Don’t get me wrong I really like large cameras mostly due to build quality and handling but also due to the larger sensor. In recent years leading manufactures have been pushing the smaller form factor and with that also the smaller sensor size. I’m aware large is still king but with smaller sensor camera of today (D7000, 7D or similar) lens manufactures have a golden opportunity to create smaller lenses with stellar performance. For the consumer smaller also means less expensive.

Among the newest generation of ultra wide angle lenses is the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX.
What surprised me at first is, especially when comparing it at the Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8, is the size. It’s much smaller than I expected being a f/2.8 lens. It takes the relatively inexpensive 77mm filter (the 16-28 doesn’t) and it fits in most photo bags. The fast F/2.8 aperture enables photojournalist and other low light explores to capture wide angle shots in very dim light.

The lens features a focus ring as well as a zoom ring. The zoom ring was a little too small for my taste but overall well damped. The lens also feature full-time manual focus override which essentially functions by pushing the focus ring towards the camera body and you’re manually focusing. A solution similar to many macro lenses and it works great. Nor perhaps the most important thing for a wide angle lens is focus speed which is okay. The motor isn’t that fastest on the block but overall decent.

When is comes to the key essential of almost any lenses, the sharpness category, the Tokina manages to impress here as well. Wide open its reasonably sharp with low aberrations. There a little distortion at 11mm but less than what you might expect. You might want to stop down the lens a notch or two for the greatest performance but I you are like me using the lens for landscape photography you’ll likely use much smaller apertures where the lens is close to perfect!

Against the Canon 10-22 is fares very well. Similar in sharpness and contrast but with a lower distortion. The build quality fell much more sturdy. Unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure reviewing the widest kid on the block the ultra wide Sigma 8-16mm but I’m convinced it’ll fare quite well.

One thing I did notice was lens flare which even without filters was slightly disappointing. Even without the suns close to the frame I could find a lens flare or two. Note that it is difficult to make a super wide angle lens in a compact format with a small lens hood without getting some kind of flare in the frame.

Downloadable samples straight from RAW files (right click and choose save as..)
Sample 1
Sample 2

Conclusion
The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX is a great Pro-grade lens for the crop camera. Ultra wide angle with low distortion and good to great sharpness throughout the zoom range. The focus motor could be faster as well as I like lensflare to be reduced but overall very impressive and recommendable.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not like I haven’t had a chance to review one or another but I’m not  too big of a fan of the point and shoot camera. – Not so much because of their often inferior image quality or their loud flashy exterior but because they lack manual adjustment features. The Ricoh Gr Digital IV is in a whole other ballpark.At first glance the camera looks small, nimble and serious. The build quality is second to none – The body is in fact so well made it makes a reasonable midrange camera like the Canon 7D feel plastic and cheep. The greatest way to describe the build quality would probably be a Canon 1D series body just a whole lot lighter.

The button layout underlines the professional quality. In fact the button layout is quite similar to a DSLR with both a wheel (used to control aperture / shutter speed or similar)  and a thumb-rocker button (which also can control aperture and so on) – The thumb button also doubles as a quick menu button which again can be customized with a number of features, such as bracketing, ISO or a number of other features. The mode selector wheel is quick in use and comes with a lock button you need to press in order to adjust to the wheel. Among other customizable button are also 2 FN button in which you can assign ISO and other features. A thing you should expect from a professional graded camera.

Besides all the aforementioned features the camera is backed up by a 3″ screen with VGA resolution. The screen is great in use, very easy to see and adjustable in brightness. The camera does not come with a viewfinder but in order to keep the size down chances are you won’t miss it.

You can’t speak of the screen without mentioning the menu. At first glance you’ll probably be overwhelmed with the amount a features they put into this camera. Imagine a midrange DSLR menu system with all the FN options on the main menu screen. It takes a while to figure out what does what, but since the camera probably comes in your language the learning curve isn’t that steep.

I’m a manual exposure guy so I never resort to the Aperture Priority program or any other program for that mater. And to my surprise I could configure the camera to work and function similar to my Canon DSLRs. That means controlling shutter speed on the index finger wheel and the aperture on the thumb-rocker. In fact I felt right at home.

If you read my previous review of the excellent Ricoh GXR you’ll find the two bodies are quite similar which is a very good thing. The Ricoh GXR is a little bit bigger but overall the build quality and menu system is much alike and features much of the same user options. Imagine the GXR with a small sensor and a fast F1.9 lens.

Speaking of lens the 28mm F1.9 is very good. It’s remarkable sharp wide open and gains only slightly stopping. Being a prime lens it’s easier to strive for a perfect optical quality and while not quite there (no lens is) it’s pretty darn good. I didn’t notice much distortion and only a slight vignetting at F1.9. The large F1.9 aperture also allow you to shot in locations more dim than you might expect even without cranking to ISO up to 3200.

