. The viewfinder proved invaluable. The sun wasn’t very bright that day, but the screen on the GX85 was still difficult to see in some situations, even with the tilting function. That being said I love the tilting screen, it’s not too tight to move, and is very sharp and I used the touch screen function a lot more than I thought I would.

One of the handiest features of the GX85, which is actually in a lot of the newer Panasonic cameras, is when you are looking through the viewfinder you can move your thumb on the touch screen to pick your focus point. This is incredibly handy for when your subject is between trees or you want a particular flower in focus or changing composition, much like choosing your focus point on a DSLR, but quicker and easier.

The camera has very good low light capabilities, much better than I thought a M4/3 sensor should perform. I felt like 3200 ISO was very printable and surprisingly clean, and I think that with a little post-processing 6400 should be usable as well. And the built in 5-Axis in-body stabilization was incredibly helpful as well in some of the lower light situation.

The dynamic range seems very good. I cannot process the RAW files yet in Lightroom, but when processed in the camera the shadows and highlights both retained moderate detail.

After the park, I took the camera into the studio.

In the studio the camera handled very well, with the small size of the camera I did not feel encumbered by it, even when I used the larger and heavier 42.5mm f/1.2. Again, the touch to focus and tilt screen helped greatly for focusing exactly where I wanted to. The focus is also incredibly fast, even in lower light, and very accurate and reliable and predictable.

As much as I loved using the 42.5mm lens, the kit lens (12-32mm f/3.5-5.6) did a wonderful job. It is very sharp for a kit lens, the variable aperture is kind of annoying, but I usually use an aperture of f/5.6 or f/8 in the studio so that did not bother me too much.

The camera, just like a lot of other Panasonic cameras, has a couple unique features: Post Focusing and 4K Burst modes. With the Post Focusing, the camera takes a photo focused at every single focus point (that can achieve focus) and you can chose where you want the focus to be after the picture is taken. This feature I think can be very helpful in macro photography or portraits where what is in focus is very critical. The 4K Burst mode allows you to take 30 images/second for up to thirty minutes. This feature works best for sports or for other very fast seemingly instantaneous actions (sparks, bubbles popping) or making sure you get the exact expression that you want on your subject’s face.

This camera also has built in Wi-Fi. Without a doubt, the easiest set up out of any manufacture’s Wi-Fi application. Very little delay between the APP and what the camera sees.

At $799, I feel that this camera is a tough contender in the mirrorless world and can still compete with DSLRs within the price range or even the next tier up.

The post My Hike with the New Panasonic GX85 appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

I thought it would be fun to try it out and see how it performed. I am not a master studio photographer who has used every softbox under the planet; I am actually a very novice studio photographer. I typically shoot weddings using natural light (my website is www.whitepaperweddings.com), so while I know what I am doing with a camera, I really don’t have a lot of experience with studio lighting.

I tested the  43″ Octa version of the Luna folding softbox, which claims the following features:

-easy and fast to assemble

-compact and light weight

-fiberglass rods for strength and durability

-changeable speed rings for different studio lights

-2 diffusers(baffles) included

Did the Luna reach these claims, and is it money well spent? Read on and let me show you.

The first thing I noticed was that the Luna folding softbox comes in a very compact box. The box actually only measures 28″ x 8″ x 8″. Perfect for storage when you don’t need it.

I initially started setup by connecting the speed ring to my light. For this test I chose one of the new Savage 1000 watt LED lights.

It was a mistake to put the softbox on the savage before it was assembled, as it was too awkward. So I removed the light, and started assembly again.

The Luna folding softbox had a pretty easy setup, which only took me less than 5 minutes. The plastic locks were easy to press down and snap into place, locking them. Once I had them all secure, I was impressed with how sturdy the luna softbox was!

The next step was to add the interior baffle, which helps to soften the light. The baffle has elastic strings with velcro at the ends, which stick to the opposite velcro pieces, located inside the softbox.

The baffle went on easily, and it felt secure.

I decided to turn on the Savage light, just to see how it looked.

Even with just the interior baffle installed, the Luna Folding Softbox put out pretty decent light.

The interior baffle is a nice distance away from the light, and not too far from the front baffle. I don’t believe that this softbox is rated for high temperatures, so I wouldn’t use it with any hot constant lights.

Adding the front baffle was easy, it just fits on the front of the softbox and is held on by elasticated edges.

The Luna Folding Softbox takes a Bowens-style speedring, so you can use it on a wide variety of lights, including strobes or continuous LED lights.

The Luna also has a cloth cover for the rear of the light, which allows you to tighten the cloth around your light. This will prevent light spilling out the back and being wasted behind your subject.

Julia offered to let me take some portraits of her, and I think they turned out very well!

Keeping in mind that I am no lighting expert, I think that the Luna Folding Softbox produced excellent results. The light is very soft, and it has a nice wrap around effect that is higher quality than umbrellas of similar size.

I used a single light setup, as I put the Luna on a single Savage 1000 watt LED light.

Here is a shot of my lighting setup,

So did the Luna live up to it’s claims? Based on my short time with it, I would say it did!

It was very easy and fast to assemble (remember that I am a first timer, and I had no issues), it’s so light that you can easily move it with one hand, and the rods feel strong and durable.

The speedrings are also easy to use, and the effect created by the combination of the 2 baffles and the octagonal shape give a pleasant look and shape to the light.

If I was a studio shooter, I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase the Luna folding softbox, as I think it’s a product that will last for years, and it is definitely the right price!

What do you think? Would you purchase the Luna?

The post Testing The Luna Folding Softbox appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Until this year I owned the Nikon D4s, Nikon D4, and Nikon D800 camera bodies, and to be blatantly honest, I felt unstoppable with each of them. You can even read about my initial reviews of the Nikon D4 and Nikon D4s at these links. With my D4s and a 24F1.4 lens I could walk around in the dark and make pictures that could be printed to a relatively large size at a high ISO. What more do I need? The NEW Nikon D5 comes with a laundry list of little upgrades. 25% more megapixels than the D4s, slightly faster frame rate, supposedly better high ISO. I’ve had mine for a few weeks now thanks to my NPS priority order and the folks over at Roberts Camera, so I feel like it’s time I weigh in along with a lot of others who have already done so.

(NEW Nikon D5, 800ISO, Nikon 400mmF2.8VR with TC20e3 Teleconverter for 800mm. 1/2000th@F5.6)

When buying a top of the line item like this you would tend to think it’s going to be better than the previous model, and on that bombshell: It is.  Did I NEED to buy one though? It  is a $6500 camera (plus tax) and, as I described a moment ago, I felt pretty unstoppable with my D4s. Just like any other Nikon pro body that I have ever bought (and I’ve owned a lot), I’ve found very little wrong in the terms of ergonomics, battery life, auto focus, etc with the current body of any given generation. It’s not until I get to the newest body that I realize what I don’t have, and in this case the D5 takes this to the next level. It’s so good, it’s scary.

(NEW Nikon D5, 100 ISO, Nikon 24-70 F2.8 @ 50mm. Phottix Mitros+ set on a counter about 10′ to camera right with a green theatrical gel on it. Kevin positioned himself about 4′ in front of the flash, and about 5′ in front/right of the background. The Mitros+ was set to 1/4 power. The main light was provided by a Phottix Indra500 set to 1/16 shot through a 16 x 24″ softbox to camera right.)

This is the point where I mention that nobody asked me to write this review, and no I’m not being given anything to do it. In fact in this case neither Roberts Camera or Nikon even asked me to do this one, but I shoot Nikon as a full time pro along with some of the other reviewers out there so I thought I’d add my two cents while it’s important. My testing hasn’t been scientific by any means, but is really just my impressions of this new camera as a full time pro (read: someone who makes their full living with a camera and depends on the gear to deliver in order to pay the bills). As to whether the Nikon D5 really is the real deal or not is totally up to you, but let me explain why I don’t regret my purchase one bit. Before buying it I had spoken with Nikon Ambassador Andrew Hancock about his impressions on the camera, and he and I were both in the same mentality: we were both going to buy one. Eventually though, you are going to start to wonder what your $6500 every two years buys.

(NEW Nikon D5, 14,400 ISO, Nikon 400mm F2.8 VR with TC14 making 550mm. 1/2000th@F4)

So what does $6500 get you? It buys superpowers. The difference between the D4 and D4s in terms of high ISO was negligible. In fact, it was really only noticeable between ISO 12k and 25k, and it wasn’t less grain between the two as much as it was better dynamic range and color between the two making the D4s one stop better. If you’re wondering how closely I know the cameras, My D4 had 119k frames on it when I sold it, the D4s has 90k frames on her now and I’d venture to guess that 98% of all those frames were for paid work. That’s not as many as someone who shoots basketball every three days, but I get around either way.

The D5 is a whole new level of noise handling. There is still noise at 12k ISO but it’s very manageable and with a small amount of noise reduction almost nonexistent even with the 4 added megapixels that the D5 provides. Much like I said in the D4 review years ago, if you sample the D5’s files down by 20% to 16 megapixels, it definitely is at least one stop better than the D4s. In the past I’ve generally been comfortable taking my cameras up to about 1 stop below their native highest ISO without thinking. This holds true with the Nikon D5 in that I feel like 51k ISO is probably about as high as I’ll take it without hesitation. Anything higher than that though will be a very intentional setting change as 100,000 ISO is still relatively grainy in my opinion. It’s very usable, assuming you aren’t cropping in at all, which is a miracle in and of itself; but either way I don’t personally feel it’s for everyday use. Like the D4s the Nikon D5 excels in adding dynamic range into no-man’s land vs removing every spec of noise at in the higher iso range. While this can be good because your Higher ISO’s have better color, they are still as noisy as ever in the WTF range of H1-H5. Reference this photo at 100k ISO with my buddy Tom out of my Nikon D4s. Below is a similar setup with the Nikon D5 at 100k ISO at a basketball game. Definitely better.

Here you can see a shot I took of my buddy Tom with my Nikon D4s, at 102,400 ISO. (click to enlarge)

Here is another image, shot with the Nikon D5 at 102,400 ISO. Definitely better. (click to enlarge)

(Nikon D5, 102,400 ISO, Nikon 200-400 F4 @ F4, 1/5000th @ F4)

In the past I’ve said that I felt like you could push the D4 and D4s into no-man’s land by at least a stop, with the D5 I think you need to stop at 102k ISO. 204K ISO adds a significant amount of noise to the image. Using today’s ultra advanced noise reduction you can still make the shot sorta-kinda-almost-maybe-usable if you aren’t cropping, and the person you are sending it to is looking at it on their phone without wearing their glasses. While no-man’s land is better than the Nikon D4s, it’s still not good and I’ll likely never venture there.

(Pretty significant crop, NEW Nikon D5, 51,200ISO, Nikon 400mm F2.8VR2 with TC20E3 making 800mm. 1/2000th@F5.6)

The autofocus in the dark is much better than you would expect. The camera grabs onto the subject and it HOLDS much better than my D4s. This is not to say that the D4 or D4s ever had problems with that but, lets face it, autofocus errors happen. The D5 may not acquire focus physically faster (IE the time it takes the lens from fully out-of-focus to in-focus) because that’s more of a lens thing now with the motors inside the lenses, but when it grabs it seems to really grab and not let go – like a dog and its favorite toy.

Also the D5 is rated to be -4EV now instead of the D4s’s -2EV and you can tell. Things that the D4s would have had a slight difficulty with aren’t any trouble for my D5. The new AF points cover more area says Nikon, but they look marginally more area covering than before if you ask me. It’s still mostly in the middle and I get that since A, the sharpest part of your lens is the middle, and B, DX image area is in the middle also. I never had all 51 AF points turned on in my viewfinder, and Nikon has made the welcome change of adding a few more to the D5. Instead of three columns of three with one in the middle on each end, there are now 5 columns of three when you use the limited AF points option. Thank you for the better viewfinder coverage!

(NEW Nikon D5, 12,600ISO, Nikon 200-400F4VR@360mm, 1/800th@F4)

(Click here to see the full resolution uncropped version of the file above)

Playback is simplified with added touch controls that are just icing on the cake. The real place the touch interface shines is during data entry where you can actually touch the keyboard to add words instead of using the directional pad to slowly select letters. Yes, it is neat to pinch and pull your images to check sharpness, but it’s still muscle memory for me to hit play and hit the center of the D Pad to show me 100%. I don’t think that’ll change for me any time soon. The new rating system though is the absolute bees knees because it is native for photo mechanic AND lightroom. That means tag things with 1-5 stars and you can easily sort your lightroom or Photomechanic to find them instantly. Bout time. I won’t miss using the Print Lock button, or the auto record button to save shots on location. Not. One. Bit.

(NEW Nikon D5, 10,000ISO, Nikon 200-400F4@290mm. 1/125th@F4)

Ergonomics-wise, the camera is almost identical to the D4s and D4 before it. Nikon moved the ISO button up top by the shutter which is an understandable move, but it’s annoying none-the-less if you are bouncing between different generation bodies (like I and many others are). A welcome addition is the ability to change the camera’s shooting speed using the buttons on the back. Great for if your camera is in a hard to reach location as a remote since you can do it wirelessly, or as mentioned with just pushing buttons instead of needing to get your hand on the top command dial. The XQD card slots have changed a bit and now have buttons to eject the cards like the CF card slots in cameras past. I personally liked the spring loaded card slot that the XQD card had in the D4 and D4s, but it’s honestly trivial. I can tell you one thing, though, the new XQD 2.0 cards are stupid fast. What you are reading is that I think they are stupid fast, but what I’m trying to say is that they are STUPID FAST. In fact, they are so fast that if you were to run your buffer out at 14fps you would shoot over 100 frames, and the buffer only takes 4 seconds to clear. THAT kind of stupid fast. Very rarely would I ever shoot that kind of blast with my camera, I just don’t shoot that way. It’s more of a, “not that you would, but you could” kind of feature and it’s driven by the XQD cards without a doubt.

The D5 also has a host of other added features, like 4K video, but I’m not getting into that. That’s a ball of yarn for another cat to open up. One thing I will address is a host of links that are floating around the internet with folks not happy about the LOW ISO performance of their D5. Someone also did a graph someplace and ran some tests saying that the Nikon D5’s low ISO dynamic range isn’t as good as the Nikon D750s, or the Nikon D810 if you push the exposure by 3-5 stops. People are going nuts and getting really upset over it. I’ve had more than one person ask me if I had noticed what they are talking about and my answer is NO. I haven’t. But then again I’m also not in the habit of shooting something 3-5 stops underexposed and believing I can magically save it because I shoot RAW. I’m a firm believer that if something is 3-5 stops below correct exposure, I can’t deliver it to a client and it needs to be re-shot. If you are regularly shooting stuff that is 3-5 stops underexposed and fixing them later, you need to adjust your shooting style not your camera. Just like the Nikon D3, the D5 is revved up to work at the highest ISO possible with the best quality. That’s why the D3’s base ISO was only 200, which I remember people going crazy over also.

(NEW Nikon D5, 50 ISO, Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art, 1/1600th @ F2. Phottix Mitros+ Speedlight on the ground to the cars left set to TTL, triggered from a Phottix ODIN 2 on the camera hot shoe. Photo Cross Processed with the newly free Google NIK plugins)

So there you have it, my assessment of Nikon’s newest flagship camera. Is it worth the $6500 it costs to play? I absolutely think so and I’m more than thrilled I jumped on it as early as I did. In fact, I’m already trying to figure out where a second one fits into my budget but I have a feeling it’ll be the D5s before I finally convince myself it’s a need.

The camera is definitely a force to be reckoned with, much more than originally was expected by many. I can tell you for 100% that I am thrilled with it and as the other flagship cameras have been in the past, the NEW Nikon D5 will likely be the first camera out of my bag in almost all occasions. If you are still looking for one, may I suggest you get yours at Roberts Camera where I buy 95% of all my gear. Hopefully this helps you make an informed decision as to whether the D5 is a worthy upgrade for you. For me it’s no question. More Soon.

The post The NEW Nikon D5 appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

When we have our hands full of diaper bags, gym bags or kids there is very little room for much else. The problem is everything our children do is adorable. So we also need a camera to capture all those unforgettable moments. Don’t fear, Roberts has your camera.

Lately there has been a great trend for compact high-end Point and Shoot cameras, like the Sony RX100, or the Canon G9x, or the new Nikon DL 24-85 and others. The Panasonic ZS100 is the newest camera to the club.

The common thread with these cameras is the compact size and the one inch sensor inside each one, which gives fantastic low light and all around great image quality. One big difference is zoom range. The Panasonic ZS100 has a 10x and others are all around 4x. The 25x250mm lens in the ZS100 may not be enough for bird photography but it is more than adequate for the kids sports and family goofing off. The other biggest difference is Panasonic’s 4K video is leaps and bounds over the competition, truly amazing.

4K Video/Photo

One of the big benefits with the 4K mode is that it is constant 8 megapixel images one after another, which allows us to pull a photo straight of the video, and a few interesting features like 4K Photo, and post-focusing.

If you’re a video guy you’ll like the 4K video just for its awesome video quality. For me, I’m more of a photo guy so I like the Post-Focusing and 4K photo mode. With the 4K photo you have these three settings:

4K Pre-Burst Photo mode

This one is super cool. Every time you take a photo, you get one second of video at 60 frames a second as well, with 1/2 of it before you hit the shutter button to take a photo. That’s right, 30 frames before you hit the shutter button. This feature allows you to pick your favorite shot out of the 60 frames. The cool part is that the camera is always buffering 30 frames, so if you’re trying to photograph a baseball swing and you keep missing it, no problem. You have 30 frames before you hit the shutter button and 30 frames after you hit the shutter button to pick from. Awesome!

4k Burst (s/s)

This one is simple, you hit start and it starts to video and then you hit stop and it stops. Then you can pick whatever photo you want out of your video.

4K Burst

This will shoot video as long as you hold your finger on the shutter release button. I would recommend this one, because on the s/s mode I ended up getting too long of a video to have to look through.

My dog is very very fast and it has been almost impossible to get a good shot of him running at me. With the 4k photo mode I just ran it for a second and boom perfect shot.

Post-Focus

I am a big fan of Post-Focusing. With this feature I can change my focusing point after I shoot the photo. Yes, after I shoot the photo. The camera essentially is shooting a photo from 60 different focusing points all around the frame. Than I get to pick with ever one I want after I’ve shot. It takes about a second to shoot and about 4 seconds to process, but the results are amazing. The left image is the original shot and the right one is what I intended to be in focus.

DFD Auto Focus System

Outside of the amazing 4K features. The camera shoots 10 frames a second with blazingly fast auto focus. Panasonic uses a (DFD) auto focus system “Depth from Defocus”, which some how figures out the distant to the subject and makes the focus super fast.

