The Phoblographer

Getting a pure white background doesn’t require post-production at all. Sure, you’ll shoot photos, but you don’t need to spend a whole day or two editing them just right. You can do it easily in-camera. But trust us when we say it’s a lot easier to do with flash than it is with LEDs. LEDs will mean that you’re more or less just spending more time editing in post-production.

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What You Need

A white background with a lot of lighting control. Ideally, you’ll use a box with a white interior

A flash with a large diffuser like a softbox, a beauty dish, or something

Another flash, possibly

How to Do This

Getting this done is pretty easy, but it will change depending on what you’re using.

Set up: your white box on a hard, stable surface

With the white box’s opening towards you, cut the top of it so that you can put a flash over it.

Shut all the blinds and curtains in the room to kill ambient lighting

Place the light modifier with the flash inside over the top

Meter the scene. If you’re using TTL flash, set it to be one stop extra of power. TTL works by looking at the ISO and the aperture. The faster your shutter speed, the more ambient light you’ll kill. The slower it is, the more will come in.

If you’re just using a white background, you’ll need a second flash. With your subject in front of the white background, meter them and photograph them with a flash accordingly. Have the second flash firing at the white background and make sure that it is a stop more powerful than the main light.

“When you use your light meter to check the output of the lights, your main light should be weaker while your back light should be stronger. For the image above, our main light (which was next to the camera and in front of our model) was metered to f8 at ISO 100. The back light (hitting the background and positioned off to the side) was metered to f11 at ISO 100. Therefore, the light in the back is brighter and therefore gives the effect of a seamless white.

It would have also worked if my main light was set to f5.6 and my back light was set to f8. Same with my main being set to f2.8 and my back being set to f4.”

Getting a background to go pure white

The Idea

The idea here is that you’re trying to make the background bright white. This is more complicated to do with LEDs and also doesn’t give you the crisp quality a flash can. To get the background to appear purely white, it needs to be brighter than the subject you’re photographing. That’s how you make it stand out. And it makes sense. If you were photographing a portrait subject with bokeh balls in the background, the bokeh balls will stand out because they’re brighter than your subject. The same idea is being applied here.

If you don’t have all these, you should take a look at our tutorial on how to do it with a window, a reflector, and one flash. Of course, you’ll have to do some post-production. And if you’re like me, you want to avoid post-production as much as possible and get it right in-camera.

The Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD will help keep you sane if you photograph birds.

Tamron’s lenses are usually some of my favorites. Admittedly though, I lean a lot more towards their primes and their constant aperture zooms. But the Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The image quality could be better. But the reliability is fantastic. You’ll essentially be relying a lot on Sony’s fantastic image sensors to create stellar images. But no matter what, know that you can do them in pretty much any condition you throw at this lens. The Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD will help keep you sane if you photograph birds.

Editor’s Note: This review was updated in January 2023.

Table of Contents

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Gear Used

Tech Specs

Ergonomics

Build Quality

Ease of Use

Autofocus

On the Nikon Z9

Image Quality

Bokeh

Chromatic Aberration

Color Rendition

Sharpness

Extra Image Samples

Conclusions

Likes

Dislikes

Pros and Cons

Pros

Impressively sharp for the price point

Weather sealed

Speedy autofocus performance

Lightweight

Very, very affordable at $549

Cons

I wish it had a zoom lock

I also wish it had a focus limiter

Gear Used

We used the Sony a7r III with this lens. At a later point, we tested it with the Nikon Z9 as well.

Tech Specs

Tech specs are taken from the summarizing on LensRentals.

Weather sealing

Sony FE Mount

Works with Sony AI with Animal AF

5.8 inches in diameter

67mm filter thread

15 elements in 10 groups

3 inches in length

2.6 feet minimum focusing

1.2 lbs

Ergonomics

The Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD is a pretty standard zoom for the Sony camera system. It’s designed to be one of the simplest lenses to use. And in many ways, it really is. The only control that matters on this lens is the zoom ring. That’s it. Said ring is also where you’ll place your hand most of the time.

