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MS Optics is back with a 24mm F2 Leica M-mount lens that’s almost as small as a body cap

10 Jun

A comparison between the 24mm F/2 Aporia and a standard Leica body cap.

Boutique Japanese optics manufacturer MS Optics has released its latest bespoke lens, a 24mm F2 pancake lens for Leica M-mount cameras.

The MS Optics Aporia 24mm F2 M-mount lens is a return to Miyazaki’s specialty — wide-angle pancake lenses. This Gauss lens is barely larger than a Leica M body cap, yet manages to pack inside six elements in four groups and a focusing range from .5m (1.5ft) to infinity.

We promise that’s a lens on the Zeiss Ikon.

According to MS Optics founder and lens designer, Mr. Sadayasu Miyazaki, Gauss lenses tend to struggle with ‘coma flare from mid-frame into the corners causing reduced contrast and peripheral light falloff.’ Miyazaki says it was a struggle to get around this shortcoming, he’s managed to ‘bring it to a satisfactory level of performance’ thanks to low-dispersion elements.

The lens measures just 50mm (_2”) diameter, 5.8mm (.23”) thick and weighs just 45g (₁.59oz) — roughly the weight of a golf ball. Below are a few sample photos, captured by Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter (JCH):

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The 24mm F2 Aporia is being stocked in very limited numbers on the JCH website in gold, black chrome and silver chrome. Right now all models are sold out, but Bellamy Hunt of JCH tells us units are currently being put through quality assurance and will go live ’in the coming weeks.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Video: Turn almost any mirrorless or DSLR camera into a high-end Zoom webcam on macOS

13 May

Fuji X-Photographer Kim Farrelly recently published a video explaining how to use a mirrorless or DSLR camera as a webcam with Zoom without using a capture card. The tutorial is only applicable to macOS, enabling photographers who are now working from home to utilize the camera hardware they already own rather than having to purchase a standalone webcam, which are increasingly hard to find.

Though the tutorial may seem a bit intimidating to users who are less tech-savvy, it’s fairly simple. Firstly, users are advised to check whether their camera supports tethering and live view, something that can be done on the Capture One website.

Assuming the camera does support these functions, the user must first download Zoom followed by XCODE from Apple onto their computer using the following command in the Terminal application:

xcode-select –install

After Xcode is installed, use the following command in terminal to open up access to use external cameras with Zoom:

sudo codesign –remove-signature /Applications/zoom.us.app/

The path in the second line of code must be the same as the path where Zoom is installed on the Mac. By installing Xcode and executing these two lines of code, Farrelly explains that Zoom will be able to use external webcams — or, in this case, a mirrorless or DSLR camera.

The process requires two additional applications called Camera Live and CamTwist, in that order, as well as a USB cable for tethering the camera to the computer. Farrelly explains that Camera Live version 13 works “100%” with his Fuji X-T2, but it’s unclear whether this version is needed for every camera model.

Farrelly walks viewers through this entire process, including some notes and links in the video’s description on the processes that will ‘piggyback’ each application so that the camera can ultimately be used as a webcam for Zoom video calls. Viewers who experimented with the process also dropped some additional tips, such as adding a zoom effect in CamTwist in order to remove the black bars from the video feed.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The Sony a6600 is (almost) a great camera for event photographers

05 Nov

Introduction

Out-of-camera JPEG.
Sony 16-55mm F2.8 G | ISO 400 | 1/250 sec | F2.8

In Eden, there is greasy pizza, hoppy beer, a DJ and a ton of hipsters (myself included). I am of course describing Eden Seattle, an event space in the city’s industrial neighborhood that was recently home to an Art Battle.

Before you ask, an Art Battle is a competitive, live-action art contest. There are a series of twenty minute rounds, with the audience voting at the end of each to decide which artists progress to the finals. At the end of it all, the paintings are auctioned off and everyone goes home happy – often a little tipsy, and possibly with a piece of rapid art under their arm.

As it turns out, the a6600 is just too darn slow

As a photographer, the challenge is to capture the fast-moving, well-lit painters as well as the atmosphere of the attentive audience in the surrounding shadows. This means constantly changing settings to properly compensate for lighting and subject movement. I needed a camera that could keep up with me, that would react instantly to my inputs, and get out of my way so I could get on with taking pictures.

Out-of-camera JPEG.
Sony 16-55mm F2.8 G | ISO 320 | 1/250 sec | F2.8

Along with a new 16-55mm F2.8 G lens, we just got the Sony a6600 into the DPReview office. We already know a lot about the image quality of the camera, and have been impressed with its autofocus system, but I wanted to see how Sony’s APS-C flagship and a high-end zoom lens (plus a couple fast primes for good measure) would cope with the fast-paced environment.

As it turns out, the a6600 is just too darn slow.

Taking the good (photos) with the bad (lag)

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
Sony 16-55mm F2.8 G | ISO 3200 | 1/100 sec | F2.8

Now, it’s true that the a6600 shoots ridiculously fast bursts, high-speed video, and all that. By ‘slow,’ I mean that I experienced such distinct operational lag when changing settings – lag that is noticeably worse than the company’s a7 or a9 series of full-frame cameras – that it was an incredibly frustrating tool for this type of use.

I was constantly double-checking my settings instead of focusing on my photographs

To start, here’s how I set up the camera: full manual control, with auto ISO. I did this because I wanted to make sure that the aperture stayed wide-open regardless whether I had the zoom or a prime on the camera, and I wanted to be able to quickly change the minimum shutter speed with direct dial control. I could drop to 1/60 sec for static subjects in the dark, and 1/320 sec for the properly-lit painters. But here’s where the lag comes in.

Processed and cropped slightly in Adobe Camera Raw.
Sigma 56mm F1.4 | ISO 1600 | 1/320 sec | F1.4

First, lag in the dials. If I quickly turn a dial, say, three clicks, the camera will almost always adjust my setting by three steps – but only after a small pause. That’s frustrating, but not a deal breaker.

Then, there’s a pretty pronounced lag when swapping between the electronic viewfinder and the rear screen. Again, not a deal breaker, but if I’m changing settings just before, after, or as I’m raising the camera to my eye, sometimes the camera seems to get bogged down and doesn’t catch up to the number of clicks I’ve felt the dial go through. That meant I was constantly double-checking my settings instead of focusing on my photographs.

Out-of-camera JPEG.
Sony 16-55mm F2.8 G | ISO 125 | 1/100 sec | F2.8

Then, there is a lag with the buttons. When I hit the exposure compensation button, I have to wait a beat before I can turn a dial to adjust it (and again, if the camera is swapping from EVF to LCD or vice versa, it would occasionally ignore this input altogether). And I tried assigning the rear AF/MF button to AF-ON, since I prefer back-button autofocus, but then there was a lag before autofocus initiated. It initiated much faster if I left autofocus on the shutter button.

And lastly, there’s lag if you want to use the touchscreen to move your AF point around with your eye to the finder. Sony’s Real-time tracking means I could theoretically keep my AF point in the center, alter my framing to get it over my subject, initiate tracking and recompose at will. However, I don’t want to always have to drastically alter my composition to get my focus point over my subject. But that’s what I ended up doing, because the screen lag meant I couldn’t quickly and precisely move the AF point where I wanted to.

