Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

What Manufacturers Really Do at CES…

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Canon and Nikon

I was culling through some CES 2012 photos this week and came across this photo that I forgot I had taken of a Canon employee walking around taking photos of the Nikon booth.

You actually see this all the time at CES and other trade shows. A lot of employees know each other personally and will catch up a bit. However, they also walk around and check out each others new wares up close.

Vanguard GH-200 Hands-On

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Vanguard GH-200

On my last day at CES 2012, I stopped by the Vanguard booth to check out some of their new products.  I’ve been a Vanguard fan since I bought the SBH-250 ball head a couple of years or so back.

One of the new items from Vanguard this year is an updated version of their pistol-grip ball head.  The GH-100 was last year’s model, which I’ve used and enjoyed quite a bit – although I have neglected to publish a review on it.  The GH-200 is the new model and it improves on the few minor complaints I had about the otherwise solid GH-100.  In essence, you can take this as a review of both units with some notes on what makes the GH-200 an improved offering. [Read more…]

Manfrotto 560B and 561B Fluid Video Monopods Review

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Manfrotto 561BHDV

This is going to be a pretty short and sweet review; however, I wanted to get my thoughts out there for those of you interested in run & gun video stabilization setups.  When we went to CES earlier this month, we took the Manfrotto 561B and 560B video monopods with us for capturing video from the show floor.

In short, they rock.  [Read more…]

Steadicam Merlin 2 at CES 2012

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Steadicam Merlin 2

We stopped by the Tiffen booth to check out some of their new offerings at CES 2012.  One of the hot new items there was the Steadicam Merlin 2, which adds some functional refinements to the popular and original Merlin.

Check out some demo footage and a brief overview of the Steadicam Merlin 2 in the video below.

Apologies for the audio distortion. It wasn’t clipping, but rather failing preamps on the camera, which we later remedied by recording to the Zoom H4n instead.

Additional details on the Merlin 2 in the press release below. [Read more…]

G-Tech G-RAID w/ Thunderbolt and G-Connect Wireless Storage

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G-Tech G-RAID Thunderbolt

G-Tech was on-hand at CES 2012 showing off a couple of recent products from its line of performance storage products.

The G-RAID with Thunderbolt comes in 4TB, 6TB and 8TB capacities priced at $799, $999 and $1199, respectively.  It packs to 3.5″ drives at 7200RPM each as single 2TB, 3TB or 4TB drives. [Read more…]

Polaroid SC1630 Hands-On

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Polaroid SC1630

The Polaroid SC1630 is a new Android-based camera that was unveiled at CES 2012.  I had a chance to check it out up close and get a little taste of its performance.

I found it more than a little ironic that Polaroid would produce a camera that looks and feels like a phone while other manufacturers are fighting to differentiate the point and shoot camera from smart phones.

Polaroid SC1630

Even more intriguing is the fact that the Polaroid SC1630 offers a SIM-card slot, along with a speaker and mic that make it possible to use it as a phone. [Read more…]