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Hands on: Synology DS1019+ is a five-drive NAS storage solution for photographers

01 Mar

Synology DS1019+ NAS hands on

Network attached storage manufacturer Synology recently announced a new DiskStation model that aims to provide a lower price-point 5-bay NAS for photographers and small businesses. The DS1019+ will sit below the DS1517+ and offers a more restricted set of options for reduced cost, but without killing the speed and functionality associated with the brand.

The device offers a maximum capacity of 60TB when each of the five bays are loaded with a 12TB drive, which is the same level of storage that can be achieved with the top end model. But the DS1019+ has only two LAN ports, limiting expansion – the more expensive DS1517+ NAS has four. The DS1019+ also doesn’t offer an upgradable LAN connection and has less flexibility when it comes to the functions of its RAM. It does, however, provide a fast processor and the same set of software packages that are common to most Synology products. It can also transcode and stream two channels of H.264/H.265 4K video at the same time to your TV, tablet or phone.

We got hold of a unit to take a closer look at the NAS itself, how easy it is to set-up and the applications that can be installed on it.

Twin fans cool the five drives, LAN provides expansion

Twin fans keep the five drives cool, and ensure the quad-core 1.5GHz J3455 processor doesn’t over-heat. The DS1019+ comes with 4GB of RAM built in, but that can be expanded to 8GB via the dual M.2 slots hidden in the base, with the extra RAM being used for cacheing.

The rear also reveals two 1GBE LAN ports – these can be used to connect a single Expansion Unit DX517 for additional storage. Maximum storage capacity when the DS1019+ is linked to a DX517 is 120TB. With 1GbE LAN you can expect read/write speeds of up to 225MB/s even with AES-NI encryption.

Accepts 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch SATA HDD/SSD drives

The Synology DS1019+ can accept five 3.5-inch or 2.5inch SATA HDD/SSD drives, which sit in these trays to be mounted into the NAS. The tray is well made, and although lightweight it feels solid enough to hold and protect the drive. The base is open for ventilation, and the front face is hinged to provide a handle for removing it from the enclosure.

Drives are secured in trays

I used 6TB Seagate Ironwolf drives and filled four of the bays. The drives slot in to the trays nicely, and a pair of plastic rails with protruding pins secure them into place. Securing all four of the disks was a two-minute job and about as straightforward as it is possible to be. A set of screws comes with the kit for fixing 2.5-in drives to the trays.

To swap drives, simply slide in and out

The loaded trays slot back into the enclosure along runners that make it very difficult to do it wrong or to misalign on entry. Once in place and pushed in as far the tray will go, the protruding handle can be pushed in flush with the rest of the unit.

Plastic keys lock drive bays closed

A pair of plastic keys comes with the NAS that allow the bays to be locked. It would be pretty difficult to open one by accident and to pull out the drive, but it’s better to be safe rather than sorry. Provided you’re using a RAID configuration, drives can be switched out should they fail or if you want to increase the size of your storage capacity later.

Status lights indicate which drives are in use, failure

With the DS1019+ plugged in, the drives come to life, and lights on the enclosure illuminate to let you know they are in action. It is then ready to use. The lights let you know when each drive is in use, and also when one has failed. The lights stay green when the drives are at the normal temperature, and go orange when they are too hot.

Router setup is simple

With the DS1019+ powered up, and connected to a router, it is only a matter of seconds before it becomes available to set up on the computer. Synology’s Assistant detects the NAS and when you select it, the management software can be started up.

Disk Station Manager guides setup

Disk Station Manager makes it pretty easy to get the NAS ready to use. The applications take us through the setup step-by-step and explain what the options are at each stage. Most of the language is straightforward, but when it isn’t, the company’s online Knowledge Base does a good job of supporting you through with a mixture of text and video guidance.

Drives can easily be configured

When you come to create a storage pool you need to choose what RAID type you want the NAS to use. The DS1019+ allows RAID 0, Basic, JBOD, 1, 5, 6 and 10. RAID 10 can only be used if there are four or more drives in the pool. The drop down interface allows you to select the type while the information panel clearly explains the properties of that type of RAID, with the pros and cons of each. Even if you don’t think you know what you are doing this interface takes most of the mystery out of the set-up.

Using RAID can feel a bit painful, as it seems we only get to use a part of the storage capacity we have bought. The idea of using a RAID system is that the drives effectively back each other up by the degrees that we choose. RAID 0 doesn’t provide any backup so the full capacity of the drives is available as storage, but if a drive fails we lose the data that was stored on it.

RAID 10, on the other hand, effectively saves each element of data twice across the drives, so that if one fails whatever was on it will be duplicated somewhere on the other drives. This makes your data safe, but the downside is that it halves the amount of space we have to use. With my four 6TB drives in this test I can only save just under 11TB of data to the NAS when it is set up for RAID 10 – less than half of the potential 24TB I paid for. If I used RAID 0 however, I would be able to save close to 23TB on the same drives – but it would be insecure.

There’s a good explanation of the different RAID types in the Synology Knowledge Base.

Create a network folder to access content of drives

You can access the contents of the NAS by creating a network folder in Explorer or Finder, or through a web browser using the DiskStation interface via the network address of the NAS. A QuickConnect link can be dropped onto the desktop too that takes you straight there without having to type into the browser search bar.

