Chris and Jordan chat about Sony’s newest full-frame camera, despite not being able to get their hands on one just yet. Find out what they like and don’t like about the a7C so far in this hands-on, er, hands-off preview.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Sony a7C is the company’s latest and smallest full-frame interchangeable lens camera. It fits a 24MP full-frame sensor and image stabilization into a body more closely resembling the APS-C sensor a6600.
A lot of work has clearly gone into making this one of the smallest full frame cameras available, whereas a lot of the features and capabilities are familiar. A new retractable kit zoom is being launched along with the a7C to help maintain those size savings.
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| Out of camera JPEG. ISO 500 | 1/40 sec | F9 | Sony FE 35mm F1.8 Photo by Carey Rose |
The Sony a7C will be available from October 2020 at a price of around $ 1799 USD ($ 2399 CAD) or with the new collapsible 28-60mm F4-5.6 kit zoom for around $ 2099 USD ($ 2699 CAD).
From the camera’s controls to the image and video quality it’s capable of, find out what exactly what you want to know about the a7C right here.
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The a7C fits almost all the capabilities of the a7 III into a body that has more in common with the a6000 series. This means a smaller viewfinder but few other compromises. Read more |
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The a7C has three dials, all controlled using your thumb. It still handles pretty well, though, with a solid body and a small but pretty comfortable grip. Read more |
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The a7C’s main strengths are its size and convenience. This could make it a powerful travel or family camera. But there’s a price to be paid, and this isn’t necessarily a budget option. Read more |
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We’ve been shooting the a7C with both its kit zoom and the sensibly compact FE 35mm F1.8, to see what the camera offers. See the gallery |
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Last year, at CP+ 2019, Canon showed off a number of concept cameras with new and unusual designs. While some of those concepts are still just that, at least one more is well on its way into the consumer market — in Japan, at least.
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The Canon PowerShot Zoom is a monocular-style point-and-shoot that’s being crowdfunded on Makuake, not unlike the approach Canon took with its Ivy Rec camera. Inside the almost cartoon-looking design is a 12.1-megapixel 1/3” CMOS sensor that works alongside a DIGIC 8 processor to capture stills and record Full HD video at 1080p.
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In front of the sensor is a zoom lens that can toggle between 100mm and 400mm (full-frame equivalent) focal lengths. You can also double that to an 800mm (full-frame equivalent) focal length when combined with the camera’s digital zoom.1 The device features built-in image stabilization, Canon’s Face AF technology, a USB-C port for charging and a microSDXC card slot.
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The camera features three buttons on the top: power, menu and zoom, as well as three on the bottom: a dial, a capture button for stills and a capture button for video. Photos and video can be transferred via the microSD card or wirelessly when paired with Canon’s accompanying smartphone app.
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The PowerShot Zoom is currently being crowdfunded in Japan through Majuake. The campaign has already raised over $ 280,000, far surpassing its initial goal. Japanese backers are able to secure the first units for around $ 300.
There’s no mention of whether or not the PowerShot Zoom will become available outside the Japanese market at this time.
Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.
1Canon had previously said it hoped to have intermediary focal lengths during zoom, but it appears that feature isn’t available at this time.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Small, lightweight and offering great image quality from its APS-C format sensor, the Fujifilm X100V is designed for street photography.
In a season of unrest across the globe, Seattle-based photographer Chloe Collyer has been busy using the X100V to document the people – and the expressions of anger and creativity – which have made this summer unforgettable.
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This is sponsored content, created with the support of Amazon and Fujifilm. What does this mean?
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Pete Souza is one of the best-known names in photography. An experienced photojournalist, he has the distinction of having served as White House photographer for two presidents: Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Since leaving the White House in 2017, Pete has stepped out from behind the camera, and most recently he has been putting his images to work using Instagram to pointedly highlight the differences in style – and policy – between the last president and the current occupant of the White House.