Not a big deal, or a deal breaker?

Out-of-camera JPEG.
Sigma 56mm F1.4 | ISO 640 | 1/200 sec | F1.4

Now, it’s true that the Sony a6600 is an enthusiast camera, not a professional camera, and this sort of use-case is really pushing both what it’s capable of and could reasonably be expected to do.

But here’s the rub – there are other cameras, including the Nikon D7500, Fujifilm X-T3 and the Panasonic G9 – that I can expect to perform well in these situations. It’s not unreasonable to say that a larger sensor in an even more pro-oriented body would be even better, but at least those aforementioned cameras don’t leave me feeling as though I’m waiting for them to keep up with me.

To be fair, I can’t say that another camera would necessarily have gotten me appreciably more technical ‘keepers’: images that are in-focus, properly exposed, and so on. But what I can say is that I would have had a lot more fun, and felt a lot less frustration, and been able to focus far more on my surroundings and compositions if I didn’t have to worry about whether my shutter speed is where I wanted it to be.

Gallery

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Chinese camera cuts through smog to record details almost 30 miles away

15 May

In this illustration (a) shows the distance between the camera and the target on a map of Shanghai, and (b) shows what the target building actually looks like. Image (c) is the view of the target through the smog of the city, while (d), (e) and (f) show earlier technologies attempting to record the target. Image (g) is the result of the researcher’s improvements

Researchers in China have created a camera that can record through the atmospheric pollutants of Shanghai to pick out objects just 60cm (2ft) high at a distance of 45 kilometers (28 miles). The ‘camera’ uses laser technology to fire light of a specific wavelength at a distant object and then uses a sensor to record the light when it returns so it can produce a picture that shows shapes with some distance information.

The project is being carried out by scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai, who have so far been able to record the form of a distant building with enough resolution to show the windows. The picture is technically a photograph, but not quite as we would expect to record with a normal visible light camera. The idea of the research is to produce an instrument that can ‘see’ further than is possible using visible light, and to be able to see in conditions visible light can’t get through.

At top left you can see the actual set-up of the LiDAR camera mounted inside the telescope, while the diagram top right shows what’s going on inside.

The scientists mounted a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) camera inside a Cassegrain mirrored telescope and fired a near-infared (1550nm) beam from the top of a building on Chongming Island in Shanghai towards the K11 skyscraper 45km away in the centre of the city. As the scientists knew the distance and the speed of the light they were using they were able to calculate when it would return and thus isolate the image forming light from any other stray light in the scene.

An illustration showing how different methods of image extraction can be used to yield a more detailed image.

The quality of the image recorded is hardly going to serve for holiday pictures, but outlines, shapes and forms can easily be seen even when the atmosphere was too thick for visible light. The technology will be useful for seeing when we can’t see – through clouds, atmospheric haze and smog and for security surveillance.

This shows how the researchers are using distance information from the LiDAR to create depth maps of scenes that can hardly be seen with the naked eye

The researchers say they can improve the resolution and the range of their invention, and that they will be able to create 3D images in the future. Already with the range defining abilities of the LiDAR system they can incorporate depth and distance information into their images.

You can read the research paper as a PDF online.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019 Olympus Interview: Micro Four Thirds can be appreciated in almost all photographic fields

15 Apr

[L-R] Toshi Terada and Shigemi Sugimoto, pictured at the CP+ 2019 show in Yokohama

We spoke to Olympus at the CP+ trade show in Yokohama, Japan, shortly after the announcement of the OM-D E-M1X. We spoke to Shigemi Sugimoto: Executive Officer, Head of Imaging Business Unit and our old friend Toshi Terada: General Manager, Global Marketing Department, Imaging Business Unit.

We discussed a range of topics, from the company’s new camera to its overall ambitions for Micro Four Thirds.

Please note that this interview was conducted partly via an interpreter, and has been edited for clarity and flow.

What’s the response to E-M1X been like?

We’ve been holding touch-and-try events in many places and have received a lot of very positive feedback from customers. Pre-sales orders are at expected levels and we have had a good start worldwide.

The E-M1X is a model that requires a lot of consideration before users make a purchase, so we believe the users will read many reviews and learn about benefits of E-M1X before buying.

I’ve attended some touch and try events and I was very pleased to see so many customers at these events. We’re also been getting positive feedback from professional photographers.

Some people may feel that the E-M1X is big for a Micro Four Thirds system. However, the feedback we’re getting from customers that have actually tried the product is that it has changed their view. So we hope people will pick up our product and try it.

Who is the E-M1X it aimed at?

It’s a part of our professional line, along with E-M1 Mark II. One of the user groups we’re targeting is professional photographers, but also the high-level amateur, the enthusiast: they make up much of our target audience, along with the professionals.

Do you think there is significant demand for sub full-frame professional cameras?

Having received feedback from professional photographers, we feel that Micro Four Thirds’ benefits of being compact and lightweight can be appreciated in almost all photographic fields.

We feel that Micro Four Thirds’ benefits of being compact and lightweight can be appreciated in almost all photographic fields

Actually, we are seeing that there are many photographers who started using the Micro Four Thirds as their second camera, are going on to use it as their main camera.

How would you like the ‘X’ line to evolve? (and how will it need to evolve?)

As a part of the professional series with E-M1 Mark II, we will evolve the basic performance and continue to offer innovative features. Also the E-M1X line-up will further improve the level of operability and reliability.

The OM-D E-M1 II continues alongside the E-M1X as part of Olympus’s products for professional and enthusiast photographers.

How did you choose the subject-types for the subject detection/recognition AF?

Initially, we’ve chosen those three subjects that are really difficult to track by yourself, without any help, just using the single point or even using the group target area. They’re really hard to chase, with a fast-moving subject.

We also chose subjects where you need pinpoint focus – the kind of moving subject where it’s really hard to focus precisely on one specific point, for example to focus on the rider’s helmet rather than just to detect a motor bike. That’s the kind of subject where it’s most helpful to have subject detection.

If you get feedback from users, how difficult is it to train the system to recognize a new subject?

At the moment we have three specific subjects that can be detected automatically and we’re also looking to enhance the range of subjects, the types of subject. That is, if we can manage it using the current hardware, of course: at some point there is a limitation to the hardware. Also, subject detection maybe not be effective for every subject.

We have prioritized the other subjects we could look at: I cannot tell you specific subject names but, as I said, the benefit of subject detection is pinpoint autofocus, [in situations] where we should focus on a specific point. And the kind of subject that’s not easy to chase – that’s the kind of subject we should select in future.

In a lot of other brands’ systems, the machine learning efforts have mainly concentrated on human subjects. Do you feel your system is already good enough at this?

Humans are the most important subject for many photographers. We have face and eye detection already, of course. We know it’s possible to improve those kinds of detection, though, so we feel we should somehow improve [our cameras’ performance] in the future.

Could you imagine a time where we might see different subject recognition modes in different models?

This is one possibility: to choose which type of product should have what kind of subject tracking.

