360Photography

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  • NASA ortbiter snaps aerial photo of lonesome Mars Curiosity rover

    The bright blue dot at the center of this photo by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is actually NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, going about its lonely mission on the Red Planet. © Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

    No human photographer could capture this aerial photograph. That’s because this image is literally out of this world – it was captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 5th, and shows the Mars Curiosity Rover as it traverses the red planet, approximately 241,500,000 miles away from where I sit typing this right now.

    It’s hard to spot, and you have to look really closely, but there’s a small blue dot in the very middle of the photograph above. This closer crop might help:

    There, amid the Martian landscape, you can actually see the Curiosity rover as it trekked along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp, on its way to ‘Vera Rubin Ridge.’

    The photograph was taken by the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, which captures a red band, blue -green band, and an infrared band, combining these together to form an RGB image. Because of this, the photograph is not a so-called ‘true color’ image, and the orbiter appears bluer than it actually is.

    Oh, and if you’re curious, you can actually see what Curiosity was seeing when this photo was captured. The rover was using its Mast Camera to shoot these photographs of the Martian landscape while its picture was taken.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Now we know: Sony a9 is sharper than we thought

    To make a long story short, we’ve re-shot our studio scene shots of the Sony a9 with the FE 85/1.8 lens, and they’re much sharper. We apologize for misleading any of our readers, but it’s a long story – see below. To jump to the images, just click the button, but we do encourage you to read the full text as well.

    Just take me to the pictures!

    The Long Story

    You may have noted on the studio scene page of our Sony a9 review that we admitted to having quite a bit of difficulty focusing the camera with the new Sony 85mm F1.8 lens in magnified live view. The maximum magnification (x9.4) on the camera LCD made it very difficult to fine tune the 85/1.8 precisely. Multiple AF-S attempts yielded shots varying in sharpness, and we were often able to attain better results manually focusing. But the only way to check each shot was to shoot tethered and check each shot magnified on a monitor. Of course, every time we thought we’d nailed focus, we’d try nudging the camera or focus ring just a bit to make sure we couldn’t do any better, and then realize we’d fallen off a bit.

    And so the search began again and again, with the quest for perfect focus ending up a bit of a fool’s errand. We finally tuned focus to what we thought was reasonable (we look for maximum aliasing in the central Siemens stars, and color aliasing in the text), and shot our entire studio and dynamic range tests.

    Subsequently, we got lots of complaints about the a9 being soft.

    The Lens Factor

    Was it the lens? This is the first Sony FE camera we’ve shot without the stellar Zeiss 55mm F1.8. We’ve had a long-standing policy of shooting with an on-brand 85mm equivalent lens per-system, to maintain equal distance from camera to target, something that allows for all images to be rendered with equal perspective. With Sony’s recent release of the razor sharp FE 85/1.8, we thought we’d stick to our policy and give it a try.

    But we don’t blindly switch lenses for a system; we first verify:

    1. The new lens is at least as sharp as the previous one.
    2. The lens transmission (also accounting for the aperture at F5.6) is not so different as to affect noise comparisons.

    Our initial testing showed equivalent sharpness between the 55 and 85mm F1.8 lenses on even a high-resolution a7R II (see below). Furthermore, DXO verified similar levels of sharpness between the 85 and 55 F1.8 lenses (which both perform better than Sony’s 85/1.4 GM, surprisingly). And while we don’t have a way of directly measuring lens transmission, we measured signal:noise ratio of a few grey patches in our scene with the two lenses on the same camera body, and found them to be within 1/6 to 1/10 EV of one another. That meant the new lens would not make the a9 look better, or worse, in Raw noise comparisons compared to if we were to use the Zeiss 55mm F1.8 at F5.6.

    Sony 85mm F1.8 at F5.6 (left) vs. Sony 55mm F1.8 at F5.6 (right). Shot on a7R II

    Some Friendly Help

    While plowing ahead with other aspects of the review, a message from forum expert Jack Hogan turned up in my inbox showing this:

    Long-time forum member and all-round expert Jack Hogan did a quick MTF analysis per color channel based off of the slanted edges in our scene. Uh-oh. Looks like the red channel is focused better than the green channel, yielding a calculated MTF50 of only 945 line pairs per picture height (equiv. to a 5.4MP image if weighting sharpness, or MTF50).

