Gear Review Archives – Colby Brown Photography

Gear Review

Dell XPS 13 Plus – The Best Ultra Portable Laptop Currently Out?

The Dell XPS line of laptops has always pushed the PC industry forward and with the brand new XPS 13 Plus, Dell is trying to rethink and elevate aspects of their XPS line of laptops. This rethinking has allowed them to provide up to 2x the performance of previous XPS 13″ laptops because of better thermal cooling and more space inside the laptop itself. For the full review…

November 3, 2022 No Comments

First Look

Dell XPS 17 Exclusive Hands-On Review

This morning at 9 am Central Time, Dell officially unveiled a handful of new laptops, including the long-awaited XPS 17 9700. It has been nearly 10 years since Dell last offered a 17″ version in their popular XPS line of laptops for creatives and prosumers and I couldn’t be more excited to not only see

May 13, 2020 9 Comments

Gear Review

Gear Review: The New Sony 20mm f/1.8 G Lens

An in-depth look at the new Sony 20mm f/1.8 G lens after using it exclusively above the Arctic Circle to capture the Northern Lights, fjords, mountains and seascapes.

February 25, 2020 11 Comments

In-Depth Review of the Dell XPS 13 9380 Ultrabook

Gear Review

Gear Review – Dell XPS 13 9380

Announced at CES earlier this year in Las Vegas, the new 2019 Dell XPS 13 9380 is the companies latest take on perfecting the 13″ ultrabook. While I enjoyed reviewing the 2018 Dell XPS 13 9370, it wasn’t perfect as it had a few shortcomings that kept me reaching for the larger XPS 15 9575

August 6, 2019 8 Comments

Gear Review

Gear Review: Sony 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 G Telephoto Lens

On June 11th, 2019 the brand new Sony 200-600 f/5.6-6.3 G OSS was announced to much fanfare, especially from wildlife photographers like myself. While I initially got my start in this industry through travel and landscape photography, my passion (and arguable obsession) with wildlife photography for the last few years has taken me to all

July 29, 2019 66 Comments

Gear Review

Sony RX0 II Review

In April Sony released the successor to its RXO line of compact cameras, the RXO II. Although when I say “compact”, I actually mean tiny! This thing is incredibly portable, coming in at just 2-3/8 in x 1-5/8 in (59.0 x 40.5 x35.0 mm) in size and weighing only 4.7 oz (132g). But it wasn’t

June 20, 2019 5 Comments

Gear Review

Gear Review: A Photographers Look At The Dell XPS 15 2:1 (9575)

In May of this year (2018), Dell launched the XPS 15 2:1 9575 hybrid laptop powerhouse, a device I have personally been looking forward to for some time. Back in November of last year, Dell invited me and a handful of people to a private event in Austin where among other things, I was able

September 3, 2018 15 Comments

Gear Review

GEAR REVIEW: A PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKE ON THE BENQ SW271 4k Photo Editing Monitor

When it comes to choosing the right monitor to buy as a photographer, things can get pretty complicated pretty quickly. There are simply so many choices for you to pick from in a variety of different shapes, sizes & qualities, which leaves many photographers with more questions than answers. However, regardless of the complexity of

May 11, 2018 9 Comments

Gear Review

Gear Review: A Photographers Take Dell XPS 13 (9370) Quad-Core Laptop

When it comes to finding the perfect laptop as a photographer, we are often torn between the choice of getting something fast and powerful or lightweight and portable. While thin and light machines were typically underpowered but provided good battery life, the more powerful laptops were thicker and heavier, often weighing between two or threes

March 27, 2018 20 Comments

Gear Review

Gear Review: Sony 16-35 f/2.8 GM Wide Angle Zoom Lens

While Sony has continuously been putting out impressive lenses over the last few years, one of the most requested pieces of glass has been a fast ultra wide, especially for landscape and astro photographers. So when the Sony 16-35 f/2.8 GM was announced back in May, it wasn’t suprising to see just how excited everyone was that

August 16, 2017 No Comments