Chinese lens manufacturer Shenyang Zhongyi Optics has redesigned the optical construction of is Turbo Adapter that allows Micro Four Thirds users to mount Nikon and Canon lenses to their cameras. The details are slight, but the company says the configuration is completely different, although still using four elements, and new coatings have been applied to reduce flare and increase contrast. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Canon has announced the EF 35mm F1.4L II USM, the second generation of its popular wide-angle prime. It uses newly designed Blue Spectrum Refractive Optics, which claim to reduce chromatic aberration better than any other existing technology. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The Pixelmator app for iPad and iPhone has received another update, ensuring it remains one of the most powerful mobile image editing tools in the App Store. Introduced in version 2.0.2 is Dynamic Touch, which automatically adjusts the brush to the surface area of your finger that’s touching the screen. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
As promised last November, Sony has announced two new full-frame A-mount lenses. Compared to their 2008-vintage predecessors the Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM II and 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM II feature improved image quality, less ghosting and flare, and a four-fold improvement in subject tracking speed, according to Sony. Another addition are seals that should make these lenses dust and water resistant. More details
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Nikon has announced that it will release new firmware for three of its DSLRs, improving their ability to communicate with the Atomos Shogun and Ninja-2 external video recording devices. The cameras concerned are the Nikon D4S, the D810 and the D750 and the update is slated to arrive this summer. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Microsoft’s Research’s Interactive Visual Media Group has announced the release of Image Composite Editor 2.0. The software’s latest update, taking advantage of the company’s Photosynth technology, can seamlessly stitch together ‘gigapixel images’, create panoramas from video, and automatically fill in areas of missing photographs. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The Panasonic Lumix GM5 is an almost unthinkably small Micro Four Thirds camera with a 16MP sensor, 3″ 921k-dot touch screen, 1080/60p HD video and built-in Wi-Fi. It follows in the already tiny footsteps of the GM1, adding a built-in EVF and more external controls to that camera’s point-and-shoot approach. Does it stand tall in a competitive enthusiast mirrorless class? Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Flickr Staff Pre Marissa Mayer
Flickr Staff Today
Look at the two screenshots above. I took the first one in April of 2012, a few months before Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo. The second one I took earlier today.
Between pre-Mayer 2012 and today, Flickr’s staff has grown from 39 people working on Flickr to 109.
About half of the 39 working on Flickr in 2012 are no longer on the team, which means that over 80% of the new, much larger team has been built since Mayer took over at Yahoo.
After years of layoffs, CEO neglect, and lackluster product development, Flickr is back in a big way, firing on all cylinders.
Under solid new leadership by former Googler Bernardo Hernandez, Flickr is getting strong and competitive again in photo sharing.
All Flickr users have been given a terabyte of free high res photo storage.
Flickr is making new smart and interesting acquisitions around the photo sharing space.
Flickr recently relaunched a new and much better received photo page.
Flickr’s new mobile app is among the best of breed with a 4.5 star rating in Apple’s app store.
Flickr more recently has been ramping up photowalks and community again and recently hinted at future plans to help photographers monetize their photo collections.
Marissa Mayer is the first Yahoo CEO to publicly have a Flickr photo page herself.
I’ve had a few different opportunities to interact with staffers at the new and improved Flickr over the past few months and have come away each time super impressed at the new life that seems to flow through the team.
Unlike the old Flickr, where staffers were demoralized over layoffs and hostile with users, the new Flickr feels incredibly positive and optimistic about Flickr’s future. A bright team of really smart engineers, designers and product managers are as enthusiastic as I’ve ever seen. The energy and morale at Flickr feels very high right now.
I think the future really looks bright for Flickr and am happy to see the sort of rebirth and revitalization that is taking place there. While there still is a ton of work that can be done to make Flickr even better, I’m more confident than ever that Yahoo is going about it the right way and that Flickr, for the first time since being acquired by Yahoo, is in capable hands.
Former Yahoo Jeff Minich recently wrote a post defending many of the ways that Mayer has improved Yahoo since taking over there as CEO. In it, he makes an important point that in order to really improve a tech company, you need to grow it. You can’t just lay people off to save money.
Minich makes the point also that even as Yahoo has hired/acquired many new talented engineers, they’ve also managed the slackers out. I think the growth and change in employee composition at Flickr is a visible example of this — and I think the improvement in the product (especially in mobile) shows for it.
If you are a photographer and have been neglecting your Flickr account, I’d encourage you to check back in and see where things are headed going forward.
You can find me on Flickr here.
Thomas Hawk Digital Connection
Nikon’s recently announced flagship V3 1 System camera gave us a look at the latest technology the company has been working on, and many of those features have trickled down to the new, less-expensive J4. The camera features an 18MP CX-format sensor, an improved Hybrid AF system with phase detect points across nearly 100% of the frame, 20 fps burst shooting with continuous AF and, of course, Wi-Fi. Learn more about the Nikon 1 J4.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)