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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with the Sigma MC-21 SA / EF to L-mount adapter

03 Mar

Hands-on with the Sigma MC-21

One of the items on display at the Sigma booth at this year’s CP+ show in Yokohama was the newly-announced MC-21 adapter that allows Sigma lenses to be used on L mount cameras. There are two versions of the adapter: one that accepts Sigma SA-mount lenses and another that takes Sigma’s EF-mount lenses.

Here’ we’ve got an SA-mount version of Sigma’s 50mm F1.4 Art adapted to a Panasonic S1.

Adds compatibility for 29 Global Vision lenses

The company says both the SA- and EF-to-L adapters can be used with 29 existing Sigma lenses, including 23 full-frame lenses taken from the Global Vision range. These lenses span the Sport, Contemporary and Art series. It features a built-in tripod mount, but don’t be fooled by the pair of allen bolts on this example: we’re told this won’t be removable.

Single-AF only, for now

The MC-21 only allows AF-S mode to be used at present. This is likely to be a result of the existing SA and EF mount lenses being primarily designed for being focused by phase detection, whereas all the current L-mount bodies use variants of contrast-detection AF, which may lead to slower, less reliable performance.

Won’t need firmware updates for future lenses

The inside of the adapter features a black flocking fabric to prevent internal reflections occurring within the adapter tube. An LED on the side of the adapter shows whether the attached lens is compatible and whether it needs a firmware update. Sigma says the MC-21 comes pre-loaded with the data needed for the 29 listed lenses supported at launch but that future lenses will contain the necessary data, so the MC-21’s firmware won’t need updating to support future lenses.

SA and EF mount support

Sigma had the MC-21 on show with representative models from its L-mount Alliance partners: Leica and Panasonic. Although there are references to it around the booth, there’s no sign of even a prototype of the full-frame Foveon camera Sigma has said it will make.

As usual, Sigma makes no claims when it comes to Canon’s EF-mount lenses, but they generally work well with its MC-11 EF-to-E-mount adapter.

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CP+ 2019: Ricoh GR III shown with firmware 1.0, Theta goes 1″

03 Mar

GR III dominates the Ricoh booth

Ricoh formally launched the GR III earlier this week, so it’s no surprise that its presence dominates the company’s stand at CP+. The units on display are running firmware 1.0 and we’re told we’ll be able to get our hands on one in the next few days to go shooting with.

Familiar controls

Many of the camera’s features will immediately be familiar to users of previous GR models. The ADJ lever controls exposure compensation or brings up a customizable menu of core camera functions. Several of the camera’s buttons can also be re-assigned, including a dedicated Fn button, the left and right presses of the four-way controller and the movie/Wi-Fi button on the side (which can control a second function in response to a long press). And, of course, there’s the ‘Full Press Snap’ focus option that leaves the camera pre-focused to your chosen distance, to maximize responsiveness. The improved speed of being able to position the AF point that the touchscreen brings may not wholly outweigh the loss of the rocker that’s featured on the back of GR cameras up until now for experienced users.

New lens, new autofocus

The GR III adds phase detection autofocus but, interestingly, still appears to use a unit focus design, where the entire lens is moved back and forth as the camera focuses. This helps maximize image quality, as the lenses maintain their relationships to one another, but slows down the process, since it means moving more mass. The addition of phase-detection autofocus helps with this, since it means the lens can be driven straight to the desired location, but the autofocus of these firmware v1.0 cameras wasn’t especially speedy.

Innovation and legacy

Ricoh was keen to show that, while the GR III is a relatively major update to the series, it understands that it needs to fit into a series that goes back over twenty years. It’s an important reminder that, even relatively recently, the GR series attracted a dedicated audience even when they were built around relatively modest 1/1.7″ sensors. Anyone who enjoyed one of the GR Digital models is likely to be impressed with what the GR III offers. And we’re looking forward to getting a closer look at the final JPEGs soon.

Ricoh Theta goes 1″

The Theta VR camera has been something of a success for Ricoh and it’s been progressively iterating on the design for a number of years. Back at Photokina 2016 they told us one of the big challenges they faced was trying to cope with the heat generated by 4K capture without having to change the popular form-factor of the device. The Theta Z1 shows how far things have come since then. The Theta Z1 is not only capable of 4K video capture but does so from a pair of 1″-type sensors.

