Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

Common After Effects Problems and Mistakes

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After Effects Startup Splash

After Effects is a powerful video compositing, effects and motion graphics program that’s part of Adobe Creative Cloud. The problem for those coming from a video editing application like Final Cut or Premiere Pro is that the learning curve is steep.

Once you’ve spent some time in the program, you learn some of its nuances and start wrapping your mind around the different workflow that it presents. Then, you change a setting or apply an effect and nothing works the way you expect it to. [Read more…]

What is Lens Flare and How Can You Avoid It?

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Lens flare commonly occurs when shooting in the general direction bright light sources, whether they are a part of the image or not. The bright light creates internal reflections and scattering of light inside the lens, which results in artifacts or haze in the final image. A common scenario for producing lens flare is shooting into the sun.

In the above video, Karl Taylor shows us examples of lens flare and how to use a lens hood to avoid it. The lens hood serves the dual purpose of protecting the end of the lens in the field.

Polar Pro PowerPole Review

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GoPro PowerPole Extension Battery Pole-500x500

Polar Pro makes some great accessories for GoPro cameras. Along with some drone accessories, that’s really all the company makes.

The company started making filters for GoPro cameras in 2011 and has expanded to offer a full line of GoPro accessories. Over the past year or two, Polar Pro has introduced several new products that add to the functionality of GoPro cameras, including a GoPro mic, an iPhone case with a GoPro mount and GoPro camera bags with built in power supplies.

The Polar Pro PowerPole is an extendable pole for capturing action sports and other activities with your GoPro. The main difference between it and other GoPro extension poles is that it contains a 5200mAh battery inside that can give your GoPro up to 10 hours record time. (This is Polar Pro’s number but I haven’t been able to kill a GoPro on all day outings.) [Read more…]

Hasselblad’s HV DSLR Kit Finally Reaches “Normal” Price

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Hasselblad-HV_front_w

Hasselblad has a history of making incredible cameras and lenses; however, some of its recent digital models have simply been knockoffs of Sony’s Cyber-shot and Alpha products – and ridiculously overpriced knockoffs at that.

One such camera is the Hasselblad HV, which is sold as a kit with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for a whopping $12,000 retail price tag.

Well, it’s no longer overpriced thanks to a recent $8,000 price cut, bringing the camera kit down to $3,999. This includes the Hasselblad HV body, Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 T* lens and a custom hard case with foam interior cutout.

The Sony A99 on which the Hasselblad HV is based runs $2,000 on its own and so does the Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, which puts the camera and lens at $4,000 – and Hasselblad throws in the custom hardshell case.

While the Sony A99 is long in tooth, it’s still a solid full frame camera and, who knows, maybe the Hasselblad clone will become a collector’s item some day…