Tech stuff

Robot Turtles board game | Recent work for The New York Times

Education, My work, photojournalism, Published work, Still photography, Tech stuff

“Dan Shapiro sold a company to Google and worked at Microsoft. His name is on nearly a dozen technology-related patents. But when it came time for his latest venture, Mr. Shapiro turned to technology to produce something decidedly low-tech: a board game for children. Technology, by all rights, should have killed old-fashioned games, which can never equal the eye-popping graphics, visceral action and immense online communities of today’s video games. Yet the opposite has occurred.” That’s an excerpt from the story that ran on A1 in today’s issue of The New York Times, by Nick Wingfield. Shapiro’s game is Robot Turtles and it’s designed to covertly teach kids basic computer programming skills. I hung out with Shapiro and his kids while they played the game.

This was a fun little assignment, with nice people. Have a look at one image that ran with the story and some outtakes below. Read the story here.

 

Dan Shapiro, center, plays Robot Turtles with his kids, both 5, at his home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014. Robot Turtles, created by Shapiro with help from his kids, is a board game designed to subtly teach players aged 3-8 basic computer programming skills.

 

Robot Turtles cards are pictured during game play at the home of Dan Shapiro in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

Dan Shapiro, left, plays Robot Turtles with his daughter at his home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

Dan Shapiro’s son, left, plays Robot Turtles with his dad and sister at their home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

A Robot Turtles board is pictured during game play at the Shapiro home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

Dan Shapiro, center, plays Robot Turtles with his kids at his home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

Dan Shapiro moves pieces on a Robot Turtles board during a game with his kids at his home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

Dan Shapiro, top, plays Robot Turtles with his kids at his home in Mercer Island, Washington on April 28, 2014.

 

 

3Pod Tripod Review | Adorama 3Pod P4CFH tripod

Gear, Still photography, Tech stuff

Adorama recently announced its new line of in-house tripods, which they are calling the 3Pod by Flashpoint tripod series, and today I had a chance to try out the 3Pod P4CFH 8X Carbon Fiber 4 Section FlatFold Tripod with the 3Pod H2 BallHead. I have to say I’m really impressed with what they’ve come up with. See below for my 3Pod tripod review and find out if this is the right piece of gear for you.

The 3Pod P4CFH retails for about $225 right now on Adorama.com and the 3Pod H2 BallHead retails for about $70 on Adorama.com.

The 3Pod by Flashpoint tripod series offers products for pros or beginners, video or photo shooters, and studio or traveling folks. I like this specific piece of kit, the 3Pod P4CFH tripod, for a few reasons: it folds flat, it is very light, and it can become a monopod as well.

It was hard for me at first to understand what they meant by “folds flat,” but imagine this: the three legs of the tripod, when folded down and collapsed, lay side by side in a line instead of in a triangular cluster like most tripods. This makes packing for travel much easier with the 3Pod P4CFH tripod.

 

The 3Pod P4CFH tripod goes down to 13″ and extends to an impressive 65.5″.

 

It comes in a slick little case. How about that?

 

This is what comes inside. How often does your ballhead come in a velvet case?? Velvet.

 

A close up of the 3Pod H2 BallHead. Its movements are smooth and feels solidly built.

 

The 3Pod P4CFH tripod is extremely flat and small when fully collapsed. Here it is next to a banana for scale. It’s a big banana too, FYI.

 

The center leg of the 3Pod P4CFH tripod detaches to become a monopod. Very handy for traveling in case you want to save space.

 

The 3Pod P4CFH comes with a two-section extending center column, which is removable. This is one part of the design that didn’t blow me away. I generally like tripods with center columns that collapse in the tripod, below the mounting plate, but that would not be possible given the “flat folding” design of the 3Pod P4CFH tripod.

 

The quick release adjustments on the tripod legs are easy to use and they feel reliable.

 

The carbon fiber construction makes the tripod light, but sturdy. You can also see here how the 3Pod P4CFH tripod folds flat.

 

Thanks for reading this 3Pod P4CFH tripod review and I hope it was helpful.

 

 

Glow 71″ Grand Softbox Review

Gear, Lighting, Still photography, Tech stuff, Thoughts

Is the Glow 71″ Grand Softbox on your Christmas list? Should it be? Did you get a smaller softbox for Hanukkah and want to upgrade? Read this Grand Softbox review and learn if it’s the right product for you.