Low Light

With the ISO range all the way up to 25,600 and with the great HYBRID O.I.S.+ 5 Axis stabilizing system the low light is fantastic. This image is shot at 3,200 ISO and still looks great.

Screen/Viewfinder

It has a 1,166k-dot Electronic Viewfinder for when the sun is just too bright. The 3″ 1.04m-dot LCD touch screen works great. Everything is clean and crisp and I haven’t had any problems with bright light. It also has full manual controls and built-in Wi-Fi.

My Thoughts on the camera.

I have had a blast shooting this camera. For me it is a great balance between size, image quality and features. I don’t like a camera that is so small I can’t hold on to it, but I need one small enough to be able to stick it in my pocket.

I love the 1″ sensors in the new high-end compact cameras for great image quality and low light, but unlike the Sony 3.8x zoom and the canons 4x zoom versions I want enough zoom to be able to shoot the kids playing sports. So the Leica 25-250mm 10x zoom is a perfect focal length for me.

Then throw in the crazy 4K features like Post-Focusing, 4K Photo mode, along with the great video quality of 4K video in general and I have a perfect family camera. Small, light, fast, and full of amazing features.

The post Why the Panasonic ZS100 is my new family camera appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

As a full-time freelance photographer on the road, not only must storage be plentiful, but it must also be readily accessible and in most cases it needs to be fast. My storage is either with me on my person, in my backpack with Lappy, in my camera bag, car, or stashed around the house even. The really big question for on location is Paranoia the need to back things up for the “just in case”. Just in case being things like broken memory cards, or lost/stolen hard drives, or a meteorite hitting your house/car/computer with surgical accuracy. The secret to this whole process for me is that it’s always changing, and evolving because needs change over time with both work, and the technology in your camera bag. With that all in mind I’d like to introduce you the new Thunderbolt Rugged RAID from LaCie.

(Photo courtesy of Roberts Camera’s website)

The great folks at Roberts Camera are no different than regular folks sometimes as they asked me about what I do for my on site storage, bringing to my attention LaCie’s new Thunderbolt Rugged Raid. I am a long time LaCie drive user, and really it was about time I looked into a new one so with one of the new LaCie Thunderbolt Rugged Raid drives in my possession I was ready to see what this thing could really do for National Storage Day (which was March 31st, but due to some technical reasons explained in a bit the blog got pushed back a little bit).

I’ve been using this drive for a few weeks, in replacement of my old LaCie 500gb triple interface drive, and I love it. I’ve have used LaCie drives for a long time so I wasn’t expecting this drive to provide me any surprises. In fact, all the LaCie drives I’ve owned have been pretty similar in appearance and top end performance.

This new drive has bright orange bumpers just like the two or three year old LaCie triple interface USB3/FW800 drive that I already have and use regularly. The big upgrades with this new drive include being 4TB instead of the 500gb of my original drive, the thunderbolt rugged raid is also in fact two physical dives in one for the raid functionality; and it uses Thunderbolt/USB3.

I was expecting a straight up speed increase from the LaCie Rugged Raid over my USB3/FW800 drive (which is admittedly SLOW these days topping out at 60mb/s on USB3), but nothing could prepare me for the fact that in a RAID 0 configuration (using the drive to it’s full 4T capacity) the drive topped out at 240mb/s almost exactly. To say that is a big deal is an understatement considering that I’ve got some XQD Cards that advertise 440mb/s but top out at 350mb/s… Anyway, that may not seem crazy fast to some of you thanks to the continuing appearance of SSDs out in the wild (example being the laptop inside my 2013 i7 Macbook Pro); but for a rotational drive sporting 4 flippin Terabytes 240mb/s is insane! That’s fast enough to edit off while still having space to store ALL THE THINGS!

Now some back story. For a while I owned a Western Digital 4T Thunderbolt Raid which I loved for on location shooting because it backed everything up as a RAID so if one drive failed/died the data was ok. If I have used LaCie drives in the past why did I jump to WD in this instance? Because when this drive came out, it was the only ON site raid solution I was aware of powered by the computer USB port.. That and sometimes trying new things can be good for you. Anyway, while the data was more than safe on that drive, and I used it many times on location to sleep better knowing the data was immediately secured and duplicated; that WD drive got stolen. (Anticlimactic since RAID won’t defend from that situation, amirite?) and I never replaced it.

If I slept so well with the data sitting on that drive why did I not replace it you ask? Great question, glad you asked! I never replaced that WD drive because it was expensive, because it was LARGE (literally size of a brick) and because it was SLOWWWWWWWWWWW. It was also relatively loud with a built in fan to cool the drives. I obviously don’t have WD drive to compare it to the LaCie I have here on the counter with me, but I can tell you that LaCie could easily add a Third drive into their Rugged Raid and it would STILL be smaller than the WD version I used to have. The LaCie is faster also. The LaCie, while in RAID1 is not as fast as RAID0 but that’s expected. It still holds an impressive transfer speed of 126 write and 107 read while in RAID1 though. (I saw the write get up to 150 at one point which is really impressive). To put that into perspective, here is a Seagate USB3 1T drive that is only a single drive. It’s the same speed as the LaCie, but like a lazy coworker it’s only doing half the work that it could be doing. Nice job LaCie. While as a RAID1 its about as fast other drives, but remember your data is SAFE from all kinds of Tom Foolery thanks to the Rugged Raids design. It can be dropped from up to 5 feet, and they say it can be run over by a 1 Ton vehicle. It’s splash resistant, dirt resistant, and likely resistant to lots of other things that aren’t children under the age of 5. During all these things it keeps your data safely asleep in its bed. Not only that, but most importantly your data is protected from drive failure with the hardware raid design. I’m not going to intentionally test some of those more “hardcore” protections that the drive offers, because with this I’m going to be doing a more long term road test to give a much more clear understanding of how it performs over time. (More on that in a bit)

(The Rugged Raid next to my old Triple Interface. Drive on the left is 4T RAID with TWO drives in it, one on the right is just a single 500gb drive…)

Anyway, back to the out and about/mobile storage thing. When I’m out and about it’s significantly different than when I am home. Not in a sense of that the computer is on a desk at home, or that all drives that are even connected (all of my long term backups are in cold storage which is outlined in this post). When on location things are obviously a bit different. I don’t have a RAID6 array to back everything up while on location, and a backup still needs to be done. Generally it’s all done manually on location and the process is always changing. Usually everything comes off of the memory cards right away and goes onto the laptop’s onboard drive. The files are then sent to an external drive based on what needs to happen to them next. Photomechanic allows you to ingest the data to two different locations automatically which is super sweet, but until now has been limited by the slower of the two drives. The LaCie Rugged raid isn’t quite as fast as my SSD, but It’s not longer a pain to wait for files to be split between the SSD and a regular rotational drive. If these are files that I need to edit they will go to and stay on my laptops onboard hard drive AND they will go onto an external drive (the LaCie) for safe keeping for the just in case. When that is done, the photos exist in three places (memory cards, laptop and external Hard drive).

Once I’m home (if I’m not already) they go directly to the Synology for safe keeping and the memory cards are clear to be formatted. To recap, the photos are always in three places, and all three of those places are rarely if ever in the same place at the same time. (Technically they are all at home at some point, but they are not in the same local vicinity and this is not to include anything I keep offsite). On occasion I’ll be shooting an event like the NCAA Swimming and Diving event I mentioned HERE, or the Gymnastics Championship I mentioned HERE that requires all the files be stored AND easily accessible for editing. This is where a drive like the LaCie Thunderbolt Rugged RAID will really shine for me beyond the setup that I had before. My Macbook Pro’s on-board hard drive is only 500gb, which means with the operating system, software, photos I’ve taken, and obscure cat videos I save I don’t have an extra 600-800GB sitting around for an event like I just mentioned. On top of that while I do own a USB3 Samsung 500GB SSD drive, that still requires splitting that much data into multiple pieces which to be honest can be logistically challenging as it comes to doing the editing quickly. Plus nothing changes in the fact that I still need to edit those files as quickly as I can on location. The LaCie not only keeps all of the files safe as a RAID1, but as a RAID0 it’s one of the fastest portable rotational drives I’ve seen that I’d have no trouble tossing in my backpack and running to the next assignment (sometimes literally).

So it sounds like I’m gushing about the LaCie, and I kind of am; but lets face it the thing is pretty sweet. It comes with an extra little orange plug for the end of it to protect the Thunderbolt cable, and USB port, as well as it also comes with (from what I can tell) every power adapter known to man so if you’re a traveling photographer you should be set. The Thunderbolt cable attaches to the drive with a little magnet with the cable tucking into the orange bumper for safe keeping and fully extended it will reach all the way from one side of my macbook pro to the other, which is great for shooting tethered on location. Totally unrelated the drive also came in a nice set of packaging too as you can see in the photo below. It’s a nice touch to see that someone still really cares about packaging. So I admitted I was gushing a bit but here’s the rub. When using Thunderbolt the Drive is bus powered which is great and honestly that’s probably the only way I’ll ever use it. With USB though you need to use the aforementioned power cable(s). Bummer. To be honest I’m not sure what the difference in the power requirements are between USB and Thunderbolt is, and like I mentioned i’ll likely never use the USB3 function of the drive but that’s how it goes. SO if you have a PC that doesn’t have Thunderbolt you need to use the USB3 and Power adapter. No worries though, there is zero speed penalty for using USB3. Next; the RAID controller on the LaCie Rugged Raid is a hardware one which in most cases is awesome! (and very rare on a portable drive like this). That means the drive is taking decisions out of the computers transfer process by splitting the data with hardware instead of your computer having to think about it while it’s transferring things to the drive. This probably helps the LaCie attain such a fast read and write speed in RAID1. The process to switch the drive between RAID1 And RAID0 is really straight forward, but just complex enough that you aren’t going to do it by accident. I actually had a problem with my first drive (Remember the technical reasons mentioned before?) and I’m actually on my SECOND LaCie Thunderbolt Rugged Raid at the time of this writing because after about 50 or so attempts to get the drive into RAID1 I was still set up to use the lighting fast RAID0. After a quick interaction with LaCie they confirmed I was in fact doing it right and they replaced the drive no problem, no questions asked. Customer service baby, that’s how you do it. I even got the new one before I had to ship the old one back. New drive? Switched into RAID1 on the first try. Turns out I was doing it right.

(Look at all the things! Even an extra rubber end!)

So wow, that’s a bit more of a detailed explanation of how I handle my on location backups than I think may have been necessary, but I get this question enough that I feel like it was worth it. To recap, the data goes from the cards through photomechanic onto both the laptop drive and the LaCie Thunderbolt Rugged Raid at the same time. Always have more than one copy. I said earlier that this was going to be a bit more long term of a review, which means you should check back as I’ll regularly be including updates about this drive in my other subsequent adventures. How difficult is it to review a hard drive? Just test the speeds, run it over with a car ect. This isn’t that review. I’ve pushed over 2TB of data through the drive so far, and there are no signs of slowing down. This drive is now in my arsenal and worked into my workflow where my older LaCie used to be. This drive is now ready for the worst the field (or I) can throw at it. Things that are coming up include my review of the NEW Nikon D5, as well as the NEW Sigma 30mm F1.4 for E Mount. These things aren’t even including things that I’ve shot/shoot to make a living as a full time freelancer where this drive will get used pretty much non stop. Until then though, I hope this helps give you some ideas on how to back your stuff up in the field, as well as gives you an idea as to how fast, and great the new LaCie Thunderbolt Rugged Raid drive has been for me so far. Like I said, I thought my LaCie Triple Interface drive was great, but now I can really once again rest easy with my data backed up on location and think more about making interesting photos. More Soon.

(Nikon D5, 450ISO, Nikon 400mmF2.8VR with TC20eIII making 800mm. 1/2000th@F5.6)

The post Lacie Raid Storage on the go… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Nikon D4s, 3200ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@150mm 1/800th@F2.8).

The class got started the way it always does, with us finding a nice place to sit for a few minutes to admire our media credentials and address any camera setting confusion there might be. Despite what Canon or Nikon may tell you, camera settings aren’t always simple anymore and in fact I commonly refer to the cameras menus and settings as rocket surgery. Once the best settings are explained, and the Wikmans say a few words of hockey wisdom we unleash the class for full reign on the hockey arena. I wander around during the game to make sure everybody is ok, and like usual I have a camera with me to snap a few frames for the recap. (See the frame above). After the event, the attendees are all welcome to send a photo for this recap since most of them are so excited about having shot the game. Thanks to everybody that came out for a wonderful workshop, thanks to Roberts Camera or putting it all together, Jeff Moore from Roberts who came out to help make sure everything was taken care of and everybody had the chance to ask the questions they needed, and thanks to the Indy Fuel and the Wikmans for being such incredible hosts for this workshop. Here are some of the workshop attendee photos below.

(Photo by Jeff Moore with a Nikon D810)

(Photo by Glen DeVitt with a Canon 1D Mark IV)

(Photo by Sandy Mahoney with a Canon EOS 60D)

(Photo by Emma Stout with a Canon EOS Rebel T5)

(Photo by Julie Brown Sony A7r II)

(Photo by Mike Morey with a Nikon D600)

(Photo by Tony Stokes with a Nikon D3100)

The post Hockey Photography Workshop Recap… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Once it came out people started asking if it was fast enough for sports. Roberts Camera and I originally wanted to do this blog when the lens was released but it was so stinkin popular that neither they, nor I could get a demo copy from Nikon to do it. That is until two weeks ago when I had yet another person ask if I thought it was fast enough, and low to behold I was scheduled to shoot the Iowa Hawkeyes vs the Indiana Hoosiers basketball game later that week. What is a trial unless it’s a trial by fire right? SO off I went with a borrowed Nikon 300mm F4 from Roberts to answer to the many questioners, how does it do shooting sports?

Yea, that’s it next to my Nikon 200-400 F4 VR. Here is a shot of it next to a bunch of things for a better size comparison if you want:

(From left to right: Nikon D4s Body, Nikon 24-70F2.8N, Nikon 300mmF4VR PF, Nikon 70-300F4.5-5.6VR, Nikon 200-400 F4 VR, Nikon 400mmF2.8VR)

Little bit of background here. I normally shoot basketball using three bodies. I use a Nikon D800 with a 14-24F2.8 (or a 24-70 sometimes) for the wide stuff. I use a Nikon D4 with the 70-200F2.8VR2 for most of the things right under the basket in front of me, and then I use a Nikon D4s with a 200-400 F4 for the far end of the court, coach shots, crowd shots, and most everything else. MOST photographers sitting with me on the paint will use a 300F2.8 as their longer lens and just crop in as necessary, which is really a good strategy truth be told. As my friends Trevor and Mike can verify, I’m that idiot sitting on the paint with not only a 200-400 F4 occasionally a 1.4x extender for when I really want to get in tight. (Because you know… 400mm where everyone else is using 300mm isnt enough already…) I prefer to not crop my sports shots, but to be totally honest shooting loose in order to crop in is a much safer bet. Anyway, I was sure that there would be enough light at Assembly hall for the Nikon 300mm F4 VR since I usually use my 200-400 F4 there. Doesn’t mean I didn’t take my 200-400 F4 just in case this lens was not what I was expecting, because I surely did, and not only did I take it; I intended to use it because how could a lens this small, light and cheap be everything I needed it to be at a paying sports gig?.

(Nikon D4s, 4000ISO, Nikon 300mm F4 VR PF, 1/1000th@F4)

To be honest while I know Nikon makes great gear, this thing was going to need to be something special for me to decide it was good enough for a full time sports lens. To my surprise, not only did I use it the entire game, but at one point I put my 1.4x extender on it to get the reach I am used to. If I didn’t have a D5 to buy in the next 30 days I’d have added this to my bag probably over the phone at the game. Not even kidding, I’d have called Phil at R0berts and told him he wasn’t getting his lens back in exchange for my credit card number .

(Nikon D4s, 8000ISO, Nikon 300mm F4 VR PF, Nikon TC14E2 to make 420mm, 1/1000th@F5.6)

Not only is it sharp; it’s fast. I felt like it had no trouble keeping up with the game action, and even with the 1.4x extender the lens performed incredibly admirably while mounted to my Nikon D4s body. The images were all as sharp as I would have expected out of my 200-400 or even a 300F2.8! What’s even more too good to be true about this thing is that it only weighs 1.66lbs. Not a big deal until you realize the for the old and outgoing 300 F4 weighed 3.17lbs!!! Even more? My Nikon 24-70F2.8 weighs 1.988lbs and my Nikon 200-400 F4 weighs an epic 7.2lbs! This new 300 F4 weighs LESS THAN MY 24-70! Even better than that? The NEW Nikon D5 weighs 3.1 pounds more than this new 300mm F4! AND IT’S SHARP?! What planet is this?!

(Nikon D4s, 4000ISO, Nikon 300mmF4VR PF, 1/1000th@F4)

As you can see in the above photo and crop of the lens straight up, as well as THIS IMAGE AND CROP of the lens using my 1.4x extender; Nikon’s 300mm F4 VR PF has definitely got what it takes to shoot sports. Of course, you still want to use a F2.8 lens or even a F2 lens in the darkest of venues, but really for such a light weight package paired with today’s golden era of photography technology this thing is incredible. Think about this in terms of moving around a venue, or better yet, what about remotes? This lens is a lot lighter than a 70-200F2.8VR so you could use it for remotes without putting a bunch of extra stress on your camera mount. You can also get a tripod collar for it too, but it’s lighter than a 24-70 so I can totally understand why it’s not included with the purchase.

(Nikon D4s, 8000ISO, Nikon 300mm F4 VR PF, Nikon TC14E2 making 420mm, 1/1000th@F5.6)

In the end, this lens is fantastic; especially for sports. I only had it for about 36 hours, and during that time I unfortunately neglected to try it with my 2x extender which as I’ve mentioned before is the magical unicorn extender when on my 400F2.8. Either way, the Nikon AF-S 300mm F4 VR PF most definitely IS fast enough and sharp enough for sports. In fact, later this year instead of getting a 300F2.8 to add to my kit, I’ll most likely end up with the 300mm F4 because of how light, compact, sharp and, to be totally honest, cheap that it is. Will it replace my 200-400 for basketball? Too early to tell. One thing can say though for sure is that it will definitely end up in my bag. This thing is sahweet! If you want to add it to your bag, do yourself a favor and get it from the guys over at Roberts Camera. They are IN STOCK now! More Soon.

The post The Nikon 300mm F4 VR PF for Sports? appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

When it was originally announced, I instantly knew that this was a lens I could really benefit from owning. As a wedding photographer, I don’t shoot many images that call for a wide angle lens, but when I do, I want those shots to be EPIC.

