360Photography

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  • You mean they made cameras, too? A tribute to the Samsung NX10

    When Samsung left, it left quietly. I was reminded recently by a senior executive that the company never announced that it was officially exiting the camera industry, but even so, right now the chances of us ever seeing an NX2 seem pretty slim. Which is a shame, because the NX1 was a great camera, and a rumored full-frame NX2 might have been just the shot in the arm that the camera industry badly needs.

    But there’s no point wishing on what might have been. Samsung may only have been in the mirrorless interchangeable lens camera business for a little over five years, but it achieved a lot in that short time. And it all started with the NX10.

    Traditionally, the camera industry has been a bit dismissive of Samsung. Even after the premium-priced NX1, the company never entirely managed to shed its ‘they make fridges, don’t they?’ image. A slight hint of cynicism towards Samsung’s attempts to be taken seriously as a camera maker can even be detected in DPReview’s coverage of its first mirrorless model, the NX10. In retrospect, that tone is hard to justify.

    The NX10 was the first mirrorless model from any manufacturer to offer an APS-C sensor (Sony’s NEX system was launched later the same year), and the ~50% increase in sensor area compared to Micro Four Thirds was a pretty significant technical achievement. The NX10 also offered a fairly high resolution (for the time) electronic viewfinder, a fixed OLED rear screen, and excellent build quality. This – ahem – ‘little Korean camera’ (in the words of our announcement coverage) packed a lot of technology into its impressively compact body.

    Samsung NX10 Samples Gallery (2010)

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    The NX10 was announced immediately before CES 2010, and we took a working sample to the show. I had recently joined the DPReview team, and Richard, Lars and I added a couple of days of vacation in LA’s Koreatown to the trip.1

    Our plan was to get some sunshine, enjoy some of the area’s famous food, and shoot enough images on the NX10 to create a samples gallery.2 During that time, the NX10 was mostly in my possession, and I ended up really liking it. Samsung’s lens lineup was paltry at the point of announcement, but the tiny 30mm F2 pancake was (and remains) a lovely lens for casual everyday shooting with such a small camera.

    The Getty Center, in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. It’s worth visiting LA for the Getty Center alone. I certainly wouldn’t go back for the breakfasts.

    Flashback to the mid 2000s: Back when it was still rebadging Pentax DSLRs, Samsung used to run private brainstorming sessions in the UK (and I assume elsewhere) with technologists and industry journalists to come up with ideas for the future of camera design over dinner. It also used to sponsor competitions in design schools, to the same end. Possibly as a result of the prodigious consumption of free booze3 the results of these consultations and design experiments invariably ended up looking something like the famous Luigi Colani concepts for Canon, which eventually became the delightfully curvy (but still basically SLR-shaped) T90 in the early 1980s.

    Another shot from the Getty Center. I really like the Getty Center.

    Having attended a couple of those brainstorming sessions in 2007/8 (hey – I enjoy a free dinner as much as anyone) I remember being a bit surprised that the NX10 ended up looking so conventional. Like the contemporary Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2, it looked and handled like an unusually small DSLR. That said, the NX10 was a perfectly pleasant camera to use, with very few significant frustrations.

    Overall, the NX10 offered very good image quality, fast, responsive AF (‘DSLR-speed’ as we admitted in our review) and for the time, an excellent rear display. We complained about its Auto ISO implementation and aggressive noise-reduction4 and the video mode had some kinks that needed to be worked out, but for a first attempt, it must be said that Samsung got a lot right.

    In pretty short order, the NX10 became the NX20, which became the NX30. Then in 2015 came the NX1. And the rest is (sadly) history.

    Read our Samsung NX10 review (2010)

    1. I’m pretty sure the location was just a coincidence, but Richard’s boundless enthusiasm for puns may have extended to the trip planning – my memory is unclear on this point.

    2. Barring one memorably unpleasant Denny’s breakfast, we succeeded in all three aims, despite what sounded like a near riot in the early hours of the morning at our very cheap and not at all secure hotel.

