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Home » Archives for Rod Lawton

Rod Lawton

3 Legged Thing Ultra plates review

March 21, 2024 by Rod Lawton

Verdict: 4.5 stars These new 3 Legged Thing Ultra plates are brimming with fresh ideas and could be perfect for content creators shooting with multiple accessories or stills photographers looking for better balance with bigger lenses or extra flexibility for close-up work. I’m still getting my head around the possibilities. They provide a much more secure mounting point for lights, mics and external recorders than the camera’s hotshoe, and make a very interesting alternative to a camera cage for video.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: 3 Legged Thing

Do lenses matter more than megapixels?

March 1, 2023 by Rod Lawton

We assume that megapixels matter more than anything, and that a good lens on a high-resolution full frame camera will still be better than an excellent lens on a lower-resolution camera, right? Well, I thought I’d check.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Olympus, OM System, Sony

Can you trust your EVF?

February 27, 2023 by Rod Lawton

I’m not sure you can. The theory goes that because an EVF relays exactly what the sensor is capturing, it is by definition an accurate representation of the image you will record. But I think it’s leading us to trust EVFs altogether too much.

Filed Under: Opinion

Are the kit lenses that come with cameras any good?

February 23, 2023 by Rod Lawton

There is no one-size-fits-all standard zoom for everyone, and while a kit lens will be fine for some users, others might need to move on or use something different.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Olympus, OM System

Why are kit lenses getting worse?

February 21, 2023 by Rod Lawton

It’s as if the makers of full frame mirrorless cameras have suddenly realized that there’s no point making mirrorless cameras smaller if the lenses are as big as ever. So there’s a trend now to make compact zooms for these cameras to cut down on the overall system size. That’s great. But in making these kit lenses compact, have they also made them next to useless?

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Canon, Nikon, Sony

This is not a shotgun mic

February 17, 2023 by Rod Lawton

It’s an easy mistake to make because of the shape. This is a RØDE VideoMic GO II which is designed to be used on or off-camera and when you remove the foam cover you can see it’s a short metal tube. It looks a lot like a RØDE shotgun mic like the NTG series, just a little shorter. But it’s not a shotgun mic.

Filed Under: Guides Tagged With: RODE

How hard can it be to find an all-manual camera with actual DIALS?

February 15, 2023 by Rod Lawton

We all know that any DSLR or mirrorless camera can offer both manual exposure and manual focus. What I’m actually asking is how many cameras offer these as external controls like old-fashioned film cameras? The answer, depressingly, is almost none.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: 7artisans, Fujifilm, Leica

Insta360 RS 1-Inch 360 now compatible with Matterport digital twins

December 9, 2022 by Rod Lawton

Matterport is an online 3D environment creation and hosting service that’s ideal for real estate companies setting up virtual tours but is also used for VR walkthroughs of public buildings, museums, galleries and virtual tours.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Insta360, Matterport

I’m waiting to review the Canon EOS R6 II, but why am I not more excited?

November 28, 2022 by Rod Lawton

The Canon EOS R6 Mark II is an interesting camera for a number of reasons, but it’s not really lighting my fuse. I’m waiting for a loan sample from Canon, I’ve been told it’s not far off and for the sake of politeness I’m keen to see it. But I’m not too worked up.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Canon

Sony launches a new 256GB V90 SD UHS-II TOUGH memory card

November 17, 2022 by Rod Lawton

It’s the largest capacity yet in Sony’s SF-G TOUGH series, and joins existing 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions. But what makes it so tough, and does it matter?

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Sony

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Fotovolo is published by photography journalist and editor Rod Lawton

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