The problem is the places I often want to create those epic shots are often the darkest scenes, such as churches, reception halls, or ballrooms. And those types of settings are generally dimly lit at the best of times, and even darker for weddings.

Enter the Tamron 15-30 2.8 VC. Tamron was really thinking about us wedding photographers when they designed this lens! It’s a 2.8 for when you want the ability to shoot in low light, or when you want shallow depth of field. It also has VC (vibration control), which is what Tamron calls the stabilization element in their lenses. This element is a moving element that compensates for the photographers shake, and by moving in the opposite direction, compensates automatically, allowing you to use the lens at slowing shutter speeds than without VC.

I know that many of you are thinking about this – why would you want VC in a wide angle lens? Wedding venues often have very little light, and cameras and lenses are pushed to the max. The VC really helps by allowing me to use slower shutter speeds in the low light, and still get sharp shots. Or, when I want to add motion to my shots (such as people dancing, or cards driving past) the VC in this lens allows me to do that!

Special thanks to Ian of Ian Borgerhoff Photography for allowing me to use these amazing images!

The post Shooting the Tamron 15-30 2.8 VC lens appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

1. Lens Choice: A regular lens will do when you’re taking Christmas photos.  If you’re new to photography and haven’t purchased a wide variety of lenses, don’t worry because the lens that your camera came with will be just fine. You don’t need a fast lens to shoot at night. Remember, you are shooting bright lights with darkness all around.  Zoom lenses are more flexible & they make it the picture easier to compose, so if you have a great all-in-one zoom lens, this is a nice option.
2. Flash: Use your flash! You may have to turn it on by popping it up, but once it is up and firing the camera will work to get it right. This will also add fill light on your subject and help to freeze and sharpen them.
3. Camera Settings: I find it best to use aperture mode on the camera. Try exposure compensation if your image is too light or dark.
4. Autofocus: You can see if your camera will auto-focus…but remember that in low light auto-focus struggles and you may have to manually focus. Use only one focusing point and put it exactly where you want it to focus.
5. Aperture: For your exposure settings, it would be good to set aperture to either f/8 or f/11. Don’t worry about f/22 or f/29. It’s dark and you
   usually don’t need that much depth of field.
6. Shutter Speed: This is what brings in the lights on the Christmas tree. You may be in the range of 1/8^th to 1/30^th of a second. If you are photographing people in front of the tree, they will need to stand still to avoid a blur.
7. Tripod & Remote: A good quality tripod is a must for low-light photography. You will need to keep the camera very still, which will make a good tripod and cable release your best friend
8. ISO: You will also want to use the lowest ISO setting on your camera (generally 400 or 800). Christmas photographs are great if taken without too much noise and an ISO setting of 400 to 800 keeps down that noise as much as possible, especially with longer shutter speeds. Try and keep it under ISO 3200 on the upper end.
9. Composition: Once you’ve taken the first shot, take a short moment to analyze the photo so you can adjust your settings accordingly. How does the ambient light and flash balance? Is the photo sharp?
10. Lastly, be careful with condensation if you are taking the camera outside. The difference in temperatures can create a big problem. Try putting your camera and lens in a gallon size Ziploc bag. The condensation will gather on the bag and not the camera. Also get everything set up before everyone gets there. The time to figure out your camera settings is not while everyone is freezing from the cold weather. Finally, play around with your white balance settings and picture style because changing these can greatly change the color balance of the photos.

If you are ready to learn more, check out our full list of classes for the upcoming New Year!

The post Christmas Lights Tips & Tricks appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Back in the days of film. zoom lenses really were nothing but a good way to carry a range of focal lengths in your bag while *possibly* getting something sharp. Something usable. Something not as sharp as a prime. But as time went on, so did technology and with technology and time things get better. Zoom lenses now make up a majority of the market in photography now and for good reason. I couldn’t survive without my Nikon 24-70 F2.8 or my Nikon 70-200 F2.8 VR2. The ranges are fantastic, and I can’t imagine having to change lenses throughout those ranges to get the results that I want. That said, a few years ago Nikon, Canon and Sigma all said “Hey, we have all this technology, let’s make some kick ass primes again!” (I’m totally imagining that’s what they said, I have no idea if anybody actually said that, but in my mind it was said and they made t-shirts out of it). So they did, and Nikon and Canon started making their 58mm F1.4 and 35 F1.4 and 85 F1.4 and etc and they kicked ass. At a price point of $1800 each they should kick ass though, right?

That’s where Sigma stepped in. Sigma has always made affordable third party lenses, but until a few years ago, I personally only considered them to be third party. I’ve said that I’ve been blown away by both the Sigma 24-35 F2 Art lens and the Sigma 50 1.4 Art lens, two of  Sigma’s newer Art lens offerings.

This month Sigma will start shipping a NEW 20mm F1.4 lens which is the widest F1.4 being made today. Did Sigma live up to my imaginary “let’s make kickass primes” T-shirts? Let’s find out.

(Trevor from TR22 Photography obliges me with a portrait outside of IvyTech. Canon 5Ds, 50 ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/4000th@F1.6. Phottix Indra5oo set to ETTL with battery pack shot through the Luna 70cm folding beauty dish with cover to above camera left. Phottix Indra500 triggered by Phottis ODIN trigger for Canon from the Camera hot shoe.)

So first things first, as usual. Sigma is not paying me for this review nor have they paid me for my other reviews. They asked me to do this one though, which means I must be getting something right. Roberts Camera is also not paying me for this review, however, Roberts was kind enough to loan me the Canon 5Ds camera body that I used to shoot all the photos with the Sigma 20mm F1.4 lens. Next, I was specifically told that my 20mm F1.4 was a prototype and that the firmware was incomplete meaning that there may have been a specific issue with the lens. I am not going to say what that issue was, but I did not experience that issue. That said, I am also only allowed to post images at a maximum of 1200px on the long end. There’s why and now that we are out of the formal stuff, let’s get to it!

Let me begin by saying I was a bit afraid of this lens. Not Halloween, axe murderer kind of afraid, but afraid because this lens to me appears to have a very specific purpose which is very wide, very shallow depth of field frames. You can start by saying Duh (go ahead and say it) and now I’ll mention another lens that has a specific purpose: the fisheye. I love my fast primes. I have pretty much all of them between my Sigma and my Nikon Collection, but I don’t own a fisheye currently. The issue with a fisheye is that it is a very specific look that can be overdone very easily. That’s the last thing I want is potentially more than one “gimmicky” lens in my bag and if you put it in your bag you have to carry it right? My big concern is that the Sigma 20mm F1.4 would end up being more specialty than it would be a go-to lens.

After two weeks of using the lens on a Canon 5Ds I can very confidently say two things. First of all, I don’t like the Canon 5Ds (no it’s not because I shoot Nikon, it’s because I think it’s super slow), and second I am confident that the 20mm F1.4 is NOT a specialty lens at all, but definitely what could be a go-to fast wide prime for any shooter.

(Canon 5Ds, 50ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4. 1/800th@F1.4)

Look at that depth of field. Look at the size of the hood on that Caddy! The close focus distance is just under 11″, which, while seems like a long way, I assure you with the photo above is plenty for this kind of lens. Being able to get so close to something and then still completely bokeh the heck out of the background is fantastic, and it goes a long way towards giving you a bit more creative freedom in your photography. I love my Nikon 14-24 F2.8 but not even it can get this shallow which for most things isn’t necessary, but if you are looking for style, artistic expression, some generally neat photos it surely is! Speaking of the Nikon 14-24 F2.8, whether you believe it or not, the Sigma 20mm F1.4 is about the same size as that lens, and, just like all it’s Sigma Art lens brethren, the build quality is fantastic.

(Canon 5Ds, 50 ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/8000th @F1.4)

Optically, this lens is exceptionally sharp just like all the others in the line. Toward the edges there was a little bit of distortion, but depending on what was on those edges is whether or not you notice it or not. (See how minimal it is on the frames above and below?) I’m not most people, but generally if I buy a lens that can open up to F1.4 I very rarely use it at anything but F1.4 or F2. As I’ve said in past reviews, if I wanted to shoot at F10 I could use just about any lens of that focal length and F10 will work out any bits of distortion, not-so-sharpness, or just flat-out lens defects. At that, a lot of folks know that depth of field is created with focal length, distance and aperture. So the question is that at 30 feet, how much depth of field do you get? Enough is the answer.

(Canon 5Ds, 50ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/4000th@F1.6. Phottix Indra5oo set to ETTL with battery pack shot through the Luna 70cm folding beauty dish with cover to above camera left. Phottix Indra500 triggered by Phottis ODIN trigger for Canon from the Camera hot shoe.)

The answer is enough. With this light and depth of field Trevor doesn’t look like he was in the scene naturally, but I guarantee you he was. You notice F1.4 gives you this strange surreal look to the image, especially at such a wide angle. It’s something I really like about using my 24mm F1.4 but that extra 4mm in wideness seems to make a really large difference to me in the look and feel of the image.

(Canoon 5Ds, 50ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/200th@F1.4. Profoto D1 to camera left set to 5 with 10″x 60″ strip box triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus II from a Pocket Wizard Plus III in the camera hot shoe.)

Mostly though I feel like the 20mm F1.4 would be great for close up environmental portraits like above. The shot keeps the subject large in the frame, as well as gives a sense of place without taking too much focus off of the subject. This is where I’ll say that this lens shines, especially if you check out the sharpness with the 1:1 crop on the image above.

(Click to biggify so you can see true 100%)

So was it all peas and gravy? Is the lens perfect? No, it’s not quite perfect depending on your style. At F1.4 the lens vignettes a little bit. It’s gone by F2.8 but at F1.4 its a little heavy around the edges. This isn’t a problem for me though as if I’m shooting super wide open a little bit of vignette can draw your eyes into the frame. I’d rather it be a darker vignette than white vignette though any day, although I’m not sure what kind of crazy physics would cause a natural white vignette in a lens… Anyway, maybe you can even see the vignette a bit in the frames above (and maybe not) and really how it (in my opinion) does not detract from the frames in any way. If you can’t see it, then it’s not such a big deal now is it? Speaking of not a big deal: How does the lens perform at things other than F1.4?

(Canon 5Ds, 50ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/250th@F9)

At anything other than F1.4 the lens performs as flawlessly as you would expect. As I said before, most lenses stopped down work pretty well and the Sigma 20mm F1.4 is no different. That said, other than the frame above you won’t see any others super-stopped down from me with this lens. Did I shoot with the lens at a lot of different F stops? Sure. Does it do anyone any good to see a bunch of shots from this lens at F8? Not as far as I’m concerned, so back to the super shallow depth of field stuff.

(Canon 5Ds, 50ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/200th@F1.4. Phottix INDRA500 monoblocks with battery packs set to 1/32 power behind Tom shot through Paul Buff 14″ x 60″ strip boxes triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus III’s. Nikon SB-900 set to SU-4 mode set to 1/16th power over the front of Tom shot through the Phottix Luna 70cm Folding beauty dish. Lights triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus III on the camera hot shoe.)

That frame above was shot while doing some light tests for a project I had coming up at the time. The Phottix lights you see in the background are relatively new to me and I wanted to make sure they would do what I had in mind before going into a project blindly with them. They not only performed the test flawlessly, but they performed the job flawlessly too. So happy I’ve started using Phottix as my primary light kit. But I digress.

While we were there, I decided to snap one or two with the Sigma 20mm, even though the strip boxes were showing. Tom’s garage isn’t exactly a picturesque background but I liked the frame. Even further back for a setup shot gives quite the depth of field thanks to the 20mm F1.4’s depth of field being so shallow.

(Canon 5Ds, 50ISO, NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, 1/200th@F1.4. Phottix INDRA500 monoblocks with battery packs set to 1/32 power behind Tom shot through Paul Buff 14″ x 60″ strip boxes triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus III’s. Nikon SB-900 set to SU-4 mode set to 1/16th power over the front of Tom shot through the Phottix Luna 70cm Folding beauty dish. Lights triggered by Pocket Wizard Plus III on the camera hot shoe.)

Overall, I feel like what Sigma has done here is incredibly impressive. Nikon, Canon and Sigma all previously have had 20mm F1.8 lenses, but nothing like the F1.4 that the Sigma now produces. Is the lens for everybody? Maybe, maybe not. I think it’ll fit into a lot more photographers kits than anybody might realize though. You never know when such a wide angle fast prime will be needed. I originally said I was afraid it would be more of a specialty offering, but that turned out to be not at all the case in that I found quite a few uses for it in everyday shooting. With that, unfortunately during my two weeks with the lens I was unable to shoot any astrophotography due to the moon cycle. I can only imagine some of the cool things people will do using this lens for astrophotography.

All said and done is the Sigma 20mm F1.4 a keeper? I think it is, and I’m probably going to sign up with Roberts to be notified when the Nikon version becomes available. It’s not the smallest lens around as you saw above, but it is the fastest 20mm available and I can only imagine all the possibilities it’ll afford people that are interested in real wide, real shallow portraits. After the fact I wish I’d have shot more low low light stuff with the NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4, but the Canon 5Ds that I had wasn’t really the proper tool to do that. Of course that leaves something for all of you to do when you get them. Can’t wait to see it. More Soon.

Interested in pre-ordering? Do so at Roberts Camera here in Indy. They are good people and that’s where I buy about 95% of all my gear.

The post The NEW Sigma 20mm F1.4 Review… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Photo Courtesy of Phottix)

I teach plenty of workshops each year, and regularly teach lighting at Ivy Tech each semester. One of the hardest parts of doing this is the “Russian Roulette” of gear that students tend to go and buy either during a multi-part workshop or a semester of classes.

What do I mean by Russian Roulette? Simple. For the semester class, students have been required to get a speedlight or monoblock of some kind so that they could photograph things outside of the school studio. This helps in the sense that not everybody has to fight with at least 3 other classes to get studio time just to do their homework. The problem here is that very few would get a Nikon or Canon branded speedlight, and most would get the more generic of generics off of Ebay or Amazon. Not that there is anything wrong with a Neewer or Yonungo flash as it comes to putting out a blast of light, but everybody would come back with something vastly different that I would inevitably have to learn how to use in order to troubleshoot for them, and teach them how to use it in the first place. Then on top of that there were different generic brand triggers that would blanket a certain frequency meaning that one person’s trigger on channel A would trigger Pocket Wizards on Channels 1 and 2, and other folks’ triggers on all of their channels etc, etc, etc.

This is where John Scott from Roberts Camera enters the picture. I asked John at the end of last semester to find me some speedlights and triggers that I could recommend to my students that weren’t break-the-bank expensive, potentially had educational pricing and were the most light for the dollar. This is where John recommended Phottix, which as far as I was concerned at the time was just as generic as Neewer or Yonungo. (You’ve probably already guessed since you are reading this here that I was not only dead wrong about that whole generic thing, but I am planning on getting a bunch of Phottix gear to use at every shoot because of how great they were). Also, at the time of this writing Phottix and Roberts are not paying me for this review. I, in fact, asked to do a review on the Phottix gear because of how impressed I was with it. It’s all 100% me and my opinion good or bad. This one just happens to be outstanding.

(The big beautiful screen is great – if you flip the head over the screen flips too!)

So when I say generic, some may imply that it’s a bad thing. That’s not the case. As you may recall I’ve fallen in love with Sigma’s lens offerings in the last few years and for a long time they were considered a “generic” third party brand. I don’t consider them to be that way anymore, and while some may disagree I think everybody should take a look at Phottix the same way. I never would have given Phottix a second look had John not recommended them for me and my classes.

That said, you should know that when I think of high quality lighting I consider Profoto, Elinchrom, and Broncolor to be top-shelf. Paul Buff’s stuff is incredibly popular in the photography world and for good reason as it’s cheap, well built, effective and their service department is second to none. It also can easily be considered a “generic” as it’s about as common in the photography world as Hondas are in the world of cars. I’ve always felt as though Paul Buff gave an incredible dollar-to-light value which is why I own three Paul Buff Einstein heads. The Paul Buff Einsteins have been my go-to lights for years and it’s for all the reasons I mentioned a second ago. With that, I think that everything is all about to change now that I’ve had this Phottix gear in my hands.

So what makes the Phottix gear so special? Simple. It’s well built, consistent and it’s easy to use. That is on top of the fact that the ODIN triggers work with the Phottix Mitros+ Speedlights, Phottix Indra Studio heads AND the 7 Nikon Speedlights I already have. You can say to me that Pocket Wizard TT1’s and Tt5’s can do that too, but I’ll say no they can’t and that my TT1’s and TT5’s are about to be dumped for ODIN triggers. Here’s why:

(Chris from WhonPhoto thinks long and hard about the weight of the Nikon 200-400F4 on his shoulder)

(Nikon D4s, 160ISO, Sigma 35mmF1.4Art, 1/4000th@F1.4. Phottix Indra 360 bounced out of a 36″ umbrella set to TTL triggered by ODIN Transmitter on the camera hot shoe)

If you read the camera settings on that photo of Chris you’ll notice that the shutterspeed is well beyond the normal 1/250 sync limit on most studio/large lights. Phottix’s Indra monoblocks using the Phottix ODIN triggers are capable of both TTL and High Speed Sync (using a strobe at faster than 1/250th). Not only are they capable of TTL and High Speed Sync, but the ODIN triggers will do TTL and HHS with the Monoblock, a Phottix Mitros+ Speedlight, AND any Nikon or Canon speedlight simultaneously (system dependent obviously). This is all from the same trigger at the same time. Go ahead and read that again; I’ll wait……

Actually, better yet let me say it again hitting the keys a little harder. Monoblock TTL with High Speed Sync, Phottix Speedlight TTL with High Speed Sync, and Nikon (or Canon) Speedlight TTL with High Speed Sync (SB910, SB900, Sb800, SB700, SB600….doesn’t matter which model really) ALL AT THE SAME TIME, WORKING TOGETHER. Not only that, but would you believe that you can even zoom the flash head on your speedlights from the ODIN transmitter? Not just the Phottix branded speedlight, but the Nikon or Canon ones too. And the TTL really works too! Not just gets close kind of works, but it works easily as good as the Profoto B1Air I tested last year. To prove that, I went to the same location and shot the same model as I did with the Profoto for that review.

