As consumers demand increasingly sleeker smaller smartphones, manufacturers have been grappling with how to convincingly hide front-facing cameras. Solutions have included Apple’s now-ubiquitous notch design, a punch hole design and even cameras hidden underneath the phone’s display. Xiaomi hopes its newly announced third-generation under-display camera will be the best version of the lattermost approach yet.
Xiaomi’s first two generations of under-display camera tech never made their way into mass-produced devices. The latest generation, on the other hand, will be widely available in 2021.
Underpinning the new tech is a revised pixel arrangement solution. The screen allows light to pass through the gap between the sub pixels in the display. This allows each individual pixel to retain a complete red, green and blue (RGB) pixel layout. By utilizing the gap between sub pixels, the display doesn’t need to compromise with respect to pixel density.
The design of Xiaomi’s third generation under-display camera (left) shown against a typical display area (top right) and ‘normal’ under-display camera (bottom right). Image credit: Xiaomi
Xiaomi states that ‘Compared with other common solutions on the market, Xiaomi has doubled the number of horizontal and vertical pixels, achieving the same pixel density above the camera as on the rest of the display area.’ Xiaomi continues, promising that the area above the camera will match the rest of the display in terms of brightness, color accuracy and color gamut.
There’s no question that the more seamless a front display, the better. However, it’s a considerable engineering challenge to produce a display with a hidden camera without sacrificing the quality of either the display or the camera it conceals. Thus far, hidden camera technology has not completely convinced discerning viewers, as discussed by Engadget with respect to similar tech from Oppo.
To showcase its latest generation, Xiaomi released an overview video, which you can view below.
As first pointed out by The Verge, if you look closely at the 0’29” mark of the above video, there appears to be a slight square shadow. In earlier portions of the video, you can see a very faint circle where the camera is located. Xiaomi assures that the camera will be invisible, so it’ll be interesting to see the final product when it ships next year.
While we must wait until 2021 to see Xiaomi’s third-gen camera out in the wild, we won’t have to wait long for a new smartphone with an under-display camera. ZTE will launch its ZTE Axon 20 smartphone next month. It’s unclear if this device will be available outside of China. Nonetheless, as is often the case, a race between firms to develop better technology will benefit end-users.
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Shallow Depth of Field appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
Our dPS Weekly Challenge this week is ‘Shallow Depth of Field’ #dPSShallowDOF
After our challenge last week, ‘Mistakes‘ it reminded me of when I first purchased my EF 50mm f/1.4 lens and pretty much had it at f/1.4 or ‘wide open’ the whole time! The shallow depth of field (Where you have your subject nice and sharp, and everything else out of focus, the quality of the ‘out of focus’ area sometimes referred to as ‘Bokeh‘) look was something I loved at the start, and as I learned to use it more effectively, became another ‘tool’ in my photography toolbox.
Shallow depth of field lets you isolate a subject or highlight an area in your frame, my first example below, highlighting the lens details on my new Sony 12-24mm, you see everything else nice and blurry – This was shot with another Sony lens, the FE 35mm f/1.4 (Maybe my favourite ever) it’s great for shallow depth of field!
You might not have a lens with a wide aperture (f/1.4 / 1.8 / 2 / 2.8, etc) but you can use whatever you have to go for the most shallow depth of field that you can.
Check out Kevin’s article here for some good tips on ‘depth of field’
A Sony photographs a Sony ‘Wide open’
We look forward to seeing what you come up with this week!
Congratulations to all of you that Tweeted, Instagrammed, Facebooked or posted a photo in the comments below our blog post! There were some great ‘mistakes’ in there! Well done to Elena, on this photo! Doesn’t look like a mistake to us! Congratulations on your recent awards, too! It’s great to see members of our dPS community progress in their photography!
Congrats to our dPS Group Member, Elena
Great! Where do I upload my photos?
Simply upload your shot into the comments field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see. Or, if you’d prefer, upload them to your favourite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them.
Share in the dPS Facebook Group
You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.
If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSShallowDOF to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.
Follow us on Instagram?
