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Posts Tagged ‘dpreview’

DPReview TV Episode 1: Sony a7 III review

29 Apr

It’s official – we’ve joined forces with Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake, formerly of The Camera Store TV, to bring you an all-new video series. To kick off the series, they take an in-depth look at the Sony a7 III. Take a look as they put the camera to work in the field – from landscapes in the Canadian Rockies to some low-light portraits at a local pinball spot.

Read our in-depth a7 III review for even more analysis, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more from Chris and Jordan!

Read our a7 III review

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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We’re hiring! DPReview seeks Software Development Engineer

23 Mar

DPReview is hiring! We’re looking for a Software Development Engineer to join our Seattle-based team. Bring your creativity, passion and talent to help us build the next generation of our web and mobile experiences. This role will help build shopping and comparison tools for photo gear as well as other special projects on the roadmap. Find all the details below.

Click here to find out more and to apply for this role – Software Development Engineer, Digital Photography Review

Software Development Engineer, Digital Photography Review

Digital Photography Review (DPReview.com) is seeking a talented, passionate, and creative engineer to help us build the future of the world’s most popular digital camera website. You will leverage our unique position in the industry to constantly strive for smarter and better ways to deliver the content, services, and tools that have made it such a success.

Your core focus will be to build the next generation of web and mobile experiences for DPReview.com. This includes shopping and comparison tools for photographic gear, community and social features focused on photography enthusiasts, and other special projects on the roadmap.

While a part of Amazon, DPReview has its own unique culture. It’s a startup-like environment backed by an industry leader. Engineers will have an opportunity to partner with our in-house product management and editorial teams to help shape projects from concept to delivery.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to be a part of a small, lean team that’ll work across the stack on a variety of interesting problems, then this is it!

Basic Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field
  • 4+ years of professional software development experience

Preferred Qualifications

  • Some design and / or UX experience a big plus
  • Proficient in at least one object-oriented programming language such as Java, C++ or C#
  • Strong problem solving skills and computer science fundamentals (data structures, algorithms)
  • Experience in common web technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX
  • Experience with REST and other web service models

Click here to find out more and to apply for this role – Software Development Engineer, Digital Photography Review

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview on TWiT: tech trends in smartphone cameras

20 Feb

As part of our regular appearances on the TWiT Network (named after its flagship show, This Week in Tech) show ‘The New Screen Savers’, our Science Editor Rishi Sanyal joined host Leo Laporte and co-host Megan Morrone to talk about how smartphone cameras are revolutionizing photography. Watch the segment above, then catch the full episode here.

Rishi has also expounded upon some of the topics covered in the segment below, with detailed examples that clarify some of the points covered. Have a read after the fold once you’ve watched the segment.

You can watch The New Screen Savers live every Saturday at 3pm Pacific Time (23:00 UTC), on demand through our articles, the TWiT website, or YouTube, as well as through most podcasting apps.

So who wins? iPhone X or Pixel 2?

Not so fast. Neither.

Each has its strengths, which we hope to tell you about in our video segment above and in our examples below. Google and Apple take different approaches, and each has its pros and cons, but there are common overlapping practices and themes as well. And that’s before we begin discussing video, where the iPhone’s 4K/60p HEVC video borders on professional quality while Google’s stabilization may make you want to chuck your gimbal.

Smartphones have to deal with the fact that their cameras, and therefore sensors, are tiny. And since we all (now) know that, generally speaking, it’s the amount of light you capture that determines image quality, smartphones have a serious disadvantage to deal with: they don’t capture enough light. But that’s where computational photography comes in. By combining machine learning, computer vision, and computer graphics with traditional optical processes, computational photography aims to enhance what is achievable with traditional methods.

Intelligent exposure and processing? Press. Here.

One of the defining characteristics of smartphone photography is the idea that you can get a great image with one button press, and nothing more. No exposure decision, no tapping on the screen to set your exposure, no exposure compensation, and no post-processing. Just take a look at what the Google Pixel 2 XL did with this huge dynamic range sunrise at Banff National Park in Canada:

Sunrise at Banff, with Mt. Rundle in the background. Shot on Pixel 2 with one button press. I also shot this with my Sony a7R II full-frame camera, but that required a 4-stop reverse graduated neutral density (‘Daryl Benson’) filter, and a dynamic range compensation mode (DRO Lv5) to get a usable image. While the resulting image from the Sony was head-and-shoulders above this one at 100%, I got this image from the Pixel 2 by just pointing and shooting.

Apple’s iPhones try to achieve similar results by combining multiple exposures if the scene has enough contrast to warrant it. But iPhones can’t achieve these results (yet) since they don’t average as many ‘samples’ as the Google Pixel 2. Sometimes Apple’s longer exposures can blur subjects, and iPhones tend to overexpose and blow highlights for the sake of exposing the subject properly. Apple is also still pretty reticent to enable HDR in ‘Auto HDR’.

The Pixel 2 was able to achieve the image above by first determining the correct focal plane exposure required to not blow large bright (non-specular) areas (an approach known as ETTR or ‘expose-to-the-right’). When you press the shutter button, the Pixel 2 goes back in time 9 frames, aligning and averaging them to give you a final image with quality similar to what you might expect from a sensor with 9x as much surface area.

How does it do that? It’s constantly keeping the last 9 frames it shot in memory, so when you press the shutter it can grab them, break each into many square ’tiles’, align them all, and then average them. Breaking each image into small tiles allows for alignment despite photographer or subject movement by ignoring moving elements, discarding blurred elements in some shots, or re-aligning subjects that have moved from frame to frame. Averaging simulates the effects of shooting with a larger sensor by ‘evening out’ noise.

That’s what allows the Pixel 2 to capture such a wide dynamic range scene: expose for the bright regions, while reducing noise in static elements of the scene by image averaging, while not blurring moving (water) elements of the scene by making intelligent decisions about what to do with elements that shift from frame to frame. Sure, moving elements have more noise to them (since they couldn’t have as many of the 9 frames dedicated to them for averaging), but overall, do you see anything but a pleasing image?

Autofocus

Who focuses better? Google Pixel 2, hands down. Its dual pixel AF uses nearly the entire sensor for autofocus (binning the high-resolution sensor into a low-resolution mode to decrease noise), while also using HDR+ and its 9-frame image averaging to further decrease noise and have a usable signal to make AF calculations from.

Google Pixel 2 can focus lightning fast even in indoor artificial light, which allowed me to snap this candid before it was over in a split second. The iPhone X captured a far less interesting moment seconds later when it finally achieved focus, missing the candid moment.

And despite the left and right perspectives the split pixels in the Pixel 2 sensor ‘see’ having less than 1mm stereo disparity, an impressive depth map can be built, rendering an optically accurate lens blur. This isn’t just a matter of masking the foreground and blurring the background, it’s an actual progressive blur based on depth.

That’s what allowed me to nail this candid image the instant after my wife and child whirled around to face the camera. Nearly all my iPhone X images of this scene were either out-of-focus or captured a less interesting, non-candid moment because of the shutter lag required to focus. The iPhone X only uses approximately 3% of its pixels for its ‘Dual PDAF’ autofocus, as opposed to the Pixel 2’s use of its entire sensor combined with multi-frame noise reduction, not just for image capture but also for focus.

Portrait Lighting

While we’ve been praising the Pixel phones, Apple is leading smartphone photography in a number of ways. First and foremost: color accuracy. Apple displays are all calibrated and profiled to display accurate colors, so no matter what Apple or color-managed device (or print) you’re viewing, colors look the same. Android devices are still the Wild West in this regard, but Google is trying to solve this via a proper color management system (CMS) under-the-hood. It’ll be some time before all devices catch up, and even Google itself is struggling with its current display and CMS implementation.

