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Posts Tagged ‘product’

Sigma issues product advisory for its 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 and 70-200mm F2.8 Sports lenses

10 Jun

Sigma has issued a lens product advisory for its 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM and 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM lenses.

According to the advisory, posted below in its entirety, Sigma has ‘found a phenomenon whereby when pressing the shutter button on the camera body, it may occasionally stop operating and not respond to the reoperation.’

Due to this ‘phenomenon’ (someone’s been looking at Canon’s product advisories), Sigma says it will offer free lens firmware updates free of charge to customers with affected products within the following serial number ranges:

Sigma 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Sports for Sigma, Canon EF and Nikon F Mount

Serial No.53824160 or earlier

Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM | Sports for Sigma, Canon EF and Nikon F Mount

Serial No.53846990 or earlier

Sigma notes its USB Dock can’t be used for this firmware update ‘as it requires an adjustment to optimize each lens individually.’ So, if you’re noticing your lens having this issue and it falls within the serial numbers, Sigma requests you contact an authorized Sigma subsidiary/distributor who will then direct you to take the proper steps to get the issue fixed. You can find a full list on Sigma’s World Network webpage.

We spoke with a technician at Sigma America who said lenses that aren’t experiencing the issue don’t need to be sent in at the time and in the event a lens still under warranty does have the issue occur down the road, Sigma will still provide the firmware update free of charge.

Sigma has also noted that some products within the serial number ranges provided have already had their firmware updated. As shown in the above graphic, units with a black dot sticker above the barcode of the box have already been updated.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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The North Face flooded Wikipedia with product images to manipulate Google ranking

05 Jun

Last week, The North Face and ad agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made published a video detailing the company’s exploitation of Wikipedia as part of an ad campaign. The exploitation, according to the company’s video, involved swapping Wikipedia images of various destinations with new images that prominently featured The North Face gear.

The oddly boastful video puts forth the following question: How can a brand be the first on Google without paying anything for it? The rest of the video details how The North Face pulled off its stunt, including sending photographers to capture original images of people using the company’s gear in ‘adventurous’ locations.

The Wikipedia pages for these high-tourism destinations, the video notes, often appear at the top of the first Google search results page; the first images found on these pages are often at or near the top position on Google Image Search, as well.

As part of its manipulation, The North Face swapped the first images in these Wikipedia pages with its own original photos of the destinations — ones that prominently featured apparel, backpacks, and other products.

In pulling this stunt, the video brags that The North Face was able to manipulate Google Image Search into ranking its promotional content near the top of its results for these destinations.

A screenshot of the Guarita State Park Wikipedia page before North Face added its own photos.

The companies seemingly acknowledged the unacceptable nature of the activity to AdAge, reportedly stating the ‘biggest obstacle’ for the ad campaign was replacing the images ‘without attracting the attention of Wikipedia moderators.’ As well, the video at one point states that The North Face was ‘collaborating’ with Wikipedia in this effort, something Wikimedia Foundation addressed in a blog post.

A screenshot of the Guarita State Park Wikipedia page after North Face added its own photos.

The non-profit organization called the ad campaign an unethical manipulation of Wikipedia, saying, ‘They have risked your [the public’s] trust in our mission for a short-lived marketing stunt.’

‘Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation did not collaborate on this stunt, as The North Face falsely claims,’ the non-profit states in its blog, comparing the ad campaign’s image manipulation to ‘defacing public property.’ As expected, Wikipedia proceeded to remove some of The North Face’s images from articles and to crop its logo out of other images.

Wikimedia Foundation said:

When The North Face exploits the trust you have in Wikipedia to sell you more clothes, you should be angry. Adding content that is solely for commercial promotion goes directly against the policies, purpose and mission of Wikipedia to provide neutral, fact-based knowledge to the world.

For its part, The North Face published a lackluster apology on Twitter, stating:


Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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5 Attributes of a Great Product Photo for Your Online Store

07 May

As an online store owner, you are constantly striving to design your shop in the most appealing way to your customers. And the first step to success is to make your product photos shine bright like a diamond. Why Exactly You DO Need Great Product Photos for Your Online Store People don’t buy before they see. Some of them even Continue Reading

The post 5 Attributes of a Great Product Photo for Your Online Store appeared first on Photodoto.


