Archive for the ‘accessories’ Category
UV Filter
I ran across a video on Youtube, in response to a question as to why you should use a UV filter, and more importantly why they range so much in price. The video was an excerpt from a podcast on DSLRs. I was curious to hear their answer, and after ten minutes, the speaker did little more than tell a long story about how a UV filter saved his expensive lens after his camera took a dive into the mud. The final answer offered was not to spend over $30 for a UV filter.
I found this annoying on a couple of levels. First of all, the author said nothing about what a UV filter does. Nor did he address why UV filters can range from $10 to well over $200. Perhaps the author does not even know himself. Yes, many photographers and videographers keep a UV filter on their camera to protect their costly lens from damage. Generally a good idea, and there is (usually) nothing wrong with this.
The primary purpose of a UV filter is to (wait for it…) filter UV rays. Not only those emitted by the sun, but by fluorescent, and some other types of lamps too. Even though UV itself is not visible, the result is a slight blue cast over the image. Blue skies appear with a light haze when shot without a UV filter. The degree of this effect depends on the lens and the camera used of course.
I learned the value of a quality UV filter some years ago. I was getting some terrible lens flare in an outdoor shoot. Much worse than I had ever dealt with before. I finally realized the one thing that had changed. I had added a cheap UV filter to my camera. The internal reflection caused by the poor quality filter were caused greatly exaggerated lens flare. Removing it solved the problem.
I soon learned that there is a good reason for the cost differences in UV filters. Cheap filters usually have a single coating on the outside. High quality filters are coated both in and out. This reduces internal reflection, and prevents lens flares. The quality of the coating does vary, and is extremely important. Cheap coatings can be difficult to clean among other things. The quality of the glass is also very important. Cheap filters have thicker glass. Necessary, because the glass is a lower quality. High quality filters have thinner glass, and is of a much higher optical clarity. Finally, it’s the coating that performs the function of blocking the UV rays. Not surprisingly, cheap filters will actually block little or no UV rays.
So, you spent $900 on your new prime lens, and you’re going to put $20 worth of glass in front of it? I’d suggest investing a little more. You don’t necessarily have to spend over $200 on a new Heliopan UV filter, but a cheap UV filter should be thought of as little more than a second lens cap.
When looking to replace my dying Epson, I needed disc printing capabilities on a new printer just as I had on my old R320 Sylus Photo. It was a pretty good printer, but I place a high workload demand on devices that are really intended for consumer use. I still got my money’s worth more or less.
I decided to pull the trigger on an HP this time. I already own a multi fuction HP Laserjet, and it’s been a real workhorse. Nice aesthetics, and an impression of above average construction quality. A nice touch is the disc printing tray has a little storage slot right in the printer. In short, print quality is quite good on both discs and photo paper. Maybe a hair below the quality of the Epson, but very close. It is definitely much faster with better document quality.
What could be better? Well, let me tell you. While the hardware is better than expected, the software is terrible. I was stunned to find out you can only print to discs using HP templates. You cannot use your own designs. You cannot change the inner and outer diameter, change the alignment, or do much more than change small areas of text or photo inserts. The software seems intrusive and overly dumbed down. I finally discovered a third party ap that solved the problem. Unfortunately, I’m out another $30.
Bottom line is that it’s a good printer, but if you expect to print custom DVDs and CDs, you should add $30 to the price.
Canon CD Printer
Like many of you, I use inkjet printers for DVD covers and Disc printing. As Epson has been the only printer manufacturer to offer disc printing in a low priced ink jet printer, I’ve pretty much ignored Canon in my printer purchases these past few years.
I’ve owned Canons before, and thought them to be quite good too. I then stumbled across this article on how to modify a Pixma series printer to print CDs and DVDs.
How in the heck is this possible? Well, it’s because Canon originally designed many of these printers with disc printing capabilities, and disabled them? Apparently some of the same printers are sold in foreign markets with the disc printing capability left intact. Why on earth would they do this? I have no idea.
iPhone teleprompter
I just happened across this rather clever teleprompter for the iPhone and the Touch. I’ve used both off the shelf teleprompters, as well as cobbled together rigs, and this seems like a pretty darn good solution to me. It’s definitely more for close range work, as opposed to a larger studio application. It looks like a perfect solution for video podcasters.
It looks to be awaiting the grand anointing of the App store, but once it does I’ll be anxious to give it a try.
The LED on camera light
This is the current state of my hand built LED on camera light. I would have posted some build pics, but I just didn’t think to take them. I do think that those out there who would be inclined to build such a thing would find it pretty simple.
Basically, I used a Luxeon Endor Star LED, a Luxdrive Buckpuck, a pot, and a switch. Currently, there is a battery holder inside with eight AA batteries. I intend to add a jack for an external battery pack. It does run quite a while on the AA batts, especially if you have it dimmed a bit.
The gray squares are simply velcro. I made a simple diffuser out of frosted plastic much like what you’d find in a “trapper-keeper”. It works fairly well, and doesn’t cost all that much light output. These emitters are extremenly bright, and you do not want to look at them directly when there under full power. In fact, they’re classed as class 2 lasers for this reason.
The star is quite simply bolted to the aluminum housing, which is an off the shelf “Bud box”. It’s more than sufficient to sink away the heat from the Luxeon. There’s a diffuser optic glued to the unit as well. You definitely want to solder up the star before you mount it. Otherwise, the heat from your iron will be pulled away by the heat transfer to the chassis.
Interestingly, this is actually a “warm white” LED. It more closely matches the color temperature of incandescent lighting than those blue/white high output LED’s most often used. While I’ve not actually measured the output, I would say it’s close to a 20 watt halogen.
It’s been a while since the last episode. It’s tough to find the time these days. I’m pondering as to whether or not to continue with the podcast. If this happens, the site will simply become a text blog.
This episode covers an inexpensive camera stabilizer called “Levelcam“. If you can carry your lunch tray without spilling your food, you can use this thing right out of the package.
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