‘The Way I See It’, a new documentary film based on Pete’s books ‘Obama: An Intimate Portrait’ and ‘Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents’ , opens soon. Ahead of its premier on September 18th, I had the chance to speak to Pete about his work in the White House, what makes a good presidential photographer and why he’s no longer content to let the pictures do the talking.
The following interview has been edited lightly for clarity and flow.
It’s helpful to have a background in photojournalism. And I think it’s also helpful to have the ability to disappear, if you will, in terms of going about the job with a small footprint. That’s things like not carrying loud cameras, not using motor-drive, remembering that you’re an observer, not a participant. Learning how to move about in those circumstances.
I think depending on the president, the [desired] qualities may vary a little bit, but that’s my approach anyway. It worked for me.
For sure. To quote Michelle Obama, someone I respect a lot, she says that the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are. I think the same is true of the photographs. The behind the scenes photographs of a president reveal the character of that person. I think that’s pretty clear, and has been basically since we’ve had that position of White House photographer, since the Kennedy administration. We’ve had a pretty good idea of what presidents are like, and their true character, based on the behind the scenes photographs.
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President Barack Obama walks along the West Colonnade of the White House with Chief White House Photographer Pete Souza Feb. 18, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson) Photo by Lawrence Jackson / The White House |
Oh probably three or four dozen, from Bill Allard and David Allen Harvey at National Geographic, to Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, the old Life Magazine photographers, and tons of the newer-generation photographers, too. I still look at photography every day, and that’s one of the great things about Instagram for me.
I still look at photography every day, and that’s one of the great things about instagram for me
In terms of the White House photographers, David Hume Kennerly under President Ford, and Eric Draper with George W Bush. They both did a great job. One of my great memories of election night in 2008, in Grant Park, was of David Kennerly, in fact. The ultimate professional, he was in tears because he was able to witness that moment. I’ll never forget that.
My job was to document what happened. But especially in family situations you certainly have to learn when you need to give the president some space. You’re trying to capture these family moments, but if he’s having a one-on-one talk with one of his daughters, you might take a few photographs and then back away. It’s just an intuitive sense of when the man needs a little space. And [with Obama] it usually involved his family.
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| President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wait in the Map Room before the State Arrival ceremony to welcome President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and his wife Mrs. Margarita Zavala on the South Lawn of the White House, May 19, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Photo by Pete Souza / The White House |
Look at it this way – on day one you’re issued with a Blackberry. I kept my Blackberry all eight years. It was either attached to my belt or on my nightstand, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for eight years. That was the way I communicated with people in my office, it was how I communicated with people in the administration, and it was the way that those people communicated with me.
To have that device with you, at all times, is really mentally draining. Just the kind of ‘all-in’ reality of the job, after doing it for eight years it really does take a lot out of you.
That’s the nature of the job. And some of that involves national security. There are some things I can never reveal unless they were to be declassified. But one of the things about classified information is that most of it is written down. It’s documents. And I wasn’t privy to those documents, I didn’t get copies of that material. But I was in the room when classified information was being talked about.
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| President Reagan meeting to receive the report of Special Review Board for the National Security Council, Tower Commission, with John Tower and Edmund Muskie in the Cabinet Room on February 26, 1987.(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Photo by Pete Souza / The White House |
A good example would be when we opened relations with Cuba. I probably knew about that a year in advance, because the two main negotiators would report to the president every month or two, and I would be in those meetings. Those are the kinds of things you keep in confidence – negotiations which are going on which aren’t yet public.
The people of the United States. I made almost two million photographs in the eight years of the Obama administration. And I don’t know if people realize this but every single photograph ends up at the National Archive. There will be time when everything will be made public – every single frame. On the day of the Bin Laden raid I think I made more than a thousand pictures and eventually people will be able to see every single one of them, if they want to.
Right now in fact, because a certain number of years has passed, you can see every single picture I made during the Reagan administration. You can see the proof sheets, they’re all online.
