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Posts Tagged ‘2017’

Canon and Sony dominate Lensrentals’ most rented gear of 2017 list

28 Dec

Lensrentals has released its most rented gear of 2017 list, and the results are very interesting. You can check out the full list here, but we thought we’d point out the three things that immediately caught our eye.

1. Sony’s claim that it’s beaten Nikon to take the #2 position in sales of full-frame interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs) is backed up by the rental data. According to Lensrentals, for the first year ever, Sony has out-rented Nikon and “is slowly closing the gap to Canon.”

2. That said, Sony’s top renting piece of gear—the Sony a7S II—only reached the number five spot behind four Canon products; the Canon 24-70mm F2.8L II, Canon 70-200 F2.8L IS II, Canon EOS 5D Mark III, and Canon EOS 5D Mark IV took the numbers one, two, three, and four spots, respectively. Canon may not have released anything overly exciting this year, but there’s no doubt it’s still the best-selling camera brand in the world.

3. Finally, the last bit that caught our eye is that a battery—Sony’s NP-FW50, which was recently replaced the the NP-FZ100 that our own Richard Butler loves so much—took the number 6 spot, beating out some seriously popular gear like the Canon 50mm F1.2L and Canon 6D. This just foes to show: upgrading the Sony a9 and a7RIII to the much bigger FZ100 battery was an absolute necessity.

To see the full list and breakdown, or dive into a few other categories like last year’s most-rented list or the most popular new equipment rented in 2017, head over to the Lensrentals blog.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Most Popular Post-Processing Articles of 2017

28 Dec

If you’ve been reading over the last couple of days you may have seen these already:

  • The Best Landscape Articles on dPS in 2017
  • Top Portrait Photography Tips of the Year on dPS in 2017

Next up in this summary is post-processing.

Most Popular Post-Processing Articles of 2017

    1. 5 Common Post-Processing Mistakes to Avoid
    2. A Step by Step Guide to Processing Portraits in Lightroom
    3. Basic Portrait Post-Processing Workflow Tips to Help You Save Time and Stay Organized
    4. Don’t Fear Photo Post-Processing – Shooting is Only the First Part of the Image Creation Process
    5. How to Match Your Image Processing Using Reference View in Lightroom
    6. 4 Tips for Post-Processing Images on the Road
    7. Overview of the Intuos Pro Wacom Tablet and the MobileStudio Pro for Post-Processing
    8. How to Choose the Right Monitor for Photo Editing
    9. Overview of Photo Studio Ultimate 2018 for Windows by ACDSee
    10. Image Editing Software Review: PortraitPro 15
    11. How to Speed Up Your Photo Editing with the Right Lightroom Workflow
    12. How to do Non-Destructive Editing in Photoshop
    13. How to Merge and Combine Images in Photoshop
    14. How to Remove People from Your Photos Using Photoshop
    15. How to Create a Rim Light Effect Using Photoshop
    16. The dPS Ultimate Guide to Getting Started in Lightroom for Beginners
    17. Tips for How to Think and Use Lightroom More Artistically
    18. How to Understand the Lightroom Tone Curve
    19. 3 Handy Lightroom Features I Discovered by Accident
    20. Review of Macphun’s Aurora HDR 2018
    21. How to use Macphun’s Luminar for Beginners
    22. Luminar The Ultimate Lightroom Plugin

Whew, that is a lot, but it’s a big category with lots of options now available to you for processing your images.

Can you help us with a quick poll? Since there are so many new photo editing software options – please fill in any that you are using below. It will give us a better idea of what to cover in the upcoming year! Thanks for your assistance and for reading.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

The post Most Popular Post-Processing Articles of 2017 by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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2017 in review: a look back at August

28 Dec
This may not be your favorite photo from August, 2017, but it’s mine. A scene in which five Richard Butlers debate the merits of five Fujifilm X100’s in a conference room.

We were really busy in August. Not only were there important announcements, but it was also nearing the end of the sunny season in Seattle – and even that late into the summer, we were out taking photos all the time, from sunup (around 6am) to sundown (around 9pm).

