Ask Bill & Dan: Recent Episodes
Bill Wadman & Dan Gottesman
A Q&A podcast for photographers covering cameras, lighting, and computers. Hosted by Bill Wadman and Dan Gottesman.
Allan recently bought a Sony A7RII, but is feeling that it might not be quite the right camera for a guy with some Canon glass who shoots video on a Canon C100. The boys help him tease out whether to bring it back and find a body that's a better fit.
And then Shane wants to find a want to automate import and backup in a way that takes the question marks out of the process. Though Bill & Dan show that sometimes the best intentions often lead to even more questions and complexity.
Sony A7RII on Amazon
Canon 5D Mark III Body on Amazon
Photo Mechanic
Adobe Lightroom on Amazon
Capture One on Amazon
Hazel for Mac
Chronosync
SuperDuper
Backblaze online backup
After a long absence, the boys are back with another two great photography questions.
First up, Greg wants to do some street photography with this iPhone but feels limited by the focal length and wants to know the skinny on add-on lenses like Olloclip and Moment.
Next up, friend of the show Kent is traveling a lot with big lithium-ion battery packs and wants to know what the rules are for bringing them on the airplane as well as best practices to keeping them in tip-top shape.
OlloClip
Moment Lenses
ExoLenses
OlloClip Active Lenses
ExoLens Review
FAA Battery FAQ - Straight from the source
How to Travel Smart with Battery-Powered Strobes
Flying with Photography Gear
Brad in Brooklyn wants to know if we worry too much about specs when it comes to modern lenses and whether using more vintage glass on our modern cameras might give us the looks we crave.
And Johann from Austria has a 2011 MacBook Pro running Lightroom that's taking too damn long to process his giant 36MP files. He's looking to buy some new hardware, but where should he put his money? CPU, RAM, faster storage? Bill & Dan tease out the trade-offs.
Vintage Lenses for Video
10 Tips for Shooting Vintage Lenses
Better Lenses for the Money
Canon 24-70/2.8 Zoom EF mount on Amazon
Apple 27" iMac 5k - Pretty much tricked out on Amazon
Tim isn't happy with the sharpness of his new wide-angle Sigma zoom wide open at f/2.8. Is it a problem with the specific lens, his technique, or a flawed design?
For the second half of this show, we're trying something a little different. Dan regales us with a story of his thought process while trying to feed video to puppeteers during a photoshoot in this first edition of 'Tales From the Studio' (cue 50's horror music).
Sigma 17-50/2.8 on Amazon
Nikon D610
Serial Digital Interface (SDI)
Video Devices PIX-E5
HooToo Travel Router
Capture Pilot
Dave in Michigan wants to know what makes his OG Canon 5D and similarly remembered camera bodies so special. This leads Bill & Dan to reminisce.
And Chris in NJ is back, worried that the lenses he uses with his Nikon D700 aren't up to the task of feeding the D810 he's considering renting for a once in a lifetime trip out west.
Canon 5D review on DP Review
Nikon D3 review on DP Review
Does Pixel Size Matter
Nikon D810 on Amazon
Nikon Lens Family Differences
Dave in New Jersey wants to know if he can print a billboard from his D800, which leads to a discussion about resolution requirements and when all pixels are not created equal.
Next Bruce down in Texas is considering dipping his toe into wet plate photography, but doesn't have tens of thousands of dollars for the fancy lights his heroes use. Bill & Dan give him some technical advice as well as a few less expensive options to try.
Nikon D810 on Amazon
Victoria Will BTS at Sundance
Shooting Wet Plate with 12,000ws of Light
Wet Plate Collodion and the Joys of Being a Beginner
Paul C Buff White Lightning x3200
Maarten in Amsterdam is looking to get more depth of field out of his Canon 6D, but his lens only stops down to f/22. Will lenses with even smaller apertures help? Where might he find some?
And Reena wants to use her existing lenses to photo scan negatives and heard extension tubes might be the answer. Bill & Dan explore the options with her.
Canon Lens Spec Chart
Nikon Lens Spec Chart
Canon 70-300mm IS Zoom Lens on Amazon
Kenko Extension Tubes for Nikon Mount
Fotodiox Bellows for Nikon Mount
KEH Used Gear Online Store
A monster show for our tenth episode. Rachel has 40,000 black and white negatives from her late grandfather that she'd like to go through and pull selects from for possible sale as silver gelatin prints. A film scanner would work, but maybe there's an easier and faster way to get organized
And Jason from Episode #1 is back with a question of how high-speed sync works with little speedlights and larger monolights. Bill & Dan do a survey of a number of ways to break the sync speed barrier and explain how there's really no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to light.
How to scan film negatives with your dSLR
Helmut Film Scanner for Android
Negative Me
Wirecutter reviews the best film scanning sites
Why Speedlights are usually faster than big flashes
ProFoto HSS on the B1
PocketWizard HyperSync
HyperSync Compatibility Chart
Strobist
Computer heavy episode this week. Tom in Brooklyn wants to know the best way to use his iPad as a second screen when he's on the road or on set. Maybe there's even a way to use it as a poor man's Wacom Cintiq?
Next up, friend of the show Molly is back with a question about what computer she should buy to edit video on Adobe Premiere. What are the advantages to buying a Mac versus getting a Windows workstation or even building one?
