GOBE
Gobe is a new Australian brand of photographic equipment, poised to give the big names a run for their money. Their photo accessories combine technical innovation with robust construction; they are designed to withstand the harshest operating conditions, whether in everyday photo shooting or out there, exploring the last frontiers of civilization. This company has a strong “green” ethos (five trees planted for every product sold and donations of 1% of their sales to an environmental action group). That's impressive and, to my mind, worth supporting.
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This is an excellent filter made with top quality materials and very easy to mount and remove. The thread is so smooth that you can put this on with one hand while you keep the camera trained on your subject with minimal movement. That's what my husband has done (without tripod) to produce a series of “with” and “without” photos for me to post.
The pictures attempt to demonstrate the unretouched effect of the filter. In each case the first photo is taken without and the second with the filter. Expert photographers will make adjustments to suit their artistic needs, but these are just snaps taken in auto mode with his Nikon D3200. The sun was out but not overly bright, so I feel that the filter has a lot more scope that was not called upon on that day. The pictures attempt to demonstrate the unretouched effect of the filter. Expert photographers will make adjustments to suit their artistic needs, but these are just snaps taken in automatic mode with his Nikon D3200. The sun was out but not overly bright, so I feel that the filter has a lot more scope that was not called upon on that day. You can see that it adds a warm tonality with a subtle touch of brown and, in some shots, the result is a much more dramatic separation of the subject from its background. It also brings out complexity in the brighter hues (like the orange of the California poppies). I particularly like how it corrects the overblowing of reds and dark pink tones. The lens is very clear and does not produce any vignetting or shadows round the perimeter. |
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This filter is going to give us a lot of fun this coming summer when we start taking photos by the pool or near water, where handling reflections is always challenging. More info on the GOBE site.
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A free sample was provided for an independent evaluation. Gobe is a new Australian brand of photographic equipment that aspires to give the big names a run for their money. This memory card is a Class 10 which (I found out) means a minimum sustained Data Transmission Speed of 10 MB per second (currently the highest rating available). In other words, a worst case scenario as opposed to the speed rating which reflects the best possible performance attainable. This card is rated 104 MB/second reading speed and 70 MB/second writing speed.
Generally one would try to match or exceed the stated capabilities of one's equipment, however, with prices coming down so dramatically, I see no downside to buying a really state-of-the-art fast card. You never know when you will upgrade your equipment and it's nice to have a card that is already up to the new standards. Our Nikon D3200 accepts a variety of cards up to 64 GB, and the manual states that Class 6 or faster are recommended to record video, so this one sounded just perfect. In addition, the technology incorporates a robust error recovery component; again difficult to test, but I did notice that previously my computer would invariably complain that there were errors on the drive (I usually download using the USB cable) but hasn't once since the Explore replaced our previous card, a SanDisk Extreme 16 GB. |
The packaging is minimalistic and eco-friendly (a plain brown paper pouch and the card housed in a small plastic see-though container). In our experience to date, this card performs brilliantly and the speed difference is particularly noticeable while taking pictures in bursts or manually in rapid succession. The interval between photos before the camera is ready for the next one is much shorter than with our old card. Also in video mode, the end result is quite a lot smoother and, of course, transfer time is vastly improved. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this memory card. Find out more on the GOBE site.
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Everything I said about the Explore SD card applies to the Magic. When I asked what the difference was between these two cards, Gobe told me that the Magic is faster (reading speed is the same but the crucial writing speed is up to 90 MB/second), but also slightly more premium, using Sony components and it is also generally a tad more robust in construction.
In our real-life testing, we could not discern a quantifiable difference. Both cards work extremely well and, to my mind, compare very favourably to the big names we are all familiar with. Since they are both covered by a lifetime guarantee, it all comes down to personal preference and perhaps a slight difference in price. More on the GOBE site. |
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