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Hands on: Olympus 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x

17 Nov

Hands on: Olympus 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x

It’s here! We’ve known that the Olympus 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x was coming for a long time, and mockups have been on display here and there at trade shows (remember those?) for a year or so, but now it’s official. Designed for professional and advanced amateur photographers, especially fans of wildlife and sports, the Olympus 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x is shaping up to be a seriously impressive lens for serious Micro Four Thirds shooters.

Click through this article to learn more.

Focal length range

First let’s start by going over its focal length range. This is a 150-400mm tele-zoom, which covers an equivalent range of 300-800mm in full-frame terms. Meanwhile, its constant maximum aperture of F4.5 works out equivalent (in full-frame depth-of-field terms) to F9. The built-in teleconverter provides a boost in magnification of 1.25X, and when activated, the lens effectively becomes a ~190-500mm F5.6, or an equivalent 380-1000mm zoom.

Up to 8 stops of stabilization

That kind of focal length reach is impressive, despite the relatively slow aperture, and Olympus insists that the lens is fully hand-holdable, even at an equivalent focal length of 1000mm. Boasting a claimed 4.5 stops of stabilization as standard and up to eight stops of stabilization at the 150mm setting in combination with Olympus’s newest high-end ILCs (dropping to a claimed six stops when zoomed all the way), our experience so far suggests that this is indeed a lens which can be shot without a tripod. At least for a short while…

Size and weight

A tripod is still a good idea for extended shooting, because while undoubtedly smaller and lighter than an equivalent lens for full-frame would be, at 4.1lb (1.9 kg) you will quickly feel the weight of the 150-400mm around your neck – especially if it’s mounted on an E-M1X. Olympus has kept the weight down as much as possible by liberal use of reinforced plastics (including a ‘Heat Shielding Coating’ to stop sunlight from heating up the internals) over a magnesium-alloy chassis, with carbon fiber employed for the large detachable hood.

Weather-sealing

As we’d expect from a lens in Olympus’s ‘PRO’ lineup, the 150-400mm is sealed against dust and moisture, and is rated for use in conditions as cold as -10°C (14°F).

Despite its long reach, the 150-400mm accepts conventional 95mm screw-in filters. Several third-party options are available, but Olympus will be selling one alongside the new lens for $ 324.99.

Optical construction and autofocus

Optical construction of this tele-zoom lens is complex, consisting of 28 elements in 18 groups. The optical design comprises several special glass elements, including four ED elements and two ‘HR’ high refractive-index elements. The built-in 1.25X TC alone accounts for seven elements, in four groups.

Olympus’s ‘Z Nano’ coating is used to keep transmission and contrast high, and the front element is coated with fluorine to help repel dust and moisture.

The 150-400’s focus group is driven by a stepping motor. We found focus speeds to be very quick (Olympus claims that this lens is 25% faster than the 300mm F4 Pro) and the motor is nearly silent.

Minimum focus and max magnification

Minimum focus is 1.3m (51″) across the entire focal length range, which equates to a maximum magnification of 0.57X, increasing to 0.71X when the built-in teleconverter is used. While it wouldn’t be our first choice for true macro photography, this is impressive for a tele-zoom lens, and makes the 150-400mm very versatile when it comes to smaller subjects like butterflies.

Customization

Being a professional-grade lens, the 150-400mm features no fewer than four customizable L-Fn buttons, as well as preset focus buttons to quickly recall a saved focus position. The new Olympus 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x will be available at the end of January, 2021, at an MSRP of $ 7,499 ($ 10,000 CAD).

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands on: Leica Q2 Monochrom

11 Nov

Hands-on with the Leica Q2 Monochrom

It was perhaps only a matter of time before Leica made a monochrome-only version of its popular Q2, and here it is! The Q2 Monochrom is a stealthy, niche camera aimed at black and white enthusiasts, and we’ve had one in our hands for a few days. Read on for all the details.

Newly-developed 47MP mono sensor

Contrary to some of the opinions occasionally posted in comments, making a dedicated monochromatic sensor is not a simple matter of just removing the color filter layer. While the base silicon of the Q2M’s sensor is the same as the conventional Q2, Leica has redesigned the microlens array, to account for the different thickness of the optical stack.

More resolution, more sensitivity

The removal of the color filter layer means that the Q2M’s sensor captures pure detail, without any need for interpolation (basically, the clever process by which neighboring RGB values get turned into a single full-colored pixel).

It also makes the sensor more efficient from a light-gathering point of view, since no light is lost to any color filters (the Q2M’s maximum ISO is 100,000 compared to 50,000 from the conventional Q2), and results in a claimed ~2EV improvement in terms of low light image quality and dynamic range, but it’s unlikely to be that simple (we’d expect a benefit of more like +1EV) and it’s something we want to test that as soon as possible.

And before you suggest it, yes, dedicated mono cameras are more than just a gimmick.

Same 28mm F1.7 lens

The Leica Q2M uses the same 11-element Summilux Asph 28mm F1.7 as its predecessors, and Leica assures us that while the lens has been around for a while, it’s more than capable of meeting the resolution potential of the monochrome sensor. If you’ve ever used a Q or Q2 you’ll know the deal here, but this is a fixed lens, with a large focusing tab, and an easy-to-use switch to move the lens into a close-focus range. While the Q2M’s autofocus performance is very good, this is also one of the best manual focusing experiences (despite actually being ‘focus by wire’) that you’ll find on a modern camera.