Without a doubt, the announcement of the month was Nikon’s D850. With 45.7 million pixels, revamped ergonomics, really good 4K video and up to 9fps burst speeds with the battery grip, the D850 is an astoundingly good camera. Yes, it’s big. But so is its full-frame sensor. If you like an optical viewfinder, it really is the camera to own for just about any type of photography.

Sony’s RX0 large-sensor action camera cruised onto the market, and we got our hands on Ricoh’s new Theta V

On the opposite end of the size spectrum, Sandisk introduced a MicroSD card with 400GB of capacity – never has it been so easy to lose so many photos at once between the couch cushions. Nonetheless, the 100MB/s speed is solid, and the card gives suitably equipped smartphone users a valuable option for maximizing their phone’s storage capacity.

Sony’s Cyber-shot RX0 large-sensor action camera cruised onto the market, and we got our hands on Ricoh’s new Theta V. Olympus brought out the OM-D E-M10 Mark III, which we were big fans of for its combination of beginner-friendly guides, as well as enthusiast-friendly ergonomics. Canon had a good month as well, releasing the Gold-winning EOS M100 and a new stabilized EF 85mm F1.4L lens.

And, just in case you’ve missed it, Richard penned an opinion piece on how marketing isn’t a dirty word, which is the excuse reason for the image at the top of the page.


Portrait shootout: Sony a9, Canon 1D X II, Nikon D5

After watching this video ourselves, we still don’t agree on which of these cameras is the best. What do you think?

We had an eclipse

This is highly un-recommended.

This year included a total solar eclipse visible across parts of the USA, unfortunately not including Seattle. We did, however, get a partial eclipse, and we took plenty of photos of both the sun and the strange things that those around us were also doing.

Click here to see our Eclipse coverage

The upscale yet entry-level OM-D E-M10 III

Olympus really impressed us with the OM-D E-M10 III. This is an entry-level camera with a reasonable price, super-stable 4K video, great image quality, and tons of controls. It’s a great option for beginners and advanced users alike.

Check out our launch coverage of the E – M10 III

World Photo Day

To mark World Photo Day in August we wanted to show off some of our favorite images.

See our World Photo Day slideshow

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Top Portrait Photography Tips of the Year on dPS in 2017

27 Dec

This week on dPS we’re featuring some of the top articles in different categories that were published on the site over the last year, 2017. Yesterday was the Best Landscape Articles on dPS in 2017, and this one is all about the best portrait tips of the year.

Here are the top 18 portrait tip articles:

  1. How to Create Portraits with a Black Background
  2. How to Make a Low Key Portrait Step by Step
  3. How to Make Beautiful Portraits Using Flash and High-Speed Sync
  4. How to Create a Dark and Moody Rembrandt-Style Portrait In Lightroom
  5. 4 Beginner Tips for Creating Dramatic Portraits with One Flash
  6. How to Pose People for Group Portraits
  7. Tips for Making Natural Light Portraits
  8. How to Create Good Black and White Portraits
  9. 5 Tips for Creating Romantic Portraits of Couples
  10. 8 Tips for Mastering Your Portrait Photography
  11. Six Ways to Capture the True Character of a Subject in Portraits
  12. A Quick Exercise to Help You Take Better Self-Portraits
  13. How to Create and Shoot Night Portraits
  14. 6 Tips for Posing Hands in Wedding and Portrait Photography
  15. 5 Reasons to Use Lightroom for Portrait Retouching
  16. Basic Portrait Post-Processing Workflow Tips to Help You Save Time and Stay Organized
  17. 5 More Tips for Making Better Black and White Portraits
  18. 3 Tips for Taking Portraits with a Kit Lens

Tomorrow, look for the most popular articles on post-processing in 2017.

The post Top Portrait Photography Tips of the Year on dPS in 2017 by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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2017 in review: a look back at July

27 Dec

July is traditionally a slow month for product announcements, and this year, the only new camera to be released was the Leica TL2. The TL2 has a higher resolution sensor, more power under the hood and a refined design. Nikon released a new 70-300mm lens and also teased its D850 full-framer, which was officially announced to great fanfare at the end of August.

There were some cool non-announcements in July, as well. A Sony a7S II beamed down 4K video from the International Space Station (which can now be explored using Google Street View), Adobe leaked what would later become the ‘new’ Lightroom CC and a NASA study pointed out the obvious: that noise from drones is worse than that of cars. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so cool after all.

