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Things You Should Know About Your Lenses, But May Not
This is not an article. A good article is like a five course meal, leading you through various tastes until you get to the big point of the whole thing: cheesecake. But I had a few things I wanted to talk about that weren’t an article in themselves, just blurbs, really. So I planned this one to be…
Stuff I Wish I’d Never Bought
When I wrote about stuff I would buy with my own money it got me thinking about all of the buyer’s remorse I’ve had over the years, both with personal gear I’ve bought, and with things I’ve bought for Lensrentals. I’m a gearhead, so this isn’t about “things that weren’t profitable”. Our accountants…
Stuff I Would Buy If I Bought Stuff
I know I have a dream job. I do all of the buying for Lensrentals, so I can justify spending large parts of my day looking for what’s new and great in the imaging world. And I’m spending company money. I don’t have to buy much camera gear. If I want to use something I check it out and use it. We…
Cooking with Glass
Well, since I’ve titled my other two “History of Lenses” articles with puns, I figured I’d continue the trend. Although I’ll admit this is the worst. But I loves me some puns. This is the third and, for now at least, final article in the History of Lenses series. While the technology is still…
ND Filters for Video
This article applies mostly to people shooting video on DSLR cameras, with lens adapters, or on higher-end interchangeable lens camcorders. Most ENG style camcorders come equipped with a built-in ND filter dial, which is about as much filtration as ENG style shooters have time for. For ND filter…
The Glass in Front of Your Glass: All About Filters
In the ancient days of film, any photographer worth his flash bulbs had a large set of filters in his bag. Filters to correct light, enhance contrast, add special effects to his images, you name it, there was a filter for it. Then came Photoshop and RAW and filters became quaint. Many of them,…
The Schott Heard Around the World
OK, confessions first. My assignment for this piece was to write a Holiday Photography Article. And to do it quickly because my last article was overdue. And to make it something cheery and concise since my last article was a long technical piece on how to test a lens. I tried to come up with an…
How to Test a Lens
If you read my articles very often, you may have realized I’m not one to let a lack of knowledge prevent me from writing on a topic. First-hand knowledge I mean. I write a lot of articles that I may spend 6 weeks researching before I feel knowledgeable enough to start writing. But this is one topic…
Concert Shooting Basics
_This time of year, particularly, people have plays, pageants, and all kinds of indoor activities to photograph. Since its one of the most difficult types of photography, we get a lot of questions about it. Since I know absolutely nothing about concert and theatre photography, I’ve asked Brad…
From Petzval’s Sum to Abbe’s Number
## A Brief History of Early Photographic Lenses I’m kind of a history buff, and those of you who are may enjoy this. Even those of you who aren’t into the history of photography may like this because the early lenses were attempts (actually amazingly good attempts) to solve the same problems we…
How to Shoot With Wide Aperture Lenses
I’ll start by saying I’m a wide-aperture prime nut. I love them. No zoom, not even the best zoom, can compare. “Wait”, you say, “what about my $2,000 top grade f/2.8 Wonderzoom? People say it’s the best lens made.” I’ll grant you it might be as sharp as a prime, at least at its sweet spot it might.…
The Seven Deadly Aberrations
# This article is aimed toward the gearheads among us, those who want to know more about how things work. Reading it will not improve your photography even a microscopic amount. Then again, it might, actually, at least a bit. But for those who are interested in such things it’s a fun read. And for…