We are just launching that kind of new technology, so we should listen to the market to find out how they are using it, or what kind of demand they are looking for. Depending on feedback from market we can consider how to implement this kind of function in a future model.

The Micro Four Thirds system is fairly comprehensive, where are the gaps in your lens lineup right now?

Our lens roadmap has been well received by customers. We have more plans for the future, and we will continue to listen to our customers’ requirements.

What kinds of lenses are your professional customers asking for?

The high resolution of our lenses continues to satisfy professional customers, therefore we will continue building compact, high resolution lenses.

The 150-400mm F4.5 TC 1.25x IS PRO is going to launched in 2020: providing a level of reach that’s difficult to match in such a compact form.

We plan to launch several lenses every year and, of course, there will be releases of lenses before the 150-400mm PRO launch in 2020. So, please look out for a more information about our forthcoming product releases.

How much demand are you seeing for video features in your cameras?

As you may recognize, the demand of video capability is increasing. We are, of course, trying to catch up that kind of technology. Videographers are seeing our potential in terms of superb image stabilization performance in a compact and lightweight package.

Our stance for video is not changed: our products are stills-based cameras that also can capture video. We’re not a pioneer in video technology but we know it’s become a necessary technology for photographers, and we have heard from videographers saying they see the benefits of our powerful image stabilization and lightweight system for their video recording. So we’re working to offer a unique video capability for these videographers as well as for photographers who record video.

What effect, if any, do you see HDR displays having on photography?

If that kind of display is getting popular in the market, then maybe we should consider our output take advantage of that display character.

If performance of current displays makes it worthwhile, to have some other kind of the gamma, perhaps Log character, then why not? It’s just a different kind of Raw development, effectively. We can process images to suit the current display technology or for printing or we can process for a wider DR display: it’s really flexible.

In the case of video footage the data file becomes larger to accommodate the dynamic range, but in stills it’s easier. In still photography the dynamic range is defined by the image sensor [so the information is already in the Raw file]. It’s a kind Raw development challenge, we’d just need to optimize the algorithm.

We are a very R&D-orientated company: we focus on the technology which is necessary for photographers

We will keep looking at the standards and the level of performance of these displays: if we find we need to optimize for the display, why not? It all depends on whether there’s a market for this kind of display, whether it’s worth developing.

We have our own perspective because we’re a camera and lens maker. For consumer electronics manufacturers, who are also making monitors, there might also be an element of marketing strategy.

As you know, we are a very R&D-orientated company: we focus on the technology which is necessary. We’re not from the marketing world, so we can look at these technologies solely from the perspective of whether they’re valuable for photographers.

How will you reassure fans of smaller, lighter cameras? Is there still interest?

As you know, the E-M1X is a new product line for offering the benefit of a compact and lightweight system for users that require an integrated battery grip for telephoto shooting such as wildlife.

The E-M5 line is important: we can reassure users we are planning a successor model.

We can’t give you the details of future models today, but we can say that we will continue with current lineup strategy and successor models will be coming. We’d like to mention that the E-M5 line is an important product category for middle users: we can reassure users we are planning to introduce a successor model.

What advantages can you offer by using a smaller sensor (compared with those who’ve rushed to full frame)? Small/fast readout/easier to stabilize?

The Olympus ILC system has been defined by the benefits of being compact and lightweight, right back to the time of the film camera. We will continue to offer the same benefit while focusing on Micro Four Thirds, this means our brand offers a single mount system for all customers, which makes it to easily understand and can be used for a long time with confidence.

The OM-D E-M5 II demonstrates the company’s ability to make small, capable cameras with excellent handling

A single Interchangeable lens camera system offering high image quality, will continue to evolve as a system, to provide the significant values of compact and lightweight, high resolving power and image stabilization that full-frame cameras cannot offer.

We consider our strengths to be that our cameras are compact and lightweight. High resolution power (means resolution lens) and also image stabilization as you know. Across our entire product lineup we are always looking to enhance these core technologies.

What are the benefits to offering everything from entry-level to pro-level in a single system?

It means to upgrade the customer doesn’t need to change everything. You can keep using the lenses, of course. Also, if we change the [sensor] format size all sorts of things change. The aspect ratio might change, the depth-of-field changes, the effect of focal length changes: the angle-of-view is different – it’s complicated.

A single format system means don’t worry about that kind of thing. Your existing experience can be carried over to the next model.

Which types of photographer/photography benefit most from balance of size/Image Quality that Micro Four Thirds offers?

We believe that all types of photographers will benefit from shooting with Micro Four Thirds. The value of compact and lightweight system offers photographers greater freedom in shooting across many fields.

For example in landscape or bird shooting, users traditionally have to shoot from a fixed point, using a tripod. However, our system offers new shooting styles such as handheld telephoto shooting thanks to its compact and lightweight system together with strong IS. In this way our system is expanding the photography shooting range for cameras.

Will the Digital Imaging division always be a small part of Olympus’s overall business, or do you hope it might one day rival the medical division?

Olympus has three business domains: Medical, Scientific Solutions and Imaging. Through these, Olympus is contributing to the society by ‘Making people’s lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling’. The role of the Imaging business is to make people’s lives more fulfilling through our products, mainly cameras and lenses including related services. We would like to deliver the joy of capturing and expressing special moments through photography to as many people as possible.

Also, the imaging business is contributing as a technology driver regardless of its business size, in terms of the advanced digital technologies, Low-cost production and design technologies, and Mobile technologies.

Editor’s note:

Olympus is one of the few companies not currently expanding into a new mirrorless format. Given how expensive it is to develop a wholly new system and how much competition there now is (in a market segment whose potential size is still unknown) this is understandable.

The decision leaves Olympus in a position where it needs to clearly communicate the appeal of its system: cameras that can’t necessarily match the image quality of larger systems but that can be smaller and lighter, as a trade-off, and this was a recurring feature of our conversation. The use of a smaller sensor is also part of how Olympus is able to offer the ridiculously good image stabilization in the E-M1X and, potentially, more video-capable models in future.

Mr Sugimoto is right to say that the E-M1X makes a lot more sense once you’ve held it

The thing I was surprised wasn’t mentioned more was how extensive the Micro Four Thirds lens lineup is. As the originator of the modern mirrorless system, Olympus has comfortably the most extensive lens lineup for this style of camera. Of course the quandary is: once you have a lens lineup that stretched from consumer zooms to a trio of F1.2 primes, what else do you do, if the message of small and light isn’t reaching a wide enough audience?

Mr Sugimoto is right to say that the E-M1X makes a lot more sense once you’ve held it: it may look like a massive pro-sports DSLR but is well judged so that it’s big enough to feel comfortable with a large lens on it, but small enough to offer something distinct from the likes of the big twin-grip Canons and Nikons.

Personally, though, the thing that stood out was the confirmation that the company is working on a third-generation of E-M5. I consider the original version to have been the first genuinely great mirrorless camera and think it’s the perfect type of camera to take advantage of the Micro Four Thirds lens range.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The (Almost) Perfect Autofocus of the Sony a7R III: a Hands-On Review

02 Dec

The post The (Almost) Perfect Autofocus of the Sony a7R III: a Hands-On Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anabel DFlux.

