Tuesday, December 19, 2017

REVIEW: Sony a7R III - The Best Camera on the Market in 2017 - Period (Part I of II)


Sony a7R III

While I'm a Canon shooter, I was very impressed with the image quality I got out of the Nikon D850 that I reviewed earlier this year. However, the Sony a7R and a7R II were the sensor by which I judged all others based on their dynamic range. As a result, I was very much looking forward to this review - especially after the camera body of improvements of the new a9 answered my prayers for a Sony body that properly built for photographers.

Since the Sony 24-70 is such a poor lens, I decided this time around I'd have some fun and get the best Sony lens I've ever tested - the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens:


Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens

This was a good choice as this lens is crazy sharp with gorgeous bokeh, yet it's a macro lens which means you can get as close as 11" to your subject and still use auto focus. It's inclusion of Optical Stead Shot also means that you can get super sharp shots despite being handheld.

Everyone who has followed this blog knows that I'm a huge fan of the Sigma 85mm Art, so it would take a lot for this lens to impress me. I'm also reviewing the new Canon 85mm f/1.4L IS at the same time as the Sony, so I have experience with  great lenses in this focal length so I was excited to put this lens through its paces.

Body Impressions

Simply put, this and the Sony a9 offer the only bodies that compete with Nikon for an excellent use and placement of physical buttons. In fact, the improvements to the wheel, joystick and button placements on the a7R III make it the most comfortable one yet.

The joystick support for moving the AF point is my biggest improvement as I've grown so used to this that I can't hardly use a camera without it. This change along with the much better feeling selector wheel (which Fujifilm should look closely at), means it's a natural fit for those coming from Canon and Nikon pro bodies.

The improved electronic viewfinder mean you can leave the hoodman loupe at home and just use the viewfinder on a sunny day to review your images. The resolution and color is excellent, and doesn't feel artificial like the old alpha series cameras.

The articulating rear display is handy for shooting in tight spaces, and optional touch means it works for those who both love and hate touch. Should you want to do more, like a family selfie, the PlayMemories Mobile app can be used to easily remote control the camera.

I was also happy to discover that the phenomenally good eye tracking AF was pre-programmed into a push of the joystick, so this camera was configured perfectly for me right out of the box. In fact, I never found myself using that f*@king Fn menu that you had to live in on other and older Sony models.

While the menus still suck and are just as illogical as ever, there's great support for creating your own favorites and there's lots of great options built in. You also can program many buttons to put your favorite features at the tip of your fingers, or into the blasted Fn menu should you be so inclined.

While this camera touts a cool "Pixel Shift" feature described in the video above, the lack of in-camera support of it was enough of deterrent that I didn't bother with it. Perhaps if Lightroom took advantage of it, I might be interested, but currently it's not for me unless I have a moiré pattern issue AND the opportunity to go back and shoot the subject again with this feature to address the problem. It doesn't seem practical as is for everyday use though.

One negative change from its predecessor is that you can't use Sony's in-camera apps which means you lose the only way it previously supported doing time lapse photography. I had hoped that the PlayMemories Mobile app would have this feature, but I didn't see it when testing in December 2017.

First Look - Real World Shots

I've only had a few hours to play with this camera, so here's some early shots. However, I'd like to point out that these are all the 100% unedited in-camera 8-bit sRGB JPEG's shot in bad light (ISO's 2000 - 8000). All shots are handheld with the standard creative style and auto white balance (ambience) unless otherwise noted.

To quote my friend Douglas Dubler, any mammal can see this camera has excellent dynamic range.

All shots are copyright Ron Martinsen - All Rights Reserved. You can review them while your web browser is open to this article, but you may not edit, print, save, link, or re-publish them in any way without written consent.


f/4 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 3200

Are you f'ing kidding me? Look at how much detail is in the highlights in the jpeg and I haven't even touched the RAW yet! Look at that incredible bokeh despite ISO 3200!


f/4 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 2500

If there's a fault to this camera, the dynamic range is so wide that it can make specular highlights vanish! This leaf is wet and in the light and no filter has been used!


f/2.8 @ 90mm for 1/500 sec at ISO 4000

It's true this a macro lens, but the resolving detail of this sensor and lens combo means every shot is like a science lesson!


