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We’ve added Panasonic’s new Lumix DC-S1 / DC-S1R to three of our buying guides. Both are listed in our ‘Best Cameras over $ 2000’ guide, with the S1 being considered for video and the S1R for landscapes. While we’ll have more detail when our reviews are published, these guides provide quick overviews of both models.
Best Cameras over $ 2000
Best Cameras for Video
Best Cameras for Landscapes
View all buying guides
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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DJI has confirmed its drones are prepared for the GPS 2019 week rollover scheduled to take place on April 6. The event may disrupt some GPS receivers, but most manufacturers have confirmed that their systems have been tested ahead of time and are prepared for the rollover.
The GPS 2019 week rollover is an event that will take place due to how the Global Positioning System (GPS) works. Receivers are provided with time information from the GPS system, which uses a 10-bit week counter to count weeks from 0 to 1023. Upon reaching the end of that range, the system reverts back to 0 and starts over.
GPS receivers that aren’t prepared for the rollover may incorrectly report a date of 19.6 years in the past (1024 weeks), resulting in some GPS devices displaying a date of August 22, 1999, starting after the April 6 rollover. The first GPS rollover took place on August 21, 1999.
To avoid this complication, manufacturers must push out software updates to prepare their devices for the change. In a brief statement published on March 20, DJI said that all of its ‘platforms have been thoroughly tested’ and will not be impacted by the GPS rollover. DJI drone owners can continue to use the devices as normal.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
YouTube Photoshop tutor Colin Smith has shared a video in which he demonstrates ten tips for making the application run more smoothly.
His tips on the Photoshop Cafe YouTube channel include ways to streamline the program’s interface as well as methods to assign more memory to help with intensive tasks. One of the best tips shows how to avoid processes that use more memory than is necessary when we are copying one image on to another.
The tutorial is aimed at new users, but out of the ten tips there is bound to be one or two that even more advanced users aren’t aware of or hadn’t thought of. Smith claims his final tip will solve 99% of problems most users have with the software. Below is a rundown of the ten tips and their respective timestamps in the video:
0:48 – Remove the welcome screen
1:30 – Shrink the New Document window
2:00 – Increase recent documents up to 100
2:48 – Increase how much RAM Photoshop uses
3:20 – Fix varies display issues
3:50 – Go back to legacy compositing
4:20 – Tweak your scratch disk settings
5:42 – Don’t copy and paste
6:43 – Free up resources
7:44 – The ‘fix all’ solution (and bonus tip)
For more Photoshop tutorials, head over and subscribe to the Photoshop Cafe YouTube channel.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Canadian photographers Taylor Jackson and Lindsay Coulter teamed up to create ‘Gear Lust,’ a music video centered around Gear Acquisition Syndrome — that is, a photographer’s compulsion to acquire more gear than can reasonably be used.
The amusing song kicks off with, ‘Some people say that I have a problem acquiring gear, some say that I have Gear Aquisition Syndrome, but I like to call it Gear Lust.’
In addition to YouTube, the song is available to stream from Spotify and Apple Music.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Delaware craft brewery Dogfish Head has teamed up with Kodak to create SuperEIGHT, an analog-inspired Super Gose beer designed specifically to develop film.
Sam Calagione, founder and CEO of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, was recording an episode of The Kodakery, a podcast created by Kodak, when he learned that with the right levels of acidity and vitamin C, it would be possible to create a beer capable of developing film. Coincidentally enough, the research and development team at Dogfish was already working on a beer with properties that would align perfectly with those needed for developing film, and so SuperEIGHT was born.
After further developing the ‘super-refreshing, sessionable Super Gose,’ the Dogfish Head team sent a few batches over to Kodak for testing and sure enough, it worked. The resulting footage, seen in sample footage above, isn’t nearly as impressive as dedicated developers, but for a beer we’d say it’s pretty darn impressive. Kodak and Dogfish Head even shared a recipe for the development, which can be downloaded and printed off.
As for the beer itself, SuperEIGHT has an alcohol content of 5.3% and ‘is made with eight heroic ingredients including prickly pear, mango, boysenberry, blackberry, raspberry, elderberry, kiwi juices and a touch of quinoa, along with an ample addition of Hawaiian sea salt.’
