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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with the Sigma MC-21 SA / EF to L-mount adapter

03 Mar

Hands-on with the Sigma MC-21

One of the items on display at the Sigma booth at this year’s CP+ show in Yokohama was the newly-announced MC-21 adapter that allows Sigma lenses to be used on L mount cameras. There are two versions of the adapter: one that accepts Sigma SA-mount lenses and another that takes Sigma’s EF-mount lenses.

Here’ we’ve got an SA-mount version of Sigma’s 50mm F1.4 Art adapted to a Panasonic S1.

Adds compatibility for 29 Global Vision lenses

The company says both the SA- and EF-to-L adapters can be used with 29 existing Sigma lenses, including 23 full-frame lenses taken from the Global Vision range. These lenses span the Sport, Contemporary and Art series. It features a built-in tripod mount, but don’t be fooled by the pair of allen bolts on this example: we’re told this won’t be removable.

Single-AF only, for now

The MC-21 only allows AF-S mode to be used at present. This is likely to be a result of the existing SA and EF mount lenses being primarily designed for being focused by phase detection, whereas all the current L-mount bodies use variants of contrast-detection AF, which may lead to slower, less reliable performance.

Won’t need firmware updates for future lenses

The inside of the adapter features a black flocking fabric to prevent internal reflections occurring within the adapter tube. An LED on the side of the adapter shows whether the attached lens is compatible and whether it needs a firmware update. Sigma says the MC-21 comes pre-loaded with the data needed for the 29 listed lenses supported at launch but that future lenses will contain the necessary data, so the MC-21’s firmware won’t need updating to support future lenses.

SA and EF mount support

Sigma had the MC-21 on show with representative models from its L-mount Alliance partners: Leica and Panasonic. Although there are references to it around the booth, there’s no sign of even a prototype of the full-frame Foveon camera Sigma has said it will make.

As usual, Sigma makes no claims when it comes to Canon’s EF-mount lenses, but they generally work well with its MC-11 EF-to-E-mount adapter.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Tamron’s trio of full-frame lenses

02 Mar

Introduction

Tamron has its three newly-announced full frame lenses on show at CP+ in Yokohama. It’s a slight odd setup, though. You can look at the lenses in a glass cabinet or you can handle rather more rudimentary samples, with no marking on their switches and their names stick on with labelling tape. Thankfully we were able to convince Tamron to let us photograph the more complete versions.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD

The SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD [Model F045] is the company’s latest fast prime for Canon and Nikon DSLRs. It’s designed for full frame and arrives as a higher-end alternative to its stabilized 35mm F1.8 VC. It uses a conventional ring-type USD (ultrasonic drive) focus motor.

Tamron SP 35mm F1.4 Di USD

The SP 35mm F1.4 is fairly long lens but isn’t excessively wide. The company promises you get the image quality to justify the size. Tamron suggests it’s suitable for ‘nearly every photographic genre, including photojournalism, landscape, sports, street life, wedding groups and family snapshots,’ which is a pretty wide range.

Among the best 35s

Despite its fairly modest proportions (by modern standards, at least), Tamron seems bullish about the SP 35mm’s performance, saying it should by the best of its type. We were certainly impressed by how smooth and solid everything felt, when we handled it. Not a bad way to mark the 40th anniversary of the SP series.

Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD

The Tamron 35-150mm F2.8-4 Di VC OSD [Model A043] is an interesting and somewhat unfamiliar concept: a full-frame lens extending from slightly wide-angle to moderate telepoto focal lengths, while retaining a semi-fast maximum aperture. Tamron describes it as a ‘Portrait Zoom.’

35-150mm F2.8-4: a ‘portrait zoom’

It’s about half the size of a 70-200mm F2.8, and still shorter even when extended, which should make it easy both to carry and to handle. Interestingly, the company says all its functions will remain available when adapted to a mirrorless camera. The sample we saw is fairly early, so we haven’t been able to get a sense for the speed or sound of the ‘Optimized Silent Drive’ micromotor.

35-150mm F2.8-4: handy for APS-C?

Although Tamron doesn’t mention its use on APS-C cameras, we reckon the 52.5-225mm equivalent range it would offer on a Nikon APS-C DSLR, long with the F4.2-6 equiv maximum aperture could be fairly interesting for a range of shooting situations. It wouldn’t offer especially shallow depth-of-field, but might make a temptingly portable midway point between a variable-aperture 55-200mm and the significantly higher cost of a 70-200mm lens, depending on how Tamron prices it.

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD

The final lens we got to see what Tamron’s wide-angle F2.8 zoom for Sony’s E-mount cameras. The 17-28mm F2.8 Di III RXD is a full-frame zoom that makes a lot of sense alongside the relatively small 28-75mm F/2.8 Di III RXD that’s one of our favorite lenses for FE-mount Sonys.

Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 – a compact wide-angle

The Model A046 is based around the same ‘Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive’ focus motor used in the 28-75mm, so should be both quick and quiet. The lens itself is a touch shorter than its normal zoom counterpart but otherwise resembles it pretty closely. The biggest difference is that, unlike the 28-75mm, the 17-28mm F2.8 doesn’t extend when you zoom.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Nikon Z 14-30mm F4 S

28 Feb

CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Nikon Z 14-30mm F4 S

Announced earlier this year, Nikon’s new Z 14-30mm F4 S is a compact wideangle zoom lens for Nikon’s Z-series mirrorless cameras. We just got our hands on a working sample at CP+. Click through for more details and some initial handling impressions.

Locking zoom mechanism

Shown here on a Nikon Z6 (one of two cameras capable of mounting it, the other being the ergonomically identical Z7) this compact lens weighs just 485g (17oz). Like the Z 24-70mm F4, the 14-30mm is most compact when ‘locked’ (indicated by a white dot on the zoom ring).

Size and weight

Unlocking the zoom ring and moving the ring to the 14mm position increases the overall length of the lens, but this is as long as it gets. When zoomed in toward 30mm, the zoom extension is gradually reduced. Compared to the AF-S 14-24mm F2.8 for F-mount, the Z 14-30mm F4 S is a good deal smaller and lighter, and very nicely balanced on the Z6/7.