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Shallow Depth of Field appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
The post 10 Cheap Photo Tricks for Creative Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
As the coronavirus crisis drags on, you may find that you’re getting out less to make photos. You could probably use some fresh and fun photo ideas as a pleasant diversion from the gloomy news. Whether you call these photo tricks, techniques, projects, or whatever, I suggest you give them a try and see what new and interesting photos you can make.
I think you’ll eat up these photo tricks with a fork and spoon! This is the last one in the collection, but be patient. Read the rest first, as there are some good ones; we’ll save this technique for dessert.
For a deeper dive
My intent here is not to get into great detail or give much “how-to” for these tricks. For some, I’ve already written complete articles and, where that is the case, I have linked to those articles so you can do a deeper dive into the subject.
For a few other tricks, I may not have written about them in-depth, but others have. The idea is that while these tricks may not be unheard of, this is a collection of photo tricks all in one place; it’s a jumping-off point for your photo exploration.
1. Bag a vignette
You may have heard of accessories called Lensbabies, a collection of adjustable and specialized lenses designed to give artistic, soft, blurred, and other looks to your image.
Now, I won’t pretend this trick will do for a few cents what specialized gear costing a few hundred dollars can do. But here’s a way to bag some interesting, Lensbaby-style images for dirt cheap.
This photo accessory costs a few pennies and easily fits in your pocket: the “Baggie Vignette.”
Here’s what you do:
Get a plastic sandwich bag and tear a ragged hole in the bottom of it. Pull the bag over your lens so that portions of the bag intrude into the edges of the image. Focus on your subject.
Viola, you have “Baggie FX.”
Play with the positioning, the size of the hole, various apertures, and lighting. Photo accessories don’t get any cheaper than this.
2. Bokeh with flair
Pronounce it how you like; bokeh refers to the look and quality of out-of-focus elements in a photo. Bokeh becomes especially noticeable when the out-of-focus elements are specular highlights.
Different lenses with different optics, different aperture blade shapes, and different numbers of blades will produce different kinds of bokeh, as will the photographer’s choice of aperture.
A wide aperture combined with out-of-focus highlights will give some nice bokeh effects. The pattern of the bokeh shape will depend on the lens. The Canon 50mm f/1.8 gives this kind of look.
Here’s a way to go a step further and make patterned bokeh. Lay a filter the size of lens you intend to use on a piece of cardboard, trace around it, and cut out the cardboard. Now cut a shape, such as a small star, into the center of the cardboard disc you made. Place the disc over the lens and tape it there, or sandwich it between the lens and a filter.
Here, a star pattern was cut in a “bokeh filter,” and the specular highlights in a piece of aluminum foil produced the star effect. Then the image was layered with another shot to create the final result.
With a wide aperture (a 50mm f/1.8 prime, the “nifty fifty,” works great), shoot something with some specular highlights and ensure those highlights are out-of-focus. The highlights will now be the shape of your “bokeh filter.”
Rather than make your own bokeh filter, you can also buy patterned bokeh filter kits with more elaborate shapes than you could probably cut yourself. For folks into 3D printing, this could also be a good project.
3. Reflect on this
You can take a still-life or product photo up another notch by shooting it on a reflective surface. You might think a mirror would be a natural choice for this, but because both the glass surface of a mirror, as well as its silvered backing, are each reflective, you will get two sets of slightly separated reflections if you shoot objects on a mirror.
A polished dark table proved just right for getting a reflection of the wedding rings. The jar of marbles was shot on a piece of black acrylic sheet and the bokeh effects were added with a string of Christmas lights in the background.
A better choice is a piece of acrylic plastic sheet, also known as plexiglass. You can get this in many colors, but I find a very dark black plastic sheet creates a look I like. (A piece of black tile would work well too, but I’ve not been able to find larger tiles.) Shoot with a black backdrop and you can isolate your subject nicely.
4. Big results with little lights
When we used film or less-sensitive digital cameras, big and often hot lights were needed for indoor photography. With the advent of LED lighting coupled with cameras offering low noise capabilities, we can now make images with very little light.