The lens almost doubles in size when it’s fully zoomed in and has the lens hood on. But if you’re photographing birds, then you’ll be fine. You’ll more or less be far enough. If you put this lens on an APS-C camera, you’ll be in even better shape.

The front of this lens also has a small 62mm filter. Indeed, this is a compact lens. With enough room, you can put it in a camera bag while attached to a camera.

At the rear is the manual focus ring. But I really doubt anyone will ever use it. I didn’t.

Build Quality

The Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD is said to be weather sealed. Indeed, we took it out once or twice in the rain. However, it’s a tough lens to use in the rain since it tends to be darker.

Weather sealing aside, this lens is incredibly lightweight. Tamron has been doing this for a long time, and they need to be commended for it. They’re a company that really understands mirrorless cameras. They were originally designed to be smaller and lightweight. This lens adheres to that concept.

Ease of Use

The Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD has no real controls on the lens. The only big one is the zoom ring. So you’re basically just zooming in and out. Some would wonder if it should have a focus limiter. And at times, I really thought that it should. However, I don’t think I lost that many shots with this lens.

What’s more, this lens should have a zoom lock. That helps keep it a bit more compact when it’s stored away. But I’m nitpicking here a bit.

When photographing birds, use the large tracking focus setting with continuous AF. You’re much better off setting the focusing point yourself unless you have a clear shot at a bird feeder or something.

Update January 2023

In 2022, an odd tree of Nikon’s took grafted branches from Tamron — and started to bear some odd fruit. In some cases, the lenses took Nikon’s exterior and pricing. In other cases, Tamron took the exterior and Nikon’s Z mount. In this case, the Tamron 70-300mm is available for Nikon Z mount.

In Janaury 2023, we tested it on the Nikon Z9 for birding photography. And overall, it did a good job. But there are some weird...

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The sad truth is that peel-apart film has been gone for many years. In its final years, it didn’t get enough love. For decades, it was used as a way to preview what you were shooting on medium format cameras, but it evolved into other things after that. Recently, Supersense tried recreating it. But if you have some of the original Fujifilm stuff, then you’ve got something special. Lots of folks don’t know what to do with peel-apart film. So we’re going to walk you through it.

Oh, and by the way, my favorite camera to shoot peel-apart film with is the Polaroid 180.

Put it In the Fridge. Now.

If you happen to get some, trust me on this – put it in the fridge. Peel-apart film is an actual film, and film has organic matter in it. Like all organic materials, refrigeration helps preserve them. Whatever you do, don’t put it in the freezer. This film has a chemical in it that gets sorted through the photo once you shoot and pull it. Then it develops. Putting peel-apart film in the freezer lets that film bubble possibly burst. Then the film is useless. So put it in the fridge.

Let it Defrost When You Want to Shoot it

When you’re ready to shoot your peel-apart film, let it sit outside for a while. Let it adjust to room temperature for maybe an hour or so. This will get it prepped to shoot. And that brings us to our next step.

Don’t Shoot it In the Cold

Years ago, you could easily shoot peel-apart film in the cold, put it in a cold plate, and then warm it up with your body heat. At this point, all peel-apart film is pretty expired. So you’re best off just shooting it in warm weather. Aim for at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the room or the outdoor space you’re shooting.

Years ago, I took a date out to shoot in the winter with this film. I pulled it through the roller when it was too cold out, and the photos never developed. When you pull the image, make sure you’re in the warmest place possible. That will make the chemical saturation its richest.

Overexpose it By at Least a Stop of Light

Typically, you’re supposed to overexpose expired film. When you use peel-apart film, you have to overexpose it. Use a light meter and get the best reading possible, then add a stop or so extra of light. Sometimes you’ll need to add two stops. This is the only way that you can get an image that will look great.

The Secret: You Can’t Overdevelop It

Remember, this isn’t digital, and it’s not really the darkroom. You can’t overdevelop peel-apart film. You can sit, let it develop, and it will just stop after some time. Peel-apart film usually tells you how long you need to wait until it’s done developing. You can underdevelop the shots, though. But, don’t do that. It’s a waste.

