July 2015 Newsletter: ATP

So much has been going on lately it is getting more and more difficult to write up these newsletters so I hope you enjoy our July 2015 Newsletter.

It seems a long time since I bought any new camera equipment and for me that is a good thing. Firstly, it saves me money but more importantly, I truly feel as though the kit I currently own does everything I need. It will easily produce the goods and more as I have access to:

Apart from the GH4 and Go Pro HD Hero 4, some of that kit is more than 10 years old now. The Canon EF 70-200L 2.8, EF 24-70L 2.8. However, for the first time in many years, I don’t feel the same urge or desire to splash out on any new equipment.

But am I happy?

In the past, I was always frustrated by kit that was "lacking in this" or "could do with that". With the combination above, plus all the accessories and software I have, I feel pretty content that I could cover any event and record it well.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be tempted by the Canon 5D Mark IV when it comes out. So long as it has 4K video with fast frame rates, superior still image quality that I feel outdoes the Mark II. Note: I still don’t think the Mark III does that but that is just my opinion. Plus decent headphone and microphone inputs, HDMI out etc.

Update 2018: I bought the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV on release and love it (for stills ; )

Maybe Go Pro will release the next camera with more updates that tempt me. Features such as "in camera" distortion correction which I think is a distinct possibility. Especially now that companies like DJI have produced drone cameras that do just that. See the DJI Phantom 3/4 and Inspire 1.

Saying that though, I have no problem in correcting this myself using Go Pro’s superb, and free, software which we review below.

Older cameras

I did recently did two commercial contracts. One for a large commercial shoot in Moor’s Valley Park and the other for a 75 year old woman’s birthday party. This meant me videoing the entire day using 4 very different cameras. These were the "now discontinued but still rockin":

For the birthday party shoot, I needed to set the cameras up reasonably similarly with regards to fairly flat images being produced. Then I am able to grade them all to look as though they were all shot with the same camera. They all performed flawlessly when and where required.

The final result was a complete package. This included a 30 minute compilation, for the client which resulted in a flood of tears when she saw it for the first time. Great stuff! Well, you know what I mean.

Anyway, here is this month's news…

Go Pro have release details of a funky, tiny and powerful new camera but is it too pricey for what it is?

Go Pro Hero Session

This is a drone you will want to check out. It may have some small flaws but the idea is amazing. And it’s waterproof! Edit 2018: This flopped after its Kickstarter campaign : (

Just how far do you want to take your photography? If you are looking to maybe take it into the realms of earning money from your camera, check out this post…

The new Nikon P900 Superzoom looks pretty good in many respects but check out the bonkers zoom range in the video below. 2000mm!

I am massively into flying drones...UAV’s, RPA’s, Quadcopters etc. I even have my final flight exam next week. This means that after a good few months and a couple of thousand pounds, I should have my commercial license soon. Yay!

If you are looking to get started whizzing these things around whilst capturing amazing video, check out my quick guide to flying a drone.

Sometimes it is hard to motivate yourself to go out and experiment, try something new, get more work, think of new marketing ideas and so on. Hopefully this article will steer you in the right direction and get you back on track.

Doh! Sometimes I make the most ridiculous mistakes when doing reeeeeally long winded editing of videos. This is no exception, what a numpty!

A Quick Question

...from YouTube

"Nick. How did you get on with the Anker powering your GoPro? Did you find any issues of the Anker cutting out if it thought the GoPro was fully charged or did it keep powering as you had hoped? Regards"

Hi Jon. The Anker just keeps going even if the Go Pro is fully charged. I have shot for hours using this method at weddings and parties, it is great. The same applies when flying a drone. The Go Pro powers itself from the drone battery and is always fully charged when I stop flying!

So anyway, that is it for now. Hopefully by next time, I will be a qualified UAV pilot so I may start to do some tutorials on flying these wacky machines. I also hope to get a few more Photoshop, Lightroom and video editing tutorials up. However, if you can think of anything you would like covered next time, please get in touch with your comments.

Thanks and all the best,