Focus is one of the most important concepts for a photographer. It can make or break an image. Whether you’re a pixel peeper like me who always looks for technical critical focus or an image maker who uses specific focus points to tell a story, how the camera focuses is everything.

That’s why the newest addition to the Sony Alpha series is so conversation-worthy. With the 399 focus points on the Sony a7R III, and its ability to track focus like no other, the company touts it’s hard to get a shot that’s out of focus. This camera is like an artificially intelligent robot – it can predict and figure out exactly what you want in focus on.

With the thumb joystick on the back of the camera, you can quickly and easily change your focus point. And its AI Servo is out of this world. It could figure out the entire outline of a subject and hold on to it for dear life.

I take varying images – shooting animal action sports, live concerts, and everything in between. So I took all the boasting I’ve heard about this camera and put it to the ultimate test.

About the Sony a7R III

The a7R III is one of Sony’s newest and flashiest addition to its impressive mirrorless line of cameras. According to its website, the Sony a7R III sports the following drool-worthy perks:

42.4 MP 35mm full-frame Exmor R CMOS and enhanced processing system
Standard ISO 100-32000 range (upper limit expandable to 1024005, with a lower limit of 50)
Fast Hybrid AF with 399-point focal-plane phase-detection AF and 425-point contrast-detection AF. The focus modes include:
- AF-A (Automatic AF)
- AF-S (Single-shot AF)
- AF-C ( Continuous AF)
- DMF (Direct Manual Focus)
- Manual Focus
Face detection, with Modes:
- Face Priority in AF (On/Off)
- Face Priority in Multi Metering (On/Off)
- Regist. Faces Priority (On/Off)
- Face registration (max. number detectable: 8)
High-speed continuous shooting of up to 10fps (12fps with AF/AE tracking)
5-axis image stabilization with 5.5-stop exposure advantage
4K video recording
Dual card slots with simultaneous or consecutive recording
Silent Shooting Mode

The camera is compatible solely with Sony E-mount lenses, including G-Master and Zeiss lenses (sought after in the Sony world). The aspect ratio is 3:2, and the camera can record still images in JPEG, (DCF Ver. 2.0, Exif Ver.2.31, MPF Baseline compliant) and RAW (Sony ARW 2.3 format). The images are quite large: a 35mm full-frame image is 42MP (7,952 x 5,304 pixels), which in uncompressed RAW format takes up about 80MB of storage.

The camera also has built-in noise reduction software you can turn on or off as needed.

But what really set this camera apart (and why I fell in love with it) is the autofocus.

The Sony a7R III Autofocus Features

The a7R III allows for silent shooting at up to 10fps with AF/AE tracking – great for those who do wildlife photography. Shooting at 10 FPS yields up to 76 images at a time (when shooting JPEG).

Its phase-detect points cover around 47% of the sensor area. When you combine that with the contrast-detect sensor areas, the total AF coverage is nearly 68% of the frame.

Advanced algorithms provide high AF precision down to light levels as low as -3 EV for more reliable autofocus in dark scenes. The enhanced Fast Hybrid AF speeds up AF approximately two times faster under dim lighting conditions. The camera’s infrared technology allows it to autofocus even in extremely low or difficult lighting situations.

The camera also has an ‘eye autofocus’ setting. You read that right: it can find eyes on your subject and lock focus on them with the push of a button. This is photographic witchcraft and I love it. The a7R III’s Eye AF evolves with twice the effective eye detection and tracking, even when shooting a moving portrait subject. It’s touted by the company to work when:

the subject’s face is partially hidden
the subject is looking down or wearing glasses
the subject is backlit
the lighting is dim or low
the subject is far away.

The a7R III includes a touchscreen that provides touch AF, focus point dragging and focus racking features. The AF-C (continuous autofocus) option feature is extraordinary. The camera can keep tracking the subject even if it’s changing direction erratically or an object gets in the way.

Tip: The ‘Expand Flexible Spot’ mode is a good one to start from, and works well with the AF joystick for quick adjustments to the preferred focus area.

Real Life Use

This camera is fast and accurate. With my DSLRs, I usually have to refocus multiple times. But I didn’t have to do it once on the Sony a7R III. I think mirrorless cameras really outshine most DSLRs in the autofocus department.

Here’s how it did in various scenarios:

Action and Sports

I photograph a lot of action, and when I first bought this camera I took it to a Frisbee dog competition to test it out. I was absolutely blown away by the autofocus. The camera even recognized a dog’s face with its facial tracking autofocus and maintained focus on the dog’s face throughout its trick-induced performance. When the dog moved further away the focus changed to the animal’s entire body, which I appreciated.

Regardless of how spontaneously the dog moved, the focus remained locked.

I typically use my Canon 7D Mark II for animal sports photography due to its speed and the fact the body is intended for action. But I now prefer the a7R III due to its superb tracking. The 7D tends to get lost when there isn’t much contrast between the subject and the other objects in the frame, such as photographing in the fog. (Many of these dog sporting events happen around 7am when the fog rolls onto the field.)

The Sony mirrorless clearly identified the subject despite the lack of contrast. It can even refocus on dogs running at me without needing any prompting or additional technique.

Portraits

Portraits are an absolute breeze with this camera. From face tracking to eye tracking, it’s almost impossible to take an out-of-focus image unless you have your settings wrong. As I mentioned earlier, the eye tracking feature is said to work in problematic scenarios (the face is partially hidden, the subject is looking down, etc.)

Well, I can confirm that what Sony promises is true. It works in all of those scenarios. Even when I shot a model wearing unnatural contacts and bright glittery makeup, the camera had no issue.

Dimly-Lit and Golden Hour Portraits

Much like the camera’s success with well-lit portraits, the Sony a7R III can focus on portraits in dim light as if they were lit to perfection. I’m happy to say there was absolutely no difference between the two. Night portraits were a breeze.

The golden hour portraits were just as easy (not to mention exquisite). My other cameras have focusing issues when the sun is low and hitting the lens at an angle. But the a7R III breezed through and held focus on the subject no matter how the sun was hitting the lens glass.

Live Concerts

Dogs may wake me up in the mornings, but it’s the rock stars who keep me awake at night. In the evenings you’ll probably find me shooting a live concert with an arsenal of camera equipment to get me through the job.

Live concerts are extremely difficult focusing situations. In fact, they’re like a low-light sports situation. For the most part, you’ll have limited lighting, and have to deal with colored bulbs that can paint the subject with a very saturated color (such as the dreaded red hue).

Live concerts are also high-energy and filled with action as the guitarists swing their guitars and the drummer pounds away. You may not always have enough contrast to work with, and plenty of annoying obstacles to get in the way of whatever musicians you’re photographing.

Much like I found success in dog sports photography, the Sony a7R III does mighty well at maintaining focus on the subject despite erratic movement or instruments getting in the way. If the light is low but even, the camera does a splendid job of finding the subject thanks to its Advanced AF algorithms.