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Yashica reveals its own 35mm film product following bizarre, confusing teasers

10 Apr

Yashica, the iconic brand purchased by Hong Kong-based MF Jebsen Group in 2008, is preparing to launch its own 35mm film product. The company began dropping teasers related to the product late last month, including an image with broken English shared on Facebook and a trio of dark Instagram images that left followers confused.

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Yashica first teased the product on April 1 with an image of a film negative featuring ‘NEGATIVE C-41,’ ’24,’ and ‘COLOUR ISO400.’ The image also featured the confusing, grammatically incorrect statement, ‘We will have many Negative’s News start from Today.’

Some followers suspected the image was an April Fools’ prank, but the company followed it up with an image featuring Yashica film rolls on April 4. As noted in the comments on the post, the image appears to be a render based on the obvious gap located at the top of the exposed film strip.

Note the visible gap between the film strip and the 35mm canister.

On April 5, Yashica shared a gallery of photos taken by Kerry Jeffrey using the new Yashica 400 Negative film. The company also shared a statement from Jeffrey, who said, ‘It’s a fun film to use. Not too grainy. There were small small color shifts in strong light, but I like it overall.’

Many photographers have responded to Yashica’s announcement with a lack of enthusiasm or outright criticism, with some of them pointing toward the company’s lackluster Y35 camera it launched after raising more than $ 1m on Kickstarter. It remains unclear when Yashica plans to release its film, but all signs point toward photographers being generally uninterested.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Xiaomi teases Mi 9 product images and camera samples

15 Feb

We are getting close to the largest annual mobile technology show, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and one of the manufacturers expected to launch a new flagship device has already spilled some of its beans.

Xiaomi Senior VP Xiang Wang shared a bunch of press renders of the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 9, showing the triple-camera on the rear of the device in all its glory. The main module will feature a 48MP sensor and the Mi 9 is likely one of the first handsets to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest top-end chipset Snapdragon 855.

Meanwhile another Xiaomi executive, co-founder and director of the Chinese division Chuan Wang posted a few full-size camera samples on his Weibo profile. A low-light shot of some plastic flower, and indoor shot of an aquarium and an outdoor image of three golden labradors all show good color and dynamic range. When zooming in to a 100% view there is a lot of fine detail but also some of the smearing of fine textures that is typical for many smartphone cameras.

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The Xiaomi Mi 9 will be officially launched on February 24. Full specifications and other information about the triple-camera will be available then.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DJI addresses alleged corruption scandal that reportedly increased product prices by 20%

19 Jan

DJI Technology, China’s largest drone manufacturer, is looking at a substantial financial loss in the midst of ongoing investigations wherein 45 current and former employees are facing allegations of corruption.

According to a report from Yicai Global, more than 100 individuals are involved in an alleged widespread corruption scandal for falsely increasing the prices of parts and materials used to make DJI drones.

The report says 26 people allegedly involved in the scandal ‘are from the research and development department, as well as the procurement division.’ Another 19 individuals work in other various departments including administration, design, factories and sales. 16 people have been reported to authorities regarding the allegations.

In a statement to DroneDJ, DJI said:

‘We hold our employees to the highest ethical standards and take any violation of our code of ethics very seriously. During a recent investigation, DJI itself found some employees inflated the cost of parts and materials for certain products for personal financial gain. We took swift action to address this issue, fired the bad actors, and contacted law enforcement officials. We continue to investigate the situation and are cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation.’

DJI is facing losses of more than CNY1 billion (approximately $ 147.6 million USD), according to Yicai Global’s estimates. It is believed DJI products suffered from a 20% price increase in 2018 due to the alleged widespread corruption within the supply chain.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photoshop Focus Stacking for Still Life and Product Photography

09 Dec

The post Photoshop Focus Stacking for Still Life and Product Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.

1 - Photoshop Focus Stacking by Darina Kopcok for DPS

Still life and product photography often require that your entire subject be sharp.

This can be difficult to achieve in-camera because if you’re shooting up-close, you can’t always get a lot of your subject in focus.

Stopping down to a smaller aperture (higher F-stop number) will not necessarily help you get a sharper image.

