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Tamron SP 35mm F1.4, 35-150mm F2.8-4 and E-mount 17-28mm F2.8 III arriving mid-2019

20 Feb

Tamron has announced three new full-frame lenses slated to launch in the middle of 2019: an SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD and 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD for DSLRs, as well as an ultra-wide 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD for Sony E-mount cameras.

The SP 35mm F1.4 become’s the company’s fastest current lens, joining the existing 35mm F1.8 in Tamron’s high-end SP line. Calling it “the embodiment of all optical technology and manufacturing knowhow Tamron has developed to date,” the company isn’t revealing much more detail – only that it will offer fast, high-precision autofocus.

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The Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 is designed as a compact, do-it-all zoom and is equipped with stabilization. The lens offers a minimum subject distance of 45cm / 17.7in across the entire zoom range, and low dispersion glass elements aim to keep optical aberration under control.

For Sony a7-series shooters, Tamron offers a 17-28mm F2.8 with a notably small diameter and 67mm filter size. It’s equipped with a stepping motor (denoted as RXD or Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive) to boost its appeal to video as well as stills shooters.

Pricing isn’t available at this time; Tamron plans to launch all three lenses in mid-2019.

Tamron announces the development of three lenses—two for full-frame DSLRs and one for full-frame mirrorless cameras

February 20, 2019, Saitama, Japan – Tamron Co., Ltd. (President & CEO: Shiro Ajisaka), a leading manufacturer of optics for diverse applications, announces the development of two new lenses for full-frame DSLR cameras—the 35-150mm F/2.8-4 Di VC OSD (Model A043) zoom lens and the SP 35mm F/1.4 Di USD (Model F045) fixed focal lens; and a new high-speed ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for Sony E-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras—the 17-28mm F/2.8 Di III RXD (Model A046).

Tamron will display these new lenses at CP+ 2019, the World Premiere show for camera and photo imaging, beginning February 28 through March 3, 2019 at Pacifico Yokohama and at the Wedding and Portrait Professionals International (WPPI), February 27 through March 3, 2019 in Las Vegas.

The lenses are expected to launch in the middle of 2019.

Fast compact Portrait Zoom breaks new ground: 35-150mm F/2.8-4 Di VC OSD (Model A043)

The new compact Model A043 is designed for fast handling and easy transport and features a zoom that extends from 35mm to 150mm, incorporating the 85mm focal length (often regarded as optimum for portrait shooting). It offers a fast F/2.8 aperture at the wide-angle end while maintaining a bright F/4 at the telephoto end. For close-focusing, the MOD (Minimum Object Distance) is 17.7 in across the entire zoom range. Delivering superb image quality, precisely placed LD (Low Dispersion) glass elements and aspherical lenses quash degrading optical aberrations. Furthermore, the Model A043 incorporates the Dual MPU (Micro-Processing Unit) system, which assures optimal AF performance and effective vibration compensation.

Fast fixed focal lens boldly demonstrates Tamron’s lens-making expertise: SP 35mm F/1.4 Di USD (Model F045)

Tamron’s SP lens series was born in 1979, based on the concept of delivering lenses for taking the perfect picture for those who love photography. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the series. In celebration, Tamron has developed the Model F045, the distillation of Tamron’s accumulated lens-making expertise and craftsmanship. This orthodox fixed focal lens, which some consider the most basic of all interchangeable lenses, is the embodiment of all optical technology and manufacturing knowhow Tamron has developed to date.

The Model F045’s unprecedented high-resolution image quality and beautiful, appealing background bokeh lets photographers capture any scene down to the finest details. The external lens barrel was developed through tireless pursuit of operability and durability, focusing constantly on the needs of photographers. This lens is equipped with a fast F/1.4 aperture and high-speed, high-precision AF functionality offering exceptional reliability, plus various other features for increased convenience, making it the perfect everyday lens for your creative pursuits. It is ideally suited for nearly every photographic genre, including photojournalism, landscape, sports, street life, wedding groups and family snapshots.

High-speed ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for Sony E-mount cameras is extremely compact and lightweight: 17-28mm F/2.8 Di III RXD (Model A046)

The Model A046 achieves an astonishingly small diameter for a high-speed ultra-wide-angle zoom lens, as witnessed by its modest 67mm filter size. Its unprecedented light weight and compact size provide excellent balance when used with a full-frame mirrorless camera, making it easy to carry, and enabling it to cater to a wide range of scenes and shooting conditions. The Model A046 offers a fast F/2.8 aperture throughout the entire zoom range and delivers high-resolution and contrast edge to edge. The combination of ultra-wide-angle focal length, fast constant F/2.8 aperture and Minimum Object Distance of 7.5 in at the wide-angle end encourages richly expressive and creative photography in a multitude of scenarios. The Model A046’s AF drive system is powered by the RXD (Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive) stepping motor unit, enabling it to deliver high-speed, high-precision and superbly quiet operation suitable for shooting video as well as still photographs.

