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The Hollywood Distagon at f/2: A Single Daffodil and the Contax Zeiss 28mm on the Sony A7RV
April 28, 2026
The Association of Obscure Associations
These days, every organization needs a polished, professional video to legitimize its cause. That’s why Dissolve has partnered with* the Association of Obscure Associations to create memorable ads for some lesser-known not-for-profits, social groups, and industry coalitions. Do they deserve your support? Watch first, then you decide for yourself. *Invented Video effects courtesy of Red Giant. Music: Ryan Little, Voice on Your Shoulder; Taker 51, Flor De Hielo; Timp, Super Awesome Commercial Happy Happy Song; Plastic Flowers, Lucy; Myuu, Facing Darkness; NanowaR of Steel, NanowaR; Frozen Houses, Listen “The American Council of Darkness” is based on a bit by comedian James Adomian.
Read moreArmaGAYddon: The Review
Not since the “YMCA Video” has such a defining moment occurred for gay culture as what took place on Friday, June 26, 2015. On this date now etched in history, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) voted in a split 5-4 decision to declare Gay Marriage legal under the laws of the United States, superseding the laws in each individual State. ArmaGAYddon! Straits be scared! NPR reports “States cannot keep same-sex couples from marrying and must recognize their unions, the Supreme Court says in a ruling that for months has been the focus of speculation. The decision was
Read moreOn And On, “it’s not over”
The Monday afternoon special this week is a story about long-distance relationships. The kind where whatever the obstacles in the road of being together, the two of you work it out. Even if it means going out of your way to do something different. This is a fine production, quite a clever concept, and beautifully executed! starring Elizabeth Rian and Thomas Bailey it’s not over was directed, filmed and edited by Carlos Lopez Estrada it’s not over was produced by Alissa Torvinen Executive Producer: Matt Pittman for Alpen Pictures it’s not over Visual Effects: Tanner Merrill Sound Design: Michael O’Connor
Read moreLaowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro Lens
Venus Optics, the Chinese camera lenses manufacturer based in Anhui, China, who last September launched the world’s first 2:1 Macro Lens with infinity focus, claims to have accomplished another first. Venus Optics has just announced the world’s widest Macro lens for full frame cameras, the Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide-Angle 1:1 Macro Lens. And boy, does this Laowa 15mm f/4 look like a sweetheart. The Laowa 15mm f/4 lens has a minimum close focusing distance of 0.47cm, or an astounding 0.185039 inches! Which means the front element of the Laowa 15mm f/4 lens will be nearly kissing your subject when shooting 1:1. The remarkable images
Read moreCanon 5DS Teardown
When Lensrentals.com first got the first Canon 5Ds and 5D sr cameras in stock, Aaron and I immediately started screaming that we wanted to take one apart. It turns out we received enough 5Ds cameras to let us have a day with one to do just that. Of course, we don’t expect to find out anything amazing and revealing. We expect it will look pretty much like the Canon 5DIII and 7DII on the inside. But hey, you never know. Plus we’ll be repairing these soon enough, so we might as well find our way around now. If you want to do some comparisons yourself, you can compare this to
Read moreSigma 24-35mm F2 DG HSM Art Lens
RONKONKOMA, NY — June 19, 2015 – Sigma Corporation of America, a leading DSLR lens and camera manufacturer, today announced the Sigma 24-35mm F2 DG HSM Art lens, the market’s first full-frame zoom lens offering a wide-open, constant aperture of F2 throughout the zoom range. Pricing and availability are pending. With the development of this latest Global Vision Art lens, Sigma was determined to develop a zoom for 35mm full-frame sensor cameras that enables the same sharpness and resolution as a fixed focal length lens. To do this, the company’s engineers built upon the concept of Sigma’s ground-breaking 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art lens,
Read moreCanon 5DS and 5DS R Resolution Tests
Like everybody else, we’re pretty excited to get our hands on Canon’s new 5DS and 5DS R. There are already a lot of hands-on articles about the cameras that probably have told you more than you need to know to make your purchase decision. Of course, for most of the Canon shooters who read this blog, the purchase decision was just which place you want to buy it from. For me, I want some lab data to see just how much of a difference those megapixels make. More particularly, I want to see how much of a difference they make when shot through
Read moreGoodbye My Friend, My Old Dog
This exquisitely done video is a tribute piece by photographer Ben Moon. The story is a beautiful, touching tribute to his old dog Denali, who at the age of 14 passed away last year of cancer. It’s a story Ben chose to tell from his friend’s perspective; Denali the Dog’s view of life, love, loyalty and friendship. It is also a story of irony, as Ben himself is a cancer survivor – for now. It is always “for now” with cancer… Most of the times in life, we get the bull. When you do, you eat steak. But eventually, sooner or later life gives you the
Read moreSony’s RX100 IV and RX10 II: Cyber-Shot Rockets!