Keep the Other Side, It’s a Negative You Can Develop at Home with Bleach

Lastly, when you’re done shooting, don’t throw away the other side of the instant film. That side contains a negative that’s easy to develop at home. Just use bleach or some toilet bowl cleaner with bleach. Then you’ll be able to get a beautiful negative that you can scan.

Tamron lenses are fantastic. I’m not sure there’s any independent reviewer that would disagree with that. Tamron zoom lenses for Sony FE cameras are notably incredible. Their lenses don’t exactly compete with what Sony offers, but they augment it. What’s more, they do so while providing a ton of value for what they are. We’ve reviewed every Tamron zoom lens for Sony FE cameras on the market. And in this roundup, we’ll tell you what you need to know if you’re considering purchasing.

This piece is presented in partnership with TAMRON. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this post already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Table of Contents

Tamron Nomenclature

Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD

Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2

Tamron 28-200mm f2.8-5.6 Di III RXD

Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8 Di III VXD

Tamron 50-400mm f4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD

Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD

Tamron 70-300mm f4.5-6.3 Di III RXD

Tamron 150-500mm f5-6.7 Di III VC VXD

Tamron Nomenclature

Here are some common Tamron terms in their lens naming and what they mean.

Di: Tamron Di (Digitally Integrated) lenses are performance-optimized for digital cameras. Lenses with the nomenclature Di are lenses for DSLRs featuring full-frame sensors; Di II for DSLRs with APS-C sensors; Di III for mirrorless cameras with full-frame sensors; and Di III-A for mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors.

VXD: (Voice-Coil eXtreme torque Drive) The VXD AF Drive provides the highest levels of autofocus speed and precision in Tamron’s long history. It is Tamron’s first-ever linear motor focus mechanism for stunningly fast and accurate auto-focusing. Two VXD units are arranged in a floating system and operated simultaneously via electronic control to achieve excellent optical performance at all shooting distances near and far. Focus tracking is vastly improved for sports and racing photography.

G1 or G2: First or second generation of a particular Tamron lens.

VC: (Vibration Compensation Image Stabilization System) Tamron’s VC uses a proprietary actuator and algorithms to deliver an extremely stable viewfinder image with excellent tracking. The 3-coil system electromagnetically drives the lens element that compensates for vibration, which glides smoothly on three balls with little friction. Several lenses offer different modes for panning and video shooting. VC can also be customized with the TAP-In Console or Tamron Lens Utility. VC should always be turned off when using the lens on a tripod.

RXD: (Rapid eXtra-silent Drive) The RXD stepping drive uses an actuator to precisely control the rotational angle of the motor, allowing it to directly drive the focusing lens without passing through a reduction gear. A sensor that accurately detects the position of the lens enables high-speed and precise AF, which is ideal when shooting moving subjects or video.

Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD

The Strong Point: This is a small wide-angle lens that can be used for general shooting. Stick it on the camera and it might be the only lens you need.

In our review, we state:

“The Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD is a fantastic lens when it comes to image quality. This overall makes it a stellar performer.”

Buy Now

Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2

The Strong Point: This is an update to the previou...

The super-telephoto is one of the most difficult lenses to master both for the lens builder and the photographer attempting to wield such large glass. While no 500mm will be described as tiny, Tamron managed to shed some weight and length while still packing in a lot of zoom. The Tamron 150-500mm f5-6.7 Di III VC VXD weighs 3.8 pounds and is roughly eight inches long. With image stabilization built in, the new telephoto is manageable enough to shoot handheld.

Editor’s Note: This review has been updated on October 10th, 2022.

I took the 150-500mm lens on a hike, photographed two soccer games, and chased hot air balloons — all without a tripod. I instantly fell in love with the 500mm reach that’s not attached to a stick. I was eager to open up the extreme zoom images. So how do the photographs from a handheld 500mm that’s priced lower than many competitors hold up?

