This week Chris and Jordan are joined by renowned macro photographer Don Komarechka, who demonstrates a few simple techniques that can improve your macro photos in a big way.
Want to learn more? Check out some of our other articles about macro photography:
DPReview articles about macro photography
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| Lensrentals.com, 2018 |
It’s been less than two weeks since the Canon EOS R started shipping and already Roger Cicala, founder of Lens Rentals, has taken one apart in incredible detail to see what’s inside.
Per his usual routine for gear teardowns, Cicala makes notes of various features and components found inside the camera along the way.
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| Lensrentals.com, 2018 |
The EOS R teardown started with the removal of the adhesive grip tape from around the body of the camera to better see where all of the screws are. From there, the Cicala stripped the EOS R of its various elements piece by piece from the outside in.
While Cicala called it ‘a rather a boring disassembly,” the resulting photos and look inside the camera are anything but. Canon appears to have done a solid job across the board considering the price point and feature set of the camera, but there’s certainly room for improvements.
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| Lensrentals.com, 2018 |
The buttons on the camera are thoroughly protected with weather-sealing gaskets, but the body itself is only water-resistant by tightly overlapping two pieces of the seams of the polycarbonate frame. In Cicala’s own words, “that means, I think, that it will be fine in a misty rain for a while, but don’t get it saturated and don’t set it somewhere wet.”
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| Lensrentals.com, 2018 |
Cicala also notes that “it’s not very crowded inside [the EOS R],” meaning there’s plenty of room to pack in more features and tech inside if Canon decides to do so. He specifically mentions that much of the extra space he noticed between the circuit board and image sensor is where the in-body stabilization (IBIS) is seen inside the Sony A7R III he took apart. But don’t hold your breath for seeing IBIS in future EOS R cameras. Cicala adds “Canon has been very clear that they think lens stabilization is superior.”
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| Lensrentals.com, 2018 |
Overall, Cicala says the EOS R appears to follow most of the design and engineering elements of past Canon DSLR cameras. “It was rather a boring disassembly, really, about what we should expect for Canon doing a Canon 6D Mark II quality mirrorless camera […] It’s neatly laid out and nicely engineered inside.”
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| Lensrentals.com, 2018 |
To see more photos and more thorough insights from Cicala, head on over to the full Canon EOS R teardown. Cicala notes that a similar dissection of Nikon’s Z7 is complete and will be written up as soon as he can get around to it.
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| An example of the Magic Lantern software running on an EOS DSLR |
The group that provides Canon users with programs to expand the feature set of their cameras has begun cracking the new EOS R mirrorless firmware.
Beta firmware from Magic Lantern is said to be in the test stages, and if it follows already existing Magic Lantern software, it will add new display overlays, uncompressed raw video, focus stacking and even the chance to load games on to the camera. Magic Lantern doesn’t replace the firmware already loaded onto the camera by Canon, but is extra software that runs alongside it to add additional features.
Many users will perhaps hope that full-sensor 4K video will be added, though the consequences of the camera using the whole sensor area for extended recording is yet to be discovered.
Obviously more work is needed, but the first steps of cracking the file format and encryption seems to be underway.
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The Pixel 3 represents another step forward in computational photography for Google’s smartphone line. Introducing features like super-resolution digital zoom, a synthetic fill-flash effect and learning-based Portrait Mode improvements are just a few ways that the company is making the most of a single main camera. We’ve just started testing the Pixel 3 XL, but in the meantime take a look at some sample images.
We’ve included some Raw conversions and made Raws available for download where possible; however, please note that Raw support appears to be preliminary. Default conversions are very flat and require significant post-processing. We expect this to be remedied soon with proper profiles.
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| Kenji Tanaka, VP and Senior General Manager of Sony’s Business Unit 1, Digital Imaging Group, pictured at the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany last month. |
At last month’s Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany we made time to speak to senior executives from several major manufacturers, including Sony. In a broad-ranging conversation, Kenji Tanaka talked to us about competition in the full-frame mirrorless market, the value of APS-C, and future plans for the a7S lineup.