But let’s talk about Portrait Lighting. Look at the iPhone X ‘Contour Lighting’ shot below, left, vs. what the natural lighting looked like at the right (shot on a Google Pixel 2 with no special lighting features). While the Pixel 2 image is more natural, the iPhone X image is far more interesting, as if I’d lit my subject with a light on the spot.

Apple iPhone X, ‘Contour Lighting’ Google Pixel 2

Apple builds a 3D map of a face using trained algorithms, then allows you to re-light your subject using modes such as ‘natural’, ‘studio’ and ‘contour’ lighting. The latter highlights points of the face like the nose, cheeks and chin that would’ve caught the light from an external light source aimed at the subject. This gives the image a dimensionality you could normally only achieve using external lighting solutions or a lot of post-processing.

Currently, the Pixel 2 has no such feature, so we get the flat lighting the scene actually had on the right. But, as you can imagine, it won’t be long before we see other phones and software packages taking advantage of—and even improving on—these computational approaches.

HDR and wide-gamut photography

And then we have HDR. Not the HDR you’re used to thinking about, that creates flat images from large dynamic range scenes. No, we’re talking about the ability of HDR displays—like bright contrasty OLEDs—to display the wide range of tones and colors cameras can capture these days, rather than sacrificing global contrast just to increase and preserve local contrast, as traditional camera JPEGs do.

iPhone X is the first device ever to support the HDR display of HDR photos. That is: it can capture a wide dynamic range and color gamut but then also display them without clipping tones and colors on its class-leading OLED display, all in an effort to get closer to reproducing the range of tones and colors we see in the real world.

iPhone X is the first device ever to support HDR display of HDR photos

Have a look below at a Portrait Mode image I shot of my daughter that utilizes colors and luminances in the P3 color space. P3 is the color space Hollywood is now using for most of its movies (it’s similar, though shifted, to Adobe RGB). You’ll only see the extra colors if you have a P3-capable display and a color-managed OS/browser (macOS + Google Chrome, or the newest iPads and iPhones). On a P3 display, switch between ‘P3’ and ‘sRGB’ to see the colors you’re missing with sRGB-only capture.

Or, on any display, hover over ‘Colors in P3 out-of-gamut of sRGB’ to see (in grey) what you’re missing with a sRGB-only capture/display workflow.

iPhone X Portrait Mode, image in P3 color space iPhone X Portrait mode, image in sRGB color space Colors in P3 out-of-gamut of sRGB highlighted in grey

Apple is not only taking advantage of the extra colors of the P3 color space, it’s also encoding its images in the ‘High Efficiency Image Format’ (HEIF), which is an advanced format aimed to replace JPEG that is more efficient and also allows for 10-bit color encoding (to avoid banding while allowing for more colors) and HDR encoding to allow the display of a larger range of tones on HDR displays.

But will smartphones replace traditional cameras?

For many, yes, absolutely. You’ve seen the autofocus speeds of the Pixel 2, assisted by not only dual pixel AF but also laser AF. You’ve seen the results of HDR+ image stacking, which will only get better with time. We’ve seen dual lens units that give you the focal lengths of a camera body and two primes, and we’ve seen the ability to selectively blur backgrounds and isolate subjects like the pros do.

Below is a shot from the Pixel 2 vs. a shot from a $ 4,000 full-frame body and 55mm F1.8 lens combo—which is which?

Full Frame or Pixel 2? Pixel 2 or Full Frame?

Yes, the trained—myself included—can pick out which is the smartphone image. But when is the smartphone image good enough?

Smartphone cameras are not only catching up with traditional cameras, they’re actually exceeding them in many ways. Take for example…

Creative control…

The image below exemplifies an interesting use of computational blur. The camera has chosen to keep much of the subject—like the front speaker cone, which has significant depth to it—in focus, while blurring the rest of the scene significantly. In fact, if you look at the upper right front of the speaker cabinet, you’ll see a good portion of it in focus. After a certain point, the cabinet suddenly-yet-gradually blurs significantly.

The camera and software has chosen to keep a significant depth-of-focus around the focus plane before blurring objects far enough away from the focus plane significantly. That’s the beauty of computational approaches: while F1.2 lenses can usually only keep one eye in focus—much less the nose or the ear—computational approaches allow you to choose how much you wish to keep in focus even if you wish to blur the rest of the scene to a degree where traditional optics wouldn’t allow for much of your subject to remain in focus.

B&W speakers at sunrise. Take a look at the depth-of-focus vs. depth-of-field in this image. If you look closely, the entire speaker cone and a large front portion of the black cabinet is in focus. There is then a sudden, yet gradual blur to very shallow depth-of-field. That’s the beauty of computational approaches: one can choose extended (say, F5.6 equivalent) depth-of-focus near the focus plane, but then gradually transition to far shallower – say F2.0 – depth-of-field outside of the focus plane. This allows one to keep much of the subject in focus, bet achieve the subject isolation of a much faster lens.

Surprise and delight…

Digital assistants. Love them or hate them, they will be a part of your future, and they’re another way in which smartphone photography augments and exceeds traditional photography approaches. My smartphone is always on me, and when I have my full-frame Sony a7R III with me, I often transfer JPEGs from it to my smartphone. Those images (and 720p video proxies) automatically upload to my Google Photos account. From there any image or video that has my or my daughter’s face in it automatically gets shared with my wife without my so much as lifting a finger.

Better yet? Often I get a notification that Google Assistant has pulled a cute animated GIF from my movie it thinks is interesting. And more often than not, the animations are adorable:

Splash splash! in Xcaret, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Animated GIF auto-generated from a movie shot on the Pixel 2.

Machine learning allowed Google Assistant to automatically guess that this clip from a much longer video was an interesting moment I might wish to revisit and preserve. And it was right. Just as it was right in picking the moment below, where my daughter is clapping in response to her cousin clapping at successfully feeding her… after which my wife claps as well.

Claps all around!

Google Assistant is impressive in its ability to pick out meaningful moments from photos and videos. Apple takes a similar approach in compiling ‘Memories’.

But animated GIFs aren’t the only way Google Assistant helps me curate and find the important moments in my life. It also auto-curates videos that pull together photos and clips from my videos—be it from my smartphone or media I’ve imported from my camera—into emotionally moving ‘Auto Awesome’ compilations:

At any time I can hand-select the photos and videos, down to the portions of each video, I want in a compilation—using an editing interface far simpler than Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. I can even edit the auto-compilations Google Assistant generates, choosing my favorite photos, clips and music. And did you notice that the video clips and photos are cut down to the beat in the music?

This is a perfect example of where smartphone photography exceeds traditional cameras, especially for us time-starved souls that hardly have the time to download our assets to a hard drive (not to mention back up said assets). And it’s a reminder that traditional cameras that don’t play well with such automated services like Google and Apple Photos will only be left behind simpler services that surprise and delight a majority of us.

The future is bright

This is just the beginning. The computational approaches Apple, Google, Samsung and many others are taking are revolutionizing what we can expect from devices we have in our pockets, devices we always have on us.

Are they going to defy physics and replace traditional cameras tomorrow? Not necessarily, not yet, but for many purposes and people, they will offer pros that are well-worth the cons. In some cases they offer more than we’ve come to expect of traditional cameras, which will have to continue to innovate—perhaps taking advantage of the very computational techniques smartphones and other innovative computational devices are leveraging—to stay ahead of the curve.

But as techniques like HDR+ and Portrait Mode and Portrait Lighting have shown us, we can’t just look at past technologies to predict what’s to come. Computational photography will make things you’ve never imagined a reality. And that’s incredibly exciting.