Apple iPad Air 2 on Amazon
Apple iPad Pro
Best Second Display Apps
Duet Display
Capture Pilot
Nine-Volt - The Ultimate Client Monitor
Lifehacker - Best PCs You Can Build for $1200
Boxx Workstations
Dell Precision Workstations
Apple 5k iMac on Amazon
Stuart in sunny Miami is not getting what he wants out of his Nikon D610 for fashion photography and wants to know which direction he should go for the upgrade. Pro speed or straight megapixels?
And Lewis over in NJ almost lost his entire image library to a corrupt hard drive structure. He got them back, but they're a mess. Bill & Dan help him figure out the best way to get back on track.
Nikon D610
Nikon D810
Nikon D5
Nikon 35mm/1.4 G
Nikon 50mm/1.4 G
Nikon 85mm/1.4 G
Freddy wants to know if he's going to get rainbows and unicorns if he spends five times as much on his next monolight flash. There are reasons to hand over the platinum card, but they may not be what you think.
Next up, Molly's friend is selling a used dSLR and some of the potential buyers are asking about it's shutter actuation count. Is that really something to think about?
Paul C. Buff
Profoto B2 on Amazon
Elinchrom Deep Octa on Amazon
Photek Softlighter II on Amazon
Camera Shutter Count
Camera Shutter Life Expectancy Database
Is it a good idea to build a camera system based on the plan to use adapters with your next body purchase or should you try to stay native when possible? Are we at the point where we're lens mount agnostic? Not quite, but Bill & Dan have thoughts.
Next we tackle the question of whether it's worth using SSD drives in your network backup system. Speed, capacity, and price all factor in.
Sony LA-EA4 A-Mount to E-Mount FF Lens Adapter with TMT
Sony Alpha A6300 Camera Body
Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony E-Mount Camera Speed Booster ULTRA
Drobo Gen 3 USB 3 4 Bay Drive Enclosure
Seagate 4TB Internal Drive
Samsung 850EVO SSD
It's a display question bonanza. We've got questions from two guys named Nick today from opposite sides of the world. Nick in Australia has a old semi-broken 27" iMac that he would love to use as a secondary display for his MacBook Pro, but needs some help making that happen.
And Nick from New York has just built a shiny new photo editing computer for himself and now needs to decide on a new under-$1000 monitor to go with it. Don't worry, we've got some ideas for him.
Some things mentioned in this episode include:
The Ins and Outs of Your iMac’s Target Display Mode
How to Boot a Mac from External Drive
Target Disk Mode
Samsung 850 EVO Internal SSD on Amazon
SanDisk Extreme 64GB USB 3.0 Thumbdrive on Amazon
Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter on Amazon
Apple 15" Retina MacBook Pro on Amazon
Dell 24" P2415Q on Amazon
X-Rite i1 Display Pro on Amazon
Samsung 28" UHD Monitor on Amazon
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Learn more. First up is a discussion about Plug-ins - what's out there, what we've used, what we like, and some general theory.
Then we get into another talk about sensor size and resolution. A little bit of theory and history, and the big questions - is bigger really better? Why would you choose one over another?
Alien Skin Exposure
Google Nik Plugins
Perfect Resize
LRTimelapse
Nikon D810 on Amazon
Pentax 645z on Amazon
Our first question this week is about the double-edged sword of tethering your camera to a computer during a shoot and how it might create as many problems as it solves.
Then we tackle what kind of lighting kit to build if you want to use it for both stills and video, and you only have a budget of a thousand bucks.
Some of the items mention in this episode include:
15ft USB to MiniUSB Cable for Tethering
Pyle Laptop Projector Stand, Heavy Duty Tripod
Color Rendering Index
TLCI Rendering by Alan Roberts
Lowell Tota Light
Westcott Flex Daylight LED
Our first question is about putting together a lighting kit to take yearbook-like headshots for your office, but to do so with just a little something extra.
Then we help listener Ellen navigate the shadowy world of selling some of her father's unused Leica gear in order to reinvest in her own kit needs.
Some of the items mentioned in this episode include:
YONGNUO YN560 IV Wireless Flash Speedlite Master + Slave Flash + Built-in Trigger System for Canon Nikon Pentax Olympus Fujifilm Panasonic Digital Cameras
Manfrotto 5001B 74-Inch Nano Stand Replaces Manfrotto 001B - Black
Photek Softlighter II, 46 inch Umbrella with Diffuser.
Leica 10773 M-P (Typ 240) 24MP SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD (Black)
Leica 10771 M 24MP RangeFinder Camera with 3-Inch TFT LCD Screen - Body Only (Silver/Black)
Leica 90mm f/2.0 Apo Summicron M Aspherical Manual Focus Lens (11884)
Leica 28mm f/2.0 Aspherical M Manual Focus Lens (11604)
First up is a question about third party lenses. Is it really worth spending all that money on the name brand? What should you be thinking about before making a decision?
Next up is a question about online backup. How does it really work? We also touch on backup strategy in general, which is always an important discussion.
Some of the items mentioned in this episode include:
Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art Lens for Canon Cameras
Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 Apo Planar T* ZE Manual Focus Lens (Canon EOS-Mount)
Tamron SP 24-70mm Di VC USD Canon Mount AFA007C-700 (Model A007E)
Lensrentals Blog
BackBlaze online backup
Crashplan online backup
4TB Seagate USB 3 External Hard Drive