We’d expect a degree of size and weight reduction considering its more modest continuous aperture, and for many (probably most) photographic purposes, the more portable form factor, and the option of adding a conventional protective filter, will outweigh the penalty in brightness.

Compared to Z 24-70mm F4 S

Shown here alongside an Z 24-70mm F4 S (on the right) the new lens is almost indistinguishable at a casual glance. The biggest difference – literally – is the 82mm filter ring. While in no way unreasonable for a wideangle lens of this kind, it’s substantially larger than the 72mm ring on the front of the Z 24-70mm F4.

Neither lens features the control ring found on the forthcoming Z 24-70mm F2.8 S, but the focus ring can be customized to provide direct control over various functions if required.

Optical construction and 82mm filter thread

The front element of the Z 14-40mm S is only slightly domed, which is what allows for a filter to be attached in the first place. If you take a look at the reflections in this image though, you’ll see the telltale curves of at least one aspherical element in the foremost optical group. In total, the Z 14-30mm contains no fewer than four aspherical elements, and four ED (extra low-dispersion glass).

Lenshood and coatings

While pleasantly compact overall, the Z 14-30mm S comes with a large, shallow hood to help protect against flare. Inside the lens, Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coat provides another layer of defense.

Weather-sealed construction

As with all of Nikon’s Z-mount lenses released so far, the 14-30mm F4 is sealed against dust and moisture. It will be available soon for $ 1299.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Zeiss ZX1 – hands-on with the full-frame Android camera

28 Feb

Hands-on with the Zeiss ZX1

We’ve seen Android-based cameras before, we’ve seen primarily touchscreen-based cameras before and we’ve seen full frame compacts with built-in 35mm lenses, but we’ve never seen anything that combines them, which is essentially what Zeiss’s ZX1 does.

Zeiss’s first entry into the digital camera market has echoes of the touchscreen-based Leica TL, it also can’t help but conjure-up thoughts of Sony’s RX1 cameras, which are also built around 35mm F2 lenses on full frame chips. What it doesn’t feel like, though, are Samsung’s erstwhile Android-based Galaxy cameras or Nikon’s Coolpix S800c, which felt like smartphones with a lens glued onto the front.

We got the chance to handle and explore a pre-production ZX1 at CP+ in Yokohama. Zeiss isn’t yet giving a release date for the ZX1 so it’s difficult to know how close to finished it is, but the camera seemed stable and to have most features in place, so we can at least describe how it’s going to work.

ZX1 Physical controls

There are only five physical control points on the camera: dedicates aperture, shutter speed and ISO dials, a solitary function button and a sprung switch at the base of the shutter speed dial. Everything else is controlled via the touchscreen.

All three dials have ‘A’ positions, if you want to hand-off control of their function to the camera. The shutter speed dial only goes up to 1/1000 sec since that’s where the camera’s leaf shutter tops-out. You’ll also notice there’s an ‘H’ position, though. This switches the camera over to electronic shutter mode, to access shutter speeds up to 1/8000 sec, via the touchscreen. At the other end of the scale there’s a ‘L’ setting for shutter speeds longer than a second. There are Low and High positions on the ISO dial, too.

ZX1 power switch

But before we get into the details of the touchscreen, we should take a closer look at that sprung switch. At first glance, this little nub looks like a power switch, but it’s not quite that simple. Although it is the way you turn the camera on and off, this three-position switch provides access to the ZX1’s video shooting mode, too, and it’s also how you put the camera to sleep.

Because it’s an Android device, the ZX1 doesn’t just leap into life when you flick the power switch forward from being off – it starts to boot up, which just like a smartphone, takes a little while. To avoid you having to go through this ordeal every time you want to take a shot, pulling the switch back doesn’t turn the camera off: instead, like a smartphone it just sends it to sleep: powering down the sensor and screen. Pull the switch back for three seconds and it’ll completely shut the camera down. Push it forward while shooting and you enter video mode. We’re told that in ‘sleep’ mode, your battery should only drain by about 10% over the course of a day.

The function button can be reconfigured. With the current firmware it’s an AEL button but you can also get it to control a couple of other functions, including AFL.

ZX1 Swipe bar

The first thing you’ll notice about the ZX1’s touchscreen is that it’s not flat. Instead there’s a distinct crease (but a lovely, smooth one that we suspect must be quite costly) around 1.5 cm in from the right-hand edge. This angled strip of screen is home to a series of icons, which are used for controlling everything else on the camera. In stills mode they’re displayed on a black background but in video mode they’re overlaid on the preview, which expands out to use the full 16:9 expanse of the screen.

There are four icons to a page and swiping your finger up or down along the control strip scrolls through the available options. The top option on the strip is exposure compensation and tapping it brings up a vertical slider so that you can swipe-in the amount you want to apply. Most of the other options work in the same way, popping up a small virtual slider to adjust the setting. Some options also present three dots in a circle, giving you access to a menu with more detailed settings.

Menus, playback and the Android homescreen

What’s not quite so obvious is that there’s another, un-indicated swipeable region along the right-hand-side of the screen. Swipe up and you’ll enter the camera’s main menu, swipe down and you’ll enter playback mode. Left and right swipes change the level of information shown on the screen.

Only if you swipe down do you get a a little 3-dot icon that then finally lets you see the homepage of familiar circular icons that belie the camera’s Android underpinnings. At present, the available apps are locked-down, for security purposes but will be opened up somewhat when the camera is finished. We doubt that Zeiss will simply allow all Google Play apps to be accessible, though.

ZX1 battery and battery life

All the extra processing to run a more complex operating system has the predictable effect on battery life. The ZX1 packs a pretty sizable battery pack that offers around 3190mAh. At present Zeiss is discussing a figure of around 250 shots per charge when tested in a manner comparable with the CIPA standard. We’ll see whether this improves at all with the last bits of fine-tuning of code, prior to launch.

This image gives you a better idea of the angled right-hand portion of the rear display, which follows the angle of the body shell. It really is beautifully done.