Hungry for more? We’ve updated our standard studio scene to allow you to compare the Pixel 2 and iPhone X against each other and other cameras in Daylight and Low Light, as well as updated our galleries. Follow the links below:

Studio Scene Comparison | Google Pixel 2 Gallery | Apple iPhone X Gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview Instagram takeover: Barney’s photos from Mexico

18 Dec

Have you followed us on Instagram yet? Now’s a great time to, since over the next three days we’ll be turning our account over to Barney, where he’ll be sharing photos from a recent trip to central Mexico. It’s the trip that cemented the Leica M10 as his Gear of the Year, and provided plenty of opportunities to photograph the beauty of the region – from the captivating architecture of Queretaro to the jungle of San Luis Potosi and points in between.

Give us a follow and stay tuned!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Top 5 news stories of the week on DPReview

16 Dec

Top 5 Photography News Stories of the Week

The world of photography news moves fast, with tens of interesting, tragic, educational, and inspirational stories breaking sometimes daily. To help parse through the noise and focus on the signal, each week, we’re going to recap the 5 top photography news stories from the previous seven days.

This week, the tragic story of a young photographer’s death was the most popular—and controversial—of the news stories we covered on DPReview. This was followed by a shocking story of a musician kicking a photographer in the face, an inspirational round up of the best Nature photos of 2017 and, finally, a pricey announcement from Apple and a Leica sensor test rounded out our list.

Scroll through the slideshow for a quick recap of each story, and then follow any of the big blue buttons to dive deeper.

Famed Chinese rooftopper falls to his death from 62-story skyscraper

In November, 26-year-old Chinese rooftopper Wu Yongning fell to his death from atop the 62-story Huayuan Hua Centre skyscraper when a photo stunt for an unnamed sponsor went horribly wrong. The story—and a video of his fall—only came to light this week, shining a tragic light on the dangerous lengths some photographers will go to for an exciting shot.

Read the Full Story

Photo: Weibo

Musician kicks photographer in the face during rock concert, sending her to the ER

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme found himself the subject of heated criticism and disgust this week, after a video and photos seem to show him purposely kicking photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face during a performance.

His apologies—first over Twitter, and later over Instagram video— have not gone over well.

Read the Full Story

Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video

These are the winners of National Geographic’s Nature Photographer of the Year 2017

Moving from tragedy and anger to inspiration, National Geographic revealed the winners of its annual Nature Photographer of the Year contest. And as you might have expected, every shot from the Grand Prize winner down to the Honorable Mentions and People’s Choice awards were fantastic.

The Grand Prize went to photographer Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan of Singapore, who beat out 11,000 other entries with his intense wildlife portrait of an orangutan crossing a river in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park.

Read the Full Story

Photos courtesy of National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year 2017

A fully loaded iMac Pro will cost you $ 13,200

On December 14th, Apple finally put the “most powerful Mac ever,” its new iMac Pro, up for sale. And now that the powerhouse of an all-in-one is live on the Apple Store online, we were able to check how much a fully loaded version would cost you.

No surprise here: an 18-core iMac Pro with 128GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD and Radeon Pro Vega 64 graphics card costs about as much as a modest sedan!

Read the Full Story

Photo: Apple

DxOMark: The full-frame Leica M10 is ‘on par’ with the best APS-C sensors

DxOMark finished their review of the Leica M10 sensor this week, giving the sensor an overall score of 86.

The Good News: this means that the sensor inside the M10 outperforms almost every other digital Leica ever made, coming in second only to the Leica SL with its overall score of 88.

The Bad News: the expensive camera still falls significantly short of the top-of-the-line full-frame sensors out there, performing “more on par” with the best APS-C sensors DxOMark has tested.

Read the Full Story

Photo: DPReview hands-on photo by Barney Britton

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Our favorite gear, rewarded: DPReview Awards 2017

11 Dec

DPReview Awards 2017

Here at DPReview we handle a lot of gear. This year, plenty of amazing cameras, lenses, accessories and other products came through our doors, and we hope you’ve enjoyed reading about them as much as we’ve enjoyed writing about and testing them.

We also enjoy arguing about them – about which camera is better than which other camera, and which lens is the best, etc. So we’ve spent the past few days going through this year’s products as a team, and ranking our choices, to make a shortlist for what we think was the best gear released in 2017.

After all that, we’re pleased to announce the results. Click through the slides above to find out which products made our list of the best gear of 2017!

If you’d like to have your say, make sure to vote in this year’s Reader’s Polls for best products of 2017, which will be running through December 18th.

Best accessory

Shortlist:

  • Affinity for iPad
  • Godox Ving V860 II
  • Atomos Ninja Inferno
  • Peak Design CaptureClip 3

Runner up: Affinity for iPad

While perhaps not as sexy as the high-value cameras and lenses that we get our hands on every month, there are some amazing accessories out there, with a lot to offer the modern photographer. And among the most important are the various software suites that enable us to turn our Raw (literally) images into finished photographs worthy of printing and sharing.

The arrival of high-powered tablet computers like the Apple iPad Pro means that imaging software is no longer limited to desktop and laptop computers. Affinity Photo for iPad is a full-fledged image editor that offers all of the major features you’d expect from a serious desktop Raw editor, for only $ 20. Impressed? We certainly are.

Read our review of Affinity for iPad

Winner: Godox Ving V860 II

A good flashgun (or two) can really transform your photography, but wireless TTL flash systems from the major camera manufacturers can be extremely costly. The Godox Ving V860 II kit is a powerful third-party flash solution that competes with options from the major brands at a considerably lower cost.

The V860 II is the latest Godox offering for Canon, Nikon and Sony users, and it provides TTL metering and off-camera control via a wireless 2.4GHz radio system. When we reviewed the kit back in June we praised its strong and reliable wireless connection, high standard of construction and great 650-shot battery life.

Among a competitive shortlist of high-quality accessories, the Godox Ving V860 II is a worthy winner. If you’re looking for an affordable solution for wireless off-camera flash triggering, we’d highly recommend checking it out.

Read our review of the Godox Ving V860 II

Best smartphone camera

Shortlist:

  • Apple iPhone X
  • Google Pixel 2
  • LG V30
  • Huawei Mate 10

Runner up: iPhone X

Love it or hate it, the fact is that a lot of people take pictures with their smartphones these days, and it’s in modern smartphone handsets that we’re seeing some of the most exciting technological developments in photography.

The iPhone X is Apple’s flagship iPhone and a significant milestone for the company, marking the 10-year anniversary of the very first iPhone – arguably the product that kicked off the ‘smartphone revolution’ all those years ago. As well as twin stabilized wide / tele cameras, artifact-free 4K/60p HEVC video and a bunch of clever effects like Portrait Lighting mode, the iPhone X also offers one of the best, brightest and most color-accurate screens of any smartphone. The P3 images that its camera generates take advantage of the display’s wide color gamut, and the iPhone X is also the world’s first device to support the HDR display of HDR photos – something we’ve only seen in the video world (HDR10, Dolby Vision).

The iPhone X is a beautiful thing, and a worthy runner-up for best smartphone camera of 2017.

Read mode about the Apple iPhone X

Winner: Google Pixel 2

Google is at the forefront of developments in computational photography and the Pixel 2 is a superb example of the difference that some very clever technology – and a lot of computing power – can make to a camera.

Despite only featuring a single camera module, split pixels and some clever software allow the Pixel 2 to create a surprisingly accurate and continuous depth map, which enables a very pleasing and effective ‘fake bokeh’ portrait effect. And thanks to the constant 9-frame image averaging of HDR+ the depth map and resulting image are often noise free, even at shutter speeds needed to freeze modest motion indoors.

Autofocus uses the entire dual-pixel sensor, so it’s fast even in low light and with moving subjects like kids. Although color and white balance tend to be less pleasing than an iPhone, the sheer quality and detail of the 12MP camera even marks a new standard in smartphone imagery.

It’s not just stills – dual pixel AF in video and the combination of both optical and electronic image stabilization make for the some of the sharpest and smoothest, glidecam-esque footage we’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for the best camera on a smartphone, look no further.