Table of Contents

Too Long, Didn’t Read

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Gear Used

Innovations

Tech Specs

Ergonomics

Build Quality

Autofocus

On Fujifilm

Ease of Use

Image Quality

Bokeh

Sharpness

Lens Character

Color Rendering

Fujifilm Tests

Extra Image Samples

Edited

Unedited

Conclusions

Likes

Dislikes

Too Long, Didn’t Read

The Tamron 150-500mm f5-6.7 Di III VC VXD does an impressive job putting a 500mm zoom into a reasonably-sized lens. And the lens also manages to control aberration and distortion well. The biggest downside? The narrower aperture and long zoom length mean higher ISOs, along with some corner softness.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Smaller than competing lenses

Handheld telephoto shooting

Versatile zoom range, with close-up ability

Great color and background separation

Reasonable price

Weather-sealing

Fantastic for Fujifilm X mount

Cons

Autofocus has occasional misses with fast action

Soft corners

Gear Used

I used the Tamron 150-500mm f5-6.7 Di III VC VXD with the Sony A7R IV. I stashed my gear in the updated Wandrd PRVKE II backpack.

Innovations

500mm is a lot of reach. But, the Tamron 150-500mm f5-6.7 Di III VC VXD is smaller and lighter than several similar lenses, including the Sony FE 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS, the Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f5.6E ED VR, and the Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary. The Canon RF 100-500mm f4.5-7.1 IS USM is slightly smaller. The Tamron also packs in some optical design and coating meant to preserve image quality. But, the biggest innovation about this lens is, well, that’s it’s not quite as big.

Tech Specs

Tamron lists these tech specs for the 150-500mm lens:

Focal Length: 150-500mm

Maximum Aperture: F5-6.7

Angle of View: (diagonal) 16°25’-4°57′ (for full-frame mirrorless format)

Optical Construction: 25 elements in 16 groups

Minimum Object Distance: 0.6m (23.6 in) (WIDE) / 1.8m (70.9 in) (TELE)

Maximum Magnification Ratio: 1:3.1 (WIDE) / 1:3.7 (TELE)

Filter Size: φ82mm

Maximum Diameter: φ93mm

Length: 209.6mm / 8.3 in (front tip of the lens to the lens mount face)

Weight: 1,725g (60.8 oz) (without tripod mount included) / tripod mount 155g (5.5 oz)

Aperture Blades: 7 (circular diaphragm, the circular diaphragm stays almost perfectly circular up to two stops down from maximum aperture)

Minimum Aperture: F22-32

Standard Accessory: Round-shaped hood, Lens caps, Tripod mount

Compatible Mounts: Sony E-mount

Ergonomics

Monstrous is typically the best word to describe telephoto lenses that reach 500mm. But, while the Tamron 150-500mm f5-6.7 Di III VC VXD isn’t small, it’s smaller than competing lenses. The Tamron is roughly four inches shorter and almost a pound lighter than the Sony FE 200-600mm f5.6-6.3 G OSS, and the maximum aperture at the wide-angle is brighter on the Tamron. The 150-500mm lens weighs 60.8 ounces, or about 3.8 pounds, adding a few ounces for the tripod collar. It will take up a little more than an eight-inch slot in the camera bag.

While lighter than the closest competing lens, the 150-500mm is still hefty glass. It makes the Sony a7R IV front-heavy. After a few hours of use, the grip on the Sony body left a mark...

Every single camera is good. Technology has gotten to a point where all cameras are capable of taking great photos. But there’s more than ensuring good results that goes into making a camera. Believe it or not, they’re mostly the same in some ways. It’s easy for someone to think one camera is similar to another until you pick them up and use them. With this in mind, cameras need to diversity.

They Can All Achieve Fast and Accurate Autofocus, But They’re Not the Same

Years ago, some cameras just wouldn’t be able to autofocus. As slow as molasses, their performance would be bad for both contrast and phase-detection. But that’s all changed. They can all autofocus now. Will they always be able to autofocus quickly? No. Can they all keep a moving subject perfectly in focus? No. Do they all have animal and bird face detection? No way. And you can bet they all don’t have vehicle detection. However, they can all autofocus and take a portrait of a subject in good lighting. Their performance will vary in low lighting, and autofocus speed will vary depending on the brand used.

But again, if you just want them to take a picture, all cameras can all do it pretty well. Even Sigma, much maligned by reviewers, makes cameras that do the very basics.

They’re more or less copying one another. When one brand does face detection, so too does another. Some brand will try animal detection, and then another brand will try it too. Because they’re constantly copying each other, the products become the same.

