The Phoblographer

The Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC is an extremely popular lens amongst budget conscious users. With a constant f2.8 aperture throughout its zoom range and the added value of having vibration compensation it’s not hard to see why consumers spring for this lens. Designed for those with APS-C sized sensor cameras, the equivalent focal range on a Nikon DSLR such as the D5100 is around 25.5-75mm; making it an essential event and workhorse lens for many pros and semi-professionals.

But is all perfect with the lens?

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I’ve encountered a lot of this recently amongst friends, readers, and the like: being asked to shoot a wedding but not having the experience. Everyone in said person’s family and immediate circle says, “Oh, you can shoot the wedding! You’ve got the gear! We won’t have to pay a pro!” Many times, even if you say no, you’re still pushed to do so. The reason for this is because most of said people don’t understand just how much thought, care and work goes int photographing a wedding.

While I recommend that you tell them, “Go find a professional,” here are some tips for the person that’s forced to shoot a wedding.

Editor’s Note: Though we’ve taken a recent turn catering to the street photography crowd, we’ve got loads of resources on shooting weddings. They are listed throughout this piece.

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In Day 1 of our Olympus EPL-2 Field review, we started to get used to the camera and really begin to like it. Then in Day 2, we went around shooting in nothing else but JPEG and were quite pleased with the results. Today is the day that I write about the EPL-2 and realize that the vast majority of the images that I’ve been shooting for a while were in RAW and that Adobe Lightroom 3 doesn’t support the file at the time of writing this posting. Keep in mind though that this review is being done from the viewpoint of a professional that wants a small camera to use. With this said, most professionals wouldn’t want to go ahead and install the bundled Olympus software—they’d much rather just use what they have already. So here’s a demonstration of the camera’s video mode instead coupled with more commentary on the ergonomics and use over time and why I love it as a street photography camera.

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With the Olympus E-5 review finished, the Olympus EPL-2 suddenly appeared at my doorstep. Now, do note that I raved about this camera during the announcement despite my total dislike (more than once) of the EPL-1. We’ve reviewed a number of Micro Four Thirds cameras here as well like the EP-2, GF-1, and the G2. This field review though will be a special one geared towards the professional and semi-professional looking for a carry around camera so that they don’t have to lug their DSLRs around. So is the latest addition to the bunch really worth purchasing for this segment of the market?

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Since we believe that your lenses are more important than your camera, one of the most common questions we get here at The Phoblographer is which lens to purchase for a Canon DSLR. While we have a list of some of the best budget lenses, and we’ve answered multiple questions on the subject, it became apparent that there is a need for a comprehensive lens guide of some sort. While you’re at it, you may also want to sneak a peek at our recommended lenses for videography. And since there are strengths each side of primes vs zooms, this list will feature both types of lenses.

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Today, Canon introduced a new line of professional grade camcorders: the XF105 and XF100. The camcorders allow for 3D video to be shot when two of them are paired together. Canon further claims that the infrared shooting with allow the cameras to shoot in complete darkness. The release and a comparison is after the jump, but there is no word on pricing. To my eyes though, these look like higher grade HV camcorders in terms of ergonomics.

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