Read more about the Google Pixel 2

Best prosumer camera drone

Shortlist:

  • DJI Spark
  • DJI Mavic Pro Platinum
  • DJI Phantom 4 Advanced

Runner-up: DJI Mavic Pro Platinum

Drones are becoming a popular photography tool as they allow anyone to capture high quality images from the air. All of the drones on this year’s list of finalists are made by DJI, but that’s not surprising given how quickly the company cranks out new models, each representing a good value in its own way.

The DJI Mavic Pro Platinum is an update to last year’s Mavic Pro, which won our Editor’s Choice award in 2016. It adds quieter operation, thanks to redesigned props, as well as a few more minutes of flight time. Combined with its ability to capture 4K video using a good codec, 12MP Raw image files, DJI’s Active Track technology, and a folding design that makes it great for travel, the Mavic Pro Platinum gets the nod as runner-up.

Winner: Phantom 4 Advanced

When it comes to getting the highest quality images from a drone, one model on our shortlist stands out: the DJI Phantom 4 Advanced. Its camera is built around a 20MP 1″-type sensor, similar to what you would find in a high end compact camera like a Sony RX100, resulting in higher resolution, better quality images, and more malleable Raw files than small-sensor models.

It also has the most impressive video features on the list, including 4K/60p recording using a 100Mbps codec, an option to use the more advanced H.265 codec, and produces very usable Log video. Of course, it also gets all of DJI’s intelligent flight modes. Thanks to its high image quality and advanced feature set, the Phantom 4 Advanced wins our award for best drone of 2017.

Best zoom lens

Shortlist:

  • Fujifilm GF 32-64mm F4 R LM WR
  • Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G
  • Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM
  • Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2

Runner-up: Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G

A lot of lenses get released every year, and it’s always a challenge to whittle the year’s releases down to a shortlist – let alone to pick a winner. That said, this year several lenses stood out from the pack.

To say the Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G is an excellent wide-angle zoom would be an understatement: it’s optically as good or better than far bigger lenses weighing nearly twice as much. For some landscape photographers, that weight advantage may be enough to buy into the Sony system, and its super-wide angle of view will also be useful for architecture and interiors. For the sort of edge-to-edge sharpness this lens provides in such an immensely small and lightweight package, the 12-24mm could easily have won in this category, instead just losing out to…

Read more about the
Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G

Winner: Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM

…its big brother the Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM. More versatile than the 12-24mm, Sony’s pro-grade 16-35mm F2.8 is built to an exceptionally high standard and offers excellent sharpness, making it an ideal companion to Sony’s new a7R III.

For many years, Sony was criticized for offering a relatively small lineup of high-quality lenses, but products like the new 16-35mm F2.8 GM prove that the company has what it takes to make world-class optics. Sharp even wide open, fast to focus and capable of producing some of the nicest sunstars we’ve ever seen, this lens will be useful for everything from landscapes to indoor sports to weddings. The Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM earns our award for best zoom lens of 2017.

Read more about the
Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM

Best prime lens

Shortlist:

  • Canon EF 85mm F1.4L IS USM
  • Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm F1.2 Pro
  • Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art
  • Sony FE 85mm F1.8

Runner-up: Sony FE 85mm F1.8

There were so many excellent prime lenses released this year that picking an overall winner and runner-up was very difficult. From high-quality wides to fast-aperture telephotos, the options have never been better, and 2017 saw some amazing lenses released from all of the major manufacturers.

In the end though, we narrowed the field down to four lenses, all of which would have made worthy winners. Sony’s FE 85mm F1.8 takes the runner-up spot for its combination of excellent image quality, speedy autofocus, attainable price and compact size. For anyone looking to get into portraiture using Sony’s full-frame lens ecosystem, we wholeheartedly recommend the FE 85mm F1.8.

Read more about the
Sony FE 85mm F1.8

Winner: Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art

After much discussion, our pick for the best prime lens of 2017 is the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art. At the opposite end of the spectrum to the Sony FE 85mm F1.8, the Sigma 14mm F1.8 ‘Art’ is a niche lens, but one that offers a unique perspective for certain kinds of photography where sharp, distortion-free images at wide apertures can make a huge difference.

Astrophotography is an obvious example, and shooting the Aurora Borealis, but the Sigma 14mm F1.8 is surprisingly useful for a range of other photography, too, including conventional landscapes and cityscapes. We’ve been in love with this lens since we first used it in Japan back in spring. The Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art is our pick for best prime lens of 2017.

Read more about the Sigma 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art

Best compact camera

Shortlist:

  • Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III
  • Fujifilm X100F
  • Olympus Tough TG-5
  • Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV

Runner up: Fujifilm X100F

This year was a relatively slow one for compact cameras, even in a market segment that has contracted significantly in recent years. But several of the models released in 2017 were truly excellent, and any one of our shortlisted cameras would make a worthy winner.

Our runner-up pick for best compact camera of 2017 is the Fujifilm X100F. A well thought-our successor to the proven X100T, the X100F incorporates a higher-resolution sensor, bigger battery, and tweaked user interface including an AF positioning joystick. With the X100F, one of our favorite large-sensor compacts just got even better.

Read our review of the Fujifilm X100F

Winner: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV

Our expectations of compact cameras have shifted a lot in recent years, thanks in no small part to Sony. The Cyber-shot RX100 and RX10-series have shaken up the compact market by offering better image quality, faster shooting, and much more advanced video capabilities than most competitors, amid a product refresh cycle that is, frankly, exhausting.

Although it might look like a relatively minor update to last year’s RX10 III, the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV is a considerably more attractive camera thanks to the addition of phase-detection autofocus. It rarely hunts for focus even at 600mm. While it can’t manage DSLR-level subject tracking, it’s impressively capable for both stills and video, and this combined with the razor-sharp 24-600mm stabilized zoom lens makes for an unbeatable combination. As such, the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV earns our award for the best compact camera of 2017.

Read our review of the
Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV

Best consumer stills/video camera

Shortlist:

  • Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5
  • Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV
  • Sony Alpha a9
  • Sony Alpha a7R III

Runner up: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV

The days of dedicated stills cameras and dedicated consumer video cameras are almost over. Pretty much every camera released in 2017 offered a high-quality video mode, and 4K and even 6K features are becoming common in mirrorless ILCs and DSLRs alike. The ability to smoothly transition from shooting stills to capturing high-quality video footage is invaluable to multi-media professionals, events photographers and casual social photographers alike.

All of the shortlisted cameras in this category offer excellent video features, centered around high-quality 4K capture. For its combination of versatility, portability and (relative) affordability, runner-up in this category goes to the ultra-versatile Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV.

Learn more about the
Sony Cyber-shot RX10 IV

Winner: Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5

When reviewing the cameras shortlisted in this category, one product kept coming up again and again. The Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 is a stunning stills/video hybrid camera, offering an unmatched 4K video feature set, alongside solid stills photography features.

The more recent (and more stills-focused) G9 offers more stable autofocus in video mode, but in terms of expandability, and the sheer quality of its 4K/6K footage, the GH5 is a clear winner. As such it’s incredibly versatile for everything from ‘run and gun’ videography to high-resolution reportage and easily earns our award for best consumer stills / video camera of the year.

Read our review of the Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5

Best entry-level ILC

Shortlist:

  • Canon EOS M100
  • Canon EOS Rebel SL2 (EOS 200D)
  • Canon EOS Rebel T7i (EOS 800D)
  • Olympus OM-D E-M10 III

Runner-up: Canon EOS M100

Entry-level cameras are among the most important products in every manufacturer’s lineup. Once a new photographer has invested in a system, the hope is that they’ll stay loyal, growing their investment in lenses, accessories and – in the future – more advanced cameras.

Canon refreshed virtually its entire entry-level portfolio this year, across both the EF and EF-M lines. One of our favorite entry-level cameras this year (and any year) was the tiny EOS M100, which earns the runner-up spot for its combination of stress-free handling, excellent autofocus and solid image quality.