Unfortunately, live concerts are also where we hit a bit of a snag. As venue goers know, most music venues (especially small indie ones) don’t have consistent lighting on the stage. It can be uneven, sporadic, and wild. Some genres of music (e.g. metal and rock) really love using strobe lights on the stage as well.

And this is where the Sony a7R III flops terribly.

The moment strobes are used, the camera completely loses its ability to focus or find the subject. It’s a negative I haven’t seen covered in other reviews and one that keeps me from bringing this camera to a live concert (after having a particularly bad experience at a recent show).

When strobes were involved, none of the autofocus settings or adjustments worked. The camera began to hunt and then failed to focus at all. This happened with other native and non-native lenses. My guess is the infrared technology is affected by the strobing effects, but that’s just an assumption.

Non-Native Lens with an Adapter

As an avid 16-year Canon user with an army of L lenses, I have no plans on switching brands anytime soon. When I added the Sony a7R III to my kit, I immediately looked for ways to adapt my L glass to the Sony camera. (That way I’d need to buy only buy one native lens for the Sony and use the rest of my existing kit.)

After testing out several adapters I found that the Metabones Smart Adapter worked best.

Now it was time to test the autofocus on a non-native lens.

Although some of the autofocus features (e.g. eye-tracking) are disabled on non-native lenses, the facial recognition and AF-C (continuous autofocus) features worked like a charm. Once I’d calibrated the adapter to my lenses I didn’t experience any lag, searching or loss of focus. And despite certain features being unavailable, the camera was just as fast with non-native lenses as it was with native ones – even in low light. (I took this set up out for a spin during a club event.)

But the strobing issue was still there, which is why I’m convinced it’s a camera issue rather than a lens issue.

Final Thoughts

I have no regrets investing top dollar in this mirrorless camera. I find myself using it as much as my DSLRs, and I have three of them. I’ll often pick the mirrorless for more complex shoots simply because of its exquisite face tracking with autofocus.

Have I got you salivating? Think the Sony a7R III might be your next camera? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

The post The (Almost) Perfect Autofocus of the Sony a7R III: a Hands-On Review appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anabel DFlux.

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Almost human: photographing critically endangered mountain gorillas

11 Nov

I’ve recently returned from a visit to Africa, where I spent three days photographing mountain gorillas in Uganda. It had been a long while since I’d last photographed animals. I started my way in the photography world shooting wildlife, but for many reasons I quickly became obsessed with landscape photography and went on to devote most of my time, attention and resources into this field. I have been wanting to revisit wildlife photography for ages, and when two friends of mine mentioned they were going to photograph mountain gorillas, it seemed like a sign that the time had come for me to take the first step back into that world.

Mountain gorillas are a critically endangered species only found in central Africa (Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo). After coming back from the brink of extinction with numbers as low as 254, massive conservation efforts have resulted in their numbers slowly rising, and they have recently topped the 1000 figure. Still, these numbers are very, very low and they are dependent on conservation efforts to survive.

A silverback mountain gorilla in a striking pose. Their similarity to humans, in so many aspects, is astounding.

To avoid too much human contact, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) allows people to be with the gorillas for no more than one hour a day. That hour comes at a cost of hundreds of dollars. Multiply that by the number of shoots you want to conduct, and you get the cost for the permits. Not cheap at all, and keep in mind that hotels, food and a car with a driver have to be added to the cost, not to mention (well-deserved) tips for the gorilla tracking crew.

A mountain gorilla toddler trying its strength at eating the bamboo shoots his elders love so much.

Every morning, after a drive to the park, we met our porters, handed them our photo bags, and walked for a few minutes to reach the ranger’s hut. After undergoing a safety briefing, we started the hike. A gorilla tracking team had already located the gorillas, and were in touch with the ranger to let him know where to go.

The hike isn’t particularly difficult, but it is uphill. We usually reached the gorillas after 1.5 or 2 hours, depending on the gorillas’ location and on the pace of hiking. When getting closer to the gorillas, we could hear the chest-pounding and smell the overwhelming and unmistakable gorilla body-odor (wow).

Two mountain gorilla toddlers play-fighting over a branch. They are developing their skills for years later when they’re adult silverbacks fighting for life itself and the right to procreate.

After years without doing any serious wildlife photography, I was a bit concerned that the learning curve would be too moderate. On one hand, my composition skills have been well trained by shooting landscapes. On the other hand, landscape doesn’t move that much or face away, and wildlife shoots are much more dynamic. I made peace with the possibility that some of the precious time with the gorillas would be partially wasted on regaining my wildlife shooting instincts. I knew I had to try to learn on the fly as well as I could, and most importantly, be very focused on the mission and make the best out of my time among the gorillas.

This juvenile mountain gorilla was trying on a tough stance and some chest-pounding. Others in the group were not impressed.

The gorillas are much more incredible in real life than can ever be shown with an image. The sheer size of the silverback males is astounding – they weigh in at over 200kg, without a gram of fat on them. Their heads are as big as watermelons, and their hands are huge. To maintain that bulk, they have to eat about 35kg of vegetation every single day.

The toddlers and juveniles love fooling around, dangling from branches and making funny faces. You are not allowed to approach the gorillas too closely, but that doesn’t mean a curious youngling can’t take interest and inspect the strange creature with the shiny thing!

With his mother lazily watching, this toddler came very close to my lens when I was lying on the ground, trying to get an angle. This resulted in an interesting wide-angle perspective.

The very dynamic and playful nature of the toddlers often made the situation very chaotic. It was difficult following them when dangling from the branches, getting a focused shot while maintaining good composition. This was the biggest challenge, and I feel I didn’t perform perfectly in this aspect. Still, I got a few lucky shots.

A seemingly frustrated mountain gorilla mother frowns as her very mischievous toddler dangles from nearby branches.

The conditions were not easy. A thick cloud cover offered beautiful soft light, but also made it quite dark, with the thick vegetation not helping. To add to this, the gorillas often stay beneath trees. High ISO is extremely important in such conditions – I often found myself shooting at 3200, 6400 and even 12800. Even that was often not enough.

I had brought most of my lens arsenal to this shoot, but found myself mostly shooting with my Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6L IS (for faraway animals and for close portraits) and with my Canon 16-35mm F2.8L III (for closer encounters and for multiple gorillas in one shot). I almost always used wide open aperture, for obvious reasons.

I took this image at ISO 12800, and to get a proper exposure, a shutter speed of 1/25 sec was needed at 70mm, F4.

To get interesting shots, good compositions are important. While in landscape photography compositions are relatively easy to pre-visualize, wildlife doesn’t always cooperate. It is up to the photographer to find the opportunities when the animals position themselves in a compelling way within their surroundings.

This silverback male sat in a way that framed him with leaves.

It’s important to use the nearby elements, to connect the subject with its surroundings.

I think the most captivating thing that the gorillas offer is a glimpse into us as a species. In my personal opinion, there is simply no way you can see them in reality and still think we’re not related. The look in their eyes, their grumpiness after the rain, their fingerprints – everything about them is so (almost) human.

