Home / Product Reviews

Lowepro Flipside 300 Backpack Review

Apr
7
2012
April 7, 2012
By 11 Comments
Lowepro Flipside 300 Backpack

I recently reviewed Kata 3n1-33 which is my main travel pack for camera equipment. However, as I mentioned in that review, there are better choices if you need a backpack for hiking – for that I prefer the Lowepro Flipside 300. Obviously, it doesn’t carry nearly as much gear as the Kata 3n1, but then, while backpacking, I wouldn’t normally want to bring a laptop or a kitchen sink with me.

While there are many good bags and packs, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, this is one that I enjoy a lot, so if you are on a lookout for a good, light backpack, read on!

1) General Information and Dimensions

What I like about this pack is the fact that it is streamlined and will carry a pro camera body with the 300/2.8 lens attached (hood reversed) and still have room for another lens or two and/or some accessories. Compact, lightweight design of Flipside 300 backpack lets you carry your pro digital SLR without worry. The unique back compartment entry gives you safe, easy access to camera gear when you’re setting up, plus extra security when you’re on the move. Outer storage panels are great at keeping gear accessories and personal items close at hand.

1.1) Dimensions

You can carry 1 Pro DSLR with a 300mm f/2.8 lens attached plus 1–3 additional lenses or flash units, 1 tripod, multiple cables, memory cards, manuals and other accessories.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Accessories, Bags, Gear, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Impact Background Support System Review

Mar
25
2012
March 25, 2012
By 3 Comments

This is a review of the Impact Background Support System, along with the Impact Muslin Background, used in a studio environment or in remote locations for portrait and product photography. When taking pictures of people or products, it is often desirable to have a smooth background with a certain color. While you can accomplish this with a “Do It Yourself” (DYI) setup using a white sheet secured on a large wall, sometimes it is either impossible (in a tight space) or inconvenient to do that. Other times, some people are not either uncomfortable with potentially damaging their walls with nails in order to secure a white sheet, or want a setup they can travel with. For those situations, a collapsible and lightweight background support system can be invaluable. The good news is that you can get a good background system without breaking the bank, and the Impact Background Support System is no exception.

Impact Background Support System

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Digital Photography, Flash Photography, Gear, Portrait Photography, Reviews, Studio Equipment Tagged With: , ,

Kata 3 in 1 Sling Backpack Review

Mar
25
2012
By 22 Comments

This is a review of the Large version of the Kata D-3N1-33 3 in 1 Sling Backpack. So you just got a nice new Nikon D800 or D4. What, you shoot Canon? OK, you just got a new Canon 5D Mark III or 1D X, now what do you carry it in? You can read a number of reviews about bags, most of them written after they were used briefly after purchase, but how about a review after long-term use? I have had this bag for 2 years, having purchased it shortly after Nasim recommended it in his “must-have DSLR accessories” post. Since then, it has been my main gear bag for travel.

Kata 3 in 1 Sling Backpack

1) General Information and Dimensions

Below are the specifications from the Kata website:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Bags, Gear, Reviews Tagged With: ,

Impact Light Shed Review

Mar
23
2012
March 23, 2012
By 16 Comments

This is a review of the Impact Digital Light Shed, used for small and medium product photography. Whether you are photographing jewelry, toys, shoes or even lenses, a good light box is essential for creating beautiful photographs of the product. While you can take the DYI route and build a light box yourself from scratch (which is what I did for years before), purchasing a solid light box setup can save you plenty of time, space and frustration.

Impact Digital Light Shed

While I am not into product photography, I occasionally take pictures of items that I want to get rid of through Craigslist and eBay (speaking of which, Bob gave some great tips on how to sell your photo gear on eBay). My first light box was made from a square cardboard box that I cut from three sides. I glued some white paper inside the box and over the holes, which worked great for diffusing and softening the light evenly inside the light box. To light up my setup, I used the cheapest lights I could find from a local hardware store, because I only had one speedlight at the time. While my setup worked great initially, the cardboard box just would not last long (mostly thanks to my little kiddos) and I found myself making one every time when I needed to photograph something.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Accessories, Digital Photography, Flash Photography, Gear, Reviews Tagged With: ,

Fuji X100 Review

Aug
2
2011
August 2, 2011
By 50 Comments

To be honest, I was not planning on writing a review of the Fuji X100 camera. First, because the camera was sent to me in error. As I was preparing to send it back, I was asked if I wanted to try it out, so I agreed to check it out and ended up shooting with it for a week. Second, I did not have a chance to do a thorough analysis and comparison, because I was busy testing 35mm lenses. That’s why this is a “mini” review – I will just lay down my thoughts about the Fujifilm X100 and show you some image samples from the camera.

When I asked about the X100, I was told that “it was a hot, almost revolutionary camera”. I guess that’s why I decided to give it a try and see what it is capable of. Once I unboxed the camera, I immediately put the battery into it and started playing with it at home. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out the basics and once I put it in Aperture Priority mode and took some pictures, I was actually pleasantly surprised by what I was seeing.

