360Photography

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  • Panasonic’s new organic CMOS sensor won’t be in your next camera but it’s cool anyway

    Organic chips, but not the kind with sea salt. On the left the sensor is used in plain old visible light mode. By changing the electric charge applied to the chip, visible and near-infrared light are captured simultaneously, shown on the right.

    Panasonic has been developing organic sensors for a while now and has just announced a new breakthrough: an organic CMOS chip that can capture visible and near-infrared (NIR) light simultaneously without sacrificing resolution.

    There are sensors available now that can image both near-infrared and visible light, but they sacrifice one out of every four pixels to NIR capture. As a result, resolution of the final image suffers. Panasonic’s new chip makes use of two organic layers: the top layer is sensitive to visible light and the bottom layer is sensitive to near-infrared light. By changing the voltage applied to the layers, it’s possible to choose whether the lower layer is active or not. This means it can switch between visible and visible+NIR imaging frame by frame, which is useful in machine vision applications where subjects may be moving quickly.

    The image on the left is recorded with color imaging mode, the right shows the scene in NIR imaging mode. The new sensor could be used for night vision and surveillance.

    Alternatively, it allows for the creation of security cameras that capture visible light during the day then switch to visible+NIR for a full-resolution ‘night vision’ mode after dark.

    It’s great news too if your job relies on checking things that aren’t visible to the human eye, like checking things on an assembly line that are out of sight, but this sensor is unlikely to ever be used in a consumer digital camera. Still, it’s promising to see that Panasonic’s experiments in creating chips made of something besides silicon are paying off.

    If nothing else, separating the capture medium from the readout mechanism makes it easier to implement a global shutter design, since the light-sensitive layer can be switched on and off independently, rather than being constrained by the (sequential) read-out process.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Canon EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS II USM sample gallery update

    The Canon EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS II USM is a full-frame lens, but this budget-friendly, stabilized tele-zoom will likely appeal to owners of APS-C bodies too. So we’ve updated our initial sample gallery, shot on the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, with some more images captured with the EOS 80D. Check out the full gallery by clicking the link below; to see everything that’s new in a glance, hit the grid view and use the options on the right to filter the gallery by camera body.

    See our updated Canon EF 70-300mm
    F4-5.6 IS II USM sample gallery

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • This camera is made of 32,000 drinking straws

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    Looking for a craft project to tackle this weekend? It might be an undertaking, but it turns out if you put 32,000 drinking straws together in a wooden box, voila – you’ve got a camera. At least, that was the starting point for a collaboration by artists Michael Farrell and Cliff Haynes. Over the course of several years they worked on iterations of the Straw Camera, a project that combined their love of sculpture, photography and innovation.

    The first versions of Straw Camera used 10-inch black drinking straws, each one with roughly an F127 aperture. The pair began photographing still life, but early results were mixed. Haynes describes his frustrations with images from the first version of the camera:

    ‘I was slightly disillusioned by the output from the initial camera, the straws were never going to be even, the camera had it’s own signature, changing slightly each time a few more were added as they settled in the box. I thought a similar, more even field could be obtained using corrugated black plastic protective floor sheeting instead of straws.’

    Later versions of the Straw Camera used a more predictable, easier-to-work-with corrugated plastic layer. Its creators moved past still life and focused on creating portraits with the camera, embracing the pointillist qualities of its output as a contrast to the ubiquitous, high-resolution selfie. Says Haynes:

    ‘…a Straw Camera image of an individual, with its engineering projection and disappearance of the subject into the near fog of visual capture, gives the viewer a glimpse of just how transitory perception is.’

    You can see some samples of Haynes and Farrell’s work above. if you’re in London you can also check out their work in person at Slade Research Centre, University College London from February 16-19 from 12-5pm. A book of Straw Camera images is available on Blurb. 

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Video overview: Sony’s FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM and FE 85mm F2.8

    We got a closer look at some of the headline features of Sony’s newest FE lenses on the show floor of the Wedding and Portrait Photography Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. The FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS and FE 85mm were both introduced earlier this week – take a closer look at what’s new and notable in the overview video above.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Throwback Thursday: Minolta’s prosumer DiMAGE 7

    PMA 2001 was a pretty exciting show for new cameras. It saw the release of the Nikon D1X and D1H, the Fujifilm S1 Pro, Kodak mc3 camera/MP3 player (a camera so bad that I couldn’t complete my review) and the impressive Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S75. Along with those was probably the biggest vaporware product of all-time: the Silicon Film EPS-1. A prototype of a full-frame Pentax DSLR was also shown, but whether that’s also vaporware is up for debate. 

    One of the real highlights was the Minolta DiMAGE 7, a prosumer camera with an unconventional design, a long lens and tons of direct controls. Its 2/3″ 5 Megapixel CCD had the highest resolution of any non-pro camera at the time. All of that came at a price: $ 1500, to be exact.

