RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Panasonic 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 pre-production sample gallery

16 Jun

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_9077940471″,”galleryId”:”9077940471″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

The Panasonic 20-60mm F3.5-5.6, arriving on the market this summer, is a little wider than is typically seen from a standard, variable aperture zoom. Priced at $ 600 it’s one of the more affordable options for owners Panasonic or Leica full-frame mirrorless cameras. We’ve got some new sample images from the lens for your consideration – in addition to the previously-published images courtesy of DPReview TV, which you can find below.

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_4690187205″,”galleryId”:”4690187205″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Panasonic 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 pre-production sample gallery

Posted in Uncategorized

 

‘Disgraceful propaganda’: Fox News under fire for misleading images from Seattle protest zone

16 Jun
A screenshot of an altered photo shared by Fox News, which has since been removed from its website.

Fox News is taking heat after publishing a digitally altered image and a misleading photograph last week in its reporting on Seattle’s Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle, Washington.

Last Friday, Huffington Post reporter Michael Hobbes shared a set of pictures that shows Fox News clearly composited an image of a person carrying a rifle over two photographs of Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). While the editing job is far from subtle if you look closely – note the lighting discrepancies between the backgrounds and the gun-wielding subject, as well as the extra area of red between his torso and left elbow – the fact the same individual was used in two separate images makes it clear this was a post-production job.

A Fox News spokesperson provided the following comment to Seattle Times:

‘We have replaced our photo illustration with the clearly delineated images of a gunman and a shattered storefront, both of which were taken this week in Seattle’s autonomous zone’

It appears that there are weapons in the autonomous zone, but as The Seattle Times notes, even Fox News’ follow-up statement is misleading, since the photo of the armed man was taken on June 10th in the Capitol Hill neighborhood while the wrecked storefront image was captured in downtown Seattle, back on May 30th, according to metadata provided by Getty Images.

Photojournalism ethics expert Kenny Irby told Seattle Times in response to the posting of the altered images, ‘I think it’s disgraceful propaganda and terribly misrepresentative of documentary journalism in times like this, when truth-telling and accountability is so important […] There is no attribution. There is no acknowledgment of the montage, and it’s terribly misleading.’ National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) executive director Akili-Casundria Ramsess also told The Seattle Times it was ‘completely egregious to manipulate this the way they have done.’

In a reply to Hobbe’s post on Twitter, Seattle Times Editor Gina Cole responded with a screenshot showing Fox News also shared an article under the headline ‘Seattle helpless as armed guards patrol anarchists’ ‘autonomous zone,’ shake down businesses: cops’ with a photo of an individual running through the streets with a burning car in the foreground and a burning storefront in the background.

However, the image Fox News featured with the article was taken not in Seattle this past week, but two weeks ago, 1,650 miles away in Minneapolis. It was taken by AP photographer John Minchillo, during the Black Lives Matter protests in Minnesota’s capital, as noted by Suki Dardarian, Senior Managing Editor & VP of Minnesota’s Star Tribune. Meanwhile, Seattle’s protests remains largely peaceful, and SPD has apologized for repeating the groundless claim that local businesses had been ‘shaken down’.

Note the creation date on AP Image’s website: May 30, 2020 05:13:07 PM

In response to the criticism, Fox News took down the images and shared the following statement on Saturday in the form of an Editor’s Note at the end of the article:

‘A FoxNews.com home page photo collage which originally accompanied this story included multiple scenes from Seattle’s ‘Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone’ and of wreckage following recent riots,” the note read. “The collage did not clearly delineate between these images, and has since been replaced. In addition, a recent slideshow depicting scenes from Seattle mistakenly included a picture from St. Paul. Fox News regrets these errors.’

This isn’t the first time Fox News has been caught altering images or sharing misleading images under unrelated headlines. But it’s not the only offender. CBS was caught this past April using video footage of an Italian hospital while reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. CBS apologized at the time for what it called an ‘editing mistake’.

Editor’s note (June 15, 2020): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated it was CNN that was caught using incorrect video footage in April — it was in fact CBS. The article has been updated accordingly.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on ‘Disgraceful propaganda’: Fox News under fire for misleading images from Seattle protest zone

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Product Advisory: Sony says some of its SD cards are corrupting video files, offers free replacements

16 Jun

Sony has issued a product advisory for select SD cards in three of its SD card lineups, stating video captured with these cards could become corrupted without warning.

