I actually purchased the Eye-Fi two weeks ago but did not get to use it until recently.  My original intention was to find something not as a replacement of my conventional CF card storage but an additional transfer to my macbook air during event photography as a safety.

First Impression

Comes with this weird looking SD card reader.  Apparently, this reader is a must and that Eye-Fi does not recommend using another reader for this card, so don't lose it.  The package is plain and simple just card, card reader, and instructions.

Installation

I am not sure how the installation process is for PCs, but for a mac it was very simple.  It took around 10-15 minutes, and I had no problem getting the software into my mac and functioning.

Setting Up the Eye-Fi

It's quite straight forward.  You will need to go on their site to get the proper setup for the setup that suits you most.  Even with that said it basically only took 15 minutes in total for me to get the wifi transfer setup, and Ad Hoc Transfer setup. 

Transfer Speed

I am used to shooting Large Raw, but I do not recommend using large raw for the Eye-Fi.  The transfer speed is about 1 minute and 15 seconds for LRAW on a Canon 5D Mark III (22MB).  For Event Photography I would recommend SRAW of MJPEG at the most.  Because of this limitation, it may not be ideal for studio fashion photographers that like to snap away continuously.  Mind you however, if you don't mind the wait, the Eye-Fi doesn't seem to have a problem with overshooting and when I tried continuous burst, although it took quite a while to transfer the files over to my MAC wirelessly, it got every single one of them.

PROS

Easy Installation & Setup

Straight Forward and user friendly application

smart phone compatible (direct mode, camera shoots directly to device)

My favorite of all is the Ad Hoc mode.  Very useful when you are out on location.

Endless Memory mode is very useful.  Allows user to set when the card delete photos by itself after it has transferred photo to your computer. 

CONS

drains camera battery

very slow transfer (it takes about 15 secs for one SJPEG, but it may have been an issue with my slow wifi at home as well).

Only the pro version handles RAW and video files and also AD HOC mode, so make sure you buy the Pro version or else it's useless.

Card only has a capacity of 8GB, Eye-Fi should consider their Pro version to have targeted professionals that may require a larger capacity SD card. 

WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS TO A FRIEND?

yes, but only if they have the extra cash to burn.  Not cheap.  $1000HKD for 8GB. 

Tags ( eye-fi wireless sd card wireless transfer 8gb Macbook Air )

It's been a while since my last blog.  I hope you all are still reading.  Today I chose to write because I think if I left this out of my blog that I would be leaving out something great to all my readers.  Yup, I am about to recommend the Sigma 50-500mm APO DG SO lens for Canon EF Mount.

It all started when one of my clients requested that I shot a watersport activity on a speedboat.  Thinking that my 70-200mm L 2.8 IS II or 70-300mm L 4-5.6 USM may be enough (I had brought an extra 1.6 crop DSLR along for the extra reach), but boy was I wrong.  With the 70-300 I was still quite able to get a decent picture or a close up after I had zoomed in quite a bit digitally in post.  That is an option but for most photographer's I think they'd like to leave that as an option rather then the only choice.  Not to mention, when you zoom in digitally, you are limiting the size of your photo, or should I say reducing the size of your photo.

I was able to provide what my client needed (close ups/medium shots) which was of their clients kayaking in a race, but being a professional photographer, I could not risk the chance of doing another similar photoshoot knowing that their may be a chance the lenses I had on had was not long enough for such reach. So I decided to go out and buy a long zoom lens that was capable of such reach but still had good quality without burning a whole in my wallet.

I came across a few lenses.  First of course, being a Canon fan, I would definitely give the 100-400mm L a try, but after finding out that this lens is around 14 years old, I decided no matter how fine the glass could be, in reality it would be not much better than using a Contax Zeiss Tele Zoom (since the AI/Tech was so old).

Then I came across the Sigma AF 80-400 4.5-5.6 EX APO OS.  I found this lens to be of good value (6800HKD), but I found the AF to be slow and noisy. 

Then I came across the Sigma 50-500 APO DG OS.  Zoom range was great, but usually lenses with such a long zoom range usually performed horribly.  So how did this perform?

