New York City

Frostbite, shooting video at 10ºF with the Sony RX10


watch in full HD 1080p

Unlike the storm we had a couple of years ago when I wasn’t so sure that my Canon 7D would survive, the arrival of winter this year wasn’t quite as dramatic. However, wind chill pushed temperatures
well below zero and I headed to CP dressed in snowboard gear, the Sony RX10 a lightweight Sirui and a short Konova K2 slider.
It was the coldest day of the year so far and since cold days reduce atmospheric dust concentration the sky was bluer then usual. How did the RX10 hold up in these conditions?
more after the break

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How to set up your Fujifilm X100s for street photography

holding_up_x100s_mike_kobal

Some of you have asked what settings I use for street photography. First, let’s make sure you have everything you will need, camera, and the two most important accessories: extra batteries and extra memory cards.
more after the break

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Winter in Central Park, NYC: Canon Eos 7D

Winter in Central Park, NYC: Canon Eos 7D: 720/60p from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

Not very often do we get so much snow here in the city, packed my 7D, a few lenses, small tripod, bean bag and headed to the park. I should really call this a weather proofing test, the gear was soaking wet after about 10min. Changing lenses was a challenge, I ended up using the Tokina 12-24mm and the Nikon 75-150mm (still my fav compact tele lens). No problems with the Camera body and/or lenses. Everything was shot with auto white balance, neutral color settings at 720/60p, Iso ranging from 200 to 400. Grading has been kept to a minimum, only contrast enhancement, no color correction. Music: http://www.entropymusic.com
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New York Blues: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 5D mark II

New York Blues: Canon 7D, Canon 5D mark II from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

Walking around mid town, east village and china town with no particular goal other then then to capture traditional street photography inspired video clips, which I am a big fan of. Check it out and let me know what you think. 0:25through 1:10 was shot with the 7D and 12-24mm mounted on the Flycam. The rest tripod, steady bag and hand held. Lenses: 70-200mm, 100mm 2.0, Sigma 50mm 1.4, 17-55mm. 5D for clips at 1:37, 2:10 and 2:20, at ISO 3200 and 50mm 1.4 an 100mm 2.0, the rest was shot with the 7D, ISO range 400 (daylight) to 3200. Grading in FCP, mostly just desaturated and contrast added. The night clips from the 7D required noise reduction just to match the night shots from the 5D straight out of the camera, truly outstanding when it comes to low light, the 5D. The 7D exhibits more noise (about 1 to 1.5 stops behind 5D in terms of sensitivity) and can’t quite match the 5D‘s dynamic range . The two cameras complement each other very well. Hope you enjoy! Music: Stumblebum Brass Band
If you find this information helpful, please consider helping me maintaining this blog by purchasing your gear through my product links to B&H. It will cost you nothing and allows me to keep adding! Thank you.