Although the  Ricoh Gr Digital IV features a somewhat small 1/1.7″ sensor ISO performance is quite good much better than what I expected. I would go as far as saying ISO 1600 is perfectly usable and ISO 3200 is only as a last resort. That being said I seldom use higher ISO as I always bring a tripod to what I shoot but for a photo journalist it’s good news.

With that being said I wish I had the lens hood as well as adapter with me as the lens could benefit from the hood in situations where the sun was close to the edge or the frame. I found colors shifting a little the closer you got to the sun which the lens hood probably could have prevented. Both are available as an accessory.

Downloadable samples straight from RAW files (right click and choose save as..)
Ricoh Gr Digital IV sample 1
Ricoh Gr Digital IV sample 2

Conclusion
I found myself liking the small format that is the  Ricoh Gr Digital IV, more and more as days passed by. I’m deeply impressed by the essential quality of the camera whether it being build  or image quality. In the period I had the Ricoh Gr Digital IV I for review I often choose to bring this small camera with me as a supplement to my Canon 1D rather than bringing the 7D as well.
I would have liked the lens hood to be included from get go but that’s a very small nit. The one thing I could put my finger on would be VGA video. In these days of HD devices everywhere I wonder why Ricoh didn’t include this in the overall great Ricoh Gr Digital IV. Either way highly recommend for everyone looking for a supplement to their DSLR or as a serious number 1 compact camera.

The Cotton Carrier Camera Vest is an ingenious carrying solution for the photographer who’s looking for a fast and secure carrying system.

I have been looking a fairly long time for a different way to carry my second “rig” rather than just holding it in my hands. I´ve tried quite a lot carrying solution, all kinds of strap and ideas but either they got in my way whenever I’m lugging the much bigger tripod rig on my shoulder. The strap solution would often be so flimsy it required me to have a hand on the body regardless which overall makes a strap solution unusable. Another dangerous would situation would be if I’m walking across rugged terrain that requires a lot of balance lugging the tripod rig on my shoulder, I need my other hand to balance out the counterweight. With the another hand controlling the smaller rig this could end up with me falling and dropping all of the equipment.

So I looked for different system and saw fellow wildlife photographer using a vest system that looked like what I needed, as it required no hands when carrying it. I quickly searching the web and discovered what turned out to be a shameless copy of the Cotton Carrier Camera Vest. All in all I ended up contacting Cotton Carrier and a week and a number of mails written with their superb sales  / support department later, the Cotton Carrier Vest arrived at my doorstep in a fancy greenish version. (note the pictures on the Cotton Carrier are slightly off in color as the camera used couldn’t capture the true color of the carrier nor the shirt I’m wearing). As a bonus a quick and well fitting hand-strap was included for free.

After adjusting all the straps on the vest (chest, neck and back) the system fits me perfectly. It takes some getting used to but after a couple of tries you’ll be able to take the vest on and off in seconds. The straps for the chest and back are very wide and the ones for the neck is obviously smaller. You can even adjust the width of the neck strap using the brilliant joint of the back which also suits as the main carrying point on the back. There’s two quick releases for the neck strap as well as the chest strap. I consider myself average of weight and size but I’m confident it’ll fit anyone of any size easily. I had enough strapping to go around me twice or three times.   I saw on an instructional video online advising me how to fit the Cotton Carrier perfectly so  I slightly bent the front plate to fit chest as advised.

The brilliant thing about the Cotton Carrier Camera Vest system is the quick release system – It’s amazingly fast in use. You basically mount the camera base plate on your camera body, adjust the direction of plate so the small arrow corresponds with the one found on the vest. Whatever direction the arrow is pointing is the way the system will be carried and locked inside the quick-release on the vest. That means you have to slide the camera and lens in sideways in order to drop it down into the quick-release and afterwards point the camera and lens downwards to lock it. The lesser will gravity down for you. – Doing so will lock and secure and you’ll be running around as crazy as you’ll like, the camera system will never fall out. In order to release it from the vest just to the same maneuver backwards. Thinking back to the old Wild West I’m guessing within a couple of tries you’ll be as fast to grab your camera as a wanted gunslinger.
When locked in the quick-release your hands are completely free which is a major point why I bought the vest.

For extra security Cotton Carrier even included two straps that connects the top of the vest to the camera if case you’ll feel a little bit unsecure about the system or just want to get the hang of the way it works before trying it without suspenders. Now if you’re into extreme sports, skiing or likewise Cotton Carrier even incorporated the large strap just below the chest to come over the camera system and lock it down via a wide and large Velcro piece. – Superb!