Most are Weather Resistant, and That’s Very Important

Most cameras have weather resistance these days. We’re happy about that. It’s not important just for going out into the rain, but also for sensor protection. Plus, your cameras will keep working in tip top shape for longer if they’re built better. The way I think about this is like how my mother treated the Toyota Camry we had growing up. She’d use it to haul hundreds of pounds of stuff from Home Depot. The entire suspension system was screwed up. Of course, there are cars designed to do that kind of stuff. But, a ’97 Camry in 2011 just couldn’t handle it. Similarly, your Nikon z50 isn’t going to resist what a Nikon Z7 II will. The Sony a7c won’t stand up to everything the Sony a1 can either.

At this point, more weather resistant cameras need to be hitting the market.

There are also folks who say weather resistant cameras don’t necessarily need weather resistance. But it’s a big issue for anyone that actually uses their cameras, warranties, insurance, etc.

All Ergonomics Follow More or Less Two Design Variants

All cameras follow one of three designs:

The SLR: like most cameras with a raised viewfinder.

The rangefinder: in my opinion, this is the best.

The box: Hasselblad and Sigma more or less do that.

With that in mind, there are subtleties that make one camera look and feel different from another. Sometimes it’s a small thing like thumb grips. Other times it can be the exterior materials. But when they’re all copying one another or changing things slightly, it’s easy for everything to be the same.

They’re All Using More or Less the Same Sensors

All sensors come from maybe three companies: Canon, Sony, and Tower Jazz. So they’re all getting the same image quality until they start doing this own tweaks via the processor and more. This is a big problem. At the root of it all, most cameras on the market have the same Sony sensors in them. What’s the point of discussing image quality if they’ve got the same starting point? The processor and the tweaks companies make surely have something to do with it. But again, they’re all more or less similar.

If you’re curious about animal detection autofocus in your camera, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve been curious about it too. What’s more, each camera system takes its own approach to how to do it. And it can be very confusing to some folks. At other times, it can be really frustrating. So we’re looking at animal detection on various camera systems.

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What is Animal Detection

Animal detection differs depending on the camera system. A lot of them incorporate animal and bird detection together. Sony is the major full-frame camera manufacturer that doesn’t do this. But basically, it tells the autofocus to look at the scene and prioritize autofocusing on an animal instead of a human, bike, car, etc. Lucky for you, we’ve reviewed tons of cameras that do this.

For the record, we’ve tested all of the cameras that we’re talking about in this post.

Canon

With Canon cameras, there are a few ways to autofocus. The system can look at a scene and recognize certain things. If you set it to animal vs. human, it will detect all sorts of animals. We’ve used the Canon EOS R5, Canon EOS R6, Canon EOS R7, and the Canon EOS R3 in animal detection. Each time, it has found both birds and mammals with no issues in animal detection mode.

Practically speaking, this means that you’re less likely to miss shots. You can be walking around in the forest and have your camera set to animal mode with ease. You can be photographing chipmunks one moment and hawks another moment. Otherwise, you’d need to physically move the autofocus point over the subject to get focus. That’s often much harder when it comes to focusing on a bird through trees. But a system that recognized the warbler in the trees can get it faster.

Best Cameras for Animal Detection and Bird Detection:

Canon EOS R5

Canon EOS R6

Canon EOS R3

Canon EOS R7

Nikon

Update September 2022: The Nikon Z9 is the most innovative camera when it comes to animal detection for Nikon. It bundles birds and animals together. We’ve used the Z9 in our review, and found it to be much better than the Z7 II and Z6 II, which only have detection for basically pets. We’ve also known that the Z9 has improved with autofocus updates.

Best Cameras for Animal Detection and Bird Detection:

Nikon Z9

Sony

Sony has a complicated but effective system. If you take the Sony a1 or even an older camera like the Sony a7r III into the forest to photograph birds and animals, you’ll need to set the camera accordingly. The Sony a1, in bird-detection mode, won’t do so well getting your dog in focus when you turn your camera to it. As a result, you’ll have to go quickly into the menu system and then switch it to animal focus priority. It also works well with the Sony a7 IV.