ZX1 construction

Back on the physical side of things, the camera has a solid-feeling metal body. The right-hand edges are wrapped with a thin rubberized coating, which means it feels surprisingly secure in the hand. I found myself rotating my hand to the right to adjust my grip whenever I held the camera, but I’m not sure if this was a conscious attempt to more comfortably reach the shutter button or an unconscious attempt to access a front control wheel that doesn’t exist.

The top left of the camera is the only other non-metal body panel: a plastic cover that looks for all the world like it should conceal a pop-up flash but is actually a ‘window’ in the camera’s metal shell to allow the Wi-Fi to communicate efficiently. Given the large files (~70MB per uncompressed Raw), the Wi-FI needs to work as effectively as possible.

Storage, image management and output

What you can’t see on the ZX1 is that it has no memory card slot. Instead it has a vast 500GB SSD built in. We weren’t told exactly how much of that space is taken up by the operating system, but that’s still a ridiculously large amount of space. To sensibly manage such a large drive, the ZX1 lets you shoot what it calls ‘collections’. Essentially these are image folders on the camera’s internal drive, so that you can easily find the images to took on a particular shoot. They appear as separate folders if you connect a device to the exposed USB C socket on the left-hand side of the camera.

Interestingly, because it has an onboard operating system the ZX1 can act both as a slave device (effectively a computer will see it as a massive memory card, as you’d expect from a conventional camera) or a host device that can read a USB memory stick or hard drive plugged into it. This means you can transfer images from the camera to an external drive without ever having to connect to a computer.

Summing up

One advantage the Zeiss has over previous attempts at Android-based cameras is that it’s not trying to compete on price with less-sophisticated mass-market models, meaning (in theory) fewer corners should need to be cut in terms of processing power or memory.

The company say they’ve also stripped the Android implementation back to the bare essentials and focused on building a camera interface, rather than trying to use any of the operating system’s built-in camera capabilities. And even in this non-final form, this decision appear to have paid-off, with the interface working smoothly.

If anything, it’s Zeiss’s decision to include an ISO dial, rather than an exposure comp control (or an unmarked dial to let you choose which you want access to), that took us longest to adapt to in our brief time with the camera. Zeiss believes that a lot of people will manually set exposure, leaving ISO effectively playing the role of exposure compensation. I guess we’ll see how that feels once we get our hands on a testable camera in the coming months.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Nikon Z 24-70mm F2.8 S

28 Feb

CP+ 2019: Hands-on with Nikon Z 24-70mm F2.8 S

At the annual CP+ photography show in Yokohama, Japan, Nikon has been showing its new Z 24-70mm F2.8 S. The Z 24-70mm F2.8 S sits above the Z 24-70mm F4 in Nikon’s new mirrorless lineup, and offers a native mirrorless alternative to the company’s AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8 for its DSLRs. Promising to be smaller, lighter, and sharper than its forebears, the new lens has been keenly awaited by professional and enthusiast Nikon photographers.

Smaller and lighter than F-mount 24-70mm F2.8

Compared to the AF-S 24-70mm F2.8 for F-mount, the new lens is 25% smaller and 18% lighter. This size comparison shows the difference pretty clearly. Even without the FTZ adapter, it is obvious that the older 24-70mm (top) is a larger lens.

Among the many differences between the two lenses is the zoom ring of the newer zoom, which is much slimmer. in the hand, the weight difference is also obvious. The new lens is a noticeably lighter bit of kit than the older F-mount equivalent, which is a welcome change.

New optical formulation

The optical formula of the Z 24-70mm F2.8 S is totally new, and comprises 17 elements in 15 groups. Two of the elements are Extra Low Dispersion (ED) glass, and four are aspherical. As well as Nikon’s Nano Crystal coating, the 24-70mm introduces a new ‘Arneo’ coat, which is promised to further reduce flare and ghosting.

Fluorine coating

Fluorine coating on the front and rear elements is designed to help make it easier to clean oil and moisture from the outer surfaces of the lens. As you can (just) see in this image, like the older AF-S 24-70mm F2.8, the lens extends when zoomed – taking the hood mounting ring with it.

Control ring

A customizable ‘control ring’, closest to the lens mount joins focus and zoom rings to provide direct control over various functions. Some photographers might find it useful for direct control over aperture, or exposure compensation. There’s potential for the ring to be accidentally bumped, and if this is an issue, the ring can also be disabled.

OLED display

Joining the control ring and customizable ‘L-Fn’ button is an OLED panel, which can display various information, including focal length…

OLED display

Aperture…

OLED display

And focus distance.

‘Multi-Focus System’

A new ‘Multi-Focus System’ has been included in the Z 24-70mm F2.8 S, which appears to be designed along the same lines as recent high-performance Sony GM lenses. In the Z 24-70mm F2.8 S, two autofocus actuators move two focus groups at once, enabling the lens – in Nikon’s words – to “achieve critical focus rapidly from nearly any distance, including close-up shooting”.

Our very limited use of a what judging by the very early serial number we assume is a pre-production sample at the Nikon booth indicates that focus is, indeed, quite fast and responsive in favorable light. More or less comparable, in fact, to the older AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8. In lower light, and with a bit less contrast to bite onto, autofocus response appears very similar to the Z 24-70mm F4 S when mounted on a Z7.

The new Z 24-70mm F2.8 S will be shipping soon, at an MSRP of $ 2299.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands-on with the Sony 135mm F1.8 GM

28 Feb

A relatively lightweight lens for portraiture, weddings, sports

Sony has just announced the FE 135mm F1.8 G Master (GM) lens, its 9th GM lens and 31st native full-frame E-mount lens. According to Sony, the GM line promises both ‘high resolution and exquisite bokeh’, and our initial impressions after shooting with the lens are certainly positive.

Sony tells us the design of this lens is new, and entirely different from the A-mount Sonnar 135mm F1.8 ZA lens. At 950g (2.1lb), it’s 280g (0.62lb) lighter than the Sigma Art 135mm F1.8 lens, which – at 1230g (2.7lb) – weighs 30% more than the Sony. That’s a significant weight difference, and the 135mm GM balances reasonably well on an a9 or Mark III Alpha-series full-frame body.

