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Please, Don’t Take Our Photography and Video Gear to Burning Man
Each year around this time, we’re faced with what we call a ‘doomsday’ event within the office; where dozens of our camera, lenses and other gear arrive back from rental orders, destroyed by the environment. And while our customer base is amazing, and often accept their repairs and replacement…
3-2-1 Backup Best Practices using Cloud Archiving
Editorial Note: _While we’re most notably known for our passion in gear, we also share the same passion in keeping your data safe. So in order to help our users develop a secure workflow for their data, we’ve teamed up with Backblaze on a series of articles discussing the importance of data…
Nearly Complete Teardown of The Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS II
So, some things happened recently. We got stock on Canon EF 70-200 f/4L IS II lenses, and even though they go out on rental the day we get them in stock, we were able to do MTF testing on them. The very low sample variation we saw made us want to take one apart and see how Canon did that. And…
MTF Tests for the Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS II Lens
Back in the day, and it was way back, my first “L” lens was the Canon 70-200mm f/4L, which I chose primarily because it was a bit sharper and a lot cheaper than the 70-200mm f/4L IS. I moved on years ago. Those lenses were good back then, and perhaps adequate for quite a while, but didn’t have a…
First Look of the “Bokeh Master” Sigma 105mm f/1.4 Art Series Lens
A couple of years ago I was super excited about the Nikon 105mm f/1.4E. I was so excited I wrote an ode to it. So when Sigma announced their own version with the Sigma 105mm f/1.4 Art Series, I immediately got excited. I’ve been a massive fan of the Art series primes since they first debuted, and…
MTF Tests for the Sigma 14-24mm f2.8 Art Series Lens
Most of you know I’m a big fan of Sigma’s Art prime lenses. They give superior optics at excellent prices just about every damn time. I’ve been more mixed in my opinions of Sigma’s Art zoom lenses. I thought the Sigma 24-105mm f/4 Art was the best 24-105mm I’ve ever tested (and I hate testing…
Review of the Sigma 70mm f/2.8 Art Series Macro Lens
I love my Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens. Since I got it six months ago from Lens Authority (after renting it half a dozen times for projects), it hasn’t really left my camera body. Though like most macro lenses I’ve used, it’s a bit slow to focus, and can be a little fickle when using in low light…
Customer Stories – Making Worlds on A Tabletop with Felix Hernandez
From time to time, we have customers who are so excited about their rentals, that they end up tagging us in the photos and videos that they were able to create. And sometimes, we find some work that inspires us so much, that we have to highlight, through retweets, shares on social media, and every…
Developing a Rapid MTF Test for Photo and Video Lenses
### . . . Or What I Did for the Last Year Instead of Having a Life. Nearly a decade ago, I started testing lenses. A few years later, after I complained about a manufacturer’s claiming an awful lens was in spec, an engineer patted me on the head and told me “you really don’t have the background to…
Comparing the Best Ultra Wide Zoom Lenses from Canon, Nikon, Sony & Sigma
Wide angle zoom lenses are a dime-a-dozen but are often seen on crop-frame cameras. When it comes to full-frame cameras, on the other hand, the wide-angle zoom options are few and far between if you want good range, quality, and low distortion. In this comparison, we’ll be looking at four…
Basic Concepts to Create Incredible Architectural Images Using Light Painting
While I’m most known for my Cinematic Headshots, many don’t know that a large majority of my work is architectural and lifestyle oriented for a wide range of commercial clients. Most of what I shoot is for hotels but recently I’ve had the opportunity to dive into the world of aviation photography,…
Make Your Videos Better With a Simple Understanding of Video Lighting
Creating videos can be a very complicated and cumbersome process, but can be very rewarded when done correctly. Between framerates, sound, codecs, and color grading, there certainly is a lot of technicals to learn when it comes to video, but one of the most important traditional techniques you can…