Note: All DSLR camera functions are possible when the Models A043 and A045 are attached to a mirrorless camera via the manufacture’s adapter.

*Specifications, appearance, functionality, etc. of the above-mentioned three products are subject to change without prior notice.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD, 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD and 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD specifications

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Canon EF-M 32mm F1.4 review

20 Feb

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85%

Overall score

The EF-M 32mm F1.4 STM was an easy lens to miss when it was announced, unveiled at the same time as Canon’s all-new EOS R. Quite how the EOS M series will play alongside the newer R line remains to be seen, but its adopters have been clamoring for more wide-aperture native lens options for some time, so it’s nice to finally see a lens of this type join the lineup. And at F1.4, it’s the fastest lens in the EOS M system to date.

The third prime lens for the EF-M mount, the lens’s 32mm focal length provides a versatile equivalent focal length of 51mm in full-frame terms on EOS M-series bodies, and an aperture equivalent to an F2.2 lens on full-frame. As the only lens of its kind in the range, it should appeal widely to those already invested in the system, particularly portrait photographers who haven’t really had a suitable alternative as of yet (at least not a native one).

It should also find a lot of love from those shooting in low light, and it also makes sense for those intending to capture nature who don’t need a lens with true macro capabilities. In short, it has plenty of appeal.

Key specifications

Focal length: 32mm (equivalent to 51mm in 35mm terms)
Aperture range: F1.4-16 (In 1/3 stops)
Filter thread: 43mm
Close focus: 0.23m (0.76ft)
Maximum magnification: 0.25x
Diaphragm blades: 7
Hood: optional (ES-60)
Length / Diameter: approx. 56.5 x 60.9mm (2.22 x 2.40in)
Weight: approx. 235g (8.3oz)
Optical construction: 14 elements in 8 groups

That wide aperture is arguably even more important here, given that this is only the second lens in the stable not to be furnished with its own image stabilization system. This isn’t a feature we’d expect as standard on a lens of this sort, but it wouldn’t exactly be out of place when you consider that stabilization isn’t found inside any current EOS M-series bodies (at least not mechanically). Its omission from the lens itself is probably less of a concern for anyone intending on shooting portraits, but those planning on using it for static subjects in sub-optimum light might have hoped Canon had found space for this.

Speaking of not finding space for things, it’s a shame to find that a lens hood isn’t included with the EF-M 32mm F1.4 as standard.

Design and handling

The overall design of the EF-M 32mm F1.4 is consistent with the other optics in the series, which is to say smart and understated. Its charcoal grey finish perfectly complements the EOS M50 body I used during this review, while its weight of 235g gives it some substance relative to its size when held on its own. The combination is just as nicely balanced in the hands as it is to the eye, and the whole package will just about fit into a coat pocket.

The streamlined barrel features a large, textured focusing ring, while the rest of the casing has a matte finish that’s smooth to the touch. The overall result is perhaps the most minimally styled lens in the line since the (much smaller) EF-M 22mm F2 STM pancake lens. As with its siblings, there’s no focus-distance window or equivalent markings, and in the absence of an AF/MF switch, alternating between autofocus and manual focus has to be done via the camera.

It’s only the focus limit switch that physically breaks the lens’ symmetry. We wouldn’t necessarily expect such a lens to be fitted with one, but its inclusion makes some sense when you consider its 0.23m close-focusing limit and broad range of potential applications. This two-mode control allows you to either use the full focusing range or to work between 0.5m (1.64ft) to infinity, and it’s relatively flush with the rest of the barrel and somewhat stiff. This, together with its placement just above the mid-point of the lens, meant that I found it somewhat more awkward to operate than necessary. That said, I imagine for most photographers it won’t be a control used frequently enough to matter.

Like all of Canon’s EF-M lenses, the 32mm F1.4 is very compact. At barely 8 ounces in weight it won’t weigh you down, either.

The EF-M 32mm F1.4 STM’s mount is made of metal, and there’s no real issue with mounting or un-mounting as such, although the fact that the barrel is the same diameter throughout and that most of it is made up by the rotating focus ring means that you have to grab it right at its base when changing lenses.

