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Tips for Buying Used Camera Gear

05 Feb

The post Tips for Buying Used Camera Gear appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Tom Mason.

tips for buying used camera gear

If you’re shopping on a budget, then buying used camera gear is a great idea.

Modern digital cameras are updated on a regular basis, so the used market is full of cameras looking for a new home. Used cameras are a great way to upgrade your gear without breaking the bank (and they often offer fantastic value for the money, too).

But when looking at secondhand gear, not all of it will be up to scratch. Not everyone cares for their gear, so you must exercise consideration and caution.

Below are some pointers to make sure you get the best bang for your buck when buying used gear. That way, you can update your cameras, lenses, and accessories for a fraction of the original price!

buying used camera gear tips

Buying used cameras

Cameras are complex machines, so there are a few key indicators to look for when shopping for a secondhand body.

Shutter count

The shutter count of a camera is simply the number of times the shutter has been fired in its lifetime.

(The shutter count is also known as the number of shutter actuations.)

Generally, the shutter count will give you a great indication of the amount of use a camera has seen, similar to checking the mileage on a car. Cameras are rated for shutter durability, with enthusiast models often rated around the 150,000-shot mark, and professional models rated at 300,000 shots or higher.

When browsing, low shutter counts often indicate less heavily-used items. Fewer than 10,000 shots on a camera that is 2-5 years old is very low, with the normal amount being around 30,000-50,000.

If a camera has a very high count of 100,000 or more, it’s probably best avoided, especially because this number will also give you a little insight into the owner’s use of the camera. Higher-count cameras may have seen professional use (and a harder life), while lower counts indicate casual consumer use.

So how do you find out a camera’s shutter count?

The number is often provided when cameras are being sold secondhand. But if you’re not sure, you can find it out a few ways, depending on the model. Check out this article for guidance: Finding Your Camera’s Current Shutter Actuations.

Camera checks

When looking at a used camera, there are a few things you can check to get a better understanding of its condition.

First, remove the body cap and inspect the inside of the camera around the mirror, focusing screen, and lens contacts. Look for any signs of damage, oil, or gunk that has collected in these areas.

Inspect inside of body used camera gear
Inspect inside the camera, paying special attention to the mirror and focusing screen; look for any sign of oil or residue.

Oil can indicate that the mechanisms of the internal parts are not functioning correctly, sometimes due to the camera being bumped or dropped. Look for any oil around the sides of the internal section. A small flashlight can be a big help here.

Remember to hold the camera face-down as much as possible to reduce the risk of contamination from dust and dirt.

Hold downward used camera gear
When inspecting a camera, try to hold it face down.

If you have a lens on hand, it’s worth taking a test shot to look for any issues with the sensor.

Set the camera to f/16 to f/22, point it at a bright subject (a white wall or the sky), and shoot a frame. Play the image back and zoom in on the LCD screen to look for any marks and scratches.

Dust spots are not a huge problem, as a simple sensor clean can take care of them. But lines can be evidence of a scratch on the sensor (which means that the camera is best avoided).

example of sensor test shot
What to look for in the test shot.

General wear and tear

Of course, it’s also important to look for any external signs of damage. Small scratches, scuffs, and marks should be expected, but heavy blemishes can indicate that the camera has been dropped. Rubber grips often start to come off with heavy use, but these can be replaced at a low cost.

Body outside used camera gear
Outside grips often become worn and unglued. As long as there are no signs of a drop, these are a simple and cheap fix.
Check LCD used camera gear
Remove any protective screens or filters to look at the true body and lens in order to assess the damage.
Inspect external body when buying used camera gear
Look externally for any signs of bumps and scrapes. Often, cameras will have a few marks, but major dents may be evidence that the camera has been dropped.

Buying used lenses

Camera lenses are expensive, so secondhand options are a great alternative to buying new.

Once again, however, there are a few things to look for when making a purchase.

Lens blemishes

When inspecting a lens, you’ll want to check both the external and internal optics.

Externally, look for any scratches or chips on the glass. Tilting the lens toward the light can help you make sure the optics are in great condition.

Note that, even if a lens has a front filter, it may not be optically perfect. So unscrew the filter and check the true front element to be sure.

Lens wear tear used camera gear

Often, lenses will show signs of wear on their focus or zoom ring and the external barrel. Simple rubbing is normal and isn’t usually a concern.

Moving on, inspect internally for dust and mold. Shine a small light inside the lens and look for any particles. Most lenses will have small dust spots, but look for any large patches or seemingly smeared areas, as these will indicate whether the lens has any fogging or other internal issues.

Check lens optics when buying used camera gear
Look through the optics to ensure they are clear of dust and mold.
Dust lens used
Heavy dust and mold in a lens are to be avoided. The hundreds of particles inside this lens offer a perfect example of what not to buy.
Inspect the inside of the lens when buying used camera gear
Using a small flashlight, inspect inside the lens, paying particular attention to the aperture blades. Any evidence of oil may indicate the lens is functioning less than perfectly.

Aperture blades

On the rear of the lens, you’ll find a small lever that you can push to open the aperture blades. Do this, and check if the blades are snappy and without any stickiness that could be a sign of collected oil.

Check aperture
Using the lever, you can manually operate the aperture for a better sense of the lens’s functionality. Check that the aperture blades are snappy when they open and close.

Look through the lens with the iris fully open, once again checking for any particles or oil spots.

Open aperture of the lens
Open up the lens’s aperture to aid inspection.

Sharpness

Check the lens sharpness using a test chart. These patterned charts are easy to find online, and they can be stuck on a wall and used to quickly evaluate a lens.

Here’s how it works:

Mount the lens on a camera, then put the camera on a tripod. Focus on the test chart, then fire the camera using a remote release or the self-timer (to make sure you don’t create any camera shake).

Check the shots on your camera LCD (or, if you can, on the computer). Zoom into 100% to be sure of focus. Of course, some cameras and lenses will need fine in-camera adjustments for perfection, but any wildly unsharp tests may indicate a lens has been dropped or is out of alignment.

It’s also a good idea to test the full aperture range and look for sharpness from edge to edge. Even at f/2.8, the center of your test image should be relatively sharp.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to look for any external marks or blemishes when performing these tests, turning the focus and zoom rings to check for any stickiness or grating sounds.

With those checks done, you’ll have a good indication of whether the lens is up to scratch (and worth purchasing!).

lens test target
Here’s a lens sharpness target. You should use a large version of this type of chart to test a potential purchase.

Where to purchase used camera gear

If you’re struggling to find high-quality used camera gear, here are a few suggestions:

Camera shops

Lots of camera retailers offer some secondhand stock as well as new cameras. Buying from a dealer has its advantages, because items are often checked before being added to the inventory, plus they’re often serviced before they’re sold.

Also, most dealers will have a return policy, so if you find any faults, you can exchange the used gear for a full refund. Many of the better dealers offer warranties on used gear that range from three months to a year, which will give you excellent peace of mind when purchasing.

Of course, one of the downsides of buying from a dealer is the increased price. Used kit bought from outlets often costs more than gear bought from private sellers – so you must decide if it’s worth that added peace of mind!

Ebay and private sellers

Purchasing from private sellers directly offers the best chance to find a bargain. Some people sell their gear at far below the market value. If you know what to look for, and are confident about the quality and genuine nature of the sale, you can often get an excellent deal.

It pays to be wary when shopping for used camera gear, though. Be suspicious of any deal that looks too good to be true, or of buyers who will only accept cash in person. Using PayPal or PayPal alternatives offers an additional layer of protection (one that’s very important in online sales).

Of course, private sellers generally won’t offer a warranty, but that is a risk you take to get a bargain.

Buying used camera gear: Conclusion

Buying used camera gear is all about taking your time to search out a bargain. Carefully study the used gear you’re considering, whether it’s from a dealer or a private seller, and look out for the telltale signs of damage.

Assuming you use careful consideration and do a thorough inspection before buying, the used market is a fantastic way to trade up your gear at a fraction of the cost of buying new.

And this, in turn, gives you money to buy additional kit – or even better, a trip or two on which you can use it!

Now over to you:

Have you ever bought used camera gear? What was the experience like? Share your thoughts, as well as any tips or tricks for purchasing used gear, in the comments below!

The post Tips for Buying Used Camera Gear appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Tom Mason.


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Canon unveils AI-powered automatic camera, the PowerShot PICK

01 Feb

Canon has launched a campaign on the Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake for an AI-powered camera, the PowerShot PICK. The campaign has proven to be highly successful, attracting nearly ¥100,000,000 in support. The goal was ¥1,000,000.

The experimental PowerShot PICK camera can analyze a scene, identify people, track their faces and then, using artificial intelligence, determine the ideal moment to capture a photo. In a rough translation, Canon refers to the PICK as an ‘automatic shooting camera.’ The PowerShot PICK combines Canon’s optical, video processing, and artificial intelligence technology.

In terms of design, the PowerShot PICK is a compact, modern-looking device. It has been designed to blend in, while Canon has also considered ways to give the PICK some character. You can also take the PICK with you when you leave the house, such as when going to a family gathering or an event. You can place the PICK on a tripod as well, and Canon is offering special Velbon tripods as part of the campaign.

The PowerShot PICK uses a 1/2.3-inch 12MP CMOS image sensor. The sensor is paired with a 19-57mm equivalent zoom lens with a maximum aperture of F2.8. The PICK includes built-in image stabilization. The PICK pans 170° in both directions and can tilt 110°. The PICK records to a microSD card and weighs a mere 170g. As you can see in the video above, the PICK is small, with a height of about 3.5″ (90mm) tall.