Q2-style ergonomics, per FW 2.0

You’ve probably already got the message, but functionally, the Q2 Monochrom really is just a Q2 with a modified sensor. That means it shares the same control layout (updated over the original Q) with a touch-sensitive rear LCD. One thing to note is that the Q2M launches with the same features that were added to the Q2 in FW 2.0. That’s things like a redesigned menu system including a ‘quick touch’ interface and the addition of exposure control in video.

Like the Q2, the Q2M is dust and moisture-sealed, and is IP 52 rated.

3.68M-dot OLED viewfinder

One of the biggest upgrades in the Q2 compared to the original Q was in the viewfinder, which moved away from the field-sequential technology used previously, in favor of OLED. While the 3.68M-dot panel (with 0.76X magnification) in the Q2 and now the Q2M is fairly standard for high-end cameras at this point, it’s still a great experience, offering a crisp, contrasty and detailed view. One small disappointment remains: there’s almost no eye-relief and the optically flat glass panel can create distracting reflections in some conditions.

BP-SCL4 Battery

The Q2 Monochrom’s BP-SCL4 battery is the same as the Q2 and should give comparable battery life. The BP-SCL4 is rated for 350 shots (CIPA) and in normal use, we’ve found that you can expect at least this many, and usually more images per charge, provided you stick to stills capture.

The small door on the opposite side of the baseplate (lower in this image) conceals a single SD card slot. The Q2M can be used with standard SD cards and faster UHS-II versions, but there’s no performance benefit to using UHS-II.

Summing up

And that’s it, really. The Q2 Monochrom is exactly what it sounds like: a monochrome version of the Q2. The only major difference is the modified sensor, but you’ll probably also have noticed that there is no color anywhere on the camera either. There’s no red dot on the front, and all markings are shades of gray on black. As such, the Q2M is one of the most discreet cameras around, almost as discreet as the taped-up M6 shown on the left in the image above.

The Q2 Monochrom will begin shipping immediately, at an MSRP of $ 5,995.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands on with the Panasonic Lumix DC-G100

24 Jun

Introduction

The Panasonic Lumix DC-G100 is a mirrorless camera designed explicitly for vloggers. To this end, it’s been designed to be small and features an innovative audio setup as well as a fully articulating rear screen.

It’s capable of 4K video and both fast and slow 1080 footage. We took a closer look at what the camera offers and both its strengths and its weaknesses for its stated task.

Microphones / Tracking Audio

Central to the G100’s vlogging credentials are the three microphones built into the top plate of the camera. The separated locations of the mics allow the camera to create directional pickup (and suppression) patterns, using technology licensed from Nokia’s ‘OZO’ virtual reality program.

This technology offers, in addition to simple front, rear and surround modes, a ‘tracking’ audio mode that works in tandem with the camera’s face detection feature. This not only gives priority to the signal coming from the microphone nearest the detected face, it also uses the other mics to detect and cancel-out background noise that might distract the user.

Fully articulated screen / Self Shot mode

As you’d expect on a vlogging-focused camera, the G100 has a fully articulated screen. It’s a 1.84M dot touchscreen in which the backlight and liquid crystal layer are very close together, maximizing both viewing angle and brightness.

When flipped forward, the camera automatically engages a ‘Self Shot’ mode, that engages a series of simple touchscreen functions, such as ‘Background Control’ that lets you select either whether the aperture should be opened up to provide a ‘defocused’ background or stopped down to make it ‘clear.’ Processing options such as skin smoothing and slimming mode are also present, to provide a social media-friendly result out-of-camera.

You can disengage Self Shot mode from the menus, if you don’t want it.

Image stabilization

The G100 does not have any mechanical image stabilization, which Panasonic says would make the camera body too big. It is usually bundled with stabilized lenses and offers electronic image stabilization in video mode.

1080 video has shake corrected in five axes (pitch, yaw, vertical and horizontal translation, and roll), whereas 4K footage is not corrected for roll. Panasonic says this correction is based on the same gyroscopic sensors and algorithms used in its physical IS systems, to maximize performance.

However, since electronic IS is delivered by windowing (capturing video from different regions of the sensor in response to the movement the camera experiences), it means that the camera needs to crop-in, to provide room to move the active window around.

Video specs / crops

The G100 can shoot 4K but it does so with a significant crop. This crop becomes more extreme if you wish to utilize the camera’s more powerful stabilization modes, which makes it extremely limiting for vlogging. There’s no way to make it look more positive: the G100’s stabilized 4K is not very usable for the camera’s explicitly stated purpose.

It’s a happier story in 1080 mode. Increased stabilization requires cropping (as is necessarily the case for EIS), but this effect is rendered less severe because the unstabilized 1080 footage is taken from the full width of the sensor.

The camera also offers quick and slow modes, where it can take output 4K 60 fps capture as 1/2 speed 30p, there are also options for 1/2 speed 60p and 1/2 and 1/4 speed 30p in 1080 mode. The camera also offers sped-up footage taken from very slow fps capture, again output as either 60 or 30p files.

Video features

The rest of the video spec is an odd mixture of seemingly high-end options and social media friendly features, though they do sometimes meet in the middle.

For high end users, the G100 includes the ability to shoot V-Log L footage, which captures more dynamic range but requires subsequent color grading before it’s usable. There’s also onscreen framing guides to give you an idea of when your subject is within the region that you’d use for a super-wide cinematic 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

For the more social-media minded, there are framing guides for 9:16 and 1:1 video (for if you’re planning to shoot 16:9 but want to crop a region out for display on a a different platform, later). Alternatively, the G100 can natively shoot vertical video for InstagramTV and will include all the metadata to ensure it’s shown correctly.

