Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

Chase Jarvis Trade Secrets

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DEVIANT

Trade Secret Cards has partnered with Chase Jarvis to produce a set of 22 cards that take killer images from Chase’s portfolio and couple them with a detailed “how-to” containing an explanation, diagrams and gear.

They’ve produced a run of 5000 sets of the 22 cards, which cost $21.95 per set.  Chase mentioned on his blog that he gets 10% of the purchase price; however, he’s elected to put that money back into the photo community and has given his community of followers the power to help decide how that money is spent.

You can order them at tradesecretcards.com.

You can keep track of Chase Jarvis at blog.chasejarvis.com.

Sony A850, A900 and Canon 5D Mark II – More ISO Comparisons

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For those of you interested in a little more pixel peeping with the Sony A850, A900 and Canon 5D Mark II, I’ve added several more samples taken at various noise reduction settings.

I’ve made all of these available in this forum thread, which includes 100% crops and full-res files for download and inspection.

The original ISO comparison, which did not use noise reduction, can be found here.

Get $100K for 140 Seconds of Your Time

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Here’s a cool contest with some really cool folks involved.

Nikon is giving away $100,000 for a 140 second video about your day.  The theme is “A Day through Your Lens.”  The above video is Rainn Wilson’s hilarious take on the concept.

Of course, Nikon is promoting the capabilities of its D-Movie function on several of its DSLRs like the D300s, D3s, D5000 and D90; however, the contest is open to anyone shooting with any kind of gear.  Kudos to Nikon on that.

The winner will be chosen by pioneering photographer and filmmaker Chase Jarvis actor Rainn Wilson from NBC’s The Office, internet queen and actress “iJustine” Ezarik.  Chase seems pretty stoked about this.

You can enter at NikonFestival.com.

Check out the press release below for full details. [Read more…]

ColorRight v.4 Custom White Balance Tool

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The ColorRight custom white balance tool has been updated to a 4th version, which features a semi-transparent plastic center piece, instead of glass in the former version.  Likewise, the outer ring is now a hard plastic shell instead of metal.  (Update: The ring is metal, but it feels better than the old version.) [Read more…]

Ricoh GXR Reviews and Resources

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Ricoh GXR

The Ricoh GXR modular camera system is a unique system that pairs lenses and imaging sensors into sealed components, which are interchangeable on the GXR camera body.

The GXR system initially offers a camera body, which is essentially an LCD, controls and a memory card slot. The two initial lens units cover 24-70mm and 50mm, featuring a 10-megapixel CCD 1/1.7-inch sensor and a 12.3-megapixel CMOS 23.6mm x 15.7mm (APS-C size) sensor, respectively.

The GXR body carries an initial retail price of $549.

The GXR A12 50mm lens unit carries an initial retail price of $830.

The GXR S10 24-72mm lens unit carries an initial retail price of $440.

The system should be on store shelves in December 2009.

[Read more…]

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies Detain Person for Taking Photos in Public Place

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In the above video, Shawn Nee was stopped and detained for 25 minutes by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputies for taking photos in the subway. The video is cut down under 10 minutes for YouTube time limits, but the full encounter is available here.

Shawn Nee is a photographers’ rights advocate and, while his encounter may have been set up to “bait” the stop since the video was up and running in a covert fashion, the officer clearly overstepped his bounds.  During the encounter, the officer concedes that he doesn’t know whether or not Nee has committed a crime but rather, has stopped him to see if a crime is being committed. [Read more…]

Sony A850, A900 & Canon 5D Mark II ISO Comparisons

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Sony A850, Sony A900, Canon 5D Mark II

The Sony A850 is the newest full frame DSLR from Sony.  It’s based largely on the Sony A900; however, its a couple of notches below on feature sets.  Since the A850 uses the same 24.6-megapixel sensor as found in the A900, we shouldn’t expect any real difference in image quality between the two.

Although, comparing these two cameras to the Canon 5D Mark II, which is the current prosumer state of the art for low-light performance, is another story.  You’ll also see some Canon 7D samples at higher ISOs for the sake of comparing a crop-sensor camera to these full framers.  To see how the Sony A850 and A900 stack up, read on. [Read more…]

Blogging Basics for Photographers: Deciding Whether to Start a Blog for Your Photography

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Blogging Basics For Photographers

So many photographers are on the cutting edge of online communication through blogging, social networking and photo sharing sites.  Photographers use these online resources to communicate with other photographers as well as to market themselves to potential clients.

This the first article in a series that addresses part of this networking and communication boom – Blogging Basics for Photographers.

Other articles in this Blogging Basics for Photographers series:

1. Deciding Whether to Start a Blog for Your Photography
2. Blogging Software and Services
3. Web Hosting and Blog Set Up

The goal of this series will be to help those of you who want to start a blog find the right tools and instructions to make it happen.

The first thing I want to do is get everyone on the same page with the basics of what we’re talking about, whether you want to start a blog or not, and then we’ll talk about blogging software and services next.  [Read more…]