For this weeks post, I wanted to talk about a personal favorite camera of mine, the Black Magic Cinema Camera. This camera is more of a pro grade camera rather than a consumer camera but this is one I would hope to get once I have a stable job and money to blow on a camera (LOL). Anyways lets go over some of the features that make this thing so awesome.

#1 High Resolution

Now this isn’t just a full HD camera, this thing can shoot 4K Video! That’s four times more pixels than full HD cameras. 4K tv sets are just coming out so the playback on these cameras may not be the best unless you have the correct set up, but like I said above, this is not your everyday camera.

#2 Multi-Functional Lens Mounts

What is a huge pro about this camera is that it allows the use of almost every single type of DSLR lens. From Canon to Nikon, this camera has a mount that can adapt to any lens. This is a huge bonus in my book because with the different lenses allow for more flexible shooting with all the different ranges of lenses that you can put on this camera. Many different lenses are good for many different styles which makes this camera one of the most versatile when it comes to filming styles.

#3 Other Pro’s

One other pro to this camera is the wide use of video codecs. This allows many different types of editing software pick it up. They can use the best video codec that captures the best quality with each shot. This camera also offers a quite sizable touchscreen which makes for a very easy to use interface, One last pro is this camera is very tiny compared to other cameras that can shoot 4K which makes it a great buy when you are looking for a professional grade camera.

The one con with this camera is the price, At a whopping $3,000 for the top grade camera, this is no small fortune to drop on a camera. But for the quality, it does even out in the end.

So Apple may not have unveiled a better camera in its new iPhone that shoots more megapixels than its competitors, but it definitely rivals them when it comes to other features.

First off let me say that Apple has been slightly getting on my nerves with its cameras because with the iPhone 5S it matched the slo-mo I can do with my action camera, and now with the 6 it has doubles that and can now do 8x slow motion (Now there is a new action camera that can do that, I just don’t have it.) Even the fact that a phone camera can compete with an actual video camera makes my effects and what not look “basic”. Anyways that’s enough ranting about this lets get to some specs.

For the specs I’ll be comparing the iPhone with the Galaxy s4 which is its competitor.

First off is the Megapixels in each. Yes Apple has chosen to stay with an 8MP senor, but in doing this, there are able to get more color quality than the smaller Galaxy sensor. The s4 comes in at a whopping 13 MP but it can  only take these photos in a 4:3 ratio (for reference, that is what video was shot in until HD was introduced (16:9), its just a more square frame.)

Second, Apple wipes the board in the video portion of these cameras. The iPhone 6 can shoot full HD video (1920×1080) at 60 frames per second! My DSLR can’t do that! (Now, my DSLR can’t because it does shoot at a higher Megapixel per frame but still in a cell phone?! Crazy.) The most that Samsung can offer is full HD but only at 30 frames per second. The iPhone also comes with, the ability to shoot 240 frames per second video. Now let me say, that is slow.

Thirdly, the iPhone 6’s aperture comes in at an f/2.2. This provides great depth of field pictures and have some very nice effects to photos you take on a phone. To put that into perspective, with any base DSLR, you have to buy a special lens if you want anything less than a f/3.5. With the low aperture, this also allows for better night shots.

In all, Apple definitely has put some work into their cameras and I’m pretty excited to get my hands on one of these at some point to really see what it can do.

For this post I thought I could go over basic photo editing techniques to really make your photos pop. There are many products you can use like Photoshop CC, but personally I prefer Adobe Lightroom because it is  very easy interface to learn and very user friendly. All the effects I’m going to be talking about, you should be able to preform in any other photo editing software.

Basic Shot Correction:

One of the first things you should look at was the exposure level. Is it too bright or too dark? A small adjustment can make a very big difference in your pictures. Here is an example:

I slightly brought the exposure level down and it brought out more detail.

Next, you should look at the white balance or temperature of the shot. This is either going to make the colors in the picture warmer or colder based on the light around you. Many different lights give off a different color that the camera may not pick up. That is where editing the white balance comes in handy.

The top photo here is too warm, so i brought down the color temperature in the second photo.

Adding More to Your Pictures:

One thing you can change on your picture is the contrast of your image. This makes the individual colors in the picture pop more than the original photo. One problem you can run into when you mess with this control is loss of detail. There will be a point when the black parts of your image will blend and you wont be able to see the edges of that object. When I edit, I go to that point then bring it down 5-10 clicks depending on the shot. Here’s another example:

Another thing I like to do is to add “clarity” or sharpness to my photo which will make more details pop in your image. This adds a great effect, but with this you also have to be careful because if you sharpen an image too much, it can become grainy and it will distort the image. Adding clarity will also give the image a little more contrast so you have to be careful about that little bit. Here’s and example of this effect:

There are many other things you can do to add or take away color in your photos and make them your own. If you’re into this kind of stuff I would recommend getting a basic photography editor to mess around with and see what you come up with.