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Woman, 72, gored by bison in Yellowstone after allegedly getting within 10 feet for a photo

01 Jul

Last week, a 72-year-old Californian woman was gored multiple times at Yellowstone National Park when she is alleged to have gotten within ten feet of a bison in order to take a photograph of the wild animal.

In a statement shared by the National Parks Service (NPS), authorities say they’re investigating the June 25 incident that took place not far from the Bridge Bay Campground, which sits near Yellowstone Lake and is one of the largest campgrounds in the park. In the statement, Yellowstone Senior Bison Biologist Chris Geremia explains the seriousness of getting in the personal space of bison and emphasizes the importance of staying at least 25 yards (23 meters) away from the animals:

‘The series of events that led to the goring suggest the bison was threatened by being repeatedly approached to within 10 feet […] Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail. If that doesn’t make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge. To be safe around bison, stay at least 25 yards away, move away if they approach, and run away or find cover if they charge.’

The unnamed woman received immediate medical care and was flown via helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. No subsequent information has been shared on the woman’s condition at this time. This isn’t the first time visitors have been injured or killed while attempting to take photographs of the animals inside Yellowstone National Park, despite multiple warnings posted throughout the park and on the NPS website.

A photograph of just one of the many signs within the park warning visitors to keep their distance from the wild animals.

The NPS reiterated in the news release the following guidelines for how distant you should keep from the various wildlife within the park:

‘Stay more than 25 yards (23 m) away from all large animals – bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose, and coyotes and at least 100 yards (91 m) away from bears and wolves. If need be, turn around and go the other way to avoid interacting with a wild animal in close proximity.’

People are understandably excited to get back out to explore nature — this incident occurred just two days after the park re-opened following restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic — but it’s not worth risking lives (or camera gear) for the shot.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview TV: A call for slow, professional full frame lenses

01 Jul

Professional full frame lenses are usually large and have fast apertures. In this episode of DPReview TV, Chris and Jordan argue that there’s a need for slow professional lenses – inspired by some of their favorite Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week.

  • Introduction
  • Superzooms
  • Video lenses
  • Telephotos
  • Autofocus on slower lenses
  • Would anybody buy them?

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 Di III RXD sample gallery

01 Jul

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Tamron’s new 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 is a versatile zoom lens for full-frame Sony E-mount cameras. Well-suited for travel photography, it’s compact, lightweight and fast/quiet to focus. Despite its petite design, the lens feels well built and should also hold up against the elements, fingerprints and grime thanks to a moisture-resistant construction and fluorine coated front element.

It may not be Tamron’s most optically jaw-dropping piece of glass, but it seems more than capable of producing fairly sharp and pleasing results throughout the zoom range. Simply put, it’s a great lens for a casual sunny afternoon stroll.

See our Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 sample gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon is the latest camera company sued by DigiMedia Tech over alleged patent infringement

01 Jul

DigiMedia Tech, LLC, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against yet another camera company, this time going after Nikon over its alleged infringement of three different US patents. This lawsuit follows similar infringement cases brought against Olympus, Fujifilm and JK Imaging, all of them also over the alleged infringement of digital camera technology patents.

DigiMedia Tech is a non-practicing entity (NPE) of IPInvestments Group, which received many US patents from Intellectual Ventures LLC in November 2019. Following the patent acquisition, DigiMedia Tech has filed lawsuits against several companies over their alleged infringement of these patents — in the latest one involving Nikon, the company claims infringement of US patents No. 6,914,635, No. 7,715,476 and No. 6,545,706.

The ‘635 patent was first filed in 2001 by Nokia Mobile Phones; it involves a microminiature zoom system designed for digital cameras. The ‘476 patent was first filed in 1999 and then again in 2005; it covers a ‘system, method and article of manufacture’ related to a digital camera’s ability to track a subject’s head. The third and final patent in the lawsuit, ‘706, was filed in 1999 and likewise covers head-tracking camera technology.

The infringement lawsuit specifically names Nikon’s Coolpix A1000 as a model that allegedly infringes the ‘635 patent and the Nikon P900RM ‘and similar products’ as allegedly infringing the ‘706 and ‘476 patents. Among other things, the DigiMedia Tech lawsuit wants Nikon to pay ‘damages in an amount to be determined at trial for Defendants’ infringement, which amount cannot be less than a reasonable royalty.’