f/5.6 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 5000

Vivid mode with shade white balance gives nice warm tones that in this case create an image that is identical to how my minds eye saw it. Look at all of that splendid detail!
See the camera default color here


f/5.6 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 2500
-1 EV
Same color settings as the previous shot and with a little under exposure, every detail in the highlights of the log moss is very detailed


f/5.6 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 2000

This time with default color settings, but zoom in to 100% and it's like going to biology class and looking at the leaves under a microscope


f/5.6 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 2500

The detail in the highlights of the rocks is unlike anything I've shot with before. Sure, this shot is in bad need of a circular polarizer, but this handheld in-camera 8-bit sRGB JPEG shot shows great details in the shadows and darks


f/5.6 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 5000

Once again, 5000 ISO - in-camera 8-bit sRGB - holy cow! The wet leaves lack the typical hot spots you'd get unless you used a circular polarizer, yet I didn't. Very impressive!


f/4 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 800

A nice example of the contrast between smooth bokeh and crazy sharp detail


f/2.8 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 5000

While this is a little underexposed for my taste, the default exposure with auto white balance (ambiance) did result in nice skin tones. The bokeh from this lens made the messy background vanish as well


f/2.8 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 5000

image
100% crop of the eye from the from the above shot. Sony's auto eye AF absolutely nailed the pupil in horrible light while my daughter was dancing around


f/2.8 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 3200

This was like the 6th frame I shot with this camera and it was the typical  shoot a photo at the closest thing next to the box when opening it up. I was immediately impressed with the detail and rich colors


f/2.8 @ 90mm for 1/200 sec at ISO 8000

Since this is a macro lens, I went in closer and was highly impressed - especially given the resolution of this camera. I couldn't do this shot handheld and get this kind of sharpness out of the highest resolution Canon and Nikon cameras

First Shots from Douglas Dubler

At the same time I am reviewing this camera, so is industry legend Douglas Dubler who destroys most photographers with a simple point and shoot. He is world famous for many things, including his ballet shots, so these photos come from his first test with the a7R III . He was simply blown away.

The following photos edited by the incredible photo editing master, Irfan Yonac, are used with permission and highlight what this camera can do in very low light.

Copyright Douglas Dubler 3 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Douglas Dubler 3 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Douglas Dubler 3 - All Rights Reserved

Copyright Douglas Dubler 3 - All Rights Reserved

Follow Douglas on Instagram for more photos.

Handheld Video

I don't do video as everyone who follows me on this blog knows, but that said here's a couple handheld videos that I tossed on YouTube (which completely destroys the quality):



Sony a7R III Unedited Video - XAVC S 4K 30p 60M



Sony a7R III Unedited Video - XAVC S 6MBs 30p 120fps S&Q

Terrible conditions, low-light, roughly ISO 2500, but still you can see this is nothing to sneeze at.

Conclusion

See part II for my full conclusion, but it's already safe to say that if you were on the fence about getting one of these my recommendation is an resounding YES! The dynamic range is simply incredible and with a lens like the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS, magic is sure to follow.

Despite my significant investment in Canon, I am seriously wishing Santa would bring me one of these cameras - it's that outstanding. Simply put, nothing I've tested - including Phase One and Hasselblad medium format digital cameras - comes even close.

Where to Buy?

CLICK HERE to learn more or buy the a7R III today.

CLICK HERE to learn more or buy the 90mm.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

Enjoy these and more on the Reviews tab as well as Ron's Recommendations.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Monday, December 18, 2017

Meural Digital Frame 2.0 - 2017 Product Of the Year (Discount Offer)

Meural 2.0 Box
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Bottom

I rarely do unboxing videos, but for this product I created the article entitled First Look - Meural Digital Canvas Photo Frame 2.0 where I did just that. The reason for this is that I wanted to have a little more bake time with this newest version of the wildly successful Meural Digital Canvas that I first reviewed in August 2016 before I rendered my final verdict on this newest version.

In the first look article you can get an idea of what you get in the box and the frame itself (the Lenora Black in this case), so in this review I'll focus on other relevant points.

Overview - What is a Digital Canvas?

Simply put, this is a dedicated 1080p video display with a low cost computer built in that allows it to talk to my.meural.com. This means that there's a Meural cloud service that is used to keep the files you upload and the settings you set for all of the frames you own. This allows for easy sharing of data between your computer, apps and the frame itself. 

My TV can computer can show photos, why is this better?

