Andrew Hancock isn’t the type of photographer that has a lot of downtime from shooting. As one sports season wraps up, he’s already looking ahead to what’s coming up. And when Hancock is covering a sporting event, he’s typically overseeing the remote cameras aimed at the athletes—he estimates for a basketball or baseball game he’s managing anywhere between six to 12 cameras at a time. For horse racing, it can be as many as 20 cameras.

It’s a massive amount of data that needs to be managed after the fact. Hancock trusts the SanDisk® Professional G-DRIVE® PROJECT desktop solution which has a built-in PRO-BLADE™ SSD Mag slot, and SanDisk® PRO-CINEMA CFexpress™ Type B cards to stand up the challenge when he is out in the field.

“I’m only as fast as my slowest point and speed is everything, especially when you’re doing work for the teams,” Hancock says. “Cards can be the Achilles heel for sports photographers—we’re using high speed frame rates, and trying to get as much of the action as we possibly can. SanDisk PRO-CINEMA CFexpress Type B cards help let me push my camera to its limits.”

The SanDisk PRO-CINEMA CFexpress Type B card is a key part of Hancock’s workflow. The card is designed for professional photographers and videographers who need a high-performance, reliable storage solution. The card is compatible with a wide range of cameras, and it offers read speeds of up to 1700MB/s¹ and burst write speeds of up to 1500MB/s¹. This means that Hancock can capture high-resolution photos and videos without having to worry about his cards slowing him down.

Hancock says that SanDisk’s line of professional products has allowed him to create a daisy-chained ecosystem that works well together. The reliable, fast PRO-CINEMA CFexpress cards are loaded into the cameras, media on the cards is offloaded using the SanDisk Professional PRO-DOCK 4 or PRO-BLADE SSD Mag slots, eventually getting archived on a G-RAID® MIRROR.

“The ability to be able to pump this data as fast as it can go and wherever it can go, means I’m not having to worry about overheating issues or filling the buffer,” Hancock says. “In a clenching situation, where I want to get as much as I possibly can, these cards allow me to actually focus on capturing the moment, without worrying about missing frames.”

For Hancock, having these fast, top of the line cards and drives is as essential as his cameras and lenses when he’s on a job.

“I know I’m not going to be covering a massive event and then something’s going to fail or underperform. At the end of the day that comes back on me,” he says. “It’s like being the quarterback of the team. It doesn’t matter if the receiver dropped the ball, everything comes back to your shoulders. It’s on you. As a photographer you’ve got to make those decisions. And it’s a business decision, quite frankly.”

Professional sports photographers typically spend a good deal of time on the road—Hancock mentions that some years he has up to 200 travel days a year. Having a storage solution that’s been easy to pack up and set up on location has also been a huge part of the appeal for him. Beyond its compact size, the SanDisk PRO-CINEMA CFexpress Type B card also comes with a durable enclosure, withstanding up to 1-meter drops and the pressure of up to 50 newtons², so Hancock can be confident his data will be safe on the go.

“I’m like water, I want the path of least resistance. Having a streamlined workflow takes all the stress out of the situation for me,” he says.

For Hancock having such a streamlined workflow with storing and archiving, enables him to perform at a higher level and be more creative when he’s working. But it’s also helped him get valuable back time. “It’s made my job easier and more efficient, which ultimately means more time with my kids whenever I’m home,” he says. “I love what I do, but any second that I can get back, I want it.”

¹Up to 1700MB/s read speed; up to 1500MB/s write speed. 1400MB/s minimum sustained write speed. Based on internal testing; performance may be lower depending upon host device, usage conditions, and other factors. 1MB=1,000,000 bytes.

²Based on internal testing.

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Last year Pop Photo’s Pop Awards highlighted 24 pieces of the best photography gear that had been released in the previous 12 months—cameras, lenses, drones, and a number of photography accessories. The diverse mix of gear included products aimed at working pros, advanced amateurs and those new to photography.

As the Pop Photo editors select the nominees for the 2022 Pop Awards, an important question remains: Have these pieces of gear withstood the test of time? Are they worth buying refurbished? And (perhaps most importantly) are they still worth anything on the resale market?