    The Minolta GT apochromatic lens had a manual zoom ring (please, someone do this again on a long-zoom camera!) and a fly-by-wire focus ring. The maximum aperture range was F2.8-3.5 with an equivalent focal range of 28-200mm.  Notably, the lens had a pair of anomalous dispersion elements, which Minolta claimed improved color accuracy. The D7’s lens was not stabilized.

    The D7’s body was made from a single piece of magnesium alloy, though despite that, DPReview’s Phil Askey was unimpressed with its overall build quality. The camera had a ton of physical controls, including the quick settings dial you can see above. Images were stored on a CompactFlash slot that supported Type II cards, such as the IBM Microdrive.

    The DiMAGE 7 had a status LCD on its top plate, along with a standard-issue 1.8″ LCD (with 112k dots). The D7 also had a tilting EVF, a feature that has become increasingly popular in recent years. The EVF used ‘ferroelectric’ technology and was one of the best out there at the time.

    The camera was generally snappy (though AF could be sluggish at times), image quality was good, and the APO lens kept chromatic aberration to a minimum. One unusual thing about the DiMAGE 7 was that it used its own color space, so users would have to convert it to sRGB manually. Once that was done, colors were much more vivid. One niggle Phil brought up in his review was regarding the D7’s poor battery life: you needed to bring a spare set of batteries as a backup for your other spare set of batteries.

    A year after the DiMAGE 7 arrived, its successor (the 7i) was announced. It had a faster burst rate, more movie options (though it remained at 320 x 240, 15 fps), wireless flash control and a slightly updated design. It was also $ 500 less. A DiMAGE 7Hi later followed, with a snazzy black body, more manual controls and performance enhancements.

    Did you have any of the DiMAGE 7-series cameras? Share your memories in the comments below!

    Read DPReview’s DiMAGE 7 Review

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    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    Tamron announced two zoom lens updates at this year’s WPPI show in Las Vegas – the full-frame SP 70-200mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2 and the APS-C format 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD. Technically, both are ‘updates’ to older products, but the improvements are fairly significant. This is the 70-200mm F2.8, mounted on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    The ‘G2’ 70-200mm F2.8 now carries the ‘SP’ designation, which Tamron reserves for its highest-end lenses. The lens has been completely redesigned, and the new optical design consists of 23 elements in 17 groups. These include extra low dispersion and low dispersion elements to reduce chromatic aberrations. 

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    Mechanically, there have been some changes too. Like Nikon’s new 70-200mm F2.8E, the Tamron 70-200mm F2.8’s zoom ring can be found near the front of the lens, while the focus ring is positioned closer to the camera. Feel free to argue about whether this is a good idea or not in the comments. Minimum focus distance is unequivocally improved, being reduced to 95cm (37.4″) from the previous model’s 130cm (50.7″).

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    Autofocus performance has also been improved, thanks (according to Tamron) to the inclusion of two microcomputers and a new AF algorithm. Vibration Compensation (VC) is enhanced too, and can now compensate up to a claimed 5 stops.

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    The removable tripod collar can be loosened and removed over the lens mount (as opposed to clamshell designs which can be attached and detached when the lens is mounted to a camera). The Nikon mount version of this lens now offers electronic aperture actuation, which is becoming standard on all newer Nikon lenses and should improve exposure accuracy, especially during high framerate burst shooting. 

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    Build quality seems excellent, as we’ve come to expect from all of Tamron’s new generation of ‘SP’ lenses. Dust and moisture seals (including a grommet around the lens mount) help to keep the 70-200mm safe when shooting in tough conditions. The front element is fluorine coated, which should make it easy to quickly clean off water or oily fingerprints. 

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    And here’s the 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD. Designed for APS-C format DSLRs, this wide-angle zoom covers an equivalent focal length range of 15-36mm (16-38mm equiv on Canon).

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    The biggest change in this lens compared to its 2008 predecessor is the addition of Vibration Compensation. Tamron claims 4 stops of compensation, which means that in theory, it should be possible to hand-hold exposures of up to ~1 second at 10mm. Don’t quote us on that, though.

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    The 10-24mm zoom features Tamron’s new HLD (High/Low torque modulated Drive) AF motor, for smooth and fast autofocus. We’ve only had a few minutes with a prototype lens, but just anecdotally, focus certainly seems fast. Optically, this new lens differs from its predecessor by offering more elements (16, as opposed to 12) in more groups (11, compared to 9) including one LD (Low Dispersion) lens element, one XLD glass element, one molded glass aspherical element, and one hybrid aspherical lens.

