Lens Talk

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samyang-7-olympus

Samyang has released their 7.5mm Fisheye Lens for Olympus or Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras. A problem with most small cameras are the crop factor, limiting you from getting the widest possible shot, but this new fisheye will help you get there for a few hundred dollars cheaper than the Panasonic 8mm f/3.5. What no love for Sony NEX? Don't worry, it appears you might be able to adapt this to something like the Sony NEX-5n with this adapter: M4/3 Lens to Sony NEX

As usual from Samyang, no auto focus but aperture has a dedicated ring down to F/3.5. Since Olympus like to rock silver, and Panasonic camera in black, they are available in two different color schemes. Not yet available on Amazon, but early adopters will find it on eBay (click here).

Samyang 7.5mm Fisheye
find-price-button Samyang 7.5mm Fisheye Lens Olympus / Panasonic MFT

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Most of you will just skip this post, but for Geeks like me that enjoy all things DSLR, here's a look at some of the current Canon Lens Replica Mugs / Cups. Needless to say, i've collected a few, and i've also given out a few as gifts. The one gift idea you know won't ever get thrown away. If i'm not using them as mugs, I use them as Pen holders on my desk. Also available in some Nikon versions (click here).

Canon 100mm Macro IS Coffee Mug
find-price-button Canon Nikon Lens Replica Coffee Cup Mug

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You might have caught this as it started yesterday. Canon's offering instant rebates on a variety of Lenses (and flashes), but if you go direct to Canon's website there's tax and hefty shipping fees involved. You can find the same rebate information over at B&H and for some this means saving big on sales tax. Nothing overly exciting, and it extends throughout September 3rd. Current Canon Lens and Flash rebate information can be found following the link (click here).

Canon-rebates
Canon Lens and Flash Rebates

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There's probably at least 10 different ND Filters around the studio, most of them being a type of 'Variable ND' or 'Fader Filter'. They are just so handy at getting the right exposure. Some of these filters use glass that will cast a purplish color, some more than others. Besides being able to confirm through reviewing your videos, here's another way we found. It's hard to see much difference by just holding it up to the light, and for some reason using the reflective surface from a Macbook works pretty well. As you can see two of the four don't have any color cast even when we played around and dialed them to different ND stops. The other two always have this color cast even when dialing them up or down.

Keep in mind that this does not solely apply to 'Variable' filters, but a color cast can appear in static ND filters too. For static ND filters, it would be very obvious and won't require you to flip them around. So I know you're wondering, which two had the color cast? Polaroid ND Filters and Nicna (sometimes called Rainbow Imaging). The Polaroid was actually the one with the most Purple color cast. Which ones did not have a dramatic color cast? Fader ND and Nature did not cast. Of course we all know you can't go wrong with the LightCraft Fader ND Filters, but for a slightly cheaper price I'm quite fond of the Nature brand Variable ND filters which you can find below.

fader-nd
find-price-button Nature Fader ND Variable Filter

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First look at what's in the box with the Small HD DP4-EVF. First impression, this thing is much bigger than I anticipated. It's a very nice external monitor, and sadly it might be enough to replace my DP6 (might be up for sale soon?). The menu with the click wheel on top, is the same as the SmallHD DP6 allowing you to change through a variety of features. Also included is the Focus Peaking and False color to help you with exposure. If you're familiar with the SmallHD DP6 features, you'll fall in love with the DP4 as both an external monitor solution and as an EVF. So the question on everyone's mind is, how does the Small HD DP4 hold up to the Zacuto Z-EVF? I don't have a Zacuto ZEVF to compare it to right now (yet), but i'll leave the comments open if someone has something to say, and i'll have more of my opinions in a bit. You can find more about SmallHD DP4-EVF following this link.

Oh and the Diopter for the Small HD DP4 question? Thanks for the comments, The SmallHD DP4 uses 46mm thread on 'Close up' Filters a.k.a Macro Filters (like Cinevate's Cyclops). These Close up filters come in a variety of magnifications like +1 to +4 or more. Found below.

Close Up Macro Filter
find-price-button 46mm Close UP Macro Filters for Diopter

Even without a side by side SmallHD DP4 vs Zacuto ZEVF comparison, there's no doubt the Zacuto EVF is the smaller of the two. If size (or lack of) is of importance for your work, then Zacuto's EVF Electronic View Finder still lands as the smallest most affordable EVF solution. Hopefully i'll have the two side by side pretty soon. You can find it via B&H (click here) or via Amazon (click here).

Zacuto EVF
find-price-button Zacuto EVF

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A very cool looking kit from Snake River Prototyping that adds a much needed flat lens to the GoPro HD. If you haven't done your research, the GoPro HD video will become soft underwater and things will look blurred out. With a flat lens on the housing, your video will retain it's sharpness and focus to infinity. I've been using the EyeOfMine housing which has vastly improved the videos during my snorkeling trip in Maui, but the SRP BlurFix not only looks better, but allows use of Filters. With an orange type filter under blue color cast waters, this will provide a better white balance and underwater images become more colorful.

I'll be putting the kit together and then later do some testing with a GoPro HD in standard housing, and another one with the SRP BlurFix kit. Stay tuned, but you You can find out more information about the Blurfix from Snake River Prototyping can be found at https://www.snakeriverprototyping.com/BlurFix.html

Instructional Assembly

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Here's a clever way to get a semi-permanent CarrySpeed Vfinder view finder to mount to your camera. The LCD glass protector was an old trick to permanently glue a sticky frame or even the DSLR LCD view finder itself, but they aren't available in all camera models. If you don't have this protector available for your camera model, this DIY mounting solution could work for you. Here Aron from TrinityFXMG.com takes just the eyepiece portion and fastens it to the VFinder. I'm sure you guys can figure it out from the thorough video tutorial. [Thanks Aron].

Glass LCD Screen Protector
find-price-button Glass LCD Protectors for Canon, Nikon, Sony


vfinder
find-price-button New LCD View Finder for Canon T2i, 5D Mark II, 7D and other 3″ LCD’s

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EVF-Snap-Zacuto
find-price-button Zacuto EVF Snap Viewfinder

Zacuto's got one of the sweetest EVFs (electronic viewfinders) available on the market. You could buy the 3" HDMI EVF alone which will save you a few hundred dollars, but of course, what good is the EVF if you don't have the Z-Finder Loupe to match? Having to invest in a Z-Finder loupe will run the bill up several more hundreds of dollars. According to Cheesycam reader Ray, another popular ViewFinder works fine.

Many people who couldn't afford the real Z-Finder opted in for the Seagull. If you already own the Seagull ViewFinder, they fit perfectly onto Zacuto Frames. One benefit from this clever tip is that you could buy these Z-FRM frames for about $5.00 dollars to use as as spare frames with your Seagull, or if you need to add a frame to another camera. Another benefit of course is that it should mount directly to Zacuto's HDMI EVF either 'Snap' or 'Flip' versions, saving you a few hundred dollars. I'm pretty sure the more popular VF Prime DSLR LCD falls into this same category too. [Thanks Ray]

You can find these view finders under a few different names like 'VF Prime' or Seagull View Finder. Can be found on eBay here: (click here)

Or also Available on Amazon here:
VF Prime
find-price-button VF Prime DSLR Camera LCD Viewfinder for 3" LCD