Photography Life

Zoom lenses are convenient, as everyone knows. I’d imagine that the vast majority of us started our photography with a simple 18-55 kit lens – […]

Astrophotography Tutorial

Astrophotography is a hobby rapidly gaining popularity thanks to the fast advancing CMOS sensor technology. Over a decade ago, the light recording material employed in […]

Sony A7 II Review

An in-depth review of the new Sony A7 II mirrorless camera with image samples and comparisons by Nasim Mansurov

Why 16 Megapixels, When I Could Have 50?

If there was a 100 MP DSLR announced tomorrow, I would pre-order it, then spend many sleepless nights waiting for it to arrive. I’d suffer […]

Camera Resolution Explained

Although the megapixel race has been going on since digital cameras had been invented, the last few years in particular have seen a huge increase […]

Night Photography in San Francisco Tonight

January 13, 2015 By Nasim Mansurov60 Comments

I know it is a last minute announcement, but if anyone in San Francisco area is interested in joining me for night photography tonight, we will be meeting in the parking area of the Treasure Island at 7 PM. We will start at Bay Bridge, then head over to other places to photograph the city. I was hoping to meet for a photo walk this coming weekend, but my wife will be arriving on Friday and we already have plans for the weekend…

So if anyone is up for it, leave a comment below. If you want to exchange contact info, use the Contact Us form please. Looking forward for some fun tonight! And some have already asked me, but there is no fee/cost to come! Don’t forget to bring your photos for some critique, if you are open for that of course :)

I will be heading out to Yosemite tomorrow and will be back on Friday evening. If anyone wants to join me, I will drive – have space for 3 in my car. Planning to do some landscape photography and will do my best to help you out with your photography (for free of course!). Let me know if you are interested – hotel rates are very reasonable right now (got my room for $69 per night). I apologize for posting this so late and I hope to see you guys tonight!

DxO ClearView Anti-Haze Adjustment First Impressions

January 13, 2015 By Thomas Stirr66 Comments

The purpose of this article is to share my initial impressions of the DxO ClearView anti-haze function which is contained in the Elite Version of DxO OpticsPro 10 software. As many Photography Life readers know, I’ve been using DxO OpticsPro as my main RAW processor for some time. I started out using DxO OpticsPro 8, then upgraded to 9 in order to get the PRIME noise reduction function, then upgraded again to OpticsPro 10 in order to get speed improvements with PRIME, some enhanced Smart Lighting presets, and the new ClearView anti-haze function. With each upgrade I felt my money was well spent.

[Read more…]

Sony A7 II First Impressions

January 12, 2015 By Nasim Mansurov40 Comments

Although I am planning to fully review the Sony A7 II, I decided to share some quick thoughts on this new mirrorless camera which I have been shooting with for the past few weeks and share a photo of the Bay Bridge that I captured at night. I am currently in San Francisco, testing the Sony A7 II with a few Sony / Zeiss lenses, along with the Canon 7D Mark II, which I am also planning to review when I get back (I know, I have been a bit late on that one).

[Read more…]

Under and Overexposure – A Beginner’s Guide

January 11, 2015 By Romanas Naryškin40 Comments

Under- and Overexposure_Correct Exposure Sample

In our continuous effort to cover all the photography basics, we’ve found ourselves looking for the simplest topics to write about. We already have articles on such subjects as the exposure triangle, what is a DSLR and how is it different to mirrorless cameras. Most recently we covered the ever-popular topic of crop-factors (in an easily comprehensible manner, no less) and a useful guide on using tripods. In this article, I will discuss the topic of under- and overexposure. Now, on one hand, there’s not much to actually discuss – a simple explanation of the terms is what interests most beginner photographers. But here is my slightly-absurd-at-first-glance introduction to the article – there is no such thing as under- and overexposure. Dead serious.

[Read more…]

How to Use a Tripod

January 10, 2015 By Nasim Mansurov60 Comments

When dealing with slow shutter speeds, a solid tripod is a must-have tool for eliminating camera shake and capturing sharp photographs. Although setting up a tripod and effectively utilizing it for photography needs at first sounds simple and self-explanatory, I often come across photographers that do not know how to properly use a tripod. Even though you could own the most expensive tripod on the market and know exactly what to do to yield razor sharp images, your images could still be suffering from poor framing choices. In this article, I want to explore the proper techniques for setting up, handling and using tripods.

[Read more…]

Nikon Offers to Fix the Flare Shading Issue on the D750

January 9, 2015 By Nasim Mansurov37 Comments

Back in December of last year, we reported the Nikon D750 Flare Shading Issue that occurs on some D750 camera bodies and talked about the cause of the problem. Although we found the issue to be insignificant due to the fact that it only occurs at a particular angle when pointing at a very bright light source, and showed that other cameras can also be potentially prone to the same issue, some of our readers expressed their disappointment and wanted Nkon to address this issue. If you own a Nikon D750 that is affected with this problem and it has been bothering you, Nikon USA today issued an official statement, in which the company announced that it will inspect and service all affected Nikon D750 cameras at no charge starting from the end of January, 2015.

[Read more…]

DSLRs To Catch-Up With Smartphones?

January 9, 2015 By Bob Vishneski89 Comments

DSLR customers have had a nagging sense that manufacturers were far more interested in having them upgrade their cameras than providing additional capabilities to the customers that already purchased DSLRs. Back in the days of mechanical film cameras, it would have been a challenge for OEMs to deliver upgraded capabilities to existing customers. Customers would have had to bring their equipment into a local shop or send it to the camera manufacturer to be retrofitted with new capabilities – a prospect not very practical or financially attractive for manufacturers or customers. In a digital world, however, enhancing just about any product has become a simple software download and installation process. Thus the idea that any digital product (particularly a sophisticated and expensive one) should remain relatively static over its lifetime has become obsolete. It appears that Nikon may be ready to acknowledge and address this growing concern.

[Read more…]

What is Crop Factor?

January 8, 2015 By Nasim Mansurov82 Comments

Whether you are just getting into photography or have been shooting for a while, you have probably heard the term “crop factor”. With so many different cameras and camera systems available today, this particular term comes up very often in product specifications, marketing materials, articles, books and you might even hear it in conversations between photographers. If you do not know what it really means or want to get a better understanding of crop factor, this article will hopefully make it easier for you to understand it better. Please keep in mind that this article was written for beginners, so many of the terms and explanations are over-simplified.

[Read more…]

Preparing for a Safari Trip to Africa

January 7, 2015 By Guest Poster84 Comments

In September of 2014, my wife and I had the great fortune to take the trip of a lifetime to South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. The trip was more than a year in the planning which gave me the chance to think about what camera equipment I wanted to take along. Our itinerary was not one of the ones designed specifically for photographers however I had no doubt we would have plenty of opportunity to take pictures!

[Read more…]

Nikon 300mm f/4E PF ED VR Image Samples

January 6, 2015 By Nasim Mansurov63 Comments

If you are wondering how the new Nikon 300mm f/4E PF ED VR lens renders images, take a look at the below high-resolution image samples captured by Robert Bösch and Drew Gurian. To open these images in high resolution, please right click and save them to your computer, or open them up individually in new windows (clicking on the image will show them in low resolution). As I find more high resolution images from this lens, I will post more in this article.

[Read more…]