    Hands on with Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 ‘G2’ zooms

    Again, the 10-24mm is sealed against dust and moisture, and build quality is excellent. Like the 70-200mm F2.8 G2, versions of this lens for the Nikon mount now feature fully electronic aperture actuation, allowing aperture to be changed during live view.

    We’re looking forward to getting our hands on a production sample to see whether the various upgrades have made a significant difference to image quality. 

    The Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2 is expected to arrive in March for $ 1299. The Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II VC HLD is slated for availability this spring for $ 499.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Westcott introduces one-of-a-kind Omega 360, a 15-in-1 reflector

    Photography lighting accessory company Westcott has introduced a new Omega reflector product, the 15-in-1 Omega Reflector 360. Unlike the previous Omega reflector, this model offers 15 different usage scenarios, a world’s first according to Westcott. The reflector features a removable 13in / 33cm center disk, as well as multiple diffusion fabrics (white, silver, sunlight, black and 1-stop), a hanging hook, and a carrying case.

    The Omega Reflector 360 is a 40in / 102cm ring-shaped reflector made with a spring steel riveted frame, pure white and black nylon, and double-laminated reflective cloth. The unit weighs only 2.5lb / 1.1kg, and can be collapsed down to a third of its open size. The 13in inner disk attaches to the reflector ring using Velcro.

    Westcott is offering the Omega Reflector 360 now through its website for $ 130.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Sony announced a pair of short telephoto prime lenses at this year’s WPPI show in Las Vegas – the FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS and the FE 85mm F1.8, both intended for use on the company’s a7-series mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.

    Here’s the FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS, which joins Sony’s growing ‘G Master’ lineup, as one of the company’s flagship lenses. 

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    The 100mm F2.8 has a complex optical design, featuring 14 elements in 10 groups, including ED and aspherical elements. Somewhat unusually, this lens is a ‘Smooth Trans Focus’ (STF) design, which incorporates an APD (apodization) element. The APD element acts as a radial gradient filter, which – in simple terms – improves the quality of out of focus areas, by diffusing bokeh circles. Traditionally, we’ve seen APD elements in lenses specifically aimed at portraiture, for obvious reasons.

    Unlike the Minolta-designed 135mm F2.8 [T4.5] STF lens that Sony still offers for A-mount cameras, the 100mm F2.8 STF is an autofocus lens.

    A ‘macro’ switch enables the lens to be focused down to 0.57 meters (a little under 2 feet), and built-in stabilization should enhance its usefulness when hand-held.

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Eleven aperture blades means an almost perfectly circular aperture even when the 100mm F2.8 is stopped down. This isn’t the sole determinant of bokeh quality but it goes towards ensuring out-of-focus highlights remain circular.

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    The FE 100mm F2.8 features a ‘manual’ aperture ring. It’s not mechanically linked, and offers an ‘A’ position to transfer aperture control to the camera body. The ring can operate either as a conventional ‘clicked’ dial with third-stop detents, or ‘declicked’ for smooth, stepless operation. For video work, ‘declicking’ allows for much more practical brightness adjustment during shooting. 

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Like all of Sony’s G Master lenses, the 100mm F2.8 is built to a very high standard, and features dust and moisture sealing. A rubber grommet runs around the circumference of the lens-mount, to help maintain the seal between camera and lens. Despite the complex optical construction and high standard of build, the lens is relatively lightweight, weighing in at 700 g (1.54 lb).

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Much lighter though, is the new FE 85mm F1.8, a budget short telephoto prime aimed at enthusiast Sony FE shooters who don’t need (or can’t quite justify) the GM 85mm F1.4. This affordable prime weighs in at 371 g (0.82 lb).

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    The optical design of the FE 85mm F1.8 is much simpler in comparison with the 100mm F2.8, comprising 9 elements in 8 groups. The button above the AF/MF switch can be customized and assigned together with functions in the camera body. On most bodies it’s a focus hold control by default, but you could for instance assign it to EyeAF.

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Sony makes life easy for camera journalists by writing some key spec directly onto the lenses. Here, we can see that the filter ring is 67mm and minimum focus distance is 0.8m (2.6ft). Compared to the 100mm F2.8 this isn’t great (it’s pretty standard for a short tele prime) but it’s fine for mid-length portraiture, of the kind that lenses of this type are ideally suited to.

    In contrast to the more expensive Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8, the Sony isn’t stabilized. However, unlike the similarly unstabilized 85mm F1.8s from Canon and Nikon, the Sony FE 85mm F1.8 can be used with the second-generation a7 series cameras, which offer in-body stabilization.

    Hands-on with Sony 100mm F2.8 STF G Master and FE 85mm F1.8 lenses

    Despite its lower cost and lack of ‘GM’ designation, the FE 85mm F1.8 is also dust and moisture sealed, although we don’t know whether the amount of sealing is equivalent to Sony’s high-end lenses. Like the FE 100mm F2.8, the 85mm features a rubber grommet around its mount, to help keep dirt and moisture out of the lens throat. 