(Disclaimer: Adorama recently sent me the 71″ Grand Softbox for review.)

The Grand Softbox currently retails for about $350.

 

My right soccer boot illuminated by the Glow 71″ Grand Softbox. The light produced is beautiful and comes with very subtle, soft shadows.

 

First off, this thing is huge. I can normally test products without issue in my living room, but this was a tight squeeze! The size is great though because the light is very soft, without losing efficiency from your strobe.

 

My second impression: it’s a little tough to assemble for the first time. Granted, I didn’t look for instructions (as usual), and I ended up breaking one of the 16 metal rods because I began putting together the softbox incorrectly. Oops!

 

You’ll notice that the speedring in the center has 16 holes, which means there will be a lot of tension from all angles when every rod is inserted. This does create a strong, sturdy final product.

 

I tried to insert the rods beginning at the top and moving clockwise until they were all in. Do not do this, as it creates too much tension on one side. With a little foresight, and following the obviously labeled numbers on the speedring, you can insert the rods across from each other, instead of clockwise around the speedring, if that makes sense. The first four looked like a plus sign when they were all in, with the tension evenly distributed around the Grand Softbox. This will prevent you from breaking anything!

 

Now we are rolling and ready to shoot. You’ll notice the reinforced velcro closures, which are a nice touch for securing the end of each rod.

 

Just to add an element of scale, you can see how large this Glow 71″ Grand Softbox is compared to my Canon 5D mark II.

 

The Glow series of products by Flashpoint is proving to be a consistently reliable and quality resource for professional photographers. I had some trouble with the initial set up today, but overall, this Glow 71″ Grand Softbox Review is a positive one. I would recommend the Grand Softbox and I will continue to use it for portraits and product shoots.

The Grand Softbox can be used without the white diffuser/baffle in order to get more of a crisp look, since the light will reflect off the silver lining of the Grand Softbox. With the diffuser, the light more resembles a large soft window, which I really like.

It ships with a bag for everything to neatly fit into once folded and taken down. If you want something versatile, efficient, and large for your studio strobes, the Grand Softbox is a great choice.

 

 

A bear wearing a reindeer costume thanks you for reading this Glow 71″ Grand Softbox Review. Happy holidays.

 

Hawaiki Color Plugin for FCPX Review

Gear, Multimedia, software, Tech stuff, Video

Hawaiki Color is a color grading plugin for Final Cut Pro X that is relatively powerful, easy to use, and costs a mere $50. (Tokyo Productions and Lawn Road provided me a copy for review.) In this Hawaiki Color review I’ll give you some pros and cons so that you can get a feel for the plugin before considering making a purchase.
 

(Above: Hawaiki Color’s own tutorial video)

 

First off, the layout is clean and easy to use. You’ll find three large color wheels and a series of sliders for color temperature, exposure, saturation, and hue/contrast/blur/sharpness. I love having quick access to these basic tools.

 

 

To use the Hawaiki Color plugin for Final Cut Pro X, first simply select which clip you’d like to adjust. Then in the effects tab at the lower right of your screen, double click on Hawaiki Color. It’s that easy. You can then begin to adjust the sliders and the color wheels.

 

 

Pros and Cons:

Cons:

  • The only feature I’m missing is selective color – the ability to selectively reduce or increase the saturation of single colors. It would be great to select cyan or yellow, for instance, and adjust the saturation of that specific color.

Pros:

  • Everything about Hawaiki Color is pretty quick, clean, and easy.
  • The quick sliders for contrast, sharpness, and exposure are very handy and either are better than the built in functions of Final Cut Pro X or do not even come standard with Final Cut Pro X.
  • The color wheels are standard and easy to use.
  • The sliders are accurate for fine tuning, especially when selecting specifically for lows, mids, or highs.

Thanks for looking and I hope this Hawaiki Color review is useful for you.

 

Adorama Flashpoint Matte Box System II Review

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Video

Camera and electronics retailer Adorama has created its own line of pro and consumer video gear under the name Flashpoint, and recently invited me to do an Adorama Flashpoint Matte Box System II review. At a retail price of $250 (plus the current $60 instant rebate), the Flashpoint Matte Box is reasonably priced. It is best for DSLR’s, but can be used with other digital video cameras as well. As with all DSLR video accessories, this piece of kit is not cheap but it is relatively competitively priced, given the features.

 

So what does it do? Of course, first and foremost the Flashpoint Matte Box System II prevents lens flares by blocking glare/reflections. The three big blades are easily adjustable to block unwanted light from natural and artificial sources. The kit also comes with two filter trays so that you can use a neutral density filter or other filter to make your video look exactly how you want it to, so you can save time on post-production.

The filter trays are plastic, which is fine, as is the body of the matte box itself. The matte box is lightweight and does seem study, although I am left wondering how it would take a fall on a hard surface. The large blades are lightweight metal, which is very nice. The whole kit feels light, which is really important to someone like me who likes the run-and-gun approach. I also travel a lot and need something lightweight. The Flashpoint Matte Box System II can be disassembled in just a minute and folds pretty flat so that it can be packed for travel.

 

(Above: Adorama’s video for the Flashpoint Matte Box System II and other accessories)

 

The final accessory included is a set of three rubbery donuts that fit around the end of your lens (see below). You just select one that fits your lens and slide it on to help keep light out. You then attach your camera to whatever video rig you have, and lightly press the end of the donut to the back of your Flashpoint Matte Box System II. Reviews I’ve read haven’t mentioned how easy these little guys are to use, and although I will probably lose them in about three days … it is these simple little additions to kits that make life so much easier.

 

Anyways, thanks for checking out this Adorama Flashpoint Matte Box System II review and I hope it helps you out. If you are shopping and are ready to upgrade your DSLR video kit to a rig with a matte box and other accessories, I would recommend that you consider the Flashpoint Matte Box System II.

FxFactory Pro 4 Review

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Thoughts, Video

Noise Industries was kind enough to send me a copy of the new FxFactory Pro 4.0 for review, and it’s a great toolkit for the  video editor looking for relatively easy-to-use and affordable plugins that will make a video project stand out. In this brief FxFactory 4 Review, I’ll tell you a little bit about the platform, what it has to offer, and how to use it. It is a free update for current owners of previous versions of FxFactory Pro.

(FxFactory’s introduction video is below)

 

First off, it is packed full of features. FxFactory 4 contains a variety of plugins boasting more than 170 filters, transitions, and generators. New features with this update include support for Adobe Premiere, and of course it still works with Apple Final Cut Pro and Motion, as well as Adobe After Effects.

Using FxFactory Pro 4 is a breeze, as were previous versions, at least in my experience using Final Cut Pro X with FxFactory Pro. Once you install FxFactory Pro, simply open Final Cut Pro X and find the plugins automatically installed in the Effects Browser (Command + 5 will also open the Effects Browser). See below.

 

 

All of your new plugins will be categorized by the type of effect, so if you want to find a pattern or a sun flare image, just click the Generators icon in the Effects Browser and scroll through the multitude of options. Or if you want to experiment with some new transitions, just browse through the Transitions tab, etc.

Without going into detail about every single feature, I’ll highlight what’s new with this most recent update to FxFactory Pro 4.0. Photo Montage is a quick, slick way to animate photos for a slide show with various animation style choices. Motype 1.3 by Yanobox offers some cool title effects. Callouts 1.3 has a lot of nice animations for explaining ideas with text and clean line and dot animations. PHYX Cleaner 2.0 repairs footage to make it look crisp and clean. Split Animator 1.1 has several updates for its split screen features.

 

 

Overall, I think if you read this FxFactory 4 review you’ll know that I’m quite happy with the software. I think FxFactory is a great addition to Final Cut Pro X’s built-in features, and FxFactory 4 brings a lot of easy-to-use plugin features that will keep your projects looking sharp.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

 

 

Final Cup Pro X Plug-in Review: Rolling Credits

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Thoughts, Video

Rolling Credits by SUGARfx is a Final Cut Pro X plug-in that generates some really nice credits to add at the end of your film projects. In full disclosure, I recently tried out this plug-in for a new project I’m working on thanks to a free license from SUGARfx. In this Final Cut Pro X plug-in review, I’ll be telling you a few of the quick pros and cons about the plug-in so that you can decide whether or not you’d like to drop the $49 on a new FCPX plug-in, or just continue to create credits with the built-in generators that come with FCPX. (Read more Final Cut Pro X reviews here).

First off, I like Rolling Credits because the credits look sharp. Aside from price, user interface, etc., the credits simply look good. See below for more detailed pros and cons:

Pros:

  • 12 layouts offer a diversity of visual options.
  • Each layout is highly customizable, allowing for changes to motion, color, gradient, motion blur, etc.
  • As I mentioned, these Final Cut Pro X credits just look good.

Cons:

  • The interface is a little bit more complicated than it needs to be.
  • Importing your credits text also seems more complicated than it needs to be, although this may be the fault of Final Cut Pro X and its limitations. I have to type [TTL] before the title, for instance, which isn’t a huge pain, but seems a little bit old school for a 2012 version of a Final Cut Pro X plug-in.
  • For what you get as a user, I think a $29 price point would be a little better than the $49 sticker price.

 

 

 

Below is the video tutorial for the plug-in, produced by SUGARfx themselves:

XEffects Tech Transitions Review for FCP X

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Thoughts, Video

XEffects is another plugin for Final Cut Pro X (FCP X) that I have found useful for adding more of that polished look to my video projects. The plugin offers 10 or 12 distinctly different transition animations. These transitions are pretty sophisticated and so when you watch them, they feel professional. Not cheesy. They are intense enough for upbeat videos, but with enough options for toning down the mood more a more serious commercial project. I would highly recommend the plugin.

XEffects Tech Transitions is available from idustrual revolution for a reasonable $49.

Here is a video in which I used a couple of XEffecets transitions near the beginning:

 

Here is the company’s official tutorial:

FCP X Punchline Review

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Thoughts, Video

Punchline is a plugin for Final Cut Pro X (FCP X) that offers some slick titles and transitions to spruce up your project and save some time with editing. I wanted to write a quick FCP X Punchline review so that editors out there like me can decide if they want to spend the money on yet another new plugin for FCP X. Personally, I enjoy editing and telling a story with visuals (since I’m a photojournalist), but I don’t usually want to spend a lot of time on animation, titling, etc. I’m also not ready to spend the money to outsource this work to a third party. Plugins are a great compromise here.

Punchline is available for $49 from SUGARfx. You get a set of about 10 or 12 different styles, all of which are highly customizable.

Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:

Easy to use

Quality transitions

High energy, which is good for sports and entertainment videos

Cons:

Variety – I might like to see a few more styles of transitions.

———————————————————————————–

You can watch the official FCP X Punchline plugin tutorial below:

PluralEyes FCP X Review

Gear, Multimedia, Tech stuff, Thoughts, Video

Today I’m doing a PluralEyes FCP X review because there is now a new version of the popular PluralEyes software for Final Cut Pro X that might help speed up your editing process, especially for DSLR shooters. Singular Software’s popular synching tool for Final Cut Pro 7 is sure to be a hit with video editors using Apple’s new FCP X, but I’ll break down a couple of the reasons why you may or may not want to buy this plugin. Here are a few pros and cons:

Pros:

  • PluralEyes FCP X is more reliable than the built-in sync function in FCP X. At times the built-in sync gets confused.
  • PluralEyes FCP X can handle tons of clips and sync them with ease. It is basically impossible to sync more than two clips in FCP X without PluralEyes
  • PluralEyes FCP X can sync multiple video clips with the same audio clip. This is something crucial for me and other DSLR shooters. We often shoot with continuous audio on a recorder like a Zoom H4n, but we stop and start the video because cameras like the Canon 5D mark II and even the mark III cannot shoot longer than 12 minutes and 30 minutes respectively. So if I film an interview that has two or three video clips of, say, 10 minutes each and an audio track of 30 minutes, I can only sync one of those video clips to the audio in FCP X. Unless I have PluralEyes. Otherwise I have to sync the other two video clips by hand, or I have to cut the audio during the interview into multiple clips, which just makes things even more complicated and is a bad idea.

