Yanik's Photo School » hardware

Bokeh Masters Kit Review

Yanik — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:34:58 +0000

Udi over at DIYPhotography.net contacted me while back and asked me to test out a prototype of his Bokeh Masters Kit. It was my pleasure to do so, not only because it was Udi but also because I love new gadgets!

Now that it’s officially announced on DIYPhotography.net, I’d like to give you my impressions of the Bokeh Masters Kit (BMK). Bu tfirst off, I want to commend Udi on his creativeness to create such an original product.

What you get

I received the kit in a bubble envelope which was fine since none of the parts are fragile and is basically flat. What I got was:

- Detailed instructions
- Lens cover (A.K.A. Bokehtinator! Hahahaha)
- 21 precut disks with icons
- 8 blank disks to create your own shapes
- An elastic band

Installation

Once you remove the lens cover from the plastic sheet, all you need to do is bend the three arm supports and place it over the lens. Then take the elastic band and place it around the lens to secure the three arm supports.

All you need to do after that is to add your desired disk shape by placing it in the 2 side slots of the lens cover.

And that’s it! Your done and ready to shoot with your new BMK!

Shooting

To get the desired shape in your bokeh, you need to follow a few basic rules.

1- You need to control your aperture so you must shoot in Aperture priority or Manual.

2- Set your aperture to its widest setting (i.e. smallest number)

3- Try using fast lenses that have an aperture of 2.8 or lower

4- If your background is dark, you might need to under expose your shot by a few stops. I noticed that if the background lights are overexposed the bokeh effect doesn’t work.

5- The lens cover works best on lenses that are 62mm or smaller. As you can see in this example, I used my trusty Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens.

Here are a few test shots…

My Impressions

I think that Udi did a great job with his first prototype. It ’s easy to assemble and easy to carry in your photo bag.

The design is somewhat basic and could be improved on as I’m sure Udi is also aware of but generally speaking, it’s fully functional and a great gadget to have in your bag. I actually have some ideas using his BMK for some creative stock photography. I would like to eventually see the rubber band replaced by a velcro band or something similar.

I think that for $25 you really do get your money’s worth. The price is fair for what you get and the results it gives you. This is a unique product and I can’t wait to have a bit more free time to test it out further.

You can get all the details on the Website at: www.bokehmasterskit.com.

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Nikon D300s Video Sample

Yanik — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:10:19 +0000

As promised in myD300s photo samples post a few days back, I’m back with the video footage taken on that same day on the St-Laurence river.

All of the D300s movie clips are unprocessed straight out of the camera filmed in HD. I used my trusty Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens and I spent most of the time between 250-400mm with the VR on.

My first impressions are that the video quality is awesome in HD. Most of the video clips were shot at ISO 400 to get a bit more shutter speed and the noise is practically non existent. As you can tell I was hand holding the D300s all the time and I was a bit worried at first for camera shake zoomed in tight beyond 300mm but to my surprise the VR seemed to do a good job.

As expected, the auto focus is slow and poor. Sometimes I actually pre-focused before going into live view since the surfers were moving a lot. I also find the location of the auto focus button to be very odd and non-ergonomic (the AE-L button). I guess there’s a mechanical reason why it can’t be done by pressing the shutter button half way. Zooming in and out will take some practice, especially with bigger lenses.

Enjoy my little amateur montage!

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Nikon D300s Samples – Surfing in Montreal!

Yanik — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:30:26 +0000

As most of you know, I was lucky enough to get one of the first 3 Nikon D300s shipped to California.

I gave it a nice test run a few days back. My friend Martin and I headed out to Montreal’s St-Laurence river to witness a growing trend…. surfing! Yup! You read right. People are now surfing in Montreal. Surfers slide into a “static” wave and basically surf on the spot. Pretty cool!

I took these stills and some video footage (to be posted soon) with my Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens. I shot in Aperture Priority making sure that the widest aperture was used at all times to get the fastest shutter speed possible. To increase my shutter speed further, I shot at ISO 400.

Here are the sample shots processed in Lightroom. What a great day!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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Free Color Gels for your Flashguns!

Yanik — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:35:28 +0000

So you guys have been seeing my tutorials using my SB-800s… I hope.

And with my latest tutorial on fashion setups I used more than just the CTO gels that come with the SB-800. I used some blue, green and red one as well. So some of you have been asking me: “Hey, Yanik. Cool tutorials, but where did you get those colored gels from? I’d like some too!”

So I’ll tell you! Personnaly, I got mine at my local photo store in Montreal called L.L. Lozeau. I got 2 packs with hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of gels for roughly $5.00 each. They were selling the Lee Filters brand. I did some didding and found out that you can actually get them for free straight from there Website HERE. You’ll have to pay shipping of course so it might be cheaper paying 5 bucks at your local photo store than having them shipped from England (unless you live there!).

But wait! There’s more! You can also get some free samples from Rosco as well. Shipping is $7.50 and you can only get 1 set. I also saw the Rosco brand at B&H. You might want to check shipping at B&H as it might be lower. They have them priced at $0.01, so… free. And you can get up to 2 per order. The size is really perfect for flashguns.

Ok, so you ordered them and received them. How do you put them on? Simple, my dear Watson. Scotch Tape. Voila!

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Canon Rebel XS 1000D – In Depth Review

Yanik — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:23:43 +0000

My favorite camera review site, DPReview.com, has just posted their in depth review of the new Canon Rebel XS 1000D! Remember that “in depth” really means IN DEPTH; 35 pages worth. To read the whole thing just click HERE.

Here are some links to the pages I find most useful:d

d

Comparison table with other entry level Canon cameras

Complete Specifications

Comparison table with the Nikon D60, Sony A-200 and the Olympus E-420

The pros & cons with the conclusion

Sample images

I think this a a great entry level camera for anyone wanting to upgrade from a point & shoot camera. But before bying, I always recommend that you go to a store and give it a test drive. See how it feels in your hands compared to the other models. Play with the buttons and take some test shots.