The relatively lightweight and portable nature of the lens will be appreciated by its target audience: portrait, wedding, and sports shooters looking for subject isolation and fast autofocus performance.

Optical design ensures smooth bokeh, minimal aberrations

Comprised of 13 elements in 10 groups, the Sony FE 135mm GM features an XA (extreme aspheric) element, an ED (extra-low dispersion) and Super ED element. The Super ED and ED glass used in the front element groups replace traditional large and heavy negative elements commonly used to suppress longitudinal spherical aberration, which is most often seen as purple and green fringing in front of and behind the focus plane, respectively. Sony claims this combination of a Super ED and ED element ‘compensate for axial CA, minimize color fringing and maximize overall resolution.’

Onion-ring bokeh is non-existent

Meanwhile, the large XA element mitigates spherical aberration, and helps maximize sharpness. Sony’s 10 nanometer mold precision and other recent improvements ensure that onion-ring bokeh is non-existent. In addition, each XA element produced is individually inspected to ensure smooth bokeh and an 11-blade circular aperture ensures circular out-of-focus highlights even at F4 and beyond.

Flare resistance and ergonomics

Sony’s Nano anti-reflective coating is used to reduce flare and ghosting, which can be particularly problematic when shooting backlit portraits. A fluorine front element repels fingerprints and water.

There’s an aperture ring with 1/3EV increments, as well as two custom ‘Focus Hold’ buttons that can be assigned to any one custom function (they can’t be assigned to different functions). The locations make them convenient to access with your thumb in either landscape or portrait shooting orientation. An AF/MF switch makes quick work of choosing between auto and manual focus.

Fast to focus

The 135mm GM has a close minimum focus distance of 0.7m (2.3ft), offering 0.25x magnification. A focus limiter switch allows you to optimize focus for your shooting situation such that if you’re shooting mostly distant subjects, you can ensure the lens never hunts to a nearby distance. You can also choose a range from minimum focus distance to 2m (6.6 ft) if you’re only shooting close-up portraiture. With the right setting, you’ll almost never experience hunting to extremes, which can otherwise slow down shooting on such a shallow depth-of-field prime.

Two focus groups can move independently of one another in a ‘floating’ design for fast, accurate autofocus

Speaking of focus, four XD (‘extreme dynamic’) linear induction motors replace the previous piezoelectric design of Sony’s ‘Direct Drive SSM’ system. These motors are capable of moving larger, heavier elements, and it’s Sony’s first lens to feature four of them driving two focus groups. The two groups – one in the front and one in the rear – can move independently of one another in a ‘floating’ design, yielding fast, accurate and quiet autofocus (and we can confirm that in our experience, it’s the fastest focusing lens of its type). A new control algorithm helps ‘maximize control response and ensure quiet, low-vibration AF’ – we assume this is at least in part related to the lens’ ability to receive and execute instructions at the high rates the a9 is capable of (60 instructions / second).

Features video shooters will love

The dedicated aperture ring is ‘de-clickable’, making smooth changes to depth-of-field in video possible. The focus ring offers a linear response in manual focus mode, making focus pulls easy during video shooting. The linear response will also be appreciated by stills shooters accustomed to the focus response of traditional DSLR lenses.

Magnesium alloy chassis, dust and moisture resistant

Sony claims the 135mm GM lens has a similar kind of internal construction as on the FE 400mm F2.8 GM lens. It has a magnesium-alloy chassis, and Sony claims dust and moisture resistance. A rubber gasket around the mount helps keep water from entering your camera internals.

The FE 135mm F1.8 GM will ship in late April for $ 1900 USD / $ 2600 CAD. If you haven’t already, you can view our sample gallery here to get a better idea of what this lens is capable of.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Hands-on with the Ricoh GR III

23 Feb

The wait is over

Fans of the Ricoh GR, which was announced way back in 2013 (and preceded by both smaller-sensored and film GRs,) have been waiting a long time for an updated model. Sure, there was the GR II in 2015, but the biggest new feature on that model was Wi-Fi.

Four years later, the true replacement of the GR is here, in the Ricoh GR III. It has a higher-res sensor, a redesigned lens, in-body image stabilization and a hybrid AF system, to name just a few things. And Ricoh did all that without increasing the size of the camera, a favorite of street photographers.

New 24MP sensor and in-body stabilization

The GR III now has a 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor, up from 16MP on its predecessors. It offers an ISO range of 100 – 102,400 and uses 14-bit DNG as its Raw format.

Probably the most significant addition to the GR III is in-body image stabilization. By shifting its sensor, the GR III is able to provide up to four stops of shake reduction, according to Ricoh.

While the new 24MP sensor has no anti-aliasing filter, the GR III can take advantage of its shake reduction system to simulate one. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Pentax DSLRs have had this feature for many years.

Ricoh has also made an effort to keep dust off of the sensor, which was an issue for some owners of previous GR models. Like modern DSLR and mirrorless cameras, it uses ultrasonic vibrations to literally shake the dust away.

Redesigned lens and on-sensor phase detection

While it maintains the same 28mm equivalent focal length and F2.8 maximum aperture of the previous GR models, the GR III’s lens has been totally redesigned. It has six elements in four groups, with two of the elements being aspherical.

The lens has a built-in two-stop neutral density filter, which can now be set to engage automatically, meaning you can keep using the maximum aperture in bright light. The maximum shutter speed on the GR III, which continues to use a leaf shutter, is 1/4000 sec.

However, because it’s a leaf shutter, it can’t maintain this maximum speed when shooting at F2.8. Instead the maximum shutter speed tops out at 1/2500 sec at F2.8 (1/3EV improved, compared with the GR II). This, combined with the 2-stop ND and near-silent operation should mean you’ll rarely find yourself limited by the absence of a full-electronic shutter mode.

As you can see from the above photo, the lens ring can be removed so the optional GW-4 wide-angle lens can be attached. This brings the focal length of the lens down to 21mm equiv. and it’s a new optic designed to match the GR III’s new lens – so sorry, if you own the wide adapter for the GR or GR II, it won’t work on the new camera.