    Both lenses are expected to ship in March. The FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS will cost $ 1500, while the FE 85mm F1.8 will sell for around $ 600.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Google AI adds detail to low-resolution images

    It seems intelligent enhancement of image detail is currently high on the agenda at Google. Recently the company brought its RAISR smart image upsampling to Android devices. Now, the Google Brain team has developed a system that uses neural networking to enhance detail in low-resolution images.

    The system uses a two-step approach, with a conditioning network first attempting to map 8×8 source images against similar images with a higher resolution and creating an approximation of what the enhanced image might look like. In a second step, the prior network adds realistic detail to the final output image. It does so by learning what each pixel in a low-resolution image generally corresponds to in higher-res files.

    As you can see, the system already works pretty well. In the series of samples above, the images on the left show the 64 pixel source images, while the ones in the middle show the output image that the Google Brain algorithm has produced from them. The images on the right show higher-resolution versions of the low-res source images for comparison. While the results are not perfect yet, they are certainly close enough to provide value in a variety of scenarios. Eventually we might even be able to extract high-resolution images from low-quality security-cam footage a la CSI.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

  • Has a new champion been crowned? Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art lens review

    The Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art hasn’t been on the market long, but it has already begun to make some serious waves. Lenstip and DxO have rated it the sharpest 85mm lens ever created, beating out even the legendary 85mm F1.4 Zeiss Otus, which isn’t something that we take lightly. We were lucky enough to get our hands on the lens back in mid-November and we were very impressed to say the least, so much so that it took top honors for the ‘Best Prime Lens of 2016’ as chosen by our staff.

    It has, without a doubt, been a pretty big topic of discussion not only amongst our staff members, but also amongst portrait photographers around the world. With that said we just had to get our hands on it to see how it really performs and to see how it holds up next to some very stiff competition at 85mm. The Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM is a very formidable competitor and arguably the best modern 85mm F1.4 on the market (behind the manual focus Zeiss Otus, of course). With that in mind, the question is; can the Sigma hold its own? Our review will answer that question and more.

    APS-C   

    With an equivalent focal length of 136mm and an equivalent aperture of F2.2, this lens can be usefully used on an APS-C camera. Even with its slightly longer focal length, it does still fit into the focal range that’s often used by portrait photographers and the fast aperture does allow for it to be used in low-light situations as well. However, its size, weight and price makes it worth considering 85mm F1.8 lenses instead.

    Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art headline features
    • F1.4 maximum aperture
    • 85mm max fixed focal range
    • 2 FLD glass elements (low-distortion glass with fluorite-like performance)
    • 1 Aspherical SLD element
    • Canon EF, Nikon (FX) and Sigma SA Bayonet mounts

    Specifications Compared

      Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art
     MSRP $ 1800.00  $ 1199.00
     Lens Type Prime Prime
     Focal Length 85mm  85mm 
     Filter Thread 77mm 86mm
    Image Stabilization No No
    Lens Mount  Sony FE Canon EF, Nikon (FX), Sigma SA Bayonet 
    Aperture Ring Yes (w/ d-click feature) No
    Maximum Aperture  F1.4 F1.4
    Minimum Aperture F16  F16
    Minimum Focus  0.80 m (31.5?) 0.85 m (33.46?)
    Diaphragm Blades  11 9
    Elements  11  14
    Groups  8 12
    Special Elements/Coatings  1 ‘Extreme Aspherical’ element, 3 ED elements and ‘Nano AR’ coating 2 FLD glass elements and 1 Aspherical SLD element
    Autofocus  Yes Yes
    Motor Type  Ring-type Supersonic Wave Ring-type Hypersonic
    Full Time Manual  Yes Yes
    Focus Method  Internal Internal
    Distance Scale  No Yes 
    DoF Scale  No Yes
    Full Weather Sealing  Yes No (dust and splash proof)
    Weight 820g (1.81 lb) 1131g (2.49 lb) 
    Dimensions  108 mm (4.23?) x 90mm (3.52?) 126mm (5.0″) x 95mm (3.7″)
    Hood  Yes ( ALC-SH142) Yes

    As you can see the lenses are fairly different in terms of build and design. The Sony 85mm has a manual aperture ring that can not only function on its own, but the aperture can also be adjusted with the camera by switching the ring to ‘A’. This ring also features a special de-click feature for smooth, silent aperture changes while shooting video. The Sigma 85mm lacks the weather sealing that the Sony has and there’s also a fairly substantial difference in size and weight as the Sony 85mm is a fair bit smaller and lighter. The price point is one area of the where the Sigma really prevails over the Sony, on paper, at least.

    Specifications are fun to look at, but the real question is how do these lenses perform? Read on, to find out.

    Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)