Now like my other reviews, i leave the tech jargons and terminology to all those fancy lens review websites.  I am here to tell you more about my experience using the lens from a professional basis (not that I am better than any amateur but meaning that the lens will be used in most likely several situations and take a beating.  Mind you not physically, I take care of my equipment, but by beating I mean really be used and not just by taking a few test snaps.

I was significantly impressed with the image quality.  Shooting at the end of my lens I found very little distortion and the lens was very very sharp.  It felt like the Canon 70-300 L USM but only it was 50-500mm.  I found the lens barely usable in an indoor conference like environment (low lighting) even with the new 5D Mark III/1Dx chips, so it is most likely to say not usable on Digic 4 DSLRs without any ambient lighting boost.

Out on a sunny day, you would not be complaining with this lens.  The AF I found very fast and accurate while, the only downside was really at wide open the lens only opened up to 4.5 and only up to 200mm and after that it's 6.3 all the way.

Built quality it is not as strong as the Canon L series telezooms but I felt it was sturdy enough and it did not give me a sense that it felt cheap or lacked more material.  In fact, because of this "flaw" the lens is lighter and for such a zoom range, it was quite a mobile lens.

Accessories wise, you'd all be impressed. One carrying case, tripod ring, two hoods (FF/APS-C), 95-86 stepdown ring.

The only thing I was quite disappointed was the 95mm ring thread.  You know it cost me 880HKD for the UV filter.  I spent much less on my filter for my 70-200 L USM II which is almost twice as much in price. 

OVERALL RATING **** (OUT OF 5*) 

I would buy this lens over the Canon 100-400mm L due to to the fact that the Canon tele zoom is old and out dated and not to mention much heavier.  Also the black exterior is much better for event photographers. 

Tags ( Sigma EF Mount canon 5D Mark III Watersport Photography )

Today I took the Orbis Ringflash (USD $199 available at B&H or http://www.orbisflash.com/) for another spin.  I had purchased the ringflash for a while now and have played with it on Commercial Fashion shoots and even just messed around with it in different occasions.  

Firstly, there are quite a number of Ringflashes available in the market.  The O-Flash, The Godox, Alienbees, Elinchrome, Profoto, just to name a few.  The reason why I decided to purchase the Orbis Ringflash was based on a few things.  Portability, Price, and Quality.  

While some flashes were of great value in price they had inconsistent results and often had uneven light falloff or that the loss of light was a bit too much for my satisfaction.

While the expensive ones (Profoto, Elinchrom, and Alienbees) were just a bit too pricy for a lightshaper(or light) that I consider as nice accessory but not necessarily a necessity for my light kit.  Also the expensive ringflash kits often required a battery pack which made it clumbsy and difficult to carry for location shoots. 

Alienbee ABR800

Profoto ProRing

Elinchrome Quadra Eco Ringflash Kit 

The orbis was one of few that really excelled in all areas.  One thing to be aware of is that although the ringflash itself is quite light but once you have a speedlight attached, the weight gain is very significant.  I was first very reluctant to purchase the Orbis Arm (A flash bracket that cost an extra $60USD)

but after using the Orbis on a fashion shoot for about 100 photos, I found it quite tiring to keep the Orbis in place.  I decided to get the Orbis Arm hoping that it would be much more pleasant to hold the ringflash during a shoot.  Unfortunately, it did not fully meet my expectations.  The Orbis Arm does help a lot but where it did not help was holding the ringflash and the speedlite together in place.  I still had to make sure I had a firm hold on the Orbis Arm and one must be careful while leaning forward, for the Orbis Ringflash could easily slip out and drop on the floor.  This is one good thing about the Orbis and that for something made of plastic, it is quite durable, and I believe it may survive a fall or two (but maybe not three).

Although the loss of light (caused by the spread of light in the inner tube and the diffusing panel) is a lot better than most inexpensive ringflashes, you still lose about 2-4 stops.  This is alright if you are using a professional flash such as the Canon 580 EX II or the Nikon SB900, but an inexpensive prosumer speedlite may not be sufficient to get the best out of the Orbis.