Read our review of the Canon EOS M100

Winner: Olympus OM-D E-M10 III

One camera stood out among entry-level models this year for its attractive combination of advanced stills features, 4K video and lightweight design. That camera is the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. While its M43 sensor can’t match some competitors for resolution, the addition of 4K video and provision for 5-axis in-camera stabilization make it among the most versatile entry-level cameras on the market.

Despite being very small and light, the E-M10 III offers generous manual controls, and an accessible user interface that still provides a lot of customization options – ideal for a photographer just starting out, who wants a camera that gives them some room to grow. For these reasons, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 III wins our award for best entry-level ILC of 2017.

Read our review of the
Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III

Best midrange ILC

Shortlist:

  • Canon EOS M6
  • Fujifilm X-E3
  • Nikon D7500
  • Pentax KP

Runner-up: Fujifilm X-E3

This year’s collection of mid-range interchangeable lens cameras makes for stiff competition in this category. They all come with plentiful controls, APS-C sensors, and well thought-out (if distinctly different) ergonomics. This made choosing our winner very difficult, as all are highly capable photographic tools.

In the end, we decided that Fujifilm’s X-E3 is our runner up for this category. We love the JPEG output, and we’re fans of its new and useful touchscreen, revised controls and smaller size relative to its predecessors. The autofocus joystick in particular makes this camera a great shooting companion, and it slots in well alongside the company’s X-T20 as a rangefinder-styled alternative.

Read our review of the Fujifilm X-E3

Winner: Nikon D7500

Taking the crown is a refined DSLR that’s supremely capable in almost any scenario – the Nikon D7500. We’ve long been fans of Nikon’s midrange DSLRs, and the D7500 is no different. With a capable autofocus system, great image quality, comfortable ergonomics and an expansive lens ecosystem, the D7500 has a lot going for it.

Whether you’re into sports, portraiture, landscapes or low light work, there’s really not much the D7500 can’t do. The crop in 4K mode is a little extreme (though the video quality is quite good), and it’s not the most compact of its peers. But the D7500 remains supremely versatile, and for that, it takes the top slot in its category.

Read our review of the Nikon D7500

Best high-end ILC

Shortlist:

  • Fujifilm GFX 50S
  • Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5
  • Nikon D850
  • Sony Alpha 7R III

Even without flagship professional DSLRs from Canon and Nikon, the competition in the high-end ILC marketplace was fierce this year. Fufifilm’s GFX 50S (announced in 2016, but released in early spring) shook up the medium-format market, while Sony’s a7R III and a9 redefined our expectations of professional mirrorless cameras. Meanwhile, Panasonic made a play for professional and enthusiast videographers with the Lumix DC-GH5 and Nikon pulled out all of the stops with the D850 – arguably its most ambitious DSLR yet.

After a lot of discussion, we couldn’t decide on a single clear winner in this category. So we opted to recognize two cameras as joint winners, both of which are excellent for slightly different reasons. Drumroll please…

Joint-winner: Nikon D850

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that we chose the Nikon D850 as our joint winner for best high-end ILC of 2017. It’s hard to imagine how much more advanced a DSLR could be. Offering a combination of incredible resolution, speed, equal best-in-class dynamic range and excellent autofocus, the D850 is a winner whichever way you look at it. A highly respectable 4K video option is the icing on the cake.

Performance is excellent, handling is luxurious, and it’s out of stock pretty much everywhere – for good reason.

Read our review of the Nikon D850

Joint-winner: Sony Alpha a7R III

Our second joint-winner is a similarly impressive camera, that pushes the boundaries of mirrorless technology. The Sony a7R III is a technological tour-de-force, incorporating a tweaked version of the 42MP sensor used in the a7R II, now with even more dynamic range, and one of the best autofocus systems we’ve yet encountered in a mirrorless camera.

While it can’t quite keep up with the sports-focused a9, the a7R III is no slouch, and offers a combination of speed and resolution that make it very attractive for a range of different kinds of photography. Equally at home capturing 4K video as it is 42MP stills, the a7R III is capable, versatile and more than a match for anything with a mirror. As such, it earns the title of joint winner, in our category for best high-end ILC of 2017.

Read our review of the Sony a7R III

DPReview innovation award

Shortlist:

  • DJI Zenmuse X7
  • iOS 11 / HEIF
  • Google Pixel 2 computational camera
  • Sony a9

Runner-up: iOS 11/ HEIF

Our runner-up is the HEIF (‘heef’) image format. Consumer digital photography has been stuck using 8-bit, sRGB JPEG images for more than twenty years, despite periodic touted replacements. The HEIF format, developed by the MPEG working group, can be used to contain all sorts of multi-image data, whether that’s a high res image and a low-res preview, multi shot bursts, focus stack groups or variants of images rendered for HDR and standard DR displays.

Its adoption by Apple not only in its latest desktop operating system but also on the much more widely-used iOS 11 mobile OS increases the likelihood of its wider adoption, particularly on the iPhone X, whose HDR display will help its users to appreciate the value of the 10-bit images (in the wider-than-sRGB P3 colorspace) that its camera shoots by default. This push towards fairly widespread adoption and perhaps appreciation, might finally see a more sophisticated format dethrone the all-conquering JPEG. And just in time to let us all shoot natural-looking wide dynamic range images for the HDR screens that are becoming ever more common.

Winner: Google Pixel 2 computational camera

After much discussion, the Google Pixel 2 ‘computational camera’ wins our ‘Innovation of the Year’ award. With the Pixel 2, Google shows us that computational photography not only renders most compacts obsolete, it’s coming for your camera as well. That’s not meant to be as ominous as it sounds. In fact, it’s great news.

The Pixel 2 camera wins because of the sheer image quality it can produce from minimal hardware thanks to computational approaches. The camera is always maintaining a 9-frame full-resolution buffer at at least 60 frames per second. Dual Pixel AF means your subject is most likely pre-focused before you even press the shutter button, and when you do, the camera goes back in time to those last 9 frames, combines them, and thereby reduces noise by over 3 stops compared to a conventional sensor of that size. In high contrast scenes, the Pixel 2 exposes to not clip highlights, then averages those frames to reduce noise in shadows. And all of this happens at the press of a button.

Probably most impressive is its Portrait mode, which generates a depth map from the tiny stereo disparity between the split pixels behind the lens. The results are nothing short of impressive: look at the progressive blur, both in front of and behind, our main subject here.

DPReview product of the year, 2017

Shortlist:

  • Nikon D850
  • Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G
  • Sony a9
  • Sony a7R III

Runner-up: Nikon D850

‘What was the best product of the year?’ That’s a very difficult question to answer even in a quiet year, but as we’ve seen, 2017 saw the launch of some seriously good cameras, lenses and accessories. But as we get close to the end of the year, two products really stood out, for their combination of features, power and flexibility.

Our runner-up this year is perhaps the most advanced enthusiast DSLR ever released. Combining almost class-leading resolution with unrivaled speed and one of the best autofocus systems on the market, the Nikon D850 earns the runner-up spot in this year’s DPReview Awards for Best Product of 2017.

Winner: Sony Alpha a7R III

You guessed it – one of the last cameras released in 2017 ended up taking the top spot. The Sony a7R III is a truly impressive camera, which combines advanced stills and video features in a body designed to satisfy the needs of professionals and enthusiasts alike. While the a9 is faster, and features an autofocus system better optimized for shooting sports, the a7R III is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera for the rest of us, and a well-deserved winner of our award for the best product of 2017.