All users are likely to benefit from the VU audio meter display, borrowed directly from the GH5.

Shutter

The G100 has a compact shutter unit originally developed for the smallest Micro Four Thirds camera: the DMC-GM1.

It’s simpler, mechanically, than most shutter mechanisms and includes only a return shutter: the first curtain that begins the exposure is provided electronically, by rows of the sensor being activated, one after the other. The shutter is relatively slow, which limits its fastest exposure to 1/500 sec and its flash sync speed (the shortest duration in which the entire sensor is exposed at the same time), to 1/50 sec. Shutter speeds from 1/500th up to 1/16,000 sec are provided by using a fully electronic shutter.

When shooting with the G100 we found P and Auto modes seem to try to keep the camera within the EFCS shutter range, unless using the full electronic shutter is unavoidable, even if this means stopping the lens down well into diffraction-blurred territory.

Viewfinder

Unlike the Sony ZV-1, Panasonic has decided to include a viewfinder on the G100. It’s an impressive finder for a camera at this price.

The resolution is 3.68M dot equivalent, with the e-word denoting the use of a field-sequential update where the red, green and blue components of the image are flashed at your eye one after the other (rather than having separate, sub-pixel ‘dots’ showing each color at each location).

However, whereas this technology can sometimes produce a strange rainbow ‘tearing’ effect if your eye moves as the colors update, the experience on the G100 is excellent. Even the person most sensitive to the effect had no problem using the camera, meaning you’re left with a large, bright and energy-efficient viewfinder.

Tripod grip

The G100 will be offered in kits along with the DMW-SHGR1 Tripod Grip. It’s a small selfie grip that can double as a tabletop tripod, to support two key types of vlogging.

It’s a small, light unit that connects to the camera (or other recent Panasonic models) via the USB B (or Micro USB) socket on the side of the camera, meaning there’s no need to mess around pairing over Bluetooth as is sometimes necessary.

The grip features both shutter and [REC] buttons to make it easy to start and stop capture even at arms length. The battery/card slot is still accessible, even with the tripod grip attached.

Usual Panasonic features

Being a Panasonic, the G100 has a host of other features, many of which are derived from its 4K video capability.

The most prominent of these is the 4K Photo feature, that lets you shoot images at 30 frames per second, at around 4K resolution. Because these stills are taken from the video feed, they feature a similar crop to the one applied for video capture. There’s a useful interface for finding the best image and options to pre-buffer frames before you press the shutter, to help make sure you capture the right moment.

Also exploiting the video feed are the Focus Stacking and Post Focus features. These shoot video while simultaneously driving the focus motor. Focus Stacking combines the result to give images with everything in focus, while Post Focus lets you retrospectively decide which point you want in focus.

On the G100 there’s also a fairly comprehensive timelapse feature built-in, too.

Summary

The G100 is an interesting little camera. Like Sony’s recent ZV-1 it feels like Panasonic has tried to rummage around in its parts bins to see what it would take to turn the GM or GF cameras into something that would appeal to vloggers.

This should be a relatively easy win, given the company’s expertise in video, especially when combined with the audio cleverness from Nokia. However, the result feels slightly undercooked.

It can take some lovely stills and in many respects is a well-specced, usefully compact camera. But our initial impression of its vlogging capabilities are, mixed, to say the least. We’ll be shooting a lot more with the G100 in the coming weeks and we’ll see whether the large viewfinder and bright rear LCD make up for the things it doesn’t seem to quite get right.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands on with the Nikon D780

16 Jan

Introduction

At long last, it’s here – the Nikon D780, successor to the D750 that was released more than five years ago. At the time, we considered the D750 as one of the most well-rounded digital cameras ever made, and it remains highly capable even today. So, to put it lightly, the new model has some big shoes to fill.

We’ve just received a full-production D780 and have gotten a start on our full review. As we work through our testing, we figured we’d take a look at the D780’s design, handling, and some of its high-level updates.

New BSI sensor

The heart of any digital camera is its sensor, and the unit in the D780 looks to be a good one. With 24MP, it’s not a megapixel monster, but should offer enough resolution for most users and most use cases. It’s now backside-illuminated, which is nice to have but doesn’t offer the same image quality benefits on large, full-frame sensors as it does on smaller ones. No, the real news is that it’s a dual-gain design. This means that, at the lowest ISO values, you can get maximum dynamic range out of the sensor, while higher ISO values give you better noise performance.

The sensor is also capable of 4K video, and the D780 can shoot silent bursts at up to 12 fps. We’ll be taking a look at rolling shutter as we push through our full review.

New shutter and mirror mechanism

Being a DSLR, a mirror sits in front of the sensor most of the time and redirects light up to an optical viewfinder. The D780’s sensor and mirror mechanism have been redesigned, boosting burst speeds modestly up to 7 fps from 6.5. The redesigns also enable a minimum mechanical shutter speed of 1/8000 sec (the D750 could only reach 1/4000 sec). Unfortunately, the flash sync speed remains at 1/200 sec; many competing high-end models can reach 1/250 sec or even 1/320 sec.

And, speaking of flash…

Removal of pop-up flash and top-plate design

That’s right, Nikon’s removed the built-in pop-up flash that was on the previous model. While Nikon says this makes it easier to weather-seal the D780 to a higher degree, it also means that you no longer have that built-in flash for some quick fill-light when you need it. For strobists, the removal of the flash also means that you need a separate dedicated transmitter (or another speedlight) to wirelessly control Nikon’s speedlights using its Creative Lighting System.