Rockets indeed, both of them, from a Sony determined to dominate the small interchangeable lens camera segment – then carrying the same technology down the whole line! Try shooting some video of a high speed train passing by with these new RX Series incredible mind bending specifications, and see for yourself: 40x super slow motion video capture at 960fps, 480fps and 240 fps frame rates 60p, 30p and 24p playback formats an ultra-fast Anti-Distortion Shutter with a maximum speed of 1/32000 second 4K (QFHD 3840×2160) movie recording full pixel readout without pixel binning to ensure that all the finer details of 4K video are captured with
Read moreSony’s New A7R II
The long wait is over at last! The A7R II has been announced. Eleven Features of the New Sony A7R II Camera. This A7R II Packs Some Real Surprises! 42.4 megapixel photos at up to ISO 102400 the world’s first back-illuminated full frame CMOS sensor 399 focal plane phase detection AF points 5-axis image stabilization system can shoot and record 4K video in multiple formats including Super 35mm (without pixel binning) 4K quality (QFHD 3840×2160) in either Super 35mm crop mode or full-frame mode XAVC S7 codec during video shooting 100 Mbps bit rate during 4K recording, 50 Mbps bit rate recording
Read moreCineGear 2015: Lenses, Bots, & Drones
https://vimeo.com/130264939 I’ve got a small secret to tell, but I don’t want to offend anybody when I disclose it. I go to several trade shows every year to keep up on the latest gear and software upgrades. It gives me a chance to also catchup with old friends and view some of the best creative work on display by others. Of all the shows I attend, my favorite is the one right here on the Paramount Studio back lot, CineGear Expo. I mean, how can you beat a gear show setup on a New York City street set? Want to see the camera crane
Read moreSony Growing Mirrorless Digital Camera Market
Sony reports a record 66% growth in what appears to be a still advancing and ever expanding mirrorless digital camera market thanks mainly to the Alpha 7 series and a6000 cameras. However, according to recent survey data the overall DSLR market is not as healthy – shrinking yet another 16.5% in this past year. Sony’s Mirrorless Digital Camera Press Release: SAN DIEGO, June 3, 2015 — Sony Electronics – an overall leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer – is experiencing record growth in sales of every mirrorless digital camera, a rapidly expanding segment of the interchangeable lens camera (ILC) business. According to
Read moreSteadXP: Game Changing Video Stabilization?
From the video image stabilization without a gimbal department, we bring you young French filmmaker Emmanuel Pampuri CEO & founder @ Les Machineurs & TRACTOfilm in France, who has just this week announced a whole new type of imaging stabilization system that looks to hold some great promise. On this second video you’ll see longer videos produced with SteadXP technology. In extreme downhill moutain biking, stabilizing videos shot from a cameraman’s chest is a real challenge. The amplitude of vibration is so severe,even an ultra wide angle lens captured camera source frame is not enough to produce a nice stabilized result. To
Read moreGoogle Skunkworks: Cardboard 2.0 – GoPro 16 Cam & Jump VR
The #skunkworks delivers once again. As the internet continues to evolve, so does Google CEO Larry Page’s vision into the future, a future where search is still important but other revenue streams need to be contributing as well. Google has the enviable position to be in complete charge of its projects, having the cash to back whatever vision Larry Page, Sergey Brin & Co decide are worthwhile directions that will do no harm. Page runs the company operations, while Brin gets to play with the X files, running the high budget secretive Google “X” Division, the skunkworks where most of the the
Read moreMary Ellen Mark: Portraits And Portrayals
Another #GREAT #photographer bites the dust. Legendary Philadelphia-born photographer Mary Ellen Mark, 75, has died. Mary Ellen Mark was a photographer known for her incredible humanist photography. She passed away Monday in New York City. Her rep confirmed the news this morning. RIP Mary Ellen Mark. Your inspiration, wit, humor, and unique artistic view of the world will be missed. Photographer Mary Ellen Mark was one of the most respected and influential image makers of our time. Mary Ellen Mark ‘s work photographing diverse cultures across the globe has become iconic in the field of documentary photography and portraiture. Mary Ellen Mark has received a
Read moreDSL ARM And Selfie Stick Abuse
https://youtu.be/KE-tGdAKCZo https://youtu.be/xNo5H1cK_gQ DSL ARM is reported to be an affliction of having your arm stretched from using a heavy DSLR. A few years back, there were many days my arm felt just like this DSL ARM before I threw in the towel and went mirrorless. I also caught a bad case of DSL Shoulder, my left now a couple inches lower than my right. Olympus claims the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II is the cure to DSL ARM because it’s almost half the the size and weight of a DSLR, but with all the power. Owning one, they could very well be right. I can state emphatically
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