The B1500Air unit I tested, was only available in Canon at the time that I tested it, but I had a loaner Canon 5D Mark II when I did it. The unit performed flawlessly as you would expect for a strobe that costs $2,100 with no accessories. The 360ws Indra that I tested, costs less than half what the Profoto B1 500AIR TTL costs, and the Indra 500ws head is only a little more than half at $1200 retail (These are retail prices, Education pricing is still lower than that!). While the 360 only has 360ws as opposed to the 500ws of the Profoto, it was able to stand up to the challenge of proving itself to be accurately daylight balanced and overpower the sun using a proportionally smaller umbrella to the zeppelin I used with the Profoto review. I don’t quite recall how the the recycle time stacked up against the Profoto, but the time it took to recharge was really pretty minimal in the grand scheme of a photoshoot. (I don’t recall waiting longer than 2 seconds for my next shot which overpowering the sun on a September afternoon is pretty solid amirite?)

(Nikon D4s, 100ISO, Sigma 50mmF1.4Art, 1/8000th@F1.4. Phottix Indra 360 to camera left bounced out of a 36″ umbrella set to TTL, triggered from a Phottix ODIN on the camera’s hot shoe)

The Indra360 comes with a carrying case, and a cable for if you got the larger battery pack. I really love the size of the battery pack included with the 360 but the cable is permanently attached to the side which means I’m likely to break it in a short amount of time because….well…. it’s me. (I’ve been told that the Indra Engineers are working on a 360 Battery that has a detachable cable, but there is no ETA as to its arrival on the market). The Indra 500 has a cable detachable from both the head and the battery which in my opinion is a much better system. The carrying case that the 360ws Indra came with was large enough for the head, the cables, the battery pack, the ODIN Transmitter, an ODIN receiver, a MITROS+ Speedlight, a Nikon SB900 Speedlight, AND the reflector for the Indra monoblock. And there was still space leftover. There’s even more space, too, considering you don’t even need a Phottix ODIN receiver to use any of these since Phottix builds their receivers into the speedlights and studio heads. Anyway; is it a Manfrotto quality case? No, but is it impressive for something included with a Phottix Monoblock? Hell yes. The Indra felt like it was built very solidly. More solidly than my Paul Buff Einsteins anyway, which says a lot as I have been very happy with the Paul Buff Build Quality. If you dropped it at the right height or proper angle of course it would likely need repair, but how much gear do you own that you can drop carelessly without needing a repair?

I know the Profotos have the bulbs and modeling lights built in, and last I checked it was a few hundred dollars to repair a broken bulb. The Phottix uses a LED modeling light and the flashtube for the 500ws head is only $88! The Mitros Speedlight feels about as well constructed as a Nikon SB910, with the fit and finish of a Canon 600RX. Both Canon and Nikon’s flagship speedlights are constructed about equally well, but the Phottix uses the matte plastic look of a Canon, as opposed to Nikon’s slightly more glossy finish. That in no way shape or form should be an impacting detail on your buying decision though. If it is, you are likely in the wrong line of work to be shopping for a high end speedlight. That said, Canon’s 600EX-RT speedlight retails for $550, Nikon’s SB-910 retails for $550, and the Phottix Mitros+ retails for $399 BEFORE educational pricing, which Canon and Nikon don’t even offer.

To add insult to injury, you know how the Nikon and Canon (finally) have PC ports on their flashes? PC port being that 100 year old flash triggering system that is essentially pointless? Phottix has put a standard stereo jack on their flash, so if you have to use a pocket wizard to trigger the thing from 600 feet away for some reason, you can use the same cable you would on most studio heads that comes with every pocket wizard sold, and is even sold at Target, Best Buy, or Radio Shack if you are in a pinch. Seriously. It’s about time someone did this. Speaking of things someone did, the Phottix Indra heads use the Bowens flash mount too, which is one of the best there is. The modifiers are seated behind the flash tube inside the head, meaning there is absolutely zero light spill out the sides. Not that I mind adding tape to my Paul Buff modifiers on occasion, but you know….

(Sahweeeet case there Batman! Look at all the extra space!)

Recently I described the whole Phottix System to my buddy Mike. He told me that the system sounded too good to be true; especially when I described the Phottix Laso system for the Canon RT Speedlight system. The Laso system is for Canon only, and it controls the 600EX-RT speedlight system while also using receivers to add old Canon non-radio speedlights to the system as well. On top of that the Laso system can trigger the Phottix Studio heads at the same time. Phottix essentially went and undid the problems faced with Canon Speedlight users who have the Pocket Wizard TT1 and TT5 system, as well as added the functionality of controlling the studio lights too. A big issue with the Pocket Wizard TT1’s and TT5’s with the Canon Speedlight was Radio Frequency soak and the triggers not firing unless a radio shield was added to the flash (which Pocket Wizard provided). There is no such problem with the ODIN triggers because they use the 2.4ghz band. It was a little more expensive to do that, but for Phottix the customer comes first. While I don’t shoot Canon, and I haven’t seen this system in person I know that if I was a Canon shooter I would be friggin amped.

(Nikon D4s, 320ISO, Sigma 35F1.4Art, 1/800th@F16. Phottix Indra360 with 7″ standard reflector to camera right set to TTL, Phottix Mitros+ speedlight in the grass set to TTL to camera left aimed up at the subject zoomed to 105mm. Both lights triggered by Phottix ODIN transmitter from on the camera hot shoe)

Really to say that I was impressed by the Phottix equipment is an understatement. I’m impressed so much that my Pocket Wizard TT1’s and TT5’s are very likely going to find their way into the used department at Roberts very soon. No Joke. Of course the ODIN triggers aren’t dummy triggers, so the Pocket Wizard Plus III’s, X’s and II’s are going to stay in the bag for when needed, but I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to be making a set of Phottix Indra 500s my primary lighting kit very soon. There is only one complaint I have about the Indra 500 and that is that the strobe does NOT come with an AC adapter. It’s an extra $325 on top of everything else. So you can either get the Indra500TTL Kit, with a battery, you can just get a head, or you can get a head with a power adapter. Really I’d like to see the Indra’s come with a power adapter of some kind but it’s not up to me (obviously). One other thing that I noticed is that while the LED modeling light is daylight balanced and it’s plenty bright, if you are in a quiet room the heads have a fan in them that is audible on occasion. That can make using the LED light for video difficult if you’re trying to record audio as well. Is this an end of the world? No. Why? Because these strobes stand on their own and are some of the best heads I’ve found for the price. If you are thinking that $1200 is a lot compared to a Paul Buff Einstein’s $500 you are correct. But the Einsteins are dummy strobes. Set the power and walk away. For all the functionality of the $1200 Phottix Indra 500 you would have to buy a $2100 for a Profoto head that does the same stuff but doesn’t work with ANY of your speedlights.

As a teacher at Ivy tech, and someone who does Photo workshops regularly the Phottix System is a godsend. It truly is all the features I want wrapped into one system that is not only well built but cost effective. I’m incredibly thankful for John Scott at Roberts who with little information from me pointed me to Phottix to recommend to my students, and now to anyone reading this. As I’ve mentioned I loved the 360 so much that I’m starting my shopping list to add to/replace my existing kit. If you are a student or educator you should be sure to check out the education Selection with Roberts Camera by getting in touch with John Scott. Phottix has fantastic Educational pricing, and you should definitely consider them if you are in the market to buy lights, or recommend lights to your students.

The post Phottix Indra/Mitros+ Review… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The project, which is actually a private project with photos courtesy of NASA, includes over 8400 photos in high resolution – that’s 126 pages of intergalactic photo goodness! The majority of the images are unprocessed and come directly from NASA, and although many are underexposed or are lacking contrast, they can be fixed via editing – perfect for out of this world editing.

Here is a selection of just a few of the moon, earth, and equipment from various Apollo missions, but you can also view the entire gallery on the Flickr site, or you can see photos sorted by mission. Be warned though, you will lose a few hours browsing through the galleries. Be sure to like their Facebook and Instagram pages as well.

If you are hoping to shoot some images of the stars or the moon on this side of the atmosphere, I included some links to some of the best lenses for astrophotography, as well as a tripod/head combo that would do really well. Roberts also has an astrophotography class coming up on October 17th.

Feel free to leave a comment and let us know which image is your favorite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post These NASA images are out of this world! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Photo by David Lawrence

Photo by David Lawrence

Photo by John Conklin

Photo by John Conklin

Photo by Tony Stokes

Photo by Tony Stokes

Photo by Jake Hallock

Photo by Jake Hallock

The post Artomobilia 2015 – Ferrari images from the show appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The EOS M is the first mirrorless camera that Canon produced. It was announced in June 2012, and went on sale in October of that year.

Being that this camera was the first of it’s kind produced by the market-leading Canon, consumers had high hopes for the Canon EOS M, and the future of the lineup. Before the camera was officially released, many people had hoped for a full frame mirrorless camera, but that was not to be.

After the camera was released, the reviews started flowing in, and they all said one thing: the auto focus was terribly slow! Slow, sluggish, and not worth the price is what people were saying.

Canon did their best to listen to their customers, and released various firmware updates (2.02 is the last one, click here for link to download). This significantly vastly increased the AF speed of the camera, and also other various other improvements, but it still isn’t the best (or anywhere near the top) of the market. Here is a video that shows you how well it works. Note that this video was not produced by Roberts Camera.

Just so you know, the EOS M is basically a T4i camera (internally). It has an 18 megapixel CMOS sensor, a 1,040,000 dot LCD, a hotshoe (with external flash control), ISO 100-25,600, a touchscreen, and a microphone input.

So why did I buy one with my hard earned money? I’ll make it simple: the video features.

My wedding videography business is growing, and I need another camera to make sure I have all the angles covered for wedding ceremonies and receptions.

The EOS M can record up to 30 minutes on it’s SD card, and in 1080P at 24 frames per second as well! I’ll just be throwing it on a tripod in the back of the church, putting a mic on it, and hitting record – perfect! It is also small enough to use with many different stabilizers, AND I can use all of my Canon lenses! How? Canon also makes an EF adapter for this camera that allows you to use ANY EF or EF-S lens! Click here to see current prices and offerings from Used Photo Pro.

In case you don’t believe me, here are a few examples of what this camera can do. Note that this video was not produced by Roberts Camera.

Are you impressed yet? Do you know how little these powerful yet affordable cameras are actually selling for? Less than $300!

Click here to see what Used Photo Pro has in inventory!

*Canon has recently announced that the EOS M3 will be coming to North America, and Roberts Camera will be carrying it, as well as various EF-M lenses! I’ve posted links to the related products below.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the camera by leaving a comment.

Mark

The post Why I bought the Canon EOS M – Canon’s hidden video gem appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

If you missed this class this year, be sure to put it on your calendar for next year. It truly was a wonderful experience at the Indiana State Fair but a challenging one.

Also, look for our light painting class at Conner Prairie coming up in October. It will be awesome as well.

Photo By: Pauline Shypula

Photo By: Jack Speak

                                                                                                                                                                 Photo By: Jack Speaker

                                                                                                                                                                  Photo By: Bob Ferguson

                                                                                                                                                                 Photo By: Brian Roush

                                                                                                                                                                 Photo By: Tony Stokes

The post Images from the 2015 Indiana State Fair photography class appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

I certainly asked myself that question when I first started out with photography. The technique seemed out of reach for my tiny amount of knowledge and meager film camera, but after learning the basics (ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture) I was no longer intimidated.

Now with modern digital cameras, shooting the cosmos has never been easier. This post will introduce you to the concepts and techniques associated with creating long exposures and light paintings. Equipment and knowledge are your best friends here!

First you need equipment to take the photo…

Equipment:

#1: Camera – You will need a camera capable of shooting in manual mode – This will allow you to take long exposures, usually up to 30″ (” in this case means “seconds”).

#2: Tripod – A sturdy tripod will allow you to gain the maximum level of detail in your image and prevent any shaking of the camera. When searching for a tripod make sure that the tripod is rated high enough to hold your camera’s weight. If it is unstable and easily moved, it is hard to produce sharp images.

#3: Shutter release cable (optional) – This is a great tool to reduce camera shake and give you longer exposures than 30″ (most cameras are limited to 30″ in-camera shutter speeds)

Film Camera Shutter Release

Digital Camera Shutter Release with Timer

#4: Light Sources – Use your imagination. Anything that emits light is fair game! Here are some examples: Flashlights, Cell Phones, Glow Sticks, Toys, Lasers, and Neon Lights are just a few

Equipment is useless if you don’t know how to use it properly!

With the camera on the tripod and optional shutter release connected, let’s start by taking a test shot of your subject/environment to determine what adjustments need to be made before we introduce our own light. A good starting point is:

ISO 800 – Good for capturing stars but not too noisy

Shutter Speed 15″ – You will want to give yourself ample time to experiment with lights during the exposure

F/2.8 – usually you will want to leave the aperture as wide open as your lens will allow as light is scarce at night

Test Shot ISO 800, 30″, f/2.8 – Under Exposed

If your environment is well lit and your image is overexposed, start by lowering ISO to reduce unwanted noise. If your image is too dark, increase the shutter speed before increasing ISO to keep the noise at a minimum. For my image, I knew I would expose the tree with my high-powered flashlight so my goal was to get a good exposure for the stars. My ultimate goal here is to incorporate star-trails into the final image so I will need a exposure over 1.5 hours. This image is a 1 minute shot, notice that the stars aren’t in focus because the tree is, which is a downside to shooting wide open at f/2.8 with a foreground subject.

Close-up of Stars – Click to see clearly

Once you find a good balance of settings and your exposure is adequate, check the white balance of the image. Street lights and other light sources that you cannot control will always influence the image and now is a great time to get those in check before adding your own light.

Now that we have the correct exposure and white balance its time to play! Grab all of your light tools and put them to use, giving each one a thorough amount of attention. Try using different movements, shining it on things at different angles, and explore how colors can influence the photo. The more you use the light and become familiar with its effects, the sooner you are able to master and use it effectively. I usually take about 30-50 images to get the final result I am looking for. If you are taking 5 minute exposures that really adds up so give yourself a large window of opportunity as this is very time consuming.

Exposed for lighting effects

Lighting the tree from unique angles

Lighting the tree and foreground

Star trails are also easy to capture if you understand the basics, but you will need a shutter release cable. Start by finding your correct exposure for 5 minutes with a wide open aperture. Then increase your time to at least 1 hour for minimum trails. The difference from 5 min to 1 hour is about 3.5 stops, be sure to make the same increase in either your ISO or aperture to correct for the longer exposure.

Once you have a few shots under your belt, you can try your luck at introducing light painting while exposing for star trails. Here is my final image after many practice runs using lights before I attempted to do the final 1.5 hour exposure. It took me 3.5 hours on location and 65 images before I got the final product…It was time well spent.

The post An Introduction to Shooting the Cosmos and Light Painting appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Word around the web when this lens was announced spread like a California Wildfire. It was a momentous occasion if I do say so myself. The lens (as the title states) is the NEW Sigma 24-35 F2 lens, and the pomp and circumstance about its announcement was not because of it’s super bright F2 aperture. No, lots of lenses can do F2 but this lens is more than a F2 lens. Not a single one of those OTHER lenses is a zoom. To my knowledge there isn’t even a Variable Aperture zoom lens that has the F2 option at just one end. With this lens Sigma has announced, and at the time of this writing is preparing to deliver, the worlds first Full Frame Constant Aperture F2 Zoom lens. And what a Lens it is.

(Photo Courtesy of Robert’s Camera’s Website)

As per usual, this is where I very plainly state that neither Roberts Camera nor Sigma are paying me to write about this lens. Roberts Camera put me in touch with Sigma about getting the sample of this lens, but no money is changing hands here (unless of course I decide to buy one of these beauties, but then I’m still not getting paid, but am paying everybody else…). Also I have been asked if I’m one of the Sigma Pro’s as I’ve done several reviews for Sigma now. The answer is NO, I am not a “Sigma Pro”. I am just a regular photographer like anybody reading this and I only use what I trust and believe in to get the job done. If you ever wonder what that is, check out my GEAR page; there are a few things on there that might surprise you. Also I did borrow a 5D Mark III from Robert’s Camera for this review. I do not own one, nor do I own any canon equipment anymore; Roberts was very gracious in allowing me to borrow the camera for the week I had the Sigma 24-35 F2. The use of the Canon 5D3 was for the sole purpose of this review as the Nikon mount 24-35 F2 was unavailable. (In fact at the time of this writing there were rumored to be only 6 24-35 F2 lenses in the country). Now that that disclaimer ugliness is out of the way; lets get started.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 250ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@35mm. 1/2500th@F2)

First off I must say I was a bit skeptical about this lens. Not because it seemed too good to be true though. Lets face it we live in science fiction; I can call my grandma face to face via facetime, and my D4s can shoot at 400k ISO. This IS the future and anything is possible! Frankly though, I already own a 35mm F1.4 and a 24mm F1.4. Why do I want a 24-35 F2? To answer that question, let me begin by saying who I think this lens is for. Event shooters, and photo journalists. Folks that need to move quickly that can not carry more than one bag worth of gear with them. When I’m shooting on assignment for a newspaper or news agency I generally have as light of a kit as possible so I can move where I need to move, when I need to move and how I need to move. The Think Tank bags stay in the car, but the Belt Pack goes and if it doesn’t fit in the belt it stays behind (except the 200-400 or 400F2.8 of course). This lens is for that purpose. Why carry 3 lenses when I can carry one? AND that ONE is less than a thousand dollars! As perspective my My Sigma 35F1.4 cost around $900 and my Nikon 24F1.4 cost in the ballpark of $2200! (The Sigma 24F1.4 which I’ve never used runs $850). So a 24mm, 28mm and 35mm F2? All in one lens? YES PLEASE!