    3. On the part of the industry insiders, I mean, not the design students. Although let’s be honest, we’re talking about design students here – they were probably even more hammered than we were.

    4. Remember that we’re talking about DPReview in 2010 – when complaining about Auto ISO systems and noise reduction represented a large portion of our total site output.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Motorola shows off ‘DSLR’ and 360° camera Moto Mods at Ghana event

    Motorola has big plans for Moto Mods—the company’s snap-on accessories for the modular Moto Z smartphone. The company recently showcased some new Moto Mods at an event in Ghana, and according to TechDroider they included a 360-degree camera mod and a ‘DSLR’ mod with interchangeable lens support.

    Popular leakster Evan Blass also recently tweeted a photo showing the alleged 360 camera Moto Mod unveiled in Ghana:

    Assuming the 360 camera mod leak shows the actual product, the Moto Mod will feature a dual-lens camera module attached to the top of the Moto Mod, which itself attaches to the back of the Moto Z smartphone. The ‘DSLR’ mod is a bit more of a mystery, appearing in one very rough photo from TechDroider as a Moto Mod with a mount for attaching removable lenses.

    No further information about either mod—including specs, pricing or availability—are known at this time, but we’ll keep you updated. Chances are good the products won’t stay exclusive to the little country of Ghana.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • FAA may develop a remote drone identification system for law enforcement

    Despite present drone regulations in the US, identifying the operator of any given drone in the sky is nearly impossible, making it difficult for law enforcement to deal with drones that are being misused. To address this issue, the Federal Aviation Administration has developed the new UAS Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), which just recently wrapped up its first meeting.

    According to the FAA, this initial meeting was used to discuss law enforcement concerns related to drones, to present regulations concerning drone tracking and identification, as well as possible legal issues and air traffic drone management. Existing drone ID tech was reviewed, and ‘preliminary…identification parameters’ were created.

    Speaking on the behalf of unnamed sources, Recode reports that law enforcement agencies are concerned about their inability to identify drones from the ground; this concern has reportedly delayed an FAA proposal related to flying drones over people. The FAA is said to be using this committee to develop a system in which law enforcement will be able to identify a drone from the ground, addressing the agencies’ concerns.

    Such a system may involve the drone itself broadcasting its identification to a law enforcement system, enabling police to ID the drone’s operator or, at the very least, its owner. Such an identification system would likely require small non-commercial drones to be registered, however, marking a deviation from current drone regulations.

    At the moment, only commercial drones must be registered with the FAA.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Panono no more: 360-degree camera maker sold after ‘amazing but also exhausting journey’

    Jonas Pfeil demonstrates the size and design differences between the working prototype Panono camera (right) and the design model of the final production unit (left). In a letter to backers he has confirmed that the company is to be sold, after only delivering around 400 cameras.

    It’s official: Panono, maker of an innovative 360-degree camera, is to be sold after only managing to deliver around 400 cameras to its backers. The company filed for bankrupcy in May, but in a letter to backers, co-founder Jonas Pfeil has confirmed that the sale of Panono’s assets is expected to be finalized very soon.

    As he explains, ‘assets’ in this context means ‘inventory, software, the rights to the hardware, almost all employee contracts, IP rights etc., […] but not the obligations towards external parties’. External parties like the Indiegogo backers that funded the Panono camera. In other words: if you backed Panono and you didn’t get your camera yet, you’re officially out of luck.

    Thanking backers for their support and understanding, Pfeil called the experience ‘an amazing but also exhausting journey’. He stressed that, as shareholders, ‘the [outgoing] founders will […] not profit from this sale, as the money will be used by the insolvency administrator to pay outstanding invoices and other debt first.’

    Meanwhile, there’s some good news for the 400 or so backers that did get their cameras – after some initial uncertainty, it seems that the cloud service supporting the device will continue to be maintained.

    We really liked the Panono when we tested it last year, and we’re sorry to see it go. Were you one of the backers? Did you receive a camera? We’d like to hear from you.