Ricoh Theta Z1 with DNG Raw

The Theta Z1 is a little taller and a little thicker than previous models but they’re relatively minor changes, considering how much larger the sensors its using are. Bear in mind that the Theta’s 360° capability is formed by having two of these chips mounted back-to-back, it’s not surprising that the Z1 had to get a little (~6mm) thicker. Despite this slight extra separation, its lenses are able to give an overlapping view to form a 360° view. And, unlike previous versions, the Z1 can shoot DNG Raw stills.

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Costco says it will close the photo departments at several stores in April

03 Mar

American retailer Costco is shutting down the photo labs in a growing number of its stores, according to letters the company has sent to its customers. The most recent letter to surface comes from the company’s store in Woodland, California, which plans to close its photo department on April 25.

The letter, which was recently published by PetaPixel, cites low demand as the reason for the closure, stating, ‘the need for printing photos has steeply declined, even though the number of pictures taken continues to grow.’ The retailer will continue to offer photo printing through its Photo Center website and at select other locations, however.

Photo Center customers who receive the letter from Costco are offered a $ 50 credit for use with the company’s photo website. This is the latest among a growing number of Costco photo department closures. According to The Dead Pixels Society, the company will also shutter all but one photo department in its Massachusetts stores, as well as the photo lab at its busiest Hawaii location, the Iwilei store.

Though Costco has made the decision to repurpose its limited floor space in stores with low consumer printing demand, select other retailers continue to offer in-store photo printing services, including Walgreens and Walmart. Online photo printing services remain ubiquitous, and Costco is still counted among them.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CFexpress Type B memory cards double read speed to 1.7GBps, write speed to 1.4GBps

03 Mar

Sony has announced it will introduce the next generation CFexpress memory cards this summer, and promises read speeds of up to 1.7GB per second and write speeds up to 1.48GB/s. The Type B cards will use the third generation PCI-E interface that allows them to read and write at twice the rates of current models.

To make the most of the new cards a faster card reader will be launched — called the MRW-G1 — that will be backward compatible with existing CFexpress cards as well as XQD memory cards. The new cards will be more drop-proof than their predecessors and will be able to withstand a force of 70N.

The cards are aimed at industrial users as well as professional photographers. The first cards will come in a capacity of 128GB, but later units will offer 256GB and 512GB of space. For more information see the Sony website and the Compact Flash Association.

Press release:

Sony develops CFexpress Type B memory card boasting ultra-fast read and write speeds of up to 1700MB/s[1] and 1480MB/s1

Incomparably fast speed, designed for professional and industrial use, supports future evolution of digital devices
High reliability in extreme conditions thanks to TOUGH performance and smart software
New Sony CFexpress card reader, MRW-G1, takes full advantage of Sony CFexpress Type B’s high-speed performance
The Sony CFexpress Type B memory card and the CFexpress Card Reader will be in the market in early summer 2019

Sony today announced the development of the CFexpress Type B memory card (CEB-G128), a new ultra-fast next generation memory card2 that is ideal for professional and industrial use. With its super-fast speed of up to 1700MB/s (read) along with highly reliable toughness, this memory card supports the future evolution of digital devices.

Enhancing Sony’s high performance, value-added memory card line-up, the CFexpress Type B is designed based on a new specification which adopts the latest interface, PCIe®3 Gen3, standardised by the CompactFlash Association.

The Sony CFexpress Type B memory card offers a 128GB capacity, with higher capacity models of 256 GB and 512 GB planned for the future.

Incomparably fast
The Sony CFexpress Type B memory card is around 3 times faster than Sony’s fastest CFast memory card (with 530MB/s read speed). With a write speed of up to 1480MB/s, this card meets future requirement needs for secure industry data-recording or requirements from professionals to capture hi-resolution images or high-bitrate video.

With an ultra-fast read speed of up to 1700MB/s, even large-sized data files can be transferred quickly, when compared to existing memory cards. For example, when making copies or backing up large-sized data from multiple memory cards, transfer time will be dramatically reduced. This greatly improves work efficiency.

The new CFexpress Card Reader, MRW-G1, is optimised for Sony CFexpress Type B memory card and takes full advantage of the card’s fast read speed. This reader is also compatible with Sony XQD card G series and M series.