    Importantly, the green channel should have the highest MTF.

    It was now clear that focus was the underlying issue with our studio shots. Not a bad lens. Not a strong anti-aliasing filter. But simply the fact that the lens was not optimally focused: if it were, the green channel would have the highest MTF.

    So we sat down one day and spent the entire day shooting many, many runs of our studio scene, slowly moving a macro rail (rather than coursely adjust focus on the lens) between each run. From these shots, we picked the (centrally) sharpest runs. While our copy of the 85/1.8 appears slightly decentered (the left is softer than the right), the results now are much more in line with where things should be:

    Jack Hogan re-analyzed some of our new studio shots of the a9, and the green and blue channels now have the highest MTF, not the red channel. The calculated MTF50 of 1125 lp/ph (equiv. to a 7.6MP image if weighting sharpness, or MTF50), which is a 19% increase in linear resolution over our previous results.

    A side benefit of analyzing properly focused shots is an ability to estimate the strength of the anti-aliasing filter, which appears to kick in around 0.744 cycles per pixel (the first minimum in the MTF curve). For comparison, the D5’s anti-aliasing filter kicks in around 0.748 cycles per pixel according to Jack’s analysis of our studio scene shots. Meaning the a9’s AA filter is fairly typical.

    Have a look at our updated images, and our updated image quality analysis based off of our new results:

    See our updated studio scene

    Editor’s note:

    As camera sensor and lens resolutions are becoming astronomically high, tiny little differences become visible in pixel-peeping. And that’s precisely what our studio scene allows you to do.

    Our studio scene isn’t perfect, but it can be helpful. It has its caveats though. For example, because we don’t control for lens transmission from brand-to-brand, or any shutter speed inaccuracies, we state that noise comparisons are only accurate to within 1/3 EV. Trying to extrapolate differences smaller than that from high ISO shots of our studio scene is meaningless: margins of error are real.

    The same goes for sharpness. The reality of lenses and mounts is that there is copy variation – in both. Therefore, we urge you to make sharpness comparisons largely from the center of the scene, which removes the lens (as much as it can anyway) from the equation. The rest of the scene is useful for assessing color, detail retention and noise at high ISO in JPEG and Raw, respectively, and other subjective attributes. And keep in mind common sense things: the lock of hair is well above the plane of optimal focus, and different lenses can have field curvature which either helps or hurts the sharpness of this lock. It’s important to keep these sorts of things in mind when pixel-peeping our scene.

    This time, with the a9, we take full responsibility for a non-optimally-focused set of shots. But the process has also been a learning experience for us: depending on a lens’ electromechanical coupling and the magnification of the live feed, it can be extremely difficult to take test shots that stand-up to the level of scrutiny our image comparison tool demands. And there are the practical issues mentioned above around taking one shot, checking it, and repeating the process – returning to the position of optimal focus is nearly impossible. The results of visually checking which shot is sharpest can even vary from tester to tester. I can assure you though: we are constantly working on methods to improve these processes.

    That said, it’s important to keep things in perspective: in the real world it’s unlikely you’d have seen the sharpness ‘issues’ we had with our initial a9 run (that otherwise appeared so drastic in our studio scene). Why? Because (1) you don’t typically view images at 100%, (2) there will at least be a plane of maximum sharpness (which in our case, unfortunately wasn’t our studio scene on our first run), and (3) your lens and shooting aperture will have far more impact on subject sharpness than which 24 MP sensor was used to shoot it.

    To our readers: we offer our sincere apologies, and wish you happy shooting!

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Hands-on with the Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    The Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cinema lens is the second in Fujifilm’s new line of MK lenses designed for Super 35 and APS-C cameras. MK lenses are designed to appeal to the emerging production market, offering features and quality typically associated with more expensive cinema lenses at a price point that’s attractive to budget-conscious cinematographers. The MK lenses are based on Fujifilm’s excellent Cabrio line of cinema lenses (which cost $ 15K and up), and share the same coatings as well as a similar mechanical build, but at a cost just under $ 4,000 they’re more accessible to a lot of users.