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery will start shipping six packs of 355ml (12 fl oz) cans in April 2019.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Diana Instant Square camera from Lomography mashes the charm of a Diana F+ toy film camera with the novelty of the Instax Square format. Lomography has long offered an instant back for the F+, but this takes the concept a step further. The Diana Instant Square is the only instant camera with truly interchangeable lenses and like most Lomography products, offers unpredictable and often lo-fi results.
See our complete instant camera guide
The most obvious competitor to the Diana Instant Square is the Fujifilm SQ6 – it also uses Instax Square format at a similar price tag. But unlike the Diana – which is manual focus with manual aperture control – the Fujifilm is more automatic in its operation.
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The camera operates on four AAA batteries that you load into the bottom, and a pack of Instax Square film pops into the rear of the camera. The camera has three settings: Off, On and MX (multiple exposure). When you turn it on the film counter on the back glows green to show you how many shots you have left. It ships with an optional viewfinder that slides onto the top.
Before you shoot you will probably want to triple check that you aren’t in pinhole mode, which my camera kept seeming to click into
Shooting with the camera is very straightforward. The lever to select your aperture is found on the bottom of the lens. Aperture settings are cloudy (F11), partly sunny (F19), sunny (F32) and pinhole (F150).
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| Left of the lens is the shutter release, on top is a shutter speed toggle (1/100 sec or bulb) and below the lens is a lever to adjust the aperture setting. Focus is set on the front of the lens. |
Focus settings are found on the front of the lens and can be set to one person (1-2m), a small group of people (2-4m) or many people with mountains (4m – infinity). On the top of the lens you will find a lever to switch shutter speeds – there are two options: N (1/100 sec) and B (Bulb Mode, Unlimited). The camera’s shutter release is found on the right side of the lens. Before you shoot you will probably want to triple check that you aren’t in pinhole mode, which my camera kept seeming to click into.
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| The body is large and chunky. |
The Diana Instant Square is more of a toy than an actual photographic tool, and although operating it is quite simple, getting it to produce images that you actually want to share with the world takes some finesse. The results were certainly unpredictable.
The Diana Instant Square seemed to work best when shooting outdoors, without a flash on very bright days. Although you have the option to attach any type of flash, the dedicated Diana F+ flash made the camera feel the most balanced. The results when shooting with the flash were also unpredictable. Sometimes photos turned out totally overblown, and other times they shot out totally black even when the settings on the camera were altered slightly. The Diana Instant Square essentially seems to do what it wants.
Getting the Diana Instant Square to produce images that you actually want to share with the world takes some finessing
A few times the back door that keeps the film in place popped open on me, so I decided to secure it with a large piece of gaff tape. Unfortunately, when this happened I ended up losing a few of the Instax sheets inside and it reset my film counter. The metal levers that control shutter speed and aperture are covered with a small piece of plastic; the one on the aperture lever fell off almost immediately, exposing the metal edge. It isn’t particularly sharp, but over time I did notice that the lever began to bend.
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| A multi-exposure example from the Diana Instant Square. |
The image quality of the Diana Instant Square was expectedly unpredictable. Sometimes I ended up with a double exposure that I didn’t expect, some images had major vignetting, and others had interesting focal fall off that gave them a dreamy quality.
The Diana Instant Square seemed to work best when shooting outdoors, without a flash on very bright days
Sometimes frames that appeared totally black could be rescued once they were scanned and photoshopped. Other frames came back totally overblown or completely dark. When it worked, it worked well, but getting it to work was a bit of a guessing game.
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Ultimately we had a lot of fun with the Diana Instant Square when the shots came out, but it hurt a bit every time one didn’t.
What we like:
What we don’t:
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Canon EOS RP is among the smallest and lightest full-frame cameras on the market, and is the least expensive full-frame camera at launch, ever. And though its specifications aren’t going to set the world on fire, the RP is a likable little camera with solid JPEG image quality that will be a fine photographic companion for casual users and those already within the Canon ecosystem looking for a compact second body.
Accounting for inflation, the EOS RP (body-only) is priced within $ 75 of the original 6MP Canon Digital Rebel / EOS 300D that was released back in 2003 – a camera that really helped bring large-sensor digital photography to the masses. And like the Digital Rebel, the EOS RP promises to offer a bit of a stripped-down shooting experience in exchange for its large full-frame image sensor at a reasonable cost. It’s worth noting, however, that the earlier Rebel debuted with a range of relatively low-cost lenses designed for it – not so much the case today.