The Canon PowerShot PICK is a compact device. It has a 360° field of view and incorporates a 12MP image sensor. Image credit: Canon on Masuake

While the PICK is designed to take photos automatically in the background, which Canon believes will result in more authentic images and better mementos, the PowerShot PICK can also be manually controlled using keywords. A user says, ‘Hello PICK,’ followed by commands to take a photo, record video, change subjects and stop capturing.

The PICK will launch alongside a dedicated smartphone app, allowing you to view and share photos and videos captured by PICK. The app automatically recommends the best photos, although you can view all images.

The setup process promises to be easy. After pairing with your smartphone, which is required, you simply power on PICK and place it somewhere, depending on the situation. You could place it on a table at the center of a family meal, on a tripod near an event, on a bookshelf, etc. As mentioned, although PICK can operate automatically, it can be controlled using voice or by using the smartphone app.

The Canon PowerShot PICK is currently available only to backers on Makuake. The price for the PICK works out to just under $ 400. Given the campaign’s success, the only remaining units are for the PICK and charging cable. The tripod bundle has sold out. Canon intends to ship the PICK to backers this July. Canon hasn’t announced global or public release plans, so it’s unclear if the PowerShot PICK will be available outside of Japan. You can learn more about the PowerShot PICK by visiting Makuake.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Adobe Camera Raw vs. Sony Imaging Edge Desktop: Which is your best bet?

31 Jan

For most photographers, the digital darkroom is based around payware or subscription software from the likes of Adobe, Capture One, DxO or one of their many rivals. But if you’re a Sony shooter, there’s an option which is available entirely free of charge along with your camera purchase: Sony Imaging Edge Desktop.*

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop version 3.0’s user interface.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how Imaging Edge Desktop compares with the 800-pound gorilla in the room, Adobe Camera Raw, whose algorithms also underpin the company’s popular Lightroom Classic application. As with previous articles in this series, I’m limiting myself only to still image editing in the interests of keeping things to a readable length, and won’t address features like image management, tethering or printing.

*Sony does include a version of Capture One, called ‘Express,’ with camera purchases, which we’ll investigate in a future article.

The ground rules

This comparison is based upon the most recent versions of each application at the time of writing. For Adobe, that’s Camera Raw 13.0 and Bridge 11.0. For Sony, it’s Imaging Edge Desktop 3.0. My computer is a 2018 Dell XPS 15 9570 laptop running Windows 10 version 1909.

To ensure neither Adobe nor Sony had any advantage out of the gate, I’ve aimed to reproduce, as closely as possible, the look of already-processed images from our galleries, without any prior knowledge as to the recipes behind them.

Adobe Camera Raw version 13.0’s user interface.

I’ve chosen images from the Sony A7 III (ILCE-7M3) for use in this comparison, as its been available for long enough for Adobe to fine-tune its rendering, while its price tag and resolution are broadly similar to those of the Canon EOS R and Nikon Z6 used in my previous manufacturer software comparisons.

Sharpness and noise reduction were left at their default settings to avoid overcomplicating things, while lens corrections were enabled for both applications. Images processed in ACR were saved at JPEG quality 11, just as used in our galleries. For Imaging Edge Desktop, which offers a choice of just four different compression levels, I used the maximum quality.

The main differences

Of course, the most immediately obvious differences between ACR and Sony’s Imaging Edge are their camera support and price tag. You already paid for Imaging Edge when you bought your Sony camera, so it’s effectively free. While it only supports Raws shot by the company’s own cameras, you can expect full Raw support for every Sony camera to be available pretty much immediately upon release.

Imaging Edge’s shadow and highlight sliders don’t give you as much latitude as the same sliders in Adobe Camera Raw, so shadows can only be lifted so far – even with D-Range Optimizer enabled.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

By contrast, ACR requires a recurring subscription fee. It supports a vast range of cameras from many manufacturers – including every single interchangeable-lens or large-sensor Sony camera made to date – but that support can sometimes take a while to arrive after the release of new models. It’s also sometimes more limited than that in first-party software, especially for older models.

For example, while Adobe offers ‘camera matching’ profiles for most recent Sony cameras, it’s not yet available for the recently-launched A7C. Nor has it been provided for any Translucent Mirror model made before 2014, or any Sony DSLR model at all.

A clean, modern interface with good multi-monitor support

Imaging Edge Desktop offers a twist on a modal interface. The initial install is merely a launcher which in turn installs and then launches separate viewer, editor and tethering apps. These can run separately or simultaneously, and can span multiple monitors. The editor app can’t browse entire folders of images, but you can open individual shots directly from within and stay out of the viewer app entirely, should you choose. Web help is available through the menu system, but it’s quite abbreviated.

We’ve found that Imaging Edge uses a bit stronger noise reduction by default, though in some cases its finer-radius sharpening will tease out the finest details a bit better; but ACR has a ‘punchier’ look.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

The user interface is really quite straightforward and very clean, although it does involve a lot of scrolling. Buttons in Imaging Edge and the individual apps launch the other apps, and the editor sports a single scrollable toolbar whose 14 sections can be rearranged or hidden. Thumbnails of currently-opened images line the bottom of the screen, but they’re tiny and not terribly useful even at Full HD resolution, and lots of space is wasted on the filenames. Nor can you move them to the side of the screen, unfortunately.

Unlike most rivals, Imaging Edge doesn’t treat your Raw files as sacrosanct

Sliders move smoothly, but some control names are a bit unintuitive like “overshoot” / “undershoot” for the sharpness control, or “magnification chromatic aberration correction”, neither of which are explained in help. There are also no automatic controls other than those for white balance, dynamic range and noise reduction.

A risky data strategy and not the best standards compliance

Sadly, while Imaging Edge plays nicely with pens and touch screens, it doesn’t support 4K monitors terribly well. Many user interface elements are too small for comfortable use, and Windows’ scaling setting is mostly ignored. Imaging Edge also doesn’t follow Windows keyboard conventions like tabbing between controls, and you can’t customize the keyboard shortcuts at all. And there are some occasional bugs; for example on canceling processing of a brief six-image batch, the program stopped functioning for multiple minutes and had to be force-closed.

Overall, I did find it easier to get more pleasant foliage and sky color out of Imaging Edge than Adobe Camera Raw.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

That’s doubly worrisome because unlike most rivals, Imaging Edge doesn’t treat your Raw files as sacrosanct. Instead of using a database to store its edits, or putting them in sidecar files in the same folder, Sony instead saves them in the headers of the original raw file.

The company has already been bitten by this approach once in the past with a separate application, PlayMemories Home, and in 2018 had to release a tool to correct that app’s corruption of Raw files. To avoid this issue, I recommend using Imaging Edge solely with copies of backed-up images.

Curiously, batch processing is not available in Edit mode, even if you have multiple images open. It’s available only from the Viewer window, and provides fairly limited possibilities for renaming your output images. Imaging Edge also only has a choice of four compression levels, and there’s a huge gap in quality between the highest (~15MB/image) and second-highest (~5MB/image) levels.

Reasonable if pedestrian performance

Compared to ACR, Sony Imaging Edge’s performance is reasonable, but it’s not going to light any fires. Where ACR takes just 12 seconds to process six images, Imaging Edge takes around 21.5 seconds when saving highest-quality JPEGs. Admittedly, dropping the quality level one step reduces this to just a hair under 20 seconds, but it also slashes files sizes by two-thirds.

You can see here how much more highlight detail Adobe Camera Raw is able to save in the windows, though the softer overall tonality of the Imaging Edge version isn’t unpleasant.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

While previews are two-pass, they update fairly quickly, usually within a second or two of releasing the control. This is still nowhere near as quick as Adobe’s near-real time previews, however. And they sometimes don’t update the whole screen at once, with a tile or two of the overall result occasionally needing a few additional seconds to finally fill in.

Very similar controls to ACR, but not all as effective

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop’s editing controls are broadly similar to those on offer in Adobe Camera Raw, including the highlight and shadow sliders that many other apps lack. It also allows display not just of clipped highlights and shadows, but out-of-gamut colors. It foregoes ACR’s texture and vibrance controls, but adds a D-Range Optimizer slider with auto mode.

In many cases, it’s just hard to balance dynamic range and contrast in Imaging Edge.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

D-Range Optimizer does a pretty good job of lifting shadows, but the highlight and shadow sliders are nowhere near as effective as their Adobe equivalents, and the highlight slider in particular didn’t seem capable of recovering much detail at all from blown highlights, even when ACR could do so with ease. I found the best results with more difficult images tended to send me to the curves tool, whereas Adobe could get the results without needing to fiddle with curves.

Sony’s noise reduction is rather more heavy-handed

By default, Imaging Edge uses higher levels of noise reduction than Camera Raw, and Adobe produces crisper results out of the box. With that said, you likely won’t notice the difference unless you’re pixel peeping or making large prints, where Adobe’s NR has a finer-grained look.

Noise reduction levels in both apps can be dialed back from that default. Imaging Edge also offers an “off” setting, but Sony’s app still applies more noise reduction than Adobe’s, even when that’s used. Setting NR to off definitely applies less noise reduction than simply zeroing out the sliders in manual mode, though, especially when it comes to chroma noise.

I found ACR to do a better job with skin tones. Imaging Edge tended a bit towards the magenta, but in turn delivered more convincing skies and foliage than ACR. Of course, you can improve color in either app by fiddling with the sliders, but ACR has an auto mode to get you in the ballpark, whereas Imaging Edge requires you make corrections manually.

Another example where Adobe Camera Raw is able to take advantage of remaining highlight information better than Imaging Edge.
Download the full ACR image here; the full Imaging Edge image here.