    I reviewed the first MK lens, the MK18-55mm T2.9, a few months ago and really liked it. Since the two lenses are designed to work as a set, they’re basically indistinguishable except for focal length, so if you want to read my detailed thoughts on how the MK lenses perform I recommend reading my earlier review, which for all practical purposes applies to both lenses.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    If you’re not yet familiar with the MK cine lenses, you may be surprised to learn that they use Sony E-mount. Why? Fujifilm wants to address the growing market of independent filmmakers, small production houses, and other professionals who use the Super 35 and APS-C formats. Sony has a huge presence in this market thanks to cameras like the FS7, FS5, and even a-series mirrorless, and many users of these cameras adapt other lenses, such as Canon EF-mount, to their cameras.

    What about Fujifilm’s own mirrorless cameras? The company has announced plans to release MK lenses in X-mount later this year so that Fujifilm shooters can take advantage of them as well.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    When I tested the MK18-55mm lens earlier this year, I did so with a Sony FS7, a Super 35mm camera mounted on a shoulder rig with rails, a follow focus, and an accessory EVF. However, Fujifilm emphasizes that the MK lenses are also designed for use on similarly sized APS-C sensors, so this time I decided to go that route. Unfortunately, during our short window of time with the lens I didn’t have access to a rig for a full setup, so I was limited to basic tripod and handheld use.

    When mounted the Sony a6500, it’s easy to see how large the MK50-135mm is compared to the diminutive camera. While it’s technically possible to shoot this combination handheld, it’s not terribly practical thanks to its large size and all mechanical controls.

    The great news is that the video I captured looked beautiful, and the lens appears to deliver the same quality that we saw on the MK18-55mm.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    I also tried using the MK50-135mm with the full frame Sony a7R II in Super 35mm mode. The size mismatch is a bit less obvious than with the a6500, however it’s no more practical for shooting handheld. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – chances are good that if you’re considering this type of lens, you’re planning to rig it in some way.

    In fact, this lens works very well with both the a6500 and a7R II (in Super 35 mode), and would be a great lens to pair with either of them. With a basic set of rails and a follow focus, the setup would work just as effectively as with a dedicated video camera.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    One of the reasons for using cinema lenses is that they often come in matched sets, and this is the case with the MK lenses. The MK18-55mm and MK50-135mm are physically identical, including T2.9 iris, gearing, dimensions, and even weight (right down to the gram). They’re also matched optically, meaning they can be interchanged seamlessly without changing the look of the resulting footage.

    Why are matched lenses important? In a cine setup the lens is often mounted on rails, and likely has attachments such as a follow focus or matte box. Ideally, you don’t want to have to readjust every accessory each time you change lenses, and having physically matched lenses means you can swap them in and out very quickly without needing to readjust everything. The MK lenses are so similar that I would have a difficult time telling them apart without seeing the zoom range printed on the lens barrel.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    When it comes to build quality, the MK50-135mm is very solid thanks to its all metal construction. As with most cinema lenses, it’s completely mechanical, and every movement feels well damped. It’s a pleasure to use and gives one the sense of using a high quality piece of precision equipment.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    One thing that sets the MK50-135mm apart from most still photo lenses is the large 200 degree focus rotation angle. This offers a lot more precision than you’ll get with the shorter focus throw of a DSLR lens, or the unpredictability of focus-by-wire, so it’s easy to make very fine adjustments as your subject moves. The lens includes very precise distance marks, in both English and metric units. This is particularly helpful if you have a separate focus puller who is following the action in a blocked scene.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    The MK50-135mm also has a parfocal design, meaning it can maintain precise focus while adjusting the focal length. As still photographers, we don’t usually worry about this capability since it’s easy to refocus after zooming. In contrast, when shooting video you may actually intend to zoom while recording, and you want to maintain focus on your subject through the entire transition. Losing focus during a zoom can ruin the shot.

    I was really impressed with the parfocal performance on the first MK lens, and the MK50-135mm performed to the same standard.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    Another common property of cinema lenses is that they resist breathing, a phenomena that causes the lens’s field of view to change slightly when focus is adjusted. This becomes particularly important when you’re doing something like racking focus between two subjects; you don’t want the field of view of the scene to change when you do this as it can be very distracting. The MK50-135mm suppresses lens breathing very effectively, which is not surprising given that the MK18-55mm did so as well.