On the top plate, we see an LCD info panel that is about the same as you’d see on the D750. There’s been some button shuffling, though; gone on the right side by the power switch is the dedicated metering button, though an ISO button has been added. Lastly, the mode dial has been simplified with fewer options.

Rear design and controls

While the rear of the camera might look familiar, there are a few substantive changes. There’s the addition of a dedicated AF-ON button, and the relocation of the live view and stills / video switch to the top of the plate near the viewfinder for easier access. The ‘i’ and INFO buttons have swapped sides of the camera as well, so if you pick up a D780 and are a long time D750 user, prepare to reprogram your muscle memory just a bit.

Oh, and if you’ve ever lost your Nikon DK-21 eyecup for your D750, we have some good news – it seems like the DK-31 eyecup for the D780 is attached a bit more securely, and we haven’t lost ours (yet).

Optical viewfinder and autofocus system

And so, despite the bit of button shuffling, it looks like much of Nikon’s mantra with the D780 was ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ In that vein, the optical viewfinder is identical to the previous model’s: same pentaprism design, 0.7x magnification, and autofocus layout with 51 points clustered around the center of the frame.

Indeed, after our experience with ever-more-capable mirrorless cameras over the past five years, we’re starting to find the spread of DSLR autofocus points a bit constricting. But hey – if you’ve been using a D750 for the past five years, well, at least it’ll be familiar, if not a huge upgrade.

All that said, you can expect at least an increase in accuracy and tracking performance, courtesy of an upgraded 180k-pixel metering sensor and AF algorithms derived from the D5 sports camera. We’ll be digging into these in our full review to find out just how significant these updates are.

Rear touchscreen and live view

The D780 retains a similar tilting screen mechanism that its predecessor had – and I have to be honest, when I first used a D750 professionally, I was pretty stoked at tilting the screen out and not having to lay down on my stomach in the dirt for low angle shots. But I digress.

In consideration of all the D780 offers, this is where the most significant updates lie. Sure, the screen has been updated to 2.36M dots (up from 1.23M), and offers touch functionality for shooting, playback and menus. But the real story is that once you switch the D780 into live view, you effectively have a bulkier, F-mount Nikon Z6 in your hands.

You get the Z6’s 273 on-sensor phase-detection AF points (compared to the slow, ‘hunty’ contrast detection of the D750) and the same AF tap-to-track functionality for both stills and video. And speaking of video, the D780 is capable of 4K video, which we’d wager will look an awful lot like what the Z6 is capable of (in other words, pretty darn good).

The one gripe we have with the touchscreen is that you can’t drag your finger across it with your eye to the viewfinder to move your AF point around (and this was included on Nikon’s D5600 DSLR as well as countless mirrorless models from other manufacturers).

Dual UHS-II SD card slots

Moving on, we can see that the Nikon has resisted moving the D780 to the XQD format seen on Nikon’s Z-mount cameras, instead offering dual UHS-II SD card slots (an upgrade from the UHS-I slots on the D750). Whether you prefer the more ubiquitous SD card format or not, at least we can breathe a collective sigh of relief that there will be somewhat fewer “NO DUAL CARD SLOTS NO BUY NOT PROFESSIONAL GRR” comments floating around the internet.*

And while we haven’t yet tested the buffer depth of the D780, it was a bit limited on the D750, and was regarded as one of that camera’s weak points. We’re hopeful that the faster slots on the D780 will enable longer burst-shooting for sports and action photographers.

*(In all seriousness, the D750 made for a great wedding camera, which is a use-case where dual card slots have an obvious benefit – we’re happy the D780 continues to offer them.)

Battery, no grip

One area that has generated a barrage of bilious bloviating is the D780’s apparent lack of compatibility with an add-on vertical grip. The bottom-plate of the camera is where we would usually see a small rubberized door hiding some electrical contacts that enable the camera to use additional controls present on most vertical battery grips. Without those, the most we can hope for is a grip like this one for the Z series, which boosts battery life but doesn’t do much else.

At the very least, the D780 is CIPA rated to 2260 shots through the optical finder on a single EN-EL15b battery, which is over than a thousand shots more than the D750 could manage. That’s pretty impressive.

Ports and connectivity

Further related to battery life, the D780 gains a USB Type C port, which can also charge the camera if you have the EN-EL15b battery installed. The previous EN-EL15a and EN-EL15 batteries will power the camera, but they cannot be charged over USB. It should also allow for faster data transfers, as well as better tethering support.

In terms of wireless data transfers, the D780 now supports Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi using Nikon’s SnapBridge wireless system. It’s become quite a capable system and is a far cry from the original WMU mobile app that users had to contend with on the D750.

There’s also a mini HDMI port, which supports 10-bit 4:2:2 4K video output (just like the Nikon Z6), as well as a remote port and microphone and headphone ports. If you have a stabilized lens, a gimbal or plan to use a tripod a lot, the D780 should make for a pretty capable DSLR video rig.

The wrap

By now it should be apparent that, in creating the D780, Nikon has chosen not to mess with the basics of what made the D750 a great camera. We still have a reasonably compact DSLR body with a comfortable grip and well-sorted ergonomics, burst shooting that is likely fast enough for most people, and what is looking to be a really capable viewfinder autofocus system. With the addition of 4K video, a smoother live view experience, a touchscreen and better wireless connectivity, they’ve only really updated the things that really needed updating.

Does that make the D780 a particularly exciting camera? I suspect it will be pretty exciting for a fairly small subset of users (particularly those with large collections of F-mount lenses). But it does help guarantee that, just like the D750, the D780 will likely remain relevant as a reliable workhorse for pros and enthusiasts for many years to come.