As useful as it is to have such a wide aperture, one issue I soon ran into with the EOS M50 was the lack of an electronic shutter that can enable shutter speeds beyond the the mechanical 1/4000sec limit. This applies to other EOS M-series bodies too, and presents an obvious challenge when working outdoors in brighter conditions. Of course, an ND filter can help here, but it’s not a convenient solution. (Incidentally, there is a silent shutter option that employs an electronic shutter hidden in the EOS M50’s scene modes, although you have no agency over exposure settings when this is enabled and you can’t otherwise access the feature).

Focus

As with every other current optic in the EF-M series, focusing is handled by an STM stepping motor. Here, it’s a lead gear-type motor that promises smooth and quiet focus for stills and ‘near silence’ when capturing videos.

Canon’s own literature makes it clear that the advantage of this type of motor over the screw-type STM motor used in its other lenses relates to compactness rather than silence and speed. After using it for some time, I’m not sure whether the motor can be described as smooth in its operation when capturing stills, but only because it’s clearly working at speed to acquire focus. I’d certainly prioritize speed over smoothness here, so this is no criticism.

When shooting very close subjects, the EF-M 32mm F1.4 can take a moment to achieve focus, but for arms-length shooting and beyond, focus is fast and snappy.

Converted Raw| ISO 100 | 1/160 sec | F1.4 | Canon EF-M 32mm F1.4

In good light, the lens typically performs a rapid shift to its approximate position before a brief final shuffle for accuracy. While this is audible, these sounds are easily masked by ambient noise, and they’re not particularly obtrusive. When the lens hunts, it typically manages to travel between its full range in around a second and a half, although this can obviously be improved if you’re not shooting up close and are happy to limit the focus range to the 0.5m-infinity range.

Using autofocus during video recording will result in an audible low-frequency hum as it transitions between different focusing distances, rather than the more obvious, higher pitched whirring when focusing for stills. These sounds are picked up on recordings, but they’re also not distracting and are, again, easily quashed by ambient noise. These movements are very smooth, and I found the transitions looked very pleasing in resulting footage, assuming the camera found focus without any issues. There’s some noise from the lens as it’s manually focused during video recording, but if you turn the ring slowly enough you will not even notice this.

This image shows the 32mm at its closest focusing distance, with the inner barrel extended from the main body of the lens.

Focus itself isn’t internal; the inner barrel extends by around half an inch or so when at its closest focus distance of 0.23m, although the outer barrel maintains the same length at all times and the focusing ring also stays put. The focusing group isn’t mechanically linked to the ring, and response is speed-sensitive, not linear. This means that the amount of focus adjustment when manually focusing will vary according to how quickly you rotate the ring. You can work through the whole focusing range in as little as three quarters of a full rotation, but turn it too quickly and you may end up needing two-and-half rotations to move between the two extremes. Video shooters manually focusing will miss the option for linear focusing.

In any case, there’s ample room for fine control over manual focus adjustment, and this is helped even further by the peaking option found on every compatible camera, save for the original EOS M. The lens also supports full-time manual focus, which lets you override the AF system by turning the focusing ring.

Overall, while the lens doesn’t operate in complete silence for stills nor video, it works quickly enough for stills and smoothly enough for video.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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LensRentals constructs a C-4 Optics 4.9mm F3.5 Hyperfisheye Prototype lens

20 Feb

Lensrentals is known for its in-depth teardowns of the latest and greatest camera gear, but not everything has to be about destruction. For a change of pace, Lensrentals has decided to build a lens rather than destroy it.

In particular, Roger and his team have shared the above video and an accompanying blog post highlighting the construction of the the widest fisheye lens in existence, the C-4 Optics 4.9mm F3.5 Hyperfisheye Prototype.

Photos kindly provided by Lensrentals

Much like the 1970s Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 fisheye lens, the C-4 Optics 4.9mm F3.5 Hyperfisheye Prototype is so wide that it can actually see behind itself. It takes it a step further though; Instead of the 220-degree field of view of the Nikkor lens, the C-4 Optics fisheye, of which only two have been made, has a 270-degree field of view. Not only is it wider though, it’s also sharper and has less distortion and vignetting.

An individual element is stacked on top of another during the construction of the lens.

The entire construction is a doozy from beginning to end, with individual elements costing as much as $ 5,000, but as always Lensrentals manages to get it down with impeccable results. The final result is an unusual-looking lens that has legs and a backplate to help support the massive hunk of glass and metal.

‘For those of you who are curious, a smaller Sony camera (A7xxx) fits nicely protected within the legs,’ says Roger in his blog post. ‘For larger cameras the bottom platform can be removed, the legs extended or removed, and various apparatus (rods, follow focus, aperture control, etc.) mounted directly to the cheese plate.’