Conclusion
There’s much to be said about the Cotton Carrier Camera Vest. It’s so simple yet brilliant. It almost removes the weight of your camera as you’ll carry the it using your upper torso rather than your hands or shoulder. It fits very well and there’s even extra safety features and an extra strap for extreme sportsman (have a look at the Cotton Carrier website for a guy jumping on trampoline with a camera mounted). Whether you have a Pro-size camera body or a smaller one like the Canon 7D I’m using, Cotton Carrier has the solution for you.
I bought a kit with the vest, a plate for a pro-size body and one for smaller APS-C size body and all in fancy greenish color. – All available for a mere $ 119 USD.

If you’re into any type of fast paced photography it’s one of the best tools money can buy!

The Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX is a wide-angle lens made for the large sensor fullframe camera and to rival the superb Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S NIKKOR and the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM as a third-party lens that gives more bang for the buck. Lets find out.

Right from get go you´ll notice how large a wide-angle lens this really is. Much like the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S NIKKOR the Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX weighs a hefty 950+ grams much heavier than the Canon equivalent. And as the aforementioned Nikon the Tokina does not features a filter thread due to the huge convex front element that’s protruding the lens almost beyond the edge of the lens hood.
Speaking of the lens hood it’s not removable but nor do you need to remove as it would only lead to scratches on the front element.

The build quality of the Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX is pretty good. Oddly it features a slightly lighter and thinner coating than the previously reviewed Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro. It gives you an impression of a lesser expansive lens that it really is. Overall you have no doubt that it is a really sturdy lens and the big front lens certainly helps that impression.

Similar to the  Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro the autofocus switch is quick and a joy to use. It’s kinda manual focus override system where the focus ring is enabled by pulling it towards the camera body. Whenever you want to switch to auto-focus just push the ring forward again and of you go. Speaking of the focus ring it’s wide and rubberized and requires almost no force to use. In order to focus across the distance scale takes a quarter of a turn, which makes it quick to manual focus.
The zoom ring is equally rubberized and positioned much closer to the body. Unfortunately it’s not as wide as you would like it to be but not too small either.

Due to the huge convex front element (for a wide-angle that is) the lens doesn’t take filter nor any other accessories using regular threads as there are none. That means if you want to use a circular polarizor or a ND filter you’ll have to get a filter holder system like the ones from Cokin. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S NIKKOR shares this “feature” while the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM features regular 82mm threads.

And the million dollar question would be. How sharp is it especially against the immediate competition. Shooting with Canon bodies I have no options the test the famous Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S NIKKOR so my comparison would only be against the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM .
The aforementioned Nikon lens is very well regarded as one of the greatest wide angles lenses ever made and I think the Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX isn’t going to change that.

Versus the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM it’s a different mater. I used both a 1d series as well as a 7D on this lens and while the differences are minor of the APS-C sized Canon 7D, the larger sensor 1D body enlarges the differences. Both are sharp wide open center the Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX is sharper in the corners. I stopped it down to F8 to get a larger depth of field and found the lens is very sharp from corner to corner with almost no achromatic abbreviation. That being said the lens performs excellent from F5.6. – The Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM has a different look to it with files more vibrant as well as with more contrast. It’s up to you which look you prefer.

Downloadable samples straight from RAW files (right click and choose save as..)
Sample 1
Sample 2

Conclusion

Without a doubt the Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX is a superb lens. That especially true on larger sensor bodies and I think on a 5D or similar sized this lens would shine even more. Sure the zoom ring as well as range could be larger, the front element perhaps should take filters but in the end the reward is a superb image quality. The Tokina AT-X 16-28mm F2.8 Pro FX is sharp pretty much throughout the range and with neutral colors.
Overall probably one of the best wide-angle lens choices for Canon and a great choice for Nikon.

With the  Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro resting in your hand one of the first things you´ll notice is it looks more of a Nikon lens than every other brand. – The built quality is excellent with a wide rubberized manual focus ring and a second ring for removing or attaching the lens to the camera body.

Despite being a 100mm F2.8 lens is fairly small which dedicated macro lenses tend to be.

The  Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro comes with a solid yet plasticky lens hood that lengthen the lens some. As with most macro lenses the lens extends itself to close to twice the length when you´re moving towards the minimum focus distance.

There´s essentially two type of buttons / functions on the lens besides the manual focus ring. – One is the brilliant focus limiter that limits the autofocus in an area depending on how close you´re focusing. That means if you´re doing portraits or regular non-macro shots and you want the fastest possible autofocus and enable the focus limiter, the lens will stop focusing some steps before minimum focus distance. And vise versa when you´re doing genuine macro shots. You could argue that the lens needs it as it has a huge focusing scale which is true. With that being said even when the focus limiter is enabled it definitely not among the fastest focusing lenses out there. – But slightly faster than the aforementioned Tamron and Sigma lens.