    Hands-on: Fujinon MK50-135mm T2.9 cine lens

    Based on a couple days of use, I really like the Fujinon MK50-135mm lens, which – not surprisingly – is the same conclusion I came to after testing the MK18-55mm version. They’re both beautiful pieces of equipment that are a joy to use, and which deliver excellent results. The fact that there are now two of them spanning the entire 18-135mm range makes me want the set even more. If you’re a videographer using an E-mount camera, it’s really tough to go wrong with these lenses.

    The MK lenses should also appeal to Fujifilm X-mount users. In particular, we found the Fujifilm X-T2 to be a credible 4K video camera, especially since it’s capable of outputting F-Log gamma over its HDMI port. We don’t yet know the exact release date for the X-mount versions, but Fujifilm tells us it will be later this year, and we saw prototypes at NAB in April.

    The MK50-135mm T2.9 will be available in E-mount in mid-July for a price of $ 3,999, which is just slightly higher than the $ 3,799 MK18-55mm.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • The Photographer’s Emphemeris will launch a 3D app for iOS on June 27

    The Photographer’s Ephemeris, a tool that helps photographer’s plan landscape photos by providing lighting information about locations, will soon receive a new 3D upgrade. Over the weekend, the company announced plans to launch a new product called the Photographer’s Ephemeris 3D for iOS, a ‘visualize tool’ that allows users to view the effects of sunlight on a landscape anywhere in the world using 3D topographical models.

    According to the Photographer’s Ephemeris, the new 3D iOS app enables users to simulate the presence of the sun, moon, and Milky Way in any given landscape during a certain period of time. The simulation presents ‘actual topography’ that shows how the sun’s light will look spread across the land, as well as where the moon and Milky Way will be located for nighttime photography. The simulations are available in time frames ranging from days to years in the future.

    The 3D iOS app launched in New Zealand and Ireland yesterday, but won’t arrive for everyone else until June 27. The application can be used on any device running iOS 10, though more powerful devices will show greater detail in the simulations. The app will be priced at $ 19.99, $ 30.99 AUD, €21,99 EURO and £19.99 GBP. The company says it plans to offer a pro subscription in the future with, among other things, full offline support. It is unclear whether the company plans to launch an Android version.

    Via: Photographer’s Ephemeris

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Video: mesmerizing stop motion film of raw wood being shaved away layer-by-layer

    Photographer and animator Brett Foxwell teamed up with friend and musician Conor Grebel to create something awesome. Together, they painstakingly milled their way through several pieces of wood, layer by layer, capturing one frame of video at a time to create a stop motion film they’re calling WoodSwimmer.

    As you can imagine, the process of actually capturing this film was incredibly time-consuming, and at times grueling.

    ‘[The final video] involved endless hours of shooting, cutting, and prepping for each frame,’ Brett tells DPReview. ‘Which involved either clearing all the wood chips away or keeping them looking consistent and pretty, and finally applying wood oil to the sample for each frame.’

    You can see the mess this process created in some behind the scenes images Brett shared with us. Unfortunately, he only captured a couple of these BTS shots, because, in his words, ‘It was just such a grueling process that I never got around to getting proper documentation of the process.’

    Regarding gear, Brett tells us he used a Canon EOS 60D with Tamron 90mm macro lens attached. This setup was tethered to DragonFrame, a stop-motion capture software that Brett says is “a great tethering application even if you’re not shooting specifically stop-motion.”

    Tons of work and a nightmare to clean up, but well worth it when you get a load of the final product. Here are a couple of stills Brett sent our way:

    Several stills from WoodSwimmer are available as prints from Brett’s website, and you can see more of his stop motion, nature photography, and other artistic work by following him on Instagram.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • There’s no ‘right way’ to use Instagram as a professional

    Okay so it might not be super minimalist….it might not fit the feed… but rules are meant to be broken right?! ???

    A post shared by Jennifer Moher (@jennifermoher) on

    I don’t view my Instagram feed very seriously. I put some ‘work’ photos on there that I’m proud of, both from reviewing cameras and my freelance work. I definitely don’t do a very good job of curating – people who are interested in both motorcycles and cats would probably like my feed, but I’m not sure how much overlap there really is for those audiences.

    So for those who are full-time, working professional photographers who need to hustle clients for a paycheck, how does Instagram fit in? Rangefinder Magazine asked five photographers about their posting philosophies, and got five pretty different results.