Fuji X100

Positives

  1. The first thing that struck me was the optical/digital viewfinder/rangefinder that not only provides all the camera information, but also displays captured images. Now that is one cool thing I wish all DSLR cameras had! Being able to look at captured images in an enclosed space is great. With DSLRs, you either have to block the light hitting the rear LCD or you have to use third party tools such as Hoodman Loupe to be able to look at pictures in daylight. And the X100 does it in a smart way too – if you put your eye close to the viewfinder/rangerfinder, the image is shown there. Once you move the camera away from your eyes, the image gets transferred to the rear LCD.
  2. The second surprise was after I transferred the first images to my computer and started looking at them at 100% – the image quality was outstanding. Indoor images were shot at ISO 800 and above and the amount of noise present in the images was very low, at least when compared to APS-C sensors. Sharpness, colors and contrast looked good right out of the camera (first shots were taken as JPEGs).
  3. Third, the camera felt great in my hands and for the first time I felt like I could take this little camera with me everywhere I go. No matter how good images from my iPhone might look, I just do not like taking pictures with it. Sure, iPhone images might look great for the web, but you can’t print them large or use them in your portfolio. Lugging around a large DSLR is not an option either; I forget it at home most of the time anyway. It felt great when I was able to put the X100 into my jacket pocket before I left the house.
  4. Fourth, because of the 4 leaf shutter on the X100, the flash sync speed can be super fast (see the 1/2000s shot below).
  5. And lastly, people did not look intimidated by the camera when I took pictures of them. They seemed to think that it was just a point and shoot (which it kind of is), so it felt like this camera would get super popular among street photographers.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Cameras, Digital Photography, Gear, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Our Gear Page

Jun
30
2011
June 30, 2011
By 5 Comments

You might have noticed that the secondary navigation menu of our site now contains “Our Gear” page. I created it for four reasons: a) our readers constantly ask both Lola and I about what camera gear we use, b) I want to centralize all questions regarding camera gear to one single page, because replying to comments in many different articles is becoming unmanageable, c) some readers just want to see a quick review of a product rather than reading my long full camera and lens reviews and d) I can receive and test more gear when you buy through affiliate links on our site and “Our Gear” page contains links to our affiliates. Please bear in mind that the amount of money we receive from our affiliate program is very little – we typically give it back to our readers through our giveaways and various contests. That’s because we do not run any advertising and post very few links to external websites to not annoy our readers. Perhaps in the future, if the revenue from the links on our site grows, we might be able to use that money to pay for hosting and other expenses. As for now, I am just asking you guys to buy from our links to be able to keep the partnership with our affiliates and sponsors like B&H.

As for “Our Gear” page, while it has been there for several months now, I only had some text links to what we use, without much info on the gear. Today I updated the page with some short reviews of the camera gear we are using and finished the “Cameras”, “Camera Accessories”, “Lenses” and “Teleconverters” sections. I will soon update the page with a lot more content and provide more information and links to other tools we use, so please check back the page later.

If you have any questions about camera or computer gear, please ask them in the gear page rather than other articles. I will be checking this page more often and replying to your comments as soon as I can. Also, if you have been sending some case studies to me, please be patient, as I just have not had much time to work on them.

I am currently finishing up with the Nikon 24mm f/3.5D PC-E lens review and will soon start working on reviewing the new Nikon 50mm f/1.8G lens, along with the Nikon D5100 DSLR. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: Cameras, Digital Photography, Gear, Lenses Tagged With: , , , ,

DroboPro Review

Jun
7
2011
June 7, 2011
By 10 Comments

This is a detailed review of the DroboPro 8-bay storage array by Data Robotics. After I published my Drobo S Review, where I provided plenty of negative comments about its performance, a senior member of the Data Robotics technical support team contacted me, asking if he can help me with the issues. Since I returned the Drobo S unit, I responded that I no longer have it. After a short while, I received a request to check out the DroboPro product instead. The company felt that the DroboPro unit would be a better fit for what I was trying to do and they pointed out that it was also much better in terms of performance. I thought that this was a pretty bold move by Drobo…asking me to test another unit for them after all the heat. At the same time, it was a nice surprise, after all the trouble I had with their technical support earlier. Without further delay, I agreed to take the challenge and test it out. This DroboPro review is based on the experience that I have had with the unit since I received it approximately 3 months ago. I have been actively using it for different purposes and I conducted a number of performance tests in various conditions and compared it against other products such as DroboElite and Netgear ReadyNAS Pro.

DroboPro

The purpose of the test and review was to measure the real world performance and see how the solution scales for photography needs. I will do my best to make this review as objective as possible, with plenty of data and screenshots to back up my words.

1) Introduction to DroboPro

DroboPro is an 8-bay (DAS) device developed by Data Robotics, targeted at small businesses and creative professionals that need up to 16TB of storage and beyond. While designed with simplicity and reliability in mind, the DroboPro uses a fairly complex, proprietary “BeyondRAID” technology with a single or dual drive redundancy, which means that your data would be safe even if two drives were to fail at the same time, as long as dual drive redundancy was enabled before drives failed. On top of that, “BeyondRAID” has some great features like mixed drive size utilization, which allows mixing any size SATA hard drives, and instant expansion, which allows users to insert additional drives when more storage is needed. Traditional RAID technologies such as RAID 5 and RAID 6 have certain limitations and do not provide as much storage as BeyondRAID, especially when mixing small and large hard drives of various sizes. Lastly, the self-managing and self-healing features of the Drobo family are very attractive – if a drive experiences a failure such as a bad block, the system switches to a “self-healing” mode, where it will try to work around bad sectors and return to the normal state. During such failures, the system will blink with red lights in front of the unit and will prompt you with warnings (through Drobo Dashboard), indicating which drive must be replaced. DroboPro also proactively monitors the amount of free space available on the unit. If you get to near full capacity, DroboPro will notify you through lights and its dashboard software.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Digital Photography, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,