While it is true that many smart devices such as modern TV's can show photos, the problem is that this is not their primary purpose so displaying photos typically involves a lot of hassle and it's easy to close the app that is playing the slideshow. As a result, this makes these devices - just like your computer - good for a one off slideshow, but not something that is literally living art in your home.

I've bought small digital frames before and they suck, how is this different?

There's an old saying "you get what you pay for" and sadly most small form factor digital displays are just that. They are a horrifically low quality video display and a terrible software experience making them worse than using your TV or computer for displaying photos and the software is so poorly done that most people are usually turning them off within months of purchasing them.

Leonora Black frame like the ones I own
Great for portraits in offices or homes

What makes Meural different is that this is a high quality display, as the price would suggest, with high quality software with the dedicated purpose of making it easy to display your photos and add more from any location that has internet access.

image
I'm proud to have licensed some of my images for use on Meural

What's more, you aren't limited to your own photos, so add the subscription service and you can enjoy others high quality art for those times when you want to enjoy art that exceeds your own abilities. To see examples of art you can enjoy on your frame, check out the galleries from artists and partners who have licensed work to Meural for use on your frame.

Setup

Meural On Display Menu - Dec 2017
Device menu displayed via gesture feature

Setup for this device is much like any other IoT device these days - this frame has its own wifi access point that you connect to from your phone, then use the app to setup the device and get it on your local network. Generally speaking, it works just as easy as any other device of this type (like Nest products), which is to say an average user won't have any trouble setting it up. Some beginners may struggle a bit though.

With that said, one of the setup experiences involves using the gesture support on this frame and that's one of the few areas where I don't have good things to say about this product. Simply put, the gesture feature is terrible.

Frequently I found myself flapping like a bird trying to get the gestures to work with roughly a 5% success rate, but fortunately you can completely ignore this feature after you've set up the frame (and even with setup, it's optional).

Hanging the frame

Hanging the frame requires a drill and a hammer and a little patience with the measurements. It took me about 15 minutes from start to finish to hang the frame. While they include a small level with the frame, I still think it's better a real level for better accuracy. I failed to do so when hanging the frame at my parents house and it ended up being slightly off so it drives me crazy.

If you are mindful when hanging, you can set your frame up where it can change orientation from landscape to portrait, which is handy when you get tired of photos of one orientation and you want to mix them up with those of another. I love this feature, so I always make sure I hang my frames in a way that supports both orientations.

Settings

While Meural is constantly improving the settings experience, as of December 2017 here's what they looked like in the web browser:

Meural Settings - Dec 2017 Version

App Experience

Here's a demo of what you can do using the app using an iPhone (in this case, the iPhone X) with the phone upright for the first part, and the phone in landscape orientation for the second part:



It should be noted that my mom had a iPhone 4s which wasn't supported since the app requires iOS 10 or later, and her phone only supports up to iOS 9. While it is cool to have apps that take advantage of the latest features, I wasn't too happy about a 4 year old phone being unsupported.

Click here to learn more about the requirements of the app on iOS and click here for Android. While the app has features like being able to switch the images in real time, you can also use the web interface from your computer or phone as another option.

I really wish Meural would be more thoughtful about backwards compatibility for phones or make all of the app features redundant in the web interface so owners with older phones would have more options.

Another frustration point is that the app can only control the frame when you are on the same network, so I can't control the frame on behalf of my parents remotely. Since they are both over 80, this is a real bummer as that could be quite useful.

TIP: The weakest link of any connected device is getting it on a networking and keeping it on the network. The Meural frame is no different, but I do find that it loses its network connection more than other devices. When this happens, the best bet is to just unplug and reconnect the frame to its power source and the connection will restore itself. I suspect this is due to the device failing to send the router a keep alive message, so hopefully this is something they will fix in the future.

Controlling the frame from the app demo

Customization

To me the key differentiator of Meural over the competition is the customization that it supports. In addition to the settings shown earlier, the scheduler allows you to pick which play list you display at each hour of the day plus when your frame sleeps. This is a HUGE benefit over all other solutions I've ever tried, and it's the reason why I proudly own three Meural frames.

Here's an example of how you configure this feature from the web browser (only):

Meural Scheduler Feature

There's a drag and drop interface for choosing which playlist you'd like to display on the frame at any given hour. Once you drop it on the frame you can drag it have it span multiple hours as I've done with the 78 image "portraits" playlist. You can also have it randomly choose play lists for part of the day and fixed playlists for other parts. Finally, you can specify which hours the frame sleeps which is my favorite feature as I don't want my frame running at night.