We’ve done this, and it’s been pretty annoying at times.

Best Cameras for Animal Detection and Bird Detection:

Sony A1

Sony a7 IV

Fujifilm

Update September 2022: Fujifilm has finally entered the wildlife world! They separate animal from bird detection and have two cameras that can do it. There’s the XH2, which is slower than its older sibling, the XH2s. The latter is designed for speed, and with the right lenses, it can perform very well.

Best Cameras for Animal Detection and Bird Detection:

Fujifilm XH2s

Panasonic

With a camera like the Panasonic S5, you’ll be able to use animal-autofocus detection to photograph birds. There are also Micro Four Thirds cameras like the G9 and GH5 II that can do it. It does a pretty good job overall, but effectively tracking the subjects isn’t as good as it is with Sony and Canon. Even when you adjust the focusing profiles, it just doesn’t have the same hit rate.

Best Cameras for Animal Detection and Bird Detection:

Panasonic S5

Panasonic GH5 II

OM System

The Olympus OMD EM1x has autofocus for animals and birds. But it’s really not that great. According to our review:

“For wildlife, I walked away very disappointed at the fa...

Culling photos from a big shoot such as a wedding is a process that typically takes hours. For me, the photo cull is a boring task that’s best tackled with Netflix and some snacks. But, can artificial intelligence turn that hours-long process into a few minutes? PhotoRefine A.I. Photo Manager is an app that uses artificial intelligence to ease the bore of the cull. Using A.I., the app groups photos together, then searches for the sharpest one. But, mixing artificial intelligence with art is a precarious teeter-totter. Can A.I. really find your best shots?

When I first downloaded Optyx. I didn’t expect to really like the app. I was worried that, by integrating A.I., I would be losing the ability to pick a photograph based on emotional impact alone. But, Optyx works best with some manual input — and doesn’t really judge a photo beyond anything but sharpness. Optyx may have just found the perfect balance between speed and overlooking too many great shots.

Optyx was bought out by Zenfolio, where it was added to its suite of tools and renamed PhotoRefine. That also means it’s part of the Zenfolio subscription — which is great for subscribers but perhaps not so great for photographers who only want the A.I. culling software. But, Zenfolio has added a bunch of features, including considering the “happiness” in a photo, and refined the user interface.

Like Optyx, PhotoRefine won’t turn hours of culling into seconds. But, by flagging and color coding photos, it’s easier to quickly cull photos looking at small thumbnails rather than zooming in to see what photo is sharpest, or which one has everyone’s eyes open. Like any A.I., it’s best when mixed with some human input, but simplifies sorting through bursts and similar photos.

Table of Contents

TOO LONG, DIDN’T READ.

PROS AND CONS

PROS

CONS

GEAR USED

MAIN FEATURES

EASE OF USE

REAL-LIFE APPLICATIONS

CONCLUSIONS

LIKES

DISLIKES

TOO LONG, DIDN’T READ.

PhotoRefine does a good job of looking for sharpness and avoiding closed eyes. The sharpness tool works well some of the time, but it doesn’t like photos with a lot of bokeh. The manual culling tools allow a good blend between the speed of A.I. and the eye of an actual human. It’s a good app for burst shooters, but photographers who only take a shot or two of the same subject won’t save time.

PROS AND CONS

PROS

Finds your sharpest photos

Groups similar shots automatically

Allows for a mix of human and AI culling

The user interface is improved.

CONS

Another app to import to. Sigh.

It’s not sold as a stand-alone program anymore.

I wish it would use zero stars on bad images instead of one.

GEAR USED

I used the PhotoRefine app on my 2021 MacBook Pro.

MAIN FEATURES

PhotoRefine is based on several A.I. features. Here’s how Zenfolio says the software works:

Focus detection: The app looks at each face to evaluate for sharpness, choosing shots with the sharpest focus on faces.

A.I. Autocull: This feature groups similar images together, so you can easily pick the best of the bunch.

Fast previews: PhotoRefine says that previews are fast so that you can also manually cull faster than Lightroom’s previews load.

EASE OF USE

PhotoRefine requires logging in at the start and sometimes even after the program has been left alone too long. There’s no option to remember your username and password. But maybe it sensed my annoyance at having to type my login information twice in one day because the next day it didn’t ask me to log in. After opening the program, it also has to analyze the photos, and large albums take a while.

PhotoRefine starts out much like any RAW file manager — you must import your photos. The process starts by creating a new shoot, then adding your photos. This process is similar to Lightroom and Capture One. 150 photos took about 5-10 minutes, but 650 took about half an hour.

PhotoRefine, however, analyzes photos as it imports. The sidebar lists choices on how loosely to apply groupings, whether to group exposure bracketing and the workflow ...

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Retouching is part art, part technical savvy. The Nino Batista Premium Retouching Video tutorials build on the latter. The series of 30 retouching videos cover topics from retouching skin to perfecting color. Skin is one of the trickiest edits — and as a glamour photographer, Nino Batista does a lot to work with in his edits.

Formerly part of Batista’s paid YouTube channel, the retouching tutorials cover more in-depth, advanced skills than the average free tutorial. The videos contain a heavy focus on Photoshop, with some RAW processing in Capture One. Made for photographers who know a few basics but not much else, I picked up a few tricks, even as an avid Photoshop user of more than ten years. Batista covers excellent techniques that are easily adaptable to your own style.

Who Is Nino Batista?

As a glamour photographer, Nino Batista’s work primarily features female models. His photos regularly appear in lifestyle and men’s magazines, including Playboy and FHM.

Batista is also well-known as a photo educator. He regularly teaches retouching techniques, both online and in person. As a co-founder at NBP Pro EDU Retouch tools, he’s also part of the team developing Photoshop plug-ins.

Retouching Tutorials — With Plenty of Skin

“Tutorials for boudoir photography can easily feel like sitting next to that weird uncle that always makes inappropriate comments at family functions. But, I didn’t find that to be the case here.”

A quote from this review by Phoblographer Reviews Editor Hillary Grigonis

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first; Batista’s photos offer more to retouch than a basic portrait. As a glamour photographer, the photos he works on in the tutorial are typically of women in limited — and sometimes zero — clothing. The models in the online listing for these tutorials wear much more clothing than the photos in the actual tutorials.

That’s excellent for photographers learning to retouch skin since there’s so much of it to work with. A skin retouching tutorial on the average portrait won’t include steps for editing the ribcage, for example. The tutorials go beyond just perfecting the face.

As a woman, I did not feel terribly uncomfortable watching the retouching tutorials. Batista regularly threw out phrases like “she’s just human” and “common on every human you edit.” He doesn’t objectify or berate. Tutorials for boudoir photography can easily feel like sitting next to that weird uncle who always makes inappropriate comments at family functions. But, I didn’t find that to be the case here.

That said, some photographers may still be uncomfortable watching tutorials on glamour or bodyscape. I wouldn’t watch these videos with my kids or my mother looking over my shoulder. If the work on Batista’s Instagram page makes you uncomfortable, then this isn’t the retouching course for you.

What’s Included in the Nino Batista Premium Retouching Tutorials?

The tutorial set includes 825 minutes of tutorials across 30 different videos. The series includes both short tutorials on a specific technique and start-to-finish edits. Batista works with both Capture One and Photoshop.

The videos offer excellent coverage of the different techniques to retouch people for photographers with a little Photoshop experience. Batista covers basic topics like black and white conversions and customizing your Photoshop workspace. More advanced topics are also tackled, including perfecting skin tone and frequency separation.

The PhotoWhoa series came after YouTube discontinued its paid memberships. The series includes 30 of those videos. Some, however, are missing — he references a tutorial on Photoshop brushes in one video that’s not listed in the class.

The Good

There isn’t one “right” way to edit — and Batista teaches to that. He calls his own editing process organic and teaches to that same tune. He talks about what a tool does, why to use it, and how much....

The Sony a1 shows that electronic shutters are the future.

Sony stunned the photography industry when they announced their new flagship camera, the Sony a1. Sony is back to innovating again when it comes to silicon, and this is incredibly exciting. On paper, this camera with its new stacked sensor should impress even the most hard-headed photographers out there. Still, we all know that specs on a piece of paper don’t always equate to great real-world performance. lectronic shutters are the future. We’ve had our hands on the new Sony a1 for a week, and we’ve put it to the test in some tough conditions. Will the wow factor from the spec sheet carry over into the wild when we test it? Find out in our full review of the Sony a1.

Editor’s Note: This review was last updated in August 2022.

Table of Contents

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Too Long, Didn’t Read

Gear Used

Tech Specs

Sony a1 – Innovations

Sony a1 – Ergonomics

Top Panel

Camera Back

Camera Left

Camera Right

Sony a1 – Build Quality

Sony a1 – Ease of Use

The Electronic Shutter Is Nuts

IBIS Performance

Sony a1 – Autofocus

Human and Human Eye AF

Animal Autofocus

Bird Autofocus

Sony a1 – Metering

Sony a1 – Image Quality

RAW File Versatility

JPEGS

High ISO

Pixel Shift Multi Shot

Sony a1 – Extra Image Samples

Sony a1 – Conclusions

Likes

Dislikes

Pros and Cons

Pros

Sony’s a1 shows that stacked sensors are the future

Detail rich images with great dynamic range

Excellent ergonomics (the best Sony camera to date)

The a1 features the new touchscreen menu system

Fantastic overall autofocus performance

30 frames per second with the electronic shutter with virtually no rolling shutter or banding issues

1/400th mechanical shutter speed with compatible TTL flashes and triggers

Sony’s 9.44 million dot EVF is a work of art

Excellent build quality

Good battery life

8K video

Excellent performance with CFexpress A cards

Cons

It has the same old 1.44 million dot LCD

The LCD is not fully articulating

Bird AF is a work in progress

Multi Shot mode is inconsistent

Autofocus suffers a little in very low light situations

It’s $6,499

Too Long, Didn’t Read

The Sony a1 is a camera designed for professionals who need the best in stills and video. 50MP images at 30 frames per second with autofocus make this camera a must-have for pro sports, pro wildlife, and photojournalists. It’s pricey at $6,499. However, if you need a solid camera that can produce high-resolution images by the bucket load and 8K video, the Sony a1is a no-compromise camera that delivers.

Gear Used

We used the Sony a1 with the Sony 24-70mm f2.8 GM and the Sony 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 GM OSS. Also used was a Sony CFexpress A memory card.

Tech Specs

All of the technical specifications have been taken directly from the official Sony website:

50.1-MP 35 mm full-frame stacked CMOS sensor with integral memory

Advanced BIONZ XR engine boosts speed by up to 8x

30fps continuous shooting with AF/AE tracking

Movie-making with 8K 30p and 4K 120p

Wide AF coverage with 759-point phase-detection and 425-point contrast-detection AF points

Battery life (stills) – Approx. 430 shots (Viewfinder) / approx. 530 shots (LCD monitor) (CIPA standard)

Image Quality Modes – RAW (Compressed / Lossless Compressed / Uncompressed), JPEG (Extra fine / Fine / Standard / Light), HEIF (4:2:0 / 4:2:2) (Extra fine / Fine / Standard / Light)

Viewfinder – 9.44 million dots

LCD 1.44 million dots

Human face and eye AF, animal body and eye AF, and a new Birding AF mode

Flash Sync. Speed – (Mechanical Shutter), (Flash Sync. Priority) is (ON) or (AUTO):1/400 s (35 mm full-frame), 1/500 s (APS-C), (Flash Sync. Priority) is (OFF):1/320 s (35 mm full-frame), 1/400 s (APS-C), (Electrical shutter), 1/200 s (35 mm full-frame), 1/250 s (APS-C)

Image Sensor-Shift mechanism with 5-axis compensation

Continuous Drive Speeds – AUTO/Electronic Shutter: Continuous shooting: Hi+: 30fps, Hi: 20fps, Mid: 15fps, Lo: 5fps,10111213 Mechanical Shutter: Continuous shooting: Hi+: 10fps, Hi: 8fps, Mid: 6fps, Lo:...