Back from my trip to Arizona.

Last week I spent a full 7 days in Arizona visiting my aunt and uncle. There was a big focus on photography as my uncle and I had a few ideas we want to try out that require great images of the area. I’ll be going into more detail in the future about those ideas, but until then here is a photo my uncle took of me at the Grand Canyon (south rim).

Me holding a Pentax K-7 and 55mm f1.4 lens.

My uncle took a great photo with my other camera!

The photo was taken with my K-5 and 14mm f2.8 lens (I was dual wielding camera bodies most of the trip). I had the camera setup as usual in USER mode (P + MTF mode) and he framed and took the photo. Very nicely done if I do say so…

To my knowledge he has no schooling in photography and only has shown some basic interest in it, but more since our talk about our mutual project. Although he did mention owning a Minolta SLR in the past, so I could be wrong. Right now he is using a small 6 mega-pixel Nikon digicam as his main camera. I really like the photo because he naturally placed me in the left third of the photo to emphasize the scenic background.

Fun times. Look forward to a lot more photos of Arizona and some talk about projects once I have time to process and work on it.

Viltrox AF FE 28mm f/4.5 VCM ASPH ED Lens Overview

Viltrox asked me if I wanted to take a look at this unique compact autofocus full-frame prime lens with a focal length of 28mm and a fixed f/4.5 aperture for Sony E-mount cameras. Viltrox agreed to my standard collaboration terms before sending me the lens. In the video I talk about features, how it works in practice, and show photos I had taken on a photo walk with the Sony a7S as well as the APS-C a6000. Viltrox is starting this off as an Indiegogo campaign. They told me that it will eventually be sold through normal retailers: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/viltrox-af-28mm-f4-5-fe-chips-size-ultra-thin-lens They said it will be $99 USD or 109 Euros with discounts during the crowdfunding period. Check out Indiegogo for details. I am not an affiliate of that website. You can check on the status of availability through my usual affiliates: B&H Photo Video Amazon As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases! The front of the lens. K...

Camera Gear Reviews and Marketing Issues Exposed

A great overview by Gerald Undone on his experiences in the field of camera gear related videos! It is an important topic. The more open the better, I’d say. After over 13 years making photography and videography gear videos, I’ve not had a huge amount of success comparatively, but I’ve also never been especially brand safe to begin with for these companies to consider me. 🤣 I think his mentions toward the end of the video are especially important. The unwritten pressure, or worse with companies like Insta360 , shouldn’t be acceptable and should be publicly called out more often. That’s probably the only way things will actually change for the better. I created a video detailing my opinion on the topic further: More of my comments on the video… His YouTube channel. 4:30 I understand that’s what Gerald does, but are there situations where companies are paying for flights and hotel costs of other reviewers with the expectation of a video/article being produced? (EDIT: I’ve seen confirm...

First look at the Sigma 18-50mm F/2.8 for Sony E-mount bought from KEH

I've use a Sony Alpha A6000 and the PZ 16–50mm F/3.5–5.6 OSS kit lens with my computer as a webcam for a long time now. It's a lower cost option that has been very consistent outputting 1080p at 30 FPS to a USB based HDMI capture device. The kit lens is generally fine, but it has a few quirks. The biggest issue is that throughout the zoom range the maximum aperture value is not fixed. This introduces technical challenges when I want to show detailed views of product or similar use cases. There are also other considerations I'll talk about later in this article. So I decided to buy the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | C lens in E-mount as a replacement. Links in this article are a mix of paid and through my affiliates. I earn from each in different ways. One is a flat fee and the others I earn from qualifying purchases. Considering them for your purchasing needs helps make the creation of this information viable! I made a video unboxing the lens and trying it out with Open ...

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