For simplicity sake, I've only shown two playlists here but it supports as many playlists as you've downloaded to your frame. You can also avoid this altogether and turn on "Playlist Rotation" and "Canvas goes completely dark" (shown earlier) if you want the frame to be more hands off and make those decisions for you.

This is the game changer feature that I can't live without!

Frame & Display Quality Thoughts

The display used in this frame is a good quality 1920 x 1080 (1080p) full HD display that resolves to 100 pixels per inch, and it features a matte finish to avoid reflections. Since it is calibrated nicely from the factory, this results in a very pleasant viewing experience that often times can fool novices into thinking they are looking at a framed print.

For those who do frame prints, the size feels about the same as a 13x19" print, so it's big enough to enjoy but not obnoxiously large. When viewing images in landscape orientation it feels just right for most things, but busy scenes viewed at distances greater than 16 feet can feel a bit on the small side (duh). However, in portrait mode I found that most images felt quite large and enjoyable, but that could also be since I get up close on my portraits so the images are larger than life size.

The frame itself features a nice wooden frame white a white matting that feels very professionally done. As a result, it doesn't feel like a cheap digital frame but instead like a print that you had framed. This is why I think I often get the reaction from guests who so say "I didn't realize that was digital" after they see the image change for the first time.

As previously mentioned, the gesture support is terrible so I consider it a non-feature. In fact, for my parents I had to effectively disable it as they would sometimes accidentally activate it which stressed them out.

I've owned my first version for over a year and heat has never been a problem. It's always cool to the touch, unlike my TV, so that's a good sign that it's using a lot less electricity too. This is one of the big benefits of this solution over a computer or TV used to display your images because I haven't noticed any impact on my electricity bill while running this frame for 16 hours a day for the last 16 months! My room doesn't feel like a sauna either like it does when I'm done watching a long movie.

New for 2.0 - the sleep button

Meural 2.0 Sleep Button
Meural 2.0 Sleep Button

One great new feature for the 2.0 version is the sleep button. This allows you to push a physical button on the side of the frame to put it to sleep. Push it again and you get instant wake up - much like open and closing a Macbook Pro.

But why isn't it 4k?

4k is great, but it also comes at a premium price both in terms of the display cost as well as the the bandwidth and storage needed to transmit photos back and forth. While I'm sure there will be a day in the future when I'm bragging about the 4k Meural, I've found that at this size I don't have any concerns about resolution at normal viewing distances (and I'm a master printer and display expert) . A typical billboard is 15 dots per inch and a magazine which has a closer viewing distance is often 150 dots per inch, so this is a good trade off for price versus performance.

What about Momento?

Yes, I've heard of Momento Smart Frame (B&H & Amazon), but the software is optimized around the mobile photo experience with a lack end to end thought. It's also very cheaply built, so it doesn't have the same quality as a Meural. It's promising given its price point, but at this time I have to say it's poor hardware and software experience by comparison. I've also had a terrible experience trying to reach anyone at this company, so I've been reluctant to invest in one for fear that it would be the same experience as I've had with all of the cheap frames that have disappointed me in the past.

What about the optional subscription service?

I hate subscription services, and that's putting it very politely. This is why I'm happy to report that Meural doesn't require you use their service. What the service provides you is access to their gallery of curated art to display on your frame which for some may be preferable to their own images - especially businesses. However, that's a value added feature and not a required service.

While the galleries from artists and partners offer a lot of great images, some of which I enjoy on my frame despite my photography background, you aren't forced to use it so don't worry. I do recommend you try it out though as I've found some of the images are quite spectacular like the ones from 1x. You could never legally license these photos yourself at this price, so it's a good deal to get this many images at this price.

Conclusion

The Meural frame is the first and only digital frame that I can say that I've truly enjoyed. It has all of the features that I've wished for and its continuous improvement shows a commitment to make it even better for existing owners. My 1.0 frame has all of the software benefits of the 2.0, yet it didn't cost a penny to get those upgrades.

I also have found it to be a profound life changing experience for myself and my family members to enjoy hundreds of digital photos changing on the wall of my home (and my parents). There's no way I could display that many prints, so a lot of touching family photos can be enjoyed at no additional cost. What's more, I have no hesitation to include "bad" photos that I'd never print, but put a smile on our faces nevertheless.