There are many customers in the field of photography, and we want to create products for all of them. Recently, we launched products for sports photographers. That’s just one example. One by one, we want to expand.
We are the world’s largest manufacturer of image sensors, and have developed many unique sensors. Looking at the Alpha 9, the stacked CMOS sensor is a good example of both a unique and innovative product. These kinds of things are a strength compared to our competitors.
But the stacked image sensor in the Alpha 9 is kind of like the engine in a formula 1 car. If you only had the engine, the car wouldn’t work. You also need good tires, a good chassis, and a good driver to control the machine.
Our vision is […] to expand the market
I welcome the shift in the market. Our vision is not to move the customer [from DSLR to mirrorless], it is to expand the market.
I don’t know what the impact of [Canon and Nikon entering the full-frame mirrrorless market] will be but we remain focused on creating new customers. That is our priority. Honestly speaking, I don’t care about competitors, I care about the customers. If customers need more functionality, or more quality, we’ll try to do it.
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| The Sony a7 III is a high-performance full-frame mirrorless interchangeable lens camera aimed at enthusiast photographers and videographers. According to Mr Tanaka, Sony is more interested in expanding the market than in responding to what his competitors are doing. |
No, not really. I already predicted that Canon and Nikon would join the market, and even Panasonic. It wasn’t a surprise to me. But thinking about innovation in cameras, every company should join the mirrorless market, as this is where there is the most opportunity to innovate.
There are five fundamentals to mirrorless – lens, image quality, speed, battery life – some of our competitors especially struggle with that one – and compactness and light weight. These are areas that everyone is trying to improve, but right now I think Sony is in a good position.
Right now there are a lot of things still to do with full-frame sensors, so at the moment I don’t have any ideas about starting work on new larger imaging sensors.
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| Sony’s 24mm F1.4 G Master is an impressively compact, but stunningly sharp full-frame wideangle prime lens. On Sony’s APS-C cameras, it offers an equivalent focal length of 36mm. |
Of course, yes. Some customers want small size as well as high quality, so that’s one of our targets.
Yes, APS-C is a big market for us. Recently most of our new lenses have been full frame, but APS-C remains a key target.
Mobility, and ease of use.
The APS-C market is very important for us, […] but we need to ask customers what kind of models they want.
We have to get customer feedback. The dual dial on the NEX-7, some customers appreciated it, but some customers didn’t. The APS-C market is very important for us, so we will create new models in the APS-C market, but we need to ask customers what kind of models they want.
Professionals have many cameras. Of course, full-frame is usually their main camera, but for a long time, they’ve also used APS-C as their second camera, so of course, APS-C cameras for professional use must exist.
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| Will we ever see another ‘professional’ APS-C camera from Sony, in the mold of the erstwhile NEX-7? According to Mr Tanaka, the strengths of APS-C are size and weight, and ease of use. But professionals do use APS-C cameras as ‘second’ bodies. |
No. Our strategy is unique – one single mount. For example, future APS-C customers might use our G-Master 24mm F1.4. So our lens design should be consistent for all types of models.
Yes.
Yes, of course. We’ve heard from many customers. We’re trying.
Someday the a7 III will come down in price and it’ll be easy to buy for anybody
I can’t speak about pricing strategy, but if we want to increase the number of customers, of course some will accept cameras in the $ 2000-3000 range, but others won’t. Recently, our a7 II was priced at around $ 1000. So I think our customers are pleased with our wide price range in full-frame.
Someday the a7 III will come down in price and it’ll be easy to buy for anybody. A lot of customers want the a7 III, but it will take time.
Memory card performance is related to image processing speed. Right now, processing speed is slower than SD UHS-II, so using SD is OK. But in the future, for example in any camera with 8K/30p video, SD won’t be enough. But for right now, SD is OK. Recently we announced SD ‘tough’ cards, for professionals that need more durability.