Another big feature on the GR III is on-sensor phase detection autofocus. We don’t know much about the system at this point, such as the number of points or frame coverage, but we hope that the combination of the updated AF system and new lens will give the GR III’s focus speeds a boost.

Touchscreen and rear controls

The back of GR III has been significantly redesigned. It includes a 3″ touchscreen LCD for the first time in the series’ history. This make selecting an AF point quicker and easier than on GRs past. Touch operation is responsive, but menu navigation can be a little awkward as the GUI isn’t designed for fingers.

Long time fans of the GR might miss the auto exposure/focus lock and vertical rocker switch from previous models. But we can assure you the camera has a familiar form factor, size and weight. The familiar rocker control is still directly under your thumb for applying exposure compensation.

Top plate controls and missing pop-up flash

The top of the GR III is nearly unchanged from recent models. It retains the iconic pill-shaped shutter release. Top plate controls, including the vertical dial, on/off switch and mode dial, are also unchanged.

We’d come to know and love the small tilt-up flash found on previous GR models, sadly it did not find its way into the GR III. Good thing the hot shoe did.

Another small change: TAv mode has been removed as an option from the mode dial. Fortunately, the basic premise of TAv should be achievable using Auto ISO in Manual exposure mode. Anyone familiar with the Pre-APS-C GR Digital models probably won’t notice this absence.

Video and connectivity

The GR III offers modest video specs, with the ability to capture 1080/60p footage. Recording is capped at 25 mins or 4GB of footage. The camera includes a built-in stereo mic, but not microphone or headphone sockets.

While the GR II had Wi-Fi, Ricoh has given the GR III Bluetooth, as well. This should make pairing a bit quicker while allowing for a constant connection between camera and smartphone.

Battery and charging

The GR III’s battery life has taken a serious nosedive, dropping 38% over the GR II. It offers a CIPA-rated 200 shots per charge which isn’t great. Our first attempt shooting with this new model gave us less than an hour-and-a-half of shooting time, so that’s something we’ll keep a close eye on when we get our hands on a camera running final firmware.

Since the new DB-110 battery is more powerful than the one on the GR II, it’s likely that the IBIS system is the main culprit for the drop.

On a more positive note, the GR I/II’s proprietary charging port has been replaced by USB-C. I supports USB-PD which allows it to be powered by external power banks.

Limited edition GR III and accessories

The GR III will be shipping in mid-March for $ 899 / £799 ($ 100/£200 more than the previous version). In some regions, that snazzy blue lens ring pictured above will be included.

Accessories include the WG-4 wide-angle conversion lens, the GV-1 and GV-2 optical viewfinders and the usual assortment of cases and straps.

First impressions

There was some concern when Ricoh first unveiled mockups of the GR III, with long-time fans of the series concerned about the impact of the control changes that have been introduced.

Our first impressions are that the main command dial and rear jog control are just where you expect them, so the shooting experience isn’t too significantly changed. The loss of dedicated buttons will take some getting used to, but we found we still had access to the things we change most.

The touchscreen makes it much easier to quickly position the AF point than on previous GRs. At least for now there’s a considerable lag if you use the rear screen for touch shutter. Even with the new focus system, there’s still a noticeable pause even if you’ve placed the AF point and use the shutter button to fire. We’ll see whether responsiveness picks up with final firmware.

Of course the alternative is to use Snap Focus to keep the lens focused at a predetermined point. Which, if you’ve used an GR before, may already be your preferred way of working.

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Hands-on with the Canon EOS RP

16 Feb

Introduction

The Canon EOS RP is the entry-level body in Canon’s full frame range of mirrorless cameras. Its launch price of $ 1299 is the lowest of any digital full frame camera, a whole $ 400 below the initial cost of the first Sony a7.

It’s overtly aimed at upgraders from smaller-sensor cameras and first-time buyers of ILCs. To this end, the camera has the approachable user interface from Canon’s recent Rebel and EOS M models, but also offers two well-placed control dials for quick operation as you grow into the camera.

Body

The EOS RP is essentially a smaller, more conventional-looking variant of the EOS R. It has a polycarbonate shell on a magnesium alloy chassis, rather than the more durable-feeling magnesium alloy outer body of its bigger brother. It still fits well in the hand but there’s an optional add-on riser that bolts onto the base of the camera if you find your little finger extending beyond the bottom of the grip. This riser also helps the camera sit more stably on flat surfaces if you’ve got one of the system’s larger lenses mounted.

The two dials are well positioned if you have your hand in the shooting position, with the rear dial sitting under the top of your thumb and the front dial placed just above and behind the shutter button. The rear shoulder dial might be unfamiliar for anyone coming from high-end Canons but it’ll be familiar to anyone arriving from other systems, and will be a welcome addition for most Rebel users, who’re used to a single dial.

In addition, all of Canon’s RF lenses have a customizable control dial around them, meaning you can easily access up to three exposure parameters, if you wish.

Ports/Battery

The EOS RP has both headphone and mic sockets, along with a mini HDMI connector. It also has a USB-C socket which can be used for both data transfer and charging. Disappointingly, it’s only a USB type 2.0 interface, so don’t expect blazing data transfer rates.

The battery is the same LP-E17 unit used on Canon’s smaller mirrorless and Rebel models. It holds a relatively modest 6.3Wh of energy which yields a similarly modest 250 shots per charge (210 through the viewfinder). This isn’t good, but also isn’t quite as bad as it might sound: most users are likely to get more shots than this and maybe even a multiple of this number, depending on how they use the camera.

For a camera aimed primarily at casual shooters, it should last a decent amount of time, but if they do find themselves getting more into photography and shooting more intensively or use the Wi-Fi a lot, it’ll definitely be worth having a USB lead or spare battery to-hand lest it becomes frustrating.

Sensor

The EOS RP is based around a 26MP full frame sensor that uses Canon’s Dual Pixel design. This uses split pixels to give the camera’s focusing system an understanding of depth. We’ll discuss the autofocus performance later, but it helps ensure the RP can focus well with both its own, native lenses and adapted EF lenses.

We’re told the chip in the EOS RP is similar to the one in the EOS 6D II, which means its performance is likely to be a little off the pace. We’d expect it to be excellent at high ISOs but to have comparatively limited dynamic range at low ISO settings. So don’t expect to be able to shoot wide dynamic range scenes where you’d need to pull shadow information into the image: the tones not already included in the JPEG images will be noisier and less usable than contemporary rivals.

That said, this camera seems primarily targeted at users who’ll be mainly shooting JPEGs or those not trying to squeeze every last drop out of their Raws.

Viewfinder/screen

The EOS RP has a 2.36M dot OLED viewfinder. As you’d expect, this isn’t as detailed as the 3.69M dot finders used in the EOS R and more expensive models but it’s very useable. So don’t expect a near-optical-viewfinder experience, but it’s detailed and fast enough to refresh that it’s more than good enough for framing and assessing exposure (which an optical finder won’t help you with).

The rear monitor is a fully-articulated touchscreen. This lets you pull the screen all the way out alongside the camera, which can be a nice for shooting on a tripod, for waist-level shooting or for video capture. It also has the convenience that you can flip and fold the screen to face inwards, to protect it if you’re slinging it in a bag or glove-compartment.

The touchscreen operates as a touchpad for positioning the AF point, which is by far the most convenient way of doing so on the RP. You can choose whether the response is relative (so a left-swipe moves the point left from its current position) or absolute (swiping to the mid-point of the screen places the AF point at the middle of the image). If you find your nose risks touching the screen or blocking your access to the screen, you can limit the active area to a half or quadrant of the panel. The four-way controller can also be set to move the AF area – it’s slow, but a good way to do so with precision.

User Interface

The EOS RP includes the ‘Feature Assist’ mode from Canon’s recent Rebel DSLRs and EOS M mirrorless cameras. This indicates when to use each of the camera’s exposure modes. There’s also the ‘Creative Assist’ mode that gives a touchscreen interface for adjusting brightness, contrast and saturation.

The RP gains a comparable interface for results-orientated processing of its Raw files, if you decide you want to warm or cool the image, relative to the way the JPEG first came out, or if you want to convert to black and white, for instance. Again, the more technically-inclined users can still access all the underlying settings (for batch-processing multiple images, if they want).

Connectivity

As you’d expect, the EOS RP features Bluetooth-mediated Wi-Fi, meaning that it will near-instantly recognize a smartphone that’s been Bluetooth paired and fire-up a Wi-Fi connection between them when you hit a button in Canon’s ‘Camera Connect’ app (on Android, at least – iOS can be awkward about such things).

The Wi-Fi connection itself takes a little longer but the app does a good job of showing you that it’s making the connection, rather than just leaving you wondering whether anything’s happening.

It’s pretty clear that Canon expects RP users to be sharing a lot of their images, either on social media or over email, so the ability to send the camera’s attractive JPEGs straight to a phone is important.

There will also be an iOS version of Canon’s Digital Photo Professional Raw-processing software available for the latest iPads. This is designed specifically to convert and adjust the CR3 files produced by recent Canon models.

Autofocus

For the most part, the EOS RP’s autofocus is a match for that of the EOS R, which is to say that it’s pretty quick, especially with those RF lenses build around Nano USM focus motors. We found subject tracking to be fairly effective, though not to the degree that we’d use it all the time (picking a subject then recomposing). The touchscreen makes it easy to choose your AF point or subject to track, so it’s all pretty friendly.

The big news on the RP is that the pupil-detection aspect of the ‘Face + Tracking’ mode now works in both continuous (Servo) AF mode, as well as single shot. Admittedly, a slight labeling glitch and tiny on-screen icons can make it a little tricky to tell when you’ve turned it on. Once engaged it finds eyes fairly well and lets you press the left and right directions on the four-way controller to pick which eye the camera should focus on.

Focus stacking

The EOS RP gains a focus bracketing function, which is especially useful for close-up and macro photography. This lets you shoot between 1 and 999 images and specify a focus increment that will be applied between each shot. The camera can even conduct exposure smoothing if the light is at all variable between shots.

The images themselves have to be merged using Canon’s DPP software, where you’re given the choice of which regions you want to be kept in sharp focus (including the whole image, if you want).

Video

Video is one of the areas we don’t expect the EOS RP to shine. Unlike the EOS 6D Mark II, it can shoot 4K/24p video, though it reverts to contrast detection AF. Thie footage is taken from the central 1.7x crop region of the sensor, which means the footage will likely be noisier than if it were taken from the whole sensor. The crop will also make it more difficult to find a lens that can offer a wide-angle field of view.

Other than 4K, the camera can shoot 1080 at up to 60p, and can conduct Eye-AF while shooting video (there’s no 24p option, though). We’ve not been that struck by the 1080 quality from recent Canons but, if nothing else, the digital IS (which comes at the cost of a crop) is good enough to allow hand-held shooting. As mentioned, you get a mic input and headphone out. This, combined with Dual Pixel AF, ensures the EOS RP should be a solid-enough camera for basic video shooting and maybe a bit of vlogging (though it wouldn’t be our first choice).

Lenses

Perhaps the main limitation for the EOS RP is its introduction into such a new system. It pairs quite nicely with the RF 24-105mm F4L IS zoom, creating a large-ish combination but one that covers a really useful zoom range. The only problem is that the ‘L’ designation ends up denoting a lens that’s almost as expensive as the RP itself.

The RF 35mm F1.8 is a comparatively good match, with its small size and $ 500 price tag, but beyond that, the current RF lens lineup (and much of that just revealed) end up being rather large or pro-orientated for a $ 1300 camera body. Though, frankly, the compact size of the 70-200mm F2.8 makes it pretty tempting, whatever you choose to mount it on, almost irrespective of how much Canon chooses to charge for it.

It’s presumably this dearth of affordable lenses that has prompted Canon to bundle the EOS RP with the more affordable EF 24-105mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM. The affordability is somewhat undermined by the need to include an adapter in the bundle, but this may increase its appeal for those users planning to use other Canon DSLR lenses.

It’ll be interesting to see how Canon prices its forthcoming 24-240mm travel lens [Pictured in mock-up form]. Mounted on the EOS RP it’ll make a handy do-anything pairing, though unless it’s significantly less expensive, we’d be tempted to stick with the 24-105mm F4L, since it works really nicely.

Conclusion

The Canon RP is based around a sensor we weren’t that impressed by, and we’re expecting plenty of ‘no IS, no purchase’ comments below our coverage, but we think it gets quite a lot right.

It’s less ambitious than the EOS R but by combining twin command dials with the excellent Feature Assist interface and a really keen price tag, it ends up looking rather charming.

There are lots of specs that enthusiasts will turn their noses up at (“2.5fps shooting in ‘Tracking Priority,’ LOL”), but there’s also a lot the EOS RP gets right. Not least the images it produces.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX medium-format

11 Feb

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

Announced back at Photokina in September 2018, Fujifilm’s next-generation GFX medium-format camera is getting closer to becoming reality. Sporting a 100MP BSI CMOS sensor and built-in image stabilization, the GFX 100 represents a significant evolution of the GFX 50S, which debuted the basic body shape and control philosophy of Fujifilm’s current medium-format lineup.

We’re at the Gulf Photo Pro event in Dubai, where Fujifilm gave us a sneak peek at the first working prototype of the upcoming camera, to see for ourselves how it’s shaping up. Click through for a closer look.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

This is an early prototype, with many key features in-place and working, but not all. This particular camera is literally ‘unfinished’ in another sense, because it’s still waiting for its final cladding. The current smooth rubber covering will be replaced by a textured finish, similar to that used on the GFX 50S.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

At a casual glance, the GFX 100 looks a lot like a GFX 50S with a lighter gray finish and battery grip attached, and from an ergonomic point of view that’s not too far off being accurate, in many respects. The ‘grip’ is integral to the camera, providing more space inside the body for large components like the mechanical shutter and IBIS unit, which has to stabilize a sensor 1.7X larger than full-frame (43.8mm x 32.9mm).

With the relatively lightweight GF 45mm F2.8 attached, the GFX 100 feels more like a professional full-frame DSLR than a medium-format mirrorless camera. Exact dimensions and final weight are still secret, but my sense from handling the GFX 100 with the 45mm F2.8 is that it has about the same kind of heft as something like a Nikon D5 or Canon EOS-1DX II with a fast prime attached.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

From the top, the GFX 100 starts looking a lot less like the GFX 50S that went before it. It’s blockier and a little more industrial-looking for a start, and lacks the retro-style dials that are a characteristic of previous GF and X-series cameras.

A large high-contrast information panel dominates the upper right of the top-plate, while a large 3-position dial on the left is used to switch the camera between movie, stills and multiple exposure modes. The ‘drive’ button at its center allows you to determine your desired frame-rate, in combination with the camera’s control dials.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

The top screen on this prototype is not fully activated, but it will show a comprehensive status display of major exposure parameters, including exposure compensation. It is hoped that in this way, users of the new camera won’t miss the large shutter speed and ISO dials of its predecessor too badly.

A major and very welcome change in the GFX 100 compared to the earlier 50S is the electronic viewfinder. At Fujifilm’s request I have to be a little vague about the exact specifications of the finder, but I can tell you that in terms of clarity and resolution it compares well to the excellent EVF in the X-H1, and is free from the pixelation and noticeable lag which affected the finder of the 50S, especially when autofocus was initiated.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

Just like the GFX 50S, the viewfinder unit is removable, and will be interchangeable with the viewfinder from the earlier camera. However, GFX 50S users hoping to save some money might be disappointed – when the GFX 50S finder is attached to the GFX 100, they won’t get the benefit of the greatly improved resolution of the newer EVF.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

From the rear, more differences compared to the GFX 50S are obvious. The focus mode dial has been swapped from the left to the right of the viewfinder, playback has been relocated to the lower right of the screen, and the 4-way controller of the older camera has been deleted entirely.

As well as the larger top-mounted display there’s an all-new OLED ribbon display on the back, below the main LCD. Not activated in this prototype, the intention is that this display will serve to show the status of key camera settings. I was hoping it might be touch sensitive, but apparently not.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

The rear LCD assembly isn’t quite flush with the rest of the rear controls but it sticks out a lot less than the original GFX, partly because of the relocation of the large battery to below the screen, inside the grip.

Like the GFX 50S, the main rear display is tilting and touch-sensitive, which is good because also like the 50S, the small rear joystick (which is duplicated in the GFX 100) is rather small and recessed. Setting AF point by touch might be a little easier in some situations, especially when the camera is tripod mounted.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

Here’s a closer look at the duplicated controls on the integrated vertical grip. While the main shutter dial has an on/off switch collar, the same control on the secondary shutter release serves to lock/unlock the button.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

Inside the ‘grip’ is a tray which accepts two of the same NP-T125 batteries first introduced in the GFX 50S. Battery life figures have yet to be confirmed, but I’m told that Fujifilm is aiming for around the same rating as the older camera, i.e., ~400 shots (CIPA) per single charge, which would double presumably to ~800 shots when both batteries are loaded into the GFX 100.

While two batteries will double the battery life, the GFX 100 will work perfectly happily with only one.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

Two batteries, and two card slots, but somewhat surprisingly, both are SD. Despite its high pixel count Fujifilm has opted not to include support for the next-generation XQD/CFexpress media in the GFX 100, but apparently this is being discussed for future products in the GFX lineup.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

I/O ports are as expected, with microphone and headphone jacks, plus HDMI and USB, courtesy of a USB 3.0 Type C port. A traditional PC socket is positioned on the side of the camera, under a threaded cap (just visible here between the two open port covers.

While unconfirmed, the lightening bolt symbol on the port door suggests that it will be possible to charge the GFX 100 over USB. I suspect that to operate the camera under remote power, the 15V DC IN socket will need to come into play.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

At the heart of the GFX 100 is a newly developed 100MP BSI CMOS sensor, which at a component level we understand is similar to the sensor used in the X-T3 . In addition to extra pixels, the new sensor also incorporates phase-detection AF pixels (details still TBD) and support for 4K/30, 10bit, 4:2:0 video internally and 10bit 4:2:2 externally via HDMI. Perhaps most importantly, from the perspective of many photographers is in-camera stabilization – a first for medium format.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

While the exact details of expected performance are still secret, a quick hotel conference room handheld shooting test with the GF 45mm F2.8 delivered plenty of sharp images at 1/20sec and a couple of acceptably sharp shots at shutter speeds as low as 1/6sec. Rest assured that as soon as we get our hands on a final camera, this is something we really want to test.

In theory, we’re told that the GFX 100 could support sensor-shift features in future, such as higher-resolution capture. While such modes probably won’t make it into the initial shipping product, there’s a chance that extra features could be added via firmware.

EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with Fujifilm 100MP GFX

Something else we really want to test is the GFX 100’s autofocus performance. In another highly unscientific hotel conference room test, AF speed appears very good, and certainly greatly improved over the original GFX 50S. This is certainly due in part to the new phase-detection autofocus system, and also the substantially more powerful on-board processor of the higher-resolution camera. Also, compared to the ‘hair trigger’ of some current Fujifilm cameras, the shutter button response on this prototype GFX 100 has a little more travel, and feels similar in responsiveness to a Nikon or Canon DSLR.

Pictured here is Makoto Oishi, who is in charge of the GFX 100’s development. His team still has a lot of work still to do, but he is confident that the camera will be available on-time, in late spring or early summer. Price is still to be confirmed, but is expected to be in the region of $ 10,000.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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EXCLUSIVE: Hands-on with upcoming Fujifilm XF and GF lenses

10 Feb

Hands-on with upcoming Fujifilm XF and GF lenses

We’re in Dubai, where Fujifilm is showing off pre-production and prototype samples of three upcoming lenses – the GF 50mm F3.5 – a compact, lightweight standard lens for medium format – the XF 16mm F2.8, and the XF 16-80mm F4 – both of which designed for the company’s range of APS-C format X-series cameras.

Click through for an exclusive first look at all three, including detailed specifications.

Fujinon GF 50mm F3.5 LM WR

First up is the GF 50mm F3.5, which was placed on Fujifilm’s GF roadmap back in September. Shown here on the medium-format GFX 50R, the GF 50mm F3.5 covers a focal length equivalent to 40mm in 35mm terms, making it a so-called ‘normal’ standard lens. In terms of subject isolation, you can think of it as offering F2.8 full-frame equivalent depth-of-field, thanks to the reverse 0.79x crop factor. As you can see, for a lens designed for a modern medium-format system, it’s impressively small.

Even more impressive when you consider that the GF 50mm F3.5 contains nine elements in six groups, including one aspherical element. Note the small front element – more on that in a minute.

Fujinon GF 50mm F3.5 LM WR

An ideal companion for the (relatively) compact GFX 50R, the 50mm F3.5 provides a versatile and very portable solution for day to day photography. Autofocusing performance seems good, from our brief time with this pre-production sample, and focus acquisition is fast and quiet. Manual focus (as with all GF lenses) is ‘focus by wire’, via the slim focus ring towards the front of the lens.

Fujinon GF 50mm F3.5 LM WR

This shot shows the rear element of the GF 50mm F3.5. Compare this with the markedly small front element, and you might spot a theme with modern prime lenses designed for mirrorless systems. The short flange back and wide diameters of dedicated mirrorless camera mounts compared to legacy SLR systems allow optical designers to include large rear elements, positioned close to the imaging surface. Large rear elements allow for the potential to keep light rays at the peripheries of the image somewhat perpendicular to the sensor – in other words, less oblique. As such, higher resolution, lower chromatic aberration, and less vignetting can be achieved nearer to the edges of the frame. This can also mitigate the need for complex software corrections.

Furthermore, by making the rear elements of lenses like this slightly convex relative to the imaging surface, light that reflects back from the sensor can mostly be bounced outwards, beyond the imaging area. This reduces the risk of ‘ghosting’ when bright highlights appear in a scene.

The GF 50mm F3.5 will be available later this year, pricing still TBD.

Fujinon XF 16mm F2.8 R LM WR

Next up is the XF 16mm F2.8 for Fujifilm’s X-series APS-C format cameras, which was added to Fujifilm’s XF roadmap last summer. Equivalent to a 24mm F4.2 lens in full-frame terms, the XF 16mm is a tiny lens, perfect for street photography and landscape work, where portability is more important than a bright aperture.

Fujinon XF 16mm F2.8 R LM WR

Similar in general styling to Fujifilm’s 23mm, 35mm and 50mm F2 primes, the XF 16mm F2.8 really is tiny, and weighs in at only 155g. Despite its compact dimensions, it is sealed against dust and moisture incursion – you can just make out the rubber gasket around the lens mount in this shot.

Fujinon XF 16mm F2.8 R LM WR

Optical construction of the XF 16mm F2.8 comprises 10 elements in eight groups, including one aspherical element. Autofocus from this near-final sample (we tried it on an X-H1) is very fast and effectively silent. It will be available next month, pricing still TBD.

Fujinon XF 16-80mm F4 R LM WR

Finally, here’s the XF 16-80mm F4. Also added the roadmap last summer, the 16-80mm is optically stabilized and covers an equivalent focal length range of 24-120mm, with equivalent depth-of-field of a F6.0 lens. It’s a versatile standard ‘do everything’ zoom lens for Fujifilm’s XT-class mirrorless cameras. As you can see, at its 16mm position this lens is highly compact.

Fujinon XF 16-80mm F4 R LM WR

Zoomed in all the way to 80mm however, it almost doubles in size. Inside the barrel you’ll find 16 elements in 12 groups, including no fewer than four aspherical elements and one ED. The relatively large front element supports a 72mm filter thread.

Fujinon XF 16-80mm F4 R LM WR

Like the XF 16mm F2.8, the XF 16-80mm F4 is ‘WR’ (weather resistant). Pricing and availability has yet to be confirmed.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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