2020 was s**t, but here are some of the things that didn’t send me into a spiraling depression
2020 has been a strange year. Itâs been a difficult one for all of us and for some more than others. Itâs been a challenge at times to look on the bright side and think of the good and fun stuff thatâs happened in the world around us.
These arenât in any particular order, but here are some of my favourite stories from this year that have made me laugh, smile, be inspired or have made me want to fire up the 3D printer or pull out the soldering iron.
Start as you mean to go on. In hindsight, this post seems like a fitting one to kick off the year. It was a little bit weird and surreal, which is exactly how the rest of 2020 has been. I never actually imagined what a GoPro spinning at 1800rpm might capture before I saw this video, but after I did, Iâm glad somebody else wondered and decided to find out.
This might seem like an odd one to put on here, given that it seems to have been something of a failure, but the announcement of this camera so relatively soon after it was announced that Yongnuo had joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standards Group got me excited. It still does get me excited. Sure, the original iteration might not have been great, but this whole idea holds a lot of potential and promise for the future of cameras, and not just from Yongnuo, either.
Iâve been experimenting a lot with my own DIY LED projects this year and seeing what I can make them do that might offer me benefits outside of the usual commercial options from the likes of Godox, Spiffy Gear, Nanlite, Aputure, etc. So, Iâve been following the LED journeys of Matt at DIYP Perks, as well as several others, with keen interest this year. Weâre still waiting for the follow-up video to this one, but I canât wait to see it when itâs done!
Weâd never advocate animal cruelty here on DIYP, and Mark Rober did everything he could to ensure that his Squirrel Ninja Obstacle Course was as safe as it possibly could be for the squirrels that attempted to take it on. And as a former NASA engineer, you know anything Mark designs is going to be overkill and over-engineered to perfection. Itâs always nice to see him using his powers for such hilarity.
This one was kind of a âSurprise! But not reallyâ sort of an event this year. Rumours had been around for years â which had been constantly denied â but then suddenly, nope, the rumours turned out to be right. Perhaps those rumours were always true and Olympus just didnât want to admit it publicly. Or maybe they just one day decided âYeah, maybe the rumours are right, we should probably just sellâ. Iâm sure weâll never really know, but Iâm looking forward to seeing how Olympus carries on under the ownership of JIP.
I watch a lot of DIY YouTubers, and not just in the fields of photography, video and lighting, but just generally making stuff. But because theyâre YouTubers, theyâre creating videos for a living and sometimes they decide to go a little extra. One of the people I watch occasionally is Jonathan Katz-Moses, who decided to film the stopping power of the Sawstop with a Phantom high-speed camera at 19,000fps. Seeing something that acts so quickly being slowed down so much really shows you the level of engineering that goes into some of the extreme products we use in the most beautiful of ways.
Iâm a big fan of buying cheap stuff just to see if itâs any good â especially lenses. Can it really stand up to its more expensive competition? Even a little bit? A lot of my favourite lenses are some of the cheapest (or oldest) that are available today, so when I saw this one from Tommy, Mitchell and Stephen at TMS Productions, I was immediately fascinated. I donât think anybody would be using this lens to shoot fast-action sports or wildlife. It just doesnât have the speed. And itâs certainly not the sharpest one out there, but at $120 or less, it sure does look like a fun toy!
This is one that many people have been waiting for, the follow-up to 2017âs Panasonic GH5. Mirrorless technology, particularly when it comes to Panasonic and video, has come a long way in the last three years. Their full-frame lineup is more capable than just about anything that existed in the mirrorless world only a couple of years ago, but the Micro Four Thirds sensor still has a pretty huge fanbase (myself included). Only two weeks after initial word that a GH6 had not been ruled out, Panasonic announced that it was definitely coming⊠At some point. They didnât say when, but I have a feeling that this is a camera that will definitely be going on my list.
Facebook always seems to be dealing with some controversy or other over the past couple of years, but outside of Zuckâs International and American legal issues, not to mention Facebookâs latest problems, this will probably be the most memorable for a while. Yes, thatâs right, itâs the time they thought a photo of some onions was just too sexy for Facebook. Richard Fairbrass would be proud.
DJI has had a stronghold on the global drone market for quite a while now. Things might be about to change with the recent addition of DJI to Americaâs blacklist, especially as Sony has announced that it was planning to enter the air with a range of drones all of its own. Sonyâs experience in the consumer electronics market is pretty much unparalleled. Theyâve led the way in a number of industries throughout the years, and I think that if they really set their mind to it, theyâll present DJI with some much stiffer competition than GoPro ever could have â even if they hadnât failed miserably.
Honourable Mentions
Those arenât the only stories that have gotten me excited, inspired, made me laugh or think âwtf?â this year, though. Also worth mentioning is Sigma journey into space with the Sigma fp. Hopefully, thatâs something theyâll revisit once they sort out the lens fogging issues! After 16 years on the market, Nikon issued a recall for the Nikon F6 35mm SLR and then finally retired the model completely just a few months later.
2020 not only brought us the worldâs first 8K resolution mirrorless camera, but also Blackmagicâs insane 12K resolution URSA. Sigmaâs been working on making their popular Art lenses smaller and better, specifically for mirrorless cameras. Deep learning AI technology has let us see videos of people and places from the past in ways weâve never seen before.
Weâve seen some pretty awesome DIY projects, too, including this open-source 6-axis motion control rig that was made primarily from 3D-printed parts, as well a 3D printed reproduction of a $10,000 camera stand that actually does what itâs supposed to and works as intended.
While 2020 might not have been a great year for many of us, there were certainly a lot of good and interesting things that happened.
Over the next week or so, hopefully, we hope that you can all enjoy the Christmas and New Year and tackle next year with renewed enthusiasm. We canât wait to see what you create in 2021!