Also, when doing still-life photos, shutter speed can be anything you like: full seconds, or even minutes, if necessary. Now almost any lighting instrument can be used with some ingenuity. Small LED flashlights can also be used for light painting.
LED flashlights like these can be found cheap at the hardware store. The second image shows how they were used……to produce this image. Having limited light isn’t a problem when shooting still life where long exposures are fine. Canon 6D | Canon EF 24-105 f/4 | 3.2 sec | f/3.2 | ISO 100.
I have a collection of various flashlights (aka “torches”) and other LED lighting gear, which I’ve typically bought for just a few dollars online or at the local hardware store. Finding new ways to creatively use these little lights has allowed me to make some creative images. Take a look at this article which explores this topic further.
5. CD rainbow macros
Before you toss that scratched CD, add it to your bag of photo tricks. Mount a macro lens on your camera, or use whatever means you have to get close to your subject. Put the CD down with the reflective, non-printed side up. Then, with an eyedropper or other tool, place small water droplets all over the surface of the disc.
Waterdrops on a CD shot with a macro lens and lit in various ways can produce some colorful abstract images.
Focus your shot and get creative. The lighting is purely up to you. Perhaps try some shots in direct sunlight where the intense light will really pop the rainbow spectrum. Maybe try a small flashlight. Try a long exposure and light-paint the droplets. Anything goes when you’re making abstract images.
6. Oil and water abstracts
I wrote a complete article on this technique, which is another way to get some interesting and colorful abstract images. With minimal equipment and whatever lighting you like (even shooting outdoors with natural light), you can have a whole afternoon of fun.
Oil and water don’t mix, and that’s a good thing for this technique. A glass dish shot from above and through the mixture with some colorful objects in the background is the technique here.
7. Up in smoke
Add this to your collection of photo tricks to make some smokin’ hot images. An incense stick and some care with your lighting will get you going. Then take your shots to the computer where you can add additional effects. Have a look at my article here on DPS, “How to Make Interesting Abstract Smoke Photos,” for a full write-up on this technique.
This is a straight, side-lit shot of the smoke pattern rising from an incense stick.Take the straight shot on the left, mirror it in editing, and colorize it. Then you have a firebird! (At least that’s what I see. What do you see in this abstract?)The original smoke photo mirrored both horizontally and vertically and colorized in editing. Is this what they mean by “smoke and mirrors?”
8. Interaction with reflection and refraction
Find historic images of early photographers, and you might see them standing behind their cameras with black capes thrown over their heads. They did not have DSLRs, where the image entering the lens is reflected onto a mirror, through a prism, and then into the viewfinder right-side up. Instead, early photographers used the first “mirrorless” cameras, and the image came through the lens and displayed upside down on a ground glass at the back of the camera. The image was quite dim, which explains the need for the cape to better see the projected image.
The water-filled glasses refract the light while the black acrylic plastic sheet below reflects it. There’s a lot of light physics going on in these shots.
We won’t require you to take a course in optical physics so you can understand the behavior of lenses, light, reflection, refraction, or the differences in light transmission through various mediums. Just break out some glassware, pour in a little water, maybe use that piece of black plexiglass we mentioned earlier, find an interesting background, and go for it.
You are getting sleeeepy… The water in the glass refracts the light and flips the image, much like a lens.
If you do want to dive deeper into understanding light behavior, take a look at my article “How to Understand Light and Color to Improve Your Photography.” Maybe take a look at this one as well: “Just Dew It – Fun with Macro Dewdrop Photography.”
These tiny glycerin drops act as little lenses, focusing, refracting, and reversing the image behind them.
9. Zooming around
In our collection of photo tricks, this one is hardly a secret. You probably have done it before. No? Well, if not, and you have a zoom lens, it’s high time you tried the zoom blur effect.
The technique is simple enough. Set your exposure so you can get at least a one-second shutter speed, if not longer. This ought to be easy enough at night if you set the ISO to its lowest setting (such as ISO 100) and stop down the aperture to a small size (such as f/16 or f/22). If you’re shooting in the daytime and these settings alone don’t get you down to a second or more of exposure time, try adding a polarizing filter or a neutral density (ND) filter to reduce the light still further.