It’s unclear how much this could amount to, financially speaking. Likewise, Nikon hasn’t yet commented on the infringement lawsuit.

DigiMedia Tech’s decision to sue Nikon isn’t surprising in light of its recent activity. On May 29, the NPE filed patent infringement lawsuits against Fujifilm and Olympus, alleging that both have used digital camera technologies in select camera models that infringe on its US patents. Following that, DigiMedia Tech filed the Nikon lawsuit referenced above, then a similar complaint against JK Imaging, the company behind Kodak PIXPRO cameras, on June 24 in California Central District Court.

A full list of DigiMedia Tech’s lawsuits, including related documents, can be found through the Unified Patents portal.

A summary of each of the lawsuits DigiMedia Tech, LLC currently has against a number of camera manufacturers.

The NPE practice of exploiting acquired patents has been heavily criticized for years. These companies oftentimes don’t actually practice the invention detailed by the patent and usually don’t sell processes or products related to them. These non-practicing entities instead enforce the patent rights against companies allegedly infringing them, doing so to obtain licensing payments or some other type of revenue, such as royalties or damages, on the acquired patents.

Though not all NPEs exploit acquired patents, there are those that do. Ones that operate aggressively and file large numbers of lawsuits in order to cast a wide net to see what they catch are colloquially referred to as ‘patent trolls.’

In 2011, the Hastings Science and Technology Law Journal published a large PDF document titled ‘Indirect Exploitation of Intellectual Property Rights by Corporations and Investors’ that details NPEs and the ways they may be used. The discussion is extensive and ideal for understanding the reasoning behind these lawsuits, stating in part that patent infringement lawsuits from NPEs may be, among other things, used by:

…a sponsoring entity against a competitor to achieve a corporate goal of the sponsor. A corporation or investor, by serving as the sponsor for an IP privateering engagement, can employ third-party IPRs as competitive tools. The privateer, a specialized form of non-practicing entity (NPE), asserts the IPRs against target companies selected by the sponsor. The sponsor’s benefits do not typically arise directly from the third party’s case against a target, but arise consequentially from the changed competitive environment brought about by the third party’s IPR assertion.

Of course, DigiMedia Tech’s own reasons for filing suits against these camera companies are unclear and it’s impossible to say whether there would be an indirect benefit for a competing company as a result of these allegations. As these cases are only days and weeks old, the outcome of each lawsuit is yet to be seen.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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A decade of sun: NASA captured 425 million photos of the sun and made a time lapse

30 Jun

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has been very busy capturing images of the sun over the last decade. From June 2, 2010 through June 1, 2020, the SDO captured 425 million images of the sun. Per NASA, the team amassed about 20 million gigabytes of images of the sun in the past decade and with that data, NASA compiled 10 years’ worth of images into the amazing timelapse video above.

Using three primary instruments, the SDO captures an image of the sun every 0.75 seconds. One of these instruments, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), captures images every 12 seconds at 10 different wavelengths of light. In the timelapse video published by NASA, we see photos of the sun captured at the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 17.1 nanometers. This wavelength allows us to view the sun’s outermost layer, called the corona.

Generally, the hour-long timelapse video features a compiled image from each hour of every day for the past 10 years. Although, there are a few exceptions. There are dark frames caused by the Earth or moon eclipsing SDO as they pass between the spacecraft and the sun. There was also a week-long outage of the AIA instrument in 2016. Any off-center images of the sun are due to periodic instrument calibration.

As you can imagine, the SDO has witnessed many interesting events during its period of observation. In the video above, at 6:20, you can see a prominence eruption from the lower right area of the sun from June 7, 2011. At 12:24, you can see the transit of Venus across the face of the sun on June 5, 2012. This event won’t occur again until the year 2117. On July 19, 2012, a brilliant display of looping plasma showed a complex event in the sun’s magnetic field, this can be seen at 13:06. About six weeks later, on August 31, 2012, the ‘most iconic eruption of this solar cycle’ occurred, witnessed at 13:50 in the video.