The product advisory, posted last Friday, says cards in Sony’s SF-M series, Tough SF-M series and Tough SD-G series are affected by an issue wherein ‘data on [the affected cards] may be damaged or data may not be recorded correction when shooting video on a camera in the video speed class mode.’ No further information is provided on what exactly is causing the problem, but Sony says it’s offering replacement cards through March 31, 2022 for SD cards currently under warranty.

Sony provides the below illustrations to help you deduce whether or not your card is affected by the issue, but you can tell at a quick glance by looking for a little star on the back of left-hand corner of the card — if you have a star, your card isn’t affected.

Sony: ‘To check whether your [SF-M] card is affected, look for a star mark and an alphanumeric on the lower corner on the back of the card. If your card has NO star mark and has an alphanumeric beginning with TV, your card is affected by this issue. (If your card has an alphanumeric beginning with TR, your card is not affected by this issue.)
Sony: ‘To check whether your card is affected, look for a star mark on the lower left corner on the back of the card. If your card has NO star mark, your card is affected by this issue.’

Sony: ‘[Affected SF-M Tough] cards can be identified by the presence of V60, R:277MB/s, and W:150MB/s on the card frontside. To check whether your card is affected, look for a star mark on the lower left corner on the back of the card. If your card has NO star mark, your card is affected by this issue.’

If your card is one of the affected units, Sony requests you call their support line (239–768–7669) or connect with a representative through its online chat support. Sony specifically requests you not contact the retailer you purchased your card from. Dan Carr of Shuttermuse says he’s been through the process and was required to provide the following information when you speak with a representative:

  • SD card model number
  • SD card serial number
  • Date of purchase
  • Place of purchase
  • Shipping and contact information

You can read the full advisory on Sony’s support page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Product Advisory: Sony says some of its SD cards are corrupting video files, offers free replacements

Posted in Uncategorized

 

L16 camera manufacturer Light abandons consumer imaging, turns to automotive

15 Jun

In 2015 a start-up called Light announced a product that appeared have the potential to revolutionize photography. The Light L16 was a portable camera that, according to the company, provided ‘excellent low-light performance and DSLR-like image quality’. However, now it looks like Light has abandoned the consumer imaging market altogether and is instead focusing on the automotive sector.

The L16 offered focal lengths between 35mm and 150mm, 4K video recording, and depth-mapping technology to adjust a photo’s depth of field and focus after it has been captured. Instead of a conventional camera/lens setup it used 16 separate cameras across its front and computational imaging methods the combine the data captured by all sensors into a single output image.

The Light L16

When the camera finally started shipping in July 2017, after some delays and a $ 30M funding round, the camera’s performance was underwhelming, though, resulting in lukewarm reviews and presumably lower than expected sales figures.

Instead of working on an improved follow-up model Light turned its attention to the mobile market, announcing partnerships with smartphone makers Sony and Xiaomi. Given the Light technology’s limited space requirements and ability to fit into a flat smartphone body this seemed like a logical next move.

It followed a $ 121M funding round led by the SoftBank Vision Fund that also included German camera makers Leica, and the news that Nokia was going to be the first smartphone brand to launch a Light camera-equipped device. The Nokia 9 PureView was launched in February 2019 and featured a circular penta-camera setup on its back.

Penta-camera setup on the Nokia 9 PureView

The five Zeiss-branded lenses all came with an equivalent focal length of 28mm, an F1.8 aperture and were placed in front of 12MP image sensors, three of which were monochrome and two RGB. In addition, there was a dedicated depth sensor.

Much like the L16, the 9 PureView camera could not convince the testers, though, with more conventional camera setups in the flagship phones from rivals Apple, Samsung or Huawei delivering better results across the board.

Now it looks very much like the Nokia 9 PureView was the first and last smartphone with Light camera technology as the company has told Android Authority in a statement that it is ‘no longer operating in the smartphone industry.’

On the Light website there are no traces of smartphone or consumer camera technology to be found anymore. Instead, a statement on the About page says ‘Light is a depth-sensing and perception technology company focused on providing automobiles with the ability to see like humans.’

The company is now focusing on the automotive sector.