When it comes to cameras and lenses, our favorite pieces of gear from 2021 are still extremely excellent tools for taking pictures. And now that a year has passed, you can find money-saving deals on lightly-used models of many of the top picks on MPB’s platform. Keep reading for some of the best deals that you can get on 2021’s most loved pieces of camera gear!

Nikon Z 40mm f/2

Although Nikon’s Z5 offers a budget-friendly mirrorless option, for a while there was a lack of affordable Z-mount lenses, which changed in 2021 with the Nikon Z 40mm f/2 and Z 28mm f/2. The 40mm f/2 was one of our top picks thanks to the combination of interesting field of view, its fast-enough aperture and low-price point. It’s widely available on MPB’s site and can be purchased for $229—about $70 in savings compared to its original listing price. 

DJI Mavic 3

This foldable DJI drone included a few major improvements from its predecessor: a larger sensor, a wide-angle camera and a telephoto camera with a 28x zoom reach. Plus, it could stay in the sky for up to 46 minutes and fly up to 9.2 miles away. If you are drone-curious there are plenty of good options for this particular model on the resale market. On MPB the Mavic 3 goes for $1999.

Ricoh GR IIIx

Last year’s Ricoh GR IIIx made a few substantial changes to the classic Ricoh GR design. The GR IIIx featured a 40mm f/2.8 lens and a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor—making it the first fixed-lens compact with a non-wide angle field of view. This pocket-sized camera has been a long-time favorite of street photographers which is why we included it as one of our favorite pieces of gear from 2021, but admittedly it isn’t for everyone. The good news is that means these are easy to find on the resale market and will save you about $100.

EOS M50 Mark II

The Canon EOS M50 earned a spot as one of our favorite pieces of gear in 2021 thanks to its solid electronic viewfinder, fully articulating touchscreen, Dual Pixel autofocus capabilities and extremely affordable price point. All these things hold-up a year later and this extremely capable APS-C sensor camera currently sells for $439–$469 on MPB—making it an even better deal than it was a year ago.

Sony a1

High-priced pro gear like Sony’s a1 are some of the best items to shop for on the resale market—while they are still expensive, you will likely find the biggest savings. The a1 earned the title of Camera of the Year in 2021 because it was the first to do a lot of things. It has an impressive 9.44 million dot resolution EVF, electronic shutter with anti-flicker tech, a new dual-drive mechanical shutter for flash syncing up to 1/400th second and it can shoot 30 50.1-megapixel images as compressed RAW or JPEGs in a second. Simply put, the a1 was a beast of a camera when it was released and remains one of the best pro-level pieces of gear on the market thanks to Sony’s frequent firmware updates. Buying used with MPB rather than new will save you just over 1K on this impressive piece of gear.

Canon EOS R3

This 24-megapixel sensor camera remains one of the best low-light cameras on the market and one of the fastest—making it a great choice for photojournalists and sports shooters. Its mechanical shutter can shoot up to 12fps, or at 30fps full resolution without and the massive high-res EVF includes eye-tracking tech for extremely precise AF. On the MPB platform you can pick one of these workhorses up for a savings of about $300.

These are just a few of the great deals that you can find on last year’s top photography gear via MPB. The platform has served over half a million visual storytellers while recirculating more than 350,000 pieces of equipment annually. Additionally, all gear comes with a 6-month warranty after being carefully inspected by trained product specialists ensuring safety and functionality. MPB champions accessibility to kit, no matter if you’re looking to upgrade a few pieces of personal gear, make the jump to mirrorless or are planning to switch to a totally new kit system. MPB isn’t just a great place to buy slightly used gear, it’s also a great platform for selling and trading in your old equipment. Use the website to get a quote on your old gear, add any items that you might be interested in purchasing for yourself, ship your gear to MPB free of charge (fully insured), and you will receive your payment once they’ve received the gear and verified its condition. It’s a safe and convenient way to level up your gear, get rid of the tools that are no longer serving you, and support the future of visual storytelling while contributing to the circular economy! 

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The post The Best Used Gear to Buy From MPB appeared first on Popular Photography.

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