Jumping ahead to 36:18, you can view Mercury as it transits across the face of the sun on May 9, 2016. It is more difficult to spot than Venus, but you can learn more about it here. Mercury appears again at 57:38, as it transited the sun again on November 11, 2019. This will Mercury’s last transit until 2032. A full list of interesting events you can witness in the video can be found in the description on YouTube.

‘An X8.2 class solar flare flashes in the edge of the Sun on Sept. 10, 2017. This image was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 304 angstrom wavelengths.’ Image and text credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Scott Wiessinger (USRA) was the lead producer on the video above. Tom Bridgman (GST) was the lead data visualizer. Leading scientific writing was Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems). The music, ‘Solar Observer,’ was written and produced by Lars Leonhard.

If you’d like to learn more about NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, you can find a wealth of fascinating information by clicking here.

Earlier this year, NASA published a shorter video that covered 10 of the most important things scientists have learned during SDO’s first decade in space. You can check that out below.

Image credit: Images via NASA/GSFC/SDO

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Venus Optics releases the Laowa 9mm F5.6 rectilinear lens for full-frame mirrorless cameras

30 Jun

Venus Optics has announced the release of the Laowa 9mm F5.6 FF RL, a lens that takes the title of the world’s widest rectilinear lens for full-frame camera systems.

The lens features a 135-degree angle of view and is constructed of 14 elements in 10 groups, including two extra-low dispersion elements. It isn’t one of Venus Optics’ ‘Zero-D’ lenses, but it features ‘very low’ distortion, which makes it a solid option for landscape, architecture and real estate photography.

A comparison photo showing the difference between a 15mm and 9mm focal length on a full-frame sensor.

In addition to the ultra-wide field of view, the lens also features an incredibly short minimum focusing distance — just 12cm (4.72”) and uses a five-blade aperture diaphragm. The lens measures 60mm (2.4”) in both length and diameter and weighs just 350g (12oz).

Below are a few sample images from Venus Optics:

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The Laowa 9mm F5.6 FF RL is available in Leica M, Sony FE, Nikon Z and L-mount. This marks the first time Venus Optics has designed a lens for Leica M-mount and to celebrate the occasion, Venus Optics is releasing the M-mount version in black and silver varieties. the Leica M-mount version costs $ 900, while the Sony FE, Nikon Z and L-mount versions costs $ 800.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujifilm adds Raw video output, gimbal support and Film Simulation modes to GFX100

30 Jun

Fujifilm has issued firmware updates to the GFX100 and GFX 50 models, with the 100MP camera gaining the most significant improvements.

The GFX100 will gain the ability to output a Raw video stream that can be encoded in Apple’s ProRes RAW format by an Atomos Ninja V recorder. This provides a much wider degree of processing latitude than the gamma-encoded, compressed files the camera saves internally.

In addition, the firmware expands the camera’s USB control protocol, giving more control over the camera’s settings when shooting tethered, and allowing remote control of various camera features when mounted on a drone or gimbal.

Face and eye detection AF is said to be improved, as is the performance of phase detection AF in low light. New focus bracketing options have also been added.

Finally, the GFX100 gains the Classic Neg and Eterna Bleach Bypass Film Simulations introduced since its launch.

GFX 50S and 50R users also gain Classic Neg, along with the original Eterna Film Simulation mode in an update to their cameras. This update also adds the subtle skin-smoothing feature from the GFX 100.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujifilm GF 30mm F3.5 R WR sample gallery

30 Jun

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Fujifilm’s GF 30mm F3.5 R WR is a relatively compact, weather-resistant wide-angle prime lens for the company’s GFX medium-format cameras. It’s roughly equivalent to a 24mm F2.8 lens in full-frame terms, and in our shooting on both 50 and 100 Megapixel camera bodies, we’ve found it to be an impressive performer. From the Cascade foothills to Puget Sound, click through our gallery to see how it looks for yourself.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Fujifilm’s GF 30mm F3.5 R WR lens to ship in late July

30 Jun

Fujifilm has announced that its GF 30mm F3.5 R WR wide-angle lens will ship in late July or early August for $ 1699. The lens, which has been on the G-mount roadmap for several months, is equivalent to a 24mm lens when mounted on a GFX body.