Demand for camera technology in the automotive sector has been rising quickly and with autonomous vehicles being on the brink of mass production the potential for growth seems almost unlimited. If Light’s venture into automotive will be more successful than the company’s beginnings in consumer, imaging investors could finally see a return.

This said, despite the lack of success in the marketplace, both the Light L16 camera and Nokia 9 PureView smartphone will always be remembered as innovative imaging devices and secure their place in tech history.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on L16 camera manufacturer Light abandons consumer imaging, turns to automotive

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Datacolor’s new SpyderX Photo Kit bundles 3 of its popular calibration tools at a $180 discount

15 Jun

Datacolor has released its new ‘SpyderX Photo Kit’ that comes with three of its most popular photo and monitor calibration tools at a dramatic discount compared to purchasing the items individually.

The Datacolor SpyderX Photo Kit comes with a SpyderX Elite monitor calibration tool, a Spyder Checkr 24 and the SpyderCube, a die-shaped grey card for getting the white balance just right in post-production. The kit is currently listed at an ‘anniversary special’ price of $ 200 on its website ‘while supplies last.’ That’s $ 180 less than if you purchase each piece individually, plus it all comes in a hard carrying case.

Strangely enough, though, Datacolor says the kit will eventually retail for $ 400 (it’— which is $ 20 more than what it’d cost to buy everything on its own. Maybe Datacolor is taking the carrying case into account? Who knows. Regardless, at its current price, it’s a solid steal considering the SpyderX Elite retails for $ 240 on its own.

The SpyderX Photo Kit joins Datacolor’s SpyderX Studio and SpyderX Capture Pro kits, which also bundle various calibration tools together at a discount. You can find out more information on the kit and each of the products on Datacolor’s product page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Datacolor’s new SpyderX Photo Kit bundles 3 of its popular calibration tools at a $180 discount

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Looking to upgrade your camera battery charger? The Hähnel ProCube 2 is worth considering

14 Jun

Hähnel proCUBE2
$ 80 | Hähnel

Intro

The Hanhel ProCube 2 is a twin-battery charger that offers user-swappable plates to accommodate batteries from different camera systems. Several models are available for popular options – Canon, Nikon, Panasonic / Olympus and Sony. The only difference between them is the color of the unit and the set of plates it comes with. It is possible to swap plates between models and purchase additional ones for around $ 12 each, if you change camera systems.

I tested the ProCube 2 with batteries for the Sony A7 III (which does not ship with a charger). At $ 80, it is cheaper than Sony’s own BCQZ-1 charger (which retails for $ 98). Additionally you’re getting the ability to charge two batteries at the same time along with some other handy features not found in the BCQZ-1.

Key features

  • Ability to charge two batteries simultaneously
  • Can accommodate a wide range of batteries via interchangeable plates
  • Includes AA battery charging option
  • 12V Car lead in the box
  • Can act as a 2.4A USB power source

Hähnel claims that the ProCube 2 can charge two Sony NP-FZ100 batteries from empty to full in three hours and a single battery in two hours, something that we’ll be testing later.

The ProCube 2 is by no means the cheapest twin-charger on the market, but it does offer a unique combination of features, from an established brand. Let’s see how it performs.

What’s in the box?

Most of the popular Sony batteries can be charged with the included plates.

The Sony version that we tested includes the plates to charge Sony NP-FZ100, NP-FW50 and NP-BX1 batteries – you can only charge one type of battery at a time. Also included in the box is a plate that accepts four AA batteries which attaches magnetically to the top of the charger, with no requirement to take out the existing plate. You will have to install all four AAs though, due to the way the plate connects – and you can’t charge camera batteries and AAs at the same time.

The box also includes a 12v car adapter for charging on-the-go and various plug adapters for different countries.

Design

A simple pin and pad connection system makes plate swapping easy

As its name implies, the ProCube 2 is a small cube. It’s a solid unit finished in orange anodized aluminum. The internal battery contacts themselves are via spring loaded pins and connecting pads, so there is no need for fiddly cables . The plate ejection procedure is a little awkward as you need to use a supplied tool or other small-tipped device to release the locking mechanism. Some care is also required when changing a plate as there is only one correct orientation.