There are a lot of use cases for dual card slots. For example using one card as backup, or one for JPEG and one for Raw. Dual card slots are very useful to the customer, we think. Some customers are OK with just one card, but from our research we think that many people will want two slots.
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| The Sony E-mount is ‘open’, to the extent that other lens manufacturers can apply to use the standard. Sigma’s 70mm F2.8 Macro is one of a growing range of lenses from third-party manufacturers that are available in FE mount-compatible versions. |
As you know, the E mount is an open mount. And of course competition will happen. If the customer can choose between many high quality lenses, that is a good thing.
We have a contract, and if a lens manufacturer wants to create an E-mount lens, they apply to Sony. Then we disclose the specification to that manufacturer. Sony does not approve lens designs, we just disclose the mount specification.
We’re planning a future a7S model right now, but it will take time.
Of course, yes. Our a7S II customers want to create many things, and to meet their demands we are thinking about creating a successor model. But the next model should of course be more than they expect. So we’re planning a future S model right now, but it will take time.
They want 4K/60p, 4:2:2 10-bit, and of course more battery power, increased AF accuracy – many things!
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| The Sony a7S II is aimed at videographers, but in the three years since its release, its capabilities have in some respects been superseded by more conventional a7-series cameras, and the a9. According to Mr Tanaka, an a7S III is on its way, possibly offering 4K/60p, but ‘it will take time’. |
In my personal experience, the a7S II is a good stills camera. The pixels are very large, so the dynamic range is very wide. There is demand for still camera features I think.
I can’t give you an exact answer, but we feel that AI is useful for many customers. Currently we’re planning upgrades to existing models, and of course future models that will contain new AI features.
Cameras should support creators. Focusing on eyes or focusing on other shapes is a very complex action. Photographers just want to think about composition, or capturing a moment. So I want to remove the need for focus manipulation, or other manipulation. When it comes to autofocus, Sony is very dedicated to developing AI.
Editor’s note: Barnaby Britton
Our meeting with Mr Tanaka last month followed Canon and Nikon’s long-awaited entry into the full-frame mirrorless market, after five years during which Sony effectively had the field to itself. When I spoke to him in Japan earlier this year, Mr Tanaka predicted that both companies would make the leap before the end of the year, and it doesn’t sound like he was surprised to see Panasonic joining in, too. Either way, in his own words, ‘I don’t care about competitors, I care about the customers’.
The a7 III isn’t going to become a poor camera once a future Mark IV version comes out
That should be encouraging news for users of Sony’s well-established a7-series and a9 cameras, who might be justifiably interested in what Canon, Nikon and Panasonic have to offer in the coming years. Also encouraging, for consumers willing to wait a couple of years before buying into new technologies, it seems that Sony will continue its strategy of keeping older models on the market at reduced prices. The last-generation a7 II is a bargain right now, and the a7 III isn’t going to become a poor camera once a future Mark IV version comes out, even if future AI-assisted cameras make photography even easier than it is now.
Speaking of AI, this particular comment is highly significant and worth quoting again in its entirety:
“Cameras should support creators. Focusing on eyes or focusing on other shapes is a very complex action. Photographers just want to think about composition, or capturing a moment. So I want to remove the need for focus manipulation, or other manipulation. When it comes to autofocus, Sony is very dedicated to developing AI“.
Mr Tanaka also had good news for fans of APS-C camera users, and users of the video-oriented a7S II. On the APS-C side, he admits that full-frame has been a major focus recently, but ” APS-C cameras for professional use must exist” and “APS-C remains a key target”.
Mr Tanaka’s list of customer requests serves as a strong hint at features that could make it into an a7S III
The a7S II is a highly specialized camera, intended to satisfy the needs of enthusiast and professional videographers. It’s been due for an upgrade for a little while, and Mr Tanaka’s list of customer requests serves as a strong hint at features that could make it into a Mark III version. Perhaps at next year’s NAB show in spring? Here’s hoping.
Although Raw performance of the EOS R is very similar to the 5D Mark IV, Canon’s done some tweaking on the JPEGs – take a look at our studio scene to see for yourself.
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The Kickstarter campaign for Yashica’s digitFilm Y35 camera has produced a wave of complaints about delays in shipping product as well as cameras that don’t work. Running with the foreshadowing strapline ‘Expect the Unexpected,’ the campaign seems to be delivering on its promise to be unexpected by giving some of the 6935 backers exactly what they weren’t hoping for.
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The campaign raised HK $ 10,035,296 (approx. $ 1,280,225) for the firm and promised a digital camera that you load with different ‘film cassettes’ that apply specific styles to the pictures. While a delivery date of April 2018 was given at the time of the launch many backers have yet to receive their cameras.
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In the last update, on 18th September, the company explained that they are dealing with 38 different combinations of product, and that they were working hard to get orders completed by the end of the month. However, four weeks later the feedback section is 3900 comments long, and while some are complaining that their camera hasn’t arrived others say the shutter button doesn’t work or that the camera switches off unexpectedly.
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One user who has received his camera tells those who haven’t to stop complaining, as the product is so bad they’ll be happier now than when it arrives.
The picture isn’t much brighter on Indiegogo where the project took the total raised to $ 1,515,695, as more investors are making the same complaints. The principle problem seems to be the lack of communication from the manufacturer that’s leaving customers in the dark about their cameras and their money.
This hasn’t been a good period for camera-related campaigns on crowd-funding sites, as this failure comes right after the collapse of Meyer Optik Gorlitz, and its associated brands, which left many photographers out of pocket and without the costly products they had backed.
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Pixelmator today released Pixelmator Pro 1.2 Quicksilver, a major update to its image editing app that brings support for macOS Mojave, machine-learning-powered automatic photo enhancement, and batch image processing among other new features.
“Users love Pixelmator Pro for making such powerful image editing tools so incredibly easy to use,” said Saulius Dailide, one of the founders of the Pixelmator Team. “And the new ML Enhance is our most powerful feature yet — it lets you dramatically improve the look of any photo with a single click, thanks to a machine learning algorithm trained on millions of professional photos.”
The new ML Enhance feature automatically adjusts color and exposure locally in the frame. The goal is to give the user an optimized starting point for their own edits. The feature was developed using a set of millions of photos to train the machine learning algorithm which analyzes photos to detect objects and scenes and applies the adjustments.
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There’s also a new option to use a light-colored user interface in addition to a refresehed version of the dark theme, allowing for easy adaption to the light and dark modes in macOS Mojave. The app is also capable of automatically switching to adapt to the current appearance of macOS.
A lot of the new and existing features can now be applied via the Automator batch processing tool, making work with large numbers of files less stressful. Other improvements include support for colorful SVG Fonts, a Continuity Camera camera, an Eraser Mode for the Pixel Paint tool, as well as a range of performance improvements and bug fixes.
Pixelmator Pro 1.2 Quicksilver is available from the Mac App Store and can currently be purchased for $ 29.99, 50% off the regular price. More information is available on the Pixelmator website.
Press Release:
Vilnius, Lithuania — October 18, 2018 — The Pixelmator Team today released Pixelmator Pro 1.2 Quicksilver, a major update to the fast and powerful image editor for Mac. The update adds support for macOS Mojave, including an all-new light appearance, Core ML-powered automatic photo enhancement, batch image processing via the Automator app, and much more.
“Users love Pixelmator Pro for making such powerful image editing tools so incredibly easy to use,” said Saulius Dailide, one of the founders of the Pixelmator Team. “And the new ML Enhance is our most powerful feature yet — it lets you dramatically improve the look of any photo with a single click, thanks to a machine learning algorithm trained on millions of professional photos.”
The new ML Enhance feature in Pixelmator Pro automatically enhances photos — balancing the colors, evening out exposure, and making changes to individual color ranges — to give you the best starting point for making your own creative edits to a photo. Powered by Core ML and developed using a carefully refined set of millions of professional photos, the machine learning algorithm analyzes photos to detect the objects they contain, then enhances their colors and brings out missing details, leaving the final creative touches to the user.