Lights at night make great subjects for the zoom blur technique. You’ll definitely need to work on a tripod.
You can do this technique handheld, but a tripod helps. Set your camera so you get the 2-second shutter delay, then with one hand on the zoom ring, trip the shutter. When you hear it click, zoom in (or out) during the exposure. Play with starting zoomed tight and then pulling out during the exposure, or starting wide and then zooming in. Lights at night can make for great looks. Try only zooming during the first or second half of the exposure. There’s no single way to do this, so play and discover what you can create.
Both these shots were zoomed during the exposure. See my fireworks article for the “Boom, Zoom, Bloom” technique.
10. Create a computer screen background
An interesting background can add to the story of your photo. If you have a good-sized computer monitor and are shooting a smaller object, being able to create a background on your computer screen opens all kinds of possibilities.
Create a unique background to go along with the theme of your photo by putting up something appropriate on a computer screen in the background of your shot.
Photographing screens would seem a simple process, but can be more tricky than you think. If you plan to do much of this, reading up on the best camera techniques for shooting screens would be time well spent.
Cheaper by the dozen
The title said 10 photo tricks, but I’m going to throw in two more for free and make it an even dozen. I really like the looks I can get with these last two.
11. Action sequences with Microsoft ICE
I wrote the article “Make Easy Panoramic Images with Microsoft ICE,” which focused primarily on how to use this free and very powerful tool from Microsoft to make panoramic images. That is good fun in itself and a very useful technique.
Toward the end of that article, I touched on something else you could do with ICE: sequential action images. These are great for showing the progressive steps of action, and ICE makes the technique quite easy. Follow the link, read through the article, and see how you can make images like this:
Pan with the action while shooting multiple images in continuous mode, then use the free Microsoft ICE software to assemble them. Quite easy, actually!
Here’s an alternative way to make sequential action photos with a completely different technique, one that’s more well-suited to capturing very fast action: “How to Use Multi-flash to Capture Compelling Action Photos.”
12. Phun photos with photoelasticity
Combine physics with fun and you get Phun, right? With this technique, you will be exploring what is called photoelasticity or, more specifically, birefringence.
Clear plastic tableware goes cosmic with this technique. Learn about birefringence.
You don’t have to understand what’s going on, and this isn’t hard to do. It just works and looks cool. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Your light source will need to be an LCD computer monitor, TV or, for smaller subjects, a tablet, or even a cellphone. LCD screens emit polarized light, and using polarized light to backlight your subject is part of what’s needed to make this work.
Try to limit any other ambient light. The effect will be stronger if the LCD light is dominant in your shot.
Use subjects made of hard, clear plastic. Polystyrene is what is used for most clear plastic cutlery and drinkware, so these make good subjects. Often the plastic in cheap picture frames is made from similar materials. Glass objects will not work for this.
You will need a polarizing filter on your lens. Standard circular polarizing (CPL) filters work well.
Polarized light plus a polarized lens reveals the “mechanical stress patterns” within certain types of plastics. Clear styrene plastic usually works well.
Now, get ready to say “Wow!” Place your subject in front of the LCD light source. Bring up an image that will create a totally blank, white, bright screen so that light backlights your subject. You won’t see anything until you look through the camera viewfinder and through the attached polarized filter. Cool, huh?
Now rotate the filter. The computer screen will be white, black, or intermediate shades, while the plastic subject will show the rainbow birefringence effect. The patterns will be showing the mechanical stress within the plastic, with tighter patterns where the curves of the object are tighter.
Is it okay to still say “Groovy, man?” A second sheet of plastic was held in front of the lens, producing the colored background. Aside from some exposure and saturation adjustments, this effect is what you see through the lens while making the shot, not added later on the computer.
Just a tip when you are seeking potential subjects for this kind of photography:
Your LCD cellphone screen is a polarized light source. If you have a pair of polarized sunglasses, objects held in front of a blank white screen on the phone and viewed while wearing the glasses will show the effect if they are the right kind of material. You may have to tilt your head to get the same effect as rotating a circular polarizing filter.