    Read our review of the Panono 360-degree camera (July 2016)

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Domke F-803 and F-5XB review

    Domke F-803 & F-5XB Shoulder Bags
    $ 80-150/£63-118 | www.tiffen.com | Buy Now

    The small camera bag has long had a place in the hearts of serious photographers. Yes, most of us all have giant backpacks, bags and even hard rolling cases that get used for the ‘big’ jobs. But many of us also appreciate the ease of a small, unobtrusive shoulder bag and the simplicity it represents. Could it be the long memory of the classic National Geographic photographers and their Leica rangefinders? Or is it just that we’re tired of breaking our backs with big F2.8 zoom kits all the time?

    For almost 40 years now, Domke has been in the business of making no-nonsense hard-wearing bags for photojournalists and working photographers. Unsurprisingly, many of their bags quickly found favor with enthusiast photographers as well. This has been particularly true of some of their smaller bags. The satchel style F-803 and the compact shoulder bag F-X5B are two examples of smaller Domke bags that have been popular with many photographers. In fact, a black canvas F-803 was one of the first camera bags I owned and it has seen many miles of use with rangefinder, and nowadays, Micro Four Thirds gear.

    Specifications

    F-803

    • Exterior: 34.29 x 8.89 x 24.5 cm / 13.5 x 3.5 x 10.0″
    • Interior: 30.48 x 7.62 x 22.86 cm / 12.0 x 3.0 x 9.0″
    • Weight: .89 kg (1.9 lb)

    F-5XB

    • Exterior: 25.4 x 11.4 x 18.4 cm / 10.0 x 4.5 x 7.25″
    • Interior: 24.1 x 10.2 x 15.2 cm / 9.5 x 4.0 x 6.0″
    • Weight: 0.56 kg (1.2 lb)

    Both bags come in most of the combos of classic Domke canvas (sand, black, olive) as well as their newer RuggedWear waxed canvas (brown, military green). Some special editions such as those for Fujifilm or Best Buy (the green RuggedWear bags pictured here) may have leather trim/accents.

    In use

    F-803

    The F-803 has a single main compartment with light padding. It is most typically sold with a single padded insert, the FA-280. There are two pockets on the front of the bag with velcro closures sized for small accessories such as batteries or a cell phone.

    There is also a document pocket along the back however, this pocket has no closure and as such, you may not want to put anything of value or that could be damaged if it fell out. That said, I typically find it useful for maps, papers and a pen or two.

    The main section is covered by a flap closure with a single metal buckle and a stiffening bar with a handle along the top. I find the single buckle simple to operate with one hand and this makes access quick and easy. The handle is very useful, but due to the fact that it attached to the flap itself, it doesn’t work as well if the buckle isn’t clipped.

    Photo courtesy Tiffen

    The stiffening bar is a little unfortunate as it does not allow the bag to conform to your body as well as it might otherwise, but it is a minor issue and if it really bugs you can be removed with a minor bit of ‘bag surgery’. To be honest, while I’ve thought about it from time to time, I’ve never gotten around to bothering to remove the one in my bag.

    The F-803 is very lightly padded on the sides and bottom, with no padding on the front or back. The pockets on the front provide a measure of protection as does anything you have stuffed into the back document pocket. But it cannot be stressed that this bag, like many of Domke’s bags, is not for those who require complete protection for their gear.

    As you might expect, storage in a bag this slim is going to be tight. The F-803 is sized well for just about any mirrorless system. A DSLR will work, I’ve even used a 6D in there. But it gets a bit tight for my taste, particularly with zoom lenses, and I would encourage you to try before you buy if this is your intended use. The FA-280 doesn’t help matters. Because of its narrow and full-height design, it can really only reasonably fit a mirrorless body with a slim to medium sized prime lens.

    Storage in a bag this slim is going to be tight

    My solution was to attach the insert over to the left or the right and then put my body/lens into the open space and an extra lens into the insert. One thing I particularly liked about this layout is that my body lays on its side and I felt like this made it quicker to grab the grip and start shooting.