Enter Photoshop and focus stacking.

Focus stacking is a post-production technique of blending several images with different focus points to create one image that is sharp and in focus throughout the entire subject.

It’s the ultimate way to get the sharpest images, and it’s a crucial technique to know for still life photography.

2 - Photoshop Focus Stacking by Darina Kopcok for DPS

Why you can’t get razor sharp photos

Your aperture, focal length and the distance from your subject all impact the sharpness of your image.

Shooting at a higher F-stop number like f/22 won’t help you get sharper images in still life photography because of lens diffraction.

Lens diffraction in a phenomenon of optical physics that occurs in the lens and camera sensor.

When you shoot at f/2.8 or f/4, a lot of light hits your camera sensor directly. At apertures like f/16, the light hits the subject less precisely and causes a loss of sharpness.

It doesn’t matter how good your lens is – your images will be less sharp at apertures of f/16 and higher due to this law of physics.

The more you stop down, the finer details will blur out further.

Lens diffraction tends to be worse in zoom lenses than prime lenses because zooms have several moving parts.

3 - Photoshop Focus Stacking by Darina Kopcok for DPS

The depth-of-field problem

In still life and product photography, you often need to get pretty close to your subject. This means a shallower depth-of-field.

If you’re shooting small objects like jewelry, or objects that need to fill the frame, you’re usually so close that its entire depth cannot be in focus.

Using a macro lens like a 100mm or 110mm will also give you a shallow depth-of-field.

This is great if you’re doing food photography and want that blurred out background that is sought after in that genre, but for other types of still life, it creates a problem.

4 - Photoshop Focus Stacking by Darina Kopcok for DPS

Shooting for focus stacking

In order to focus stack in Photoshop, you need to shoot in a certain way with certain tools.

First of all, you need a sturdy tripod because your subject must be in exactly the same position from shot to shot in order to be successfully blended later in Photoshop.

If you accidentally bump your tripod, you’ll need to start all over again.

A shutter release is recommended to activate the shutter. Pressing the shutter by hand will introduce a small vibration that can introduce camera shake into the image and cause them to be misaligned in Photoshop.

That being said, Photoshop does a good job with aligning layers that are slightly off.

Personally, I like to tether my camera to Lightroom or Capture One and activate the shutter from within the program.

To shoot for focus stacking, start off by composing your shots and determining your exposure. You should use manual mode so that your exposure is the same from shot to shot.

  • Choose a point on your subject to focus on and take a shot.
  • Focus on a different point on your subject without moving the camera or adjusting any setting
  • Choose the next point and take the final exposure.

Three images will often be enough to cover each area of depth-of-field but it will vary by image

5 - Photoshop Focus Stacking by Darina Kopcok for DPS

Focus stacking in Photoshop

To blend the images together in Photoshop, start off by exporting PSD files into a folder or onto your desktop where you can easily find them.

  • Open Photoshop.
  • Go to File and choose Scripts.
  • Select Load Files into Stack.
  • Click Browse and select all the images from where you saved them initially.
  • Check the Box for Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images.
  • Click OK. Each of the images will open as a new layer in Photoshop.
  • Hold down Shift and click on the top layer in the Layers panel to highlight all the layers.
  • Under Edit, select Auto Blend-Layers.
  • Check the box for Stack Images and also for Seamless Tones and Colors. DO NOT check ‘Content Aware.’ Click OK.
  • Save the final image.

If you have uploaded a lot of images, flatten the final image by selecting Layer -> Flatten Image -> Save.

6 - Photoshop Focus Stacking by Darina Kopcok for DPS

Conclusion

Focus stacking is necessary for product photography but also very useful for other types of still life photography – even food photography.

If you’re fairly new to Photoshop, don’t be intimidated.

Focus stacking is a lot easier than you might think and you will undoubtedly be pleased with your results.

Have you used photoshop focus stacking? If so, share with us your thoughts and images below.

 

The post Photoshop Focus Stacking for Still Life and Product Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darina Kopcok.