While other manufacturers are moving ever further up-market with more expensive and capable devices, the EOS RP stands alone in providing more novice or budget-constrained users with access to the shallower depth-of-field that full frame cameras offer over those with APS-C or smaller sensors. There are caveats, though, in that the RP is a poor choice for those looking to shoot video, and the native lens selection is lacking at this time.
The EOS RP is available now at a price of $ 1299 body-only, $ 1999 with the EF adapter and a 24-105mm F3.5-5.6 lens, and $ 2399 with the native RF 24-105mm F4L lens.
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The EOS RP has a lot of ingredients we’ve seen in other Canon cameras before, but certainly not at this price point. Read more |
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The EOS RP’s diminutive size and light weight don’t get in the way of some well thought-out controls. Read more |
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Take a look at how the RP stacks up in our standard studio test scene as well as how its images look out and about in Seattle and New Orleans. Read more |
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Want the full list of specifications for the EOS RP? We have you covered. Read more |
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
NVIDIA Research has demonstrated GauGAN, a deep learning model that converts simple doodles into photorealistic images. The tool crafts images nearly instantaneously, and can intelligently adjust elements within images, such as adding reflections to a body of water when trees or mountains are placed near it.
The new tool is made possible using generative adversarial networks called GANs. With GauGAN, users select image elements like ‘snow’ and ‘sky,’ then draw lines to segment an image into different elements. The AI automatically generates the appropriate image for that element, such as a cloudy sky, grass, and trees.
As NVIDIA reveals in its demonstration video, GauGAN maintains a realistic image by dynamically adjusting parts of the render to match new elements. For example, transforming a grassy field to a snow-covered landscape will result in an automatic sky change, ensuring the two elements are compatible and realistic.
GauGAN was trained using millions of images of real environments. In addition to generating photorealistic landscapes, the tool allows users to apply style filters, including ones that give the appearance of sunset or a particular painting style. According to NVIDIA, the technology could be used to generate images of other environments, including buildings and people.
Talking about GauGAN is NVIDIA VP of applied deep learning research Bryan Catanzaro, who explained:
This technology is not just stitching together pieces of other images, or cutting and pasting textures. It’s actually synthesizing new images, very similar to how an artist would draw something.
NVIDIA envisions a tool based on GauGAN could one day be used by architects and other professionals who need to quickly fill a scene or visualize an environment. Similar technology may one day be offered as a tool in image editing applications, enabling users to add or adjust elements in photos.
The company offers online demos of other AI-based tools on its AI Playground.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Residents of a Paris street plagued by Instagrammers, selfie takers and music video crews are asking the city government for a weekend and evening ban to give them some peace.
The number of images on Instagram with the hashtag ‘Rue Crémieux’ has reached over 31,000 and those trying to live in the quaint cobbled street have had enough, according to a report on French website Franceinfo.
Sur un remix dubstep de “Jingle Bells” ?? #paris #ruecremieux pic.twitter.com/r7Fd23bYyB
— Club Crémieux (@clubcremieux) December 28, 2016
Residents have to not only put up with tourists photographing their beautiful street but with parties of dancers filming routines with their pastel colored houses being used as a backdrop and the blaring music that goes with it. Locals have described the situation as ‘hellish’ and are fighting back, forming an association to petition the local government for road closures at the weekend and during evenings so that they can get some peace.
Quand tu tournes ton clip tout seul. ???? #SOSdétresseamitié #ruecrémieux pic.twitter.com/S9BWW68Dc4
— Club Crémieux (@clubcremieux) November 15, 2016
Alternative Instagram and Twitter accounts have been set up to document the ‘S**t people do in rue Cremieux,’ as seen above. The accounts show pictures and videos of dance troupes, fashion shoots, music video crews, endless selfie takers and photographers using the street as though it were a public studio.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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DJI’s Osmo Pocket is an impressive little camera that punches well above its size and size. The video from it has proven impressive, but the one area it lacks is in the sound department.
The onboard microphone aren’t necessarily terrible, but it could use a little improvement, and up until now that wasn’t possible. After many hints that one was on its way, DJI has finally released a 3.5mm microphone adapter for the Oslo Pocket that plugs directly into the camera’s USB Type-C port.
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The adapter works with TRS 3.5mm connectors, meaning it supports stereo audio when used with stereo microphones in addition to mono audio. If it’s being used with a TRRS microphone, an additional TRRS to TRS adapter will be needed.
The DJI Oslo Pocket 3.5mm Adapter is available now at B&H and the DJI Store for $ 39.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)