    Another solution that is popular, but I myself have not tried, is to purchase the Domke FA-230 insert.The FA-230 is a three compartment design with dividers that are not full-height. This allows you to insert many body + lens combos in a lens-down orientation. The FA-230 will run you an extra $ 23, however. It is also more padded than the F-803 itself and while this does give you additional protection, it also takes up internal space and makes the bag feel bulkier.

    The F-803’s biggest asset is its slimness and light padding. On a crowded subway or slipping through a crowd at a sold-out concert, you won’t feel like you’re at risk of smacking people with your camera bag at every turn. This can also be a drawback as the F-803 will not stand up on its own in most situations; if you try to set it down, it will topple right over. Couple this with the fact that the light padding doesn’t give all that much protection, and you have to understand that you can’t go tossing it around like you might with a bulkier bag.

    It also doesn’t look much like a camera bag at all, If anything, it looks like a small messenger or laptop bag. Now, is a laptop less enticing to thieves than a camera bag? Who knows. But for those who don’t want to look like they are carrying a camera bag, the F-803 has you covered.

    F-5XB

    First off, it must be pointed out that the F-5XB is quite a small bag. While it may be possible to use the F-5XB for a small DSLR, this bag is really a better bet for mirrorless system users. An Olympus Pen and a few lenses fit perfectly. The front back and bottom of the bag are lightly padded with sewn-in foam, the sides are unpadded. The strap is Domke’s standard canvas-with-rubber-threads ‘gripper’ style that you will either love because it stays on your shoulder or hate because it won’t slide around your body.

    Photo courtesy Tiffen

    Two dividers are included and realistically, I’m not sure you need more in a bag this size. Access is via a velcro flap cover with an additional zipper that can be closed or left open. The zipper is big and easy to use with quality YKK teeth/pulls. Honestly, I rarely use the zipper –only when I’m not going to be using the camera for a bit and want an added measure of protection against anything falling out.

    There is also a belt-strap pass-through on the back in case one wants to make the F-5XB into a waist/hip bag instead of a shoulder bag. I can’t imagine using this myself, but others may feel differently. I would have preferred to see that area used for another small pocket or two. On that note, organizational pockets are at a premium on the F-5XB, with just one on the front of the bag that can’t hold much more than a couple pens or a spare battery.

    I’ve rarely used bags this small in the past. They seemed too little and purse-like for me to fit into either my gear organization or shooting style. Even when I was using tiny Leica rangefinders back in my film days, I preferred something like the F-803 over a little box like the F-5XB. But now, a few years (and camera systems) down the road, I find myself surprised as just how useful the F-5XB is in some situations. It’s a handy ‘grab and go’ size for taking to a picnic, birthday party, or wedding where you aren’t worried about ergonomics or stealth and just want a way to carry a body and lens or two.

    I find myself surprised as just how useful the F-5XB is in some situations

    What was even more of a surprise to me was how useful it was for stashing in my luggage for a business trip. I frequently take a camera and a couple small lenses on even the most boring of trips. But I typically have them in my overloaded laptop messenger or backpack carry-on. Bringing the F-5XB along meant that I could lighten my load and just use it for a morning or evening photo adventure. It’s a use I wouldn’t have thought to specifically get a bag for otherwise, and the F-5XB worked perfectly for the task.

    The strong velcro on the flap is the most common ‘dislike’ mentioned by photographers about the F-5XB, and I’d have to agree. The amount of velcro is overkill for the size and use of the flap.

    This is an instance where it would have been nice to see the velcro ‘silencers’ used on some of Domke’s newer bags. Or, even better, the ‘silent’ velcro that Tenba uses on some of its bags.

    Perhaps more strangely, for some reason, the velcro on the flap and bag doesn’t line up when the flap is folded over. I’m not sure if this is a design feature or a bug, but it is odd. I suppose one advantage is that less of the velcro is engaged, making for less of a rrrrrriiippp sound when you open it?

    It’s also a bit of a shame that a bag of this size and design doesn’t have a grab handle of some sort. If my use is any guide, there are going to be a lot of times when you aren’t using this bag on your shoulder and are just grabbing it to pick up or set down. I think if I were going to use this bag a lot, I would fashion one of the basic webbing-style handles like those on the Domke J2/F2/etc that clip onto the strap rings.

    There is no avoiding the fact that the style of this bag won’t appeal to some

    Finally, there is no avoiding the fact that the style of this bag won’t appeal to some, as it looks very much like a ‘camera bag’. A nondescript camera bag, to be sure, but a camera bag nonetheless. In fact, the only other thing you could perhaps convince someone that it was, is a small purse. Either way, it’s not going to suit some photographers for this reason alone. Us camera nerds can be a picky bunch.

    What’s the bottom line?

    First things first, as I’ve repeated a couple of times, these are small basic bags that feel more at home with mirrorless systems than even compact DSLRs. They do not have expanding water bottle pockets or laptop sleeves or weight distributing straps. Anyone looking for all-day comfort or highly customizable organizational options will be disappointed. They are for unobtrusively carrying a small camera kit and little else, in a tough non-descript package. But what they do, they do quite well, and if my experience is any guide, will keep doing so after years of hard use.

    Anyone looking for all-day comfort or highly customizable organizational options will be disappointed

    While the two bags aren’t exactly similar, I will say that the F-803 is the clear winner here for me as far as a small bag for a mirrorless system. This is not surprising when you consider the fact that I’ve owned and used an F-803 for the better part of two decades now. While the F-5XB was handier than I thought it would be, I can’t say that it fits my needs as well and I find its design in need of some updating. That said, it is a quite popular bag and I’m likely to hear about how wrong I am in the comments. So, read both sets of opinions and come to your own conclusion based on what your requirements are.

    F-803

    What we like:

    • Slim
    • Very nondescript
    • Easy access with a single buckle closure
    • Proven simple tough design
    • Made in the USA

    What we don’t like:

    • Can’t stand up on its own
    • Not much padding
    • Few organizing pockets

    F-5XB

    What we like:

    • Compact size
    • Zipper close is easy to use, single flap is easy to open
    • Can use as an insert inside luggage when traveling
    • Made in the USA

    What we don’t like:

    • Too much velcro on flap, yet doesn’t line up properly
    • Appearance will not suit some
    • Not for large cameras/lenses
    • Only a single small pocket
    • No top handle

    F-803

    F-5XB

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Nikon D7500 gallery update: more photos, Raw conversions

    The Nikon D7500 is proving to be an outstanding general-use stills body. As we’re finishing up the full review on the camera, we wanted to share some additional images as well as a handful of Raw conversions (made using beta profiles in Adobe Camera Raw).

    You’ll have to wait juuuuust a little longer to find out how the D7500 stacks up against the competition, but if you couldn’t already tell from the photos in the gallery, we’re having a lot of fun shooting with it.

    See our Nikon D7500 sample gallery

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    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Are the NLE wars beginning to heat up?

    Avid Media Composer First allows you to begin user the Media Composer platform at no cost.

    Choice is good, and if you’re a video editor you just got one more. Avid, whose nonlinear editor Media Composer is widely used in the film and television industries, recently released a free version of its software called Media Composer First.

    On the surface, this appears to be a similar approach to the one taken by Blackmagic with DaVinci Resolve, which has evolved into a creditable NLE in addition to its legendary color grading tools. The full version of Resolve Studio sells for $ 299 (down from $ 995 a few months ago), while the basic version of Resolve can be downloaded for free. While there are differences between the two, the free version includes most of the same tools as the Studio edition, making it a very attractive platform.

    Avid appears to be taking a bit of a different approach, however, as Media Composer First comes with a number of limitations. The most notable is that it only supports projects up to 1080 resolution, which will likely to be a stumbling block for many editors today. It also limits the number of video and audio tracks you can use, the number of bins in a project, and its desktop display LUT is limited to Rec.709. In fact, if you compare features, the free version has a fair number of limits across all functional areas.

    So, why would anyone use Media Composer First? The full version of Media Composer sells for $ 1299 (or as a subscription for $ 35/month), so cost is obviously one motivation. However, what’s likely more important to many editors is access to the Media Composer platform. This presents a cost effective way for beginners to use and learn a piece of software that will be very important if they want to work in film or television.

    If neither Media Composer nor Resolve work for you, the other 800 pound gorillas in this space are Adobe Premiere, available as part of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, or Final Cut Pro X for Mac users, which sells for $ 299.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Going wide on a budget: Nikon AF-P 10-20mm F4.5-5.6 DX sample gallery

    Nikon’s AF-P 10-20mm F4.5-5.6 DX is the company’s latest lens specifically designed for its crop-sensor camera bodies. It may have a plastic mount, but with a 35mm-equivalent focal range of 15-30mm, it is a versatile yet affordable lens for those looking for a wider view than the kit lens has to offer without breaking the bank. See how it performs from the inner streets of Seattle to the remote, sandy beaches of Washington’s coast.

    See our Nikon AF-P 10-20mm F4.5-5.6
    sample gallery

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Photobucket breaks billions of photos online, upsets millions of users

    If you’re an avid Photobucket user, you woke up to a nasty surprise this past week: the photo storage and hosting service changed their terms, breaking billions of images online in one fell swoop, without so much as a courtesy notice.

    Some explanation is probably in order.

    Photobucket has been allowing free users to host and link to images on its servers since 2003. If you wanted to host your photos on Photobucket and display them on some 3rd party site (also known as hotlinking) you could do that without being a paying member. This is an extremely useful—not to mention bandwidth-intensive—service to offer, and it’s one of the reasons Photobucket has managed to amass over 10 billion photos uploaded to its servers by over 100 million users.

    But starting last week, the company changed its terms and membership structure, and what once was free will now cost users a whopping $ 400 per year. Suddenly, billions of images Photobucket users had hotlinked online no longer showed up. Entire forum threads, like this one found the photo blog by PetaPixel, are now devoid of images.

    Instead, you have this graphic on display… over and over:

    As you can imagine, Photobucket users are not happy about the change. Any time a free service turns into a paid one there’s bound to be some griping, but going from free to $ 400/year is an extreme jump by any standard.

    On the one hand, it’s easy to justify Photobucket’s decision from a business standpoint: advertising revenues are dropping, and hosting that many images has to be incredibly expensive. But doing it so suddenly, without so much as a courtesy warning, has users turning to social media to vent their frustration.

    Some are calling it ‘blackmail’ and ‘extortion,’ others are saying it’s business suicide, and droves of users are bidding an angry farewell:

    Whatever you want to call it, one thing is certain: making such a sweeping change without warning was the wrong call. You hear that noise? It’s the stampede of users running pell mell towards Imgur.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Simple demo shows the power of a polarizing filter

    Here’s a neat little demo that you can use to wow your non-photographic friends, or your favorite photo novice. Thirty-five seconds into the polarizing filter intro above, Christopher Frost captures a series of shots with and without a polarizer, and the difference is striking.

    The video itself is several years old, offering a basic overview of circular polarizers, how they work, and why they’re ‘so neat.’ It’s useful for beginners, but the part we enjoyed most was the demo—where Frost laps a polarizer onto his camera, shoots video of some reflective surface, and turns it while the video runs.

    The surface of a river, a storefront window, stacks of books, even some reflective leaves later on in the video, all of them take on a totally different character when you remove the reflections by using a polarizer:

    Check out the video up top to see all of the examples (the video will automatically start at the 35 second mark). And on the off chance you don’t know what a polarizer is or how it works, you’ll get a basic photography lesson while you’re at it.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)