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The Apple TV 4K Device is a Deeply Flawed and Frustrating Product… for Me

27 Sep

Pictures are so broken on Apple TV

About 12 years ago, in 2006, I had what at the time felt like the biggest technological change in my life. I switched from a PC to my first MacBook Pro. Switching computer operating systems at the time seemed like a massive chasm to overcome, but I did it and I’m glad I did. My main motivation was that I was tired of all of the errors that I was getting from PCs and all my friends with Macs just kept saying pretty much the exact same thing, “it just works.” After hearing that enough I broke down and made a decision that it was time for a change.

Over the last decade, that first decision has brought dozens of new Apple products into my life. Every three years or so I’d upgrade MacBook Pros. I bought a Mac Mini for the kitchen which I upgraded to a nicer iMac latter. I bought a high end iMac to edit my photos on for my home office. I bought a Cinema Display as a second monitor. I spent the night in line overnight to buy the very first iPhone. I bought the iPhone 3g, the iPhone 4, 5, 6s and most recently the 10. I’ve bought iPads, MacBook Pros and iPhones for my wife and kids. I always buy Apple Care. Apple iCloud storage, movies, tv shows, airpods, the list goes on and on.

I haven’t added it all up yet, but I’d say over the past decade I’ve easily spent tens of thousands of dollars on Apple products.

I feel like at some point I’ve just about purchased every product as a good Apple consumer is supposed to… except maybe the watch. The watch feels stupid to me. If I want to know what time it is I can just look at my phone. I haven’t worn a watch in 20 years. I don’t need an uncomfortable thing strapped to my hand and my health is good enough that I don’t need to constantly run ECGs or have someone notified if I fall down and can’t get back up (which hasn’t happened once yet in the 50+ years I’ve been on the planet).

Unfortunately for me though, it’s the Apple TV which I’ve always been the most excited about and which has also unfortunately frustrated me more than any Apple other gadget I’ve ever owned. I’ve bought every version of the Apple TV as they’ve been released dutifully. Giving Apple my hard earned money for the promise of something great, the ability to watch my photos in my living room — and it’s been a completely frustrating experience along the way.

I’m not sure exactly why I’m writing this blog post about Apple TV. I haven’t blogged in a while. In part it’s probably cathartic for me. In part I feel like I’m giving up on photos tonight and hope that maybe someday someone will Google one of my error codes and have a better answer. Maybe someone will read it and have some suggestion that I haven’t considered. Maybe someone will suggest a better way to watch photos on a TV.

My most recent problem revolves around the new Apple 4k TV. Of the six Apple TVs in my house I have two connected to Vizio 4k TVs. Of course I upgraded to the 4k Apple TV because what’s the point of having a 4k TV without a 4k device.

For the most part over the life of the AppleTV product photos have been frustrating. I have a large library of images that I want to play on my Apple TVs. I use home sharing and point my iTunes to a folder of images and ask for my Apple TVs to stream those images. (File >> Home Sharing >> Choose Photos to Share with Apple TV…) Frequently my AppleTVs lose their connections to my iTunes library and the only way to get the photos to play again is to quit iTunes and relaunch it. I frequently would have to restart the Apple TVs. The Apple TV in the living would be working but then the one in the attic couldn’t connect. The one in the attic would work but then the one in the bedroom wouldn’t connect. It was a constant exercise of frustration. I set all of the Apple TVs to update automatically and I’d constantly check for updates to apply them manually.

About a year ago I spent several weeks working with Apple Engineers. They sent these trace packet things to me by email and I’d do different things, run the logging software and send them log files. After several weeks and many log files I did get an answer back about a year ago that Apple engineers had found a problem related to my Apple TVs constantly disconnecting from home sharing that that a fix would be coming. They couldn’t tell me when but said that it was an issue on their end and to keep checking for updates. So at least I wasn’t totally crazy and at least there was hope… kind of?

Although this was a frustrating way to use my AppleTV, the payoff of being able to relax on the couch and watch my life’s work, my photos that I love so much, while enjoying a glass of wine was such a high payoff that I put up with it… until, unfortunately now, with the latest dreaded TVOS12 update.

Last week I updated all of my Apple TVs to TVOS12. On my non-4k Apple TVs, it’s the same sad, frustrating experience of having to restart Apple TVs, restart, my iMac, restart iTunes, constantly to get them to work. But when they do work it will play my photos for hours. Unfortunately on the two 4k Apple TVs photos crash 100% of the time. Usually within 10 seconds, but sometimes I can get them to play for 20 seconds or 45 seconds or maybe even 2 minutes before it crashes. But they crash 100% of the time. I’ve spent at least 20 hours trying to fix my photos over the past week (including a good 3 hour phone call last night with an Apple Care tech) but nothing seems to work.

