Today a small “review” on the Sigma 120-300 f2.8 OS HSM EX lens.
For years I’ve been using the Canon 100-400L for most of my sports and “private” work, and although I love the lens I sometimes missed shooting on f2.8 especially with soccer, however also realizing that long f2.8 lenses are incredibly expensive and often only are available in primes I always forgot about it. When Sigma released their 120-300 f2.8 OS HSM EX lens I was more than interested, and finally I bit the bullet.

Now I have to fill you in on some of the history and you understand why I waited so long.
I started out with the 100-400L, but replaced it by the optical better 80-400OS from Sigma, which was replaced after a year due to the weak AF (slow and often hunting), I decided to try the 150-500 from Sigma because at that time I was more into zoos, birds etc. but that one also fell through, to soft at 500 and also bad AF. So I ended up buying the Canon 100-400L for the second time….. you would think I would stay with it, and I did for a while, but now with the 120-300 f2.8 I think I finally found a replacement.

Let’s first look at how they look next to each other, because beware the Sigma is not for the weak….
Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes a product needs a long review, and sometimes it doesn’t.
To be 100% honest I never owned a remote trigger before, well actually that is not true I do own the very simple one from Canon with a wire, but never really used it, I always used the timer remote if I needed it, so when I saw this remote at first I was a bit in doubt… will I really use it? well the answer is yes. (by the way, this remote is also available for other cameras)

Read the rest of this entry »

Today some talk about the 5DMKIII.
When the 5DMKII was released I already shot with medium format but still bought the MKII rather quickly (actually maybe within 4 weeks after release) the main reason for me was the fact that the camera had a video option which I would love to play with. Since that time it took Canon a LONG time to upgrade their (I think) best camera.

When we left for the states I was eagerly awaiting delivery of my camera, and actually one of the first mails I got when I arrived in the states was that my camera arrived, and believe it or not we really talked about going back….. well ok just kidding but I did felt bad.
As soon as we were home I started using the camera and today I will share some of my opinions, do remember this will not be a review with 100% crops showing banding when pushed 4-5 stops (learn to expose), it will be a simple write up of my opinions and some sample shots just for illustration.

Read the rest of this entry »

In this blogpost the review for the Fujifilm X10 Digital Camera (Black) which I bought during a recent visit to B&H in New York.

For years I’ve been using the Canon G9 and although it was a very nice camera at the time I bought it, and it gave me some images that I normally would not be able to get I never really felt a “warm” feeling when shooting the camera, it did what it had to do and that’s it. Because time continues to give us better cameras and my G9 was due to replacement the last few months I’ve been looking at which camera would replace the G9. For me one of the first things the camera had to do correctly was higher ISO, I don’t expect the performance from a good DSLR but an usable ISO1600 was something I really wanted, and to be honest after playing with the X100 a while ago I also wanted something with a nice “vintage” look and feel.
Read the rest of this entry »

We’re back home from two very intense weeks.
It all started out at Photoshop World where I taught several demos and seminars and did a lot of demoing for Manfrotto (Elinchrom) and Expo imaging (the flash bender).

After Photoshopworld we travelled to New York where I taught a 2 hour seminar about inspiration, reaction and getting the shot. It was a huge success, the seminar was recorded and will be online in a few weeks.

Before the seminar I got a nice “VIP” tour of B&H showing the different departments and explaining the vision and service/products that made B&H the store it is today. In this blogpost my opinions of the tour and B&H.

Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of speculations and rumors but yesterday it was finally announced the Canon 5DMKIII.
For me the 5DMKII was a game changer due to the video options, there were a lot of limitations at start but Canon released some firmware fixes and the video rocked, only real problem for me is the fact that when you change to record mode the HDMI output switched to SD output, but I can live with that for now….
Today on the blog the specs and my opinion, it’s just a fun blog post but feel free to add your thoughts.

By the way you can pre-order the camera here : B&H or here (use these links and support the blog)

Read the rest of this entry »