PhotoJoseph On Think Tank Photo’s Airport Advantage Plus Rolling Camera Bag

A video review of the new roller, which can hold a huge amount of gear with some creative division of compartments

PhotoJoseph

Do you like bags? Of course, you like bags. You’re a photographer; these seem to go hand-in-hand! The problem with bags is that you need *the right one* for every occasion, such as when you need to carry a lot of gear on a plane, but don’t want to have to check it. Airline bag restrictions are tight, and if your bag is an inch oversized, it could... Read more

Shooting With The RED WEAPON

RED’s WEAPON 6K boasts amazing specs, but what’s it like to work with?

Text & Photography By Dan Brockett

I’ve always been impressed with the RED cinema cameras. It seems as if I’m in good company, with an impressive number of recent and upcoming film and TV projects being shot with RED cameras, as well—you know, productions like Stranger Things 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Transformers: The Last Knight and Logan Lucky. All you have to do is... Read more

Hands-On Review: Canon EOS C200 Digital Cinema Camera

The promise of RAW digital cinema fulfilled

By Dan Brockett

Stepping into the wayback machine, I can recall the excitement I felt when I finally bought my first digital cinema camera, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Canon didn’t intend to start the DSLR revolution, but that’s what ended up happening. While I had owned many film and digital video cameras, I had never dreamed that a low-light-sensitive, large-imager,... Read more

Hands-On Review: Atomos Ninja Inferno Vs. Video Devices PIX-E5

Comparing the design and capabilities of the external video recorders

Jordan Drake

One fun thing about working on The Camera Store TV is it gives us the chance to help explain some of the tools and techniques that often intimidate shooters. External video recorders are a great example of this. It seems everyone knows that using one can give you better video quality, but I see so many videographers confused about when to use one, and... Read more

Photography By Bike With A Good Light

With the Lustra 50, PRL has figured out LEDs so photographers and videographers don’t have to

DL Byron

Last week in Seattle, on Tuesday, when I was writing about dreariness (I called it dreeping), it was three times darker than the solar eclipse. THREE TIMES, and that reminded me to share with you how I’m getting street shots, even on the darkest days. It’s the Lustra 50 light, and what you need to know is that PRL has figured out affordable high-quality... Read more

Sony a7R III Hands-On Field Test In Sedona, Arizona

For creatives who require top-notch photo quality and high-end video capability in the same body, this is the best option out there

Jordan Drake

When it was first released, I was so impressed by the photo and video quality of the Sony a7R II that I was willing to look past an enormous list of inconveniences in order to shoot with it. Battery life was terrible, the single card slot was slow, the menu, impenetrable, and the controls were imprecise. Despite that, the a7R II was a clear sign to... Read more

Hands-On Video Review: PhotoJoseph Tests The DJI Spark

Making spectacular images—“tiny planets”—with the mini-drone

PhotoJoseph

You’ve seen them before, those really cool images dubbed “tiny planets,” where your immediate surroundings are wrapped around a sphere into an impossibly small “planet” hovering in the sky! Typically produced by 360˚ cameras, they now can be generated by drones—specifically, the DJI Spark. I had an absolute blast this week flying the drone... Read more

Hands-On Review: LaCie 2big Dock Thunderbolt 3—2big To Be Ignored

To have this much capacity at this speed, with dock functions and without breaking the bank, it’s easy to be excited about storage

Michael Guncheon

I like storage. I really do. Most of the projects I work on are shot in 4K and beyond, so storage is important. It doesn’t help that directors don’t have much incentive to say “cut” as they might have done when they shot on film. A recent project tied up nearly 18 terabytes of storage during finishing. I’m always on the lookout for more storage.... Read more

Hands-On Review: Interfit Honey Badger Strobe

A tough, lightweight and powerful strobe/head lighting unit. Oh, and it’s bright yellow.

Chris X Carroll

A four-foot-wide, brilliant yellow snow shovel sat for several years in the corner of my studio. Without exception, men who saw it would get a kind of gleam in the eye and immediately start asking where I got it, how it was to use, and on and on, no matter the season. Oddly, in the three years I wielded it to great acclaim, not a single woman took the... Read more

Panasonic LUMIX GH5 Hands-On Review

With the release of firmware update 2.1, it seems like the right time for a detailed report on the 20.3-megapixel mirrorless camera that shoots 4K video

Jordan Drake

I’ve been a huge fan of the Panasonic GH mirrorless camera series almost as long as I’ve been producing TCSTV. As someone who regularly jumps between stills and video capture, yet focuses on video professionally, the concept of a capable stills camera that is optimized for high-end video production has always appealed me. I’ve used the GH3 and... Read more

Smooth Jazz: Manfrotto Nitrotech N8 Video Head And Tripod

The new video head and tripod system drives like an Italian sports car with Anna Magnani at the wheel, and it’s a joy to shoot with

Chris X Carroll

In preparation for getting married, I strode into Barneys and purchased an Armani suit. Just resting on the hanger that fabric is otherworldly, with a drape like nothing else. Then you put it on, and it’s like armor protecting and enhancing your very being. Seriously, I walk differently when I’m wearing it. Way back there at Barneys, when they left... Read more

Nikon D850 Hands-On Field Test

With the usability and image quality the D850 can provide video shooters and Nikon’s intent to deliver a pro mirrorless camera, videographers and cinematographers finally have a great reason to hang on to their Nikkor lenses

Jordan Drake

I’ve always been a huge fan of Nikon’s DSLRs for photography, but as far as using them for video capture is concerned, calling myself ambivalent would be generous. I’ve tried several times to shoot TCSTV episodes with Nikon cameras, but I’ve always come away frustrated with their operation and underwhelmed by the final image. With that background,... Read more