Besides the focus limiter there also the switch between manual and autofocus. I found manual focusing to be the easiest when moving close to the subject although you might would think differently. The manual focus switch in as ingenious solution integrated into the focus ring. That means when you want to control focus you just pull back on the focus ring and you´re set to go. As soon as you want to switch back to autofocus just push the ring forward and you´re all set. Easy as cake and it works faster than a regular switch as you don´t need to remove your hand from the focus ring.

So the section which you probably have been looking for is lens sharpness. – How does the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro hold up?
It´s excellent wide open and gets only slightly sharper stopping down. Looking on past reviews and lenses I’ve used I would say this is one of the sharpest. It´s easily sharper than the Sigma 105mm F2.8 and probably a hair sharper than the Tamron 90mm F2.8. With that being said I did not have the Canon  100mm L F2.8 IS to compare against but would be surprised if is was any better at least in terms of sharpness. In fact the Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro is so sharp you might want to be careful when sharpening the shot in post.

Downloadable sample straight from RAW files (right click and choose save as..)
Sample 1

Conclusion

As stated earlier the  Tokina 100mm f/2.8 AT-X M100 AF Pro D Macro lens is one of the sharpest lenses I´ve ever used. I like the focal length, I like the quick focus switch and I love the built quality as well as the images it produces.

Superb macro lens that you want in your lineup!

The Ricoh GXR aims at the same market featuring roughly the same things with a certain twist. The aforementioned brands allows you to change the lens on a small camera with a big sensor. On the Ricoh GXR you change the whole camera unit besides the screen and controls. This allows for specific sensor / lens combinations where the sensor is essentially built for the specific lens. It’s a brilliant concept to achieve the very best image quality. – The only downside is every time you want a new lens you’ll have to buy a new sensor as well –  They are sold pr. unit. That will inevitable raise the price on the sensor / lens unit versus just buying a certain lens.

So is the higher price worth spending? Read on and find out.

The built quality on the Ricoh GXR is superb.
The body itself is made of aluminium and magnesium and feels very similar to a Canon 1D series.
There no quirks what so ever, no mater how much you’re trying to bend and twist it. The grip works quite for a camera this small and the controls are also similar to what you may find on a DSLR.

The body feature a high VGA resolution screen, jog and control wheels and various buttons as well as a built-in flash. I won’t be going much into the various menus as they are easy to navigate and use. A thing I would like to mention is the number of programmable buttons as the Ricoh GXR feature quite a lot of customization options.   I also had the jog wheel and control wheel reversed in function. Both things only seen in more expensive DSLR’s.
The lens unit mount is made of stainless steel and is a tough as they come. – You will NEVER break it nor will you mount it the wrong in the heat of action, end of story!

In my review sample was a external electronic viewfinder included which you mount in the flash shoe. Not the most impressive viewfinder especially compared to the screen althoug they both contained the same info. One advantage by using the external viewfinder is you have the camera up to your eye similar to a DSLR. Suitable for faster shooting and photo journalism.

A HDR photo using the excellent 28mm F2.5 unit.

The review kit was supplied with 3 lens units.

An all-round 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 VC lens with a point´n shoot sized sensor. A superb 28mm F2.5 unit with a APS-C sized sensor and finally an excellent 50mm F2.5 Macro unit again with the larger APS-C sized sensor. Although the differences are vast they all had one thing in common – The build quality which matched the body as sturdy and overall very impressive.

The 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 VC unit was the least impressive one. Easily the most versatile the unit was also the one I used less. It features a 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 lens with image stabilisation. The downside is the small sensor. One could argue you would be able to find a similar type of lens and camera for less the this combo, but overall it was nice to have. It didn’t impress me when I used ISO higher than 400 but a base or low ISO it performed as a top of the line Point´n shoot. One thing is missed especially with this super-zoom unit was a lens hood. I used it on two hikes in bright sunlight and it was next to impossible to keep an even exposure as seen in the shot below. The focus speed was quite good although you might find Point´n shoots that focuses faster. (G12, LX5 and likewise)

The photo above consists of 6 shots stitched together. The near left of the frame lacks contrast and color despite being the same exposure as the right part. As lens hood would have done the trick and to my knowledge Ricoh does sell this lens-hood as an accessory. A must have it you buy this unit.