(Canon 5D Mark III, 6400ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2 @24mm. 1/40th@F2)

Sometimes you want that F1.4, but a majority of the time sacrificing a little bit of light for the ability to carry only one lens instead of three is a pretty reasonable exchange in today’s age of camera’s. My D4s as mentioned above can go somewhere along the lines of 400,000ISO and that’s absolutely insane. That also means that 6400ISO or 12,800ISO at F2 is pretty reasonable today. Of course the goal is to keep your ISO as low as possible, but with today’s cameras you can still make it work pretty easily. That said in low light the Sigma 24-35 F2 performed very admirably. I did have a few frames out of focus, but a majority of those were in the lowest of light. Also keep in mind I shot this review using a Canon 5D Mark III instead of my Nikon equipment that I use almost daily. Not owning canon equipment anymore It’s hard to tell whether any focus issue I had was with the Sigma lens, or the 5D3 (I feel like they were more 5D3 than 24-35 F2). The shot above, and below were at dusk, and while the camera lens combo did mis-focus a few frames that evening, it was only a very few and the ones that it did get were absolutely Spot On.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 6400ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@35mm. 1/40th@F2)

The lens focused fast and accurately overall. There really isn’t any wait time for the lens to go from infinity to close focus, which is great as there is nothing worse than seeing a shot you want and then having to wait for your lens to catch up to your creativity. I didn’t do a ton of shooting action with the Sigma 24-35 F2 as that’s not really what the lens is for but the little bit of action that I did shoot with the lens came out predictably sharp. Again I feel like anything that was out of focus was either a 5D3 error, or somewhere between the camera body and operator…

(Canon 5D Mark III, 100ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@35mm, 1/1000th@F2)

The lens itself is incredibly well built; a lot like my Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art or my Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art lenses. There was never a thought in my mind that while walking around with the lens it was going to get bumped and just not work. This thing feels like it is built to take a beating; not that you would want to beat on it intentionally of course, but it gave me no indication that it would fail me in the field as a full time pro. Also the thing is HUGE. Not just huge as in insanely popular, but physically huge. In fact it’s almost as large and heavy as my Nikon 24-70 F2.8! Something that makes it truly worth carrying in the field though is the look that it provides while not adding a ton of weight to the kit. I know personally as mentioned above I don’t carry my F1.4 lenses on some assignments just because of the extra weight, but this lens would be worth carrying because it provides a slightly different perspective on things and in the game of photography making photos that look different than the other shooters out there with you makes a better chance for you to secure jobs. No client wants the same thing everybody gets, they want something unique and the New Sigma 24-35 F2 can easily help provide that while simultaneously making your gear load a little lighter.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 400ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@24mm. 1/50th@F2. Light provided by the open garage door and the light in the garage)

I think by now you have all realized that I was and am exceptionally impressed by this lens. While it is very true that there were a few occasions where a 24-70 would have been a much better choice where I was walking around shooting, this gave me a nice range of three lenses all in one to walk around with. All at F2! I should also mention that I did try quite a few different apertures with this lens, but a majority of the shooting I did was at F2. Why you ask? Because you don’t buy a F1.4 or F2 lens to shoot them at F10; any regular lens can shoot at F10 just fine. You buy them to shoot at F2; you know that place where no other zoom lens can go?. That doesn’t mean everything NEEDS to be shot at F2, I just feel that this being the only Full Frame F2 zoom lens in existence warrants the F2 be put through it’s paces.

Canon 5D Mark III, 100ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@ 35mm 1/3200@F2)

So this lens is incredibly sharp. So sharp in fact that you wonder if it’s a prime on your camera instead of a Zoom which is fantastic because as you can see below the sharpness on this lens is incredible. In my opinion Zooms have always been about a half a step behind the sharpness of Prime’s, and for a long time it was a bigger gap than that but technology has done wonders for photography. Some of them out there are exceptionally sharp but I feel like this NEW Sigma 24-35 F2 has set a new standard on sharpness for zooms. While I think my Nikon 24-70F2.8 is incredibly sharp even at F2.8, there is a certain sharpness about this 24-35 F2 wide open at F2 that I just can’t put my finger on. I would have loved to have seen this lens perform on a Nikon D810, or the new Canon 5Ds body vs a 5D Mark III but in no way was the 5D3 detrimental to my evaluation.

(100% Crop of the above Sunflower. Be sure to click it to make sure you see it actually at 100%)

As an overall I found this lens incredibly impressive, and frankly it needed to be considering it’s the worlds first full frame F2 zoom lens. I figure nobody has done this for a reason, but Sigma has stepped up to the plate and said lets go. Sigma has really stepped up their game in the last couple years and I never thought I’d be seeking out Sigma Glass to add to my kit over the Nikon Counterparts, but I have. Their sharpness and build quality has come light years recently and it’s something that both Canon and Nikon should not be ignoring as both Canon and Nikon glass is usually significantly more expensive than any of the Sigma counterparts. Did I find the focal range lacking? yes and no. Like I said above, there were occasions that my 24-70 would have been a better choice, but at the same time this lens was a fine blend of Prime Lens and Zoom. With a prime you zoom with your feet, and with the NEW Sigma 24-35 F2 you should still do that. This lens wasn’t meant to be a replacement lens for everything in your bag, but an alternative for carrying all of your wide fast primes at one time. Would I consider taking this lens on more road trips vs the 24-70? Absolutely.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 320ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@24mm. 1/60th@F2)

In conclusion this lens Rocks. Yes it’s big, but it’s also fast and really it’s 3 fast Prime lenses in one zoom lens. It’s not an all out replacement for a 24-70 as a workhorse lens by any stretch, nor is it a replacement for my Nikon 14-24F2.8, but if you are out shooting and want that fast prime look without carrying multiple prime lenses this is definitely the lens for you. In my opinion Sigma has once again knocked one out of the park with this lens and I can’t wait to see what they surprise the market with next. I’ve been eagerly awaiting an 85F1.4 Art, and rumor has it that it’s in the plan somewhere over the next three years so I’m going to keep my eyes open for that. Until then though there is not a single reason not to reap the benefits of Sigma’s labor with glass like their NEW 24-35 F2. Whether you are someone just looking to get started in Fast Primes, Or you own all the fast primes already and just want one lens to carry in your bag for a light kit instead of all three; I think this is a great lens for almost any shooter You’ll still have to zoom with your feet to get the most out of it like any of your primes, but that’s also a small price to pay for such a great aperture, sharpness and focal length options in such a one stop shop.

(Canon 5D Mark III, 2500ISO, NEW Sigma 24-35 F2@28mm. 1/400th@F2)

If you’re interested in looking at one of these lenses, or even buying one check them out at Roberts Camera here in Indianapolis. They are supposed to be available starting July 30th of 2015 for a retail price of $999. Sigma also has Educational Discounts on a lot of their stuff, so if you are a student make sure you log into Robert’s website to see the educational Pricing info to save yourself a few bucks. When I first started in photography I had a few Sigma lenses, and my goal was always to get to a point where I would get rid of them all and have nothing but Nikon glass. Last year I sold my Nikon 50mm F1.4 for a Sigma 50mm F1.4 and would never look back. Sigma has impressed me so much that when people tell me they want to buy a lens but aren’t sure they can afford the expense of Canon or Nikon, I always recommend Sigma without any hesitation. Their new Contemporary, Sport and Art lenses are tough to beat at any price point. I greatly look forward to seeing how they shake up the industry next. Happy Shooting. More soon.

The post The New Sigma 24-35 F2 Art Review! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Well, you’re in luck. We will be releasing a series of creative DIY projects to bring new life to old gear that makes it functional in it’s own new way. Here at Used Photo Pro and Roberts we have several ideas that we’re excited to share with you!

Maybe it’s the spring-like weather we’ve been having this summer that’s influencing this decision, but the first DIY project is going to be making planters using old camera accessories.

This is a great quick fun idea that can be done relatively inexpensively. I purchased small potted plants at a local store for around $3-$5 each. They even had some available with a water-trap tray attached to the bottom, so you don’t have to worry about any leaks (as long as you don’t totally over water it) which makes it convenient and low-maintenance. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so you can either pick out your favorite plants and find gear that could hold it properly, OR find your gear first and then shop for the plant with the dimensions of your item in mind. Depending on if you use your own personal gear, or use items you find and purchase from us, you can create a lot of unique planters for a reasonable cost. Perfect for any photography lover who wants to add some life or a little touch of personality to a space!

For some examples, I used a few old bellows hood shades and some hard lens cases. Once again, I recommend getting the small pre-potted plants that have the water trap on the bottom to minimize any  leaks in the interiors of the accessories if you are concerned about it.

It wasn’t too hard for me to find combinations of items that would hold plants inside, just try to think of items that have enough hollow space to hold the planter, and use your imagination. I have always liked the way the old accordion style shades have looked, so I thought that was a perfect way to get to display them and give them a new purpose. They are also great to use in pairs to create different arrangements. Another accessory that is great to use in multiples for this project is lens cases. With the great variety of sizes and shapes of those, they are fun to mix and match or even use as a centerpiece. Remember, you can save more money by buying “as is” or “inoperable” items, and since they already need parts or repair to work, you don’t have to worry about accidentally messing up the interior of equipment and accessories.

Click to view slideshow.
Stay tuned for upcoming releases of other new DIY projects. In the meantime, feel free to browse UsedPhotoPro or eBay for products that inspire you, or dig through your old gear, and show us what you come up with! Here is a link that you can use to find inoperable or as-is items on Used Photo Pro.

Have fun and stay creative,

Lisa

The post DIY: New Uses for Old Camera Gear appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Nikon D4s, 2500 ISO, Reflex Nikkor 500cm/5 (500mmF5) 1/1250@F5)

It’s the second year we’ve done this, and it surely is an event we would love to bring back next year also. As usual we hosted a classroom session before the game where everybody got to have Walt or myself look at their cameras after talking about the handout regarding shooting professional sports and which autofocus settings to use to get the best results. I did shoot a little bit at the game (the shot above being testament) but being that I was there to help people I shot mostly with my antique Manual Focus 500 F5 to see what kinds of neat backgrounds I could get. Towards the end of the game when everybody was getting tuckered out, I did shoot a little with my 400 F2.8, but not as much as you might think.

We had a great group of students who asked a ton of great questions and shot a bunch of great photos! Thanks again to everybody who came out to the workshop! We are hoping to have a basketball workshop and a football workshop to put on the schedule for later this year so keep your eyes open here, or at the Roberts Camera Education page. Thanks again to everybody that came out to the workshop and it kills me that we can’t post EVERY shot that we were sent from the game, but I hope to see you all again later this year at some more! Check out some of their work!

(Photo by Walt Kuhn with a Nikon D4 and 600mmF4)

Photo by Jim Thorpe with a Canon Rebel T2i and 70-200F2.8

Photo by Daniel Dugan with an Olympus E-PL5 and 40-150mmF2.8 Lens

Photo by Alan Jung with a Nikon D7000 and 120-400 F4.5-F5.6 lens

The post Indy Eleven Soccer Workshop Recap! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Fathertographer: the guy who doesn’t care how beat up his camera bag is, or how his neck strap makes weird sweat lines on his neck, or how people look at him when he contorts his body awkwardly in public; he just wants to get the shot of the people he loves so much!

We know it’s not a real word, but the fabled fathertographer is real! So real, in fact, that more and more dads are embracing photography as a means to relate to their children and their spouse, as photography is both a great hobby and a creative outlet to stressful jobs, busy lives, and more.

This year’s Father’s Day is fast approaching, and we know that Dads can be ridiculously hard to shop for. Here are 5 of our favorite Father’s Day gift ideas for 2015 for the “fathertographer” in your life!

For the stylish Dad, isn’t this bag stylish!? It’s made by Ona, and this bag is the Leather Union Street. It’s is designed to carry a 15-inch laptop, a camera, up to four lenses and small personal items. Perfect for travel, right?

Speaking of travel, every dad would love this portable power pack as a Father’s Day gift. It features a whopping 20,800 mAh battery, and can charge 2 phones AND 2 tablets – at the same time. We all know the best gifts are ones that the whole family can benefit from, right?

Does your Dad enjoy music as well as photography, or creating home movies or slideshows out of the shots he gets with his DSLR? These Sennheiser headphones, the HD 380 Pro, are an excellent pair of headphones that get great reviews by audiophiles and professionals alike. Various people write “Amazing for anything I listen to!”, “One of the best headphones for the price,” or “Amazing value, great sound!”. What more could your Dad want in a Father’s Day gift?

The HD 380 Pro professional monitoring headphone is designed to exceed the demands of the professional environment. The HD 380 Pro provides an extended frequency response with increased sound pressure level (up to 110 dB) for accurate sound reproduction in demanding applications. Not only that, but the lightweight, secure and rugged design offers a comfortable listening experience for long recording sessions.

Accessories include a detachable, 3.2-foot coiled cable (extendable up to 9.8 ft.), a carrying case, and a screw-type 1/4″ (6.3 mm) jack adapter.

Is your fathertographer is more of an iphoneographer type photographer (try saying that three times fast!)? A new case for his iphone might be a great Father’s Day gift! The Manfrotto KLYP+ Bumper case would make a great gift, as it allows Dad to use his iPhone for even more! The KLYP+ case comes in three different colors (black, white, and red). Solid, stylish and extremely useful, this case guarantees maximum protection from scratches and falls. It enables you to shoot perfect artistic pictures and videos thanks to its dedicated line of accessories. It comes with a kickstand, which provides basic support to the case and easy connection to any tripod thanks to a 1/4” thread attachment. This case is the core of the overall KLYP+ system, allowing the connection of interchangeable lenses, a LED light with a tripod mount and a PIXI mini tripod, or other small tripods, like this one.

If you are still stuck for a present for your Dad this Father’s Day, a great present that everyone can use would be a private lesson with one of our instructors! If you are looking for a personal learning experience that is specific to your camera and your needs, schedule a two-hour private lesson with one of our great instructors. You choose the location, the time and the topics covered. You will get the one-on-one attention to address all of your needs and questions and this lesson will be tailored to your camera or area of specialty. We offer private instruction in: photography fundamentals, digital camera operation, how to use flash lighting, portraiture, Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Lightroom, marketing and self-promotion, how to eliminate blurry photos and much, much more! Private lessons are set up individually but packages are available! In addition to private lessons, we offer a full class schedule.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this post about great Father’s Day gifts for 2015. All products can be found at www.robertscamera.com, and many great used gift ideas can be found at www.usedphotopro.com!  You can also find lots of other ideas when you follow us on Pinterest! Check out our Fathertographer board for more gift ideas for dad!

The post 5 Father’s Day gifts every fathertographer will love! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Technology is a fact of life. Many say that technology is killing the photography industry in the sense that the better cameras are making it easier for ANYONE to go out and make awesome photos. While technology IS in fact getting better, I firmly believe that the technology is much more allowing of good photographers to make images that have never been make-able before, instead of anybody going out and being able to take some good photos. With a Majority of the public, you are just getting cleaner, clearer crappy photos really. My Nikon D4s is capable of reaching 409,600 ISO. The only time I have EVER been to that level was to make sure the camera did it, and you were all along for the ride when I did. The point is that with a lot of cameras you can just walk around out in the dark and not worry about little old things like Tripods. Luckily Manfrotto recognizes that photographers who are worth their salt still not only use tripods, but rely on them regularly. Just because the Nikon D4s can reach 400K+ ISO, doesn’t mean the goal isn’t to keep the camera at the lowest ISO possible. Their Manfrotto 190 Go! tripod with X-PRO Geared 3 Way head and Adapto body are a true culmination of the increase in technology when applied to tripods. Below here are all the reasons why.

(Manfrotto 190 Go! 4 section aluminum Tripod. Photo Courtesy Roberts Camera’s Website)

(XPRO 3 Way geared Head with Adapto Body. Image Courtesy of Robert’s Cameras website)

This is normally where I state that I am not paid to write this review. Not by Manfrotto, or by Roberts Camera who arranged it. That’s normal. In this case it’s still the case. I am not paid to write this, so it’ll get the good, AND the bad. With that said as usual. Lets get started.

(Nikon D800, 100ISO, Nikon 24-70 2.8 @ 62mm, 25 seconds @ F20. White balance set to 10k Kelvin, Sig Trailside lit by Inova Bolt Flashlight to camera right, pulsed through a white paper snoot. Camera on the new Manfrotto 190 Go! tripod with XPRO 3 Way geared head with Adapto body using the 90 degree angle bar to get the camera looking straight at the ground. Standard 5lb sand bags on each leg)

So the image above is a light painting. Light painting can be done a few different ways, but I prefer Dave Black‘s style of light painting in that I use my flashlight in order to illuminate an object in the way that I want it to be seen. Sure you can aim the light at the camera and draw things, and that is definitely an art form to itself, but I prefer this. Something I like about my personal Manfrotto Tripod (something I’ve used enough the model number has worn off… if it ever had one) is that it allows me to remove the center section and mount the camera at a 90 degree angle with the legs. Manfrotto has taken this technology to the NEXT LEVEL with the 190 Go!, and in my opinion this is one of the coolest tripod innovations I’ve ever seen. With my tripod, I need to remove the center section completely, and then slide it into the tripod from the side. Usually it’s easiest to disconnect the camera in doing this. With the 190 Go! it’s literally a motion of lifting the camera up until it clicks, and then leaning it to the side in an almost free range of motion until it clicks down again. You can adjust the length away from the legs accordingly at that point. It’s super slick, and makes shooting straight down onto the floor incredibly quick and painless. The X-Pro head also was incredible because it was very easy to make 1 handed adjustments either in part or as a whole to the frame. Either twisting the knobs to make very minor adjustments, or even being able to use on hand with the lever system to make larger adjustments. Any Manfrotto I’ve used previously has required two hands to make major adjustments so this is a MAJOR improvement in my opinion. In terms of quick and painless though this is not even the biggest bit for the 190 Go! and X-PRO 3 way geared head with Adapto body. The tripod is made of Aluminum and is supposed to be light weight enough to go anyplace. While the initial test in my basement with the Trailside here was fun, that’s not the anywhere I felt like the 190 Go! deserved.

(Setup for the Corvette Shot)

I take the term anywhere a bit seriously. The thing only weighs 3.7 pounds and it’s supposedly 4cm smaller than it’s bigger brother with clasps for the legs as opposed to twists so it’s great for getting around, so lets put it someplace a little different yea? The name of the game is making different pictures right? I put the camera in the back of a 1992 Corvette. I happen to know where to find one that I am allowed to have a bit of “creative liberty” with so I exercised that here. The 190 Go! fit wonderfully into the back and with some sand bags (inside of the contractors bags to keep the interior of the car clean) the thing was incredibly sturdy. The X-PRO Geared 3 Way head with Adapto Body was firm and didn’t move at all during the project, which is fantastic. It also helped line up the shot by being able to nudge the camera ever so slightly in any direction with the micro adjustment knobs.

(Nikon D800, 200 ISO, Nikon 14-24 2.8 @ 14mm, Aperture Priority, 8 seconds @ F13. Interior lights of car left on to help illuminate interior. Speedlights not used due to the fact that the Corvette has a transparent top, meaning no place to bounce that wasn’t black or red. New Manfrotto 190-Go! tripod with X-PRO 3 Way geared head with Adapto Body, 5lb sand bags inside of contractors bags to help protect the interior of the car. Camera Triggered with iPhone 5s Via CamRanger in 10 shot bursts, also allowing real time preview to make adjustments).

As you can see Shannon was even in on this one. A Corvette ride should be shared by all and luckily the option to take her was there. It’s an older car not without problems, but it was enjoyable either way and it showed that the Manfrotto 190 Go! truly can go just about anywhere. (There’s not exactly a whole lot of trunk space in one of these things). I used the CamRanger to trigger the camera , and I had it set to a 10 frame burst so I could hit it once and just let it go. Why didn’t I just do a time lapse? Honestly because I didn’t want to have to look through eleventy billion frames, but only wanted to set the camera sequence to go when there were lights coming up. All in all I feel like it was a pretty solid run and I may have to find another car to try it again. Before we get into that though lets talk more about the 190 Go!’s ability to actually Go. This was putting it into a small place so now lets actually carry it someplace.

