Written by Blunty on 16 April 2014
This week on DDTV, the “square” photo-challenge entries reviewed, and launching the the next of our monthly Photo challenges,
To see who posted what in last months challenge and comment on, or just +1 your favourites;
https://plus.google.com/s/%23DDTVpc17
THE RULES;
The Photo challenge will run until the 13th May 2014 — winner to be announced in Episode 074 on the 14th.
This month’s theme is “Faces in the wild” — style and general approach are completely up to you, but please, enter ONLY photos shot specifically for this Photo challenge — digging out old stuff from your archives is missing the whole point… and is lame.
We strongly suggest being brutally honest with yourself and culling it down to one or two of your best shots, a blanket “shotgun” approach of multiple entries isn’t going to benefit you :)
Entry is open to all, whatever your skill level, or how fancy your gear is… the spirit here is exploring how the theme is interpreted, not necessarily how awesome your gear is.
Filters and minor edits (like contrast, saturation, white-balance, cropping etc). are fine — but do try to keep it “pure”, going nuts in advanced editors to ad or remove things from a photo is strongly discouraged…
Enter by posting your photo in the Google+ DigiDIRECT TV Photography community with the hash-tag; #DDTVpc18 — feel free to offer an explanation of the shot or your thoughts on why you did what you did with it.
https://plus.google.com/communities/115960292583474602573
DigiDIRECT TV is a photography centric web-show, lead by Blunty and backed by DigiDiRECT.com.au your leading digital camera experts. Australian resellers of popular digital camera and digital SLR brands such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, Olympus and more…
Join us on Google+ gplus.to/digidirectTV
Email Blunty at Blunty@DigiDirect.com.au
and of course, subscribe on YouTube to catch every ep.
And let’s not forget, the Google+ Communities page; https://plus.google.com/communities/115960292583474602573
Tags: blunty, blunty3000, DDTV, ddtv017, ddtv018, DigiDirect, DigiDirect TV, DigiDirectTV, faces, learn photography, Photo challenge, photo competition, photo review, photography, photography community, Square format, square photography, winning photo
Posted in Blog, DigiDIRECT TV, Photography, Video | No Comments »
Written by Blunty on 15 April 2014
The Cheero Power case and Cheero Grip 2, two more pocketable battery backup devices worth a look over on the ol’ Blunty review table.
cheero Power Case; http://amzn.to/1csPKd5
“Although it is small, cute and easy to carry, the cheero Grip 2 has a battery capacity of 5200mAh, enough to recharge your iPhone twice! It weighs 0.27 pounds (126g), ( similar to iPhone weight ) , and its shiny, round, easy-to-hold design makes it perfect for daily use. 4 available colours – white, pistachio, peach, and mulberry – just choosing one of them is a difficult task !”
The Cheero Grip2 comes in a few different colours too (the one in this video is “Mulberry”);
“White” http://amzn.to/1nftzvH
“Mulberry” http://amzn.to/NV23Uo
“Pistachio” http://amzn.to/1kIZ8Mj
“Peach” http://amzn.to/1csPGKh
Multidevice Portable External Battery Backup Charger for iPhone 5S, 5C, 5, 4S, 4, iPad Air, 5, 4, 3, 2, Retina Mini 2, Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, Note 2, 3, Tab 3 and more smartphones and tablets”
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* “Double your iPhone5/5S battery ! ” This product is a case for iPhone5/5S with a built-in battery. With 2300mAh capacity, you will never have to worry about running out of juice again!
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* ” Genuine Lightning connector installed at unbelievable price ! ” [ Made for iPhone ] – Apple certifies that this product is specifically designed for iPhone. You don’t have to worry about malfunction which may occur when using the products with fake Lightning connector.
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* “Enjoy your iPhone5/5S charging without Lighting cable” . You can charge your iPhone and this battery case at the same time with use of just one Micro USB cable. This product is also chargeable from other cheero brand external portable batteries.
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* “Additional charge for your iPhone with one click” If battery is starting to fall, just hit the switch in the back and it will begin charging. Long press the button anytime if you want to stop the charging, and long press it again if you want to restart – it’s up to you!
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* “Detach the battery and use the case separately” This product consists of two detachable parts – iPhone case and Battery case. Battery case is useful, but it might be found heavy sometimes. When not in use, you can detach the battery case easily and use iPhone case part only.