My second favorite lens was the 50mm F2.5 Macro unit. It features as the name implies a 50mm F2.5 lens with macro capabilities. The lens is very sharp wide open with close to no vignetting. Being a 50mm it would also be suitable for portrait photography as well. The units features an APS-C sized sensor with excellent image quality up to ISO 1600 with 3200 being usable. It does 720 HD movie clips as well.
Although it is a lens with macro capabilities it does not feature true 1:1 magnification, but more modest 1:2 magnification which essentially means you´ll get half as close as a true macro. But don´t get me wrong. – With a minimum focus distance of 7cm you´ll get really close to the subject!
As far as focusing goes it´s not a fast focusing lens but nor is a DSLR macro lens. A bonus for the GXR body is the ability limit the focus area of your choosing. A rather unique feature! I choose to use manual focus but since you focus by wire and the 50mm F2.5 Macro unit has a huge focus scale, the body has a button that allows you to quickly skip throughout the entire range. – Let the button go again and you´ll be fine focusing once more. – Brilliant!

 The 50mm F2.5 Macro unit with the big APS-C sensor display great control over highlights and beautiful bookeh.

By far my favorite lens was the superb 28mm F2.5 unit with the sensor APS-C sized sensor as the 50mm F2.5 Macro.
Being wider and F2.5 means it´s quite versatile despite being one focal length. I used it 80% of the time in dark forests, open landscapes and at night. 95% of the shots I took was done handheld since the 28mm F2.5 draws much light.
I´m happy to report  it is very sharp wide open. A hair sharper than the 50mm! – I´m not to sure if Ricoh decided to ditch the AA filter on this unit but I suspect it to be so.

As it features the same APS-C sized sensor, higher ISO values was also under great control and I had no problem using ISO 1600. The 28mm F2.5 focuses faster than the 50mm F2.5 Macro but slower than the 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 VC.
Overall the strongest lens unit in the lineup and chances are you´ll be loving it from get go.

The versatility of a F2.5 28mm lens is not to be underestimated.

Downloadable samples straight from RAW files (right click and choose save as..)
Ricoh GXR +  28-300mm F3.5-5.6 VC
Ricoh GXR + 50mm F2.5 Macro
Ricoh GXR + 28mm F2.5 

Conclusion
As you might have noticed by now I love the Ricoh GXR system. I like to way you change lens / sensor units, I like the built quality and last but not least I like the image quality for a camera this size. The camera has “A tool for professionals” written all over it.
You might argue the write speed to the flash memory and the focus speed could be faster but I suspect neither would hold you back. I use a DSLR for whenever I want things done with great speed. Another argument would be the system is limited by the catalogue of lenses available which has some true to it. Ricoh just announced a M-mount for the system which, as far as I know, features the same 12.3 Mpix APS-C sized sensor and the ability to mount the super Leica M lenses among others. – No AA filter of cause. With this unit I think even Leica should be aware as the Ricoh GXR

Add another + when the M-mount unit is released

The Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control is as the name implies a Liveview remote control units that allows you to shoot stills or video remotely  from the camera up to 60 meters away. What you see on the screen is what your camera sees basically. – Does it work as advertised?

The Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control was delivered in an non-inspiring box the same day as I was going on vacation and on where I needed the unit. Looking at the box I figured all cables were included so I packed the box and went on vacation.  The day after I found myself unboxing the unit in order to observe and capture flocks of Red deer.  After a quick study in the included manual I discovered there was no display cable included which meant there’s no way to use the remote Liveview. If you don’t bring your own video cable included with the camera you bought the unit is close to useless. – Certainly an odd design choice as most newer camera features a standard mini HDMI port that also bring your the best picture quality.

As you’re forced to use the standard composite cable in the The Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control reciever you’ll end up, at least in Canon’s case, with a 1 meter cable that includes two composite sound plugs and a clumsy looking experience.

The Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control features two Liveview modes. One from the built-in camera as seen above  that offers you a “surroundings” look and the other being true Liveview.
In first mode you’ll be able to see anything in front of the camera, in this case mostly the lens. The camera is rather low quality and despite this you’ re actually able to shoot with it as well. This is a surprisingly cool feature as the focal length probably differs from the lens you’ ve mounted on your camera body. It’ll offer you great situation awareness ex. for bird watching close to a nest, in situations where you need to know when you subject enters the frame or even on a surveillance type of situation.
The display shows battery status both on the receiver and the screen as well as number of shots taken and signal strength. Another excellent feature is you’re able to shot both modes without ever switching anything on your camera besides enabling Liveview.

As aforementioned the camera isn’t great in any way so don’t rely your main photographing on this mode.

The mode you want to use on the Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control is the true Liveview feed from the camera. What the camera see is what you’ll get. The unit supports both Liveview and Video mode so you’ll be able to do both on the Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control.

