Speedlights have been critical to my work as long as I have been shooting. The portability and power in such a small light is amazing, and fills a nice lighting niche before bumping up to more powerful studio lights. When Nikon introduced the SU800 in 2005, wireless flash took off. With the SU800 you could Read More
Gear Talk
D500 first test
If you have been reading this blog, you know how excited I was about the D500. This camera offers a lot of what makes the D5 great including blazing fast autofocus at 10FPS with a huge buffer, LCD screen with touch controls like your phone (and it articulates as well), and the best Nikon camera Read More
Nikon 300mm PF ED F4
Just back from many days on the road, first in Bali, then in Oregon. I mentioned in an earlier post about how much I like the Nikon 300mm F4 PFED. After continued testing, I like it even more. Many reviews mention an issue with VR not working correctly around 1/125 of a second. I specifically Read More
Compression landscapes; 300mm F4 PF ED
Many folks think wide angle when asked about photographing landscapes. True, wide angle lenses can really capture a lot of layers, depth and dimension in a scene. On the other end of the landscape spectrum is using telephoto lenses to photograph landscapes. I was just in two areas which had amazing ‘compression landscapes’, Patagonia and Read More
Gaffer tape everywhere
Have you ever been on a shoot and something broke…maybe a headlamp, a camera body part, or even your sunglasses? If you only had a piece of tape to fix it. I solve that problem by always having gaffer tape handy. Gaffer tape is strong, and won’t leave a residue when you remove it. On Read More
Nikon 20mm 1.8 is sharp…really sharp!
Just back from two weeks in Patagonia helping lead a trip for ANPW; what an amazing place! I first visited the area as a climbing guide 25 years ago, and I have been hooked every since. After starting on day one with 75mph katabatic winds, we enjoyed mild weather, no rain and stunning sunrise and Read More
Why use a Nikon 35mm 1.4?
I’m getting ready to head to Patagonia soon, and on this trip I am doing something a little different. Instead of taking a few zooms, I’m taking a lot of prime fixed focal length lenses. Why you ask? My biggest reason is it forces me to ‘zoom my feet’, not zoom my lens. Don’t get Read More
Elinchrom Quadra HS heads
Elinchrom has been very busy developing some amazing new flash equipment lately. First came the announcement of the ELB 400, an updated version to the popular Quadra. This pack improved overall performance and offered a user-friendly OLED display to change settings. Then came the new EL-Skyport Plus HS. This transmitter was revolutionary to my work. Read More
Sensor Gel Stick
I just shot a 300 frame time-lapse and could hardly wait to create a movie out the stills. Imagine my disappointment when I watched the rendered video for the first time, and saw multiple dust spots in the final video. Ugg! Dust just seems to creep into my camera no matter how hard I try Read More
Stabilizing GoPro shots; Lanparte HHG-01 gimbal
One of the most rewarding, and frustrating, video clips to shoot is the moving shot. If you shoot 35mm or larger cameras like the Red, stabilizing a moving shot will require a large gimbal or steadycam rig. These are expensive, heavy, and take awhile to master. But the reward is getting incredible footage using 35mm Read More