The front-mounted LCD shows you the current charge status, via a simple 5-segment capacity gauge of each battery. It also shows percentage readout for each and how much energy it has added since the start of the charge in milliamp hours – though it can’t show the actual capacity of the batteries unless you are charging from 0%.

Charging current is stated as up to 1700 mA for a single battery and 850 mA each when charging two.

The plate swap system could be simplified with a small button

When two batteries are installed The ProCube 2 charges both at the same time and it will adjust charging current individually depending on the state of charge of each battery.

The supplied eject tool is easily lost; it would have been a good idea not to have required one at all, a small button on the back would have been ideal

One thing struck me before I started testing, the supplied ejection tool is easily lost; it would have been a good idea to have a way of storing it in the base of the charger. It would have been an even better idea not to have required one at all – a small button on the back would have been ideal.

The LCD panel displays battery charge levels in %

Performance

I tested the charge time of a single battery from completely exhausted to fully charged and did it again with two exhausted batteries. The batteries I used were newish original Sony NP-FZ100s and the figures were averaged over three cycles.

Note: Sometimes, 100% on the charger doesn’t mean 100% in the camera. If the battery is removed immediately that the ProCube 2 indicates 100% charge, I noticed my camera would indicate anywhere from 95-100%. After leaving the battery charging for another five to six minutes, I’ve found that my camera will reliably report 100% charge.

Here are the results…

Time to 100% as indicated on charger

 Time to fully-charge as indicated by the camera Time to fully charge with in-box USB charger
Single Battery 1 hr 49 mins 1 hr 54 mins 4 hrs 3 mins
Dual Batteries 2 hrs 57 mins 3 hrs 3 mins

Hähnel claims that a quick 15 minute charge will provide enough power for 150 shots. This actually seems like a conservative figure from my testing, although it is very dependent on how the camera was being used. I managed to consistently get around 250-260 shots when using the LCD screen and manual focus (1 shot every 10 seconds). By comparison, a 15 minute charge via Sony’s USB charger provided enough juice for 126 -130 shots, given the same conditions.

Even your AA batteries can be accommodated

I also tested the ProCube 2 in a car with the supplied 12v lead. As the charger is designed to use 12 volts from the wall there was no change to charge times or functionality in the vehicle. This is provided the socket can provide 1.5 amps, which is usually well below the fused output on most vehicles.

It doesn’t take any longer to charge batteries in a vehicle with the ProCube 2 than it does connected to a wall socket.

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that when charging batteries this unit is both much more convenient and quicker than charging up the battery in my Sony a7 III in-camera via USB.

If you’re planning a trip it’s small enough not to take up too much space in your camera bag and means that you don’t have to take a separate AA or USB chargers as well. It’s even possible to charge three batteries overnight if you connect your camera to the USB output. It will charge the batteries in the charger first, and then switch on USB power to charge the third.

The ProCube 2 also gives flexibility if you decide to change cameras and hence battery systems or if you have more than one battery type in your gear collection.

If you’re interested in the ProCube 2, are other options out there that are also worth considering. The Watson Duo gives the same sort of functionality at the same price although it’s a bit larger, and the Nitecore USN4 offers dual charging at a lower cost – although it lacks some of the features of the Hähnel.

Overall, the ProCube 2 provides a quick way of charging either single or dual batteries.

What we like

  • Works with multiple battery types
  • Quick charging
  • Sequential charge and USB power option
  • Ability to charge in a vehicle

What we don’t like

  • LCD panel percentage display sometimes disagrees with camera’s estimate
  • Tool or pen tip required for plate swap
  • No sequential AA charging feature

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Looking to upgrade your camera battery charger? The Hähnel ProCube 2 is worth considering

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Slideshow: Winners of IPA’s One-Shot ‘MOVEMENT’ competition

13 Jun

Slideshow: Winners of IPA’s One-Shot ‘MOVEMENT’ competition

The International Photography Awards (IPA) recently announced the winners of their One-Shot “MOVEMENT” competition. Thousands of photos were submitted from around the world for the theme, movement, around 5 categories: Street Photography, Nature, Fine Art, People, and Technology/Machine. The jury selected the following entries for top prizes:

Grand Prize Winner: ‘Wild Carrots’ by Anne Mason-Hoerter

Category Winners:

