MUST-SEE, CAN’T-MISS GEAR AT WPPI

BY DAVID ALEXANDER WILLIS

In our December issue, we highlighted products you won’t want to miss at WPPI, including the Westcott FJ400 strobe, new primes from Tamron for Sony E-mount full-frame cameras, and the 24.6-megapixel Sigma fp. Don’t forget to check out these gems as well.

Canon EOS-1D X Mark III

Geared toward weddings, events, portraiture and sports, this camera brings the most out of the opportunities that the larger body of a DSLR has to offer over mirrorless. For tethered shooting and remote control access, the new design adds internal Wi-Fi and an Ethernet output with twice the image transfer rates over the EOS-1D X Mark II. The EOS-1D X Mark III has also been given an AI deep-learning library of tracking information and other autofocus enhancements to achieve an incredible 20 fps burst rate with full AF/AE in the Live View, plus an improved 16 fps through the optical viewfinder. price: $6,499 | + usa.canon.com

HoldFast Gear’s New Bags and Straps

This sleek line of leather (and a few vegan) bags and camera straps is centered around the company’s Sightseer backpacks and cases. With pouches and straps that can be attached for extra cameras, accessories and tripods, the system starts with the very affordable Belt Anchor to attach a single camera to any belt. To wear two or three cameras on the body, the Belt Anchor can also be used with the HoldFast Gear MoneyMaker harness of multi-camera body straps. prices: start at $25 | + holdfastgear.com separation between foreground subjects and any background bokeh. The telephoto focal length is available for Canon EF and Nikon F DSLR mounts. price: $4,990 | + zeiss.com

Air Direct Wireless Transmitter

The latest from Tether Tools is, ironically, mostly non-tethered. Routing from the camera via a single USB-C cable, the Air Direct is a wireless transmitter with 200 feet of range that creates its own Wi-Fi network to send images to a computer or a mobile device in full RAW with simultaneous JPEG. It fits to the hot-shoe of the camera or adaptor brackets and is compatible out of the box with most popular cameras and software that can shoot tethered. price: $329 | + tethertools.com

Think Tank’s Retrospective 4 V2.0

The Retrospective 4 V2.0 is the smallest in the line to fit a rangefinder, mirrorless camera or standard-sized DSLR. The affordable Urban Access Sling 8 and Urban Access Sling 10 models have “Slings Both Ways technology” to carry the sling to either the right or to the left. On the larger side for longer travels, the Airport Advantage XT is a rolling case that fits two gripped DSLR bodies, several lenses and more. prices: $99 (retrospective 4 v2.0), $99 (urban access sling 8), $109 (urban access sling 10), $299 (airport advantage xt) + thinktankphoto.com

Zeiss Otus 100mm f/1.4

This is a beautiful piece of glass for working with people and portraits. The angle of view gives compression that is flattering to human features while the shallow focus provides a subtle, but notable, degree of Sigma’s 135mm f/1.8 DG HSN Art Lens For Canon, Nikon, Sony and the new L-Mount of mirrorless cameras from Leica, Panasonic and Sigma themselves, this is a fast lens that will cover both full-frame and APS-C. As a solution for portraiture, the aperture is bright at f/1.8 and ideal for low light work. price: $1,399 | + sigmaphoto.com

Sigma’s 135mm f/1.8 DG HSN Art Lens

For Canon, Nikon, Sony and the new L-Mount of mirrorless cameras from Leica, Panasonic and Sigma themselves, this is a fast lens that will cover both full-frame and APS-C. As a solution for portraiture, the aperture is bright at f/1.8 and ideal for low light work. price: $1,399 | + sigmaphoto.com

Nikon’s D780

This full-frame D780 is the first DSLR to hit the market from Nikon since its D3500 camera in August 2018. With nearly the same body as the company’s popular D750 camera, Nikon has removed the internal flash to incorporate powerful new image processing and a completely new 273-point phase-detection autofocusing system that covers 90 percent of the Live View screen during video. price: $2,299 | + nikonusa.com

Tamron’s 28-75mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

This is a good all-in-one zoom model that starts at the wide angle for event and group portraiture and extends all the way to the telephoto for portraits and close-ups from a distance. (As the second lens in Tamron’s trilogy of bright Sony E-mount lenses, the third—the still unpriced Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD—will be available this spring. Tamron says there will likely be a demo of that model on display at WPPI.) price: $879 | + tamron-usa.com

My Passport Drives from WD

The My Passport and My Passport for Mac Drives from WD are the slimmest 5TB portable drives yet. WD provides the WD Drive Utilities and WD Security software with password protection and 256-bit AES Hardware Encryption to protect and restore files. prices: start at $79 + westerndigital.com