Final thoughts

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop looks and feels more modern than some of its rivals from other camera manufacturers, but I still found Adobe Camera Raw more pleasant to use. And Adobe also wins in terms of performance, although Sony certainly doesn’t trail in this respect as badly as some of its rivals.

In terms of image quality, things were rather closer, however. Imaging Edge is capable of delivering good results with most images, although Adobe clearly still has an edge when it comes to recovering blown highlights and blocked-up shadows. And Sony’s highlight slider, in particular, proved rather less effective than I’d hoped.

But if you’re trying to slash your budget to a minimum, Imaging Edge Desktop delivers pretty decent image quality for most shots, and does so with reasonable performance and versatility. There’s definitely money to be saved by switching away from a monthly subscription, especially if you tend to stick with just the basic tweaks and don’t often make major edits to your photos.

Sony Imaging Edge Desktop

Pros Cons
  • Available free with a Sony camera
  • Excellent support for Sony’s cameras from launch day
  • Good foliage and sky color with minimal effort
  • Tames noise well
  • Good lens corrections
  • D-Range Optimizer makes it easy to lift shadows
  • Only supports Sony cameras
  • Doesn’t treat Raw files as sacrosanct
  • UI requires lots of scrolling
  • Doesn’t follow Windows standards
  • Doesn’t support 4K monitors well
  • Minimal help documentation available
  • Highlight / shadow sliders aren’t very effective
  • Skin tones tend towards magenta
  • Denoising robs some fine detail even if switched “off”

Adobe Camera Raw

Pros Cons
  • Clean, clear and modern interface
  • Supports a vast range of cameras from many brands
  • Great performance
  • Allows fine-grained adjustments with accurate real-time preview
  • Great image quality
  • Extracts more fine detail than Imaging Edge with minimal fuss
  • Does a great job with highlights/shadows
  • Recurring subscription fee with no perpetual license option
  • Camera support can take a while to arrive for more obscure features or even fairly big ones like camera matching profiles
  • One-click auto control produces overly contrasty, saturated results
  • Tends to leave more noise in images by default

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Sony Announces the a1, Its Best Mirrorless Camera to Date

29 Jan

The post Sony Announces the a1, Its Best Mirrorless Camera to Date appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Sony a1 announcement

Sony has announced its latest full-frame mirrorless offering, the Alpha 1.

A groundbreaking camera that offers a shocking combination of speed, resolution, and video capabilities, the a1 somehow manages to speak to action photographers, wildlife photographers, and even all-around professional shooters without sacrificing on, well, anything.

For several years now, Sony has maintained the same four full-frame camera lineups:

  • The a9 lineup, geared toward professional sports and action photographers
  • The a7R lineup, geared toward landscape and commercial photographers
  • The a7 lineup, geared toward all-around professionals and advanced hobbyists
  • The a7s lineup, geared toward serious videographers (plus the occasional hybrid shooter)

(Sony also recently released the a7C, a compact full-frame model.)

Note the division of labor here, with one camera tailored toward action photographers, another tailored toward videographers, and yet another tailored toward landscape shooters.

But now, with the launch of the Sony a1, the division between action photography, landscape photography, and even video seems to have crumbled, leaving Sony users with a camera clearly more capable than the a7 III, and even offering a leg up over the a7S III, the a9 II, and more.

Sony a1

So what does the Sony a1 offer?

First, check out the sensor:

50 MP for intense cropping abilities, plus it gathers enough detail to satisfy professional landscape shooters.

Then there’s the autofocus, which packs “improved real-time Eye AF for humans and animals, and new real-time Eye AF for birds.” Sony is well-known for its top-tier autofocus algorithms, so don’t be surprised if the bird Eye AF makes the a1 a hot choice among serious bird photographers.

You also get in-body image stabilization (Sony claims up to 5.5 stops), as well as a lightning-fast continuous shooting speed (30 frames per second using the electronic shutter).

The a1 also boasts one of the most impressive electronic viewfinders on the market. With a whopping 9.44M-dots of resolution, you should have a clear view, even in low light, which is always a plus for event photographers, night street photographers, and wildlife photographers, to name just a few.

Sony a1

Finally, there’s the video capabilities. The a1 can record at 8K/30p, as well as 4K/120p; the former capability is what puts the camera above the Sony a7S, at least in terms of raw recording power. While 8K is likely overkill for casual videographers, I can highly recommend the a1 for serious videographers and true hybrid video/stills shooters.

Sony a1

Of course, you should also consider the price: $ 6499.99. In other words, the a1 costs more than the Nikon Z7 II, more than the Canon EOS R5, more than the Sony a9 II, and more than every other full-frame mirrorless camera on the market.

But the a1 really is one heck of a camera, and those who can afford it are bound to be impressed (to say the least!).

Now over to you:

What do you think about the Sony a1 announcement? Are you excited? Apprehensive? Frustrated? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The post Sony Announces the a1, Its Best Mirrorless Camera to Date appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.


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Sony reveals Alpha 1 50MP full-frame camera capable of 30fps and 8K

26 Jan

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Sony has announced the Alpha 1, a fast, high-res 50MP camera capable of shooting at 30 fps with no blackout. It is capable of 8K video.

It uses a stacked CMOS sensor and a pair of new Bionz XR processors, allowing silent, no-blackout images at up to 30 fps. Despite having twice as many pixels as the a9, the a1 promises to have 1.5x less rolling shutter. This allows flash sync at up to 1/200 sec with the electronic shutter or 1/400 sec using the mechanical shutter.

The a1 can shoot 8K video at up to 30p using its full width. This uses all its horizontal pixels, capturing 8.6K footage and downsizing it to 8K to provide improved resolution. 8K footage can be captured in up to 10-bit 4:2:0 using the XAVC HS format. The camera uses a similar heat-dissipating design to the a7S III, allowing it to record 8K for up to 30 minutes, if the temperature warnings are set to their most tolerant setting.

It becomes the first Sony camera to offer Lossless compress Raw and can also capture HEIF for 10-bit compressed capture. It uses a pair of CFExpress Type A card slots that, like those in the a7S III, also accept SD cards.

The new processors also bring the improved menu system first seen in the a7S III.

The camera’s in-body image stabilization system is rated at 5.5EV, as with previous cameras. This system is also used to offer 4 or 16-shot high-resolution modes, allowing images of up 199MP to be combined using Sony’s Imaging Edge desktop software.

The a1 pushes the autofocus forward from the a9 cameras, offering 92% coverage and now expanding its ‘Real-time Eye AF’ to work with birds, as well as animals and people. It boosts the number of AF and AE calculations it can do to 120 per second: twice as many as the a9 performs.

The camera has a 9.44M dot OLED viewfinder that can be refreshed at up to 240fps. The faster mode still offers 1600 x1200 pixel (5.76M dot) resolution. It has an impressive 0.9x magnification and an eye-point of 25mm, which should allow the finder to be seen even when wearing glasses.

Like the a7S III, it can shoot 4K at up to 120p in 10-bit 4:2:2 quality. Sony says it uses 5.8K pixels in its Super 35 (~APS-C) mode, but there’s no talk of a 4K-from-8K mode. Also like the a7S III it can output 16-bit Raw video output over HDMI. In addition to offering the S-Log 3 curve that promises 15 stops of DR in video, it also offers the S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine color modes that match Sony’s professional video cameras’ output. It also becomes the first Alpha camera to offer the S-Cinetone color response.

For photojournalists and sports shooters needing to deliver pictures immediately, it features dual-band Wi-Fi that allows FTP transfers and 3.5x the rate offered by the a9 II: which Sony presumably expects to be used with its new Xperia Pro smartphone/HDR monitor/5G transmitter. There’s also an Ethernet port for wired connections.

It will cost around $ 6500 / €7,300 / £6,500 and will be available in March. It uses the same VG-C4EM two-battery accessory grip as the a7R IV, a7S III and a9 II.

Press release

Groundbreaking Sony Alpha 1 Camera Marks a New Era in Professional Imaging

The Alpha 1 Delivers an Unprecedented Combination of Resolution, Speed and Video Performance, Empowering Professionals with a New High-Resolution 50.1-megapixel Full-frame Image Sensor, High-speed Shooting at up to 30 Frames per Second, 8K 30p Video and More

  • New 50.1-megapixel (approx., effective) full-frame stacked Exmor RS™ CMOS image sensor in combination with an upgraded BIONZ XR™ imaging processing engine with eight times more processing power[i]
  • Blackout- free continuous shooting at up to 30 frames per second[ii]
  • Fast sensor readout enables up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second[iii], double the speed of the Alpha 9 II, even during 30fps continuous shooting
  • Bright and large 0.64-type 9.44 million-dot (approx.) OLED Quad-XGA electronic viewfinder with the world’s first[iv] refresh rate of 240 fps
  • Silent, vibration-free electronic shutter
  • World’s first[v] anti-flicker shooting with both mechanical and electronic shutter
  • Electronic shutter flash sync[vi] up to 1/200 sec. for the first time in the Alpha™ series
  • World’s fastest[v] mechanical shutter flash sync up to 1/400 sec.
  • 8K 30p[vii] 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video recording with 8.6K oversampling for extraordinary detail and resolution, in addition to 4K 120p[viii] 10-bit 4:2:2 movie shooting capabilities
  • Wide dynamic range of 15 stops for stills[ix] and 15+ stops for video[x]
  • Improved Real-time Eye AF (autofocus) for humans and animals, and new Real-time Eye AF for birds[xi], as well as Real-time Tracking that automatically maintains accurate focus
  • 5-axis optical in-body image stabilization for a 5.5-step[xii] shutter speed advantage
  • S-Cinetone color matrix as seen in FX9 and FX6 to deliver expressive cinematic look
  • Professional workflow support with the industry’s fastest[xiii] built-in Wi-Fi, SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps, 1000BASE-T Ethernet and more

SAN DIEGO, CA – January 26, 2021 – Sony Electronics, a global leader in imaging sensor technology and digital imaging, has announced the arrival of the groundbreaking new full-frame mirrorless Alpha 1 camera – asserting their commitment to leading the industry with a stunning combination of innovative new features.