Roger notes the lens won’t be available to rent, so don’t get your hopes up. To see the full build and soak up the details, head over to Lensrentals.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Apple has turned ‘bokeh’ into a verb (and taken a stance on how it’s pronounced)

20 Feb

According to Merriam-Webster, bokeh is a noun that means ‘the blurred quality or effect seen in the out-of-focus portion of a photograph taken with a narrow depth of field.’ Apple, however, has different plans.

In a recent video advertisement, Apple has turned the word bokeh into a verb, ‘bokeh’d.’ Not only has Apple turned bokeh into a verb, it’s also taken a stance on how the Japanese term is pronounced, a widely debated topic. Based on the video, Apple’s pronunciation of choice is ‘bok-uh,’ a departure from the Japanese pronunciation which sounds more along the lines of ‘bow-kayh.’

The advert itself is humorous regardless of your pronunciation preference and, for better or worse, Apple’s ‘verbing’ of the word bokeh may very well become a universally accepted.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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‘Kissing sailor’ George Mendonsa featured in iconic 1945 photo dies at 95

20 Feb

The kissing sailor featured in the iconic ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ photo, George Mendonsa, has died at the age of 95, according to his daughter. Mendonsa suffered a seizure at the Rhode Island assisted living facility where he resided and passed away two days before his 96th birthday.

The photo, which was first published by Life Magazine in 1945, was captured by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt at the end of World War II. Mendosa, a sailor in the U.S. Navy, had been on a date with Rita Petrie, his eventual wife of 70 years, when he heard news of Japan’s surrender in August 1945. Overcome with excitement, he grabbed a stranger and kissed her.

The identities of the two people featured in the photo remained a mystery for decades, spurring multiple false claims from individuals who alleged they were the pictured subjects. The issue was laid to rest in 2012 when the U.S. Naval Institute Press published a book title ‘The Kissing Sailor’ by George Galdorisi and Lawrence Verria.

A combination of expert analysis and facial recognition technology confirmed the image features Mendosa and Greta Friedman, the woman in the nurse’s uniform. According to Verria, Mendonsa had been struck by the sight of nurses treating injured sailors during the war. When news of the war’s end arrived, Mendonsa saw Friedman in her uniform and pulled her into a kiss.

In a 2005 interview, Friedman explained the experience from her side, saying that she had been working that morning in a dental office when rumors of the war’s end began circulating. Later that day, Friedman walked to Times Square and saw a billboard confirming the news.

And so suddenly I was grabbed by a sailor, and it wasn’t that much of a kiss, it was more of a jubilant act that he didn’t have to go back, I found out later, he was so happy that he did not have to go back to the Pacific where they already had been through the war. And the reason he grabbed someone dressed like a nurse was that he just felt very grateful to nurses who took care of the wounded.

Photographer Eisenstaedt detailed the moment he captured the iconic photo in his book ‘Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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What Your Camera Can’t See

20 Feb

The post What Your Camera Can’t See appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

For all the incredible technology packed into cameras, there is one missing element that will remain missing perhaps forever. The missing element? The combination of human eyesight and the brain’s image processor called the Visual Cortex.

1 - What Your Camera Can't See

The Visual Cortex

The Visual Cortex is located in the lower rear of your brain. It is here the real color perception magic happens – magic that goes way beyond the analysis capabilities of any camera on the planet. As you understand this human version of the camera’s image processor, your understanding of the photo process will come into clearer focus.

Medical experts tell us that more than 80% of what we experience enters our brain through our vision. Your eyes capture light’s amazing array of colors as the eye’s lens focuses light beams onto the panoramic viewing screen in the back of your eyeball called the retina.

2 - What Your Camera Can't See

Your brain is very forgiving. It focuses light entering through your eyes, and automatically color corrects almost every lighting condition and color cast en route to the Visual Cortex. Within seconds, your eyes and brain adjust to a wide range of lighting intensities and color influences and deliver very believable images to your mind. And it all happens without you even realizing it. No white balance to set, no color shifts to neutralize. Your brain’s magic intuition and forgiving nature do a crazy-good job of color correction for you.

Your camera records colors a bit more objectively. However, even when shooting RAW files, decisions about color still have to be made in the editing process. Your camera simply doesn’t have cognitive or reasoning skills and thus must be tutored to interpret what it “sees” accurately. You might say that your camera sees, but it doesn’t observe.

White balance and memory colors

When you visually observe a white sheet of paper in a daylight lighting (preferably outside, in natural light), the paper looks… white. Even when you observe that same white paper indoors under tungsten light, your brain recognizes that the paper is really white. This is because the human brain possesses what we call “memory colors;” a basic set of colors that are so familiar that even lighting variances cannot confuse.

Your camera cannot remember what color white is when it is captured under different types of lighting. It must be told every time. What your camera calls “memory” isn’t the same “memory” that your human brain possesses.