Similar to the other mode you’ll be able to capture what’s on the screen besides capture the frame on the camera. This means you have the option to take a screenshot of the screen that saves itself on the unit without the SLR camera shoots the still.
Besides that you have the option to let the DSLR capture the frame as using regular Liveview and this mode also support focusing before shooting, as the grey button on the right of the unit act just like the shutter button on your camera. The screen also reveals the same shooting information as the information found back of your camera. The shooting possibilities in this mode is close to endless as you basically have two feeds. The one on the camera and the one on the remote unit. Note the camera (The Canon 7D in the case) disables the screen on the camera as soon as you use the video out plug (Which it wouldn’t using HDMI).

Conclusion
The Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control is a unique product. I found it to be annoying that it didn’t utilise the mini-HDMI plug found on most modern camera as you’re left using the substandard composite plug. With the being said the product works as advertised.

The range on this thing is amazing. Though trees, behind fields and small hills the unit still gave me a fully functioning Liveview. Perfect if you’re photographing extremely shy subjects. The screen is decent, despite the low resolution and the substandard composite plug. The brightness needs to be adjusted to make it visible on sunlight. Thankfully the unit does this as well.
The built-in small “situation” camera is actually quite useful if you’re using a larger focal length on the DSLR camera. You’re even able to capture what this camera sees.

In the end of the day the Hähnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control is a fun product that lacks in some departments and furfill the needs in others. With the low market price it’s a product I recommend you trying.

The Manfrotto 519, 546BK System is a high-end tripod system aimed for the semi professional cinematographer that needs the most stable support for a reasonable price.

Over the last couple of month I’ve been looking into videography as a supplement to the still photography. I figured I could easily shoot some usable on occasions between the still on location using my regular tripod and gimbal head. Needless to say I was wrong.

I bought the 7D as supplement to the 1D as I knew it would bring me an excellent video function. I quickly learned the a gimbal might be suitable for quick action still photography there was absolutely no way It would be anything than shaky when I was shooting video.

So I contacted the distributor and asked If they would lend me a tripod and head for review. I mentioned the gear I would be using and a couple of weeks later the Manfrotto 519B, 546BK system arrived.

The Manfrotto 519B and 546BK consists of two units – Namely the professional graded Manfrotto 546BK tripod and the likewise graded Manfrotto 519B videohead.

The Manfrotto 546BK is a quite large tripod with a 75mm halfbowl. For those of you that uses leveling bases in your still photography you probably already know everything about halfbowls but for those of you who don’t, the 75mm and 100mm halfbowl in the industry standard mount between tripod and head similar to the 3/8″ bolt you’ll find on most tripods. More on the halfbowl setup later.

The tripod is a two-stage and very rigid tripod rated at 20kg. It features a telescopic midlevel spreader that ensures a accurate leg angle spread from the tripod’s highest 154cm setting to the lowest 30cm setting. It takes a little bit getting used to especially if you’re used to a Gitzo tripod as I am. The Gitzo has three angle settings while the Manfrotto 546BK has none meaning the spreader level is the setting.
That gives you close to endless opportunities. Compared to the aforementioned Gitzo it’s therefore slower to raise and lower but as I found out, the whole workflow with video is generally a lot slower.

The Manfrotto 546BK tripod is made of aluminium and is more than adequte support to the Sigma 300-800mm F5.6 lens combined with the 7D.

The quicklocks on the tripod is functioning quite well. Although they are made of plastic they provide all the grip to support the rated 20kg’s. They are easy accesible  at all time. -

Another implemented feature are the small plastic hinges that comes in use when the tripod is collapsed. They ensure the tripod is tugged together when you carry it from one location to another.

The Manfrotto 519 Professional Fluid Video Head is a serious heavy duty video head. It features a whole lot of functions all usable for that perfect shoot. The recommended size for this tripod head ranges from MINI DV, DVCAM, HD and ENG camera – So it fits close to all needs.

The Manfrotto 519 Professional Fluid Video Head is very large and support equipment up to 9kg’s – Needless to say it worked more than well with the Sigma 300-800mm F5.6.

Besides the tilt and pan lock, there’s an excellent drag lock on both axis as well as a counterbalance knob which is spring loaded. The springs are interchangeable for various weigh levels. The drag on tilt and pan is controlled by fluid.

Removing all drag on tilt and pan the head becomes extremely smooth. Too smooth for any video shooting but more useful for quick action still photography. It takes a little bit of time to setup the head with the gear you’re using but as soon as you have it rightfully adjusted, the Manfrotto 519 Professional Fluid Video Head is a true joy to use. With the right amount of drag and counterbalance  is feels extremely sturdy and trustworthy. If you want that smooth professional pan this head will deliver.

The video arm is large and can be mounted both on the right and left side of the tripod.

The head is mounted via the aforementioned 75mm halfbowl. The halfbowl allows the user to level the horizon in an instant. Important when you’re doing still photography and essential if you’re shooting video.