The sun finally came out in the Seattle area in July, so it was time for us to hit the streets and take some photos

The sun finally came out in the Seattle area in July, so it was time for us to hit the streets and take some photos with the latest and greatest lenses. On the ultra-wide side of the spectrum we shot with the Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5, Sigma 14mm F1.8 and Panasonic’s 12-60mm F2.8-4 lenses. Our own Carey Rose also shared his experiences using the Panasonic Leica 15mm F1.7 Micro Four Thirds lens. We also took some shots with the very impressive Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 as well as the Tamron 18-400 F3.5-6.3 and medium format Fujifilm 110mm F2.

We managed to squeeze in a few reviews as well, including those for Nikon’s excellent D7500 and Fujifilm’s slightly more pedestrian X-A3. We also took a look at Fujifilm’s Instax Square instant printer, and Carey professed his love for the Olympus TG-5 rugged camera. We also took a closer look at dynamic range measurements from Canon’s EOS 6D Mark II, and Dan made mojitos.

See all July 2017 content


Nikon announces development of D850

One of the most anticipated cameras of the last year (or more) is a replacement to the Nikon D810. In July the company said that the D850 was coming and that it could capture 8K time-lapses, but that was it until the official reveal the following month.

Read full article

Nikon and Sony patent lenses for curved sensors

Nikon and Sony revealed patents on the very same day, both for possible future lens designs built for curved sensors. Only time will tell whether or not they turn into real products, but in the meantime they certainly sound very interesting. Sony’s design covers a monster 400mm F2.8 medium format lens, while Nikon’s patent describes a more modest 35mm F2.

Read more about Nikon patent

Read more about Sony patent

TSA requiring passengers to remove cameras from bags

Photo by Ralf Roletschek

The days of keeping your camera in your carry-on bag may be over in the US, as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is requiring passengers in standard security lines to put anything bigger than a smartphone into a separate bin. Those with PreCheck status are not affected by the change.

Read full article

Shooting stars with the Sigma 14mm F1.8 Art

Photographer Jose Francisco Salgado took Sigma’s new 14mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens to the Badlands of South Dakota to shoot the stars. The results are pretty stunning.

View the gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Best Landscape Articles on dPS in 2017

26 Dec

We hope you are enjoying your holiday week and have some time off work to get out and do some shooting.

In this first installment of our annual roundup of the best of the year on dPS, here are the top 18 landscape articles that we published in 2017.

  1. 6 of the Best Smartphone Apps for Travel and Landscape Photography
  2. The dPS Ultimate Guide to Landscape Photography
  3. How to Use Neutral Density Filters to Make Better Landscape Photos
  4. 6 Ideas for More Creative Landscape Photography
  5. 5 Composition Tips for Landscape Photography
  6. 8 Tips For Doing Stunning Urban Landscape Photography
  7. How to Use Graduated Neutral Density Filters for Landscape Photography
  8. 5 Hacks and Tricks to up your Landscape Photography Game
  9. How to Use Juxtaposition for More Compelling Landscape Photography
  10. How a Short Versus Long Exposure Will Affect Your Landscape Images
  11. 5 Ways to Create Better Landscape Photos
  12. 7 Tips for Urban Landscape Photography
  13. How to Create Glass Ball Landscapes – 6 Techniques
  14. How to Plan and Prepare for Landscape Photography
  15. How to Find the Best Locations for Landscape Photography
  16. Landscape Photography: All About the Light
  17. Video: 10 Hot Tips for Better Landscape Photography
  18. How to Shoot and Stitch a Panorama Photo

Watch for more “Best of dPS” articles tomorrow.

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2017 in review: a look back at June

26 Dec
Those sweet, sweet rays. Photo by Dan Bracaglia with the Nikon D7500.

As most summer months are, June was relatively quiet in the camera business. Like many photographers, we were outside trying to make good use of all that daylight, shooting festivals and trying to drown rugged cameras in lakes. But that’s not to say there was no news at all – remember the viral photo of that guy mowing his lawn in front of the tornado? Or the Swiss village with the genius PR stunt? And how could we forget the Canon lens cut in half by a 60,000 PSI water jet?