Fine Art: ‘Wild Carrots’ by Anne Mason-Hoerter
Street Photography: ‘School Run, Rwanda’ by Benjamin Buckland
Nature: ‘Wallace Flying Frog’ by Shin Leong Teo
People: ‘Rice Growers’ by Jacopo Maria Della Valle
Technology—Machine: ‘The Urban Semiconductor’ by Youngkeun Sur

‘The idea that everything moves, changes, and evolves, is such a great concept to explore through photography. It’s been inspiring to see how photographers of all levels of expertise have captured this concept in its many forms—universal, abstract, human, and machine. Even though it seems the whole planet has almost come to a standstill, through these images we see that life goes on and moves forward,’ says Hossein Farmani, Founder and President of IPA.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, IPA has matched all cash prizes awarded to winning and finalist photographers in the form of a donation to the charity of their choice. All winning and honorable mention photos can be viewed here. IPA is now accepting submissions for its Annual Photography Competition.

Grand Prize Winner + 1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Fine Art: ‘Wild Carrots’ by Anne Mason-Hoerter (Germany)

Date of Photograph: 2013

Technical Info: Nikon D70s, LeicaD-Lux, Canon scanner.

Artist Statement: Multiple scan data combined with digital camera data of a Wild Carrot, scientific name being Daucus carota. My photographic process involves first taking the plant apart and then scanning each piece. I then combine those images with images I have taken with my cameras. I wanted to reproduce the unseen movement of plants at night. There are over 50 single images and took over a month to complete.?

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Fine Art: ‘Almost Free’ by Patrizia Burra (Italy)

Date of Photograph: December 12, 2019

Technical Info: 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 50.

Artist Statement: An artistic vision of movement.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Fine Art: ‘Giant’s Causeway and Figure, Northern Ireland’ by Ugo Ricciardi (Italy)

Date of Photograph: 2018

Technical Info: 18 sec, f/11, 100 ISO. Pentax 645z camera. Long exposure with led light on a long pole.

Artist Statement: This picture, that is part of the ‘Nightscapes’ series, was taken in Northern Ireland. The Giant’s Causeway is an ancient part of the coast. Is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea.

This place, so still and immovable, is illuminated by the moving light, that is fluid and changing. Two elements in contrast, and between them there is the figure of a man, on the top of the rock.

1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Nature: ‘Wallace Flying Frog’ by Chin Leong Tao (Singapore)

Date of Photograph: November, 2018

Technical Info: 1/1250 sec, ISO 1250, f/13, Sony Alpha a6500 camera.

Artist Statement: Wallace’s Flying Frog is a moss frog found in Malaysia and western Indonesia. It is generally quite photogenic given its large size, brilliant colors and calm temperament. This is a shot taken of a specimen swimming in water, with full extension of its beautiful long legs.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Nature: ‘Flying over the Sea’ by Claudio Piccoli (Italy)

Date of Photograph: September 6, 2019

Technical Info: 1/4000s, ISO 100, f/2.8, full frame.

Artist Statement: I love to represent the dog as a super hero in my action shots. This dog and its owner were practicing disc dog in the water. It’s very difficult to do such amazing performances in these conditions, since the water brakes every movement. It was sunrise and I love the colors.

The position of the girl is really focused on her dog and the launch of the disc was perfect. It’s a shot you can repeat more than one or two times since after that the dog needs to rest. The dog remain the main subject and his position in the air is perfect and extended with the maximum tension of muscles.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Nature: ‘Surfacing’ by Jean-Christophe Girard Lemay (Canada)

Date of Photograph: March 2, 2020

Technical Info: 1/2000 sec, f/2.8 , ISO 400 , 125mm lens.

Artist Statement: Such a memorable day navigating the St. Lawrence (Quebec, Canada) on the CCGS Amundsen. A was assigned as official photographer for the scientific mission that took place on the ship, for two weeks and a half.

On the fifth day, a beluga came to visit us very closely when we were stopped at the last sampling station. I knew I saw one earlier, but very far offshore. This time, it couldn’t have been closer than; it dived right in front of our eyes, and then came out often on the other side of the boat about fifteen minutes later, each time blowing air just before it hit the surface.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, People: ‘Night Journey’ by Ken Browar and Deborah Ory (United States)

Artist Statement: ‘Night Journey’ is a photograph of the Martha Graham Company taken for our book ‘The Style of Movement’ The image is of 6 dancers performing the piece ‘Night Journey’ choreographed by Graham. The dance is based on the Greek myth of Oedipus and Jocasta with six women portraying the Greek chorus.