And if you’re a D750 user that still can’t decide whether or not to upgrade, watch this space – we’ll be publishing an article dedicated to just that very soon.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands on with the Sony a6600 and a6100

29 Aug

Hands on with the Sony a6600 and a6100

Sony’s just dropped two new APS-C interchangeable lens cameras, the a6600 and the a6100, at a launch event in New York City. We’ll be working with the cameras to get you our initial impressions as soon as we can, but for now, we’ve had a chance to see how they handle, as well as give you a closer look at some of the design changes Sony’s brought to the series.

We’ll start with the a6600, which Sony is describing as the new flagship of its APS-C range.

The new Z-type battery

Aside from the Real-time Tracking autofocus enhancements Sony has bestowed upon the a6600, one of the most significant upgrades is that the camera now uses Sony’s NP-FZ100 battery, first seen on the a7-series of full-frame cameras.

This battery offers 2.2x the capacity of the older NP-W50, and gives the a6600 a CIPA rating of 810 shots per charge using the rear LCD (this drops to 720 using the EVF exclusively). As with all CIPA ratings, you can expect to get more shots in real-world use. In our experience with this Z-type battery in Sony’s full-frame offerings, we’ve enjoyed several days’ worth of fairly frequent shooting and reviewing before we needed to top it off.

Headphone and other ports

On the side of the new a6600 is an updated array of ports, the most significant addition being a headphone jack for monitoring audio while recording video. This immediately makes the a6600 a more appealing video camera, particularly for run-and-gun style shooters who don’t want to carry an external audio recorder.

Above the audio jacks is a micro-USB port offering USB 2.0 transfer speeds as well as in-camera charging for the new battery. There’s also a standard micro-HDMI port as well.

Selfie screen

The a6600 has inherited the updated screen mechanism we first saw on the midrange a6400. This means it tilts down by 90 degrees for shooting from high angles, and it also tilts up 180 degrees for shooting selfie photos or vlogging.

Helping out users who are into vlogging – or really, video shooters of all kinds – will be the a6600’s in-body image stabilization, which can combine with in-lens stabilization to produce smoother footage than either system on its own. We’ll be sure to test the effectiveness of this system when we have a final review sample.

Not-so-updated controls, no built-in flash

The controls on the a6600 are largely the same as the a6500 that preceded it – though there is an additional ‘C3’ customizable button by the Menu button that wasn’t present on the a6500. But you’ll notice there’s no longer a button to pop the flash up, because…there’s no built-in flash. At least Sony left the hotshoe in so an external flash unit can be added if necessary.

Of particular note is the lack of any type of AF joystick, but the touchscreen on the a6600 supports touchpad AF, so you can drag your finger across the screen to move your autofocus point around while your eye is to the viewfinder.

Top-plate controls

Here’s a better view of the top-plate controls, where you can see the ‘C1’ and ‘C2’ customizable buttons. It’s worth mentioning that you can’t see a front command dial in this photograph, because there isn’t one. The a6600 is still technically a ‘twin-dial’ camera, with one dial on the right shoulder and one on the rear plate, but both dials are operated with your thumb. We really wish Sony would’ve added a front dial to the a6600, but alas, it’s just not meant to be.

On to the a6100

Now that we’ve covered the flagship a6600, let’s take a look at its lower-end sibling, the new a6100. This camera will slot in between the existing a6000 and a6400 cameras (at least for now), borrowing bits from each while bringing some valuable updates as well. Let’s take a look.

Side ports

As expected, the a6100 has the same port array of the a6400, missing out on the headphone jack that was added to the a6600 flagship. Those interested in shooting video will also be disappointed by the a6100’s lack of picture profiles, including any sort of Log shooting. You do still get a microphone jack though, as well as micro USB (which can be used to charge the battery) and micro-HDMI connectors.

A smaller battery

To keep cost, size and weight down, the a6100 continues to use Sony’s venerable NP-FW50 ‘W-type’ battery. With a CIPA rating of 420 shots, battery life is actually quite decent, if not exemplary. You can expect to get through at least a day of heavy shooting without running out of juice.

Happily, both the a6100 and a6600 continue to offer NFC, as you can see from the icon on the side of the camera here. That means that pairing your Android smartphone with the camera is as easy as tapping the two together.

Rear controls

The rear of the a6100 brings few surprises, though the camera loses the AF/MF rocker switch, instead making due with a simpler AEL button that will almost certainly be customizable. That glossy screen is the same panel we’ve seen before, but the addition of touch functionality should make this a friendlier camera to use than the older a6000.

Tilting screen

And of course, the a6100 gets the new tilting screen mechanism from the a6400 and a6600, which tilts up 180 degrees for selfies and vlogging. In this view, you can also see the ‘C1’ customizable button next to the shutter on the top plate.

Top plate controls

Here’s a better view of that top-plate, which shows that the a6100 retains the built-in pop-up flash that the a6600 lost. We’re told that the distinctly glossy a6100 body is made of high-strength plastic. The a6600, meanwhile, uses magnesium alloy in much of its construction.

That’s a wrap

And that’s all for now! What do you think of Sony’s new APS-C duo? Let us know in the comments, and please do pepper us with questions – we’ll answer them if we’re able, and if we’re not, we’ll forward them on to Sony courtesy of our staffers at the launch event in New York.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Hands

24 Aug

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Hands appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

This week’s photography challenge topic is HANDS!