3- What Your Camera Can't See

When you set your camera’s White Balance to Daylight and take a picture of the white paper outside, it indeed appears white. That is merely the way the camera’s image sensor is biased to record light under daylight (6500° Kelvin) color conditions. However, when you move inside and shoot the same white paper under tungsten lighting (using the same Daylight WB), the paper appears to the camera to be somewhat yellow.

Auto White Balance (left) and Tungsten (right)

Changing the camera’s WB setting to Auto White Balance (AWB) and shooting the paper under a typical table lamp light, the picture still appears slightly yellow. Even when you set the camera’s WB to Tungsten, the paper still fails to appear perfectly neutral white, though it appears much closer to white.

5- What Your Camera Can't See

The truth is, there are colors in the visual spectrum that digital cameras record differently than film cameras did in the past. And neither technology captures and records the exact colors that the human eye sees or the mind perceives. This is why most captured images, for all their beauty, still lack the full sense of authenticity and depth that the human mind experiences from light observed in every scene.

Technically (and spectrally), in each case, the camera is telling the truth, just not the “truth” that we perceive with our eyes. This is, of course, a good example of why we shoot in raw format. When captured in raw format, all regimented color categories get ignored. Any color shifts can be corrected and lighting variances addressed in the post-processing stage.

As mentioned earlier, the can’t the camera see the white paper as white (the way our eyes do) regardless of the lighting situation because the camera doesn’t have an onboard reference registry of “memory colors” the way our brains do.

6- What Your Camera Can't See

The brain automatically remaps each scene’s color cast to your brain’s “memory colors.” Think of these memory colors as preference presets in your brain’s color interpreter. These memory colors automatically compensate for variable lighting situations. The infinite Look Up Table (LUT) variables that would be needed for a camera to replicate this basic, natural brain function would have to be both immense and incredibly complex. No matter how smart digital devices become, they’ll never replace the magic of human interpretation.

Conclusion

So what have we learned? Your camera, for all its sophistication, cannot automatically correct color casts. It simply isn’t human. That means that your camera ultimately benefits from and makes use of your understanding of the behavior of light and color. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll produce images that more closely replicate color as your mind perceived it. Photography is a two-part process that requires the camera to do its job and for you to do yours. What is defined by the clinical term as “post-processing” is merely finishing the job that your camera started.

Moreover, this is a good thing. Your judgment and interpretation of the colors your mind saw when you captured the image can guide you as you tweak and make minor adjustments to your images. Don’t think of this as a burden. Recognize this as a gift. You, the photographer, are the producer of the image. Your camera is merely a tool that provides all the “raw” materials you’ll need to share what your mind observed when you captured the scene.

This is why photography is an art, and why this art requires an artist. You are that artist.

Celebrate the partnership you have with your camera. Together, you produce visual beauty.

The post What Your Camera Can’t See appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

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Luminar update brings improved performance and new features

19 Feb

Skylum Software has announced an update to its Luminar image editing software. Version 3.0.2 comes with new features as well as improvements in performance and stability.

The latter includes faster import of images and folders to the catalog and faster launch times on the Windows platform as well as faster image moving between external and internal drives and better imports of native Luminar files for Apple Mac computers.

On both platforms the software now offers a new ‘Locate Folder’ command, allowing users to find misplaced or moved folders on their system. There are also new dedicated toolbar buttons for Gallery and Single Image views.

New features for Windows users include nested folders, offline file alerts and new shortcut keys for several functions. On a Mac you can now enjoy automated database backups, new preferences for cache, catalog and backup and Aurora HDR integration among other new functions.

The new version also comes with an updated list of supported cameras to which the following models have been added:

Nikon: D3500, P1000, Z6, Z7
Panasonic: Lumix DC-LX100 II
Fujifilm: GFX 50R, X-T3
Sony: RX100VA, RX100VI, DSC-HX99, DSC-HX95
Leica: M10-D, M10-P, D-Lux 7

A full list of supported cameras is available on the Luminar website. Luminar is available as a 30-day free trial. A full license will set you back $ 69 and allows you to install the software on five machines in your household. More information is available on skylum.com/.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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How to Move Your Lightroom Library to an External Drive

19 Feb

The post How to Move Your Lightroom Library to an External Drive appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

Many photographers put their pictures on their computer’s internal hard drive. This can be a great solution since even laptops now have fairly generous storage options compared to their counterparts in days gone by. It may take you a while to fill up a 1TB or larger internal drive even if you shoot in RAW, but at some point, you’re going to run out of space, and you’ll have to address this problem. Cloud storage is a good solution but often involves a monthly or yearly fee, and upgrading your internal drive can be expensive and time-consuming. One perfect solution is to migrate your entire Lightroom library to an external drive. While this might sound difficult and intimidating, it’s quite simple and is something that anyone can easily do.

