The ability to support heavy loads and hover larger distances around the set is a great advantage for video making professionals but certain applications may find such equipment to be too cumbersome. This is true especially for crews that need to travel between shots. The equipment in their case nee

When watching Hollywood films, you’ll find the zoom used sparingly. Here’s the reason: there’s a good chance your audience will notice the zoom. Usually you don’t want viewers to take note of your technical choices – you want them to pay attention to the production̵

We’re seeing an increasing number of photographers with signature series gear from manufacturers in recent years, and now fashion photographer Frank Doorhof is getting the Jordan treatment from Flashbender. The new FlashBender 2 XL Pro Super Soft Silver comes with a reflective surface t

When it comes to using backdrops, I’m a big fan of paper seamless because it’s cheap, consistent, and most importantly, it never needs to be steamed or ironed. The Mermaid Sequin Fabric Backdrops from Backdrop Express, however, offers some impressive flexibility with the abil

Like Alton Brown in his kitchen, I’m a big fan of tools that can have multiple purposes, and it seems like Phottix was prioritizing versatility with the design of the new Spartan Beauty Dish. The modifier comes in 20-inch and 28-inch flavors, and is quite a bit deeper than a standard so

For years now, the Paul C. Buff AlienBees lights have been a favorite option for photographers looking for studio lights on a budget. Now, the company has announced an updated version called the DigiBees, which have been redesigned and have a few new features packed inside. The DigiBees

When you start getting into high-end photo strobes, flash duration is an important thing to consider. Shorter durations means a greater ability to freeze action and increased chances that you’ll get that absolute sharpness you want for critical shots. The new Profoto D2 is capable of fla

The off-camera flash space is getting crowded with good options, and now Bowens is throwing its hat into the high-end ring with its new Generation X series monolights. There are two slightly different series, including the battery-powered XMT and the studio-oriented XMS. The XMT 500 is

I’ve written about Shoot Film Co. before after the release of the clever memorial pin dedicated to the now-discontinued Fujifilm FP-100c instant pack film. Now, SFCo. has introduced the PhotoMemo Photographer’s Memo Book specifically designed to help film photographers record

Traditionally, one of the biggest problems with a monolight is the power cord. Even if you gain mobility by using a power pack, it ends up being one more thing to carry to a shoot, and means that you’ll have to run a cable. Cables are easy to trip over and they add time to set up and bre

Macro photography introduces all kinds of tricky challenges into the process, including trying to get even light. The new STF-8 Macro Flash from Olympus uses a pair of external flash units—one to each side of the front lens element—for even illumination. It’s a fairly common setup for ma

Sick of shelling out big bucks for expensive bulbs for your constant studio light? This latest offering from manufacturer Light and Motion, may be an investment up front, but its efficient LED design that may save time and money. Twenty-nine light emitting diodes are arranged in concentri

Writing about film in 2016 and 2017 usually means another stock has been discontinued, but today we have some good news for a change. Kodak is bringing back Ektachrome slide film for filmmakers and photographers. Ektachrome was popular with cinematographers until it was discontinued bac

There’s currently no shortage of battery-powered photo strobes on the market, and now Adorama has introduced another interesting entry into the increasingly-crowded cat

Back at CES 2017, our most popular story was a blog post about how Kodak is bringing back its Ektachrome slide film. It was totally unexpected, but indicative of a serious rise in popularity for film photography. So, while there has been no official announcement about the return of Kodac

2017 is a great time to be a film photographer. First, we found out that Kodak will be making Ektachrome again, and now we’re starting to see new film stocks rolling out. Film Ferrania’s P30 Black and White film is a throwback to the Ferrania cinematic film from the 1960s. The film is p

The amount of new film news lately has been staggering, and now Lomography has a new 35mm color-negative (C-41) film offering called F2/400. As the name suggests, it’s a 400-speed color film that comes in packs of five or 10, but it has a pretty interesting backstory. Back in 2010

Battery-powered moonlights have been the big news in the portable strobe game for a while now, but Elinchrom has had lots of success with power pack models like the Ran

The recent trend in wireless flashes has been to go bigger, but the latest light from Godox takes things in the other direction. The Wistro AD200 Pocket Flash gets its

It’s easy to get addicted to lighting modifiers. No matter how many you have, there’s always a bigger soft box, a deeper umbrella, or a shinier beauty dish to taunt you from your online wish list. The truth is, however, that pretty much anything can be a lighting modifier, and that’