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| President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Photo by Pete Souza / The White House |
Ultimately, the job is to document the presidency for history. And I took that really seriously. We were talking about Okamoto earlier, and I remember I used to tell people that in fifty years time people will be able to go through all of my photographs and have a good idea of what the presidency was like, and what president Obama was like. And then I saw an old presentation by Okamoto, and he made the exact same point. Except he didn’t say fifty years he said “five hundred years”.
That really threw me, and made me realize how truly important this job is. It really is for history. Can you imagine the pictures that I made during the Obama administration, if we had a set of pictures like that taken during the Lincoln administration?
The country is divided, but there have always been two sides. It’s young people that give me hope. It’s the younger generation, primarily, have been the ones out there protesting peacefully. And not just the Black Lives Matter [movement]. The fact that a bunch of high-school kids in Florida really brought the issue of gun safety to a nationwide audience – these are 16, 17-year-old kids – and one of the largest rallies ever – they did it. Young kids. That generation gives me hope. Being out there, speaking out and letting their views be known.
And even some of the congressmen and women who were elected in 2018. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets a lot of attention, but I’m also thinking of people like Katie Porter (D-Calif) who has used her time in Congress in such an effective way.
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| President Barack Obama holds a meeting in the Oval Office to prep for a Quad Secure Video Teleconference (SVTC) in the Situation Room of the White House, Feb. 23, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Photo by Pete Souza / The White House |
I don’t think I’m bringing politics into it at all. I am not currently photographing the president of the United States. And I haven’t, other than on inauguration day [in 2017]. I’m just comparing and contrasting the two presidents that I have photographed from the inside, how they upheld the dignity of the office and comparing that to what we have today.
I have the right to speak out when I see wrong. And I see wrong, so I’m speaking out
It’s not a political thing. I wouldn’t be doing this if Jeb Bush, or John Kasich, or John McCain or Mitt Romney was president. I may still disagree with their policies, but they understand what it means to be empathetic and compassionate, and what it means to do the best job you can on behalf of all people – including the ones who didn’t vote for them.
It’s as simple as that. I’m an American citizen, and I have the right to speak out when I see wrong. And I see wrong, so I’m speaking out. I think Trump is damaging the country and its people, and to those who say I shouldn’t be speaking out, well, I think they’re wrong. I’m going to be on the right side of history and I believe in the institution of the presidency, and that the person in that office needs to uphold the dignity of the institution, and that [Trump] isn’t doing it.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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Most modern cameras will shoot video to one degree or another, but these are the ones we’d look at if you plan to shoot some video alongside your photos. We’ve chosen cameras that can take great photos and make it easy to get great looking video, rather than being the ones you’d choose as a committed videographer.
The Nikon Z6 is an excellent stills camera that also does a good job of shooting video. The Sony a7 III is also a credible contender and has a bigger battery, but we tend to find the Nikon’s autofocus performs slightly better in video mode and that it offers better separation between stills and video settings, making it easier to jump back and forth between the two styles of shooting.
Another camera worth considering is the Canon EOS R6, which has great image and video quality, an excellent image stabilization system and very good ergonomics. Rolling shutter can be an issue though, and video record times can be unpredictable if you’re shooting stills as well.
The Fujifilm X-T4 has a smaller sensor than the Nikon but offers a more extensive set of video features, if you’re equally interested in both disciplines. It can capture 10-bit video internally in a choice of modes including Log, HLG or the attractive and flexible ‘Eterna’ color profile. Built-in image stabilization and the option to totally de-couple stills and video settings make the X-T4 a great lightweight stills and video package.
We considered the cameras below when picking our winner, and even though we think the Nikon Z6 and Fujifilm X-T4 are the best choices overall, the cameras on our short list are also worth considering.
Also consider:
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards recently announced its 44 top images for 2020. Finalists include a smiley fish, a fox in negotiations with a mouse, and a photobombing giraffe. Founded by photographers and conservationists Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, the global competition is free to enter and aims to showcase the funniest takes on animals in the wild.
The top prize includes a week-long safari in Kenya. There is also a People’s Choice Award that anyone can vote for by clicking on their favorite image. Category and Overall Winners, chosen by a panel of judges including the competition founders, along with the Telegraph’s online travel editor, Oliver Smith, will be announced October 22nd.
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Animal: Sparisoma cretense
Location of Shot: El Hierro, Canary Islands
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Animal: Fox
Location of Shot: Israel
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Animal: Lions
Location of Shot: Kalahari Desert
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Animal: Giraffe
Location of Shot: Etosha National Park, Nambia
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Animal: Gentoo penguin
Location of Shot: Falkland Islands
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Animal: Eurasian red squirrel
Location of Shot: Espelo, the Netherlands
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Animal: Polar bear
Location of Shot: Spitzberg, Germany
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Animal: Asian elephant
Location of Shot: Corbett National Park, India
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Animal: Racoon
Location of Shot: Jackson, Ohio, USA
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Animal: Grizzly bears
Location of Shot: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA
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Animal: Common seal
Location of Shot: Caithness, Scotland
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Animal: Elephant
Location of Shot: Kaziranga, India
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Animal: Turtle
Location of Shot: Lady Elliot Island, Queensland Australia
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Vlogging is more popular than ever. In response, manufacturers have introduced specialty cameras for vloggers. But do you really need a dedicated camera to vlog? We compared the Sony ZV-1 and Panasonic G100 to an iPhone to find out.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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| Photo: Sroyon Mukherjee |
The two responses we most often hear when citing the virtues of developing B&W film at home are ‘Isn’t it hard?’ and ‘Isn’t expensive?’. We’ve covered the first question extensively in our guide Developing film at home: everything you need to know to get started (the answer is a resounding, ‘No!’).
As for the second, our friends over at 35mmc have proof that with just a little bit of cash and by making use of common household items, you too can begin your journey into home development without breaking the bank. For around $ 30, you can pick up the core equipment you’ll need, plus around another $ 25 to get set up with chemistry. That’s about the cost of lab developing 4 rolls so… you do the math.
Read: How to get started developing B&W film at home for £25 (or less)
About Film Fridays: We recently launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we’ll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at KosmoFoto and 35mmc.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Photography accessory manufacturer KUVRD has announced a crowdfunding campaign for its latest product, the Universal Lens Hood. As its name suggests, the new product is a collapsible silicone lens hood that KUVRD says will fit 99% of lenses.
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The Universal Lens Hood is the result of more than seven iterations, with the final version being put through ‘rigorous field testing in varying temperatures’ to ensure it’s ready to take on the elements. The product, which comes in two sizes — Small (54mm) and Medium (72mm) — is made of a ‘hyper-elastic silicone polymer,’ not unlike the material used to make the company’s stretchable lens caps released back in 2017.
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The Universal Lens Hood can be expanded forward and collapsed backwards to precisely fit your needs without getting in the way and the lint-resistant coating should ensure you’re not left with dirt and fuzzies stuck all over it as tends to happen with silicone products.
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| An illustration showing what size filter will fit inside the Small and Medium Universal Lens Hoods. |
Beyond near-universal lens compatibility, the hoods also serve as a way to hold nearly any size of circular filter on the market by squeezing them between the inner-walls of the hood. This can further save space in your bag by reducing the need for step down rings and ensures you can by a single, large VND, ND, CPL or UV filter for use with even your smallest lenses.
Although it might be a stretch (see what I did there) the Universal Lens Hoods can also be used as a placemats of sorts to keep your gear safe and off rough terrain when you need to switch out a lens or replace the batteries.
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The Universal Lens Hood has already far surpassed its humble $ 5,000 funding goal with nearly $ 180,000 in pledges as of publishing this article. You can purchase the Small and Medium Universal Lens Hoods in packs of one, two, three and four for $ 30, $ 50, $ 75 and $ 100, respectively. To find out more and to secure your pledge, head on over to the Kickstarter campaign.
Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)