June marked the 20th anniversary of the first ever photo shared from a phone, and the 10th anniversary of the iPhone

June was also a month of mobile tech milestones. It marked the 20th anniversary of the first ever photo shared from a phone, and the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. Thanks to these innovations, we can share photos with friends halfway around the world in an instant, and tease our pets with treats while we rake in the likes.

Toward the very end of the month we were treated to two new DSLRs from Canon – a much-awaited 6D replacement and the small-but-mighty Rebel SL2.

See all June content


Canon announces EOS 6D Mark II

Just shy of its fifth birthday, the Canon EOS 6D was ripe for replacement. Just prior to its announcement, we got the chance to put it to work photographing some of the most stunning landscapes in the US.

See our Canon EOS 6D Mark II
pre-production gallery

Canon also announces Rebel SL2

Canon’s ultra-portable Rebel got an update in the form of the SL2. This refresh brought a 24MP sensor, and swapped the SL1’s fixed touchscreen for a fully-articulated version. The camera’s diminutive size remained unchanged.

Take a closer look at the Canon Rebel SL2

Sony a9 gets in-depth review

It may have been a quiet month but we certainly weren’t resting on our laurels – we published a full review of the Sony a9. Quite simply, the a9 redefined what we can expect a mirrorless camera to be.

Read our Sony a9 review

Tornado man gives 2017 its perfect visual metaphor

This man was all of us, in 2017.

Read the full story

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Happy Holidays 2017

25 Dec

Happy holidays from the team at dPS! It’s Christmas day already in Australia where most of the management team is based, and we’d like to wish you the happiest of days from all of us.

Thank you for being a regular reader and fan of dPS and for helping to provide photography articles and tutorials for you and other photography enthusiasts. However you and your loved ones celebrate this holiday season, we hope you have a good one.

Cheers!

The post Happy Holidays 2017 by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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2017 in review: a look back at May

24 Dec
Well it was either this or the Kathy Griffin severed Trump head photo… Boeing’s 737 Max 9 went up for its first flight in May, and we were there. With our cameras. Because planes are cool.

Thinking back to May we struggled to recall anything much happening, but once we actually went back through the archives and looked, it turns out that May was a pretty busy month. Sony and Nikon released a brace of excellent new lenses, and as rumors of a forthcoming ‘D820’ started to swirl, Nikon announced an ominous-sounding ‘reshuffle’.

Meanwhile Photokina declared that it was ‘repositioning’ to become an annual show, and Panono – maker of one of our favorite 360-degree cameras – announced bankruptcy. At the other end of the solar system, NASA’s Juno probe sent back the first images of Jupiter’s pole.

May was also the month that a huge chunk of California’s Big Sur area slipped into the Pacific (here are the pictures to prove it), President Trump let a Russian press photographer into a closed briefing in the White House, and comedienne Kathy Griffin got in trouble for a photoshoot where she was pictured holding his (fake, obviously) severed head. Trump’s head – not the photographer’s. He probably runs the FSB by now (the photographer – not Trump).

A museum in the Netherlands put on an exhibition of 19th Centry photography pioneer Anna Atkins’ cyanotypes

Speaking of The Swamp, a museum in the Netherlands put on an exhibition of 19th Century photography pioneer Anna Atkins’ cyanotypes, documenting rare varieties of British algae. They’re prettier than you might think.

At DPReview, we weren’t pretending to behead anyone – we were busy reviewing the Sigma Quattro H and nerding out over the first flight of the new Boeing 737 Max 9*.

Tomorrow – June!

* The first flight actually happened in April, but it took us a while to go through all the images in Lightroom and we were really busy doing other things and our dog got sick so we had to take it to the vet and we couldn’t find our keys.


Nikon releases 28mm F1.4, 8-15mm fisheye and DX 10-20mm

Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 28mm F1.4, released in May, is an excellent fast-aperture wideangle prime lens for FX and DX-format DSLRs.

Nikon release three new but very different lenses in May. The AF-S NIKKOR 28mm f/1.4E ED is a high-quality wideangle prime for full-frame, which offers excellent sharpness and a very bright maximum aperture. The AF-P DX NIKKOR 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6G VR sits at the other end of the scale, and offers an effective focal length range of 15-30mm on Nikon’s APS-C format DSLRs. Meanwhile, the AF-S Fisheye NIKKOR 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED is even wider – and a lot of fun.