Perry Grone

Hands can say so much about a person! So go out and take some fab photos of hands! They can be wrinkly, newborn, working, dirty, or clean. They can be color, black and white, moody or bright. Just so long as they include hands! You get the picture! Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Quino Al

Akira Hojo

Liv Bruce

Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.

Tips for Shooting HANDS

6 Tips for Posing Hands in Wedding and Portrait Photography

26 Expressive Images of Hands

Handiwork: How to Pose Hands

How to Pose Hands in Portraits

Black and White Portraits a Set of Images to Admire

How to Photograph Close-Up Details of Newborns and Infants

Weekly Photography Challenge – HANDS

Simply upload your shot into the comment 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 favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.

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 #DPShands 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.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Hands appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Hands on: Synology DS1019+ is a five-drive NAS storage solution for photographers

01 Mar

Synology DS1019+ NAS hands on

Network attached storage manufacturer Synology recently announced a new DiskStation model that aims to provide a lower price-point 5-bay NAS for photographers and small businesses. The DS1019+ will sit below the DS1517+ and offers a more restricted set of options for reduced cost, but without killing the speed and functionality associated with the brand.

The device offers a maximum capacity of 60TB when each of the five bays are loaded with a 12TB drive, which is the same level of storage that can be achieved with the top end model. But the DS1019+ has only two LAN ports, limiting expansion – the more expensive DS1517+ NAS has four. The DS1019+ also doesn’t offer an upgradable LAN connection and has less flexibility when it comes to the functions of its RAM. It does, however, provide a fast processor and the same set of software packages that are common to most Synology products. It can also transcode and stream two channels of H.264/H.265 4K video at the same time to your TV, tablet or phone.

We got hold of a unit to take a closer look at the NAS itself, how easy it is to set-up and the applications that can be installed on it.

Twin fans cool the five drives, LAN provides expansion

Twin fans keep the five drives cool, and ensure the quad-core 1.5GHz J3455 processor doesn’t over-heat. The DS1019+ comes with 4GB of RAM built in, but that can be expanded to 8GB via the dual M.2 slots hidden in the base, with the extra RAM being used for cacheing.

The rear also reveals two 1GBE LAN ports – these can be used to connect a single Expansion Unit DX517 for additional storage. Maximum storage capacity when the DS1019+ is linked to a DX517 is 120TB. With 1GbE LAN you can expect read/write speeds of up to 225MB/s even with AES-NI encryption.

Accepts 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch SATA HDD/SSD drives

The Synology DS1019+ can accept five 3.5-inch or 2.5inch SATA HDD/SSD drives, which sit in these trays to be mounted into the NAS. The tray is well made, and although lightweight it feels solid enough to hold and protect the drive. The base is open for ventilation, and the front face is hinged to provide a handle for removing it from the enclosure.

Drives are secured in trays

I used 6TB Seagate Ironwolf drives and filled four of the bays. The drives slot in to the trays nicely, and a pair of plastic rails with protruding pins secure them into place. Securing all four of the disks was a two-minute job and about as straightforward as it is possible to be. A set of screws comes with the kit for fixing 2.5-in drives to the trays.

To swap drives, simply slide in and out

The loaded trays slot back into the enclosure along runners that make it very difficult to do it wrong or to misalign on entry. Once in place and pushed in as far the tray will go, the protruding handle can be pushed in flush with the rest of the unit.

Plastic keys lock drive bays closed

A pair of plastic keys comes with the NAS that allow the bays to be locked. It would be pretty difficult to open one by accident and to pull out the drive, but it’s better to be safe rather than sorry. Provided you’re using a RAID configuration, drives can be switched out should they fail or if you want to increase the size of your storage capacity later.

Status lights indicate which drives are in use, failure

With the DS1019+ plugged in, the drives come to life, and lights on the enclosure illuminate to let you know they are in action. It is then ready to use. The lights let you know when each drive is in use, and also when one has failed. The lights stay green when the drives are at the normal temperature, and go orange when they are too hot.

Router setup is simple

With the DS1019+ powered up, and connected to a router, it is only a matter of seconds before it becomes available to set up on the computer. Synology’s Assistant detects the NAS and when you select it, the management software can be started up.

Disk Station Manager guides setup

Disk Station Manager makes it pretty easy to get the NAS ready to use. The applications take us through the setup step-by-step and explain what the options are at each stage. Most of the language is straightforward, but when it isn’t, the company’s online Knowledge Base does a good job of supporting you through with a mixture of text and video guidance.

Drives can easily be configured

When you come to create a storage pool you need to choose what RAID type you want the NAS to use. The DS1019+ allows RAID 0, Basic, JBOD, 1, 5, 6 and 10. RAID 10 can only be used if there are four or more drives in the pool. The drop down interface allows you to select the type while the information panel clearly explains the properties of that type of RAID, with the pros and cons of each. Even if you don’t think you know what you are doing this interface takes most of the mystery out of the set-up.

Using RAID can feel a bit painful, as it seems we only get to use a part of the storage capacity we have bought. The idea of using a RAID system is that the drives effectively back each other up by the degrees that we choose. RAID 0 doesn’t provide any backup so the full capacity of the drives is available as storage, but if a drive fails we lose the data that was stored on it.

RAID 10, on the other hand, effectively saves each element of data twice across the drives, so that if one fails whatever was on it will be duplicated somewhere on the other drives. This makes your data safe, but the downside is that it halves the amount of space we have to use. With my four 6TB drives in this test I can only save just under 11TB of data to the NAS when it is set up for RAID 10 – less than half of the potential 24TB I paid for. If I used RAID 0 however, I would be able to save close to 23TB on the same drives – but it would be insecure.