TOUGH performance
The Sony CFexpress Type B memory card has superior strength, surpassing the CFexpress standard by a factor of three, being able to withstand 70N of force in bend, and five times greater withstanding falls from up to 5m high.

The card is also temperature proof, X-ray proof, anti-static and has a UV guard so it can perfectly support usage in tricky or tough environments.

Peace of mind
Media Scan Utility and Memory Card File Rescue are available as a free download to Sony CFexpress card users.

Media Scan Utility is PC software that automatically scans your Sony CFexpress memory card every time you connect it to a PC via your MRW-G1 card reader4. The software keeps you informed of the condition of your card and lets you know if you’re nearing or have reached the flash memory limit.

Memory Card File Rescue eradicates every photographer’s worst nightmare – deleting photos accidentally and losing your precious work. The software recovers accidentally deleted files including RAW or high-resolution images and videos, so your work is safe from whatever obstacles are thrown your way.

The Sony CFexpress Type B memory card and the CFexpress MRW-G1 Card Reader will be on the market in early summer 2019.

– Ends –

[1] Based on Sony internal testing. Actual performance may vary and is dependent on environment and usage.
2 Based on memory card standard announced from the CompactFlash Association in 2017 as the next generation of XQD memory card and CFast memory card. CompactFlash is a trademark of CompactFlash Association.
3 PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.
4 MRW-G1 is required to scan Sony CFexpress memory card

3 PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.
4 MRW-G1 is required to scan Sony CFexpress memory card

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Canon USA unveils RAISE, an online photo platform with AI-powered features

02 Mar

Canon USA has launched RAISE, its first online photo community. The platform offers photographers a destination for storing their images, which are organized using Canon’s artificial intelligence engine. Users have the option to create Collections for privately sharing images with others outside of the community, and they can browse other users’ images via a personalized feed.

RAISE’s most notable feature is its AI-powered organization, which includes auto-tagging images with the subject, category, color, style, composition, and emotion. Canon designed the platform for more than just uploading images, however, with Canon USA President Kazuto Ogawa explaining, ‘Creativity is born from community – from collaboration with like-minded individuals. With RAISE, we are building that community for photographers.’

Photographers have the option of publicly sharing their work with the RAISE community. Images can be uploaded in high-resolution JPEG format, and starting in March, Canon will release a RAISE plugin for Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. The company says its users retain ownership of images uploaded to the platform.

Canon is showcasing RAISE at the Wedding Portrait & Photography Show in Las Vegas through March 1, 2019.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Spectre is an AI-powered long-exposure app for the iPhone

02 Mar

The team behind the popular Halide app has has launched its second app. Spectre uses computational imaging methods to simulate long-exposure photography on conventional cameras.

You can use the app to make moving subjects disappear in busy areas, such as the cars on the bridge below, or you can create light painting and other effects through subject motion, just like when shooting with a DSLR that has been set to a long shutter speed.

However, Spectre works in a different way, doing away with many of the limitations of a conventional long-exposure. There is no need to put the phone on a tripod or take a series of test exposures to find the shutter speed that works best.

Instead, the app uses machine learning and computer vision to create a computational shutter. Spectre doesn’t capture a single frame at a long exposure but takes hundreds of frames during the exposure time and merges them. This means you not only get a still image as a final result but also a video.

Results are saved in Apple’s Live Photos format which lets you make adjustments after capture, such as choosing a key frame or applying Live Photo effects.

The app uses scene recognition for optimized results. For example, frames captured of a beach scene might be merged for a smooth appearance of the water. A busy cityscape at night is processed for a pleasant rendering of light trails. Thanks to AI-powered image stabilization handheld long exposures of up to nine seconds are possible and during capture a stability indicator tells you if your hands are too shaky.

If you’d like to try long-exposure photography with the iPhone and Spectre, you can download the app on the App Store now for an introductory price of $ 1.99.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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DPReview TV: Canon EOS RP review

02 Mar

The EOS RP is Canon’s second full frame mirrorless camera, built around the new RF mount, and comes with an aggressive launch price of $ 1300. While there are some inevitable compromises to be made at this cost, Chris and Jordan discovered that there’s a lot to like about this pint-sized full-framer.

Get new episodes of DPReview TV every week by subscribing to our YouTube channel!

