Month: June 2017

MindShift Gear PhotoCross Sling Bag Review

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I’ve reviewed a lot of MindShift Gear products in the past, but this is the first time they’ve brought a sling-style pack to the market so I was very curious to see what their take on it would be. MindShift is the sister company to Think Tank Photo, but their products focus entirely on the outdoor photography markets such as landscape, adventure, travel and wildlife photography. Pretty much all of the camera bags I use for work on a daily basis are MindShift ones, but I’ve never actually owned a sling before so I was excited to try one out …

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How to Fix Cloudy Plastic Camera Rain Covers

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Having a good rain cover in your photo kit is a great idea because clouds, snow and thunderstorms can often produce very dramatic images. If you’re a working professional, you also need to be able to guarantee you can work in any condition, particularly photojournalists and sports photographers. I’ve reviewed a number of rain cover on this site in the past, and they typically fall into two categories: Firstly you have ultra lightweight covers that don’t totally enclose the back of the camera. These covers take up less room in your bag, so you can typically leave one in there …

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Benro TSL08CN00 Carbon Tripod Review

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Every photographer will need a tripod at some point and it’s an overwhelming decision to make when there are so many options. Some cheap tripods can actually be a hindrance because photographers believe they are getting a stable platform when they aren’t. Another common problem is that people end up with a tripod that is too small, and therefore two uncomfortable to use, or too heavy and therefore too cumbersome to carry. These experiences leave a bad taste in their mouths with regards to tripod usage, and they tend never to want to use one again. High-end tripods such as …

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REVIEW: Peak Design Range Pouch

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I’ve used all kinds of Peak Design products in the last few years, and always been impressed with the bomber construction of their camera bags so I thought I’d purchase one of the Range Pouches to check it out and see how it compares to their other products. The Range Pouch is available in three different sizes and starts at $35 for the small size, $40 for the medium and $45 for the large. There’s really no rules about what you can carry in the Range Pouch, although obviously most people will be thinking about putting a lens in it, …

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Better Beamer Flash Extender Review

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Sometimes it’s necessary to use a flash for wildlife photography just to add a little fill, or add a catchlight to the eye of your subject. The problem is that most hot shoe flashes simply don’t have the necessary range and power to adequately light up a subject that is as far away as wildlife often is. The Better Beamer Flash Extender is a solution to this problem! Priced at only $35 from B&H, it uses a simple plastic frame that attaches to your flash, and a thin plastic fresnel lens that sticks to the end of it using hook-and-loop. …

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Did You Know That Canon Has Three Different Sizes of APS-C Sensor?

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I thought I’d write a quick post about this because it caused me some confusion recently while I was creating some resources on calculating field of view and angle of view for camera lenses. The calculations for this require the dimensions of a camera’s sensor, and while working on the data list for Canon lenses I couldn’t figure out why my numbers weren’t quite matching some of those that I had come across on Canon’s own website. A little digging back through archives revealed to me that Canon actually uses three different sizes of APS-C sensor, although I wasn’t able …

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