There’s a good explanation of the different RAID types in the Synology Knowledge Base.

Create a network folder to access content of drives

You can access the contents of the NAS by creating a network folder in Explorer or Finder, or through a web browser using the DiskStation interface via the network address of the NAS. A QuickConnect link can be dropped onto the desktop too that takes you straight there without having to type into the browser search bar.

Useful suite of applications included

While the storage capacity is the obvious concern with any NAS, how you can use that space is also very important. Synology offers a suite of applications that allow the space to be tailored in order for it to be more than just a data bank that can be accessed via your home network. Critically for photographers DS Photo, DS Video and media streaming facilities make organising, accessing and sharing images and movies very easy and convenient wherever you are – provided you have an internet connection.

One of the key elements of the Synology system is the choice of apps, or packages, available to help get the most from the device. Typing ‘Media’ into the search bar shows all the packages that will be relevant to photographers.

Photo Station 6 to create photo albums

Photo Station will be the main package for stills workers as it offers a way to create albums of images saved on the NAS that can be viewed both from your desktop computer and via the DS Photo smart phone app. Both desktop and phone based applications let you organize your images as well as to share them directly to social media or to send links to other people. You can create a private album for a client and send a link for them to view and/or download the contents.

The same features are provided for videographers via Video Station, so you can stream content to a TV or your phone when you want to show a project. Of course you can host your website on the NAS too, via Web Station and email servers can be created – as well as the usual timed data back-up services you’d expect.

The Synology DS1019+ will cost $ 599/£543 plus tax, and comes with a 3-year limited warranty. For more information see the Synology website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

02 Mar

CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH is the third and final lens in the company’s lineup of high-end variable aperture zooms, which was announced back in CES 2017. Alongside the 8-18mm F2.8-4 and 12-60mm F2.8-4, users have a total equivalent focal range of 16-400mm with this series. As expected, the 50-200mm F2.8-4 has similar styling and design cues to its siblings, and feels every bit as premium as the Leica name would imply.

CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

Like the 12-60mm F2.8-4, the 50-200mm F2.8-4 zooms externally via a zoom ring placed closer to the camera body than the focus ring. Even on this pre-production sample, both rings are well-damped, and the all-metal body feels extremely solid.

CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

Despite its fairly compact size, the 50-200mm F2.8-4 has a complex optical design. There are 21 elements in 15 groups, which includes two Ultra Extra-low Dispersion lenses (that’s a mouthful), two Extra-low Dispersion lenses and two aspherical lenses.

CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

As with the rest of the range, the 50-200mm F2.8-4 is fully weather-resistant. There’s a rubber gasket around the lens mount, and the lens is designed to stand up to inclement weather but is obviously not designed to be submersible in water.

Additionally, the 50-200mm F2.8-4 is compatible with both 1.4X and 2.0X teleconverters from Panasonic, offering either a 560mm or 800mm equivalent maximum focal length, respectively.

CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

The Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 comes with optical stabilization and is compatible with newer Panasonic models’ Dual I.S. mode. This means the stabilizer in this lens can work in tandem with the sensor-shift stabilization in camera bodies to further combat hand shake.

CP+ 2018: Hands on with the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH

We’re excited to get a production copy of the 50-200mm F2.8-4 back to the DPReview offices for testing as soon as we can; both the 8-18mm and 12-60mm F2.8-4 lenses have impressed us with the quality of their build as well as the quality of the imagery they produce. To be sure, these are premium-priced lenses, but we also think they feel and perform like premium products should.

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario 50-200mm F2.8-4 ASPH will be available in June for an MSRP of $ 1700.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Weekly Photography Challenge – Hands

17 Feb

Last week I sent you off to photograph feet – this week let’s try the other appendages – hands!

Hands can be young or old, tough or tender, but are always very expressive. What do the hands you’re photographing have to say? Add some storytelling into your hand photos for extra marks!

Photo by JORGE LOPEZ on Unsplash

Weekly Photography Challenge – Hands

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.

The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Hands by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Hands on: Nikon D850

24 Aug

Hands on: Nikon D850

Before today, Nikon DSLR shooters seeking a new pro-level body had to choose between the resolution-oriented D810 or speed-oriented Nikon D5. But no longer – the D850 is built for speed and resolution.

It uses a 45.7MP BSI full-frame sensor – a sizable resolution jump over the D810’s 36.3MP chip. Its maximum burst rate with autofocus is 7 fps – also a nice jump over the D810’s 5 fps. And, if you need more speed, combining the new MB-D18 grip with an EN-EL18b battery allows the D850 to shoot at 9 fps for up to 51 Raw files (using an XQD card).

That’s not as fast as the 12 fps burst offered on the Nikon D5, but it’s enough speed for most sports or action photography, with more than twice the pixel count offered by the D5 (and at almost half the price).

BSI Sensor + ISO 64

The D850 (shown here with the optional MB-D18 grip attached) is Nikon’s first full-frame camera to utilize a backside-illuminated sensor. This design tends to result in greater efficiency because there’s no circuitry taking up space in front of the pixels. This should boost performance in low light situations where you might employ high ISOs.

On top of that, BSI has the effect of bringing the light-sensitive elements of the chip closer to the surface, which should improve the ability of pixels near the edge of the sensor to accept light rays approaching at oblique angles, when shooting with wide-angle lenses.

Plus the D850, like its predecessor, still offers a base ISO of 64, which should give a high level of dynamic range (bordering on medium format) when working in bright or high contrast situations. On the other end of the spectrum, its new top native ISO is 25,600, expandable to 102,400.