(Nikon D4s, 250ISO, Nikon 14-24F2.8N@19mm. 1/6th@F11. New Manfrotto 190GO Tripod with XPRO 3 Way Geared head with Adapto Body)

A few of the selling points on the Manfrotto 190 Go! were the fact that it weights little to nothing (3.7lbs as I said), as well as it’s a pro tripod that’s got Manfrotto’s twisty legs on it. The twisty legs are great because they essentially allow you to operate and control the legs with one hand, as opposed to the latch system where usually you have to pop the latch and then move the legs (if the legs don’t just slide out like mine usually do) and then re-latch the legs. With the twist locks you can do it all with one hand. Grab the lock, twist to unlock, slide the leg out and twist again to re-lock, all in one motion. As I mentioned in my last blog, I trekked up to the top of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway grand stands for the shot you see above. It’s not the same shot that I had in my last blog, but I’m at a toss up as to which I like better so I figured why not have them both. The 190 Go! made climbing the 7 flights of stairs to get to the roof much more manageable. At that point every ounce counts, and I was carrying a Nikon D4s, D800, graduated neutral density filters, a Nikon 14-24, 24-70, and a 500 F5 mirror lens. The 190 Go! was a dream for this. Once I got up there I was one of only two photographers that had a tripod (out of the two dozen or so that were shooting the sunrise in some way, from some part of the grand stands). I was the ONLY one however that had graduated neutral density filters. While they weren’t used in every frame (like the one above actually), they were very useful it seems for the files delivered to the client.

(The D800 on the Roof of the Grand Stands using the 190GO, XPRO head and some ND filters)

In the end I have to say that I am blown away by the Manfrotto 190 Go! with X-PRO Geared 3 Way Head with Adapto Body. In fact I’m likely to get one of each sometime this month from my pals at Roberts Camera because I liked it so much. It’s incredibly light weight and the geared head has restored my faith in using them in every day situations. A lot of photographers prefer ball heads because they can adjust quickly, but the XPRO 3 Way geared head has added micro adjustment ability with speed to every on location situation. This tripod and head combo hands down crush the older Manfrotto studio series that I normally carry around with me and that is priceless. If you’re looking for a tripod you actually want to carry around with you that’ll hold all your gear without trouble? A professional grade tripod that weighs only 3.7lbs? The Manfrotto 190 Go! with X-PRO 3 way geared head and Adapto Body are for you.

Look to Robert’s camera’s website, call them, or walk into their store to look at them. I think you’ll be blown away by Manfrotto’s latest offering too.

More Soon.

The post The Manfrotto 190 Go! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Let’s begin:

Modifiers are what are used to control and shape light, depending on what type of effect you are going for. Most standard studios use classic umbrellas.

As shown in the photograph below is a large silver umbrella with a black cover; the cover keeps the spillage of light to a minimum. Umbrellas come in various surfaces: white, gold, silver and translucent. The translucent, or shoot-through, is most popular for its ability to give you a soft light. The downside of using umbrellas is that you have minimal control of the light.

PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay

Below is a standard three-light setup with umbrellas. The key light is used for the overall modeling of the face, the fill light is used to fill in the shadow created by the key light and is at camera position. The key light is also known as the main light. The key light in most cases is at a 45 degree angle and at least 3 to 4 feet from the subject.  The third light is a small background light which is 4-5 feet from the background, which also can be positioned off to the side of the background to create deeper or softer shadows.  This light is used to give depth to your image, so it does not appear flat. This basic lighting setup is good for individual portrait sessions, head and shoulder, and three quarter length. It also can be used for small family groups. Please understand that lighting is an exercise in creativity, so put a door on that box and walk through it.

If you have questions about this or other lighting schemes, contact me at: jwillis@robertscamera.com

Or call me at: 317-636-5544

Tune in next week when I’ll be covering soft boxes.

The post Studio Portrait Lighting 101: The Umbrella appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

I said to myself, “uh oh, this is going to be an odd product…run the other way…”, but then….too late…he caught me…..and am I glad he did!

This little product was the Savage Macro Art Extension Tube. We are all accustomed to the “extension tube sets” that have come and gone over the years. This one is different. It is NOT a “set.” It is a zoom extension tube! The Nikon mount version zooms from 51-77mm and the Canon version zooms from 40-56mm. I kinda wish I had the Nikon version, but I just can’t get it on my Canon body.

This gadget allows me to compose macro images without doing the extension tube shuffle – I can just use my new extension tube, with zoom! As an added bonus it is really well made, and is easy to use.

Want to chat more about it, please feel free to call myself (Jody), John Scott or Nick Henry in the Pro Sales Division of Roberts at 800-726-5544!

The attached images are as follows:

Full frame image with a Canon 7D MK II and 100/2.8 Macro.

Full frame image with the same set up but also utilizing the Savage Macro Art Extension Tube at 40mm.

Full frame image with the same set up but also utilizing the Savage Macro Art Extension Tube at 56mm.

The post Savage Macro Art Extension Tube appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Another great location to check out is Grandstand “E,” especially during qualification days. Grandstand “E” isn’t usually open during weekday practice sessions so taking advantage of it on the weekends is a must. The best light is in the afternoon and there is no fence to block your view, but be prepared to pan very quickly. That’s okay. Zoom in, take chances. You’ll get it! Also look around at your surroundings. Not everything happens on the track. There is much to see and do besides the cars and drivers. There are some crazy fans all dressed up and they love to have their picture taken.
Hang out by Gasoline Alley. All the drivers and cars enter through there and most will stop for a quick photo or autograph. Be ready! Things happen quickly and when your favorite driver comes walking by is not the time to realize you don’t have your camera set up right. And finally, the Media Center can be a prime spot to hang out. Drivers go there to give press conferences and usually have time for a photo.

If you are in a spot where there is fence between you and the cars, use a “slow” shutter speed of around a 1/40th to a 1/60th of a second. This will blur the fence, but don’t be upset that you don’t get every single shot perfect. If you are like most photographers, you will probably like less than 10 percent of the photos that you take.

If you don’t own the perfect lens to take race car photos, you may want to think about renting a lens. This option is fairly inexpensive and can give you the equipment you need for a fraction of the cost. Roberts has a wide variety of lenses and cameras available in our rentals department to meet your needs. You can also buy IMS garage badges now. The cost is $150 but it gives you access to the cars and drivers.

Finally, a few parting tips for race day:

• Be sure to shoot wide and tight. Shoot the spectacle and the crowds, but also get in tight to get the best race action.
• Bring lots of memory cards and batteries.
• And finally, walk around. The race goes on for a long time so there is a lot to see and cover. Your memories will last a lifetime.

5-24 May , 2009, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Helio Castroneves
©2009, Walt Kuhn, USA
LAT Photographic

The post Shooting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway without a credential appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Most everybody does an incredible job working against any adversity with any equipment challenges they might have in order to  have some incredible photos to display afterwards. It’s really great seeing all the emails pouring in afterwards about how much fun the experience was, as well as with some of the great photos captured! With that said, lets get started with a shot that I took. I took my camera that night because I had never photographed the Indy Fuel before. As I was there teaching I only shot 95 frames of the entire game. Of those 95 frames 55 of them were of the fireworks in the beginning! (Look! Squirrel!)

(Nikon D4s, 3200ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@120mm. 1/1000th@F2.8)

So we all had a great time. It all really worked out too since the group ended up migrating to the ADA section (mostly for wheelchairs) and had a great spot at the glass with some cushy chairs as well. Talk about added bonus!

Unfortunately there isn’t the space to put a bunch of photos up from everybody, but here is a selection of some of the stuff that was shot that evening. Hopefully we will have our next adventure planned again soon, so that way the experience and joy can be had by many more. Special thanks to the Indy Fuel and to John and Kelly over at Whiteshark Photographic for helping arrange the whole thing and of course Roberts who had the idea to get it all together. If you’re interested in participating in a workshop we are in the planning stages of several, so keep your eyes peeled!

(Photo by Mike Morey at Downshift Photo)

(Photo by Bob Weins)

(Photo by Bill Heath)

The post Hockey Workshop Recap… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Robert Cappa once said, “If your photos aren’t good enough, then you aren’t’ close enough.”  Dude not only talked the talk, but walked the walk considering he stepped on a land mine in WWII, but that’s a whole other story.  Point being that sometimes you just need to get closer to your subject in order to make the photo that you want to make.  This can easily be taken to an extreme in the case of Macro Photography, or Micro Photography depending on who you are and what brand you shoot.  Usually when I’m using my Nikon 60mm F2.8N macro through I find that some of the littlest things I can’t photograph.  That is until now…

OK. So extension tubes have been around for a long time.  Like; Forever.  So when Nick Henry at Roberts called and asked how I felt about extension tubes I really didn’t know what to say.  Then of course he told me this was a new Savage Extension tube that zoomed AND kept all camera functions like metering and autofocus; but also ZOOMED.  Wait whaaaaaaaaaaat?

SO as usual; no I’m not paid to write this up for Savage or Roberts Camera but the folks at Roberts have always been great to me and they will be great to you if you call them or walk in the store.  Always ready to answer questions, always ready to help out.  Great group.  Anyway.  What’s the deal with an extension tube?  Simple.  A Micro or Macro lens gets you only so close to your subject and usually only reproduces an object at 1:1 magnification in relation to you cameras sensor.  Canon has a 5:1 reproducing lens called the MP-65, but honestly I don’t feel like it’s very good (yes I’ve used it, many times) and Olympus has my current favorite macro ever inside the Olympus TG-2 Tough camera, or just the Tough Series point and shoot with their Microscopic Macro mode.  Regardless, Savage has done here what should have been done 10 years ago. They have turned a bunch of little pieces of photo kit into just one.

(Catnip)

 Extension tubes are simple.  They use your lens like a magnifying glass by moving it away from the sensor to make the image larger.  The larger image becomes larger than your cameras sensor thus magnifying it.  Savage basically said, why are we carrying 3 or more pieces of extra gear when we can carry just one? I totally agree with them, and their new 55-71mm zooming extension tube (40-56mm for Canon) is phenomenal.

(A Dried out Rose petal)

I had their extension tube for a week, but I didn’t have as much time to work with it as I wanted as I needed to leave town on a job for a few days right in the middle.  Then I got sick at the end of that week which as anybody who has ever gotten sick before knows isn’t conducive for doing fine detail work.  Unless of course you are all interested in seeing a super duper close up of a used kleenex?  Anyway, I did get a good handle on the savage and it does exactly as claimed in that it keeps ALL of your camera’s functionality in autofocus, metering, exposure and ect while using it.  It doesn’t even have trouble doing it either, which is wonderful.

(Salt on a Mini Pretzel)

That’s your standard mini pretzel.  As seen here.   So yea, with just my Nikon 6omm Macro that’s pretty impressive yea?  I didn’t do any focus stacking of tiny objects for this review because as I mentioned earlier I came down with a case of the plague while I was doing this.  That said, stacking isn’t dependent on the extension tubes so really the image quality with just the tubes is important here and for an extension tube that goes from 55-71mm for Nikon or 40mm-56mm for Canon.

(Ballpoint Pen Writing on paper)

So I’ve said lots of great things about the Savage Macro Art Zooming Extension tube, but are there any negatives?  Not really anything super important.  The only thing I can think of as a negative is that the Macro Art Zooming Extension tubes do NOT work with plastic mount lenses.  You need a metal mount lens in order to even mount the Tube on your camera.  Not a big deal for me, but those looking to use some DX lenses would be in for a shock there.  Also you notice there is just a little bit of Vignetting in that frame of the writing above, but it’s not bad.  That’s at the full 71mm extension as well.

Overall I’m thrilled with the Savage Macro Art Zooming Extension tube set.  Instead of having three bits of gear in my bag, I now can carry just one.  I haven’t purchased one yet, but I’m seriously considering it for when I have macro assignments, which are becoming more numerous.  If you’re interested in Macro and just want to carry one piece of gear instead of multiples, and keep all of yoru caemras metering and autofocus in tact, this is the product for you.  With it ranging from $169-$189 depending on what camp you are in, it’s a bargain for what it provides as well.

If you’re looking to buy one, check them out at Roberts Camera here in Indy.  Call, go in or go to their website.  They are good people.

More Soon.

The post Getting Close… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

These are sad days for Indiana and a very difficult time for the majority of Hoosiers that call Indiana home every day.  This new law has been weighing heavily on me for many reasons:

1. The obvious…Discrimination of any kind is unacceptable. Religion has no business in public businesses.  It sets us back over a hundred years in terms of social progress.

I think most small business owners would agree that we have enough crap to deal with on a day-to-day basis, that the last thing we need is our out-of-touch law makers making it more difficult for us to attract customers, retain talent and give people a reason to NOT want to do business with us.

2.  This law has caused upheaval in our workplace and it makes me very sad.

3. Our business has always been open to everyone, that has never been an issue.  We welcome all customers, employees, vendors and visitors!  Now, we have to make sure that something that we have always done, which is extend a warm welcome to everyone, is publicized? Anyone should feel comfortable walking into any establishment and I am frustrated that this law is taking that sense of security and comfort away from our residents.

I am very much of the mentality that business and politics don’t mix well.

I hesitated posting anything regarding this new law because 1. our policies do not change – we have always welcomed everyone with open arms and 2. I don’t feel the need to isolate any of our customers or employees.  I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and their own views and I respect that.  If we start hating and persecuting each other for what each of us believe, we are no better than this legislation.  This country was founded on the fact that everyone can have different views and co-exist in the same place.  I still believe that is what makes our country great.

For anyone that is concerned or thinking twice about doing business with “Indiana,” I would ask you to remember these things:
1. The policies of our lawmakers do not always reflect the views and beliefs of it’s citizens

2. Indiana is made up of wonderful, hard working individuals that are just as upset as most of you.  We are a state of hoosier hospitality and acceptance, regardless of our legislation.  We are a state of great businesses and caring people.

3. I am expressing my personal views here…because again, I don’t like to mix business and politics.  So if you are mad about it, please yell at me directly.  But, please know that Roberts is open to every single Hoosier, and American and person.  We welcome your business and friendship and we are just as sad as you that this is something we have to make a separate point about when it should be common knowledge.

We will continue to do things the same as we always have, which is extend the warmest welcome to everyone! We stand with all the other businesses who openly and willingly serve everyone!

The post My Own 2 Cents… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

Here at Roberts, we are kicking off a new “thing” that we are calling our ‘Local Photographer Spotlight.’ It’s not a contest per se, and right now we are keeping it local to Indiana, but down the road we do hope to expand our reach! We are lucky enough to see a lot of amazing work from our customers and we rarely get the opportunity to talk about it, so, here it goes! We are starting our first ‘Local Photographer Spotlight’ with a wonderful young woman named Katelin Kinney.
Katelin first caught our eye because we couldn’t stop staring at her beautiful and unique work that she would upload to our Roberts Flickr page! Once we dug a little deeper…we were blown away to find out that she is just out of school and has only been at this semi-professionally since 2012! In only a few years, she has put together a stunning and creative photography portfolio. We were so excited to sit down with Katelin to talk with her about her images, what inspires her and how she is using Indiana as her home base! We think you will be as impressed as we were.

Roberts. Okay, Katelin – I know this probably seems basic…but we want to start with the old faithful: What is your go-to camera gear for your shoots?

Katelin. It may sound surprising, but I don’t really carry a lot of gear. My focus is surreal portraiture, so it doesn’t require a lot of macro or zoom work. I have a Canon 5D Mark II and the kit lens that came with it, a 24-105mm. That is really the only lens that I use on a day-to-day basis.  I do make a big deal out of my tripods though because I am very rough on my tripods – I am actually on my third. My tripod is key because most of my images are composed outside and involve a lot of compositing work.  I currently have a Promaster 7100.

My lighting gear is big for me as well because I am very into studio and commercial lighting set ups. I get the most use for my main fill out of my Flashpoint gear and for far away lighting, I utilize my slave lights. Lighting was one of the hardest things for me to learn, and I spent a lot of extra time when I was at Herron focusing on this. My professor at Herron, Stephan, was amazing and so patient and spent a lot of extra time on the weekends and after classes to help me fully understand how studio lighting works.

I also have a Lowepro backpack (DSLR Video Fastpack 250 AW) that I could not live without. I just got it this past Christmas from my boyfriend, and it has changed my life! I spend a lot of time exploring woods and abandoned buildings when I am scouting locations, and this bag fits everything and protects it! Like I said – I am very rough on my gear! This thing has so many pockets and compartments that I literally just found a new one today….3 months after having it!

Remote triggers are also big for what I do and the type of images that I am looking to capture.

Roberts. I guess we already kind of covered this, but do you have a favorite go-to lens for your work?

Katelin. Yes, my Canon 24-105mm is really my go-to lens and I haven’t found much that I cannot shoot with that lens. I have dabbled in some wedding work and if I ever go this route again, I know I will need to find a good zoom lens!

Roberts. What has been your career path thus far? I’m sure many young photographers starting out would love to know how you built such a great portfolio so quickly.

Katelin. When I got out of school, I started going around to small businesses and asking them if I could do work for them for free. I told them if they liked it, they could keep it to utilize for their advertising as long as they were okay with me putting it in my portfolio. The Garfield Park Conservatory was the first one that said ‘yes’. They really liked the work that I put together for them and I think they still use some of it today! I also did some work for the Flying Cupcake, and that was a great learning experience because they did not like the work that I did. That was a good eye opener for me and made me realize what I was up against in the commercial photography world and how I could better understand what clients were looking for. I also started an internship with a small boutique called LuckyB in Broad Ripple. I was doing studio work for their e-commerce platform. This was a great learning experience as well because I was able to build my portfolio, but I also, for the first time, got to experience what it was really like to do the job of just the photographer! I was working with models and make-up artists and designers, and I realized that I could not control everything and that was a little bit hard for me!

Being proactive and going out and talking to people and getting my work out and receiving real life experience was key in terms of me getting real clients shortly there-after.

Roberts. How do you continually educate yourself to take better pictures?

Katelin. For me it is all about trial and error. I spend a lot of time practicing my shots and my Photoshop skills on my own time. I learn so much more by just getting out and shooting than I do if I were to take a class. I started speaking to a lot of groups as well and doing tutorials on Photoshop. I also take questions on Facebook. Interacting with other photographers is always a nice way to learn from others and share my own knowledge.