While the first version was good, it felt like a product in progress from a start up. The bones were good and mine still works fine, but this newest version feels a lot more polished. I also had a unit shipped from the East coast to my house and then I shipped it to my parents place in Texas. Despite this the original packaging (shown here) kept the frame safe for thousands of miles of travel.

Simply put, there's no better way to enjoy your investment in photography than to display your photos on a Meural Digital Canvas.  As a result, I can easily give it my highest recommendation for anyone who enjoys viewing meaningful photos. It's also a no brainer for my 2017 ronmartblog.com Product of the Year.

Where to Buy?

CLICK HERE to learn more or buy today.

Discount Offer

For a limited time, Meural is offering $100 off and if you order by December 20th they promise delivery by Christmas (exclusions apply and subject to weather and transportation conditions).

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

Enjoy these and more on the Reviews tab as well as Ron's Recommendations.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this. While I have purchased a 2.0 frame, I was also provided with one for review purposes. I also am a featured artist for images found in the subscription based service as part of a research experiment for a future idea that I have for this blog.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Legitimate Blogs - A Dying Breed?


The first ever photo posted on this blog in 2008

This blog was started as a convenience to me so I could stop hunting through my sent items folder and forwarding friends the same emails over and over again. I never intended for it to become a second job or something that would attract millions of readers. It just happened.

Along the way when I found myself working from 10:00 PM - 4:00 AM+ Sunday through Thursday's to cover the topics my readers asked to write about, I realized that there should be something in it for me. As a result, ronmart.blogspot.com - the email archive - became ronmartblog.com - the online review business. My goals shifted from simply writing about whatever came to mind to focusing on articles that would likely yield a return on my time investment.

During this transition I still kept to one principle - this blog would be different than most review sites in that it couldn't be bought and paid for. As a result, I resisted accepting advertising and instead rewarded products that I loved with free banner space. I resisted sponsored articles by giving the constant requests a price I knew they'd reject to make them go away for good. I resisted fake guest bloggers who wanted to write about unrelated topics just to boost their own sites, despite the fact that their presence could help push me higher in Google page rankings.

Simply put - I dismissed the games that many other sites played, and focused on only two mechanisms for income as a way to compensate my family for the grumpy guy that I'd become from lack of sleep. I accepted donations and I leveraged referrals as a mechanism to get compensated when my readers purchased products that I recommended. I thought this was fair, and despite the fact that nearly EVERY site on the web also does this - I disclosed that I was doing this.

When the holiday seasons sales would come around, I started by sharing deals because I wanted my friends to know about the deals that I honestly thought were worth sharing. However, I got flooded with requests to post deal offers and eventually became so disgusted with it that I moved to a mostly opt-in model with my deals newsletter. I got sick of the blog being a deals billboard, so I only used the blog occasionally for special deals that I felt good about posting - for my friends - and left the rest (which still about 1% of the deals I get daily in email) to my newsletter.

By not spamming you with deals, by not taking sponsored articles, and by not taking paid advertising - I lost a ton of potential earnings (to the tune of $50k+ per month from some single advertisers alone) and I lost a lot of web traffic and subsequently Google page ranking.

However, I think I won because I stuck to my principles and remained a legitimate blog - not a bought and paid for snake oil salesman - despite being sometimes accused of being just that.

For this holiday season I once again find myself with a dilemma - sacrifice thousands in earnings to keep my blog clean of more holiday sales crap, or join the crowd to avoid being assimilated.

Ara-131-Edit
Ara - my youngest of 4

My regular readers have probably noticed that I don't write like I used to anymore as I decided to sleep again after the birth of my daughter, Ara, in October 2015. I've returned to writing only about stuff for fun and mostly given up my second business - despite being a father of 4 and single breadwinner who certainly could use the extra income.


Taylor SHS Graduation 2017-511-Edit
Me with Taylor - My oldest of 4

Conclusion

This was an unplanned article that was written out of disgust of all of the holiday sales spam that I get bombarded with. While I hope people have noticed that I've been refraining from those types of activities this year, odds are you haven't given it a seconds thought. As a result, I'm pointing it out so you can take a moment to think about which blogs and influencers you can trust this holiday season and which ones are simply out to make a buck.