Choosing your storage

Storage space is fairly inexpensive, but not infinite. There are always going to be physical limitations when it comes to how many images you can store on a single piece of media. This is true whether it’s a traditional hard drive, a solid-state drive, or a mix of both such as Apple’s Fusion Drives.

Thankfully, external drives can offer vast amounts of storage space for relatively little money. With the fast transfer speeds of USB-3, which is common on most computers today, you won’t lose anything in terms of editing efficiency by having your pictures stored externally.

The first step in migrating your pictures to an external drive is to buy an external drive, and you have several options:

• Traditional hard drive made with spinning platters. If you take this route, I recommend one with a transfer rate of 150mb/sec (megabytes per second) and an RPM speed of 7200. As I write this in early 2019, a four-terabyte drive, which can hold around 200,000 RAW files or half a million JPG files without breaking a sweat, can be found for US$ 100 to US$ 150.

Storage is inexpensive and prices are falling all the time. This 4 terabyte hard drive was only $ 90 when I bought it in the spring of 2019. (Guitar pick shown for scale.)

• Solid-state drive with no moving parts. These aren’t as cheap as traditional drives, and they don’t hold quite as much data. However, with prices falling all the time, it won’t be long until solid-state drives are the norm and traditional spinning platters become redundant. Transfer rates on these drives are going to be plenty fast enough for any photo editing.

• RAID array or Drobo. These are much more expensive than traditional storage options but offer redundancy in case of data failures, but they might be overkill for non-professional photographers. Besides, no matter what external storage solution you use, you should always have at least one off-site backup even if you do use a RAID array.

For most people, I recommend a simple USB-3 external drive, as it’s the most cost-effective solution and easy to backup onto another drive as well.

Once you have an external drive, there are two methods for getting your photos in Lightroom copied over to it. I’ll walk you through each of these methods as well as the positive and negative aspects of each so you can decide which is right for you.

Method 1: Use Lightroom

This process works well if you don’t have a large photo library. It doesn’t involve a lot of heavy lifting on your part because you can do everything within Lightroom. If you have a lot of images (a few thousand or more), I’d recommend against this because I’ve read reports that it can become a little unreliable when working with that many files. Your mileage may vary though, but know that you ought to proceed with a bit of caution when using this method.

First, locate your Folders pane on the left side of the Library module of Lightroom. Then click the + button in the top-right corner and choose “Add Folder…” This is going to let you create a new folder for storing your images. In this case, navigate to your external drive and create a new folder at that location.

Navigate to your external drive and create a folder on it that you can use to store your pictures. In the screenshot below my external drive is called “Untitled” and my folder is called “Lightroom Pictures.”

Once done, you should see the new folder show up in Lightroom, but it will be empty. This action also creates a new folder on your external drive, which you can see if you navigate to the external drive using Finder or Windows Explorer.

The final step in moving your images from the internal drive to an external drive is to drag-and-drop them from Lightroom. From the Folders panel, click on a folder that you want to put on the external drive and drag it from your internal drive to the new folder you just created.

Click the Move button and Lightroom transfers everything over to the external drive, with no extra effort required on your part. If you have thousands of pictures, this could take a while. So be patient. In the end, your images will be on the external drive and also removed from your internal drive.

Method 2: Copy files manually

If you don’t mind doing a little bit of work yourself using Windows File Explorer or the Macintosh Finder, this is the option I generally recommend. That’s because it not only gives you the most control over the copying operation but helps you understand exactly where to locate your pictures. This method also lets you decide when to delete the original images on your internal drive because you copy them to your external drive instead of moving them. The first thing you need to do is navigate to your Library module within Lightroom and look for the Folders pane. This module tells you where to locate your image files on your computer.

I’ve got images in Lightroom going back to 2013, and each year’s pictures are stored in a separate folder on my hard drive.

Right-click, or control-click on a Mac, on the name of one of the folders in your Folders pane and choose the option that says “Show in Finder.” If you are using Windows, this says “Show in Explorer.” This takes you to the location on your computer where your images are stored.

If you have multiple folders with images in them, do this operation one at a time for each folder. In this example, I started with the 2013 folder in Lightroom, and selected “Show in Finder.” Then it brought up the actual folder on my computer labeled 2013 that contains my images from that year.

When you get to this step, right-click (or control-click) the folder and choose Copy. Then navigate to your external drive and choose Paste. This makes an exact duplicate of the folder on your external drive which might seem redundant, but this is only temporary. A bit later in the process, you can delete the original folder on your internal hard drive once you are sure that everything worked with the copy operation.