Martha Graham designed the dramatic costumes, which accompanied the text in our book discussing Graham’s influence on fashion design. We felt this piece worked well for the theme of ‘movement’ as the women are moving together in perfect harmony, both in their movement, and in their dynamic expression.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, People: ‘Good Sheepherd’ by F. Dilek Uyar (Turkey)

Artist Statement: The dusty and arduous journey of sheep herds in Bitlis. Sheep herds do this dusty path to reach the highlands where they graze until the middle of July after milking.

1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Street Photography: ‘School Run, Rwanda’ by Benjamin Buckland (Switzerland)

Date of Photograph: October 20, 2019

Technical Info: 1/15 sec, ISO 160, f/22, cropped sensor.

Artist Statement: I drove down here in a wild storm. South towards Lake Rweru and the deepest source of the Nile. Pools of water on the road. Hard enough that my creaking windscreen wipers couldn’t keep pace and I stopped for a while. Peering downhill at Burundi through the mist. Rain intense enough that even the usually indomitable Rwandese cyclists disappeared from the road. But like all rain here at this time of year, it was quickly over. And the cyclists were back before I knew it. Rwanda. October 2019.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Street Photography: ‘Flying Boys’ by Dimpy Bhalotia (India)

Artist Statement: This was shot in Varanasi, India.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Street Photography: ‘Momentum’ by George Stastny (Canada)

Date of Photograph: June 11, 2018

Technical Info: 1/1000 , ISO 100, f/1.8, Micro Four Thirds crop sensor.

Artist Statement: We all have a driving force that keeps us moving at a forward momentum.

1st Place – OneShot: Movement, Technology/Machine: ‘The Urban Semiconductor’ by Sur Young Ken (Republic of Korea)

Date of Photograph: January 24, 2020

Technical Info: 15 sec, f/11, ISO 64, Nikon D850 camera.

Artist Statement: We live in an age of massive and fast transmission.

2nd Place – OneShot: Movement, Technology/Machine: ‘Porsche Type 64 Ice Race’ by Richard Seymour (United Kingdom)

Date of Photograph: February 1, 2020

Artist Statement: Tracking shot of a replica Porsche Type 64 at the 2020 GP Ice Race at Zell am See, Austria.

3rd Place – OneShot: Movement, Technology/Machine: ‘Moonlight over the Atlantic’ by Christiaan van Heijst (Netherlands)

Date of Photograph: January 12, 2020

Technical Info: 4.0 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250, Nikon D850, 10.5mm.

Artist Statement: Full moon. About to cross 30 West, halfway a stormy Atlantic Ocean when the radiant moon ascents above the horizon. Blinding out most stars, the bright lunar spell adds a touch of magic to the world around me. Silver-painted clouds drift by while the capsule of the 747 cockpit allows me to breathe, live and appreciate this alien-like landscape. Far beyond, the gently glowing horizon marks the delicate edge of space. Almost home.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Slideshow: Winners of IPA’s One-Shot ‘MOVEMENT’ competition

Posted in Uncategorized

 

DPReview TV: Do you still need camera filters for digital photography?

13 Jun

Are camera filters obsolete in the age of digital photography? Can’t we just Photoshop images? Not so fast! We take a look at four filters you still need in your camera bag.

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

  • Introduction
  • Polarizers
  • Neutral density (ND) filters
  • UV filters
  • Graduated neutral density filters
  • Wrap-up

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on DPReview TV: Do you still need camera filters for digital photography?

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Adobe Photoshop Camera app released for Android and iOS, offering AI-powered ‘Lenses’

13 Jun

Adobe has launched its Photoshop Camera application for Android and iOS devices. The app, previewed last November, utilizes Adobe’s artificial intelligence technology, Sensei, to deliver highly-stylized and filters and camera effects in real-time as you capture images.

The Adobe Photoshop Camera app is designed to help users capture ‘gorgeous selfies, food and scenery shots, and more.’ The application includes numerous automatic image adjustment tools via a Magic Wand tool, such as portrait relighting and lens distortion correction.