I wish all my remaining faithful readers a safe and happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Ron Martinsen

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Guest Blog: PhotoPlus New York - 2017 Trip Report

by Natalia Stone - Travel and Landscape Photographer
http://nataliastone.com & http://instagram.com/natalia_stone

Nikon's D850

Out of the gate, the Nikon D850 comes with a ton of firepower. D850 boasts a 45.7MP Sensor,
7fps burst shooting - great for action photography, the newest EXPEED 5 high performance image processor which should handle the increased megapixels while still retaining the fast write speed.

If you are into time lapses, the D850 has a built-in 4K time lapse creation. If you love shooting
video, it has 4K/30p or 1080/120p slow-motion capabilities while still retaining high performance.

All in all a very impressive beast of a DSLR camera.

Click here to see Ron's Review of the Nikon D850.

Sony’s A7RIII

Sony ‘s A7 series has been on top of the mirror less camera game and the new Sony A7Riii doesn't disappoint. As an owner of a now older model Sony A7Rii, I couldn’t wait to play around with the next iteration and boy was it awesome. Sony has made a multitude of improvements - much better focusing, 10 fps continuous shooting not to mention the 15 EV dynamic range that rivals that of Nikon’s D850. A7Riii also comes with a Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode which produces very high detail raw files. Not going to lie, I walked away thinking Ill be upgrading soon.

Click here to learn more at B&H.

Lenses, Lenses, Lenses

So many new releases at the show this year, some of the highlights:

Zeiss Milvus 25mm f/1.4

This all new manual focus lens would be a great addition for a landscape photographer. Amazing
at capturing every crispy detail with edge to edge quality, perfect for those massive prints and the
‘wow’ effect. Any astrophotographer would very excited about a maximum aperture of 1.4 when
every stop of light makes a huge difference in producing the best images when shooting at night.

Click here to learn more at B&H.

Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens

Sigma announced the new Ultra-fast 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens – super sharp with minimal
distortion - perfect for the high megapixels DSLRs like Nikon D850 I checked out earlier. If you
are a portrait photographer, you definitely want to check this one out!

Click here for Ron's Review.

Rokinon announces AF 35mm f/1.4 FE

I’ve using Rokinon manual lenses for night photography for a long time and absolutely love them
so it’s exciting for the company to be releasing more autofocus ones like the new AF 35mm f/1.4 FE .

This lens is perfect for full frame mirror less cameras, comes in a Sony E-mount for anyone
sporting an A7 series body from Sony and would be great for either portrait, landscape or astrophotography!

Click here to learn more at B&H

Epson SureColor P8000 – “Print your legacy”

Speaking of printing your work – check out this beast of a printer from Epson.
SureColor P8000 doesn't just look impressive, once you see the prints, they take your breath
away. Not for those on a shoe string budget, but worth the money for a serious professional.

Click here to learn more at B&H.

Conclusion by Ron Martinsen

I'd like to thank Natalia for covering for me in New York this year. While I was too busy to make it, I was fortunate enough to have already reviewed a couple big products that headlined the show. I've also got the Sony A7RIII in the pipeline for review, so it looks like I'll be featuring the best of the show here after all!

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these archives from previous shows:

Enjoy these and more on the Reviews tab as well as Ron's Recommendations.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Friday, November 10, 2017

Perfectly Clear v3.5 Tutorial and $40 Discount

Perfectly Clear Version 3 - Click to learn more

If you read my blog over the last year or two, you'd know that I was a fan of Perfectly Clear by Athentech because it really was a one-click photo editing tool. With 3.0 the user interface got much better and with version 3.5 it hits a home run!

Raw Editor

Built-in RAW Editor
Built-in RAW Editor means you don't need any other software to edit your photos

The stand-alone features a raw editor that gets the job done, but I'll admit that it's not as good as other products out there. However, if you want a one product photo editing workflow, it gets the job done.

Crop tool works well and offers several different overlays

Crop tool works well and offers several different overlays

In the stand-alone version you can easily crop with some great overlay choices including the rule of thirds and the golden ratio.

New Live Presets and Looks Panels

One of the nicest improvements is that you can see what your presets and looks will do before you click them as shown here:

image

Even better, you can apply a look on top of your preset to get two layers of editing in just two quick clicks. What's more, you can dial down the look directly from the window using the opacity slider.

Version 3.5 Phot Editing Tutorial

Here's a quick video where I show how quickly I can edit 8 photos that come straight out of the camera with no prior edits ...

