Putting The “L” In Los Angeles
Picking up cues from Apple Computer’s retail theme, Leica brings it’s Brand to retailing with this first grand experiment. From the outside, the new Leica Los Angeles store looks much like one of the many other upscale boutique stores that surround it. Do not let that first impression fool you. It’s not. Once past the 700 lb. silver plated Leica sculpture guarding the entrance, you will find yourself in another world. The Leica Zone. Not The Twilight Zone exactly, but not so very far from it if your cup of tea is the finest of photographic art and the appliances used to
Read moreFujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R First Report
Last June, FujiFilm issued their lens development “roadmap” (see chart below) for the two XF mount cameras at the time, the XPro-1 and X-E1. I purchased my X-E1 with the highly regarded and most excellent 35mm f/1.4, deciding to place my bet on Fuji evolving this camera system. There was no optimized RAW processing support for the Fuji X-Trans sensor at that time, though support was promised from several sources. I have used a 21mm focal length lens for years in my rangefinder work, and have come to depend upon having it. I’m just one of those weird ducks that sees the
Read moreX-Pro1 and X-E1 firmware updates
FUJIFILM today announces X-Pro1 and X-E1 firmware updates to offer faster AF and the addition of a “Focus Peak Highlight” function The upgrades will provide improved AF performance for all FUJINON XF lenses and, amongst other benefits, will add a ‘Focus Peak Highlight’ function for manual focusing. 25.06.2013 FUJIFILM Corporation (President: Shigehiro Nakajima) today announced the release of two new firmware updates for the FUJIFILM X-Pro1 and X-E1 compact system cameras, one available today on 25thJune and a further update to come in about another month, on 23rd July. 25th June firmware update: FUJIFILM X-Pro1 Ver.2.05, FUJIFILM X-E1 Ver.1.06 Additional functionality
Read morePhotography Consumer’s Bill of Rights
I am reposting below Roger Cicala’s blog post of “A Photography Consumer’s Bill of Rights” in its entirety. I could not agree more with Roger’s position that these should be basic consumer rights for retail photography products sold here in the United States. Unfortunately, the situations do exist still today where manufacturers refuse to acknowledge problems with one of their camera models and even go so far as to step up marketing – and particularly PR efforts – in brazen attempts to combat the reported facts about the failures. The Public Relations Agency theory being if you make enough noise online, the
Read moreFiilex P360 LED For Portrait Photography
Back once again from Calgary Alberta, Chris Nichols joins with studio still portrait photographer Rob Caleffi to test the new Fiilex P360 and P200 lighting setup inside Rob’s working studio. Rob normally shoots his still portraits using powerful professional grade flash, so it makes for a very interesting view hearing what he has to say about the Fiilex LED’s. LEDs are quickly becoming an enormously popular way to light both still photographs and videos to create hybrid stories, but there are very few affordable, modifiable lights that do not suffer from some color shifting that limits their usefulness. I’m finding with
Read moreThe Light Inside
The Light Inside: Dance at Princeton from Jon Roemer on Vimeo. My good friend and kindred spirit Jon Roemer did a blog post this week that caught my attention, as I hope it will yours. I’ve followed this project from its initial shoot for the vertical print ad back in February, to the creation of the movie above released just this week. It is a story of what started out one direction and got amplified into something much greater. It is an excellent example of collaborative creativity at work and hybrid storytelling at its very best. Jon Roemer has a
Read moreFirst Field Test – Fuji 55-200mm
From: OutBackPhoto.Net We like to use zoom lenses. That is why we got the Fuji X 18-55mm normal zoom. But we also like to use a tele range. That is why we ordered the new Fuji X 55-200mm zoom (a range from 82.5-300mm in terms of 35mm equivalent). We plan to use this combo now very often. Actually we use the Panasonic GH3 with the 12-35mm and 35-100mm zooms and the Fuji (remember we are two people, Bettina and I). Today we did our very first shots with the 55-200mm and so far so good. The zoom can focus quite
Read moreCarl Zeiss Lenses
From http://www.productionhub.com we bring you an interview from the 2013 Cine Gear Los Angeles Expo with August Bradley, a photographer turned cinematographer who has been using Carl Zeiss lenses since he began in the industry. Camera lenses from Carl Zeiss are used by millions of photographers all over the world and their cinematography lenses have already received three Technical Academy Awards. In this interview August explains why he chooses Carl Zeiss Lenses over and over again. I also have used Carl Zeiss lenses for almost as long as I can remember, first for still photography and today for a
Read moreMt. Everest
Everest -A time lapse short film from Elia Saikaly on Vimeo. I’ve never been a mountain climber. I don’t have the strength, endurance or the desire to undertake extreme sports in extreme locations. I can appreciate what a great story it can make though. For this Mt. Everest ascent, Elia Saikaly almost lost his life. He did come across the frozen remains of another climber who did. He shares the harrowing tail of what it took to get this spectacular footage on his website here: Into The Death Zone. One of the most rewarding parts of the journey for Elia
Read more22 Rules of Storytelling
These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coats, freelance director of films, boarder of story, sometimes public speaker, and a former Pixar Animation Story Artist. Emma has since moved on to directing her own projects and advising others how to make theirs. Reading her great blog at storyshots.tumblr.com , I’m sure even in her new rolls she finds these basic rules of great value. One of the biggest things I see missing from the hoards of YouTube video pouring over the internet is a reasonable semblance of story. Emma understands this subject better than anyone I’ve read. Understanding story, and how I
Read moreWater Wigs
Tim Tadder Water Wigs from Light Gangster on Vimeo. I’ve been to some interesting photo shoots in my day, but none as wild as this one. Stop motion flash photography has the power to freeze everything that moves by using extremely fast shutter speeds. For a demonstration of the technique, here is a behind the scenes look at Tim Water’s “Water Wigs” project. [ratings]
Read moreSaturday Double Feature
CAPTAIN T&T (2013) – A Short Film from Christopher Guinness on Vimeo. I can still remember back when the local movie theatre in my hometown ran a Saturday Double Feature for youngsters like myself. Often, those double features were both from the same director. Those were the best. It gave me a chance to see enough of the directors work to get a feel for his style. So here we go with the first Saturday Double Feature here on TheCameraFourm.Com We hope you enjoy it. It is hard to find words to describe this first selection. It really moved
Read moreI’ve Got A Secret – FotoMagico 4
I’ve Got A Secret from TheCameraForum on Vimeo. I’ve got a secret, and it is called FotoMagico 4 from Boinx Software Ltd. I’ll share my secret as the story continues below, but first some backstory about the footage and stills used in the making of “I’ve Got A Secret” is necessary for perspective. The ugly truth is, I shot all of this material without the right lens or the right camera setup. Last weekend, I was testing a used medium format perspective correction lens designed to create architectural still photographs. It was designed to shoot buildings, not people. See below: It
Read moreHDR Video
Canon 5D Mark II HDR Video from Neumann Films on Vimeo. Working with a variety of the latest tools available are producing some amazing results. One such tool that is getting wide attention lately is Magic Lantern. Magic Lantern? No, this is not some new type of video lighting. According to their own web site:”Magic Lantern is a software enhancement that offers increased functionality to the excellent Canon DSLR cameras. We have created an open framework, licensed under GPL, for developing extensions to the official firmware. Magic Lantern is not a “hack”, or a modified firmware, it is an
Read morePioneers In Flight
I’m not quite old enough to remember the Wright Brothers first successful attempt at flight. That took place even before my time. I have seen the filmed footage of the event though, such as it was. I was fortunate to live through the late 1960’s and 1970’s experiencing first hand the thrill of America’s first manned space missions, including the climactic finale of the first moon landing in 1969. Amazing. Doubly amazing when you consider the technology of the time. Cell phones hadn’t even been invented yet! Rotary dial “land line” connected Bell Telephone rentals were the norm. Highly trained
Read moreCanon EOS 5D Mark III – RAW Video!
Canon 5D Mark III Continuous Raw Video with Magic Lantern (1920×1280 24p) from Andrew Reid on Vimeo. They laughed and called it an April fools joke when the news first broke. Nobody covered the story. Most said it couldn’t be done. It has. Here is the proof. Bottom line, continuous raw video on the 5D Mark III is here! Quality is unsurpassed by any other DSLR and is truly in league with the RED and the Alexa, or that is the claim. Congratulations to Magic Lantern and in particular a huge thanks to Alex and his team for providing this
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