    Jennifer Moher likes to show people that she’s more than just a wedding photographer, so while her feed has a pretty consistent visual aesthetic, there’s a lot of her personal life on there, with everything from hikes to coffee cups. Caroline Briggs, on the other hand, says ‘a random snap of my coffee cup would be too jarring and off-topic,’ and therefore keeps her personal and professional photography in two separate accounts.

    Are you on Instagram? How does it fit into your photographic world? Let us know in the comments, and head on over to Rangefinder for the full writeup.

    Via: Rangefinder

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Meeting Owl robotic video offers 360-degree views of conferences

    Owl Labs, a startup backed by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, has launched a new camera called the Meeting Owl. This 360-degree camera is designed specifically for companies and groups, enabling them to hold video conferences without the burden of manually operating the cameras. The Owl does the hard work itself, automatically focusing the video feed on the person who is talking. Oh, and guess what it looks like? Yep, an adorable, productivity-increasing owl.

    The device features a 360-degree camera on the top of its cylindrical body, as well as a total of 8 omnidirectional beam-forming microphones for capturing audio from all directions. The combination of the two enables Owl to capture everyone around a table at the same time, presenting viewers with a full view of the conference room. The camera shifts focus onto whomever is speaking, and presents split-views if multiple people are engaging in a conversation. The microphones isolate important noise from unwanted ambient sounds.

    Owl Labs has designed its conferencing camera to work with major video conferencing platforms, including Slack, Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom, and GoToMeeting; the camera is plug-and-play via a USB cable. According to the company’s website, ‘limited quantities’ of the Meeting Owl are available at this time, with shipping starting within the next four weeks. The camera is priced at $ 799.

    Via: The Verge

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • The Kennel Club 2017 photo contest winners are cute as h*ck

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    The Kennel Club has announced the 2017 winners of its annual ‘Dog Photographer of the Year’ photo contest. Now in its 12th year, the international competition received almost 10,000 entries from 74 countries around the world, and was sponsored by SmugMug and Nikon School. As the internet would say, that’s a lot of h*ckin’ good puppers.

    We present the 1st place winners from each of the ten categories in the competition. To see all the winners in each category, head over to the Dog Photographer of the Year website.

    Above:

    Overall winner and ‘Man’s Best Friend’ category winner: Maria Davison Ramos (Portugal)

    About the photo: For me, capturing real and candid moments is what photography is all about. This is one of those moments. My friend had just adopted Yzma and while we were chatting in the kitchen I was taking some photographs. The location and the light were far from perfect, but I ended taking one of the photos I’m most proud of.

    About the dog(s): The dog’s name is Yzma and she’s a Golden Retriever cross. She was adopted by one of the photographer’s closest friends.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Assistance Dogs’ category winner: Alasdair Macleod (Ayrshire, Scotland)

    About the photo: Megan was photographed during her weekly visit to South Beach Care home in Saltcoats, with one of the residents, 95 year old RAF veteran Mr Duncan Currie (a pilot for the Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, Dam Busters) who has Dementia.

    About the dog(s): Megan is a rescued Greyhound and was the top Therapet for 2016.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Dogs at Play’ category winner: Kalyee Greer (United States)

    About the photo: Petey and I stood there together on the water’s edge in awe as the day bowed out to the night and the sun slipped its yellow head behind the horizon. Pastel colours painted themselves across the Summer sky above our shoulders in stripes of pink and cobalt blue as we quietly revelled in that perfect, endless moment. Then, just as suddenly as the sky had lit itself on fire, Petey clumsily jumped into the water with a joyful little sparkle in his eye, beckoning me to come along. I followed him in and giggled until my sides hurt as he would push his paw down into the warm, salty water, sending little crystal droplets flying through the air all around him. With each happy splash came the realization of the perfection in those tiny moments, and of the unmatched purity of the canine heart.

    About the dog(s): The dog in the photo is named Petey. A cuddly and endlessly sweet Wheaten Terrier who belongs to a previous client of Kaylee’s.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Rescue Dog’ category winner: Alexandra Robins (Wiltshire, England)

    About the photo: When I went to Bath Cats and Dogs home to photograph some of their animals, Chloe and Tess were the first on my list. We took them out to one of the large, grassy paddocks for them to have a run around. Both dogs flew across the field together, I managed to get some fun action shots of them playing. However, it was this image of Chloe looking up at her carer that has always been my favourite. Chloe was a little timid towards strangers; she was probably looking for reassurance with a strange photographer present!

    About the dog(s): Chloe came to Bath Cats and Dogs home with her friends, Tess and Diego, when their owner died. Chloe the brindle greyhound was a timid dog and used to hide away from strangers but was gentle and caring to her friends. All three dogs found loving homes.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Dogs at Work’ category winner: Sarah Caldecott (Yorkshire, England)

    About the photo: The photograph of Rita was taken during a training day in February this year on the moors in County Durham the weather hadn’t been kind and the light was fading fast.

    About the dog(s): The dog in the photograph is a pointer called Rita owned by a friend who Sarah met during training sessions with her dog.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Puppy’ category winner: Mirjam Schreurs (Netherlands)

    About the dog(s): Mirjam placed a call out on Facebook for dogs to photograph and the owner of Tyson the Boxer puppy responded to it. Mirjam photographed Tyson when he was 14 weeks.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘I Love Dogs Because…’ category winner: Julian Gottfried (Chicago, US)

    About the photo: I especially enjoy this photo because it exemplifies what I love about my dog. In the image you can easily see his cuteness, personality, and playful manner. Combined with the snow, they create a truly lively photo.

    About the dog(s): Pippin, a terrier-mix. Julian’s family adopted him on Valentine’s Day in 2010. He and his brother had been wanting a dog for a really long time, and their parents finally decided to adopt one. Pippin had been found wandering around Missouri with his mother in a poor state, and was staying at a shelter. He was only seven pounds, but the most adorable dog there, and he has since become an integral part of the family.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Oldies’ category winner: John Liot (St. Helier, Jersey)

    About the photo: This image was taken as part of a commissioned shoot with three rescue dogs. It was a beautiful and bright November day and the Sun was creating an intense light through the windows, warming the client’s house. Kelly, an apprehensive 12 year-old collie-cross, found her spot in the God rays heating up the arm of a sofa and had a nap. She was a cautious girl with a sad backstory and had challenging behavioural issues prior to being adopted. Happily though, she has found rejuvenated life with her new family in Jersey who are giving her all the love and attention she sorely missed in her younger years.

    About the dog(s): Kelly is rescue and her breed is unknown. She was 12 when the photo was taken. She was adopted by Bex D., a worker at Jersey’s animal shelter, who has two other rescue dogs that she’s also adopted from the JSPCA.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Young Pup Photographer’ category winner: Dylan Jenkins (Swansea)

    About the photo: I took this photo in my garden. We had some cake and Mosey came to sniff it. I took about twenty photos and this was the best and the funniest.

    About the dog(s): Mosey is the older of our two hounds. She’ll be 10 in October. She has had some scent training (truffles!) and has appeared in a few dog shows but is happiest as a pet/companion dog She is incredibly gentle and sweet-natured and hilariously funny. Mosey and Dylan have an incredible bond.

    The Kennel Club Dog Photographer of the Year

    ‘Dog Portrait’ category winner: Anastasia Vetkovskaya (Russia)

    About the photo: This magnificent Afghan was incredibly nice to shoot – he is very expressive and emotional.

    About the dog(s): SISLEY- SHOU GERAT GRANT AHTIAR AK JAR, Afghan Hound

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Adobe achieves record revenue

    Software maker Adobe has today published its financial results for the second quarter fiscal year 2017 ended June 2, and the company reports a record quarterly revenue of $ 1.77 billion. At the same time operating income was increased by 46 percent and net income by 53 percent year-over-year on a GAAP-basis.

    “Digital transformation continues to be the burning agenda for creative professionals, enterprises, governments and educational institutions,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO, Adobe. “Adobe is the go-to company for creating world-class digital customer journeys from design to delivery to measurement and monetization.”

    Other highlights of the financial results include the following:

    • Diluted earnings per share was $ 0.75 on a GAAP-basis, and $ 1.02 on a non-GAAP basis.
    • Digital Media segment revenue was $ 1.21 billion, with Creative revenue growing to a record $ 1.01 billion.
    • Strong Creative Cloud and Document Cloud adoption and retention drove Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) to $ 4.56 billion exiting the quarter, a quarter-over-quarter increase of $ 312 million.
    • Adobe Experience Cloud achieved record revenue of $ 495 million, which represents 29 percent year-over-year growth.
    • Operating income grew 46 percent and net income grew 53 percent year-over-year on a GAAP-basis; operating income grew 42 percent and net income grew 43 percent year-over-year on a non-GAAP basis.
    • Cash flow from operations was $ 645 million, and deferred revenue grew to approximately $ 2.07 billion.
    • The company repurchased approximately 2 million shares during the quarter, returning $ 266 million of cash to stockholders.

    More information and detailed figures are available on the Adobe website.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Zeiss launches Milvus 1.4/35 full-frame lens for Canon and Nikon

    Zeiss has launched a new lens for full-frame DSLRs with Canon and Nikon mount, the Milvus 1.4/35. The new model is the tenth lens in the Milvus series and according to Zeiss, thanks to its fast aperture, particularly suited for portrait photography. That said, its 35mm focal length also makes it a good all-rounder and useful in landscape photography and even filming.

    “The high maximum aperture enables the subject to stand out clearly against the background, and the photographer can achieve creative combinations of focus and blur,” says Christophe Casenave, Product Manager at Zeiss.

    Like all lenses in the Milvus line the 1.4/35 comes with a robust metal barrel and is protected against dust and splashes and therefore suitable for working in adverse weather conditions. Zeiss says a new optical design with aspherical lens elements, special glass materials and advanced correction means photos taken with the Milvus are practically free from chromatic aberrations. The Zeiss Milvus 1.4/35 will be available from specialist dealers and in the ZEISS Online Shop from July 2017. The recommended retail price is 1,999 Euros ($ 2,228). More information is available on the Zeiss website.

    Press Release:

    ZEISS Milvus 1.4/35 Camera Lens for DSLR Cameras

    The tenth lens in the ZEISS Milvus series for DSLR cameras already shows its many benefits at full aperture

    OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 2017-06-21.

    ZEISS has launched a new lens for full-frame DSLR cameras from Canon1 and Nikon2 on the market: the ZEISS Milvus 1.4/35. Now the tenth lens in the Milvus family, the ZEISS Milvus 1.4/35 is particularly suitable for portrait photography thanks to its speed. “The high maximum aperture enables the subject to stand out clearly against the background, and the photographer can achieve creative combinations of focus and blur,” says Christophe Casenave, Product Manager at ZEISS. “The manual focus enables very exact focusing, and the creamy bokeh provides an excellent image look. And even at full aperture the image quality leaves nothing to be desired.” The ZEISS Milvus 1.4/35 is also perfectly at home in landscape photography: “The 35-millimeter focal length is a genuine all-rounder.” Like all lenses in the ZEISS Milvus family, it is protected against dust and splashes and, according to Casenave, even bad weather is no problem. The metal barrel gives the lens its robust and durable character.

    Practically no chromatic aberrations thanks to a new optical design

    With aspherical lens elements, special glass materials and advanced correction, ZEISS has given the lens a completely new optical design. “This means the photos are practically free from chromatic aberrations,” says Casenave. Thanks to their excellent edge-to-edge imagery the ZEISS Milvus lenses are designed for high-performance digital cameras. “The resolutions of camera sensors are constantly becoming higher, and this also increases the demands made on the lenses. For ZEISS Milvus lenses this is no problem. They are a solid investment in the future.”

    Also suitable for filming

    The ten lenses in the ZEISS Milvus family, ranging between 15 and 135 millimeters, are also suitable for film productions: the manual focus with a large rotation angle can be operated with the aid of a ZEISS Lens Gear with a follow-focus system. The de-click function allows the aperture to be set continuously in the version for Nikon3 cameras. A further benefit for filming: ZEISS has matched the color characteristics of the ten lenses. Filmmakers can therefore switch between the focal lengths and still have a uniform color look. “This facilitates editing enormously,” says Casenave.

    Price and availability

    The ZEISS Milvus 1.4/35 will be available from specialist dealers and in the ZEISS Online Shop from July 2017. The recommended retail price is 1,999 euros.

    You can find further information at www.zeiss.com/photo/milvus1435

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)