Jon Sienkiewicz

Jon Sienkiewicz BlogLens ReviewsNews
Lomography Petzval 85mm f/2.2 Art Lens Review
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Nov 26, 2015

As a lover of all things unsharp, I was eager to get my mitts on a Petzval 85mm portrait lens. When I saw it at Photo Plus Expo here in New York, it was under glass, gleaming like a gilded idol. The fine folks at Lomography were kind enough to loan me a sample. What follows is my report. 

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Jon Sienkiewicz BlogOpinion
Thanksgiving Photo Thoughts: Embrace Change, But Make Tradition Your Servant
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Nov 22, 2015

Thanksgiving is that magical time that happens only once a year. Thank heavens. It’s a time for peace and love and opening our hearts and homes to relatives we normally don’t bother with. It’s the season for vapid overindulgence—stuffing ourselves with turkey (bird meat that’s usually reserved for Club sandwiches, frozen weight watcher entrees and an occasional tasteless, low-fat burger). Football—lots of football—and couch naps are the order of the day, while the exotic foods that are eaten only at this time of the year (marshmallow-encrusted yams, slippery cranberries and that dried-up bread stuff—what is it? Dressing?) vie for domination of our glutted stomachs

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Easy Photo Tip: Using a Lensbaby to Capture Fall Leaves and Holiday Lights
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Nov 20, 2015

Many, many years ago a coworker at Altman Camera in Chicago showed me that it was possible to screw a Vivitar +10 Macro Adapter into a partially disassembled set of Nikon K-series extension rings and thereby build a soft focus lens that practically exploded with delightfully horrendous aberrations. It was fixed-focus, you had to bob to-and-fro like a drunken sailor to use it, but it was sensationally unsharp and I’ve been hooked on this genre ever since.

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Jon Sienkiewicz BlogNewsPhoto Bag Reviews
The Bag Man Reviews the Cooper Collection, Luxury Camera Bags from Tenba
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Nov 13, 2015

In a world where gadget bags are made of black ballistic nylon and closed-cell foam, Tenba has always boogied to slightly different beat. Their latest addition, the Cooper Collection, stands apart from anything you’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for a holiday gift for the photographer in your life—a gift that they’ll pass on to their grandchildren—get in line to buy a Tenba Cooper. 

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Getting Black and White From Color: How To Use Color Filters To Create Monochrome Images
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Nov 10, 2015

Long, long ago in a land far away, photo hobbyists often used yellow filters on their lenses when shooting black-and-white film. Monochrome film was a bit more sensitive to blue light back in those days, and that caused skies and clouds to blend and become an indistinguishable mess. For reasons we’ll see later, green filters were often used for portraits.

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Jon Sienkiewicz BlogPhoto Bag Reviews
The Bag Man Reviews Newcomer TEKNIQ Photo's Modular 3-in-1 Camera Bag
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Nov 06, 2015

They are an American success story. TEKNIQ Photo launched its first camera bag in April of this year on Kickstarter. By June 27th, they had raised $73,874 and had 478 backers. Their product is unique—a modular camera bag that gives you three bags in one.

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Exploring the New Features of Adobe Photoshop Elements 14
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Oct 29, 2015

Adobe has released version 14 of Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements. Both are exciting and easy-to-use, and offer enough editing horsepower for most photo and video enthusiasts. Although Premier 14 is chock full of improvements, including some cool new things you can do with 4K video, I found the enhancements in Photoshop Elements to be more groundbreaking and fun. So that’s what we’ll focus on today. 

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Drone NewsJon Sienkiewicz BlogOpinion
What Is Our Fascination with Drones All About? (Thoughts On UAVs and Lily)
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Oct 29, 2015

I can’t understand the current love affair between photographers and drones. Like all kids I made paper airplanes which I anonymously launched toward unsuspecting substitute homeroom teachers, sure. Sometimes with uncanny accuracy. Is the current drone rage the ultimate technological evolution of the balsawood P-51 Mustang? Or are we channeling our inner Wright brothers? 

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Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic Review
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Oct 26, 2015

Sometimes an old fashioned recipe and the latest modern technology don’t mix: zap-blasting your grandmother’s vegetable soup ingredients in a 10,000-watt microwave instead of slowly simmering them for six hours, for example. But other times strange bedfellows bring out the best in each other. Such is the case with Lensbaby optics on modern digital cameras.

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Leica Launches 24MP Full Frame Mirrorless SL Camera; Here's Our Hands-On First Look Review
Jon Sienkiewicz  |  Oct 20, 2015

Leica just introduced the heavily rumored new Leica SL (Typ 601) mirrorless camera system, which includes a brand new “Leica L” lens and more dedicated full-frame glass to come in the near future. Leica has designed the SL to take on not just rival mirrorless cameras but to, potentially, lure pro DSLR users to switch to this high-end system, which combines what the company claims to be the fastest autofocus on the market with a speedy 11fps burst rate and 4K video capture.

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