The app includes different categories of ‘Lenses’, which act like filters: Portrait, Pop Art, Spectrum, filters inspired by Billie Eilish, Artful, Food, Scenery, Blue Skies and Reverie. Each Lens includes numerous filters, such as Blue Skies Lenses with different cloud formations. Users can also download additional Lenses created by various influential photographers and Instagram users.

Screenshot from Adobe Photoshop Camera app for iOS

Within the Photoshop Camera app, users can edit their captured images through a variety of basic editing tools. You can adjust shadow detail, highlight detail, clarity, vibrance, exposure, contrast, white level, black level and saturation. As mentioned earlier, there is also an automatic adjustment performed, which happens as soon as you view an image in your library. You can also tap a Photoshop Express button at the top of the display to take your image into the Photoshop Express app for additional and more in-depth adjustments.

In a hands-on with Photoshop Camera, the application worked well. The application made automatic adjustments and determined that the ‘Scenery Lens’ would be a good starting place for me to select from different filter options. I also tried out the ‘Artful’ lens, which was quickly applied to my image. In other photos, the app did a good job of picking out the sky, although unsurprisingly, its sky replacement is not as sophisticated nor as effective as what you find in Skylum’s Luminar software.

Speaking to The Verge, Adobe CTO Abhay Parasnis stated the goal of Photoshop Camera is to ‘bring the magic of Photoshop directly to your camera’s viewfinder.’ When Adobe introduced Photoshop Camera last fall, it notes the app’s role in broadening the appeal and overall platform strength of Adobe Creative Cloud, its subscription-based software ecosystem. Alluding to appealing to future Creative Cloud consumers, Adobe said, ‘We are committed to investing in accessible tools like Photoshop Camera built for the next generation of consumers and creatives.’

Adobe Photoshop Camera is available as a free download with in-app purchases for Android and iOS.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Adobe Photoshop Camera app released for Android and iOS, offering AI-powered ‘Lenses’

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Lensrentals discovers cracked sensor mounts inside some of its Sony a7-series rental fleet

12 Jun
Photo credits: All photos and illustrations (except for this one), kindly provided by Lensrentals.

As promised, Lensrentals is back with part two of its flange-to-sensor measurement test, this time testing photo-centric cameras instead of cine cameras.

As Roger and his team meticulously pored over the measurements of every compatible camera they had on hand (the testing rig only had mount options for Canon, Sony and MFT cameras), they discovered a concerning percentage of Sony a7-series cameras had suffered from an unexpected and consistent failure of a key component.

Although Roger starts off his blog post with his Canon measurements, we’re going to begin with Sony, as that’s where the surprising and concerning discovery lies. In total, the Lensrentals team tested 487 various Sony full-frame and APS-C mirrorless bodies. To those concerned the in-body image stabilization (IBIS) would affect the flange-to-sensor distance, Roger has the following to say:

‘First let me mention that we asked and answered the obvious question “does the IBIS system change the flange-to-sensor distance.” We took some cameras, measured them, put a lens on, focused it on various things to run the IBIS, and measured again, about a dozen times each. Each camera had identical measurements every time.’

An overview of the flange-to-sensor distance measurements of all Sony cameras Lensrentals tested. Note the scale on all of these charts: this chart is -0.1mm to +0.1mm.

With that debate wrapped up, Roger presents the overall findings for Sony mirrorless cameras (seen above) before further dividing up the Sony camera bodies, grouping the Sony a9 and Sony APS-C cameras together and grouping all of the a7-series camera bodies together. Roger grouped the data this way because the a9 and APS-C models ‘look[ed] marvelous,’ with minimal variation, while the a7-series showed rather dramatic variations, particularly with their outliers.

This is the a7-series chart, showing the a7R III (blue), a7R IV (red) and a7 III (yellow). Note the unusual number of outliers on the very extremes of the chart.

After testing each unit, Roger pulled 28 outliers for further inspection (5.75% of the Sony cameras tested). While a few of them needed to have the lens mount screws tightened or entirely replaced to correct their flange-to-sensor distance, there were a number of units that stood out as ‘large outliers.’ Upon closer inspection, Roger and his team discovered a number of these units had a more unexpected and more serious issue: there was a fracture between the sensor mount and stabilization system.

The arrow points to a fractured sensor-to-IBIS mount inside a Sony a7-series camera.

