Broken Sigma Lens Fixed with a Peanut Butter Jar Lid
YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat‘s DSLR recently took a tumble, breaking a piece off of the built-in lens hood of his Sigma lens. Instead of sending the lens in for repairs, Neistat decided to do a thrifty repair himself. After finding a similar-sized jar lid on some peanut butter at a local grocery store, he created...
Use a Drop of Water as a Macro Lens for Phone Photographs
Here’s a super cool trick: instead of buying a special macro lens for your smart phone, simply use a drop of water! Carefully place a drop of water over your lens, carefully invert the phone, and voila — instant macro shots with the cheapest lens you’ll ever own. Alex Wild over at Scientific American has...
Essential Equipment for the Serious Photographer
For discussion purposes let’s assume that a year or two ago you decided to take the plunge and upgrade from a point & shoot camera to DSLR. The first thing you probably learned was that in the beginning your photos weren’t any better with the DSLR and in some cases not as good. Fortunately, you...
Saying Goodbye To A Favorite Tool is Difficult: A Revisit Of The Nikkor 17-35mm f2.8D ED IF And The Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di-II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Lenses.
Technology moves on. If you owned a Blackberry but now use an iPhone or an Android smartphone, you know exactly what I mean. It’s not that the Blackberry doesn’t perform, it’s that for many, the Blackberry lost its edge. That’s … Continue reading →
LockCircle announces Prime Circle – A custom Zeiss ZF.2 ring kit
Our friends over at LockCircle have just announced another product – the Prime-Circle! A series of custom lens kits for Zeiss ZF.2 lenses. If you happen to have a Zeiss ZF.2 lens, this should be a great addition. PRIME-CIRCLE RingKits for ZF.2 Series Lenses and PRIME-CIRCLE XT Custom Lens Kits The PRIME-CIRCLE project offers to...
Cliff Notes: Vibration Control Lenses Open-Up A New World Of Imaging. I Happily Used It On A Beach Wedding.
Called by many names, VR, VR II, VC, OS and IS (Canon). The vibration control feature opens-up new opportunities for photographers. Vibration Control is a system that moves elements within the lens to compensate for camera shake. While many photographers … Continue reading →
What is the Best Lens for Portrait Photography?
Sometimes it’s fun to write articles about a subject that doesn’t have a “one right answer.” Not only does it make me really think about the subject before I start writing but it’s also usually somewhat controversial and garners a lot of comments. So for this subject please put in your “two cents worth” either...
How to Increase the Performance of Your Canon Kit Lens
This is your standard kit lens that comes with most entry-level DSLRs from Canon. It does an okay job for most things, but here’s how to make it better. Here’s a list of things you’ll need: Step 1: Use masking tape to cover up the lens around the silver ring: Step 2: Paint the silver...
Canon Unveils the 24-70mm f/2.8 II, 24mm f/2.8 IS, and 28mm f/2.8 IS
After images started leaking last night, Canon today officially announced three new lenses for the EF lineup: the 24-70mm f/2.8L II, 24mm f/2.8 IS, and 28mm f/2.8 IS. Compared to the first version, the new 24-70mm weighs 100 grams less (it’s 850g), costs $1,000 more, still doesn’t offer IS, uses 82mm filters (instead of 77mm),...
This is the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II
This is the first photo of Canon’s upcoming 24-70mm f/2.8L II, the followup to an extremely popular and well-regarded lens. It’ll weigh less than the first version (which is nicknamed “The Brick”) and have a 82mm filter thread (up from 77mm), but — to the dismay of Canonites everywhere — won’t have Image Stabilization. No...
Vintage lens alert! 110 year old lens on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Quite a while ago, we featured a 102 year old lens that was mounted to a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (two posts: stills post and video from the same lens) – and today, here’s an even older one – 110 years old! This was sent in by Ignacio Sanchez who has started a group...
Cinemagraph of a Camera Lens Blinking
Photographer Scott Sexton created this cinemagraph showing the aperture blades in a Canon 50mm f/1.8 opening and closing. It’s like he made a cinemagraph of a cinemagraph being made. In other news, Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck — the American photographers credited with coining the term “cinemagraph” in 2011 — have published a stunning new...