All in all, photographing the gorillas was an excellent experience for me, a perfect return to the world of wildlife photography and one that encouraged me to shoot much more wildlife in the future. The excitement and many challenges kept me focused and helped me give it my best efforts. I hope you’ve enjoyed the images, and perhaps you will consider making the effort and visiting these magnificent relatives of ours yourself.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.

If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the most fascinating landscapes on earth with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in The Lofoten Islands, Greenland, Namibia, the Faroe Islands and Ethiopia.

Erez offers video tutorials discussing his images and explaining how he achieved them.

Selected Articles by Erez Marom:

Parallelism in Landscape Photography
Winds of Change: Shooting changing landscapes
Behind the Shot: Dark Matter
On the Importance of Naming Images
On Causality in Landscape Photography
Behind the Shot: Lost in Space
The Art of the Unforeground
Whatever it Doesn’t Take

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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GoPro will now accept almost any digital camera for trade-in, even ‘destroyed’

19 Apr

GoPro has relaunched its Trade-Up program, this time as a permanent option for customers located in the United States. The program first launched last year, but only as a temporary promotion limited to previous-generation GoPro cameras exchanged for discounts on current-generation models. This time around, GoPro is accepting nearly any digital camera in any condition.

The company says it will accept any GoPro or non-GoPro digital camera under the program, and that any condition is acceptable, including “destroyed.” To participate, customers must use the Trade-Up website to purchase either a Fusion or HERO6 Black, where they’ll receive a $ 50 discount on the HERO6 Black (bringing the price down to $ 350) and/or a $ 100 discount on the Fusion (bringing the price down to $ 600).

GoPro provides the customer with a prepaid shipping label to send the company their trade-in camera; once the trade-in is verified, GoPro ships the newly purchased camera to the customer.

According to the program’s FAQ, the trade-in camera must have a new value of at least $ 100 USD, and while multiple cameras can be traded-in, only one discount can be applied per camera purchase. Customers have 45 days to ship the trade-in to GoPro; once received, the company will charge their payment card for the new device.

Explaining why it decided to expand the program to cover any digital camera, GoPro says, “It’s not so much that we want your old camera. We just want to make it easy for you to get your hands on the latest and greatest GoPro.”

Press Release

GoPro Launches Camera Trade-Up Program for HERO6 Black and Fusion Cameras

Send in Any Older-Generation GoPro – or Any Other Digital Camera – and Receive $ 50 off HERO6 Black and $ 100 off Fusion at GoPro.com

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 18, 2018 – GoPro, Inc. today announced the launch of its camera Trade-Up program, offering users in the United States the ability to trade up from any previous-generation GoPro, or any other digital camera, to experience its latest and greatest products. Starting today, anyone in the U.S. can receive $ 50 off a new HERO6 Black or $ 100 off Fusion by participating in the program at GoPro.com.

GoPro first introduced its Trade-Up program for a limited time in 2017, which only accepted previous-generation GoPro models in exchange for a discounted upgrade to a current model. Nearly 12,000 customers participated in the 60-day promotion. The new and improved Trade-Up program brings back the initiative with major enhancements, including the acceptance of any digital camera and making it an everyday offer.

“The Trade-Up program is a great way for our fans and customers to upgrade to our newest products and experience how fun and convenient GoPro has become,” said Meghan Laffey, senior vice president of product at GoPro.

To participate in GoPro’s Trade-Up Program, customers should visit the Trade-Up website, select the new camera of their choice, and follow the instructions to return their old GoPro or digital camera. Upon receiving the returned camera, GoPro will process the discounted order and ship the new HERO6 Black or Fusion to the customer. Returned cameras will be recycled responsibly via zero landfill and recycling methods appropriate to material type.

To learn more about GoPro’s Trade-Up Program, visit https://shop.gopro.com/tradeup.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2018 interviews: The reign of the DSLR is almost over…

08 Apr

Canon executives (L-R) Yoshiyuki Mizoguchi, Go Tokura, and Naoya Kaneda. Will Canon announce a full-frame mirrorless camera this year? The signs are looking increasingly positive. Read the full interview

At DPReview, we’re in touch with the companies that make your favorite cameras and lenses all year-round. Our best opportunity to really tap into how the leaders of those companies are thinking though comes once a year, at the CP+ show in Yokohama Japan.

Senior executives from all of the major camera and lens manufacturers are present at CP+ and we try our best to speak to as many of them as possible. This year we sat down with leaders from (in alphabetical order) Canon, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Ricoh, Sigma, Sony and Tamron to learn more about how they see the market, and to get an indication of what might be coming down the road.

Full-frame mirrorless will become the norm, and it will happen pretty soon

This year, almost all the executives we spoke to seemed to agree on one thing: full-frame mirrorless will become the norm, and it will happen pretty soon. Kenji Tanaka of Sony even put a date on it, saying that in his opinion, Canon and Nikon would join Sony in the full-frame mirrorless space within a year. Executives from Sigma and Tamron were similarly confident, and even Go Tokura of Canon dropped a couple of fairly heavy hints that the move to mirrorless is imminent.

Kenji Tanaka of Sony thinks that it won’t be long before Sony has some company in the full-frame mirrorless market, but must be hoping that products like the A7 III will increase his company’s share of the full-frame market in the meantime. Read the full interview

It certainly makes sense, and honestly, I’m surprised that it’s even taken this long. For quite a while now, I’ve had the feeling that DPReview has been reporting on two camera markets. One is the mirrorless market: new, energetic, and increasingly packed with advanced autofocus systems and high-end video features. And the other is the DSLR market, dominated by increasingly non-essential iterative updates at the low-end, solid money-makers in the middle, and tough but conventional flagships at the top. There are some exciting and innovative DSLRs still being released, no doubt, but they’re starting to look less and less like products of the technology’s continuing evolution and more like its ultimate expression.

At a certain point, the mirror and prism will become barriers to further innovation

It’s hard to imagine, for example, how much more advanced Nikon’s DSLR platform can get, following the release of the D5 and D850. At a certain point, the mirror and prism will become barriers to further innovation, and if we haven’t already reached that point already, surely we must be getting close?

We spent some time at CP+ talking with senior executives from Fujifilm about the runaway success of the GFX system, and how the company is moving into video.

Read the full interview

Canon already has a mirrorless lineup, albeit one that up to now has been primarily aimed at entry-level customers. They’ve been quietly laying the groundwork for high-end mirrorless for a while now though, with key technologies like Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus and a small system of compact EF-M lenses that are optimized for the short flange-back of the M-mount. As Mr. Tokura and his fellow executives told us when we spoke to them in Japan, ‘we have the technology’ – they just need to put it all together. Nikon’s 1 System (it’s not dead, it’s just sleeping…) likewise introduced some important technologies that Nikon could presumably incorporate into a larger-format system when it feels the time is right.

When we spoke to the head of Olympus’s imaging business unit, Shigemi Sugimoto, he told us that he hopes to grow his company’s market share after “a painful period”.

Read the full interview

I think that the time is close at hand. It’s hard to argue with Mr. Tanaka of Sony that “if cameras are going to develop […] manufacturers have to develop mirrorless technologies”. Consider features like face / eye-detection AF, full-frame autofocus coverage and 4K video. All work best with the mirror up, even when it might not technically be a prerequisite.