As we approach the end of the year, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support, and your feedback. For a chance to vote for your own favorite product of 2017, our Reader’s Polls are open, and can be found here. Voting in the first round closes on December 18th.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Watch Sony’s a7R III livestream event on DPReview

25 Oct

Sony dropped a bombshell at 2am Eastern time last night, announcing the 42.4MP mirrorless full-frame Sony a7R III to the world. And this morning, at a special event in New York City, they’ll officially ‘unveil’ this camera (and more) with all of the Apple-esque showmanship we’ve come to expect from Sony camera launches.

The ‘special livestream event’ starts in just a few minutes. Click play up top and open up the DPReview Twitter account in another page for live commentary from our lovable nerds at the event.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Live coverage of the Google Pixel 2 launch on DPReview

05 Oct

10:45am PT

That’s all folks! You can learn more about these products on the Google Store right now. As for us, we’ll be running over to get our hands on the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL in person, and see if they really are the world’s best smartphone camera. Stay tuned or our hands-on take later today!

10:43am PT

The Google Clips camera looks for clear moments to capture. You can clip it anywhere. It features an F2.4 lens, 130° field of view, and captures short ‘clips’ that can be saved as motion photos, videos, or high res stills. You can choose which high-res still to save by navigating through a clip. When reviewing clips on your phone, just swipe right to save any one.

Will cost $ 250 and is “coming soon.”

10:40am PT

“A camera that takes photos for you, so you can enjoy the moment and get shots you could never get before.”

Starts with an AI engine at the core of the camera. Google Clips looks for “moments” by analyzing the scene and capturing photos automatically, so you can be part of the moment you’re capturing.

10:38am PT

One more photography update, having to do with candid photography that lets you be part of the moment as the photographer.

Meet Google Clips: a new lifelogging-style camera designed with parents and pet owners in mind.

10:37am PT

Here’s something they did NOT mention when talking about the new screen: the new Pixel 2 wide gamut display claims to offer “100% DCI-P3 coverage.” While OLEDs often offer close to full DCI-P3 coverage, our Technology Editor Rishi Sanyal is a bit skeptical of the 100% figure and wants to see an actual CIELAB diagram. Some estimates ‘cheat’ by counting extended gamut outside of the P3 space in one color to make up for the lack of gamut coverage in another color. We’ll have to wait and see, but most OLED coverage estimates max out at 99% DCI-P3 coverage.

Plus, we’re still waiting to find out if the Pixel 2 phones offer proper color management to provide accurate color on these wide gamut displays. Even the original Pixel phones offered wide gamut displays, but displayed wildly inaccurate colors because of the lack of proper color management and display profiles.

10:30am PT

Worth noting about that DxOMark score of 98: that’s an aggregate of Photo and Video scores.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 still beats the Google Pixel 2 in the Photo category, scoring 100 to the Google Pixel’s 99. The Pixel’s insane Video score of 96 is what gives it that high overall score. In Video, the iPhone 8 Plus scored an 89 and the Note 8 only scored an 84. We’re guessing this high score is largely due to the smooth video the combination of optical + electronic stabilization enables.

Here’s DxOMark’s full review.

10:27am PT

Feature breakdown:

  • Ultra Vivid OLED Display
  • Super Fast Charging
  • Water Resistant
  • The Fastest Fingerprint Sensor
  • Smartest Assistant
  • First Phone with Google Lens
  • Exclusive AR Stickers
  • World’s Highest-Rated Camera

Pre-orders start today.

10:23am PT

12MP F1.8 rear camera with OIS. Smaller 1/2.55″ sensor though (1/2.3″ on last year’s models). HDR+ still takes a burst of shorter exposure shots to preserve highlights, then combines (averages) them to reduce noise. The latter essentially simulates the effect of a larger sensor. While this works very well for static scenes, it can be problematic for moving objects like running kids.

Portrait mode in the Pixel 2 uses Google’s computational photography tech. No second camera required. Just split pixels on the sensor combined with machine learning. This allows both the front and back camera to use Portrait Mode.

It’s actually quite clever: the phone creates a rudimentary depth map using Dual Pixel technology and machine learning. Or, as our Tech Editor explains it, “The pixels are split just like on Canon Dual Pixel sensors. And the Samsung Galaxy. It’s used for phase-detect AF (fast focus) as well as to create a rudimentary depth map using the left and right perspectives viewed from behind one lens. Smart.”

And you no longer have to move the camera upward while taking a photo in Portrait mode. You can just snap a shot. This would make it work better with slightly moving subjects compared to the original Pixel phones. Sadly, Portrait mode is not simulated in real-time as it is on recent iPhones.

Oh, and the Video mode uses OIS and EIS at the same time. We’ve seen this on 1″-type compact cameras and some ILCs like Canon M-series and the Olympus E-M1 Mark II, but it’s a first for smartphones. This should lead to incredibly smooth video!

10:20am PT

Pixel camera now!

“With Pixel 2, we have reimagined smartphone photography. DxOMark has issued Pixel 2 an unprecedented score of 98.”

That trounces the iPhone 8 Plus and Samsung Galaxy Note 8 which both scored 94.

10:18am PT

Augmented reality updates now. Very similar to the AR updates we saw with Apple and the new iPhones—inserting furniture or games into the real world through augmented reality.

Something ‘exclusive’ to Pixel 2 are AR stickers that interact with the world and with each other… because Google needed something to compete with Apple’s Animojis.

10:14am PT

Talking about Google Lens now. Using pictures, machine learning technology, and Google Assistant to pull information out of images and tell you all about them. Like pulling phone numbers off a flyer, or… telling the difference between muffins and chihuahuas (their example, not ours).

10:10am PT

Squeezing the phone triggers Google Assistant, so you can ask it to take a selfie. And it uses Machine Learning to tell if that squeeze was “intentional.”

Still waiting on more comprehensive updates about the camera. Hopefully it’s not all software and AI-based improvements. We’re really hoping for some hardware updates like OIS and maybe a bigger sensor or better processor.

*fingers crossed*

10:05am PT

Pixel 2: Full HD OLED display on the smaller 5-inch model. 100,000:1 contrast ratio. More than twice the contrast ratio of phones in its class (save for the iPhone X). Comes in three colors: Kinda Blue, Just Black, and Clearly White.

Pixel 2 XL: Less bezel, ‘gently curved’ screen, wide color gamut display, integrated circular polarizer so you can view the screen through sunglasses, 538 ppi (up from 534 ppi in the first Pixel XL). Comes in two colors: Just Black and ‘stylishly simple’ Black and White. We’re told the screen is optimized for VR, which may mean a pixel arrangement more amenable to high magnification.

“We don’t set aside better features for the larger device.” OOOO sick burn on Apple.

And yes, they are both IP67 dust and water resistant! On par with the iPhone, but a bit short of Samsung’s IP68. That’s a big upgrade from the IP53 rating of last year’s phones (what do IP ratings mean?).

10:00am PT

Google VP Mario Queiroz on stage, getting ready to talk about a ‘smarter’ and ‘simpler’ smartphone.

The Google Pixel 2, designed “with the best of Google built in.” Comes in 2 sizes, 5-inch and 6-inch XL. More Google Assistant capabilities and will “continue to offer the best photography.”

9:58am PT

One hour later, we’re FINALLY about to hear about Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL!!!

9:55am PT

The 12.3-inch Quad HD touchscreen is nice, it’s the first laptop with Google Assistant built in, and the laptop comes with the new Google Pen that can be used in concert with Google Assistant. 2,000 levels of pressure sensitivity… wonder how well photo editing in Lightroom on the Pixelbook works with the pen?

9:49am PT

*Sigh*…

Still waiting on the Google Pixel 2 launch. Moving on to Pixelbook from Google Home. It’s like they’re TRYING to torture the photo nerds. Let’s see if there’s any photo-centric reasons to be excited about the Pixelbook…

9:35am PT

We’re getting a bunch of Google Home updates/announcements. There’s a small one now… something about fabric… they needed 100+ tries to find an appropriately grey grey… cool stuff… clearly we’re very interested in this part.