The update also brings the option to use a gorgeous light appearance, giving users an entirely new way to experience Pixelmator Pro. In addition, Pixelmator Pro 1.2 Quicksilver includes a refreshed, much more native dark appearance, so the app now adapts seamlessly to the light and dark modes in macOS Mojave. And with automatic switching, Pixelmator Pro instantly updates to match the current appearance of macOS.
Automator support and five powerful, versatile actions now makes it possible to batch process images using the professional editing tools available in Pixelmator Pro. The Auto Enhance Images action uses the new ML Enhance feature to automatically improve photos, Auto White Balance Images automatically corrects white balance, Apply Color Adjustments to Images and Apply Effects to Images makes every single color adjustment and effect in Pixelmator Pro available in Automator, and Change Type of Images makes it a breeze to convert batches of images from one file format to another. So now, working with large sets of images and making repetitive edits becomes effortless.
Pixelmator Pro 1.2 Quicksilver includes many other improvements, including support for colorful SVG Fonts, the new Continuity Camera, an Eraser Mode for the Pixel Paint tool, as well as a range of additional performance improvements and fixes.
Pricing & Availability
Pixelmator Pro 1.2 Quicksilver is available exclusively from the Mac App Store and is currently on sale for $ 29.99, 50% off its regular price.
Pixelmator Pro requires macOS High Sierra and a Metal-compatible graphics card. Full system requirements and more information on Pixelmator Pro can be found at www.pixelmator.com/pro/
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In August Net SE, the company behind Meyer Optik Görlitz, Emil Busch, C.P. Goerz, Ihagee, Oprema Jena, and A. Schacht products, was removed from the German stock exchange and subsequently filed for insolvency.
Now, the fears of Kickstarter backers of the Meyer Optik Görlitz products who have not received their lenses yet have turned into a reality: The reward will not arrive and you won’t get your money back either. Net SE is completely dead. This was first reported by German photo publication Photoscala after an official notice was published, asking to direct claims to a law firm.
Insolvency proceedings have been opened which means all hopes for backers to receive rewards or their money back have evaporated. Net SE’s lack of assets means nothing can be expected from the company and Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms reject all responsibility in such cases.
This isn’t the first crowdfunding project ending up in a mess but given we are dealing with several campaigns here the number of affected photographers is likely higher than usual. It’s a reminder that backing a crowdfunding project isn’t the same thing as pre-ordering and there’s always some risk of losing your money.
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According to multiple users on the Sony Alpha subreddit, Sony’s a7 III camera is having issues with a particular SanDisk SD card.
Reddit user “shadyashell” originally made a post regarding an issue they were having with their Sony a7 III camera and SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB SDXC UHS-I Card (Class 3) memory card. In the text of the post, they wrote:
“Everytime I insert the card into slot 1 [I get] the error message ‘Unable to read memory card. Reinsert memory card. Slot 1’ appears. I’ve reset the camera multiple times, formatted the card both on slot 2 and my laptop. Any advice on solving this issue?”
Not long after posting, other Reddit users chimed in and echoed that they too had experienced an issue. Reddit user ‘iamtridluu3’ said “I’m having the same issue. All six cards. Identical 128gb Extreme Pro. I could use it in slot 2 fine. Just slot 1 of both my a7 III and all six cards. Something is wrong with these cards.”
Reddit user ‘dany74m’ claims to have contacted Sony and been told that “[Sony] officially recognize[s] the problem” and “the camera or the card are not defective [it’s] just an incompatibility with the SD extreme V.30 128GB.” Reddit user ‘dany74m’ added “[Sony] said they are aware and they are working to fix the issue with a firmware update in few weeks.”
DPReview contacted Sony regarding the issue. A spokesperson for the company kept it short and vague, saying “our team is currently investigating the claims.” We will update this article if any new information becomes available.