The most technologically advanced, innovative camera that Sony has ever released, the Alpha 1 combines high-resolution and high-speed performance at a level that has never been accomplished in the world of digital cameras. With a brand new 50.1-megapixel full-frame stacked Exmor RS™ image sensor, up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second, 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 video and much more, the Alpha 1 will allow creators to capture what they’ve never been able to before.

“We are always listening to our customers, challenging the industry to bring new innovation to the market that goes far beyond their expectations.” said Neal Manowitz, deputy president for Imaging Products and Solutions Americas at Sony Electronics. “Alpha 1 breaks through all existing boundaries, setting a new bar for what creators can accomplish with a single camera. What excites us the most – more than the extensive product feature – is Alpha 1’s ability to capture that which has never been captured before. This camera unlocks a new world of creative possibilities, making the previously impossible now possible.”

The newly developed image sensor is built with integral memory and paired with an upgraded BIONZ XR imaging processing engine, making it capable of shooting 50.1-megapixel images continuously at an astounding 30fps with up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second. The Alpha 1’s shooting capabilities are further enhanced by a 9.44 million dot OLED Quad-XGA electronic viewfinder, with a refresh rate of up to 240 fps[xiv], ensuring no black out. Additionally, for the first time in an Alpha series camera, 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 video is available. The Alpha 1 is also capable of 4K 120p / 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 recording and includes S-Cinetone color. The Alpha 1 is also packed with features that support field professionals with faster workflow, including 3.5 times faster wireless FTP transfer speed[xv] and more.

Unprecedented Resolution and Speed

Continuous Shooting at Up to 30 Frames Per Second

The Alpha 1 captures moments that would otherwise be lost thanks to its high-speed performance, providing any photographer the speed they require to capture fast-moving objects. High speed readout from the 50.1-megapixel image sensor and a large buffer memory make it possible to shoot up to 155 full-frame compressed RAW images[xvi] or 165 full-frame JPEG images[xvii] at up to 30 frames per second with the electronic shutter while maintaining full AF and AE tracking performance[xviii].

At an astonishing calculation speed of up to 120 AF/AE per second, the Alpha 1 can maintain focus with high accuracy even for fast moving subjects. It can automatically adjust exposure, even with sudden changes in brightness, with an AE response latency as low as 0.033 seconds[ii].

Advanced Electronic Viewfinder with the World’s Firstiv Refresh Rate of 240 fps

Complimenting the camera’s ability to capture images at an unprecedented speed, the Alpha 1 viewfinder features the world’s first[iv] 240 fps refresh ratexiv, for a super-smooth display. The viewfinder does not black out when an exposure is made to offer an uninterrupted view and allow for seamless framing and tracking, even during continuous shooting. The 9.44 million-dot (approx.), 0.64 type Quad-XGA high-definition OLED display and refined optics deliver the highest resolution in its classiv. It also offers 0.90x[xix] viewfinder magnification, a 41° diagonal FOV, and a 25mm-high eyepoint for clear, low distortion viewing from corner to corner.

Advanced Autofocus

Sony continues to push the boundaries of autofocus technology with the introduction of the Alpha 1, which can easily track complex, fast-moving subjects with high precision. The camera features 759 phase detection points in a high-density focal plane phase-detection AF system cover approximately 92% of the image area – ensuring accuracy and unfailing focus in environments where focusing might otherwise be difficult.

Sony’s advanced Real-time Eye AF improves detection performance by 30% over the previous system[i], thanks to the powerful image processing engine, BIONZ XR. It ensures accurate, reliable detection, even when the subject’s face looks away. In addition to improved Real-time Eye AF for humans and animals, the Alpha 1 employs high-level subject recognition technology to provide Real-time Eye AF for birds[xi], a first in an Alpha series camera. Optimized algorithms ensure that tracking is maintained even if a sitting bird suddenly takes flight, or the framing suddenly changes[xx].

The Alpha 1 also features AI-based Real-time Tracking that automatically maintains accurate focus. A subject recognition algorithm uses color, pattern (brightness), and subject distance (depth) data to process spatial information in real time at high speed.

Silent, Vibration-free Electronic Shutter

High-speed readout from the new image sensor has made it possible to reduce rolling shutter by up to 1.5 times when shooting stills, compared to the Alpha 9 II. It also offers silent anti-flicker continuous shooting with an electronic shutter for the first time[v] in the world. The electronic shutter[xxi] operates silently, without mechanical noise, and is vibration-free. Stress-free continuous shooting is now possible even when shooting in challenging lighting situations with florescent or other flicker-prone types of artificial lighting. And for the first time in an Alpha camera, electronic shutter flash sync up to 1/200 sec[xxii] is possible. The advantages of the electronic shutter advantages can now come to life even when using flash for broadly expanded shooting versatility.

Dual Driven Shutter System for 1/400 Flash Sync

The Alpha 1 boasts the world’s fastest flash sync speed[v] of 1/400 sec. with mechanical shutter, making it even easier to capture dynamic action. In addition to a carbon fiber shutter curtain, the Alpha 1 features the newly developed dual driven shutter system utilizing spring and electromagnetic drive actuator, offering high durability and lightness at the same time.

High Resolution Shooting Enhancements

Even with this sensor’s high pixel count, the Alpha 1 offers high sensitivity with low noise, plus 15+ stops of dynamic range for video and 15 stops for stills, for smooth, natural gradations from shadows to highlights thanks to its cutting-edge processing system, throughout a wide ISO sensitivity range of 100-32,000 (expandable to 50-102,400, when shooting stills).

Additionally, the new camera features an evolved Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode that composites up to 16 full-resolution images. In this mode, the camera precisely shifts the sensor in one pixel or half-pixel increments to capture 16 separate pixel-shifted images containing a total of 796.2 million pixels of data, which are then composited into a 199 million pixel (17,280 x 11,520 pixels) image using Sony’s Imaging Edge™ desktop application. With a flash sync of up to 1/200 sec. in this mode, it is ideal for photographing architecture, art or any other still life subject with a level of detail and color accuracy that is simply stunning.

Professional Video Quality

8K High-resolution Movie Shooting

For the first time in an Alpha camera, the Alpha 1 offers 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS recording with 8.6K oversampling for extraordinary resolution. Combined with Sony’s acclaimed autofocus technology, gradation and color reproduction performance, the Alpha 1 will help the user realize their creative vision with the finest detail. It’s 8K footage can also be used for flexible 4K editing during post-production.

Supporting Various Video Formats for Professionals

The Alpha 1 offers in-camera 4K recording at up to 120 frames per second[viii] which allows the user to shoot up to 5X slow-motion video[xxiii]. In addition to supporting 10-bit 4:2:2 recording, this feature can be used with efficient Long GOP inter-frame compression or high-quality Intra (All-I) intra-frame compression.

The Alpha 1 features S-Cinetone, the same color matrix that produces the highly regarded FX9 and FX6 color and skin tones. It delivers natural mid-tones, plus soft colors and gorgeous highlights to meet a growing need for more expressive depth. The S-Log3 gamma curve makes it possible to achieve 15+ stops of dynamic range, while the S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine color gamut settings make it easy to match Alpha 1 footage with video shot on VENICE cinema camera, FX9 and other professional cinema cameras.

Heat-dissipating Structure

A unique heat dissipating structure keeps image sensor and image processing engine temperatures within their normal operating range, preventing overheating while maintaining compact body dimensions. This makes it possible to record 8K/30p video continuously for approximately 30 minutes[xxiv].

Supporting Hand-held Shooting

A high-precision stabilization unit and gyro sensors, plus optimized image stabilization algorithms, achieve up to a 5.5-step shutter speed advantage, maximizing the quality of the high-resolution images derived from the camera’s 50.1-megapixel sensor. The Alpha 1 also features an Active Mode[xxv] that offers outstanding stabilization for handheld movie shooting. When using Sony’s desktop applications Catalyst Browse or Catalyst Prepare[xxvi] for post-production, an accurate image stabilization function is available which utilizes metadata generated by camera’s built-in gyro.

Other features that the Alpha 1 offers include; 16-bit RAW output[xxvii] to an external recorder[xxviii] via HDMI for maximum post-production flexibility, a digital audio interface has been added to the camera’s Multi Interface (MI) Shoe for clearer audio recordings from a compatible Sony external microphone, 5.8K oversampled full pixel readout without pixel binning for high-resolution 4K movies in Super 35mm mode and more.

Enhanced Workflow with Network Technologies including Connectivity to 5G Compatible Devices

The Alpha 1 has been designed and configured to support photo and video journalists and sports shooters who need to deliver stills or movies as quickly as possible with advanced connectivity options. It offers several features for fast, reliable file transfers. Industry’s fastest[xiii] built-in wireless LAN allows communication on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz[xxix] bands with dual antennas to ensure reliable communications. 5 GHz includes 2×2 MIMO support (IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac) offering 3.5 times faster wireless FTP transfer speed than the Alpha 9 II – a notable advantage for news and sports shooters who need to deliver with reliable speed. There is also a provided USB Type-C® connector to support fast data transfer when connected to a 5G mmWave compatible device such as Sony’s Xperia PRO and makes high-speed PC Remote (tethered) data transfer available for smooth handling of large image files. The Alpha 1 also has a built-in 1000BASE-T LAN connector for high-speed, stable data transfers, including remote shooting. FTPS (File Transfer over SSL/TLS) is supported, allowing SSL or TLS encryption for increased data security.