Here are a few photos I took today at the office.  Have a look yourself!

Conclusion, overall I think the Orbis is pretty much a good buy and it's of great value for those that own speedlites.  For those that don't own a speedlite, make sure you put the cost of purchasing one into account before deciding on to buy the Orbis (ex. a decent speedlite like the Canon 580 EX II will cost about $3400HKD @ zhaoxiangguan, and the Orbis costs about another $1700HKD = $5100), the cost of the kit with the speedlite is almost the same price of the Alienbee ABR 800 which does not rely on a speedlite and has greater power.  So please keep this into consideration when you plan to buy.

PROS

1) Great value for those that own speedlites

2) Light and durable

3) The quality of light is consistent and evenly distributed.

CONS

1) Cost of the kit can add up if you don't have speedlites and the cost of the Orbis arm is quite expensive.

2) Light Falloff is very short, making the reach not too distant.  With the Orbis you are quite restrained to shoot quite close.  This may not be of preference to studio fashion photographers that may need to use black cards or fill. 

3) Due to the power constraint and short light falloff, using the Orbis for long Macro shots may not be too suitable.  A 50mm Macro lens is probably the way to go.

4) Photographers need to be careful while using the Orbis Ringflash.  While it is sturdy in some sense, the attachment for the speedlite is not really strong in terms of it's hold.  If careless, the Orbis can fall off from the speedlite very easily.

I would definitely recommend this product to anyone.  I believe most DSLR users do have speedlites and in this case spending an extra $1700HKD for a Ringflash is quite a deal.  The quality of light is more than acceptable (while it would be nice to be able to shoot more distant objects without losing it's light quality, but I am sure the people at Orbis would blame that on the speedlite rather than their design). 

Tags ( ORBIS Yongnuo 565EX Review Canon 24-70L USM II 1D Mark IV 580EX II Nikon SB900 Alienbee ABR800 Profoto ProRing Elinchrome Quadra Eco Ringflash )

Yes, everyone.  I finally decided to give one of those chinese copies a try.  So how did it feel.  Well to be honest I only had a short trial with these lights.  So far, I think it has lived up to it reputation.  What does that mean.  I have summed up a few points to help you decide whether the Yongnuo 565EX is worth your money.

Pros

Built quality is pretty good.  It's not as solid as the 580EX, but then then you are paying only 1/4 of the 580s price.  

Guide - I have not metered it with a sekonic meter yet, but I do think it does live up to a guide number of 58.  Pretty strong flash if you ask me.  Zoom range is equal to that of the 580EX II (24-105).

User Interface, it's pretty nice comparing to it's other chinese competitors.  The only one that I think will look similar are flashes from Oolong (SB690), and not sure but maybe the Meike.

Support ETTL, but I do think the ETTL works much better with the 580EX II, in terms of accuracy.  This may have something to do with a weaker metering system built in the lens.  

Refresh rate is just as good as the 580EX II 

Cons

Horseshoe Mount is not a sturdy as the 580EX.

Looses the scrolling dial (as you can see in the picture).

It happened to me twice where the speedlite automatically switches to M from ETTL as I moved the light head around.  This may not be a random thing (still testing it), but rather the manufacturing may have designed it so that everytime you move the head to a certain position it resets the mode to M (not really a good thing though, especially if you are shooting events).

My General Comment,

 If you are planning to use this for personal use, definitely save the cash and get the Yongnuo, I believe the Canon are too pricey for personal recreation.  Even, for professional use, if you plan to move on to monolights in the near future (once you have a greater grasp of using strobes), these may be the lights to get.  Let's face it, with the new 600 EX RT selling itself like a Louis Vuitton bag, you may as well save the money from the transitional phase of using a speedlite for a nice monolight head like a Elinchrome or a Profoto D500.  I would not rely on these lights for event photography (especially if you are getting paid for the job).  They may make a good spare speedlite for background or rim light if you already have reliable speedlites on hand.  The price is definitely reasonable.  Yongnuo has gone a long way and seems like their product although still lacking behind from the Canon's reliability, is catching up real fast. 

Tags ( Yongnuo 565EX Review 580EX II )