 

Cons:

  • It does take a few more clicks to sync clips using PluralEyes, whereas with the built-in FCP sync function, you can right click and select “synchronize” and you’re done. PluralEyes takes a minute to process, and to export to PluralEyes from FCP X you have to leave the timeline and view the entire list of projects, which takes a moment as well.
  • As usual, I’m going to complain about the price here. If you’re like me and independent, it’s tough to budget for anything more than essential gear. If you are spending $150 on a plugin for use on a piece of software that costs $300 total, then you better get a lot of use out of it. PluralEyes for FCP 7 was a comparable price, but it was a fraction of the total price of FCP 7, and now that FCP X is much, much cheaper, it’s hard to justify spending 50% of the cost of the original software on a plugin.

 

Thanks for looking and I hope this PluralEyes FCP X review was helpful to you …

 

Canon 5D Mark III Review

Still photography, Tech stuff, Thoughts

 

Alright folks, the day has finally come in which Canon has announced its successor to the much lauded Canon 5D mark II. We had an official announcement today that the Canon 5D mark III has arrived and will be available for purchase in stores sometime around the end of march. Read the official press release here.

This Canon 5D mark III review is of course a little premature, since I haven’t got my hands on it yet but I wanted to outline the basic pros and cons as to why you may or may not want to upgrade. First off, I will start with why I personally am not yet going to buy a Canon 5D mark III. Review what I say and make a decision for yourself!

 

CONS:

  • Price. The Canon 5D mark III has a hefty price tag right now because Canon seems to now how badly everyone has been waiting for this! For $3,500, photographers and filmmakers are going to wonder what is wrong with using a plain old Canon 5D mark II, a camera that has always been wildly popular.
  • Weather sealing. To me, spending over $3K on a camera should mean that I can shoot with that thing in the pouring rain and in dust storms, much like with a Canon 1D X or Canon 1D mark IV. It looks like this is not really going to be the case with the Canon 5D mark III.

PROS:

  • It’s awesome. And you know it. Where to begin? First, we can consider the Canon 5D mark III confidently, knowing that Canon has had time to work out all the kinks from earlier models unlike with the 5D mark II, which was still a bit of an experiment.
  • Low-light shooting. You’ll be able to shoot basically in pitch black situations. ISO 6400 on the Canon 5D mark III will now look like what ISO 1600 looks like on the Canon 5D mark II. Wow. ISO on the Canon 5D mark III will go up to 25,600 (expandable to 102,400)!!
  • 30-minute video clips. The Canon 5D mark II was limited to about 12 minute clips and the Canon 5D mark III can now shoot for about a half hour!
  • 60p for video. A lot of cameras these days can shoot in 60p, which is a higher frame rate that allows for nice slow motion effects and the ability to film fast moving subjects. The Canon 5D mark III finally contains this upgrade while the 5D mark II has been left without it for so long.
  • Headphone jack. That’s nice to have. It’s been glaringly absent from a camera that has become so popular with filmmakers.
  • 100% viewfinder coverage. What you see is what you get. With the Canon 5D mark II, you only supposedly saw about 98% of what was in the actual framed image you were shooting.
  • Dual memory card slots. It can take CF and SD cards now. Those SD cards are cheap! And so small. Don’t lose ’em though.
  • 61 point AF system. Finally, one more thing in this list for still photographers. I realize a lot of these are benefits for video, but here we have an improvement in the autofocus system in which there are now 61 focus points, which is great.

Other thoughts – People will tell you that the improved megapixel count is great but who really cares about that? It’s a small improvement and the image files were already large enough with the 5D mark II. People will also say that the Canon 5D mark III can shoot faster, at about 6 frames per second now. But again, who cares about that when they’re shopping for a Canon 5D mark III? You are probably an independent filmmaker, documentary photographer, or perhaps a wedding photographer. You’re not shooting sports. But I guess if you already have spent all this money on a new camera, it wouldn’t hurt to be able to use the camera as a second (or third) body while you shoot some sports.

OK, that’s enough for now; hope this Canon 5D mark III review was helpful for you. Now go sell that kidney on the black market so you can afford this ridiculously pricey Canon 5D mark III. And then sell me your used 5D mark II for now! But like I said, I am not quite 100% sold on the Canon 5D mark III just yet.

Below is a nice little video from Engadget showing the camera: