by Frank H. Phillips What is the Canon MP-E 65mm Macro Lens? It's the most advanced macro lens in Canon's lineup, and perhaps the most advanced consumer-class macro available (see the sidebar at the end of this article "What is True Macro Photography" for an explanation). It can produce up to ...

by Jim McGee Given the state of digital camera development you almost have to wonder what any company could do to shake up the marketplace. Add a few more megapixels - yawn. I've got all I need for most applications now… Then Nikon rolls out the D2H. A 4 megapixel camera - ...

by Jim McGee There are photographers who speak of Zeiss lenses in hushed, reverent tones. They earned their reputation at a time when most mass produced lenses could not be manufactured to this level of quality. Computer aided design and manufacturing have helped the rest of the world catch up but ...

by The Staff at Vivid Light The 420EX is Canon's basic, no frills, mid-line E-TTL flash. With street prices ranging from $180 to $220 it's around $150 less than Canon's top of the line 550EX unit and it works equally well as a shoe mounted flash or as a wireless slave ...

by Chuck McKern When I first heard about Nikon Infrared flash system, I was a little concerned about how it would perform. I've been a Nikon user for many years and have been amazed at the evolution of their TTL system and how accurate it has become. I've been equally impressed ...

by Mark D. Thellmann The least expensive lighting instruments would be a couple of hardware store clip lights with 10" aluminum reflector bowls and two 3200 degree Kelvin photoflood bulbs. These lights could be clipped to makeshift light stands comprised of PVC or metal tubing cemented or plastered in coffee cans. ...

by Chuck McKern Most photographers are interested in portrait lighting but most seem not to understand how to do it. The techniques that we are going to discuss can be used with either hot lights or studio strobes. You can use these same concepts with flash units, however you will ...

by Moose Peterson This month's article is not one I thought of, but something Jim asked me to write. It has to be one of the scariest topics I have ever had to write on, macro photography! You see, I don't do macro! Moose getting down is just not an option ...

by Chuck McKern It seems many people do not have an understanding of what guide numbers are, and how they are effectively used. A flash unit's guide number is used to determine the proper exposure when shooting manual flash without a flash meter. But with today's advanced flash systems, guide numbers ...

by Jim McGee We also got the chance to try out the SB-28DX with the D1X. There are really no surprises here for anyone who has used Nikon's current top of the line SB-28 flash. Externally it is virtually the same unit except for the color of the buttons - a ...