Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

 

Red Scarlet S35 Renamed, Re-priced

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The yet-to-be-released, Red Scarlet S35, has been redubbed by Red Leader, Jim Jannard, as the EPIC Light.  As he puts it, the price and features have changed as well.

The Scarlet S35 was originally announced in late 2008 and was spec’d with a 5120 x 2700 resolution Super 35 sensor that would capture 5k footage at 30 fps (w/ 72fps burst rates).  The initial price point for the Scarlet S35 was $7000 for the body (brain) only and would be available in Canon, Nikon, Red and PL mount options.

No word on the revised specs or price; however, according to Jannard, we should know something next week.

[RedUser.net via PhotoRumors]

Vincent Laforet Shoots Boot Commercial at 600fps

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The above commercial is the latest creations from Vincent Laforet, who you may recall launched the HDSLR frenzie with his short film Reverie in the Fall of 2008 (shot on the 5D Mark II).  Laforet served as the director of photography on this commercial for Famous Footwear.  It was shot on a Phantom HD Gold camera at 600 frames per second, which required 250,000 watts of light to get the proper exposure.

Laforet has a nice tech write-up on his blog here, along with a behind the scenes video.

Firmware Friday: Sony A900/A850, Fuji HS10, Panasonic FZ100/FX700/FX75, Ricoh CX4

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Camera Firmware Update

Below you will find this week’s firmware updates.  Hit the manufacturer website links for more details and download instructions for the firmware.

Sony A900 / A850 version 2.0 – “You can release the shutter even when no lens is mounted on the camera (P/A/S/M and Auto mode). The range of the exposure compensation is expanded to ±5 EV (Before the update: ±3 EV). The following setting has been added to the continuous bracket and single bracket shooting functions: The exposure bracket can now be set in 3 EV increments and the camera shoots three images ([3.0 EV– +3.0 EV]). (Before the update: Up to 2.0 EV). The speed of autofocus has been improved. The improvement will be most noticeable when using a tele lens, however the effect is dependent on the shooting condition.” [Sony Website]

Fuji HS10 version 1.04 – “1. Custom white balance can be set correctly when an external flash is mounted. 2. On slide show mode, sound of movie recording data can be performed on the HDTV which is connected with the camera via HDMI interface.” [Fuji Website]

Panasonic FZ100 version 1.2 – “1. Image quality improvement of Motion Deblur in iA Mode 2. Performance improvement of autofocus in taking pictures while recording Motion Pictures” [Panasonic Website]

Panaonsic FX700 and FX75 version 1.1 – “1. Image quality improvement of Motion Deblur in iA Mode (FX70/ FX75/ FX700) 2. Performance improvement of autofocus in taking pictures while recording Motion Pictures (FX700)” [Panasonic Website]

Ricoh CX4 version 1.05 – “Modified the following phenomenon. 1. In the Night Landscape Multi-shot, when pressing the shutter release button half way, the camera shake warning symbol camera shake warning will not be displayed in the screen.” [Ricoh Website]

Bower SFD926 TTL Flash Review

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The Bower SFD926 TTL flash is a hot shoe flash that is available for just about every DSLR on the market now.  At around $100, the SFD926 is an affordable alternative to the more expensive hot shoe flashes from Canon, Nikon and the likes.

The feature set is also rather impressive for a flash in this price range.  The SFD926 will operate as a normal TTL flash, which means that your camera can communicate directly with the flash to provide commands for the correct amount of flash output needed for a proper exposure.  Additionally, the SFD926 can be operated in manual mode with adjustments from full power down to 1/16 power (i.e., a 5-stop power range).

The SFD926 has an optical slave, which makes it an attractive option for the strobist-on-a-budget crowd who want to shoot in full manual across the power range. [Read more…]

Cyber Week Continues with Deals on Tokina Lenses, Benro Tripod & More

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Amazon is pushing well past Cyber Monday with a whole week of deals on a variety of products.  Just browsing through today’s “Lightning Deals” – it’s serving up deals on the Tokina 16.5-135mm lens in Canon and Nikon mounts (starting at 9:20AM ET), a Benro tripod and monopod, with more to be revealed throughout the day.

If you aren’t familiar with Lightning Deals, they are limited availability products that are reduced in price (sometimes significantly) for only a short period of time (usually 1-4 hours if the stock lasts that long).  You can check them out on Amazon’s Cyber Week page and you’ll get a feel for how the deal system works.