Introduction
Body and handling
EVF
Battery
Sensor protection
Sensor
Dynamic range
Low light performance
Focus stacking
User interface
Autofocus
Video capabilities
Wrap-up

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CP+ 2019: Voigtländer unveils new manual focus lenses for Sony E-mount and Leica M

02 Mar

CP+ 2019: Voigtländer shows new lenses for Sony E-mount

We’re at the CP+ show in Yokohama, Japan, where Cosina is letting customers get their hands on three fast manual-focus primes for Sony E-mount and Leica M, respectively. We took a closer look.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical

First up is the Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical for E-mount. Although this is a metal-bodies, classically-styles manual focus prime, optical construction is thoroughly modern, comprising eight elements in six groups, including two aspheres.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical

Considering the fast maximum aperture of F1.2, the Nokton is very compact, and fairly light at 434 g. Voigtländer claims that this is thanks to the use of aspherics, which allow for high-resolution imaging wide-open without the need for more, or larger elements.

Nokton 50mm F1.2 Aspherical

The Nokton 50mm F1.2 features a 12-bladed manual aperture, and a 58mm filter ring. Electrical contacts on the mount allow for focal length and aperture information to be transmitted to compatible E-mount cameras. Minimum focus distance is 0.45m (about 18 inches).

Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical

The Nokton 21mm F1.4 for Sony E-mount handles like a slightly larger version of the 50mm, and operates in exactly the same way. Manual focus and aperture rings allow for direct manual control, and the overall quality of build and finish is as high as we would expect from a premium Voigtländer lens. All three of these new lenses, in fact, are lovely to hold and use.

Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical

Optical construction comprises 13 elements in 11 groups, with at least one aspherical element (Cosina is being a little vague, for now, on the exact optical formulation). Like the Nokton 50mm, there are 12 aperture blades, and electrical contacts communicate focal length and aperture to the camera.

Nokton 21mm F1.4 Aspherical

The Nokton 21mm F1.4 is a fairly large lens, with a 62mm filter thread. For video use, the aperture dial can be ‘de-clicked’ for smooth stepless control. Minimum focus is 0.25m (about 10 inches).

Nokton ‘Vintage’ 75mm F1.5 Aspherical

The Nokton 75mm F1.5 Aspherical is a fast short telephoto prime lens for Leica M-mount. Preferred by some rangefinder photographers over 80mm+ lenses for portraiture, 75mm is meaningfully longer than 50mm, while not quite long enough that the framelines in an optical viewfinder end up too small for accurate composition.

Nokton ‘Vintage’ 75mm F1.5 Aspherical

Intended to recall the classic rangefinder lenses of the mid 20th Century, the Nokton 75mm might look like an antique, but its optical makeup is entirely modern. Optical construction comprises seven elements in six groups, including one aspherical element. According to Voigtländer, this should ensure good sharpness and resolution even at the lens’ widest aperture of F1.5.

Again, there are 12 aperture blades, which ensures near-circular apertures across the range of F1.5-16. At wide and medium apertures, this should result in the all-important pleasant circular highlight bokeh beloved of portrait photographers. As we’d expect for a lens designed for rangefinder cameras, minimum focus is a fairly unremarkable 0.7m, which represents the minimum focus coupling distance for a Leica M-series camera.

Pricing and availability for all three new lenses has yet to be confirmed, but we’ll bring you more details as they become available.

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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Tamron’s trio of full-frame lenses

02 Mar

Introduction

Tamron has its three newly-announced full frame lenses on show at CP+ in Yokohama. It’s a slight odd setup, though. You can look at the lenses in a glass cabinet or you can handle rather more rudimentary samples, with no marking on their switches and their names stick on with labelling tape. Thankfully we were able to convince Tamron to let us photograph the more complete versions.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD

The SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD [Model F045] is the company’s latest fast prime for Canon and Nikon DSLRs. It’s designed for full frame and arrives as a higher-end alternative to its stabilized 35mm F1.8 VC. It uses a conventional ring-type USD (ultrasonic drive) focus motor.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD

The SP 35mm F1.4 is fairly long lens but isn’t excessively wide. The company promises you get the image quality to justify the size. Tamron suggests it’s suitable for ‘nearly every photographic genre, including photojournalism, landscape, sports, street life, wedding groups and family snapshots,’ which is a pretty wide range.