If I try to stream photos on my iMac to my 4K Apple TVs the photos crash. If I try to stream photos on my MacBook Pro to my 4k Apple TVs the photos crash. If I try to stream photos on my home network to the 4k AppleTVs the photos crash. If I create a hotspot with my iPhone with just my MacBook Pro and one 4k Apple TV photos crash.

If instead of pointing home sharing to a folder, I import all the photos into Apple’s Photos app on my iMac (I hate the Apple Photos App on my iMac) and share from there instead still photos crash.

Every time after the photos crash there is a brief error message on the screen for about 1 second that reads “No iTunes libraries available. Home Sharing lets you stream content from your computer’s iTunes library to your Apple TV. To access your iTunes library, turn on Home Sharing on your computer and use the Apple ID. Retry.”

That message disappears and brings me right back to the main home sharing page on the Apple TV.

I’ve made sure that the photos that I want to share are all on the internal hard drives of the devices I’m trying to stream. I even upgraded yesterday to the new Apple OS Mojave, in the hopes that this might fix things. I’ve turned my Comcast router on and off.

The bottom line is there is simply nothing that I can do to make photos work on my 4k Apple TVs since updating to TVOS 12. And, of course, Apple will not allow you to roll your OS on your Apple TV back to a previous version so there is no getting out of TVOS 12 hell. I did a reset of the entire device back to factory settings, but instead of resetting it back to the factory setting from when I bought it. It reset it back to the factory settings for TVOS 12.

The Apple Tech I spent hours on the phone with yesterday suggested that I take my Macbook Pro and my 4k AppleTV into the Apple store and set an appointment to show them there. I had an appointment this afternoon at 2pm to do just that, but after only getting three hours of sleep last night trying to troubleshoot my Apple TV I just couldn’t go through with it today. It’s just too much, too soon.

In the meantime it looks as though I wasted $ 200 each on some useless Apple hockey pucks, but maybe at some point I’ll regain the strength to try again, or maybe someday, somewhere I’ll find an answer on how to make these devices stream photos for me again.

Or maybe like I ditched Windows back in 2006, it’s now time to ditch Apple again and maybe go find something that you know, “just works.”

Needless to say, your 4k AppleTV may work flawlessly and perfectly for you. This is my personal experience though and it’s my blog and this is what the experience has been like for me.

I made a video of this problem here. If anyone does have any constructive advice I’d love to hear it. Thanks.


Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

 
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Red releases Hydrogen One product photos, confirms release date

05 Sep

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When it was first announced in July 2017 the RED Hydrogen One super-phone created quite the splash, thanks to a Leica-made 5.7″ lightfield holographic display and a pin-based expansion system that allows for attaching a range of hardware modules. The system is similar to Motorola’s Moto Mods, but probably more focused toward high-end video given the brand we’re dealing with.

Since then delivery has been pushed back several times, most recently because the company needed some extra time to receive carrier certification. However, now we have a fixed release date: November 2nd. Pre-orders will ship on October 9th.

The Hydrogen One aluminum version will be available through AT&T, Verizon and Telcel
for $ 1295

Additionally, Red founder Jim Stannard has shared several actual product photos on the Hydrogen product forum that allow for a good look at the device’s large dual-camera module. The Hydrogen One also comes with a rugged-looking design that features a lot of carbon fiber, giving the phone a pretty unique appearance.

The price tag will unfortunately be unique as well. The Hydrogen One aluminum version will be available through AT&T, Verizon and Telcel for $ 1295. The titanium variant will be out in 2019 and set you back an additional $ 200.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Product Photography: The Ultimate Guide

25 May

Product photography is one of the more technical types of photography. Whether I decide to shoot natural light or create in my studio, I need to be aware of and control everything in the area. Lighting, product position, depth of field, image stabilization, and the brand itself all come together in a product shoot. So what are the first things Continue Reading

The post Product Photography: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on Photodoto.


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