Read more about Nikon’s latest lenses

Sony unveils FE 12-24mm F4 G and 16-35mm F2.8 GM

Sony’s new FE 12-24mm – an affordable and extremely high-quality ultrawide zoom for Sony’s full-frame a7 and a9-series cameras.

Sony put a lot of energy into updating and expanding its full-frame lens lineup in 2017, and May saw two major releases. We’re big fans of both the FE 12-24mm F4 G and 16-35mm F2.8 GM, which have proved themselves to be excellent performers on Sony’s a9 and a7-series mirrorless cameras.

Read more about Sony’s FE wideangle zooms

New images of Jupiter’s pole show enormous, gorgeous storms

Jupiter is pretty. Some day we hope to visit this place.

Since 2011, NASA’s Juno probe has been steadily, quietly, and without any fuss been making its lonely way to Jupiter. It entered Jovian orbit in 2016, and in May it sent back the first high-resolution color images of the massive storm raging at the planet’s poles. Isn’t science beautiful?

Take a detailed look at the storms on Jupiter

Rare collection of algae cyanotypes goes on display

Yep. Algae.

Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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2017 in review: a look back at April

23 Dec

Ahh, April: the beginning of Spring. The sun starts to come out after a long winter, flowers are blooming and bears come out of hibernation. Who am I kidding, this is Seattle – winter ends in July.

April was a pretty busy month for camera announcements, including some real blockbusters. First out of the gate was the Nikon D7500, the company’s midrange APS-C digital SLR and in many ways a mini D500. We created a ton of content around that launch, including comparisons against the D7200 and aforementioned D500.

Probably the most significant launch in April was Sony’s a9, which was a tour-de-force of new technology when it was announced. With its full-frame, 24MP stacked CMOS sensor and hybrid AF system, the a9 is capable of lengthy 20 fps bursts with continuous autofocus. The a9 also has in-body image stabilization, a huge, high-res viewfinder, dual media card slots and a weather-sealed body. We took a close look at many aspects of the a9, including its image quality and AF performance, and how much it would cost a photographer to switch to Sony’s full-frame system.

The most significant launch in April was Sony’s a9, which was a tour-de-force of new technology when it was announced.

There were a ton of lenses announced in April as well, ranging from Micro Four Thirds to medium format. Some of the more interesting lenses include the Panasonic Leica 8-18mm F2.8-4 super-wide, the Sony FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM, Fujifilm’s medium format 23mm and 110mm lenses and Canon’s EF-S 35mm F2.8 Macro, which has a built-in ring light.

We published a number of reviews in April, including those for the medium format Fujifilm GFX 50S, Panasonic’s video-centric DC-GH5 and Canon’s ‘high-end entry-level’ EOS 77D.

The DPR staff managed to get out of the office once or twice, including for a field trip to the University of Washington to photograph the famous cherry blossoms.

Come back tomorrow to see what happened in May!

Click here to see all April 2017 content


Sony announces a9 full-frame mirrorless camera

Sony went ‘all in’ with its flagship full-frame mirrorless camera, the a9. Highlights include a 24MP stacked CMOS sensor, a 693-point hybrid AF system, in-body 5-axis image stabilization, 4K video and much, much more.

View our Sony a9 launch coverage

Drone sales doubled in 2016

Photo by Halftermeyer

Features like autopilot and follow-you modes helped double drone sales in 2016, according to NPD. While entry and midrange models were projected to continue to drive the market in 2017, NPD says that new form factors and technology will keep the premium models selling, as well.

Read the full article

Midrange Nikon D7500 DSLR arrives

Those who had been waiting for a replacement to the venerable Nikon D7200 need wait no longer: the D7500 is here. This $ 1250 DSLR features the same 20.9MP sensor and Expeed 5 image processor as the D500, a tilting touchscreen display, 8 fps burst shooting and 4K video capture.

View our complete Nikon D7500 coverage

National Parks Service shows us America from space

National Parks Week took place back in April, and the National Park Service worked with NASA to capture some of America’s most beautiful spots from space.

Read the
full article

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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