Conclusion
After spending a couple of week with the Manfrotto 519, 546BK System I learned a couple of things. First of all video is a lot different from still photography and needless to say it wasn’t my strongest side. With that being said I found the Manfrotto 519, 546BK System to be superb whenever I used it for video. I highly recommend it to everything who looks for that heavy duty professional tripod kit that will last a lifetime and give you the right cinema feel even when coupled with larger lenses.

The Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM is a telephoto zoom lens aimed for nature and sports photographers that look for the all in one solution for an affordable price.

As it is often recommended for beginners of each craft is the Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM capable of producing photos usable for print and published work?

Looking at the lens it’s a relatively compact size. With the lens hood reversed and with the lens at 150mm (the most compact setting) the lens is in fact only 25,2 cm or roughly the length of a 70-200mm and will fit in most photo bags. Weighing around 1.9 kg it is light for a 500mm lens although lighter alternatives exists. Adding the lens hood and zoom out to the 500mm setting as you see in the above shot the lens becomes quite big. If you´re used to anything bigger you wouldn’t think too much about it and vise verse.
The built quality seems to be sturdy without feeling heavy duty. There´s a zoom ring, focus ring, OS setting button as well as manual focus mode and 150mm lock setting to prevent lens creeping. Being a HSM focus motor there constantly a manual focus override as soon as you adjust focus.

The focus ring feels smooth perhaps a bit too smooth as I quite easily turned the lens slightly out of focus at least on some occasions. Probably because I wore large gloves.
The zoom ring feels on the other hand a tad to tight and as you’ re physically moving lens elements it’s harder to zoom if you’re aiming the lens upwards versus downwards – Either way it’s quick and easy to focus from 150mm to 500mm within a second and you won’t it zooming to an unwanted focal length by mistake as long as you have the lens in a horizontal position.

If needed the tripod mount can be easily removed, just remember to turn the knob extra tight when locking as it will otherwise flex slightly.

There something special about zooming from a close portrait lens to a full blown telephoto focal length in a instant and it certainly gives you a number of unique opputunities you won’t have using a prime lens. The shot below gives an example of just that as I zoomed slightly out to achieve the painterly effect while to having the compressed telephoto view.

The OS (Optical Stabilization) button has three settings. Off, Mode 1 and mode 2. The first is self explanatory, mode 1 gives you both horizontal and vertical stabilization (upwards, downwards and from left to right) where mode 2 gives you vertical stabilization only.
I believe there’s two versions of this Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM as the never one lack the regular Sigma matte coating. I also believe the OS in the newer version is a 4 stops OS (claimed) where the one I reviewed only had two stops or close to.
Comparing OS in the Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM versus the previously reviewed Sigma 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM, the latter was easily more effective (as claimed) but overall welcomed and a help in the field.

When was the last time you did a panorame shoot with a 500mm lens?

One of the most important things in a telephoto lens is focusing speed.
The Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM is overall solid. There’s no denying you can buy telephoto lenses that focuses faster (the forementioned Sigma 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM is one example) – Another would be the Canon 100-400mm F5.6 L. Comparing it to a simirly priced competitor like the Tamron 200-500mm F6.3 it’s quite a lot faster thanks to the built-in HSM engine. Comparing it to a 500mm F4 prime is pointless. Either was it fast enough to catch to incomming Golden Eye duck as full speed. The image is a hefty crop from a Canon 7D camera

The lens features three SLD  (Special Low Dispersion) elements for optimal lens color and fringing. As with most zooms it consists of fairly many lens elements arranged in a number of group (21 elements in 15 groups) making it harder to achieve a sharp resault.

And speaking off sharpness this is probably the point you have been looking for. Lens sharpness. - Perfectible usable was my first impression.
Wide open at 150mm F5 is very good with a nice detailed image and a fair amount of contrast. In the other end of the scale the sharpness drops a bit at 500mm F6.3 and becomes sharp as I would ever need at F8. Not as good as the Sigma 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM or Canon 100-400mm F5.6 L, but not as far behind as you would initially think for a lens that costs significantly less. The lens resolves well when using high pixel-density bodies such as the Canon 7D.

Downloadable samples straight from RAW. – Right click and choose “save as..”
Sample 1 (If you need to crop a shot)
Sample 2 (Wide open full-frame shot)

Conclusion

Now you might wonder if I’m all for the Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM.
Here’s a thing that has me pondering these days is how easy users reject cheaper lenses if they don’t have the right numbers, name or similar non-profiling things. Often I hear the only lens is a 300mm F2.8m 500mm F4 prime or better (larger) even if the recommendation comes from one who has never used a lens of such size. It kinda like having the newest and greatest gadget. Rather pointless if you ask me.
Don’t get me wrong I’m all for high-end lenses and I wouldn’t trade the Sigma 300-800mm F5.6 EX HSM I’m using with this any day, but to have a lens that costs a tenth (Yes thats 1/10) of a similar focal length is something that cannot be underestimated. And to be as versatile and handhold-able as the Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM is, it will give you professional results if you’ re up to the task. Overall a strong performer that gives most users all the focal length they’ll ever need.

Get your colors right with Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite.
In the early years of digital photography color calibration was an extremely costly affair used only by the highest paid photographers and studios.
Datacolor among others changed that and paved the way for photographers on pretty much every budget to what is today a superb unit with some suiting software.

Datacolor boast three computer display calibrating units with the Spyder 3 Elite as top dog and the most expensive version. All version are hardware wise quite similar and therefore the differences lies within the included software.
The Spyder 3 Express is for the beginner and amateur photographer who wished a quick and easy calibration without getting to much into color temperature, gamma and other words not spoken on daily basis.
The Spyder 3 Pro is for the advanced amateur and most professionals enabling control of the above within predefined values.

The Spyder 3 Elite as I´m reviewing here is aimed for professional photographers and studious with full manual control, multi monitor support, proofing functions and much more. It features so many functions that its close to impossible to include all in this review. I´ll be covering the most basic yet important.

Please note that I´m using the most recent version 4 of the calibration software. As I´m writing this Datacolor upgrades users for free. See if your version is eligible for an upgrade HERE

After the quick and easy install the program asks you to warm up your monitor and check various controls etc. Most users would probably be surprised to read their LCD monitor performs best after some warm up. Datacolor recommends 30 minutes

Next up you select what type of monitor you have. Most would select LCD but it´s important to know that the Spyder 3 Elite does indeed calibrate Laptops and Projectors as well

Next you´ll be prompted what controls your monitor has. You would probably select brightness and tune it down as most LCD´s are overly bright from get go. Advanced users with high-end monitor can select Kelvin-presets for more precision and even adjusting the R, G or B channel on the monitor individually.
After the brightness is adjusted to a pleasant level in correspondence with the onscreen guide you choose Gamma, White Point and Brightness. Within the basic mode there´s the predefined selectors with the recommended settings automatically chosen in advance.

As seen above this is basically industry standard settings. Some Mac users will see the Gamma value higher than their usual 1.8.
White Point is the same as you know from the White Balance setting on your camera. 6500K corresponds well with a well lit room on a bright day. Brightness is another very important setting you would choose carefully. Most would aim for the 125 or 120 cd/m2 for a pleasant day to day experience. If you´re making a living selling prints etc. you would most like choose 80 or 90 cd/m2 as it corresponds with a perfect lit print with 125 being too bright. Now selecting this value on a non- high end monitor would results in a somehow dim results with an ugly color cast as the monitor would not be able to maintain color balance on a low cd/m2 setting as 80´ish is. Only the high-end monitor will display a correct result and if you´re living of your photography chances are you already own such a screen.

Selecting the advanced option would probably only be used by Studios where the options to write the exact value you´re aiming at and there´s more options for a perfect calibration. Important if you´re matching a series of workstations.

Lets get ready to rumble. A simple yet important task. The Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite comes with a suction cup used to CRT monitors. LCD users wants to adjust their monitor slightly upwards and let the calibration unit dangle down from the top of the LCD. There´s an adjustable weight device on the cord which makes this maneuver very easy.

If you have selected only the basics its a good time to have a cup of coffee. This above operation takes roughly 10 minutes. If you´re aiming at a certain value and have selected various monitor controls the program will prompt you for adjusting commands that needs attention.

After ended calibration you´ll be able to name your new display profile as selecting a calibration reminder period. Professionals would probably select a time limit of a couple of days where most would not need to calibrate again within the first couple of weeks.

As a nice roundup you get to see the calibrated and uncalibrated view of a number of photos. You´ll be able to select each photo for closer inspection and changes are the differences are vast especially on Consumer / Pro-sumer monitors.

For further proof that the calibration a quite a difference is the Profile Overview screen. The blue is the monitor uncalibrated where the red is the screen calibrated by the Spyder 3 Elite. The result is not far from the AdobeRGB standard showing broader and less blue color space closer much more pleasant for the eyes.

Conclusion

Overall its hard not to be pleased with the Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite and I´ve only covered the basics of the unit that holds so many adjustments and tweaks. – Besides creating a color profile the end result is very obvious. Its hard to go back to an uncalibrated monitor especially if you´re using the monitor for photo editing. Besides recommending the Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite to photographers, people who work with computers on a daily basic gets a much more pleasant user experience more suiting for the eyes. If you´re using a consumer monitor the differences are quite staggering and if you´re using a high-end monitor you´ll be tweaking the very best out of the monitor.
Easily the cheapest monitor upgrade money can buy.