The GF 30mm F3.5 has a total of 16 elements, including aspherical and extra-low dispersion glass. Focusing is internal and the lens has been designed to minimize focus breathing. It’s lightweight and compact (relatively speaking), weighing in at 0.5kg (1.1lbs). The ‘WR’ in the product name indicates weather-resistance, and Fujifilm says that the lens can operate at temperatures as low is -10°C (+14°F).

View our GF 30mm F3.5 sample gallery

Press release

Fujifilm Launches FUJINON GF30mmF3.5 R WR Lightweight, High Resolution Lens

Valhalla, N.Y., June 30, 2020 – FUJIFILM North America Corporation today announced the launch of the FUJINON GF30mmF3.5 R WR (GF30mmF3.5 R WR), a wide-angle prime lens with a focal length equivalent of 24mm (in the 35mm film format) for the FUJIFILM GFX System of large format*1 digital cameras.

With its dust and weather-resistant design, the GF30mmF3.5 R WR caters to a variety of shooting styles including landscapes, architecture, as well as casual snapshots on the move. “This lens is a great compliment to our existing series of GF lenses and gives image-makers a great wide-angle option for landscapes, architecture, or wide environmental portraits,” said Victor Ha, senior director, marketing and product management with the Electronic Imaging Division of FUJIFILM North America Corporation. “We are really excited to see the images our community will make with this lens.”

Main product features:

Image quality

The lens consists of thirteen lens elements in ten groups, including two aspherical elements and two extra-low dispersion (ED) elements. The high-performance lens groups are positioned to control various aberrations, especially distortion to which wide- angle lenses are prone, to achieve edge-to-edge sharpness. The lens is able to resolve an impressive amount of detail, compatible with 100MP sensors — “enabling the photographer to re-create the atmosphere of each scene with a sense of visual honesty and feeling,” said Ha.

Portability

This compact lens weighs approximately 18 ounces (510g) and measures 3.9 inches (99.4mm) with a maximum diameter of 3.3 inches (84mm). In addition, the slim design balances well on a GFX System camera, making it a perfect lens to carry on-the-go.

Performance

The new GF30mmF3.5 R WR lens uses an internal focusing system, offering fast and quiet autofocus (AF). Focus breathing is just 0.05%, making it a great lens for recording video. Like all of Fujifilm’s lenses in the GF family, the GF30mmF3.5 R WR incorporates Fujifilm’s optical design and production technology processes to achieve a sub-micron level precision lens surface. This allows the lens to bring out the full potential of the FUJIFILM GFX 50S and GFX 50R mirrorless digital cameras, as well as the 100MP image sensor of the FUJIFILM GFX 100.

Durability

The lens is sealed at nine locations to make it dust and weather-resistant. It can also be used in temperatures as low as 14°F (-10°C), offering photographers peace-of-mind when shooting in inclement weather or dusty environments.

The GF30mmF3.5 R WR lens will be available in late July or early August in the U.S. and Canada for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of USD $ 1699.95 and CAD $ 2299.00. For more information, visit https://fujifilm-x.com/en- us/products/lenses/gf30mmf35-r-wr/ .

*1 Fujifilm’s large-format GFX System digital cameras include an image sensor that measures 55mm diagonally (43.8mm x 32.9mm), with an area approx. 1.7 times that of a full-frame 35mm sensor.

Fujifilm GF 30mm F3.5 R WR specifications

Principal specifications
Lens type Prime lens
Max Format size Medium Format (44x33mm)
Focal length 30 mm
Image stabilization No
Lens mount Fujifilm G
Aperture
Maximum aperture F3.5
Minimum aperture F32
Aperture ring Yes
Number of diaphragm blades 9
Optics
Elements 13
Groups 10
Special elements / coatings 2 aspherical + 2 ED elements
Focus
Minimum focus 0.32 m (12.6″)
Maximum magnification 0.15×
Autofocus Yes
Focus method Internal
Distance scale No
DoF scale No
Physical
Weight 508 g (1.12 lb)
Diameter 84 mm (3.31″)
Length 99 mm (3.9″)
Materials Magnesium alloy
Sealing Yes
Colour Black
Filter thread 58 mm
Hood supplied Yes

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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