Reviews on gear and software

Flying without sound

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Well the title is a bit misleading.
The last few years I’ve been a lot on airplanes and one of the things I like to do is watch a documentary, play a game or watch episodes from sitcoms, actually that’s what I do most because somehow I can’t concentrate for longer than 45 minutes on a plane (I really don’t have a clue why) and sitcoms with their 20-25 minutes running time seem to be perfect.

 

One of the big problems however is the sound, up until the last flight I used a good quality in ear plug system that blocked a lot of sound but I needed to boost the volume and to be honest after 1-2 hours they began to irate me and the earpieces kept falling off, but you accept it because the sound is much better than anything else I tried.

For the coming months we have a lot of flights coming up and after the last debacle with my headphones I decided to look for something else, around ear noise cancelling headphones it had to be.

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Leaf Credo first impressions

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Before you start reading I have to make a few things clear.
I got my Credo last Friday night, so I’ve shot 1 session with it and a few loose shots (but put it thought it’s paces), I hate to do reviews like this to be honest if they are too technical, that’s why you will hardly find any 100% crops of resolution charts with my reviews, I just tell you how I think about the product. And of course you can ask whatever you want 🙂

 

In the market of digital photography it’s always interesting to see what manufactures come up with to draw the people to the stores and buy their newest gear. In the Medium format market it’s a bit more “relaxed” than in the DSLR market. Most medium format cameras are used in controlled areas like studios or with strobes on location so for example the whole high ISO race is of less importance (I do have to add that I don’t agree with this, I would love a digital back that can shoot noiseless ISO1600).

 


Somehow when we compare the medium format cameras and backs to modern DSLRs one could easily say that medium format is not interesting anymore, and with the release of the Nikon D800(E) a lot of people even claimed that medium format was “dead”, I was even interviewed by a magazine about the release of the D800 and the interviewer was surprised that my answer was that, although I love the way the development goes for DLRs, I really did not think you can compare a medium format camera with a DSLR, it’s all about the term “horses for course”. Now I hear you ask “Really, come on Frank”. So let me explain.

Let’s just only look at the sensor size, a medium format sensor like the Credo60 measures 53.9 x 40.4 mm while for example the Nikon D800(E) “only” is 24 x 35.9 mm which is a huge difference. Now what does that mean ? (and yes after that I do the review of the Credo 60).

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Sekonic module for Elinchrom and more

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Today a very special video.
First of all it’s the topic of the video.
For years I’ve been using a light meter and to trigger the strobes I’m using a second sky port (or Pocketwizard) to trigger the strobes and meter the light, however this is of course not perfect. Sekonic already has modules for pocket wizard, but somehow there were no Elinchrom compatible versions so I always carried the second sky port with me…

 

Until a few weeks ago someone got me an interesting piece of gear.
It’s a module that you place in the Sekonic light meter and you can not only trigger the strobes…. but you can do more, for that you have to watch the video.

 

The video is also special because it’s the first video in the “The DOORhof is always open” series.
This is a new videopodcast we are working on and will see regular releases, most videos will be short news, tips/tricks items but once every 4-6 weeks I hope to release a longer videopodcast with a guest and some interesting topics. Because this is the first video I ask you to be gentle, we will learn along the way :-). I want to give my deepest thanks to Aletta Armee for designing the intro and bumpers, you rock.

 

For more information about the DIY module read on:

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Motocross

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Since my review of the Sigma 120-300 f2.8 OS I got a lot of questions how I liked it in “real life” situations. Because of my knee I did not have a lot of time to really go out and shoot, but last week we decided to take a small trip to a Motocross circuit and shoot some of the guys practicing there with the lens on the 5DMKIII. A good test for me because it was actually just the second time I tested the camera with sports.

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