With a lens like its new 28-75mm, Tamron is not just betting on Sony, but on full-frame mirrorless in general

Sigma and Tamron both announced full-frame Sony E-mount lenses at CP+, and appear committed to further development in the future. Takashi Sawao of Tamron confirmed something that we already suspected – lenses like its upcoming 28-75mm F2.8 for Sony have the potential to be adapted relatively easily for future – new – mirrorless mounts. The not-so-subtle message here is that with a lens like the 28-75mm, his company is betting not just on Sony, but on full-frame mirrorless in general. Sigma isn’t quite there yet (although Sigma has several native FE lenses on the market, they’re based on existing DSLR designs) but CEO Mr. Yamaki told us that his company’s announcement of E-mount versions of some Art-series lenses is ‘just the beginning’.

Among the topics covered in our conversation with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki were his determination to make more native Sony E-Mount lenses for mirrorless cameras. Read the full interview

Technically speaking, there are plenty of advantages to making lenses for full-frame mirrorless systems from scratch. Mr. Yamaki explained that for wideangle optics especially, the lenses can be made substantially smaller. They can also take advantage of in-camera optical corrections. If and when Canon and Nikon fully commit to full-frame mirrorless, I predict a flood of new lenses, as well as cameras. Nobody is expecting a return to the salad days of the early and mid-2000s, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a little more competition in a market with a few more new products in it? I’m asking for a friend…

Our conversation with Tamron executives covered various topics, including the move to new native mirrorless designs and the decline in DSLR lens sales.

Read the full interview

Sony and Fujifilm both told us that they would welcome Canon and Nikon’s eventual contributions to the high-end mirrorless marketplace, and I believe them – although Sony’s rapid release cycle of full-frame a7 and a9 bodies in the past 18 months certainly looks like an attempt to grab as much market share as possible in the meantime.

Olympus’ Shigemi Sugimoto seems to be looking forward to some growth, after “a painful period” which saw his company’s imaging products lineup shrink. He’s new to his job, but appears confident that his company’s high-performance Micro Four Thirds cameras can compete thanks to their attractive combination of small size and market-leading image stabilization.

Meanwhile, Panasonic also hinted at further development of its stills-focused ILCs, after a period when the company has seemed more focused on meeting the needs of professional and enthusiast videographers. For its part, Fujifilm has made a bold move in the other direction with its new flagship X-H1, explicitly courting video creators for the first time.

Panasonic executives told us that the company is hoping to ‘re-brand’ its stills photography offerings, after a period of investment in video users. Read the full interview

The only manufacturer we spoke to in Japan that appeared uninterested in talking about mirrorless development was Ricoh. I suspect that this is partly strategic and partly also driven by necessity. The R&D resources required to tool up and launch a new system into (presumably, before too long) a crowded market may simply be prohibitive – especially given that the company has only recently started to dip its toes into full-frame digital.

At least for now, it looks as if we can expect little more from Ricoh than consolidation of the existing K-series DSLR lineup and probably a GR II successor of some kind, at some point in the future. A proportion of die-hard Pentax fans will be disappointed by this, but I expect that many simply won’t care. The K-1 II and the imminent arrival of a new 50mm F1.4 represent (at least) a continued investment in the company’s core user-base, and that’s probably enough to keep the loyalists happy for now.

Takashi Arai of Ricoh told us that we can expect new K-series products and possibly also a GR II successor soon, but it seems unlikely that we’ll see any Pentax-branded mirrorless cameras in the near future.

Read the full interview

So what’s coming around the corner? If you’ll indulge some informed guesswork, I’m expecting the announcement of 4K-capable full-frame mirrorless cameras from at least one if not both of the major DSLR manufacturers by late summer, ahead of Photokina in September. That would fit the historical pattern of major product launches from both manufacturers. I don’t think that either Canon or Nikon will attack the professional market straight out of the gate – instead, it’s probably more likely they’ll kick things off with EOS 6D / D600-type products.

I expect flagship professional mirrorless ILCs to be launched ahead of Tokyo 2020 from Canon, Nikon and Sony

A slow build-up of core native-mirrorless lenses (alongside the necessary mount adapters for legacy EF and F lenses) will naturally follow, and development will ramp up as we get close to the Olympic Games in 2020. We know from speaking to executives at CP+ that Tokyo 2020 is going to be a big deal for Canon, and I’d expect it also to be used as a showcase for flagship professional mirrorless ILCs from the other two manufacturers in the ‘big three’ – Nikon and Sony.

By then, it would make sense for both Canon and Nikon to have replicated their most important tele primes and wide-aperture zoom lenses in their new native mirrorless mounts, and for Sigma and Tamron to be offering their own lower-cost alternatives. I don’t want to guess at exactly what those alternatives will look like, but it’s a safe bet that Sigma’s will be larger.

What do you think? Will Fujifilm or Panasonic be competing with the big three in the photographers stands at Tokyo 2020? Will Ricoh ever make another mirrorless ILC? Will Canon’s concept cameras transform how we think about capturing images?

Have your say in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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The Leica CL is (almost) what the TL should have been

23 Nov

Hands-on with Leica CL

‘What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.’

If you know your Bible (which I must admit I don’t – I had to look this phrase up to get the exact wording) you’ll know that this oft-quoted proverb comes from Ecclesiastes 1:9. In a year that saw the commercial release of new versions of the Summaron 28mm F5.6 and Thambar 90mm F2.2, it may appear that that Leica’s product planners have been a bit stuck on this passage of late.

With the release of the CL, a casual observer with a decently long memory might assume that the company’s retro obsession has struck again, but not so fast…

Hands-on with Leica CL

While it shares a name with one of Leica’s most popular and affordable cameras of the 1970s, the new CL is separated from its namesake by more than just years. It’s digital for starters, and shares a lot of its core specification with the 24MP TL2, while offering a more conventional handling experience and a built-in viewfinder, in a body similar in size to the X2 (or depending on your era and preferred frames of reference, the IIIG).

We’ve been using Leica’s newest mirrorless interchangeable lens camera for a little while now – click through for our first impressions and a deeper look at the CL’s feature set.

Control Interface

The T/L and TL2 are beautiful cameras, but their touchscreen-focused user interfaces take some getting used to, and to be completely honest I never got used to them. The CL offers a more conventional handling experience which after extended use, I’d describe as being a hybrid of the TL2 and the Leica M10.

The twin control dials on the top of the camera serve as the main controls for exposure adjustment, and each has a switch at its center, which enables the dial function to be modified. Whether or not you get on with these dials is probably down to personal preference, but I really wish that one of them was on the front of the camera, for operation with my index finger (rather than my thumb).

Top LCD screen

Nestled between the twin control dials is the tiniest LCD I’ve seen since the Ricoh GR1. At 128 x 58px it serves as a basic status display for current exposure settings, and it automatically illuminates in low light (very handy).

Electronic viewfinder

Another very welcome addition to the CL compared to the T-series is a built-in viewfinder. Adding an accessory finder to the TL/2 is entirely possible, and makes the cameras more versatile, but it also makes them a lot bulkier. Plus the black Visoflex finder isn’t a good aesthetic match for the brushed aluminum cameras, and Leica owners care about that sort of thing.