In addition to compressed and uncompressed RAW, the Alpha 1 includes efficient lossless compression with no quality degradation, Lossless Compressed RAW. There is also a new “Light” JPEG/HEIF image quality setting that results in smaller files than the “Standard” setting, allowing faster deliver for news and sports photographers who depend on speed. Along with a versatile range of RAW and JPEG formats, the Alpha 1 includes the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File) format for smooth 10-bit gradations that provide more realistic reproduction of skies and portrait subjects where subtle, natural gradation is essential. Images shot on the Alpha 1 can be trimmed in-camera to a desired aspect ratio, size, or position for versatile usage.

The Alpha 1 is also compatible with a variety of apps, add-ons and tools. With Imaging Edge Mobile and Imaging Edge Desktop[xxx], professionals can easily transfer RAW files and files that use lossless compression and remotely control Touch Tracking and Touch Focus for convenient AF operation. The Transfer & Tagging add-on (Ver. 1.3 or later) can automatically covert voice memos attached to image files to text captions or transfer the files to an FTP server from a mobile device. Desktop applications Catalyst Browse/Catalyst Prepare[xxvi] allow professionals to browse and manage video clips shot by Sony’s camera. In addition, the Remote Camera Tool[xxxi] can remotely change camera settings and shoot from a computer connected via LAN cable and feature a number of refinements for the Alpha 1: faster transfer, touch response, dual slot and HEIF support, and more.

Reliable and Easy Operability

Professional users need more than just refined features and performance. They also need the reliability and durability demanded of any professional tool. The Alpha 1 has two media slots that both support UHS-I and UHS-II SDXC/SDHC cards, as well as new CFexpress Type A cards for higher overall capacity and faster read/write speeds. It also features a durable magnesium alloy chassis, long battery life with the Z-battery which can be extended using the optional VG-C4EM Vertical Grip (sold separately), an improved dust removal feature, shutter close function on power-off to protect image sensor, plus dust and moisture resistance[xxxii] that maximizes reliability in challenging environments. It includes a durable, reliable HDMI Type-A connector, and USB PD (Power Delivery) support, allowing higher power to be supplied from an external source so that users can record for extended periods with minimal internal battery usage.

A revised menu structure provides easier navigation, and touch-responsive menu operation offers fast, more intuitive control with Touch Focus and Touch Tracking on its 3.0 type 1.44 million-dot (approx.) LCD monitor. For easy customization, a subset of the camera’s shooting settings now changes according to the selected shooting mode, making it easier than ever to use different aperture, shutter speed and other settings for shooting stills and movies.

The Alpha 1 Full-frame Interchangeable-Lens Camera will be available in March 2021 for approximately $ 6,500 USD and $ 8,500 CAD. It will be sold at a variety of Sony’s authorized dealers throughout North America.

Notes:

[i] Compared to the BIONZ X imaging processing engine.

[ii] “Hi+” continuous shooting mode. In focus modes other than AF-C, effective at 1/125 sec. or higher shutter speed. In AF-C mode, effective at 1/250 sec. or higher shutter speed, and the maximum continuous frame rate will depend on the shooting mode and lens used. 20 fps max. when shooting Uncompressed or Lossless compressed RAW.

[iii] At shutter speeds of 1/125 sec. or higher. The number of AF calculations will depend on the lens used.

[iv] As of January 2021, Sony survey. Among full-frame mirrorless cameras.

[v] As of January 2021, Sony survey. Among full-frame interchangeable-lens digital still cameras.

[vi] Up to 1/200 sec. Synchronization via the sync terminal is not available for electronic shutter.

[vii] [APS-C S35 Shooting] is fixed [Off] when shooting 4K 120p and 8K movies.

[viii] 10% image crop.

[ix] Sony internal tests.

[x] When recording with S-Log3. Sony internal tests.

[xi] Still images only.

[xii] CIPA standards. Pitch/yaw shake only. Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA lens. Long exposure NR off.

[xiii] As of January 2021, Sony survey. Among interchangeable-lens digital still cameras.

[xiv] Field of view is fixed at 33° and resolution is UXGA when selecting frame rate at 240 fps.

[xv] 3.5 times faster when compared against the Alpha 9 II.

[xvi] “Hi+” continuous shooting mode, compressed RAW, CFexpress Type A memory card. Sony tests.

[xvii] “Hi+” continuous shooting mode, CFexpress Type A memory card. Sony tests.

[xviii] At 20 frames per second, users can shoot up to 238 full-frame compressed RAW images or 400 full-frame JPEG images.

[xix] 50mm lens, infinity, -1m-1 diopter.

[xx] Accurate focus may not be achieved with certain subjects in certain situations.

[xxi] Shutter speed slower than 0.5 sec. cannot be set while continuous shooting. Tracking performance and max. aperture differs by settings and lenses.

[xxii] Up to 1/200 sec. Synchronization via the sync terminal is not available for electronic shutter.

[xxiii] Post-production editing and S&Q mode recording required. Data must be recorded to a CFexpress Type A memory card when the frame rate is 120 (100) fps or higher.

[xxiv] Sony internal tests with [Auto Power OFF Temp.] set to [High].

[xxv] Active Mode is not available for 8K recording.

[xxvi] Catalyst Browse™ version 2020.1 or later, Catalyst Prepare version 2020.1 or later are required.

[xxvii] 8K is not applicable.

[xxviii] Compatible recorders to be announced.

[xxix] 5 GHz communication may be restricted in some countries and regions.

[xxx] The Imaging Edge (Remote/Viewer/Edit) desktop application Ver. 3.1 or later is required for compositing.

[xxxi] Remote Camera Tool version 2.3 or later is required.

[xxxii] Not guaranteed to be 100% dust and water resistant.

Sony a1 specifications

Price
MSRP $ 6500 (body only)
Body type
Body type SLR-style mirrorless
Body material Magnesium alloy
Sensor
Max resolution 8640 x 5760
Image ratio w:h 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9
Effective pixels 50 megapixels
Sensor photo detectors 51 megapixels
Sensor size Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm)
Sensor type BSI-CMOS
Processor Dual Bionz XR
Color space sRGB, Adobe RGB
Color filter array Primary c olor filter
Image
ISO Auto, 100-32000 (expands to 50-102400)
Boosted ISO (minimum) 50
Boosted ISO (maximum) 102400
White balance presets 7
Custom white balance Yes
Image stabilization Sensor-shift
CIPA image stabilization rating 5.5 stop(s)
Uncompressed format RAW
JPEG quality levels Extra fine, fine, standard, light
File format
  • JPEG (Exif v2.32)
  • HEIF
  • Raw (Sony ARW v4.0)
Optics & Focus
Autofocus
  • Contrast Detect (sensor)
  • Phase Detect
  • Multi-area
  • Center
  • Selective single-point
  • Tracking
  • Single
  • Continuous
  • Touch
  • Face Detection
  • Live View
Autofocus assist lamp Yes
Number of focus points 759
Lens mount Sony E
Focal length multiplier 1×
Screen / viewfinder
Articulated LCD Tilting
Screen size 3″
Screen dots 1,440,000
Touch screen Yes
Screen type TFT LCD
Live view Yes
Viewfinder type Electronic
Viewfinder coverage 100%
Viewfinder magnification 0.9×
Viewfinder resolution 9,437,184
Photography features
Minimum shutter speed 30 sec
Maximum shutter speed 1/8000 sec
Maximum shutter speed (electronic) 1/32000 sec
Exposure modes
  • Program
  • Aperture priority
  • Shutter priority
  • Manual
Built-in flash No
External flash No
Flash X sync speed 1/400 sec
Continuous drive 30.0 fps
Self-timer Yes
Metering modes
  • Multi
  • Center-weighted
  • Highlight-weighted
  • Average
  • Spot
Exposure compensation ±5 (at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps)
AE Bracketing ±5 (3, 5 frames at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps)
WB Bracketing Yes
Videography features
Format XAVC S, XAVC HS, H.264, H.265
Microphone Stereo
Speaker Mono
Storage
Storage types Dual SD/CFexpress Type A slots (UHS-II supported)
Connectivity
USB USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 GBit/sec)
USB charging Yes
HDMI Yes (mini-HDMI)
Microphone port Yes
Headphone port Yes
Wireless Built-In
Wireless notes 802.11ac (Dual Band)
Remote control Yes (via Bluetooth or tethered PC)
Physical
Environmentally sealed Yes
Battery Battery Pack
Battery description NP-FZ100 lithium-ion battery & charger
Battery Life (CIPA) 530
Weight (inc. batteries) 737 g (1.62 lb / 26.00 oz)
Dimensions 129 x 97 x 70 mm (5.08 x 3.82 x 2.76″)
Other features
Orientation sensor Yes
GPS None

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Adobe Camera Raw vs. Nikon ViewNX-i and Capture NX-D: Which should you be using?

19 Jan

Introduction

Recently, I kicked off a new series of articles comparing the software provided by camera manufacturers with one of their most popular third-party alternatives, pitting Canon Digital Photo Professional head-to-head against Adobe Camera Raw. Now, I’m back with the second in the series, in which we’ll take a look at how Adobe’s raw processing rivals that offered for free with Nikon’s cameras.