*insert Jeopardy waiting music here*

9:21am PT

Next generation of Google devices are “fast” and “easy to use” and “anticipate your needs.” Products that get faster and more helpful over time thanks to machine learning.

9:19am PT

Rick Osterloh: “Pixel had the best and top rated smartphone camera. We’re really proud with how well the Pixel did as our first generation smartphone.”

He’s not wrong. But there’s a lot of room to improve…

Rick is talking about the challenges facing hardware development. So Google is going to take a “different approach” to smartphone [photography] advances by living at “the intersection of AI, software and hardware.”

9:12am PT

Pichai is confident that Google is at the forefront of driving the shift to this AI-first future.

One of the major leaps forward Google has made, is in Object Detection, which he says is now at 45% accuracy! The company is using this tech in Google Lens and, says Pichai, in the Google Pixel smartphones.

9:05am PT

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage. Started with a somber note about the horrifying tragedy in Las Vegas, and the natural disasters around the world.

Now talking about how Google is using machine learning technology to improve everything from Google Maps, to parking difficulty prediction, to Google Translate. Pichai is “excited about a shift from a Mobile-first to an AI-first world.”

This shift will no doubt have a major impact on the future of mobile photography.

8:59am PT

Are you ready? The Google DJs are winding down the music.

8:45am PT

We’re officially inside the SF Jazz Center waiting for the presentation to start! A few things we’re hoping for: optical image stabilization, better depth of field simulation with live preview, and a much more durable Pixel 2/XL on par with the iPhones (IP67 rating) or even Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 (IP68 rating).

8:30am PT

Hot on the heels of Apple’s own smartphone announcement, Google is taking on the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X with its own release. In T-minus 30 minutes, Google is set to unveil the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL (among a few other things) and we’ll be covering the launch live from San Francisco on Twitter and on this page.

Watch the livestream with us, and keep refreshing this page for up-to-the-minute takes on all things photography related from the Google event.


Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Shooting the solar eclipse at DPReview headquarters

22 Aug

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Most of us on the DPReview staff followed our own advice today: we put the cameras down, donned our eclipse glasses and just enjoyed today’s total solar eclipse… most of us. Unable to contain himself, our own Rishi Sanyal decided last-minute to ignore all sound advice, hack together a rig and photograph the eclipse from DPReview headquarters, risking the life of a young Sony a7R II in the process.

This is one of those “do as we say, not as we do” moments, because we would never recommend anybody risk their camera gear by not using a proper solar filter to shoot the sun. Rishi knows his stuff, though (to put it mildly) so he stacked a few filters to create a proper rig that would most likely keep the camera safe. The rig included:

  • Sony a7R II
  • Metabones EF-E Smart Adapter (IV)
  • Canon 1.4x II teleconverter
  • Canon EOS 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM
  • B+W MRC Nano UV filter
  • 10 stop glass ND filter with some IR filtration
  • 6 stop glass ND filter
  • Gitzo 1542T tripod + Markins ballhead

Fortunately for him (and that Sony sensor) his gambit worked. Between the UV protection of the UV filter, 16 stops of ND filter, and the IR filtration on the 10 stop glass ND, he was able to capture a few really sharp shots of the eclipse in action without burning a hole in the a7R II’s 42.4MP sensor.

Check out the rig, some sample shots, and a few behind the scenes photos from our building’s rooftop deck up top. And be sure to share your eclipse experience in the comments!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Happy World Photo Day: Photos from the staff of DPReview

20 Aug

Happy World Photo Day

World Photo Day is here and to celebrate we’ve decided to share a staff gallery of some of our favorite images shot over the past year (Note: we did not shot the above image, you can thank the crew of Apollo 17 for that).

The DPReview team is made up of more than just our editorial side – like any web-based publication we also have developers and a business-oriented team. But regardless of each staff members’ role, we all share a common passion for photography. And this gallery is a small representation of that passion.

To accompany each image, the photographer has written a few paragraphs describing the scenario in which it was shot as well as the gear used. Enjoy!

Wenmei Hill

I’m at heart a portrait photographer: my favorite subject is people, my favorite challenge is to capture a bit of their story. This is one of my favorite photos of the year because it shows her in the midst of childhood – she’d just turned seven years old – and her eyes carry the frank directness of a child tinged with a hint of the adult she will become.

I took this photo with the Petzval 58mm on the Nikon D750. The Petzval 58 is a manual focus lens with drop in aperture plates, so she had to wait patiently for me to pick my aperture and find my focus. The depth of the shadows and color also add a quality of stillness that I like, as stillness and patience are not easy to catch in a newly-minted seven year old. Every time I pass this photo in my collection, I stop and take a longer look, remembering and savoring this rare quiet moment.

Vladimir Bobov

This is one of those photos where a fleeting moment was captured by dumb luck. I like getting lucky with a photo because I like knowing that aside from having the right gear and dialing in the right settings, there is also an aspect of randomness to our art, and I enjoy seeing it manifested.

I took this photo at a friend’s lake house, while watching their neighbors set off Independence Day fireworks. I was concentrating on photographing the fireworks, which were coming from different directions, so I was switching around between very different exposure settings. I had taken a couple of pictures of my friends sitting on the dock, but they were sitting apart, and the photos weren’t that strong compositionally.

When a few minutes later, I saw them lean in to each other for just a few seconds, I quickly shot with whatever settings I had dialed for the fireworks, and got this photo. When I saw it on the LCD, I knew that it was going to be a keeper for me, even if it was blurry or out of focus, and I continued shooting the fireworks worry-free, knowing that I already had my shot.

Gear: Canon 5D Mark IV, EF 16-35 f/2.8L II USM at 16mm 0.5sec at f/4 ISO 800

Jeff Keller

I was lucky enough to visit the rugged but beautiful country of Iceland last October during a press event for Olympus. We hit most of the usual tourist spots: Reykjavik, Gullfoss, Skógafoss, Almannagjá and, of course, the Blue Lagoon (we need one of those here in Seattle). Being a press event, it shouldn’t be surprising that I was using an Olympus camera, which in this case was an E-M1 Mark II.

On one of the days we headed to the south coast to the famous black sand beach in Vik. On the drive there we encountered sun, rain and hail in a five minute period, which I was told wasn’t unusual for Iceland. Prior to our arrival, our guide told us to never turn our back to the dangerous ocean (always sage advice) since many have died at the beach. That was reinforced by a warning sign on the walk down and the presence of a security guard keeping people away from the water.

The scene on the beach was incredibly monochromatic. It was overcast with unbelievably rough seas, whose spray eliminated any color above the ocean. The basalt columns that shoot out of the earth give this spot an almost otherworldly feel (no pun intended). Not long after our arrival it started to hail again. The hail added some much-needed contrast to the scene and it was at the point where I took the photo above. That is indeed a color photo, but the scene on the beach was so grim and gloomy that it ended up looking black & white.

Dan Bracaglia

I shot this image in Tokyo earlier in spring on the Fujifilm GFX 50S and GF 63mm F2.8 R. I’ve always dreamed of wandering the streets of Tokyo, camera in hand but never expected the camera to be a digital medium-format. Truth is I intended on shooting the streets with my Leica M6 but a stroke of good fortune at the CP+ trade show days prior resulted in DPReview getting our hands on one of the very first GFX 50S’ available to the media. And so naturally I put my M6 on the backburner/back in my suitcase and used the Fujifilm for the duration of my trip.

Large and sluggish to focus with the 63mm, it was hardly the ideal kit for walking multiple miles a day, trying to be discreet or attempting to catch decisive moments. But having yearned to visit Tokyo much of my life, I wasn’t about to let those factors hold me back on my first visit. Plus, I’ve always enjoyed shooting with Fujifilm cameras and was pretty excited by this new one.