Among the best 35s

Despite its fairly modest proportions (by modern standards, at least), Tamron seems bullish about the SP 35mm’s performance, saying it should by the best of its type. We were certainly impressed by how smooth and solid everything felt, when we handled it. Not a bad way to mark the 40th anniversary of the SP series.

Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD

The Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD [Model A043] is an interesting and somewhat unfamiliar concept: a full-frame lens extending from slightly wide-angle to moderate telepoto focal lengths, while retaining a semi-fast maximum aperture. Tamron describes it as a ‘Portrait Zoom.’

35-150mm F2.8-4: a ‘portrait zoom’

It’s about half the size of a 70-200mm F2.8, and still shorter even when extended, which should make it easy both to carry and to handle. Interestingly, the company says all its functions will remain available when adapted to a mirrorless camera. The sample we saw is fairly early, so we haven’t been able to get a sense for the speed or sound of the ‘Optimized Silent Drive’ micromotor.

35-150mm F2.8-4: handy for APS-C?

Although Tamron doesn’t mention its use on APS-C cameras, we reckon the 52.5-225mm equivalent range it would offer on a Nikon APS-C DSLR, long with the F4.2-6 equiv maximum aperture could be fairly interesting for a range of shooting situations. It wouldn’t offer especially shallow depth-of-field, but might make a temptingly portable midway point between a variable-aperture 55-200mm and the significantly higher cost of a 70-200mm lens, depending on how Tamron prices it.

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD

The final lens we got to see what Tamron’s wide-angle F2.8 zoom for Sony’s E-mount cameras. The 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD is a full-frame zoom that makes a lot of sense alongside the relatively small 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III RXD that’s one of our favorite lenses for FE-mount Sonys.

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 – a compact wide-angle

The Model A046 is based around the same ‘Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive’ focus motor used in the 28-75mm, so should be both quick and quiet. The lens itself is a touch shorter than its normal zoom counterpart but otherwise resembles it pretty closely. The biggest difference is that, unlike the 28-75mm, the 17-28mm F2.8 doesn’t extend when you zoom.

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CP+ 2019: Ricoh shows PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW

02 Mar

Hands-on with PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW

Alongside the GR III, Ricoh is using the CP+ show in Yokohama Japan to give its customers a first look at a new high-performance wideangle lens for APS-C. The PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW was announced way back in the Fall of 2017 and was supposed to ship the following summer, but it was delayed. We’re at CP+, where we took a closer look.

Hands-on with PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW

The 11-18mm is a large, pretty heavy and quite costly lens, and if someone had told us it was actually designed for full-frame, we’d have no difficulty in believing them. According to Ricoh, the new lens offers significantly improved image quality compared to the older 12-24mm F4 ED AL.

Designed for outdoor use

Designed for use outdoors, the ‘AW’ in the lengthy model name stands for ‘All-Weather’ – a higher grade of weather-resistance than the more common ‘WR’ rating offered further down Ricoh’s Pentax lens lineup. Like all of the Pentax AW lenses, the 11-18mm F2.8 feels like it could be carried up a mountain in the rain, dropped off the top, dusted off and put back on the camera without sustaining any serious damage (but please don’t try it).

Designed for outdoor use

The distinctive orange ring is a rubber gasket, helping keep dust and moisture from getting into the camera from around the lens mount.

Focus clamp

We’re used to seeing lock/clamp switches on lenses, but it’s unusual to see a focus lock. Since the 11-18mm is intended for use by astrophotographers, for whom precise focusing positioning is essential, especially at wide apertures, Ricoh wanted to make sure that once accurate focus has been achieved, it stays locked.

Moving the clamp switch to ‘on’ disengages the focus clutch, ensuring that even if the focus ring is knocked, the focus position won’t change.

Optical construction

With a focal range equivalent to 16.5-27mm when mounted on an APS-C body, the 11-18mm’s optical construction is comprised of 16 elements, including two aspherical elements, two extra low-dispersion elements and one aspherical extra-low dispersion element. Ricoh claims that its ‘HD’ coating reduces reflections by more than 50% compared to regular coatings, too, which should help increase optical quality even further, by reducing flare and ghosting.

Price and availability

The PENTAX-DA* 11-18mm F2.8 ED DC AW will be available soon, for $ 1399.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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