Roberts. One of the things that I love about your photos is that they are truly art! How do you create your images from the vision in your head to the final image that we see?

Katelin. I normally don’t necessarily have a vision in my head as much as a concept of what I would like to create. I try to start with a concept and then I work to figure out how to communicate that concept visually. I get a lot of inspiration from random props, the model I am working with or even the location. For example, I might be using a light bulb in one of my shots and as I look at it through the camera, I will start to think about all the different ways that I can use it in the photo and what it might be able to represent. All of these little things come together to help me create the final image. I also do a lot of storyboarding and taking notes in my notebooks for ideas of different images that I could create. I go back to these notes when I am looking for inspiration or to do something new.

I have a BFA in painting, as well as in Photography and my painting degree helped me immensely with Photoshop and my understanding of how light and shadows bend around an image. I also just recently feel like I am getting better control over my color palette too. I have a better understanding of selective color and the layer masks with adjustment. It all has helped me pin down exactly how I want my colors in my photos to look.

Roberts. What kind of tools do you use for post processing? Explain your work flow.

Katelin. I use all Photoshop, and my post-processing workflow is very long. I start with a blank file and I pull in pieces of the image. I spend anywhere from two to eight hours for each image. I usually have somewhere between 20 and 90 layers in Photoshop for each image. My computer has crashed many times because of the files being so huge. Another bad habit I have is not naming each individual layer, so I’ll have to play the guessing game a lot clicking layers on and off to find a certain piece of the image. Something I should probably eventually change in my workflow!

Roberts. Are there photographers or artists out there that inspired and influenced you in your work? Where do you turn for daily inspiration?

Katelin. Surreal Fine Art is a big movement right now. Rob Woodcox is kind of the ‘Father’ of Surreal Fine Art. He was one of the first artists that really caught my eye in terms of inspiration. Rosie Hardy has been doing this type of art and photography for a long time as well, but she wasn’t well known until she was discovered by Maroon 5. They came across her images when they were searching for their album cover for their single ‘Hands All Over.’ They found her image and she re-shot the cover for them using herself as the model, which worked because she is amazing and gorgeous! She is based out of England and is one of the more well-known artists of this genre. Robert Cornelius is another amazing surreal fine art photographer and he is based in Pennsylvania. And, I actually just took a road trip to meet him! We had unknowingly been following each other’s work for about three years and we finally got to meet. He is a great resource and it is nice to have someone that you can watch and see how their work grows and changes.

In terms of everyday inspiration, I look on-line at a lot of people’s Flickr images and Facebook pictures. I try and glance through these things at least once a day to see what is out there. I also go to places like Michaels and, while I just wander around and don’t buy anything, I look at objects and I think about how to make something random and everyday into colors or pictures. My mom has a big influence on how I think as well. While she is not exactly creative in the same way that I am, she helped me learn how to think about things differently. When I was little she would make up wonderful stories about any object in a room. She could make up a story about a doorknob and I would love it. If we were out to dinner, in order to keep me entertained, she would draw a letter on a napkin and tell me to hide it in a picture. She made everything into games, but she also made me think about things outside of their normal context.

Roberts. Exactly what it is you want to say with your photographs, and how do you actually get your photographs to do that?

Katelin. I like my photos to represent how we interact with our natural environment. You will notice that I don’t use any cityscapes or buildings in my images. I like to express the idea of us being one with our environment and being a part of a larger picture of creation. I like to make images that are whimsical and majestic. I try to bring a sense of awe and wonder to each image and link that to the idea of awe and wonder in our Creator.

I’m currently doing a Photo 365 project. It’s a common project done by photographers, especially on Flickr. I’m creating one photo everyday for 365 days. It’s exhausting and wonderful. I’ve already seen such a huge improvement in my work technically. I have fallen behind a few days on it since life gets busy. However, I do plan to finish this project and hopefully on time- which will be at the end of September.

Roberts. Among your works, which one is your favorite? Why?

Katelin. Ha! This is a hard one, because I always feel like whatever is my newest image is the one that I like the best. I have a few that seem to resonate well with people though. My image ‘Seed of a Soul’ seems to speak to people and ‘Shine’ is another image that is popular and was also included in Thrice Fiction Magazine.  This is also a recent image that I love and has seemed to hit a chord with people.

Roberts. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos?

Katelin. How to break into the commercial photographer world! It is what I wanted to know when I started out in photography and it is still what I want to know now! When I was younger I would see movie posters or these amazing images and I would say to myself, I want to create that! It is very hard to figure out how to do that though as the commercial advertising world seems to be a tough one to get your foot in the door as a photographer. I recently made a magazine of all my work and printed out 100 copies and started sending them all over the place…so we will see how that goes!

Roberts. What motivates you to continue to take pictures?

Katelin. This may sound silly, but I love impressing people! I have a strong desire to be the very best at what I do so I am always setting goals and doing whatever I can to meet them. I really push my technical skills because I am always trying to get to that next level. I love the challenge and the outcome when I accomplish something that I didn’t think I could do. There are some photographers that I follow because I thought their work was amazing when I was first starting out, and now I feel like I have gotten to a point where my work is on par, if not better. I am always pushing myself to be better and getting to that next level is what really keeps me going.

Roberts. What do you love most about being a photographer in Indy? Are there groups or people locally that you work with or turn to for advice and guidance?

Katelin. No matter where I go or what I do, Indianapolis will always feel like home to me. I love walking into Roberts or into Herron – those places are so familiar and they feel like home. There are also so many amazing woods and parks and studios here, your choice of places to shoot is never-ending. It’s also not overwhelming and everything here is very manageable. There are also some wonderful galleries here, as well as wonderful people. Indy is great about welcoming people into the communities here (whether it be artists or not) and being very supportive of people as individuals and as a group. Indy has so much growth potential and it will always be home. In terms of advice and guidance, I know I can always reach out to my professors at Herron. And, while he is not exactly local, I have also found a great friend in Robert Cornelius and can turn to him for advice. What I really like to do is ask my non-artist friends for feedback on my images before I ever post them to see what they are seeing and what they are not seeing. This is the best way for me to know how my image comes across to others.  All in all, I feel like I have good momentum starting and I am happy to be where I am in my work and my career. I am excited to see what lies ahead and I am proud of the work I am doing.

Katelin Kinney is an Indianapolis artist that focuses on surreal portraiture and fine art photography. You can view her full portfolio and biography at http://www.katelinkinney.com/

The post Local Photographer Spotlight with Katelin Kinney! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

If you’re looking for a good tip on the basic maintenance that is cleaning your lenses, our own very own Jeff “JJ” Johansen has been interviewed by local business reviewer Angie’s List on how to do exactly that for a how-to guide they have posted today. Go ahead and give them the click to check that out and learn how our rentals manager (who sees more than his share of dirty lenses) recommends caring for your gear.

The post Need to clean a lens? appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The post Buzzing About Drones appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Photo from Robert’s Camera’s Website)

First off I’ll say as usual that I wasn’t paid by Roberts or Westcott for this review and that I’m doing it for the sheer pleasure of being able to play with the newest toys first. With that said, I’ll continue with the fact that the biggest issue I have with LED panels is that in my humble opinion they aren’t bright enough. Simple as that. Sure, you are using a much slower shutter speed when shooting video (1/30th or 1/60th) as opposed to stills where you are all the way up to 1/8000th depending on the situation, but that’s besides the point. The point is that a LED panel doesn’t need to be crazy bright unless you’re outside shooting where normally a reflector takes the place of a LED panel. When shooting video the LED panels can be great for just throwing some fill in, but they are nowhere near as portable as a good speedlight or reflector. Despite what you may think, a good set of LED panels can be heavy and cumbersome. NO, they are not heavy and cumbersome like a 500watt halogen, but they are still relatively bulky and you end up needing to sort out a way to transport all this stuff to and from location. Between the bulkyness and the brightness, those are some big problems for every day use on the go yea? Not so with the Westcott Flex.

The Flex is only 5mm thin, and it’s totally flexible. That means that it can be clipped or clamped to just about anything, as seen above and in the video below. I don’t have a Gorilla pod, but I’d imagine that a gorilla pod adapted to mount a flex on it would be incredible. Not as a gorilla pod would normally be used mind you, but with the bendy flexy legs made to attach to the Flex unit, so that you can still mount it anywhere but you keep the flexibility of your flex panel. Put it in your backpack with your laptop and take it with you. Simple as that. Forget needing a carrying case or having to worry about the bulbs breaking or ect. There is a protective coating over the Flex that protects it from most things; including water. It’s weatherproof rating is for lack of a better term more like Splash proof meaning that you wouldn’t want to use it in a pool or run it through the dishwasher to clean it but I wouldn’t worry about it if I was outside filming with it and it started to rain a bit. It goes from 5% power to 100% power which in total is 1900 lumens at a little over 3 feet. To put that into perspective, you see that florescent light you are more than likely sitting near? That’s only 800 lumens. Not kidding.

(Nikon D4s, 400ISO, Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art, 1/100th@F6.3. Nikon SB900 set to iTTL with a blue gel for the background tirggered by a Nikon SU-800 on the camera. Main light was the Wescott Flex using the 1/4 stop diffuser that comes with the kit).

Don’t believe me on the brightness? Check out this video version of this blog which also illustrates how bright the Wescott Flex Actually is!

Shot with a Nikon D4s and a Sigma 35mmF1.4 Art. Camera controlled by the CamRanger for filming. Audio is only ok, for whatever reason my Rode Shotgun wasn’t in its normal case so I decided to film without it.

So yea. I was shocked when I turned it on for the first time too. I have a great photo of my Shannon Grimacing when I turned it on for the first time to take a portrait of her to see how bright it actually was. I promised not to post it, which is why I can only recount the tale and reassure you it is quite the photo demonstrating brightness. The photos in this post however also describe how bright the Flex is considering the background light was a speedlight! That’s right, the main light in the photos was the Wescott Flex, and the supporting light was a speedlight Speedlights! I also managed to keep the shots below 400ISO the whole time depending on what effect I wanted to achieve. (See the same shot above with different settings HERE). If I had to pick one and only one thing that you should be aware of if you are considering buying a Westcott Flex, it would be that the unit still requires some sort of household power. You can get away with using a Westcott Encore unit however, or other battery pack with a 12 volt outlet so it’s not a big deal. The kit also comes with a waterproof 16′ extension to the cables also giving you a lot more roaming around space. Until however there is a battery solution though, you will need to use the Encore or other outlet based power solution.

So the punchline is that the flex is a LED panel is here to stay, and in all honesty the first panel I’d consider adding to my kit. It’s a beautiful piece of tech, and if you shoot video the fact that it’s daylight balanced already should be a real selling point. If you’re shooting video and want to snap some stills I feel like the Flex is finally to a point where photographers can consider just snapping away as they aren’t going to need to crank their ISO into unheard of territory in order to get the shot at a reasonable quality. That’s huge for newspaper folks who have to shoot still AND video on a regular basis.

If you’re interested in a Westcott Flex follow the link to Roberts Camera here in Indy. (They also sell the Encore) Call, email or just go visit they are good people.

Otherwise, more soon.

The post Being Flexible… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

That’s why I’m bringing a handful of good deals and price drops to your attention. This is by no means a thorough list of the great deals on Roberts website; that would be a ridiculously long blog post. Feel free to browse the website or call us during business hours if you need help finding the right deal.

Highlights in price drops

The Canon EOS-1D X Body has dropped $800 from $6799 to $5999. $800 can buy you a lot of things. You can buy 800 gold fish and start your own carnival event. Or, you could put that $800 toward purchasing the holy trinity of lenses: the EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, and EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM. (Bonus: Check out the mail in rebates on those lenses!)

The Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED has dropped it’s $249 price tag to a very affordable $149. With that extra $100 in your pocket, you might want to think about picking up a bag. After all, you only have two hands and at least one of them should be holding a camera.

Highlights in instant savings news

If you’re looking for a little extra light in your life (and are seeking something Canon compatible), the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT has a $50 instant savings this month.

Fuji rebates have returned! If you are interested in a mirrorless compact camera, the X-T1 and X-E2 are on sale through February, along with numerous compatible lenses. If you’re more in the mood for a Fuji digital camera, the X30 and XQ1 are also on sale.

February also starts off with a $100 rebate on the Olympus OM-D E-M10 and E-PL7, and a $200 rebate on Olympus OM-D E-m5 models. If you pick up a E-M1, E-M5, E-M10, E-P5, or E-PL7 this month, make sure to check out some of the compatible lenses. Many Olympus lenses will have a discount is purchased with one of these select camera bodies.

The Canon Powershot ELPH 340 HS now has a rebate of $50, lowering the price to $149.99.

Aquatech’s Sensory Gloves are useful in the current winter weather and are now $10 off until March 31.

Panasonic is offering the Lumix DMC-GM1, DMC-GM5, DMC-GX7, and DMC-GH3 cameras with a $100 rebate.

The post New month. New prices. New savings. appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

The Canon 5D Mark II was introduced in 2008, and it immediately changed the photography world for the better. The reason? This camera was the first full frame DSLR to be able to shoot 1080P HD video.

Having such a large sensor (24×36mm) with the ability to record high quality video allowed many photographers (and cinematographers) to create dynamic, compelling footage using their existing canon EF mount lenses. Because of the large sensor, the camera operator can create footage that has very shallow depth of field using Canon prime lenses with large apertures.

Regardless of whether you are a photographer or cinematographer, the Canon 5d Mark II is a great camera to own – I know, I own one! It has a high megapixel count (21.1), 3.9 frames per second, a large 3.0 inch LCD screen, 9 auto focus points, and great video features!

There are a few downsides to this camera though, and if you can’t live without these, check out the 5D Mark III, Canon 7D Mark II, or even the Canon-1D X

The biggest downside to the Canon 5D Mark II is while the 9 auto focus points do a good job, they aren’t particularly amazing. In the successor to this camera, the 5D Mark III, Canon upgraded the auto focus system to include 61 auto focus points, 41 of those being cross type points. The 9 point system in the 5D Mark II was carried over from the original 5D, and while it performs well for portraits, landscape, weddings, or studio work, if you are a sports or action photographer, a more recent camera might be a better fit for you.

The other downside to the Canon 5D Mark II vs newer cameras is the low light performance. While it was greatly enhanced from the original 5D, newer Canon cameras have pushed the standard even higher, and can shoot at up 204,800 ISO, or higher!

Buying a used Canon 5D Mark II is a great idea for photographers who are just starting out but want something that will last a few years, and has most of the bells and whistles of the current crop of cameras. This camera is one of the best cameras for a portrait photographers, and you are getting a great camera for a low price!

At Used Photo Pro, we offer an 180 day warranty on all of our products (except those rated F or As-Is), as well as a 14 day exchange/return policy.

The post Used Buying Guide: Canon 5D Mark II appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

If I didn’t make it clear enough in the first paragraph – CES is a HUGE convention.  To be more specific – this convention covers 2.2 million net square feet of space, more than 3600 exhibitors, over 170,000 attendees and of those, over 45,000 are from outside of the U.S.

As opposed to boring you with every new product announcement – I will highlight some of my favorite things as well as a few themes that I can only believe will continue to grow and elevate the industry.

I have to say (and I may be a bit biased), but I LOVED the Nikon space! Everything from the great speakers to checking out the new D5500 and the new 300mm F/4 to the Nikon 360 photo booth.  This thing was awesome – it took probably 100 Nikon cameras and photographed you at the same time and instantly stitched the photos together to provide one amazing 360 degree image!

To see how the actual Nikon 360 image turned out – click here: Nikon IMG_2560

The photography industry is right up there with having some of the most innovative companies and there were too many new product announcements to list and picture them all here.  But to see what has been announced in our great industry, you can view our full list here.

So, what are people going to be talking about in 2015?

Unmanned vehicles (and no, I’m not just talking about the BMW car that parks itself that you saw on the Today show). I’m talking about drones! Drones were everywhere and they can do everything.  Companies like DJI have some of the most innovative technology out there.  While there will be some controversy and the FAA has yet to keep up with this technology, these flying objects are already helping to capture never before seen moments in nature and landscape photography, revamping sports photography, entering wedding photography and much more.  While they are pricey, you are going to be seeing much more of these and their practical applications in the years to come.

Televisions and 4k Ultra High Definition! If you have not yet purchased an HD television – you might want to wait because apparently UHD (ultra hi-def) is all the rage!  I even heard rumblings of 8K (but I did not see anything using this technology)…I barely know what to do with 4K – so I really have my work cut out for me if we are about to be introduced to 8K.  What I did see was the world’s largest (110 inches) 4K UHD Curved Television and it was crystal clear and as life like as you can imagine!

Action cams continued to wow in the photography area, as did connecting and sharing everything and anything that you are doing! We in the photography world are constantly looking for ways that we can share our adventures, our families and our friends with the world.  We require all of our devices to connect with everything and the photography innovators hear you and are continuing to improve the ways that we share and connect with one another.

While my first trip to CES could definitely be characterized by long monorail lines, sprinting from meeting to meeting, huge crowds and way too many TVs – what I took away from it was a little different.  To me, I guess I am still in awe of the people that are constantly improving and constantly striving for change and better technology.  It would be so easy to think that in a world of iPhones and wi-fi on airplanes and drones that we have already accomplished so much in our society.  But here in this space (granted it is a very large space), there are literally thousands of people that know that we can be better and that we can be smarter and that we must continue to grow and learn and change.  These are the people that inspire me.  From the tiny start up companies that I saw to the huge technology giants already out there, everyone there was focused on innovation and providing solutions to improve lives.  CES is not just about driverless cars, 3-D printing and Ultra High Def. It is also about changing lives with technology in everything from health care and medical innovations to home security to government needs.  All in all, I was very impressed.  Thank you CES and to those out there that never stop striving for more! #CES2015

And this is not photography related…but…it’s awesome right?

The post My Adventures at CES… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

So lets back up a bit. The call I got was from Jody at Roberts Camera and it was in regard to an automotive softbox they had built in their classroom to show to prospective clients. Problem was that my hero Dave Black was coming to town for Roberts grand opening and they needed to get the softbox out of there. First however they needed to do something awesome with it. Enter Dandy Horse. Dandy Horse is a bicycle that Robert’s Camera’s web Guru Derek Martin restored to it’s original glory. Beautiful bike, great subject for such a glorious softbox. The carpet in the Robert’s classroom was a bit odd, but I think it actually worked out just fine.