AF System

Every aspect of the D850’s autofocus system is inherited from the D5, including the 153-point autofocus array, Multi-CAM 20K AF sensor and a dedicated AF processor. This is great news because we love how the AF performs on the D5. In short, it just works.

Plus, the D850 uses input from a 180,000-pixel metering sensor (the same found in the D5/D500) which should result in outstanding subject recognition (including face detection) when using Nikon’s 3D Tracking or Auto area modes. It even kept up during burst shooting in our limited time with the camera. By comparison, the D810 uses a 91k-pixel metering sensor for tracking/recognition, and ‘3D’ subject tracking slows down during bursts.

The D850’s 153-point system also covers 30% more of the frame than the D810’s 51-point system. And of those 153-points on the D850, 99 are cross-type, compared to 15 on the D810. All points focus down to -3 EV, with the center one working down to -4 EV. This should be a huge improvement from the -1 EV limit we found with the D810’s AF system.

The D850 also gains Nikon’s Auto AF Fine Tune feature. This feature is a simple and painless way to calibrate your lenses. Unfortunately, users can only still save a single adjustment based on the central AF point for one focal length, so it’s less useful for zoom shooters. And you’re out of luck if off-center points require a different value from more central ones.

Viewfinder

The viewfinder on the D850 is big and beautiful; in fact, it’s the largest viewfinder of any full-frame Nikon DSLR. Thanks to new optics, including an aspherical element and a condenser lens, the magnification is a whopping 0.75x with an eyepoint of 17mm. Elements of the finder also use new coatings to cut down on reflections and flare. As you’d expect in a camera of this caliber, viewfinder coverage is 100%.

This larger finder comes at the cost of the pop-up flash. But the D850 still supports wireless flash via the SB-5000 and WR-A10/WR-R10 transceiver.

Full-width 4K video

The D850 becomes Nikon’s first full-frame DSLR to offer 4K video using the full width of its sensor (Sony makes several mirrorless models that can do this). This is a big selling point over the 1.5x crop you face shooting 4K on the D5. UHD video can be captured at 30, 25 and 24p. We believe the camera captures video by binning pixels (combining information from clusters of pixels to generate the output), which is better than line skipping, but not as good as oversampling (as the Sony a9 does).

Sadly, AF during video capture is still contrast-detect only, which is prone to hunting, unlike Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel AF system. Nikon lenses tend to also be noisy when focusing. And there is no peaking or stabilization offered when capturing 4K. Videographers do have access to Auto ISO, Power Aperture and a new Attenuator option for better audio control.

When shooting HD video (at up to 1080/60p), the D850 offers both focus peaking as well as digital stabilization. There is also a 1080/120p mode, but it only saves video files in 4 or 5x slow motion (you can’t get the full speed footage).

Flip up/down touchscreen

The D850 becomes the first Nikon of its class to receive a flip up/down rear LCD and uses the latest high-resolution panel with 2.36 million dots (1024 x 768 pixels). This lovely screen makes image review look especially good. Just don’t get caught ‘chimping’ too much.

Did we mention it’s also a touchscreen? And unlike some of Nikon’s past DSLR touch-implementations, the touch function is active in menus, live view, playback and while shooting. However, it can’t be used for touchpad AF when one’s eye is to the finder, like on the Nikon D5600. Though unlike the D5600 (and D810), the D850 has a dedicated AF joystick.

Range of interval/multi-shot options

The D850 offers an in-camera 4K time-lapse mode which downscales full-res images and outputs it as a video. You can also shoot full-res 8K time-lapses using the interval timer. And users can use auto exposure modes while using the interval timer (‘A’ or ‘P’ exposure modes) with an option for in-camera exposure smoothing. Plus, a new silent interval timer option uses an electronic shutter instead of the mechanical one, to reduce shutter noise, vibration and wear.

The D850 also gains a new focus shift mode, which captures multiple images (up to 300) shot at varying focus distances (in increments chosen by the user) and saves them in a folder for assembly in post. Both the interval timer and focus shift mode offer a new option that not only places each ‘set’ of images into a unique folder, but also resets numbering for each set.

Redesigned body

The body of the D850 has received some much-appreciated refining. The grip is deeper, longer and all-around less chunky than that of the D810. This makes it much more comfortable to hold. The camera also gets the D5’s AF joystick, and better weather-sealing as a result of the loss of a pop-up flash.

Perhaps most importantly though: the mirror and shutter mechanisms have been redesigned. We experienced severe mirror and/or shutter-induced vibrations at certain shutter speeds with long lenses on the D810; however, in our brief time with the D850 and the same problematic lenses, we experienced no issues at all.

Other improvements come in the form of illuminated buttons on the back and the inclusion of an XQD and UHS-II compliant SD slot. The D850 uses the EN-EL15a battery and can shoot 1840 shots per charge, per CIPA rating.

But…

We’re pretty impressed by the D850’s specs, but we do have some complaints. Chief among them is Snapbridge. Sure, the D850 has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, but SnapBridge – the app used to connect, control and view/transfer – has not been improved upon since we last tested it. And overall we’ve found it to be both simplistic in terms of capability and inconsistent in terms of connectivity.

We’re also disappointed at the lack of an improved electronic first curtain implementation (it remains the same, only available in Mup mode with two shutter button presses), perhaps there isn’t much to worry about…

Final thoughts

But by and large the D850 (on the right) knocks our socks off – its spec list matches up nicely with our wish list, and the camera itself seems to handle exceptionally well. In short, it seems like the perfect marriage of speed and resolution. Finally, it seems that DSLR shooters can have it all.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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