Repeat this copy/paste process for every folder listed in your Lightroom Folders pane. After you are finished copying everything to your external drive, rename the original folders by giving them a suffix such as “2013-Original” or “2013-Old.” Again, this is only temporary, and you end up just deleting these folders entirely. But for now, you don’t want to get ahead of yourself and start deleting folders before you are confident that everything has worked properly.

Locating your missing folders

After you rename the original folders, Lightroom may have a bit of a fit because it suddenly won’t be able to locate all your images! With the folder names changed, it won’t know where to look for your pictures even though they are all still intact. The next step is to tell Lightroom where to find your images on the external hard drive instead of looking on your original internal hard drive. As soon as you rename the original folder, the icon in Lightroom changes to a question mark since it no longer knows where to locate your pictures.

Right-click on the folder with a question mark and choose “Find Missing Folder” to rectify the situation.

In the screen that pops up next, navigate to the folder on your external hard drive where your pictures are. This is the folder you copied over at the start of this whole process, and its name should be unchanged. Select it, to make it show up in Lightroom. All your photos should be fully intact.

Repeat this process with all your folders. When finished, your images will have successfully migrated to the external drive. You can verify this by scrolling through your Lightroom library and looking for any images with a question mark. If you don’t see any, then everything is fine. If you do, then Lightroom is having trouble locating the original image, and you might need to double check that all your pictures have copied to the external drive successfully.

When you are satisfied that you have completed the operation without error, you are free to delete the original images on your internal drive. However, I’d recommend keeping a backup of them just in case. When it comes to photos, you can never have too many backups!

Catalog vs. Photos

It’s important to know that your Lightroom pictures are not the same as your Lightroom Catalog. The latter is a reference file which keeps track of all your edits to your pictures, leaving the originals fully intact and unchanged. I recommend keeping your Catalog on your internal hard drive since Lightroom uses this for all your editing operations and internal drives are likely to be faster than external drives. However, it’s up to you. If you’re not sure what to do, just don’t even think about it, since moving your Catalog to an external drive is an entirely separate operation altogether.

The Catalog stores all the changes to your images and only takes up a few gigabytes of space. Your actual images can take up hundreds or even thousands of gigabytes.

Remember to Backup

A final step in moving your pictures to an external drive is to make sure you have a good backup plan in place. If you are on a Mac and have your computer backed up via Time Machine, it will not automatically back up your external hard drives, and you might also find yourself quickly running out of space on your Time Machine backup drive. I recommend keeping a separate backup of your external hard drive and using a program like Carbon Copy Cloner to make sure you sync everything correctly.

Windows has options available as well, but the bottom line here is that you can never be too safe when it comes to backing up your images. Hopefully, this tutorial helps you understand how to go about reclaiming some of the space on your internal drive and setting yourself up for success in the long run when it comes to external storage options. However, all will be for naught if your images aren’t properly backed up and your computer fails.

Once you have all these pieces in place, it’s time to get off your computer, start shooting photos, and know that you’ve got plenty of storage space for years to come!

The post How to Move Your Lightroom Library to an External Drive appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Simon Ringsmuth.

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The progenitors of GFX: A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format concepts

19 Feb

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

At Dubai’s recent Gulf Photo Plus event, Fujifilm gave us a good look at a couple of its forthcoming products, and also allowed us a peek back in time, into the design of existing GFX cameras.

What you’re about to see is a collection of mockups of concept GFX designs, dating from before the launch of the GFX 50S and 50R. Some of these mockups appear very familiar, some less so. Click through to take a closer look.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

First up is the camera that got most of the X-Summit audience talking – the very earliest concept mockup for what became the original GFX 50S. As you can see, there are a lot of similarities to the camera that eventually shipped in 2017.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

Top-mounted dials, a central pentaprism-style EVF, lots of controls, a nice big sticky-outy grip…

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

But in fact, the camera is fully modular. The EVF and grip are optional accessories to the core body of the camera, which consists of the mount, sensor and controls for the key exposure parameters.

Fujifilm’s representatives confirmed that the ‘Omega’ concept was directly inspired by Hasselblad’s iconic 500-series square format film cameras. Note the distinctive annular shutter speed dial, positioned around the lens mount itself.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

As originally envisaged, the Omega had a direct control for aspect ratio, and unusual ‘roller’ style controls, rather than the final GFX’s more conventional dials.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

Here are the three main modules – a grip component, the main body of the camera, and a removable EVF. The spirit of the Omega lives on in the design of the GFX 50S’s viewfinder, which can be removed to make a slightly smaller, lighter camera.