Setup was the epic softbox which included 6 Dynalite heads and two 1600 watt second packs. Being that these are Dynalite Studio heads, we were able to ramp them all the way up to full power and hypersync the camera to them using my Pocket Wizard TT1’s and TT5’s which was super sweet because it allowed John and I to shoot at a very shallow aperture by adjusting only the shutter speed and aperture, as opposed to needing to change light power or used ND filters. The hypersync even created somewhat of a dark to light gradient in the photos, which was greatly preferable to the relatively evenly lit shot created by the gigantic softbox. For an automotive shot, I would prefer the shot to be lit very evenly at the 1/250th@F8 settings, but for the size of the object we were shooting, the slight gradient that the hypersync created was a nice touch.

The giant softbox is better illustrated in the video on my site as well as there is a breakdown of components all used in the softbox and the shoot. The equipment used was a Nikon D800, various Nikon lenses (70-200 F2.8 VR2, 24-70 F2.8N, 14-24 F2.8N ect), Apple Macbook Pro which was powered by one of the new Wescott Encore units, Tethertools Aero table, Tethertools Aero Hard Drive caddy, Tethertools Articulating Arm, Tethertools 50′ USB2 Orange cable, Capture One Pro 8, Pocket Wizard TT1′s and Pocket Wizard TT5’s, and the automotive softbox featuring 6 dynalite heads and two 1600w/s packs. All photos above taken by either myself or John Scott at Roberts. Cheesy music from the video is from a 15 Year old free play royalty free music CD. You’re welcome.

Really cool experience, really cool custom product from Roberts. If you’re an auto dealership or shoot vehicles inside of a studio space you should consider it a option as I can’t think of an easier way to get awesome, magazine quality lighting on a car with very little effort. More Soon.

For more information about ANY of the gear that I use, please visit my gear page.

The post SoftboxPalooza! appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

We’re going to focus on lenses for the big two: Canon and Nikon. While these certainly aren’t the only brands on the market (I have myself shot Olympus, my future brother-in-law shoots Sony, and there’s Leica, Pentax, Panasonic, Fuji, and oh so much more too), they do account for a very large chunk of the market. The odds are in your favor that your photographer friend uses one of the two of them, and especially if they’re just getting going a cheap lens like a 50mm or 35mm prime, or a nice used one might come up as a gift idea. And they are! But, there are a few pitfalls you as a loving gift giver and savvy shopper would like to avoid, and without burdening you too much with the technobabble behind them we’ll help point out a couple here real quick.

1. DSLRs have different size sensors.

Unlike pretty much every film camera you’ve probably seen someone using, that all took the same 35mm film, DSLRs commonly have one of two basic sensor sizes. Entry level models will have a smaller sensor often called a “crop” sensor, and higher end models (though not all of them) will have one the same size as 35mm film called “full frame.” The reason you need to know this is because there are some lenses made only to be used with the smaller sensor. These “crop” lenses can be made smaller, and smaller means cheaper, and cheaper means they’re likely to be tempting gifts. And that’s great so long as your giftee has a crop camera. So, step one is to figure out if you’re buying for a “crop” or “full-frame” camera. You could always just ask them, most photographers will certainly know. If they don’t but you can find out the model of their camera you can also very easily look up whether they have a crop or full-frame sensor.

Once you know whether or not they have a crop or full-frame sensor, here are your handy tips:

• Lenses made for full-frame sensors can be used just fine on both full frame and crop
• Lenses made just for crop sensors will be specially noted right in their names
• Canon crop lenses will have EF-S in the name. The -S is the key part. Think of it as “EF-Small”.
• Nikon crop lenses will have DX in the name. If you don’t see a DX, it can be used for either full frame or crop.

But, wait! What about third party brands, like Tamron and Sigma, who make some excellent (and honestly more affordable) lenses for Canon and Nikon? Their names look different, and I don’t see an EF-S or DX in any of their names! How do I know which ones work with these crop and full-frame cameras you’re talking about?

Good question! These brands also note whether they’re for crop sensors, but for copyright reasons they use different terms.

• Tamron crop lenses will have Di-II or Di II in the name
• Sigma crop lenses will have DC in the name (for “Digital Crop” actually)
• Just like with the brand Nikon and Canon lenses, if you don’t see either of those terms in the name it’ll work on both full-frame and crop bodies

2. Nikon Autofocus

This is just for the Nikon people, and mostly just if you’re shopping used lenses. A lot of modern Nikon DSLRs will not have autofocus functions with older Nikon autofocus lenses. Without having to know the technical stuff there is a super-easy way for you to know if you’re getting a lens that can autofocus on any camera. Nikon’s universal, new autofocus system is indicated by an “AF-S” in the lens name. Older ones will only be called “AF” without the important “-S”. All new Nikon lenses are AF-S anyway, you’ll only run into this worry when you start looking for used.

To further help you, here is a list of the Nikon DSLRs that require the use of an AF-S lens for autofocus: D40, D40x, D60, D3xxx series, and the D5xxx series. All of the other Nikon DSLRs can use the old AF lenses just fine, if your budget is tight.

3. Canon EF

This one is just for the Canon people, and again really just if you’re buying used. Canon has had two different lens mount systems in its time. The original one all those Canon AE-1’s in your closets used back in the 70s was called FD. Any Canon camera with EOS in the name uses the newer EF mount. It is important to know that the old FD lenses absolutely won’t work on EOS digital cameras. They physically cannot be mounted. This is a pretty common mistake and we want to help steer you away from it. Be sure that the lens you’re buying for your friend’s and family’s digital Canon have an EF somewhere in the lens name and you’ll always be OK!

4. Buying With Confidence

We know the stuff we sell is highly technical, and highly specific. We don’t want you to be afraid to gift it because of that. Leave a gift message on anything you buy from us until Christmas Eve and we’ll extend the exchange period on it until January 10th! If it’s not right for your giftee, or they need something slightly different, we’ll take care of them. We’ll make sure one way or another that your gesture of love and thoughtfulness ends with them having the item they want and need for their specific kit. So, even if you do get a bit buried under all the technobabble and alphabet soup, we’ve got your back.

The post Buying Gifts For Photographers (When You Aren’t): Part 1, Canon and Nikon Lenses appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Nikon D750, 2500ISO, Nikon 24-70F2.8N@70mm. 1/40th@F4. Shot after my assignment while on the way to the car. Wish I had a tripod with me, but I didn’t)

One of my contracts since leaving the Indianapolis Star is with USA Today shooting sporting events. I’ve always loved shooting sports and this was a great addition to the other projects I work on, since it allows me to mix my schedule up a bit. This year I haven’t shot anywhere near as many sporting events as last year, but that’s ok as I haven’t exactly been sitting around at home either. That said, basketball season usually has me floating around to quite a few different places and teams. When the D750 experiment came up thanks to my friends at Roberts Camera, I could think of no better way to truly test the metal of the Nikon D750’s autofocus than a bonified sporting event. In this case, the NCAA basketball game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the Coppin State Eagles.

(Nikon D750, 2500ISO, Nikon 200-400F4VR@300mm. 1/640th@F4)

So before we get going. I need to explain a few things. First off, I was not paid to do this review by Nikon or Roberts Camera. I was paid by USA Today to shoot the images as news coverage, and the images were not photoshopped other than some cropping or basic color correction and brightness depending. Secondly this is NOT a full review of the Nikon D750. There are lots of really neat features that this camera has that I won’t even talk about. Things like the WiFi or the tilting screen? Didn’t even try them. What is important? The camera’s sheer functionality. Can someone get a D750 and take it out to a high speed fast paced event and rely on it? How does it indeed compare to the D4s that Nikon sells for almost three times the price?

(Nikon D750, 2500ISO, Nikon 200-400F4VR@350mm. 1/640th@F4)

My theory for shooting basketball is to primarily use two bodies alternating. (I do have a third body at the ready, but it rarely gets used during the game; it just has a wide angle on it for “just in case”). The bodies and lenses I generally shoot basketball with are the Nikon D4 with the Nikon 200-400F4VR lens attached for the far end of the court, and the Nikon D4s with the Nikon 70-200 F2.8 VR2 for the close end of the court. It’s a pretty potent combo. I dig it. I generally put my faster camera on the closer end of the combo because it’s more difficult to keep up with the stuff moving very quickly so close. The closer the action, the faster it moves. While this particular Nikon Ambassador has been my photography idol for a long time, I wasn’t quite ready to throw caution to the wind on a paid job, so I mounted the Nikon D750 to my Nikon 200-400 F4 VR and started shooting. My theory was simple – if the camera couldn’t keep up I would just put the D4 back on the lens and be done with it. But then something interesting happened.

(Nikon D750, 2500ISO, Nikon 200-400F4@400mm. 1/640th@F4)

Not only did I use the D75o the whole game, but by the end of the game the 70-200 was on it shooting the close end of the court. No kidding. Why did I put it on to shoot the close end of the court? Because like the D4s I normally use, it didn’t even flinch at the action through the long glass. Now with the 70-200? Same thing. I was easily able to shoot almost as I do with the D4 or D4s. The images were incredibly sharp and clean, and honestly other than having a different resolution it was otherwise unknown that I was using a different camera than normal; which for a $2300 camera is kind of astonishing if I do say so myself.

Now wait.

I just said I was able to shoot almost as I do with the D4 or D4s. That’s correct. You may ask, if the images were as sharp and the camera was keeping up then why would I say almost? This is easy. The Nikon D750 is a $2300 camera and it feels like it. The Camera is smaller than the D800 or D810 without it’s grip, and much smaller than the Nikon D4 or D4s (which has the grip built in).

It also as more of a hybrid interface than any other Nikon camera I have used to date. Hybrid interface meaning that it’s definitely a bridge between the interface on the Entry Level Nikon D3200, and the Nikon D800 in terms of buttons and setting changes. There is a small LCD on the top of the D750, but the back screen lights up with pertinent information when you are changing settings as opposed to forcing you to decipher the information on the tiny upper one. It’s an interesting system and I’m not against it as it provides quite a bit more information (like very intricate white balance info), but in some cases I think it’s a bit overkill as I found it not as fast as changing settings on my D800 or D4s.

The camera’s small size does have it’s advantages though. For example, the D750 can easily fit into my Nikon 200-400 soft case while attached to the lens. This is something my D800 and D4 bodies can NOT do.

(Nikon D750, 2500ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2@105mm. 1/800th@3200ISO)

Something else I noticed about the D750 is that the viewfinder information wasn’t the normal Nikon green which strangely enough; I really liked. I’m not sure why exactly, but it seemed easier to look at I suppose. The camera’s autofocus was fantastic, and it was incredibly responsive. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have put it on my short end shooting basketball. The body was a bit small for my liking, but it was incredibly capable.

Is this a camera that I would trade my D4s for? Nope. While it matched the autofocus Accuracy, it did not match the D4 or D4s in general professional standards. Examples of things that the D750 did not match in terms of the D4 and D4s are little things like the backlit buttons on the back, or even things like the having the option to use the function button to set the Aperture and Shutter lock. (Things that football shooters use pretty regularly to keep from changing the shutter and aperture of their cameras as they run up and down the field).

The other complaint that I have is that the autofocus points are closer together inside of the viewfinder. I didn’t find that it made a difference when shooting horizontally, but when shooting vertically I often found that things would easily move outside the AF point’s cluster, which was annoying. This could be me just complaining about nothing, or it could be something. Take it as you will. I would venture to guess without any research, that the points are about 10% closer together, which means there is 10% more frame without focus point coverage than my D4s, or D800.

(Nikon D750, 2500ISO, Nikon 200-400F4VR@220mm. 1/640@220mm.)

Overall though, I am very greatly impressed with Nikon’s D750. I would not hesitate in the least to carry one into almost any job on any day. It’s still not enough for me as a full time pro to replace my D4s over, but if you’re someone who is looking for that next step up, or a first step into full frame the D750 is a huge win. If you’ve got a D600 or D610 this is also the case in terms of an upgrade. The 24 megapixel files were great, and the camera was incredible responsive. If you’re the photographer that’s been waiting for the long awaited D700 replacement but aren’t quite sure this is that, then let me reassure you. THIS IS IT. The D750 is an incredible camera for an incredible value and should not be overlooked by enthusiasts or pro’s alike. To say I was impressed is modest. I was blown away, and can see the direction that Nikon is moving with it’s next bodies. When the D5 comes out I can only imagine what it’ll be like after handling this thing now. If they can put this much technology into a $2300 camera, imagine what they will be able to do with their normal pro budget. More Soon.

If you’re looking to buy one, make sure you check them out with my friends at Roberts Camera here in Indy. Call, email or phone. They are there for you, and will answer questions! (including unrelated ones)

Body Only

Body with 24-120.

The post Focusing the Nikon D750… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.

(Photo Courtesy of Robert’s Camera’s Website)

First off I need to say that I am not being paid to do this review (or any of these reviews) so any difficulties I have with an item out of problems with construction or just my sheer stupidity I’ll tell you all about. That’s what makes these fun. Why is this important for newspapers? Before I left the Indianapolis Star I went through training classes with the editorial staff on conducting interviews and editing the video with the iPhone’s iMovie application. The newspaper had several “rigs” for the staff’s provided iPhones to record the information usually including some kind of shotgun mic, an obscure wide angle lens adapter and generally shaped to look like an Indycar Steering wheel with a iPhone as most of the display information. This is great for if you are walking around as it gives you a good handhold on your phone, but not a whole lot of stability right? This is where the folks over at Que Audio have decided to come to the rescue with their IQ Rig, which frankly if I still worked at a newspaper I would probably use incredibly frequently.

The rig itself is pretty self explanatory. It’s essentially a cell phone holder like you would find in a car except with a base with some rubber feet on it. The base is well thought out as it’s got a mount to put the rig on a Tripod for on location when something like a table isn’t an option. It’s a beautifully simple “well duh” design that just works in that you put the phone on it, back it up to the appropriate distance and rock and roll. The important part of the IQ Rig is the Microphone which is something the iPhone (or Android phones) don’t do well for interviewing applications. The iPhone’s microphone is Omnidirectional, meaning it just picks up everything it can hear from everywhere. This way if you do an audio interview you can set it down on a desk between two or three people and get ALL of the conversation. This is great for audio interviews, but not for video interviews. To test this out I took the IQ Rig to a restaurant here in Indianapolis and attempted to do an interview with my friend Paul D’Andrea of PDA Photography here in town. My goal was to do a short interview of Paul and his journey of going from web developer to self employed photographer. Attempted is the key word because either the IQ rig is more complicated than I had thought, or something wasn’t quite working right with my copy….. I was having a terrible time getting the microphone splitter to work through my headphones and eventually gave up meaning I have no interview of Paul. It was great to catch up with him, but I also wanted to have a bit more of his story on video. As you can see the recorder worked without the headphones working, but I didn’t know that at the time. Either way it makes a great sample of a with and without in a busy place. More information after the clip.

So yea the real issue wasn’t the noise in fact the Que Audio IQ rig microphone really knocked down a lot of the ambient. I was impressed to say the least. In retrospect it would have been a solid idea to listen to the video at the restaurant and just see, however after several minutes of fumbling we decided just to enjoy lunch. I only learned later that the rig did it’s job, and I just gave up early. Live and learn. After this, I tried to use 4 different sets of headphones, and none of them registered with the IQ rig’s splitter to let me hear the audio while being recorded. I could hear the tappity tap tap of the phone’s controls as I punched them through the headphones while connected to the rig, but when video was recording it was silent as though I was just wearing my headphones to avoid having to talk to folks in a busy place. Always fun, but not always what you’re looking for when wearing headphones; especially with a piece of gear like this. Again I did try 4 pairs of headphones, so I’m just assuming that the copy I had was just malfunctioning OR it could be that the jack is only used to listen to audio during playback without having to unplug the rig completely, but why would you not be able to listen to the audio? It is just splitter right? With all of that out of the way, I need to reiterate that the device really did record great audio as you can see of my interview with my friend Brad here in the video below. The interview I did with Brad was basically asking him what he thought of the IQ rig, which he had never seen before and whether or not he though it was viable in his line of work. (UPDATE: I talked with Mark over at Que and he informed me that monitoring audio via the headphone jack is app dependent, and in most cases does not work due to latency issues. Kind of like watching a dubbed movie. He did say that it was easy to test the mic by whispering into it at about an inch away from each side to determine it’s effectiveness in every direction would greatly help you understand what it was capable of also.)

I chose to interview a non professional photographer to go with this interview for a few reasons. Pro photographer has certain pre conceived notions about iPhone photography as well as they look at this and immediately think newspaper. Brad, while owner of lot of Nikon lenses and a Nikon D800, also is the general manager of his company Ultrasun USA. Brad stated this would be great for employers to be able to record job interviews as well as folks that go to trade shows often to be able to get testimonials of their customers and clients unobtrusively as lets face it; cell phone’s do a pretty decent job with photos and videos these days and the IQ rig isn’t all that scary looking. I know I even I don’t feel like having my video taken or done by anybody with a scary looking device and I carry scary looking devices!

(Brad holds his iPhone 5s up to the fully extended IQ Rig)

As you can tell from that image the device can hold almost any sized smart phone even with the case on it assuming that the headphone jack is accessible. Overall I would have to say I was greatly impressed by the Que Audio IQ rig. It really held its own in terms of recording very useable excellent audio with a device that just about everybody carries in their pocket and has with them every day and everywhere from in the car, to the office to in the bathroom. I think my only complaint as a professional is that there is no way to visually monitor the audio coming in through the microphone on the phone’s screen. I’m sure there are video apps out there that do that, however I was just using the standard camera app on the iPhone and as you can tell from the video above Brad’s audio is a bit quieter than mine. I left it that way to demonstrate that you do need to be careful when recording your audio that you keep it consistent, because while some things can be fixed in post it’s better to not have to do that. The punchline here is that I’m more impressed than I thought I would be. As far as phone accessories go this one is pretty solid. Something I didn’t even touch on is that the rig was customizable and that you could even easily pan and tilt the phone and the microphone during recording to maximize your video’s audio and visual potential. If you’re looking to make the most of your iPhone or Android Phone’s video and audio capabilities I think that this is a must have in your kit. It’s light weight, and small. It uses a couple of tiny special batteries in the microphone, but they looked like the ones you find in hearing aides that generally come in 20 packs from the local Drugstore. Plus it is relatively small so it can easily fit into a backpack, or messenger bag to take with you as you travel as Brad pointed out. As always if you’re looking to buy a Que Audio IQ Rig, do it HERE, or call the folks at Roberts Camera here in Indy. They are very knowledgeable and will even let you come in and play with one before you buy. I promise you, if you shoot a lot of video with your iPhone and you think the audio is lacking? this will solve your problem. More Soon

The post Que Audio IQ Rig Review… appeared first on Roberts Blog: Cameras, Photography, Tips, and Over 55 Years Experience.