Nikon ViewNX-i version 1.4.3’s user interface.

There’s a bit more to discuss this time around, as Nikon offers a choice of two different raw processing apps for free — the somewhat inconsistently-named ViewNX-i and Capture NX-D. As in the previous article, I’ll be limiting discussion mostly to each application’s user interface and image quality in the interests of keeping things to a readable length, and won’t be addressing features like image management, tethering or printing.

The ground rules

In this article, I’m comparing Adobe Camera Raw 12.4 alongside Adobe Bridge 10.1.1 versus Nikon ViewNX-i 1.4.3 and Capture NX-D 1.6.3, all of which are their current versions. My computer is a 2018-vintage Dell XPS 15 9570 laptop running Windows 10 version 1909.

To level the playing field as much as possible, I’ve once again aimed to reproduce the look of already-processed images from our galleries, without any prior knowledge as to the recipes behind them. I’ve chosen images from the Nikon Z6 for use in this comparison, since it’s similar in price and resolution to the EOS R used in the first article, and has been around long enough for Adobe to fine-tune its support.

Adobe Camera Raw version 12.4’s user interface.

To avoid getting too far into the weeds, sharpness and noise reduction were left at their defaults, while lens corrections were enabled for all three apps where possible.

Adobe Camera Raw doesn’t allow built-in corrections to be disabled at all. ViewNX-i doesn’t allow you to change whether or not distortion correction is enabled, and just abides by what’s set in the raw file. Only Capture NX-D allows corrections to be enabled/disabled (although even it prevents disabling distortion correction for certain lenses).

Images processed in ACR were saved at JPEG quality 11, just as used in our galleries. For NX-i and NX-D, I saved at JPEG quality 86, producing similarly-sized files.

The main differences

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

Of course, the most immediately obvious differences between ACR and NX-i / NX-D are their camera support and price tag. You already paid for NX-i and NX-D when you bought your Nikon camera, so it’s effectively free. While it only supports Raw files from the company’s own cameras, you can expect full Raw support for every Nikon camera to be available pretty much immediately upon release.

By contrast, ACR comes with a recurring subscription fee. While it supports a vast range of cameras from many manufacturers – including every single interchangeable-lens Nikon camera made to date – that support can sometimes take a while to arrive after the release of new models.

It’s also sometimes more limited than that in first-party software, especially for Coolpix compacts. While Adobe offers ‘camera matching’ profiles for almost every Nikon ILC, for example, it’s not available for a fair few compacts, including the relatively recent Coolpix A1000.

As for the differences between ViewNX-i and Capture NX-D, we’ll describe those in more detail when we look at NX-D on the next page. Suffice it to say that NX-i is the simpler, more approachable of the pair, however.

ACR is a little cleaner, but NX-i is approachable too

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

For the remainder of this page, we’ll focus solely on ViewNX-i. Although its interface isn’t quite as modern as that of ACR, it’s still pretty clean overall, with relatively few controls on offer. Some features like sharpening are combined into a single easy-to-use slider, while others like noise reduction are controlled entirely automatically.

The selection of controls available to the user is sometimes a bit odd, though. For example, I’d wager that most NX-i users won’t have the first clue what “axial color aberration” means, nor will they find any tooltip explaining it if they hover over the control. Yet several more common (and easily-understood) attributes like distortion and vignetting corrections cannot be controlled by the end-user.

The selection of controls available in ViewNX-i is sometimes curious. For example, there are controls for more obscure functions like aberration and diffraction, but none for more easily-understood variables like distortion and vignetting.

The good news is that, with fewer controls on offer, Nikon gives you access to everything up front. Editing functionality isn’t hidden behind buttons or under menus. Nor is it strewn across multiple tabs of controls, as in some applications.

Instead, you’ll find all available editing tools grouped together in a single, relatively short scrollable panel. And sliders move smoothly rather than in large steps, so making fine-grained adjustments is easy.

Like ACR, modern features like support for 4K displays, touch-screens and pen control are pretty good, although if you switch between 4K and Full HD displays — especially while NX-i is running — you’ll often have to resize panels or perhaps even restart the application entirely so it redetects the screen resolution before you can get to work.

ACR is still the speed champ, but ViewNX-i isn’t that far behind

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

ViewNX-i isn’t quite as fast as ACR, especially when it comes to previewing changes as controls are adjusted. Still, it trails Adobe by only around a third in terms of final rendering times, which is much better than some rivals. All six images in this preview took ViewNX-i around 26 seconds to batch-process, compared to 19.5 seconds for ACR.

And while image previews aren’t adjusted in near real-time as in ACR, they never take more than a second or less to catch up to your changes, and render in a single pass. The accuracy of that preview isn’t perfect when viewing full images, so for the finest adjustments you’ll want to switch to a 1:1 view instead, but it’s certainly good enough to get you close.

Unfortunately, there’s no indicator to show when the preview is updating, which is a bit frustrating when making more subtle adjustments.

ACR gives you much more control, especially over shadows and highlights

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

As noted previously, ViewNX-i offers a smaller selection of controls than does Capture NX-D, and the same goes doubly when compared to Adobe Camera Raw. A particularly surprising omission in an app aimed at less-experienced users is the lack of a one-click auto control to help get everything in the ballpark. Much like ACR, ViewNX-i includes slider control over brightness, contrast, shadows and highlights.

NX-i also has D-Lighting HS and Color Booster sliders, the latter replacing the separate saturation/vibrance sliders offered by Adobe, and providing a choice of people or nature modes for some control over skin tones. Sharpening control is likewise limited to a single slider with no fine-tuning possible. And Nikon’s app lacks ACR’s sliders for texture, clarity, dehazing or black-points and white-points entirely, as well as its noise reduction and curves controls.

The D-Lighting HS slider makes it really easy to recover shadow detail, but I found its interactions with the shadow protection and contrast sliders in particular to be a bit difficult to predict and control. With D-Lighting HS set in the upper half of its range, as little as a 2-3% change in the contrast slider could have a pretty major effect overall and badly block up deeper shadows. This was particularly true of the shots inside the aircraft hangar, as well as the backlit model shot.

The fixed noise reduction is too heavy-handed by far

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

With less challenging scenes, though, I thought ViewNX-i did a pretty good job in most respects. It yielded pleasingly lifelike color with relatively little effort, and I found myself preferring its rendering of foliage and skies in particular over those of ACR.

The fly in the ointment is that its noise reduction – which, remember, can’t be disabled – is quite heavy-handed. This is particularly noticeable in portrait shots, where much fine detail is lost in things like hair or thread patterns in clothing, and skin can end up looking unnaturally plasticky. This, more than anything else, will push more experienced photographers to either Capture NX-D or a third-party alternative like ACR.

ViewNX-i’s default noise reduction can lead to slightly plasticky-looking skin.

If your shot doesn’t have much noise to start off with, though, ViewNX-i can extract about almost as much detail as can ACR. (And can appear a little crisper at default settings, thanks to slightly stronger unsharp masking).

Final thoughts on ViewNX-i

Click or tap for the full-sized ACR version; here for ViewNX-i version

Less experienced photographers might, perhaps, find ViewNX-i to be a bit less intimidating than Capture NX-D or Adobe Camera Raw, and it’s certainly capable of providing decent results if you can live with its noise reduction performance. Performance is decent too, especially in terms of final rendering, although Adobe still takes the win handily in this respect. But for many, the limited controls on offer and the heavy-handed noise reduction will push them to Capture NX-D or a third-party alternative instead — and rightly so.

Nikon ViewNX-i

Pros Cons
  • Available free with your camera
  • Excellent support for Nikon’s cameras from launch day
  • Realistic color with minimal effort
  • Impressive shadow recovery from D-Lighting HS
  • Decent performance, albeit still not as good as ACR
  • Only supports Nikon cameras
  • Lacks many controls offered by ACR and other rivals
  • Selection of controls doesn’t make sense for less-experienced shooters
  • No one-click auto control
  • Can’t use distortion correction if it wasn’t enabled at capture time
  • Denoising robs fine detail and can’t be disabled
  • Interactions between controls can prove challenging

Adobe Camera Raw

Pros Cons
  • More modern user interface
  • Supports a vast range of cameras from many brands
  • Great performance and accurate real-time preview
  • Great image quality overall
  • Holds onto more fine detail than ViewNX-i
  • Does a great job with highlights/shadows
  • Recurring subscription fee with no perpetual license option
  • Camera support can take a while to arrive
  • Less pleasing color than Nikon’s software by default
  • Leaves significantly more noise in images by default

And with our Nikon ViewNX-i vs. Adobe Camera Raw comparison complete, it’s time to see how Capture NX-D fares against its third-party rival. Continue reading on the next page!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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BCN+R data shows digital camera sales in Japan were down 40% year-over-year

12 Jan

BCN Retail (BCN+R), a Japanese analyst firm that collects daily sales data of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras from both online and in-person points of sale in Japan, has published (translated) a summary of its 2020 camera sales data, confirming camera sales were down in the Japanese market due to an already-shrinking market further compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to BCN+R’s data, digital camera sales dropped 40.4% year-over-year (YoY). This is over double the 16.8 percent drop BCN+R recorded in 2019 (compared to 2018). BCN+R’s data shows digital camera sales were down from the onset of 2020, but dramatic decreases in March and April align with when the first spike in cases of the novel coronavirus started spreading across the globe. The YoY decrease peaked in April and slowly declined until September.

Apologies for the low-quality chart. It’s all BCN+R has shared.