In the end I worked around the sluggish AF and clunky size and made a ton of images while exploring there, many of which I was pleased with, but none more than the one above. It just goes to show, the photographic tool is much less important than the will of the photographer. Also thanks to the high-res chip, I was able to crop to taste in post without any worry.

Rishi Sanyal

I showed up to this shoot with a Sony a7R II and a set of primes. I brought a Nikon D5 and 70-200 F2.8E FL ED VR. Just in case.

I chose Volunteer Park in Seattle as the backdrop, because of the lush greenery everywhere. Close to sunset, the sun shines through numerous trees, affording ample opportunity for backlit scenarios and light shining through trees. I started off shooting with the a7R II. Looking through the EVF, I was able to carefully tune my exposure on-the-fly – a huge advantage of mirrorless.

But something was missing. I didn’t like what I was seeing through the EVF. I saw a flat, dull representation of the love story in front of me. Why? Because Sony’s JPEG engine rendered lackluster colors and a flat preview that tries to pack in a bunch of scene dynamic range into the EVF preview so you can see the wide range of tones in your scene. That’s actually a good thing, in most cases. But the resulting images on the LCD were, well, meh.

Somewhat uninspired, I whipped out the D5. It hurt. Like I think a couple of bones cracked and a nerve rubbed me the wrong way. But then I took a shot. I looked at it on the back of the LCD and I was like ‘whoa’. The retina-esque resolution of the D5 LCD combined with Nikon’s improved JPEG color rendition that gets it at least part of the way to Canon (whose colors – along with Fujifilm – we unanimously love in the office) left me inspired. But not just that – seeing a scene through the optical viewfinder and concentrating on it, and only after taking the shot realizing I’d created something quite pleasing was satisfying. Satisfying like those days when I picked up my Velvia slides after a weekend getaway.

I packed away the a7R II for the rest of the shoot. Boy was I glad I brought that D5 just in case. Good thing I didn’t need to shoot any video.

Carey Rose

As has already been well-documented, I brought only a 50mm-equivalent lens on a trip to Thailand as a personal challenge. I’m used to wider focal lengths, and after a couple of days, I had accepted that most of my photos from this trip would probably suck.

But I kept on shooting anyway. I was in Thailand, after all. I gradually became somewhat more comfortable with the focal length, and didn’t constantly feel like I needed to take five steps back whenever I raised the camera to my eye.

We visited the Elephant Nature Park in northern Thailand in the final days of our trip, and I like to think of this photo as a sort of happy accident that stemmed from my personal challenge. If I had a 28mm lens, this would probably be one of those ‘here is an elephant in a field’ sorts of pictures. But because of the tighter field of view, I was able to more clearly see and frame the curves of the elephant’s back against an almost mirror-image of them in the landscape, and captured what I found to be a much more compelling image.

So despite my initial reservations, I like this image not only because, well, I like it, but also because it serves as a reminder to keep on challenging myself to ‘see’ a little differently.

Dale Baskin

The Aurora Borealis is one of Earth’s truly magical natural phenomena, and under the right conditions it can turn a nighttime landscape into an otherworldly place. A few months back I was in Canada’s Northwest Territories to photograph the aurora and caught this image almost by accident.

I had a couple other cameras shooting time-lapse sequences in a clearing when something drew me into the woods nearby. It wasn’t until I looked up through the trees of the taiga forest that I realized why. I was surrounded on all sides by aurora that dipped almost to the horizon, creating stark silhouettes of the trees. A window of stars opened straight above. I quickly mounted my camera on a tripod, pointed upward, and took a series of shots. A few minutes later the aurora had moved and the scene was gone forever.

This picture is one of my favorites from the past year because it captures the essence of what it’s like to stand alone in a remote northern forest, spellbound, as the northern lights dance around you. It’s a supernatural, spiritual experience that’s good for your soul.

Photographed with a Nikon D750 and Rokinon 14mm F2.8 lens. ISO 5000, 10 sec, F2.8.

Richard Butler

One of my favorite photos from this year is actually a composite of two images. The fourth of May this year saw a storm approach from the west. A bright afternoon became darker and darker as threatening clouds rolled in and the forecast of lightning (uncharacteristic for Seattle) began to look more likely. I grabbed the highest-res camera I could and a Tamron lens we needed to shoot samples on, and raced to the most Southerly end of the building, hoping to capture the mood without also including one of city’s many construction cranes.

The clouds looked ever more moody, and it was visibly apparent where they were raining: the mountains to the North West were still lit by sunshine, but there was no visibility at all as you turned to the South. I started snapping, immediately struck by the Tamron’s ability to stabilize 1/80th of a second and 130mm while carefully aimed between the tilted-open window and its outer frame. I kept shooting as the lightning started.

The flashes seem so long-lived, illuminating the banks and fold of cloud for an appreciable time after the initial burst of light. I wondered whether I could roughly anticipate the next flash, with a long enough shutter speed. No. Then I thought I’d see if my reaction times, combined with the lingering glow in the clouds would be enough. Sure enough, on the third bolt of lightning, I managed to catch the tail-end of the strike. It wasn’t the most dramatic lightning shot I’ve ever seen, but it felt pretty satisfying, given my complete lack of preparation.

I quickly chimped: more than acceptably sharp, considering I was trying to hand-hold a 50MP camera. Then I zoomed out and realized that, while trying to focus on getting the timing right, I’d let the camera slip slightly and inadvertently cropped the top off the Space Needle. So the end result is a composite: a fractionally sharper shot taken a few moments earlier, with the darker clouds and lightning merged in from the better-timed image. I’d like to think I’ve created a 50MP image which looks eye-catching even as a thumbnail but also allows you to zoom in on the Washington State Ferries, apparently sheltering in the harbor on Bainbridge Island. And, since it’s not photojournalism or a competition entry, why not?

Allison Johnson

This is a photo I shot almost exactly a year ago, but just under, so I think it still counts. It’s shot with the Canon M10 and EF-M 22mm, which is a nice combination, and nobody checking your bag bats an eye at it.

Mason, Ohio is a suburb north of Cincinnati best known for its amusement park and annual pro tennis tournament. This is sunset on Grandstand Court, which is the second-largest court and has a more intimate feel than the neighboring Center Court. I saw Roger Federer play here once. He hasn’t played on the second-largest court in a long, long time since then.

There are things I don’t love about this photo but so much that I do when I come back to it. It takes me back to warm August nights, the hush over the crowd, the hum from the nearby interstate during quiet moments as points are played. I like focusing on the crowd here rather than the players. We had a day of intense rainstorms and the sunset was spectacular that night. It’s kind of a Field of Dreams moment – this incredible tournament with the world’s best players pretty much in the middle of a field, in what used to be rural Ohio.

I feel like this moment captures what that week in August is like, at least to me, and that kind of thing makes me really excited about taking pictures. It’s both meaningful to me personally, and a lovely, fleeting moment captured and made still. Now that I’m on a photo book-making kick, I feel like this might end up in a tennis photo album soon.

Eugene Hsu

This is a photo of a mother bear and two cubs sharing a salmon at the Katmai National Park and Preserve at Brooks Camp in late 2016. At this remote national park, there are only a small number of people and a huge number of bears. Safety is your number one priority as you always give bears the right of way, which results in a unique wildlife experience. Viewing platforms at various points in the Brooks Falls area give photographers some great angles whether they are hauling around tens-of-thousands of dollars in lenses – or the compact super-zoom Sony RX10 III that I used in this shot.

Staff

We love ducks. They’re a staff favorite. Mainly because there are lots of them at the nearby park and they’re always around when we don’t have any other models. At some point we should probably get them to sign model releases.

We have so many photos of ducks that we couldn’t pick a single favorite, so this was a random selection to represent the multitude of duck portraits we captured last year. Quack on.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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