As you can see in Lensrentals’ a7R III teardown, Sony mounts the sensors to a plastic plate that attaches to the IBIS system via three screws. In two of the ‘large outlier’ units the plastic plate the sensor is mounted to had fractured; two others had screws that had wiggled their way out; one had what appeared to be a ‘metal fatigue type fracture’ in the mount; and one had a ‘displaced fracture of the sensor frame’ that was serious enough to pop off the retaining clip.

The arrow points to the tab where the retainer clip is supposed to be secured to.

While these are all serious issues that raise concerns, Roger says he was amazed to realize ‘the cameras really didn’t show much disfunction.’ He elaborates:

‘If you had just shown me the pictures above I would have expected error messages, horrible images, something dramatic. These were renting regularly, customers were happy with them, our 64-point tech inspection was passed before and after each rental.’

Even after hours of stress testing by Lensrentals’ most experienced techs, the only complaints they had with these broken units were the same minor complaints a few renters had pointed out in the past, including ‘Seems images might be a little soft on one side,’ or ‘maybe the stabilization isn’t quite as good as it should be.’

Roger says it appears as though a single broken mount (remember, there are three screws holding the sensor to the IBIS unit) doesn’t appear to have much affect on overall operation, but suggests if two of the mounts were to break it would be likely to cause noticeable issues.

Roger says the crack in this image displaced the mount by about 0.5mm, but despite this dramatic displacement, the center of the sensor shifted much less than that.

Wonky mounts and fractured components sound scary, but in total, less than 2% of Lensrentals’ Sony camera stock was found to have lens mount issues and only 1.6% suffered from the sensor mount problem. That’s not an insignificant number of cameras given how large the rental fleet is, but considering these are rental cameras and it took hours of intense inspection of the outlier samples to notice even the smallest impact on image quality, it’s hard to say how serious the issue really is in practical terms.

Wonky mounts and fractured components sound scary, but in total, less than 2% of Lensrentals’ Sony camera stock was found to have lens mount issues and only 1.6% suffered from the sensor mount problem

Still, though, any kind of failure like this is concerning and both Roger and DPReview have contacted Sony to inform them of Lensrentals’ finding and request comment on the matter.

With the Sony camera data out of the way, it’s on to Canon cameras. Within the data, Roger discovered a few interesting tidbits. First, the flange-to-sensor distance in photo cameras doesn’t vary any more than in Canon’s cine cameras. Second, of the 11 cameras (out of 478 Canon DSLR cameras tested) that Roger pulled for closer inspection due to variations, all of them were either 5D IV or 1DX bodies, i.e., pro bodies.

A chart showing the variation of the Canon DSLR cameras Lensrentals tested, with the outliers highlighted. Again, note the scale of this graph: this chart is -0.1mm to +0.04mm.

Upon further inspection of the most affected camera bodies, Roger discovered each of them had a history of a drop or required ‘significant internal work’ after being rented out at one time or another. He also notes it makes sense these cameras are more susceptible to damage when bumped or dropped due to the tendency for these cameras to be used in harsher conditions and with longer, heavier telephoto lenses, which could more easily bend the mount ‘because force proportional to mass and all.’

Roger concludes his data with a breakdown of variation in 138 Micro Four Thirds cameras: 82 Panasonic units, 36 Olympus units and 20 Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K units.

A breakdown of the various Micro Four Thirds camer models Lensrentals tested.

Overall, the variation between units proved to be relatively minimal, with only five cameras being outliers. Of these five cameras, four had been sent back to the factory to have their sensors replaced and one had a shutter replacement. Roger notes five other Micro Four Thirds cameras also had their sensors replaced and were within the nominal variation range, so don’t assume all cameras with sensor replacements will have abnormal flange-to-sensor distance measurements.

In wrapping up, Roger concludes that while it might’ve been seemed unnecessary to measure the flange-to-sensor distance of still cameras, it proved just as useful as it was with cine cameras. The team found fixable issues in roughly 2% of its still camera fleet thanks to the testing and, in Roger’s own words, ‘To me, that’s a huge thing […] Huge enough that we need to get a second Denz tool for the photo techs since the first one is already monopolized by the video people.’

Read the full article at Lensrentals.com

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Lensrentals discovers cracked sensor mounts inside some of its Sony a7-series rental fleet

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »