Tech RoundUp

Tech RoundUp

Future Nostalgia: FUJIFILM GFX-100RF

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Established in 1934, FUJIFILM is a household name synonymous with imaging and has its roots in the printing industry. Indeed, FUJIFILM began life as Fuji Photo Film Co., specialising in photographic film and paper. In 1940, FUJIFILM began manufacturing optical glass and lenses, giving birth to the first FUJINON lenses. In 1948, FUJI colour film and the FUJICA SIX IA, FUJIFILM’s first camera, were introduced.  The next forty years saw the brand undertake advancements in film, camera development and even a partnership with Xerox. In 1988, FUJIFILM developed the world’s first fully digital camera capable of writing to a memory card – the prototype FUJIX DS-1P – which set the…

Tech RoundUp

A Remarkable Revolution

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The ReMarkable 2 tablet has been turning heads since its release, thanks to its paper-like writing experience. With a sleek design and cutting-edge features, it’s not hard to see why this device has gained such a loyal following. Indeed, it has quickly become a ‘can’t live without’ of my day-to-day life.

Tech RoundUp

Creating the Ultimate Home Entertainment Experience

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Audio is the defining factor in cinematic immersion. A Bang & Olufsen Beolab 90 speaker system or a KEF Blade One Meta, paired with a Trinnov Altitude 32 AV Processor, delivers multi-directional, high-resolution sound. Dolby Atmos spatial audio ensures an enveloping experience, capturing every nuanced effect, from whispering dialogue to dynamic action sequences.

Tech RoundUp

The Leica M11: Old Dog, New Tricks.

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At first glance, not much has changed aesthetically since the ’50s. The M11’s body is a full-metal housing composed of magnesium, a brass top plate and a black leatherette cover providing reassurance of build quality whilst dismissing any concerns of fragility. The M11 provides the same satisfying heft that you get from wearing a Rolex Submariner or slamming the door of a G Wagon; it’s weighty but a small price to pay for superior build quality.

Braun LE03
Tech RoundUp

Braun Audio LE03

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In terms of audio, the LE03 has a 9cm aluminium cone and a more than capable 13cm x 8cm passive radiator to pad out its sound. For most medium-sized spaces, this is more than enough.

Our Ring
Interviews, Tech RoundUp

Harpreet Singh Rai – The Oura

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My first piece of wearable tech came in the form of a Casio CMD 40 wristwatch. I adored that ergonomically-challenged timepiece with every neuron I had pulsating through my nine-year-old brain. So much so that, when I lost it after a mere six months, I pestered my mother to buy me another one until she relented.

Tech RoundUp

Manfrotto XPRO4

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Cast your mind back to the late1960s. Lino Manfrotto was a photo reporter for Il Gazzettino and Il Giornale di Vicenza in Bassano del Grappa. Like many fabricators, inventors and innovators before him, he struggled with the industry standard of equipment he was using during his advertising shoots. With the help of a collaborator, Lino Manfrotto, he made his first products, including a light and sturdy lamp stand, that was finally high enough. For a couple of years he produced just a few pieces to meet the needs of his photographer friends. Later he decided to present them on an international level, obtaining his first significant order from a Swiss…

Tech RoundUp

Beoplay PLAY E8

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There are some benchmarks in consumer AV. Bang & Olufsen has been setting the standard for as long as we can remember. When a certain fruit based tech firm decided to do away with the humble headphone jack, we all knew there would be an uptake in Bluetooth headphones across the board.  The B&O Play E8’s are pretty much the crème de la crème of the market. With intuitive touch control, a case that doubles as a charging station and four hours of play time from one charge,  we’ve found our best and brightest. Of course, the sound produced is of the B&O standard we’ve all come to adore but…

Tech RoundUp

My Passport Wireless Pro

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As you would expect, our throughput of rich media at The Review sometimes looks like a data Tsunami. Photographers and DOP’s can utilise online storage and delivery, cards and of course storage devices. But does every single shoot need a RAID array backed up to a data centre buried in the side of a mountain? We don’t think so. Having spent a week on a yacht shoot last year with a failed 2TB storage device, we found ourselves in a bit of a hole. Sure there are some decent electronics shops in Greece but they come with an idiot tax attached to them that can leave you paying double the…

Tech RoundUp

Rokinon

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Glass. Surely it can’t all be about good glass, can it? Well, it depends if you have used cinema prime lenses before. We historically shot all our film projects with variable kit lenses from the Canon range, slowly building up a range of better and better prime lenses. The price can quickly escalate into the upper echelons of ridiculous. So, we wanted to see if there was an entry-level set of prime lenses available to the starter and the lifer alike. Cue the team at Rokinon, who’ve been making lenses since 1972 from their head office in South Korea. Rokinon is giving its Cine lenses an upgrade with the Cine…

Tech RoundUp

LG Smart 4K Ultra HD

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I have been obsessed with all things mechanical, electronic and digital since I can remember. It’s a disease really. The humble simpleton might not need the extra horse power, pixels or wattage – but I do. When the LG OLED TV arrived, I dispensed with the usually careful unpacking and tore into it like a 4-year-old at Christmas. Even with glasses I had to widen my retina to take in the massive 3840 x 2160 resolution screen. I take my viewing pleasure very seriously, and so the amount of research that went into what new TV to buy personally went above and beyond the customary flick through the brochure. LG…

Tech RoundUp

MAVIC PRO

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DJI  have  come  a  long  way  since  we  tested  the  DJI  phantom  2.  Faster,  stronger,  safer  and  predictably  smaller.    This  little  bot  has  a  range  of  up  to  13km  thanks  to  DJI’s  new  Ocusync  transmission  technology.  It  is  also  considerably  harder  to  crash  than  its  earlier  incarnations  with  Flight  Autonomy  mode.  allowing  the  Mavic  to  sense  obstacles  some  15m  away  and  brake  or  hover.    Whilst  the  Mavic  might  be  a sixth of  the  size  of  the  Phantom  4,  it  has  a  flight  time  of  27  minutes.  That  is  long  enough  for  any  take  or  race.  We  like  the  Mavic  pro’s  small  form  factor  so  much,  we’re  issuing  our  travel  photographers …

Tech RoundUp

SANDISK EXTREME & PRO

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You might think that storage media is created equal. Well, you are wrong. We’ve all had experiences of storage cards made of less stern stuff failing during a shoot or corrupting data. It is a nightmare to say the very least. The SanDisk Extreme range is great for capturing UHD 4K footage with speeds of up to 95MB read and 90MB write. With a crew travelling so much overseas, it’s also good to know that the cards are shockproof, temperature-proof, waterproof and x-ray-proof. Basically bomb proof. We tested the Extreme PRO 128GB SD and Extreme 256GB Micro SD using the Sony A7SII and DJI MAVIC PRO. Not only have we…