October proved to be the month with the smallest YoY decrease, which could be attributed to the release of numerous mirrorless cameras being released in September and October, most notably the Sony a7C (September 15), Canon EOS M50 Mark II (October 14) and Fujifilm X-S10 (October 15). The original Canon EOS M50 has continuously proven to be the most popular cameras in Japan for quite some time, so it’d make sense its successor would sell well, too.

We’ll wait to see what the end-of-year numbers from less region-specific sources (CIPA, etc.) are before making any comprehensive overviews, but it’s clear from BCN+R’s data that the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic managed to make a shrinking market even smaller than it was on track to be, even if the Japanese market alone isn’t indicative as to the state of the industry as a whole.

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How to Use Facial View and Camera Angle to take Flattering Portraits

10 Jan

The post How to Use Facial View and Camera Angle to take Flattering Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darlene Hildebrandt.

How to Use Facial View and Camera Angle to take Flattering Portraits
use face angle and camera angle for flattering portrait photography

How do camera and face angles affect your portrait photography? And how can you use different angles to create gorgeous portraits?

It’s all in this article!

Because today, we’re going to examine facial views and camera angles. I’ll discuss how to use both these concepts to your advantage – and how you can use them to flatter your subject.

Let’s get started!

What is facial view? What is camera angle?

Simply put, facial view is the portion or angle of the face that is showing toward the camera. It’s how the subject’s face is turned or angled relative to the lens.

Your camera angle is where you place your camera in relation to the subject – that is, the height, distance, and angle relative to the subject’s face.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? It is – but small differences in facial view or camera angle can produce undesirable results. We’ll dig a bit deeper into that in a bit, so stay with me!

Facial views

First, let’s look at the four main facial views used in portraiture. They are:

Full face, where your subject’s nose is pointing directly toward the lens. You’ll see equal amounts of both sides of their face:

Full face view

3/4 view, where your subject turns their face just slightly in one direction until you cannot see their far ear anymore:

three quarter face view

2/3 view, where the subject turns their head until the line of the nose is almost touching the outline of their cheek on the far side. Be careful not to turn them past that point, because you don’t want the nose to break the line of the cheek. This isn’t a rule, but it doesn’t look as flattering.

Note: Check out the subject’s earrings in the image above, and how her right earring is not showing below her jawline. When she turned her face just a little more, the earring looked like it was coming out of her face, so I had her remove it for the image. Watch for things like that as the facial angle changes.

two thirds face view

Profile, where the subject’s face is turned almost exactly 90 degrees from front, so that their nose is basically pointing sideways. In a true profile, you should only be able to see one side of the subject’s face and not the eye on the far side.

Note: Once again, watch for things like earrings and hair hanging down under the chin, which can look a bit odd. I usually brush the hair back and have the subject remove an earring if it doesn’t look right or if it looks like it’s dangling under the chin or neck.

Profile view

Camera angle

Where you place your camera makes a huge difference to how your subject appears in the final image.

However, keep in mind that I can’t offer hard and fast rules here. Instead, use my advice as guidelines and starting points, then use your best judgment – because each person is unique. Portray the subject how they wish to be portrayed. When you learn these tips and see how they work in practice, it becomes easier and easier to know how to approach each portrait.

Here are your camera angle tips:

  • A high camera angle (above the subject’s eye level) will emphasize the face more than the body. This is good for a heavy-set person to help them appear slimmer if that’s desired. (Most women will not get upset if you make them look slimmer!)
  • A low camera angle (below their eye level or even below their chin level) can make a person look taller or make them seem more powerful. But this is not very flattering for most people. You end up looking up their nostrils, and the body appears larger than the head and face, which is generally unflattering.
  • For group portraits, the camera position should be about eye level or slightly lower. This cuts down on distortion of body parts and prevents the subjects from looking oddly proportioned.
  • For a portrait of one or two people, having the camera at eye level or slightly higher is often the most flattering option.

Lenses

In addition to the camera height and angle, the lens you select will change the look of your portrait drastically.

Consider what you know about different lenses:

  • Wide-angle lenses emphasize perspective, distort things, and make scenes seem more three-dimensional
  • Telephoto or long lenses compress things, isolate subjects, and make them look less three-dimensional

That’s all I’m going to tell you about this; I want you to find out what I’m talking about by trying it yourself. Look at my examples below, then find yourself a person to photograph. Use different lenses and see how they change the image.

portraits at different focal lengths and camera angles

What do you notice about the examples here? What changes in each photo?

portraits at different focal lengths and camera angles

How long does it take to master this stuff?

One of the most common questions I get asked by my students is “How long did it take you to learn all this stuff?”

The answer is two-fold: 4 weeks and 25 years!

I say that tongue in cheek, but it’s true. I “learned” all the concepts and guidelines relatively quickly, because I was in a two-year program that immersed me completely in photography. It’s like learning a new language; if you move to a new country and you have to speak the language all the time, you will learn a lot faster than if you only speak it once a month. So the best advice I can give you on how to learn faster is to get out and photograph more often.

The second part of my answer, the “25 years” bit, means that I’m still learning. I’ve learned things from my students and from other photographers and do so continually. Don’t ever expect to suddenly “get” it so that you can stop learning. Photography education is a process and it’s always ongoing. As soon as you think you’ve learned it all, or that you know it all, then it’s time to quit – because you’ve probably lost the passion. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Camera and face angles: Practice at home

This is not an assignment, but rather a suggestion for improvement.

Whenever possible, notice the facial view of your subject and how you can adjust it. If you sit a person by a light source such as a window, you can see that turning their head toward the light will also change the lighting pattern that falls on their face. See how this information can then be used to your advantage.

Different facial views will be flattering for different people. Experiment and see what works best for each person you photograph. Have the person sit and just turn their face, then see how the shape of their face changes and how the light falls on them differently.

While you’ve got your subject for the last exercise, see if you can slip this in, too:

Take five images of your subject from different camera heights. Don’t change the focal length or distance to the subject – just the camera height.

Here are the photos I recommend you take:

  • One slightly below the subject’s chin
  • One slightly below the subject’s eye level
  • One at eye level
  • One slightly above the subject’s eye level
  • One at quite a bit above the subject’s eye level

Then ask yourself:

Which is the most flattering angle for that person? From which angle would they most want to be photographed? Why?

Facial views and camera angles: Conclusion

Now that you’ve finished this article, you should be well on your way to using face angles and camera angles to create stunning portraits.

face angles photography

Just make sure you practice frequently. And before you know it, you’ll be an expert!

What’s your favorite face angle? What’s your favorite camera angle? Do you have any tips for working with these angles? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post How to Use Facial View and Camera Angle to take Flattering Portraits appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darlene Hildebrandt.


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Canon to Release an APS-C EOS R Mirrorless Camera in 2021

21 Dec

The post Canon to Release an APS-C EOS R Mirrorless Camera in 2021 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.

Canon APS-C EOS R camera

It’s more certain than ever before: 

Canon will release an APS-C EOS R model, probably before 2021 is out. 

The APS-C mirrorless camera (dubbed the “Canon EOS R7” by Canon Rumors) has been rumored for months – we reported on it back in March of this year – but its existence has been hotly debated on the internet. 

Why?

For one, Canon already offers a popular series of APS-C mirrorless models (the EOS M lineup), which would make the EOS R7 a bit of an oddity. And an EOS R7 could pave the way for an EOS M phaseout.

To be clear, Canon hasn’t actually acknowledged the existence of the EOS R7. But Canon Rumors has it on good authority that there is “an APS-C sensor-equipped RF mount camera…in the wild with a select group of photographers.” 

And from a historical perspective, the EOS R7 makes sense. The Canon EOS 7D and EOS 7D Mark II were Canon’s two semi-professional APS-C DSLR models, designed for bird, wildlife, and action photographers who couldn’t afford a Canon 1D series camera or who simply wanted to maximize reach in the field. They offered blazing-fast autofocus, high continuous shooting speeds, and rugged bodies that could handle extreme conditions. 

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

But the EOS 7D Mark II launched way back in 2014, and despite various rumors, no successor has ever been announced – which is what makes the prospect of an EOS R7 so exciting for fans of the 7D series. 

Of course, we don’t know for certain that an EOS R7 would be a true “7D Mark III” model. But an APS-C EOS R camera would be well-placed to cater to the same type of photographers so enamored with the 7D series. An RF APS-C camera would offer the technological advancements of the EOS R series, access to Canon’s excellent (and fast-growing) RF lens lineup, plus a 1.6x crop factor (one that’ll turn the new Canon RF 100-500mm lens into a 160-800mm powerhouse!).

According to Canon Rumors, the EOS R7 “looks nearly identical to the EOS R6,” and Canon Rumors suggests that “specifications [will] be nearly identical as well.” This makes sense; while the Canon EOS R6’s 20 MP sensor offers little in the way of resolution, it makes up for it in autofocus speed, 20 frames-per-second continuous shooting, excellent in-body image stabilization, dual card slots, stellar low-light performance, 4K/60p video, and more – exactly what you’d expect from a next-gen Canon EOS 7D model.

So for any bird photographers, wildlife photographers, or action photographers looking for a relatively inexpensive but high-powered APS-C camera…

…the wait is almost over!

Now over to you:

What do you think of Canon’s decision to create an RF-mount APS-C camera? And do you think it’ll be a 7D successor? Share your thoughts in the comments! 

The post Canon to Release an APS-C EOS R Mirrorless Camera in 2021 appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jaymes Dempsey.


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GoPro Hero 9 Review: Is It the Perfect Action Camera for You?