NOTE: YouTube degrades the quality of the original 4k recording so there are compression artifacts that look bad in dark areas - this does not happen in the real product:


Before & After Images

Here's some before and after edits I did using version 3.0 and in the video above you can watch the video of changes made using the v3.5 update (free to v3.0 owners):

Perfectly Clear Version 3 - Before and After - Copyright Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Perfectly Clear Version 3 - Before and After - Copyright Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Perfectly Clear Version 3 - Before and After - Copyright Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Perfectly Clear Version 3 - Before and After - Copyright Ron Martinsen - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Discount Offer

Existing v3.0 owners get a free upgrade using AppsManager!

LIMITED TIME special offer to save $40 is available when you CLICK HERE or use the coupon code RONMART40

Get my regular 10% discount on version 3.5 when you CLICK HERE.

Please note that coupon codes can change so visit my discount coupon code page or contact me if you have any problems with my code.

Conclusion

This product has come such a long way and gets better and better with each version. I was expecting a small update with v3.5, but instead I was extremely impressed with all of the enhancements. For users of Photoshop and Lightroom, you can still integrate it in as the first and/or last step of your photo editing workflow. For those who want a single solution, it is fantastic as a stand-alone solution that allows for blazing fast one click edits of your images.

Other articles you may enjoy

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Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Thursday, November 9, 2017

First Look: on1 Photo RAW 2018 - The Best HDR & Pano Editor Yet?

on1 Photo RAW 2018

Try on1 Photo RAW 2018

I'm pretty busy these days so I don't have time for betas. As a result, I've been rocking along with on1 Photo RAW 2017 not paying much attention to what's coming next. Tonight in advance of the launch I finally kicked the tires and got both surprised and shocked by some of the changes so I thought I'd fill you in on some  of the ones that I think are worth your time to check out...

HDR Editor

I was super impressed with how fast and well this feature worked. Honestly, I didn't expect much as I've really been loving Aurora 2018 HDR as I prepare for my upcoming review.  However, I really have loved the fine grain control it offers with RAW images and how it it saves the merged file in a special format so that I can make non-destructive re-edits at anytime. This means that the HDR merge is never really final, and I can always go dial back in the dark and bright areas that might get messed up while editing. Check it out...

Sadly, this video doesn't do it justice because it kinda ends up with an image that doesn't look so hot. However, the image shown at the top of the article features one that I processed using HDR only (no presets) for very fast and realistic results.

Pano Feature

Some people love their panos, but I hate them. However, I thought this demo which shows how it not only does a good job creating panos, but it also adds metadata to make Facebook treat it as a spinnable pano too:

Maybe this is old news to you pano experts out there, but if you are like me and wondered how you could do this - this is it! Pretty sweet!

Mask Blur Chisel

I never quite got the hang of the chisel tool in the past, but this video here gave me one of those chimpanzee moments (you know, ooh, ooh) and I immediately wanted to go try it out.


More Cool Videos

Want to see what else is new? Start with the video above, then check out these videos...

Conclusion

I was unhappy with on1 products for a few years, so I stopped covering them on my blog. I was frustrated with them crashing, features I loved being removed, and something that remained being uninteresting to me.

With the 2017 version I got interested again, but I found myself mostly using it for Resize and not much else. However, I've spent some time this evening playing with the new features and rediscovering this product again, and I like what I see.

At a minimum I'd encourage existing on1 fans to check it out as I think it's a worthy upgrade.

For those who have been burned in the past, I'd suggest giving it another go as the setup seems to do a good job of installing things in cleanly without any headaches. When trying out the product, I hit one snag when I selected  corrupt iPhone 7 file on my NAS, but other than that it was rock solid. It feels like some of the quality issues that plagued on1 in the past have been sorted, and more compelling features have been brought back to make it something worth considering again.

Contact me to let me know your thoughts!

Try it Today & Get  Discount

CLICK HERE to learn more and take it for a spin. If you like it, then try out the MART17 coupon code to get a 20% discount off your order. Contact me if you have any troubles with the special offer.

Other articles you may enjoy

Check out the Reviews tab as well as Ron's Recommendations.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Sunday, November 5, 2017

First Look - Meural Digital Canvas Photo Frame 2.0

Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Bottom Side
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Bottom

I've owned the first version of the Meural Digital Canvas photo frame for over a year and I've been loving every minute of it. There's not a day that goes by that I don't spend a few minutes enjoying watching some of my favorite photos displayed on it as I stare at it from my dinner table. My friends, family, and yes - even my teenage kids - all have gushed over how cool our frame is, so when the folks at Meural told me that I could review the latest and greatest version, I was all over it!

This is my first impressions, but I'll be doing a more comprehensive review very soon. For this one I thought I'd start with the packaging, as there's been a big upgrade there that makes this product feel more polished and professional versus something that comes from a startup.

Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Top Side
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Top Side

Just check out the cool packaging which illustrates one of the great features about this product - you can not only show your own photos - but a galleries of other flavors of fine art.

When I got my first frame, I wasn't so sure about why I would ever want to show other people's art, but after exploring the available content I found myself adding a couple dozen photos. In fact, my oldest son loved some of those photos so much that he went on a trip to Norway to try to locate some of the places featured on my frame and was thrilled to see them in real life!

A Quick Peek Inside 

Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Inside
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Inside with quick start manual

I hate unboxing videos, so I thought I'd cut to the chase and just show you some quick pics.

I don't usually do this, but I know I was worried about my frame getting damaged in shipment. I thought this could be a useful article to show just how well it is packed for those who had doubts about its safety when ordering online.

Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Frame Packaging
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box - Frame Packaging

As you can see the frame is very well protected and arrived in perfect condition to my house near Seattle even though it had been shipped from New York. I was pleased to see the protective cover and despite the cool temperatures it arrived with no issues. To be fair, I did let it acclimate to my house for 8 hours before opening just to make sure there was no condensation issues.

Meural Canvas 2.0 Box -  Hanging Hardware & Cleat
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box -  Hanging Hardware & Cleat

The mounting hardware was secured with tape (removed here) but I have what I need to hang my frame securely in the sheetrock. I didn't hang my first frame because it just rested nicely in my TV alcove and I used a couple big crystal trophies to hold it secure in place (not recommended).

Meural Canvas 2.0 Box -  Rear View
Meural Canvas 2.0 Box -  Rear View

On the back side frame, the cleat mounts are much more polished (literally) and there's better frame ventilation (although my v1 never had and heat issues). There's also a big purple port to accept the power with space to coil up extra slack from the power cable if you don't need to extend it.

Software

Web Frame Management Site
Web Frame Management Site
Partial List of Settings Shown

If you own an existing Meural frame, then you can see the new software. However, if you don't then it's evolved a lot since my original review. It's a lot more robust and user friend with support to features available both on the website AND phone.

I'll cover this more in my review, but I wanted a quick mention to let people know that the software that was the Achilles heal of the original models, is now working well and all the bugs are worked out.

First Thoughts

Everything just worked out of the box and felt very much like my original frame which is a good thing, since I liked it quite a bit.

The quality of the black frame is very different. It has more of a bevel to it, but it seems more manufactured than the wood of the first version. I can't say that is a good or a bad thing - it's just different.

Overall, this frame looks more commercial whereas the first version felt more hand made. However, from a distance they both look very similar and quite good.

The power cord cable is MUCH improved and significantly longer than the one I got with my review unit for the first version. There's also multiple adapters for different regions, but the one right out of the box worked fine in the US.

Usability wise, it felt like the much improved iOS app was more responsive with this frame than the first version, but otherwise the only noticeable improvements were a better onboarding experience than when I last did this > 14 months ago.

So far it's been working great and not really a huge difference than my first one, but that's a good thing because the firmware and software of my first one have been updated to make it act the same as this one.

My only gripe has been that he gesture feedback often leaves me giving the frame a middle finger gesture, as it just doesn't work very reliably. However, the phone allows you to do everything you need so I just use it instead as I've done with the first version of the frame.

The biggest improvement seems to be support for auto rotation, but that's not something I find very practical as I plan on putting it up one way and leaving it like that forever. In fact, I'm considering leaving this one in portrait orientation while I leave my old one in landscape.

Conclusion

Simply put, this is pretty much everything I liked about the first one but with a lot more spit and polish. It feels more like a mass distributed product rather than a one off, but still looks way better than any other digital frames I've ever used.

Definitely put this on your short list for holiday gifting as the image quality is fantastic and the ease of use via the phone app and web site make it very serviceable remotely after you get it set up initially. For my v1 the only glitch was the need to occasionally unplug and re-plug it to reboot it to get it back on my network again, but I haven't had this one long enough to see if that issue still exists.

Click here to see my full review.

Where to Buy?

CLICK HERE to learn more or buy today.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

Enjoy these and more on the Reviews tab as well as Ron's Recommendations.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity