360Photography

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  • Researchers create method for photorealistic Prisma-style effects

    Popular app Prisma applies painting styles to photographs using neural networks, turning a snapshot into an artwork in the style of ‘The Scream,’ for example. But what if you could transfer photorealistic effects from one photo to another? Researchers at Cornell and Adobe have successfully demonstrated a method that will translate a variety of styles from a reference photo to another image, including things like lighting, time of day and weather.

    Input image on the left, reference style image in the center, output image on the right. It’s not incredibly realistic-looking, but more realistic than your average Prisma treatment.

    Images via Fujun Luan

    This could open up a whole new world of possibilities for ‘lazy’ photo editing. Say you snapped a photo of a rock formation in the middle of the day, but you’d rather it had the orange glow of golden hour. With this method, you could apply the textures and colors of a reference style image, i.e. some other rock formation at sunset, to your own image.

    This photo-style-transfer method augments the neural-style approach Prisma takes by constraining the colorspace of the transformation applied to the source image. Taking a content-aware approach and classifying features like sky and water in each image helps to avoid mismatched textures and distortions.

    Advanced photographers would likely be wary of making such drastic edits to their photos. However, the technology might appeal to someone who wants to apply the effects of professional lighting to a badly lit photo of an interior, for example.

    What do you think? Could this technology be useful to you? Let us know in the comments.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • DPReview on TWiT: the Fujifilm GFX 50S

    DPReview has partnered with the TWiT Network (named after its flagship show, This Week in Tech) to produce a regular segment for The New Screen Savers, a popular weekend show hosted by technology guru Leo Laporte.

    On this week’s episode of The New Screen Savers, DPReview editor Dan Bracaglia joins Leo and guest host, Georgia Dow of iMore.com, to talk about medium-format digital photography and the Fujifilm GFX 50S. Tune in to the entire episode to also learn about mesh Wi-Fi networks, an HP all-in-one computer with a curved 34-inch display, and a review of the 2nd gen Nvidia Shield TV.

    You can watch The New Screen Savers live every Saturday at 3pm Pacific Time (23:00 UTC), on demand through our articles, the TWiT website, or YouTube, as well as through most podcasting apps.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Wesaturate will soon offer free Raw photos for photographers to practice editing

    Students Gifton Okoronkwo and Kast Goudarzi have taken the wraps off a new website called Wesaturate, an online learning destination that will offer free Raw images for photographers to download. The intention for the website is to provide these images as learning tools, enabling anyone to practice Raw editing even if they don’t have the time or gear to go out and shoot their own photos.

    Wesaturate is tentatively scheduled for a full launch on April 17, though at the moment it is only accepting email addresses from those who want to be notified about the launch. A single image is currently offered on the site in both Raw and JPEG formats; it, and others uploaded later on, are offered with a Creative Commons Zero license. Once the site fully launches, users will be able to share their own photos with the Wesaturate community.

    The duo also plans to operate a blog that will publish tricks and tips for beginners. Speaking to PetaPixel, Goudarzi explained, ‘We’re really focusing on the photographer’s experience here and we want to make sure it’s all about them.’

    Via: PetaPixel

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Gcam: the story behind the Google Pixel camera software

    Google’s now independent X research division, which calls itself ‘the moonshot factory,’ has been publishing a collection of stories about the group’s graduated projects and where they stand today. The latest article in the so-called Graduate Series offers a closer look at Gcam, the software behind the class-leading cameras in Google’s Pixel devices. 

    The blog post outlines how the Gcam team was set up back in 2011 to find a solution for the Google Glasses smart goggles’ most pressing challenge: providing a high-quality camera in a very small device. As using bigger hardware wasn’t an option, the Gcam team developed a method called image fusion, which uses multi-frame-stacking techniques to create a single, higher quality image with lower noise levels, better detail and increased dynamic range. 

    The technology, which is now called HDR+, quickly grew beyond Google Glass and made it into the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 cameras and eventually became the default camera mode in the Google Pixel series. The Gcam team now works across a range of imaging-related technologies, including Android, YouTube, Google Photos 360?Virtual Reality projects. If you are interested in more detail you can read the full blog entry on the X blog or find our full Google Pixel XL camera review here.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Panasonic likely to scale-back camera division

    Panasonic is likely to significantly scale-back its camera business, according to a report by Japan’s largest business newspaper. The Nikkei Asian Review says the move is one of the proposals of a report prepared by the company’s business planning department.

    Like all large electronics makers, Panasonic has found it hard to make profit in an industry with increasingly tight margins. The report puts forth ways to rationalize the business, sell or close loss-making groups and focus on the company’s areas of strength.

    The paper identifies three businesses: ‘digital cameras, private branch exchange telephone systems and optical disk drives,’ which, it says: ‘will be dismantled. Each will be scaled back and placed under the umbrella of other operations, with headcount to be reduced.’

    With the number of compact cameras being sold having fallen precipitously and the interchangeable lens camera market stagnant, the digital camera division is an obvious target for cuts as part of the company’s restructuring.

    The Nikkei also says that ‘In the chip business, the company is weighing unloading shares in a joint venture with an Israeli enterprise,’ presumably a reference to the TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor joint venture that builds CMOS sensors, amongst other things.

    Panasonic’s financial year ends on March 31st, so we’ll be watching the announcement of its 2017/18 plans for signs of the report being implemented.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Ask the staff: Pick one focal length or lens to rule them all

    Can you guess the focal length? Photo by Wenmei Hill

    We handle a lot of glass in the DPReview office, but there always seems to be a handful of lenses or fixed lens cameras that everyone is extra eager to lay some paws on. Which got us thinking of a fun hypothetical: If we could only choose one lens to use for the rest of time, what would it be?

    To keep things interesting, and to vary the answers, we opened the question up to include one lens in particular or one focal length. The photograph that accompanies each answer was shot with that staff member’s chosen lens or focal length. We purposely didn’t list the gear used. See if you can guess!

    Carey Rose

    Any guesses what focal length Carey gravitates toward?

    Before I worked at DPReview, I would have immediately chosen the 35mm focal length. Now that I’ve worked at DPReview for some time, I have to say… I haven’t really changed my mind.

    Splurging on a battered old D700 after college left me without enough money to pick up anything approaching a fast zoom, so I started building up a collection of affordable Nikon AF-D primes: a 50mm F1.8, a 35mm F2, an 85mm F1.8. I quickly realized that I just wasn’t a zoom guy, and the 35mm F2 was glued to my camera most of the time. A used X100 was a natural next step for a more portable setup when I scored a good deal on one.

    Even today, after using lens after lens and camera after camera for review after review, the 35mm focal length remains my go-to. It doesn’t matter whether I’m headed to shoot an event, a wedding, an environmental portrait, or just strolling around when some nice light hits, it’s more likely I’ll have a 35mm lens with me than any other.

    Wenmei Hill

    Wenmei likes versatility. Did she choose a zoom or a prime?

    I’m going to take the easy way out and pick a zoom lens rather than a single focal length. My choice is the Nikon AF-S 24-120mm F4G ED VR, and my excuse is that the majority of shooting I do (documentary lifestyle and candid portraiture) requires a flexibility that is difficult to get with a single focal length.

    I’m choosing the 24-120mm even though it’s not one of my ‘favorite’ lenses because it is relatively small, lightweight and versatile enough to get the variety of shots I look for when photographing. I am able to immerse myself in a scene at 24mm but also step back for a portrait at 120mm, using the longer focal length to get pleasing bokeh and separation from the background.

    Shooting it on a DX-format body gives me even more reach at the long end (180mm equivalent) for portraits. I already use this lens as my everyday lens when I don’t have a particular creative plan and want to be prepared for anything, so it’s the one I’d choose if I had to pick just one.

    Dale Baskin

    Dale chose a specific focal length that he didn’t always love. Can you guess what it is?

    This will probably seem like I’m going for the low hanging fruit, but I would choose 35mm. I used to be a solid 50mm guy, and if I wanted to go a bit wider I switched to 28mm, skipping 35mm entirely. My shift to 35mm began in earnest when I started shooting Fujifilm’s X100 series of cameras, which have a 35mm equivalent lens.

    Now, one could argue that I’m choosing 35mm because I really enjoy the camera to which it’s attached, but that’s not the case. In fact, when I first started shooting the X100 I enjoyed it despite the focal length. It was actually the one thing I didn’t care for about the camera. However, as I continued to use it, I learned to adjust my style to take advantage of the 35mm field of view. After a few months, I found myself really enjoying it, so I decided to do a little experiment: I was about to embark on a trip to Brazil and decided to shoot my entire adventure at 35mm. The idea was both exciting and scary; I knew from experience that I would be giving up some shots by not having the right lens. However, I like to travel light, and I hate carrying camera gear, so I threw down the gauntlet and accepted my own challenge.

    The upshot? I had a great trip and captured a lot of memorable images. Did I miss a few shots along the way? Sure, I did. But on the flip side, I got some great photos I would have otherwise missed because I forced myself to visualize every scene at 35mm instead of mentally switching to a different focal length. Now, no matter what camera I happen to be testing, one of the first lenses I always put on the front is a 35mm (or equivalent).

    Sam Spencer

    Sam chose a specialty lens. This image was shot using a similar lens, albeit with a different focal length. Do you know what it is?

    Forever? Forever ever? I’m sure I could do the practical thing and say ’24-70’, or be a motorsports spectator the rest of my life and say ’70-200’, but I’m weirder than that. If it was a lens for me to shoot what makes me happy for the rest of my days, it’d be the Nikon PC-E 85mm F2.8 for product, portrait, and automotive photography. The maximum magnification of 1:2 means I can get close for product, and use the tilt to either get more of the product in focus, or isolate the focal point. I like medium telephoto lenses for the narrower field of view that makes selecting a background out of a busy environment much easier, and even F2.8 can be bright enough to blur the background at 85mm. I’m a control freak, not a speed demon, so I’ll be watching eBay for a copy…

    Dan Bracaglia

    Dan’s image was shot with the equivalent of his favorite focal length. The image was cropped in slightly, still any ideas what he chose?

    The first and only lens I’d owned for many years was a 50mm. But as my interest in photography (and other activities) grew I found myself yearning for other lenses. If you’d asked me this question when I was 16 years old and shooting a lot of skateboarding, I probably would have said a fisheye is my favorite lens. If you’d asked me again when I was 18 or 19 years old and starting to get into photojournalism, I’d probably have said 24mm. If you’d ask me when I was 24-28 years-old, and reviewing cameras for a living, all why exploring the streets of NYC/Seattle, I most likely would have said 35mm. But these days, I’ve come full circle and 50mm is my focal length of choice if I could only shoot one lens for the rest of my life.

    Sometimes overlooked or seen as pedestrian, there are plenty of reasons why a normal 50mm lens is number one in my heart and bag: For starters the nifty fifty is as practical as they come. Most manufacturers make a reasonably fast, yet inexpensive 50mm equiv. Moreover, I’d argue its the most versatile focal length of them all: in a pinch it can be used for portraiture or detail shots, in the same way a tele can. And it can also be used in some capacity as a wide-angle, if you have the room to move (I’ve shot many concerts with just a 50mm, without feeling a need for something wider). And if you get a reversal ring, you can mount a nifty fifty backward and use it for macro shooting!

    For years I’ve carried a Nikon 50mm F1.8 in my bag as the ultimate backup for just about anything I’m shooting: weddings, concerts, portrait sessions, travel. It’s light cheap and versatile. But these days, the lens spends as much time mounted on my camera as glass I own costing 6x as much.

    Jeff Keller

    Jeff chose a workhorse zoom. Can you guess which one?

    Since I’m always shooting with something work-related, I don’t get to use my EOS 5D III very often. But when I do, my daily driver is the Canon EF 24-105mm F4L IS USM. Not the most exciting choice of lens, I admit, but for land- and cityscapes that I enjoy taking, it definitely fits the bill. The image stabilization works well, it focuses silently and the weatherproofing is helpful when you’re out at Snoqualmie Falls and it’s throwing mist. Naturally, not long after I bought the 24-105, the Mark II arrived, with new optics, better autofocus and new coatings to reduce lens flare and ghosting. The lens is larger and heavier than my Mark I model, which I consider a good size for its focal length and aperture.

    It’s nice to see that Canon isn’t the only one offering a lens with this focal range. Sigma’s 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM Art lens is even bigger and heavier than Canon’s Mark II version, but the build quality is excellent. And, according to DxO, it’s also a sharper lens. And did I mention that it’s a bit cheaper?

    Thus, if I was stranded in a world with wonderful landscapes and cool architecture, the Sigma 24-105mm F4 Art would be permanently mounted on my 5D III.

    Vladimir Bobov

    Vladimir is our newest DPR team member. He makes sure the site works properly. Any guesses what focal length he chose?

    I wasn’t sure whether to bother praising the 50mm focal length. I figured that it’s so common, that talking about it would be either redundant at best or boring at worst. However, sorting my photo collection by focal length showed that I took more photos with a 50mm (on a 35mm full frame camera) than with any other lens, including the more versatile zooms.

    So why pick the “normal” prime for the rest of my life? Versatility and portability. It’s the perfect lens for candid portraits in a casual setting – fast enough to use in low light, and small enough to not intimidate the subject. Wide enough for full-body and group portraits, and good enough for head-and-shoulders (especially when paired with an APS-C camera). I’ve also been able to use it effectively for landscapes, close-ups, product, and food photography. So although I’d certainly miss the other focal lengths, with enough creativity and trickery, the 50 and I could live happily ever after.

    Richard Butler

    Richard chose a favorite lens that doesn’t yet exist. This image falls toward the tele-end of his made-up range. Can you guess what it is?

    If I have to live within the constraints of reality, then I’d be tempted to say a 35mm just for its Goldilocks-like flexibility. But, it seems only fair that if I agree to be bound by an arbitrary restriction, I’m should get to relax the need to limit myself to lenses that actually exist. The problem is that I really like 35-40mm equivalent lenses but also love something around 90mm equiv. for portraiture and a lifetime seems like a long time to have to go without.

    Equally, if I have a 24 or 28mm equivalent lens, I get back into the habit of ‘seeing’ wide-angle scenes and I’m sure there’s some aphorism about making one’s life spicy. This is why I’m pushing back against reality: the need for a 90mm equiv, rules out the use of a 24-70mm equiv and, over time, the limiting equivalent aperture of an 18-55mm F2.8 on APS-C would leave me frustrated. Sigma’s 18-35mm F1.8 is a work of genius that I wish were available on mirrorless systems, so I’m going to put my faith in the men and women of Aizu and trust that they’ll make me a 16-60mm F2 for APS-C mirrorless. I mean, how hard could it be?

    Allison Johnson

    Allison chose a specific zoom lens, can you guess which one?

    Maybe a truly bold person picks a prime to shoot with for the rest of their life, but I’m going to play it safe and pick a zoom, whatever that says about me. The Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 is not the very best lens I’ve ever shot with, but it’s fairly versatile, sturdy and relatively small. It’s the right size (along with the OM-D cameras I’ve used it with) so that it’s doable to carry around all day in my purse, and I like having a fairly wide 24mm equiv. out to 80mm for a little more reach when I want it.

    Really, it’s not special in any way except that it’s a solid standard zoom for a system I like. I’ve had many happy days shooting with it, including one wonderful afternoon at a defunct nuclear power plant (seriously, it was awesome). If picking a zoom makes me basic, then so be it.

    Barney Britton

    Any guesses what lens Barney chose?

    If I was trying to impress you, and if I wasn’t such a died-in-the-wool contrarian, my choice for ‘go-to’ camera and lens would be a Nikon D810 and a 35mm lens – something good, like the Nikon 35mm F1.4 or Sigma Art 35mm F1.4, or perhaps an old ’sleeper’ favorite, like the Nikon AF-D 35mm F2, for the hipsters. If you were to ask me what focal length I use most, I’d say that probably around 90% of my photography could be achieved with a 35mm lens. If you were to ask some of my comment-thread critics on the other hand, they’d tell you that 90% of my photography could be achieved with an iPhone, or their 5-year old daughter, or their blind grandmother, or their blind grandmother’s 5 year-old iPhone, but that’s beside the point.

    But I’m not trying to impress you. Which is why I’m going to cheat a little, and make a case for a zoom lens, and one that doesn’t get a lot of love in these parts – the Nikon AF-S 24-120mm F4. The current version of Nikon’s ‘street-sweeper’ do-everything zoom, it’s true that the 24-120mm isn’t the sharpest lens in Nikon’s stable, or the best-controlled when it comes to distortion, or the toughest, and all the rest. It’s a kit zoom. A pretty good kit zoom, in my opinion, but still. So why – if I had to choose only one lens – would I pick the 24-120mm? Because it just works. I know that if I go out shooting with the D810 and 24-120mm, come rain or shine (or snow, or hail, or desert dust, or any of the other nasties I’ve thrown at it) I can capture pretty much anything I might want or need to. It’s almost boring. I wish I had more of an excuse to attach other lenses, but to be honest, most of the time I just don’t. I actually sold a bunch of my Nikon glass recently, because it wasn’t getting used.

    The image above was taken just after a torrential downpour last December which turned into a hail storm. The camera and lens were – like me – soaked. Could I have taken it on something better? Maybe, but I wouldn’t have wanted to risk damaging a more expensive lens in those conditions. And would it be a better picture had I done so? Or a happier memory? No.

    What would you choose?

    If you could only shoot with one lens, or one focal length for the rest of your life, what would you choose? Feel free to share your answer in the comments! 

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • The Leica Summaron 28mm F5.6 is old-fashioned fun

    The Leica Summaron-M 28mm F5.6 is a curious thing – a ‘new’ M-mount version of a pancake lens originally introduced in the mid 1950s. Manufactured in limited numbers between 1955-1963, the original Summaron would have been most commonly paired with Leica’s screw-mount and (via adapters) M3 and M2 film rangefinders of the day. 

    So is the Summaron a collectors item best left inside its presentation box, or is this something you might actually want to shoot with?

    Leica Summaron-M 28mm F5.6: Key specifications

    • Optical construction: 6 elements in 4 groups
    • Aperture range: F5.6-22 (full-stop detents)
    • Minimum focus: 3.3 feet (1m)
    • Filter thread: 34mm
    • Hood included
    • 6-bit coded
    • Eight aperture blades
    • Weight: 165 g (0.36 lb)

    The answer to that question is a bit complicated, and I must admit that I changed my mind a couple of times during the course of shooting for this article.

    Initially, I must say I was rather skeptical. Leica lent me the Summaron ahead of a trip to Japan at the end of February, and I opted not to take it, borrowing a more practical 28mm F2.8 Elmarit instead. I enjoy vignetting as much as the next person, but I didn’t like the idea of being limited to F5.6. The fact that the Summaron arrived in a satin-lined presentation box scared me a little, too. I’m painstakingly protective of loaner gear, but accidents do happen, and the thought of accidentally losing or scratching the tiny jewel-like lens worried me. So I took the Elmarit, and I don’t regret it.

    Back home though, with a few days left on the M10 loan agreement and a strong desire to get away from rain-drenched Seattle, I headed to the coast to see what the little Summaron could do. 

    Handling

    There’s not much I can say about the Summaron’s handling, because there’s precious little lens to actually handle. As you can hopefully tell from the photographs in this article, it’s very small indeed, which means that focus and aperture rings are small, too. The focus ring features a traditional infinity lock, by way of a sprung peg that must be depressed to move the lens from its ? position.

    Whether or not you get on with this depends partly on what you’re used to. Personally I find the infinity lock a bit annoying, more so on this lens than others I’ve used with a similar design, mostly because the whole thing is so tiny. With the hood attached and the camera to my eye, there is very little tactile differentiation between the infinity release peg and the hood tightening peg. A bigger issue is that when rotating the focus ring, the one tends to get in the way of the other.

    The Summaron’s aperture ring is unusual by modern standards in that it has detents only at every full stop setting, not 1/2 or 1/3. You can of course live dangerously and set intermediate positions if you want to. The M10, at least, will recognize 1/2 steps in aperture-priority mode, but be warned – in its 1/2 stop positions, the 8-bladed aperture is far from rounded – in fact it’s literally star-shaped.

    Like the focus ring, the aperture ring is slim, and a little hard to find by touch when the hood is attached.

    Given that the hood also occludes a decent portion of the M10’s 0.72X viewfinder, I stopped using it pretty quickly, except when it was very obviously going to be necessary. Flare isn’t enough of a risk to require it most of the time, and ditching the hood makes the Summaron’s aperture and focus rings easier to manipulate. 

    Of course this is mitigated somewhat by the fact that when the lens is used at a small aperture and its corresponding hyperfocal focusing distance, there is very little need to actually adjust anything.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Documenting a spontaneous cold-weather surfing trip to Maine

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    It only took one message on a group chat to convince Ryan Struck, a New York-based photographer and keen surfer, to make a last-minute trip to Maine. Snow and waves were in the forecast, a combination that Struck couldn’t ignore.

    Struck got the surfing and the photos he was looking for, but in a piece on Resource Travel he mentions another reason why the last minute trip was a no-brainer: community.

    ‘But, as much as I relish the visual trophies that I bring home from these spontaneous road trips, it’s the experiences and the friendships that come from these surf adventures that I will look back on and cherish forever. I am a surfer. I am a photographer. I am a surf photographer. And I am proud to be a part of this community.’

    Head to Resource Travel for the full story and more photos. Are you spending some part of your weekend with your photography community? Let us know in the comments.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Flying drones over the internet isn’t the future we wanted, but it’s the one we’ve got

    You’re flying… kind of! Cape lets registered users fly drones in remote locations. Takeoff and landing are handled automatically by the drone.

    We were promised jetpacks, but as many-a-scholar has noted, here we are knocking on 2020’s door and we are still jetpackless. We have, however, managed to put countless drones into the sky. While jetpacks are scarce, a drone can be had for as little as $ 15 and as much as, well a hell of a lot more than that. Anyone can fly a cheapo drone into their living room wall, but if you want to fly a bigger drone somewhere cool there are costs, logistics and federal guidelines to contend with. What’s an apartment-dweller with big drone flying ambitions to do?

    Enter Cape: a service that lets you fly real drones in real outdoor locations, without leaving the comfort of your home or your web browser. No license, no learning curve, no expensive crashes. Flight locations are exclusively located in California at this point, and the service is in beta so its developers expect to work out some bugs and improve latency before launch. Deep into a stretch of grey Seattle weather, flying a drone around a sunny California desert sounded fantastic to me.

    Just sitting at my desk in Seattle, flying over the Sacramento River. You know, no big deal.

    How I learned to stop worrying and love the drone

    Cape’s locations include desert and coastal sites including San Francisco Bay, the Salton Sea and Sacramento River. Each has its own hours and days of availability, but most are available weekdays until 5pm Pacific Time. Provided your internet connection is robust, all you need to do is select a site that’s available and hop to the controls of your very own DJI Inspire 1.

    Your flight begins with a diagram of your keyboard control shortcuts overlaying the camera’s live feed. Getting started just requires pressing ‘enter’ to initiate autopilot take-off. And there you are – soaring above the California desert with the press of a button.

    When your session starts, you’re met with this handy controls diagram.

    Cape’s drones are as dummy-proof as you’d hope they would be. A map in the corner of the screen indicates where your aircraft is in the geo-fenced zone. You can’t go beyond the zone’s boundaries, can’t crash your drone into another drone, and can’t stray outside of minimum and maximum altitudes – autopilot will kick in and prevent you from doing any of these things.

    You quite literally learn the controls on the fly, but they’re easy to master. There’s some lag, but it was honestly less than I expected. In no time, I was zooming across a little patch of California desert at a reasonable speed and legal altitude. There wasn’t much to see, since that’s how deserts are, aside from some distant brush and pixelated mountains on the horizon.

    And on that topic: considering you’re flying a drone that could very well be a world away, the live feed resolution isn’t bad. At best it looks like a Google Street View image, but most of the time it’s a bit more pixelated than that as it catches up with your movements. This translates to a slightly less awe-inspiring experience than, say, actually being there to gaze on some distant desert mountains.

    I’m trying to drown this drone and it’s having none of it.

    It’s a small world after all

    The zones feel small once you’ve flown from one edge to the other, and by necessity the controls are pared down to a minimum. If it’s a truly realistic piloting experience you’re hankering, I’m not sure it’ll scratch that itch. Playing tennis on a Nintendo Wii is convenient and fun in its own way, but it’s not the same experience as playing on a real court with a racquet in your hand. You don’t come away with the same satisfaction when so much is done for you.

    So if it doesn’t quite provide the same excitement as flying a drone in person, is it escapism that Cape can provide? Sure, getting a peek at the sun for the first time in days, even virtually, felt pretty nice. I can attest to how strong the desire is around Seattle to be somewhere sunny right now. I got a little bit of that escapism from Cape, but not so much that I’ll be racing back to fly somewhere else tomorrow.

    But really, when you think about what Cape allows you to do, it’s kind of incredible. You’re controlling an aircraft hundreds, maybe thousands of miles away, in real time. Finding visually rich places where those drones can be operated safely and legally seems like a tricky balance. Cape’s website says the company is working on ‘unlocking new locations,’ and if one of those locations is in say, Norway or Iceland, then you’d definitely have my attention.

    It’s not jetpacks, but maybe we’re getting closer.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Lexar JumpDrive Tough is an ultra-rugged USB flash drive

    Lexar has launched its new JumpDrive Tough, an ultra-durable version of its USB 3.1 flash drive product lineup. This model is designed to ‘withstand life’s challenges,’ according to Lexar, and to likewise protect data stored on the dongle via included EncryptStick security software with 256-bit AES encryption.

    The Lexar JumpDrive Tough is resistant to temperatures ranging from -13°F to 300°F / -25°C to 149°C, water down to depths of 98 ft, and pressure/impacts up to 750psi. This durability is complemented with read speeds up to 150MB/s and write speeds up to 60MB/s. With those speeds, a 3GB video can be transferred in less than 1 minute. JumpDrive Tough is compatible with both Mac and PC, and is backward compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0.

    The new flash drive is available to purchase from Lexar now in three capacities: 32GB ($ 19.99), 64GB ($ 34.99), and 128GB ($ 59.99).

    Via: GlobalNewswire

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)