19 Dec

The post GoPro Hero 9 Review: Is It the Perfect Action Camera for You? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.

GoPro Hero 9 review

Every fall, GoPro releases a brand new version of its popular and classic action camera, the GoPro Hero. Some years, it’s a significant release with big changes, and other years, it’s an incremental step forward.

Where does the brand new GoPro Hero 9 fall into place, and should you buy this camera?

Read our GoPro Hero 9 review to find out.

GoPro Hero 9: Overview

Since GoPro is practically the inventor of action cameras, you’re probably at least partially familiar with the GoPro Hero.

It’s always been a compact, rectangular camera that’s rugged – waterproof, crushproof, and made primarily for the outdoors. Listed below are a few significant GoPro Hero camera releases:

GoPro Hero 5

In terms of GoPro history, the GoPro Hero 5 was a significant camera for a couple of reasons.

It was the first GoPro that was waterproof, so you didn’t need to stick it in a waterproof housing for underwater shooting.

Plus, the Hero 5 was the first GoPro with a built-in LCD display screen on the back of the camera.

Every GoPro since the Hero 5 comes with both of these features.

GoPro Hero 9 Review

GoPro Hero 7

The next major GoPro release was the Hero 7.

This was the first GoPro camera with built-in HyperSmooth, which promised “gimbal-like stabilization.” Every GoPro with HyperSmooth has amazing video stabilization, even in the roughest conditions. In fact, depending on your personal video quality preferences, you may not even need to use a gimbal or external stabilizer with newer GoPro models.

The Hero 7 was also the first GoPro Hero to include custom shooting presets via the back-facing LCD touchscreen for easy camera operation.

GoPro Hero 9

The latest GoPro release is the first to include a built-in front-facing screen (more on this below). It’s great for vlogging, taking selfies, and composing your shots while standing in front of the camera.

Additionally, the Hero 9 boasts the highest resolution of any GoPro camera. At 23.6 megapixels, the resolution is roughly double that of its predecessors. This allows for shooting higher-resolution photos (20 megapixels) and videos (up to 5K).

From here on out, I’ll be talking solely about the GoPro Hero 9.

GoPro Hero 9 Review
Left to right: The GoPro Hero 7, Hero 8, and Hero 9.

Design and ergonomics

Aside from the inclusion of the front-facing screen and the relatively large size, the Hero 9 looks like many other modern GoPros. It has two physical buttons – one on top and one on the side – and a rear touchscreen LCD.

Accessing the camera’s many features is quite simple, thanks to the inclusion of shortcuts and presets that can be accessed via the rear LCD.

The Hero 9 is powered by a rechargeable battery. It can also be charged via the USB-C port, the only built-in port on the camera. If you desire additional ports such as a 3.5mm microphone jack and a micro HDMI port, you need to buy the GoPro Hero 9 Media Mod (more on this below). The Hero 9 uses a single micro SD card to record.

The Hero 9 is waterproof up to 33 feet (10 meters) without a waterproof housing, though dive housing can be used to further waterproof the camera.

Finally, the Hero 9 can be used without a cage, thanks to the built-in folding fingers on the bottom of the camera. That way, you have the mount directly on the camera base.

GoPro Hero 9 Review
The GoPro Hero 9 (left) can be mounted without a cage. The Hero 7 and all cameras prior require a cage to be mounted.

GoPro Hero 9 Pros

Now let’s take a look at some of the GoPro Hero 9’s best features, starting with:

Best photo and video quality ever

Thanks to the Hero 9’s impressive resolution, image quality is at an all-time high. You can now shoot 20-megapixel photos in both JPEG and RAW format, and videos can be shot at 5K/30p or 4K/60p.

Even if you don’t intend to export a 5K video, shooting at this resolution can be beneficial for post-production. When you shoot at 5K, you can crop your video later without sacrificing resolution. You can also take high-quality still shots from your 5K video footage.

Front-facing screen

While some may scoff and say that front-facing screens are only important for vloggers, don’t knock it until you try it. Being able to see your composition from the front of the camera will change the way you shoot. It’s especially helpful when you stick the camera in a tight corner.

But if you’re still not sold on the front-facing screen, there’s an option to disable it and simply display camera settings instead.

front-facing screen on the GoPro Hero 9
The GoPro Hero 9 with the front-facing screen.

HyperSmooth stabilization

Shaky video footage has been long gone since the Hero 7 first debuted with HyperSmooth. Somehow, GoPro keeps finding ways to improve HyperSmooth, and it’s in its third version with the Hero 9.

Besides eliminating video shake from sports footage, HyperSmooth helps with another GoPro feature: TimeWarp.

Essentially a moving time-lapse, TimeWarp is great for conveying the passage of time while on the move (think walking, hiking, or driving), and HyperSmooth keeps that footage stable.

Horizon Leveling and Scheduled Capture

A new feature on the Hero 9 is Horizon Leveling. When enabled, this automatically keeps your video’s horizon straight.

Since the camera tends to be mounted on a moving subject, keeping the horizon straight is something that many GoPro users often struggle with.

Scheduled Capture is another new feature that allows you to schedule ahead of time when the GoPro should start shooting. It’s especially helpful for creating time-lapses.

Improved internal microphones

Ever since the GoPro was designed to work without a cage, the sound quality has gradually improved. The Hero 9 has three built-in internal microphones, and they do a great job of picking up audio. The only time the audio seems muddled is after the camera has been submerged in water.

If you want to get the best possible audio out of the GoPro, you can do so by adding an external microphone. However, for that you’ll need to buy the Media Mod (discussed below).

GoPro Hero 9 in the Media Mod
The GoPro Hero 9 inside of the Media Mod.

Mods

Starting with the Hero 8, GoPro began releasing Mods to add features to its cameras.

The main Mod is the Media Mod, which is aimed at vloggers. This Mod includes cold shoe mounts for adding accessories, a micro HDMI port, a 3.5mm mic jack, and built-in microphones.

Despite the added cost, the Media Mod delivers on its promises and turns the GoPro into a viable vlogging camera.

Other available Mods include the GoPro Light Mod (a glorified flashlight), a front-facing Display Mod, and the ultra-wide Max Lens Mod.

(Most of these Mods are intended for newer GoPros, so if you own an older GoPro, be sure to check its compatibility before purchasing Mods.)

the Media Mod
The Media Mod (available for Hero 8 and Hero 9 only) includes cold shoe mounts, built-in mics, a micro HDMI port, a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm microphone jack.

Lots of third-party accessory options

Since GoPro has been around for so long, there are tons of third-party accessory makers selling all kinds of things to expand the functionality of GoPro cameras.

Some accessories are specific to GoPro models (i.e., form-fitting cages), but many accessories, such as mounts, lights, and microphones, can be used with every GoPro out there.

Cons

No camera is perfect, and the GoPro Hero 9 is no exception. Let’s take a look at the drawbacks of this action camera:

Larger size

To accommodate a larger battery and the front-facing LCD, the Hero 9 is the biggest GoPro ever. It’s still a small camera, but its slightly larger size means that any previous form-fitting cages you might own will no longer fit.

You’ll also have to buy Hero 9 batteries and a battery charger.

Poor low-light shooting

While the GoPro Hero 9 has a larger megapixel count than previous GoPro Heros, it performs miserably in low-light conditions. If you want to shoot photos or videos after the sun goes down or indoors, use the Light Mod or consider a different camera.

Buggy software

In my experience, most modern GoPros are prone to freezing bugs, and the Hero 9 is no exception.

The good news is that there’s a fast way to reset the camera should it freeze:

Simply hold down the Record and Power buttons for a few seconds, and the camera will reboot.

GoPro Hero 9 with the Max Lens Mod
An HDR SuperPhoto taken with the GoPro Hero 9 and the Max Lens Mod.

Firmware updates

Almost immediately after the Hero 9 came out, GoPro released a statement saying that two firmware updates would be on the way before the end of 2020.

These firmware updates promised fixes such as:

  • Increased touchscreen sensitivity
  • Image quality improvements for 4K shooting
  • GPS accuracy
  • Scheduled Capture bug improvements
  • External microphone compatibility with the GoPro mic adapter
  • More possible fixes on the way

One firmware update was released in October 2020, and the second was delayed from November to December 2020. In GoPro’s own words, “The more we test HERO9 Black in the field and the more feedback we receive from users, the more we identify little upgrades that will have huge impacts on the user experience.”

Not everyone will find the issues listed above to be a problem, but if you’re suffering from any, just know that a fix is on the way.

Should you buy the GoPro Hero 9?

Now that I’ve gone through the bulk of this GoPro Hero 9 review, it’s time to ask:

Who should think about purchasing the Hero 9?

If you have an older GoPro…

If you have a model older than the GoPro Hero 7, the Hero 9 will seem like a huge upgrade.

Not only is the image quality better, but you’ll also have a touchscreen with presets for easier control, buttery-smooth video, and better sound quality.

If you have the Hero 7 or 8, there’s no need to upgrade unless any of the key features, such as the front-facing screen or 5K video, have appeal.

If this is your first action camera…

For those new to the action camera market, you’re in luck – because there are a lot of good options. There’s the cheaper DJI Osmo Action or the modular Insta360 One R, both of which are excellent picks. It’s worth researching both of those cameras to see if they better fit your needs.

However, if you want a tried and true action camera that has the best image quality, stability, and sound on the market, then the GoPro Hero 9 is the best that money can buy. You can grab it here.

What do you think? Are you interested in purchasing the GoPro Hero 9? Let me know in the comments below!

The post GoPro Hero 9 Review: Is It the Perfect Action Camera for You? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Suzi Pratt.


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