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Written by Blunty on 14 April 2014
Razer have a new version of their Gaming Keyboard, and it’s got all new custom designed mechanical switches and a bunch of stuff PC gamers dig… Meet the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Gaming Keyboard
http://www.razerzone.com/au-en/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-blackwidow-ultimate/
“Razer Mechanical Switches with 50g actuation force,
60 million keystroke life span
Individually backlit keys
10 key roll-over anti-ghosting
Fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording
5 additional dedicated macro keys
Gaming mode option
Audio-out/mic-in jacks USB pass-through
1000Hz Ultrapolling
Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled
Braided fiber cable
Approximate size: 475mm/18.72” (Width) x 171mm/6.74” (Height) x 20mm/0.79” (Depth)
Approximate weight: 1500g/3.31lbs”
Tags: best gaming keyboard, blunty, blunty3000, gaming, gaming keyboard, PC gaming, Razer BlackWidow, Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, Review, test
Posted in Blog, Gaming, Review, Video | No Comments »
Written by Blunty on 11 April 2014
Russian Made from pre WWII German Designs, Meet the Jupiter 3 a 50mm f/1.5 prime lens – highly valued to those in the know on these old Soviet era lenses.
This M39 mount (common on old leica Rangefinders) is easily adapted to modern mirrorless cameras.
Album of some Jupiter 3 test shots;
Plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+NateBurr/albums/6000899969368400017
Test stills & video were shot on a Panasonic G6, An Olympus PEN E-P3 & an Olympus OM-D E-M10
Portrait of a Soviet Lens; JUPITER 11
Youtube.com/watch?v=mdYEOrbTxRY
The unboxing; What are These Weird Soviet Russian Lenses!? – Awesome Fan-mail
Youtube.com/watch?v=Vn4ZGH1HNlI
Music; ”Operatic wobbles and drops”
By Teknoaxe http://teknoaxe.com/Link_Code_2.php?q=451
For more information on the variants of the Jupiter 3 Zeiss sonnar copies;
http://www.sovietcams.com/index.php?1976488110
Tags: 50mm, blunty, blunty3000, classic lens, f1.5, fast 50, fast lens, Jupiter 11, Jupiter 3, Jupiter 3 review, Jupiter lens, Leica, Leica mount, lens, lens adapter, M39, M39 lens mount, M43, micro four thirds, nifty 50, nifty fifty, Review, Russian, SONY NEX, Soviet, test, Vintage, vintage lens, Zeiss, Zk, ZK Zorki, Zorki
Posted in Blog, Photography, Review, Video | No Comments »
Written by Blunty on 09 April 2014
This week on DDTV (LOL, episode 69!), Blunty’s review of the LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm / F1.2 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. Lens.
http://www.digidirect.com.au/camera_lenses/panasonic/leica_dg_nocticron_425mm__f12_asph__power_ois
“The name “NOCTICRON” was newly defined by Leica Camera AG for this lens that achieves remarkably fast F1.2 aperture. The popular 42.5 mm of middle-telephoto focal distance (Equivalent to 85 mm on a 35 mm camera) is definitely suitable for portrait with rich stereoscopic effect. Together with the high-speed aperture, you can utilise the beautiful soft focus for more impressive, creative shots. 9 blades give the aperture a rounded shape that produces a smooth effect in out-of-focus areas when shooting at larger aperture settings”
http://www.digidirect.com.au/camera_lenses/panasonic/leica_dg_nocticron_425mm__f12_asph__power_ois
High-Precision, High-Speed AF; The inclusion of newly developed stepping motor makes the focusing action smooth and silent for use in both photo and video recording. Notably the performance of AF is by far superior to the phase-difference AF when fast lens with smaller F value is used. When mounted on the cameras of LUMIX G, you can take advantage of the high-precision, high-speed Contrast AF system.
Aperture Ring Control; The aperture ring on the lens barrel allows direct, intuitive control over aperture setting. The sophisticated metal design, including the hood, deserves to bear the prestigious LEICA name. Highly reliable metal mount is durable enough for repeated exchange of lens.
Nano Surface Coating; With Panasonic’s Nano Surface technology the reflection is dramatically minimized at entire visual light range (380nm-780nm) by applying the extra-low refractive index coating with nano-sized structure on the surface of the lens. It results in the super clear picture with dramatic reduction of ghost and flare.
POWER O.I.S; Due to the shallow depth of field which is unique to the large aperture lens, even a slight handshake causes out-of-focus. However, the POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) which is newly integrated in this lens effectively compensates for not only small, fast movement but also large, slow one making it easy to shoot super clear shots even when shooting in low-lit situations such as in night time or indoors.
DigiDIRECT TV is a photography centric web-show, lead by Blunty and backed by DigiDiRECT.com.au your leading digital camera experts. Australian resellers of popular digital camera and digital SLR brands such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Pentax, Olympus and more…
Join us on Google+ gplus.to/digidirectTV
Email Blunty at Blunty@DigiDirect.com.au
and of course, subscribe on YouTube to catch every ep.
And let’s not forget, the new Google+ Communities page; https://plus.google.com/communities/115960292583474602573
Tags: ASPH, blunty, blunty3000, DDTV, DigiDirect, DigiDirect TV, DigiDirectTV, F1.2, Leica, LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm, Lumix, NOCTICRON, NOCTICRON 42.5mm, panasonic, photography, POWER O.I.S, Review, sample, sample shots, test, test shots, Video, videography
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