It's In The Books. THANK YOU

So i recently recorded my 52nd episode of my podcast Hands-On Photography. Another milestone achieved. I’ve been so grateful for my job at TWiT and the continued opportunities presented to me since becoming a member of that TWiT family. When the show was developed, I have a few goals. I wanted to get ten shows done. Then I wanted to get twenty. Then I wanted to get a year’s worth. I wanted to grow the subscriber base and audience. Now, I want to focus on continuing to grow the audience while continuing to create shows each and every week. THANK YOU ALL for being a part of the journey and also thank you for SHARING the show out so the audience can continue to grow. Here’s episode 52. One more thing, it was pretty awesome to have a brand I love and use sponsor this episode. THANK YOU, Peak Design.

Peak Design Announces Mobile Product Line

I’ve been fortunate enough to be acquainted with Peak Design for a couple of years. Recently, they reached out to share with me their pre-production products designed for the mobile content content creator. It’s the new Peak Design Mobile line of products. The new product offerings will be available via its Kickstarter found here.

I created a short video below walking through what was presented and some hands on footage, but if you want to read what was presented, here it is via the Peak Design press release:

Peak Design Launches a Complete Mobile Accessory Ecosystem An innovative connection system unites beautifully designed cases, mounts and accessories

San Francisco, CA (October, 2020) –Peak Design, the worldwide leader in crowdfunding and everyday carry solutions, has launched a revolutionary ecosystem of mobile cases, mounts, and accessories. Built around a proprietary low-profile connection system, Mobile by Peak Design aims to make your phone a better tool for everything you use it for, from navigation to communication, creativity to recreation.

Prior to the release of Mobile by Peak Design, clunky, bulky, unattractive mobile accessories hindered users’ attempts to obtain a seamless, compact mobile carry experience. Peak Design addressed this with a groundbreaking piece of mounting technology named SlimLink. With a stack height of just 2.4mm, SlimLink minimizes bulk on your phone and mounting devices, and facilitates both soft-locking (magnetic) and ultra-secure, hard-locking (mechanical) mounting functionality. To achieve the SlimLink architecture, a zirconia ceramic insert is surrounded by an array of magnets and then embedded into each Peak Design Everyday Case. “Phones are the most powerful tools in the world, and our goal was to create the most powerful accessories for them” commented Peak Design Founder and CEO Peter Dering. “We’ve been developing the SlimLink architecture for 4 years, and we didn’t stop until our cases and mounts looked better, felt better, and worked better than anything else out there.”

The consumer starting point for Peak Design’s mobile accessory ecosystem is the Everyday Case, a durable polycarbonate phone case wrapped in Peak Design's custom high-performance nylon canvas fabric. The case—available for iPhone (including iPhone 12) and Samsung devices—supports wireless charging and strikes an ideal balance between ruggedness, protection, and refined aesthetics. A slim, adhesive-backed Universal Adapter is also available that works with nearly any phone or hard, non-textured case. Peak Design intends to support additional phone models in the months and years to come.

To complete the ecosystem, Peak Design has launched a wide array of instantly-swappable accessories, including mounts for cars, bicycles, motorcycles, home/office, a mobile wallet, and accessories for photographers and filmmakers. Each accessory was developed by a team of engineers over the course of 2 years and designed to outperform leading competitors in ease-of-use, form factor, ruggedness, and aesthetics. All accessories are built from premium materials, individually serialized, and guaranteed for life. The range of products illustrates the versatility and security of the SlimLink mounting technology, which supports activities from Facetiming to downhill mountain biking.

Mobile by Peak Design will be available for presale on October 19, 2020 as part of Peak Design’s monumental 10 th Kickstarter campaign (peakdesign.com/ks). Following the launch on Kickstarter, the mobile system will then be available for purchase online at Peakdesign.com and through major retailers beginning Spring 2021.

Product MSRP (USD) Presale Discount (Kickstarter)

Everyday Case $39.95 $32

Out-Front Bike Mount $59.95 $50

Universal Bike Mount $49.95 $40

Mobile Tripod $54.95 $45

Car Mount $39.95 $32

Kickstand Wallet $49.95 $40

Mobile Creator Kit $39.95 $32

Wall Mount (2pack) $29.95 $16

Charging Car Mount $69.95 $58

Motorcycle Bar Mount $69.95 $58

Motorcycle Stem Mount $69.95 $58

Wireless Charging Stand $89.95 $72

Don't Forget About Panasonic

With all the madness and going on with year 2020, it didn’t mean the camera companies were going to stop production of their consumer or professional products. Today, Panasonic announced its latest s-series camera body with the S5*. Another full-frame mirrorless option for today’s consumers.

The content creation industry continues to grow. Creators are constantly looking for the best tool to suit their needs. Some from Canon, some from Sony or Nikon, some from Panasonic. The S5 is popping into a sweet spot touting high quality performance at friendly price.

Tech Specs

• 24 megapixel full-frame sensor, native 3:2 aspect ratio

• Full-frame 4K (UHD), 10-bit, 30 frames per second video

• HD video up to 180 frames per second

• 2.3 million dots electronic view finder

• dual SD card slots (1 UHS-II, 1 UHS-I)

• in-body stabilization

• WiFi and bluetooth connectivity

• Seven frames per second high speed burst mode shooting

• HLG and V-log video profiles

• micro HDMI I/O

• fully articulating rear screen

From the looks of this camera body, it’s checking all the applicable boxes for enthusiasts and content creators to take great photos and film good looking video. The body seems a bit smaller than what I’d like, but the advantage is the weight will be much lower at less than two pounds (body only). Perfect for most. I’d probably struggle with it in my large hands, but this is definitely looking like a capable body from information shared in the tech specs. You’re not going to get ALL of the video shooting capabilities of the S1H* such as 6K video, but you’re also not paying the same premium price. But, being able to shoot video in LOG is awesome.

(All images provided by Panasonic)

Pricing starts at $1998 for pre-order.* Check out the video demo from the squad at Adorama* down below. I’ve reached out for a loaner to play with for myself and maybe do a segment on Hands On Tech. I’ll keep you posted.

*Affiliate link used. Affiliate links allow me to earn a small commission as a content creator if you purchase items using the affiliate link. Thank you for your support.

Adobe Gives Props To Some Up and Coming Photographers

Adobe has been giving recognition and props to up and coming photographers around the world for the last four years. Today it featured this year’s noteworthy photographers. All with not only a beautiful portfolio to their credit, but also fascinating back stories.

I’m not going to share any of the photographers’ images here. I’d rather you click through on the image below to see them on Adobe’s blog. The photographers are:

Lia Clay Miller - The first trans woman to photograph a back-to-back cover for Out Magazine.

Andrew Morócho – An Ecuadorian photographer on a mission to empower BIPOC empathetically by evoking strength in feeling, through use of color and symbolism

Lara Jackson – A wildlife photographer and devoted conservation biologist who aims to share important conservation success stories.

Now-a-days, there’s ample time to learn a new craft or skill. Photography is one of them. Photography is so much more accessible now. Smartphones are the gateway. If you’ve been curious about photography, I say start now. You’ve got nothing to lose. Heck, maybe you’ll be featured by Adobe one day.

Image via Adobe

It Was the DroidX. My Chat With Miss Susy Botello and the SBP Podcast

I had the pleasure of being a guest on a fascinating podcast geared towards the mobile content creator. The show is SBP Podcast hosted by the extremely passionate and kind Miss Susy Botello. I appreciate her having me on and sharing my story with her listeners and community. Do me a favor, give her a follow and subscribe to her show. Follow the show on YouTube and Twitter and find the show on Podbean or your podcast app of choice. Thanks for supporting content creators. Miss Susy is doing some good things for creators out there.

Here’s my chat with her. Thanks for listening and sharing.

I REALLY Enjoyed This Chat With Steve Brazill and Don Komarechka

My friends, Steve Brazill, the amazing concert photographer, and the author plus awesome macro photography genius, Don Komarechka had me as a guest on their recent image critique podcast. If you’re not subscribed to Behind The Shot TV, do it now. The show consists of interviews with photographers to discuss a particular shot in their portfolio wherein the photographers share a bit of insight on how the shot came together. Also, the show has a separate series strictly viewable on YouTube that’s an image critique show dedicated to the Behind The Show TV Flickr group. Brazill and Komarechka and sometimes a third guest host critique the images submitted by the Flickr group. I enjoyed being a part of this episode and look forward to joining these gents again. Thanks for watching and sharing this show with your photography friends.

Refine Edge and More Now On Photoshop For iPad: UPDATE

Supposedly, most creators are pushing for a more mobile workflow for their creativity. Hence why the likes of Adobe wanting to put more tools in the cloud and your mobile devices. Today Adobe announced another update to its Photoshop on iPad product.

Refine Edge Brush

This tool is used mostly when making selections of objects that don’t particularly have defined edges or contrast. Ok, maybe that didn’t make any sense. Let me give you an example.If you have a photo of a person with big hair and you’d like to cut them away from the background, you’ll need to use your selection tool to do so. The problem is the big hair can be quite a tedious task to handle as it’s hard to cleanly select wispy hair. Adobe’s Sensei AI does a good job with its refine edge tool to make those difficult selections. But, that was only available on the desktop version of Photoshop. That functionality is now on the iPad version.

Image credit: Adobe

Rotation Tool

First off, in Photoshop for the desktop, I think this is the most underrated tool. This tool is used to rotate your canvas while you’re working. Highly useful if you’re doing some fine retouching on a portrait and need to touch up eyes or lips. Rotating the canvas makes it easier on your hand for your mouse or stylus to successfully complete your brush strokes. This is now available on the iPad version of Photoshop.

Image credit: Adobe

If you’re interested in more details on these new updates, Adobe shares it all on its blog post here. Nice update, but the best thing about this blog post in my opinion is the closing paragraphs. Good on ya, Adobe.