Electronic viewfinder

The CL’s viewfinder isn’t completely flush with the top of the camera, but the slight bump (rather reminiscent of the Olympus PEN-F) doesn’t add much bulk, and the high resolution (2.36MP) and good magnification (0.74X equiv.) provide a crisp, clear view. Eye-relief is a sunglasses-friendly 20mm and a poppable-lockable +/-4 diopter is on hand for wearers of prescription eyeglasses.

Rear touch screen

The CL’s 3″, 1.04 million-dot rear LCD is fixed, and touch-sensitive. Unlike the TL2 however, the CL’s conventional button and dial interface means that the touchscreen is by and large an optional, rather than integral part of the handling experience.

I say ‘by and large’ because I have had cause to curse the CL’s touchscreen on several occasions since I’ve been using the camera. In touch AF mode, the CL works as you’d expect it to. You hold the camera out in front of you and touch the screen, and the AF point is positioned at the spot you just touched. But if you then raise the camera to your eye, especially if you’re shooting vertically, it is more or less guaranteed that your nose will reposition the AF point to the very top of the image. This is the kind of operational quirk that I associate with earlier, more primitive touch implementations, and it is hugely annoying.

While it is easy to steer clear of touch-AF and touch-shutter modes through the AF mode menu settings, there is unfortunately no way to disable swipe gestures and image review scrolling and zooming touch features. More than a few times I have found myself accidentally ‘swiping’ (read: lightly brushing) the screen from the right which switches the CL into movie mode.

Swipe gestures

The trouble is that once you’re in movie standby mode: a) you might not actually realize at first, which is confusing and b), assuming you got there accidentally, it is far from obvious how to get back to normal stills mode. The first couple of times I encountered this issue (bear in mind that I didn’t have access to a user manual) I actually gave up and did a hard reset to factory settings just to get back to the business of taking pictures.

When I raised the issue with our contact at Leica, he informed me that a long touch followed by a swipe on the left of the screen switches back to stills mode. He also reminded me that the button in the center of the leftmost control dial can be used to switch between exposure modes (including movie).

This is all well and good, but I really wish it was possible to disable the swipe gestures altogether.

24MP sensor

The CL’s sensor is a 24MP APS-C Bayer-type, without an AA filter. Leica claims 14 stops of dynamic range, which seems about right given the ~40MB Raw files (bearing in mind that we’re not allowed to lab test this early production sample). JPEG image quality is exactly what I’d expect after using the TL2, and compares well to competitive 24MP APS-C cameras.

Alongside Ricoh (and Samsung, RIP) Leica is one of the few companies to offer Raw shooting in the .DNG format, which is always good to see – and makes shooting pre-production sample galleries for DPReview much easier. Perhaps as an indication of its enthusiast/semi-pro pretensions, when you reset the CL to factory settings (which as previously noted I have done, more than once) it defaults to RAW + JPEG capture.

Disappointingly, but not surprisingly at this point, the CL offers neither in-camera stabilization nor automatic sensor cleaning. Since like many mirrorless cameras the CL’s sensor is fully exposed when the lens is removed from the camera, dust can (and in my experience does) get into your pictures unless you’re very careful.

Mechanical + E-shutter

The CL’s shutter is a hybrid mechanical/electronic type. It is fully mechanical to 1/8000sec, and fully electronic up to an equivalent shutter duration of 1/25,000sec. A full-time ‘silent’ E-shutter mode is also available, but interestingly, electronic first-curtain shutter is not an option. I haven’t seen any evidence of noticeable shutter-shock during my shooting so far, but we’ll be sure to test this in the lab once we receive a reviewable camera.

The CL’s maximum shooting rate is a respectable 10fps, with focus locked. Leica claims that this performance is thanks to the new shutter, in combination with the CL’s Maestro II image processor – the same generation processor (though not necessarily the same chip) that we’ve seen used in the TL2 and M10.

4K / 30p, 1080/60p

The CL is the second camera in the L-mount lineup (after the TL2) to offer 4K video capture, at 30p. Overall, despite the headline 4K mode the CL’s video feature set is pretty unremarkable. 4K/24p capture is not possible, and with no microphone socket, videographers are limited to in-camera microphones for audio recording. The microphones are visible in this image, just forward of the CL’s hotshoe.

Battery

The CL uses the same Panasonic-manufactured BP-DC12 battery as the Q, and offers an unremarkable CIPA rating of between 220-240 shots per charge. In normal use I’ve found that (unsurprisingly) this rating is conservative, but for people who regularly shoot a lot of video, I’d definitely recommending bringing a spare – especially if you’re planning on being away from a charger for a while.

Part of the reason I say this is that the CL does not feature a USB socket and as such, there’s no option for USB charging, which is a shame.

New 18mm pancake lens

The L-series lens lineup is still relatively small, but it grows slightly with the addition of the Elmarit 18mm F2.8 pancake prime – the lens that was mostly attached to the front of the CL during my time with the camera.

New 18mm pancake lens

The Japanese-manufacturered Elmarit is tiny at only 20.5mm (0.8in) in length and lightweight at only 80g (2.8oz), but makes up for its skinny dimensions with a big fat price-tag. The 18mm F2.8 will be available in black or silver, either on its own for $ 1295 or in a kit with the CL.

M-Adapter L

The Leica CL is also fully compatible with the M-Adapter L, which enables virtually any M-mount (and most Leica thread-mount, via an additional adapter) lenses to be used with a 1.5X crop. Modern M-mount lenses with 6-bit coding can be ‘read’ by the CL, allowing for in-camera profile corrections to be applied.

This is my battered old LTM 5cm F1.5 Summarit, which becomes a battered old 7.5cm equiv., when mounted on the CL.

Final thoughts (for now)

On balance, the Leica CL is a nicely-designed camera that is pleasant to use. It’s not perfect, but compared to the T/L and TL2 that came before it, it’s more practical for everyday photography and easier to get to grips with. The built-in viewfinder is excellent, and I appreciate the more or less conventional button-and-dial interface, and the straightforward, M10-inspired menu. Less convincing is the touchscreen implementation. While the ability to set focus by touch in some AF modes, and scroll through / zoom into images in playback is really handy, the frequent problem of the AF point being repositioned by my nose, and the ‘always on’ swipe functionality did frustrate me.

Image quality from the CL’s 24MP sensor seems excellent, although I’m not wholly convinced by the 18mm lens. During my time with the CL I’ve used it almost exclusively with the new 18mm F2.8 pancake, and I can’t deny that it’s a pretty powerful combination – as well as being truly pocketable. Unfortunately, off-center sharpness isn’t as good as I would hope from a $ 1200+ prime, and the ~F4 equivalent aperture (in 35mm terms) limits its usefulness for low light photography, or anything where you might want a modicum of foreground/background separation.

That said, there are other, very good quality lenses in Leica’s T-mount lineup, and the CL will play very well with all of them, albeit at the expense of some pocketability.

What do you think of the new Leica CL? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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