The main reason why this even more modular design never saw it to production is simple – the shutter mechanism for such a large sensor was simply too large for the concept. That doesn’t mean we’ll never see a modular GFX, but we might have to wait for global shutters to become a practical reality first.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

Next up is ‘Gamma’, a design which takes a lot of cues from contemporary XT-series APS-C format cameras.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

Essentially a scaled-up XT, the Gamma would have offered a larger sensor, in a body very familiar to Fujifilm’s existing APS-C shooters.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

It’s unclear why this design didn’t make it beyond the concept stage, but it’s possible that Fujifilm wanted to draw a cleaner line between the APS-C lineup and the (inevitably) more expensive GFX range. Also, notice that there’s no room for a top-plate display screen in this design.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

A second, unnamed XT-style concept removes the exposure compensation dial and combines shutter speed and ISO into a single (arguably still unnecessary) dial, reducing the amount of bulk on the right hand side of the body. Again, there’s no top-plate mounted status screen either.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

Of the two XT-style concepts, this is my personal favorite. The narrower body and simple control layout, with such a large grip is lovely to handle.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

Finally, a glimpse at what the eventual GFX 50R could have been. This is an early concept mockup for a rangefinder-style GFX, but minus the viewfinder. As such, the ‘SP-X’ actually resembles a cross between the X-Pro 2 and the X70 and XF10 compacts.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

From the rear, the angular SP-X looks fairly familiar – sub-dial ISO control notwithstanding – but with this concept, Fujifilm’s design team wanted to experiment with a rear screen that truly blended in to the back of the camera. You can’t really tell in this shot, but…

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

…the screen is designed so that when the camera is held in a shooting position, it reversed against the camera.

A closer look at Fujifilm’s medium format GFX concepts

To use the screen, it must be folded out, which suits waist-level shooting and image review (but in this position, not much more than that). It’s not clear whether Fujifilm envisaged a more complex reversing hinge for the final design, but either way – this is definitely the most conceptual of the concepts. Still though, put put an EVF in there and I might be interested.

What do you think? As always, let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Panasonic announces new Lumix ZS80 (TZ95) compact, FZ1000 II superzoom camera

19 Feb

Panasonic has announced it’s adding two new zoom cameras to its Lumix lineup: the Lumix ZS80 (TZ95 outside of North America) compact camera and the Lumix FZ1000 II superzoom camera.

Lumix ZS80/TZ95

First up is the Lumix Z80, the latest camera in Panasonic’s travel zoom series. At the heart of the ZS80 is a 20.3-megapixel 1/2.3-inch sensor. Beyond stills, the ZS80 can capture 4K/30p video. In front of the sensor is an optically stabilized 24mm (35mm equivalent) Leica lens with 30x optical zoom, giving it a maximum focal length of 720mm (35mm equivalent).

The ZS80 can capture Raw photos and features a maximum burst rate of 10 frames per second (fps). On the rear of the camera is a three-inch 1040K-dot tilting touchscreen and a 2,330K-dot equivalent Live View Finder (LVF).

Panasonic’s signature 4K Photo mode makes an appearance in the ZS80 and adds a new Auto Marking feature that makes it easy to pick out individual frames within a 4K video file.

TheZS80 includes both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for connecting to and transferring images to smartphones or tablets and tagging the GPS location information within images.

Panasonic says theZS80 can capture approximately 380 shots per charge and in the event the battery does die, USB charging is possible.

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The Panasonic Lumix ZS80/TZ95 will be available at the end of April 2019 in black and silver for $ 449 / £399 / €449.

Lumix FZ1000

The new Lumix FZ1000 II features a 1-inch 20.1-megapixel sensor behind a 16x optical zoom Leica lens with a 25-400mm (35mm equivalent) focal length range and F2.8-4.0 aperture range. The lens features Panasonic’s 5-axis hybrid Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.+) with a Level Shot function that automatically detects horizontal lines within an image and keeps it level while shooting.

In addition to stills at up to 12 fps, the FZ1000 II can capture 4K/30p video in the MP4 format at 100Mbps with the option for 120 fps recording at 1080p. Like the TZ95, the FZ1000 II features Panasonic’s 4K Photo mode with the new Auto Marking feature.

The rear of the camera features an articulating three-inch 1.24M-dot touchscreen as well as an OLED 0.39-inch 2.36M-dot EVF.

The FZ1000 II includes built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for wireless connection to mobile devices. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is rated for 440 shots per charge when working with the rear LCD and 290 shots when using the EVF (430 shots per charge when using the EVF in the ‘eco’ setting, which limited it to 30 fps).

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The Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II will be available at the end of March 2019 for $ 899 / £769 / €849.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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