Now go play
So there’s a dozen new things to try with your camera. You will also find that these kinds of photography will force you to use different exposure, focusing, camera control, lens selection, and editing skills than perhaps you normally might use.
Remember, even failed experiments can be lessons when you seek to determine what went wrong and then try again to get it right. Now go try some of these photo tricks, have fun, and post some of your images in the comments section. If you have any questions, feel free to post those, too.
The post 10 Cheap Photo Tricks for Creative Images appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
What were the most-produced 35mm cameras of all time, you ask? Perhaps the Kodak Brownie, or the Argus C3, the Olympus Trip 35, or maybe the Nikon F? Nope, those cameras didn’t even come close the the number of Soviet-era Smena-8’s and Smena 8M’s that rolled off the assembly line; a combined 21 million in total. The next closest of the cameras mentioned is the Olympus Trip 35 with 5.4 million units made.
So what’s the deal with these apparently ubiquitous cameras, produced by Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie (Lomo), which many of us have probably never seen/heard of? Our good friends over at Kosmo Foto have the full scoop and more. Click the link and read on!
Read: Kosmo Foto – These are the most produced 35mm cameras of all time
About Film Fridays: We recently launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we’ll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at KosmoFoto and 35mmc.
Nikon’s entry-level Z-mount full-framer is proving to be a fun and capable companion for everyday stills photography. And we’ve been busy enjoying the last licks of summer with it by our side.
Take a look at our Nikon Z5 sample gallery, and check back soon for Raw conversions; we’ll add them as soon as support becomes available.
SpaceX plans to launch thousands of satellites into space for the firm’s Starlink high-speed satellite internet network. While the Starlink service aims to bring high-speed internet to locations where it is otherwise unavailable or prohibitively expensive, Independent is reporting that hundreds of astronomers have expressed concerns that Starlink’s satellite array will have an impact on astronomy and slow down scientific discoveries.
A report by the Satellite Constellations 1 (SATCON1) workshop stated that constellations of satellites in the night sky are problematic for ground-based observations, including those utilizing optical and infrared technologies. The research underpinning the workshop’s report included input from ‘more than 250 astronomers, satellite operators and dark-sky advocates.’
SATCON1 co-chair Connie Walker from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab said of the report, ‘Recent technology developments for astronomical research – especially cameras with wide fields of view on large optical-infrared telescopes – are happening at the same time as the rapid deployment of many thousands of low-Earth-orbiting satellites (LEOsats) by companies rolling out new space-based communication technologies.’
Not to scale. Illustration courtesy of NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / P. Marenfeld
The report concludes that large satellite constellations will impact astronomical research and the general human experience of the night sky, although they find that the impact will range from ‘negligible’ to ‘extreme.’ When Starlink’s first 60 communication satellites launched in May 2019, the impact was felt immediately by astronomers and the satellites were ‘brighter than anyone expected.’ It is not fiscally or scientifically feasible to stop utilizing ground-based astronomy.
While the impact of LEOsats may be negative for astronomers, the introduction of communication services to underserved areas is undoubtedly positive for potential users. The SATCON1 workshop is trying to work with satellite operators to find a solution. In the report, there are two main findings. One is that LEOsats ‘disproportionately affect science programs that require twilight observations, such as searches for Earth-threatening asteroids and comets, outer solar system objects, and visible-light counterparts of fleeting gravitational-wave sources.’ The second finding is that there are at least a half dozen ways to reduce the harm caused to astronomy by large satellite constellations.
From the SATCON1 workshop report: ‘A wide-field image (2.3 degrees across) from the Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at the Cerro Tololo InterAmerican Observatory, on 18 November 2019. Several Starlink satellites crossed the field of view. Image credit DECam DELVE Survey/CTIO/AURA/NSF.’ For many more visual examples of the impact of Starlink satellites on astronomical observations, read the full SATCON1 technical report.
One of these six ways is to launch fewer or no LEOsats, which is of course an impractical and unlikely solution. More realistically, the workshop found that the impact of LEOsats can be reduced if they are deployed at orbital altitudes no higher than 600 km, satellites are darkened or include sunshades, or are carefully oriented in space to reduce reflections. There may also be ways to reduce the impact of satellite trails with improvements to processing techniques for astronomical images. Further, if satellite owners provide astronomers with accurate orbital information, observers may be able to avoid satellites with their telescopes.
NOIRLab director Patrick McCarthy says of the report’s findings and recommendations that he hopes that they ‘will serve as guidelines for observatories and satellite operators alike as we work towards a more detailed understanding of the impacts and mitigations and we learn to share the sky, one of nature’s priceless treasures.’
The next workshop, SATCON2, will aim to tackle the issues of policy and regulation when it meets in early to mid-2021.
Image credit: SpaceX / Starlink
SpaceX plans to launch more than 30,000 Starlink satellites. This represents approximately a doubling of space-based moving objects visible to the naked eye during twilight, according to the SATCON1 report.
Despite there being only about 500 Starlink satellites currently in orbit, the program’s impact has already been felt during significant astronomical events. For example, the comet Neowise made an appearance this summer, something possible only once every 6,800 years, and Starlink satellites disrupted observation for many.
Image credit: SpaceX / Starlink
Thus far, SpaceX has taken steps to reduce the impact of its satellites. The space exploration firm has utilized a twisting technique to make the solar panels on the satellites less reflective. It has also explored painting reflective surfaces black and using sunshades. SpaceX has worked with the American Astronomical Society (AAS), National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NORAF) and the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) in pursuit of a solution to the issue of LEOsat visibility.
SpaceX stated ‘We’ve taken an experimental and iterative approach to reduce the brightness of the Starlink satellites. Orbital brightness is an extremely difficult problem to tackle analytically.’
For astronomers, the SATCON2 workshop cannot come soon enough. Professor Tony Tyson of the University of California, Davis, says that ‘…no combination of mitigations can completely avoid the impacts of satellite trails on the science programs of the coming generation of optical astronomy facilities.’
In addition to the EOS R5 1.1 firmware update, Canon has also released firmware version 1.2 for the Canon 1D X Mark III. The new firmware improves a number of features and addresses a handful of bug fixes for Canon’s flagship DSLR.
Specifically, Canon says firmware version 1.2 improves face and eye recognition autofocus (AF) at greater distances, improves FTP connectivity during transmission and improves Wi-Fi connectivity when using the Canon EFT-E9 Wireless File Transmitter.
Canon has also improved the experience when using the Browser Remote and addressed a number of ‘phenomenons’ — AKA bugs — that can occur during viewfinder shooting when specific settings are selected. You can see a full list of the bug fixes in the changelog below.
Firmware version 1.2.0 for the Canon 1DX Mark III is available to download from Canon’s product page.
Changelog:
Firmware Version 1.2.0 incorporates the following enhancements and fixes:
Enhancements when using Browser Remote:
The image list displayed will be refreshed automatically on the browser.
On the shooting screen of the browser, you can set the movie resolution and a high frame rate.
On the shooting screen of the browser, you can change the movie shooting mode.
On the shooting screen of the browser, Live View will be displayed as soon as you select the movie shooting button.
Enhances Auto Focus (AF) for improved face and eye recognition at greater distances.
Fixes a phenomenon that may occur during viewfinder shooting, in which the shutter may not be released or the camera may not operate in the following settings:
In One-Shot AF mode, when the AF Area Selection Mode is set as Zone AF, Large Zone AF or Automatic Selection AF.
In AI Servo AF, when direct AF point selection is made using the smart controller.
When the Register/Recall Shooting Function is assigned to the AE Lock button, in the Custom Controls.
Connectivity during FTP transmission has been improved.
Improves Wi-Fi connectivity when using the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E9.
Fixes a phenomenon, in which the card access time may take longer when using certain CFexpress cards.
In retaliation for allegedly illegal subsidies from the European Union to Airbus, giving the European airplane manufacturer an unfair advantage over US-based Boeing, the United States levied about $ 7.5B USD in tariffs against the EU. These tariffs, beginning last fall, have been applied to certain EU goods, as approved by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Included in the new tariff regulations are selected imports from France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, including a 25-percent tariff on ‘agricultural and other products.’ Under the umbrella of ‘other products’ are camera lenses. Leica has long been known for making many of its cameras and lenses in Germany, resulting in US customers being forced to pay more for already expensive Leica lenses.
In order to bypass the US-issued tariff, Leica began work on establishing an alternative production line elsewhere in Europe. Building upon an existing presence in Portugal, Leica will now offer US-based customers nine different M-mount ‘Made in Portugal’ lenses for a reduced cost relative to their tariff-inflated ‘Made in Germany’ equivalents. Customers can still choose to pay extra for the same lenses made in Germany.
The nine lenses Leica is currently manufacturing in Portugal for the US market include the following, with Made in Portugal prices listed first and Made in Germany prices listed second:
As you can see, the Made in Portugal lenses do not fully capture the 25 percent tariff levied against the imported German versions, but the relocated production does provide some relief to customers in the US. Presumably Leica incurred considerable cost to their business setting up a new production line. Of this, Leica says, ‘Leica Camera has made a large investment to establish a second production line in reaction to these global economic developments and market requirements.’
Image credit: Leica Store Miami
Leica continues, assuaging the fears of customers that Made in Portugal lenses will be inferior products, ‘With this new production line at Leica Camera’s state-of-the-art facility in Portugal, Leica has decided to offer USA consumers a choice to buy a selection of some of the most popular and essential Leica M-Lenses, stringent to the same quality and standards expected from Leica as our German-made products, Made in Portugal, at a much lower price than their Made in Germany counterparts. The price differential is a direct result of tariffs, and in no way indicative of quality standards.’
If you’d like to learn more about the Leica facility in Portugal, Film and Digital Times published a great tour in 2017.
The nine lenses Made in Portugal lenses Leica has announced will be released in staggered groups. The trio of Leica Summilux-M 50mm F1.4 ASPH lenses will be available this month. In September, the Leica Summicron-M 35mm F2 primes and the Summaron-M 28mm F5.6 will begin shipping. Finally, this December, the final three lenses, the Summicron-M 28mm F2, Summicron-M 50mm F2 and Elmarit-M 28mm F2.8, will become available.
Prospective customers can order any of the nine Portuguese-built lenses from US-based Leica stores, including Leica Store Miami.
Google has teamed up with Canon to release a new integration for Google Photos that makes it possible to automatically back up your photos over Wi-Fi.
The integration works through Canon’s image.canon app for Android and iOS. Inside the app, you can connect your Google account and have images automatically upload to Google Photos when they’re transferred from your compatible Canon DSLR or mirrorless camera.
A full list of the cameras supported by image.canon
Unfortunately, this integration doesn’t come free. In order to wirelessly upload images to Google Photos, you must have a Google One subscription, which starts at $ 20/year ($ 2/month) for the 100GB plan and goes up to $ 100/year ($ 10/month) for the 2TB plan. Google is offering a free month to Canon users interested in testing out the new feature.
Olympus has announced the macOS version of its OM-D Webcam Beta utility is now available. Like the Windows version, released back in June, the macOS version enables select OM-D cameras to be used as webcams with compatible videoconferencing and streaming software over USB.
The utility is free to download from Olympus’ website. Once installed, the process is as simple as plugging one of the compatible Olympus cameras and selecting the OM-D Webcam Beta as an input in the conferencing or streaming program of your choosing. Below is the limited list of compatible cameras:
OM-D E-M1X
OM-D E-M1 Mark III
OM-D E-M1 Mark II
OM-D E-M1
OM-D E-M5 Mark II
Olympus notes the utility won’t capture audio from your camera, so plan on having another microphone nearby (or just use your computer’s built-in microphone). Olympus also says streaming quality will be lower if there isn’t a memory card inside the camera.
We have contacted Olympus to see if any other cameras will be compatible in the future. You can find out more information and download the utility on Olympus’ website.
Congratulations on your recent awards, too! It’s great to see members of our dPS community progress in their photography! 
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