Useful suite of applications included

While the storage capacity is the obvious concern with any NAS, how you can use that space is also very important. Synology offers a suite of applications that allow the space to be tailored in order for it to be more than just a data bank that can be accessed via your home network. Critically for photographers DS Photo, DS Video and media streaming facilities make organising, accessing and sharing images and movies very easy and convenient wherever you are – provided you have an internet connection.

One of the key elements of the Synology system is the choice of apps, or packages, available to help get the most from the device. Typing ‘Media’ into the search bar shows all the packages that will be relevant to photographers.

Photo Station 6 to create photo albums

Photo Station will be the main package for stills workers as it offers a way to create albums of images saved on the NAS that can be viewed both from your desktop computer and via the DS Photo smart phone app. Both desktop and phone based applications let you organize your images as well as to share them directly to social media or to send links to other people. You can create a private album for a client and send a link for them to view and/or download the contents.

The same features are provided for videographers via Video Station, so you can stream content to a TV or your phone when you want to show a project. Of course you can host your website on the NAS too, via Web Station and email servers can be created – as well as the usual timed data back-up services you’d expect.

The Synology DS1019+ will cost $ 599/£543 plus tax, and comes with a 3-year limited warranty. For more information see the Synology website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CP+ 2019: a look at the Pentax 85mm F1.4 and KP Custom

01 Mar

HD Pentax-D FA* 85mm F1.4

Ricoh used the CP+ show in Yokohama to show off a mockup of its forthcoming 85mm F1.4 prime lens. Developed as a “new generation star lens,” the company says it has drastically reviewed internal standard in order to respond to future camera performance improvements.

Perfect for portraits?

The lens, while fairly large, doesn’t appear to have got completely swept up in the trend for being impossibly big and heavy. No further details have been given in terms of spec or release date (even the name is said to be tentative), but if it matches the quality of the recent DFA* 50mm F1.4 SDW AW it’ll be worth the wait.

Pentax KP Factory Custom

Ricoh also has an extensive range of Pentax cameras and lenses on show. Part of this display was devoted to custom versions of the KP DSLR. This goes far beyond the custom color combinations that were made available for earlier Pentax DSLRs. The KP Custom concept includes add-on grips made from a variety of materials, including exotic woods used for traditional steering wheels. There’s also an additional, cosmetic top cover that mounts over the viewfinder prism. Finally, the custom version sees the lens mount coated with ‘DLC,’ a super-hard, ‘diamond-like carbon’ coating developed in conjunction with watchmaker Seiko, that makes mounting lenses smoother.

The KP Custom will initially only be available in Japan but Ricoh said they would consider extending it to other markets if there was sufficient customer interest both at the show and online.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CP+ 2019: Finally – Nikon has cut a Z Noct 58mm 0.95 S in half

01 Mar

CP+ 2019: Finally – Nikon has cut a Z Noct 58mm 0.95 in half

The past couple of years haven’t seen the veritable cornucopia of Things That Have Been Cut In Half that we used to see at CP+, but here and there, scattered around the show this year are some good examples of the waterjet cutters’ art.

The definite highlight is a bisected Nikkor Noct 58mm 0.95 S, which has been keenly awaited by Nikon fans since it was announced at the launch of the Z system last August. Wait for it….

CP+ 2019: Finally – Nikon has cut a Z Noct 58mm 0.95 in half

….here it is, in all its glassy glory. Nikon has released very few details of the lens’ specifications, but we do know that it features a new ARNEO coating technology and at least one large, ground aspherical element. Intended to continue the legacy of the now-legendary original Noct-Nikkor of decades past, Nikon has designed this ultra-fast prime for ultimate image quality above all other considerations.

CP+ 2019: Finally – Nikon has cut a Z Noct 58mm 0.95 in half

The Noct will be a manual focus lens, which shouldn’t come as all that much of a surprise now that you’ve seen how much glass Nikon has packed inside it. Accordingly, almost half of the total length of the lens is taken up with a large, knurled focusing ring and a clear, widely-spaced engraved focus scale.

It’s unclear whether the focus will be ‘focus by wire’, but we can’t see any evidence of a focus actuating motor in the schematic, which suggests that the Noct might – possibly – use a conventional mechanical helicoid. Are you an expert at reading schematics? Let us know in the comments.

CP+ 2019: Finally – Nikon has cut a Z Noct 58mm 0.95 in half

In addition to the engraved focus scale, the 58mm Noct also features a control ring, and a similar OLED display as the Z 24-70mm F2.8 S, which we saw yesterday. On that lens, the screen can be switched between various informational displays, but it’s unclear what (apart from shooting aperture) might be shown on a fixed focal length short-tele lens with a permanent focus scale.

CP+ 2019: Finally – Nikon has cut a Z Noct 58mm 0.95 in half

Shown here attached to a Z7 it’s obvious that the Noct is shaping up to be a very big, and we suspect quite weighty lens. So big in fact that it features an integral tripod collar. And beyond Nikon’s promise that it will “take advantage of the advanced design flexibility afforded by the Z mount […] offering the ultimate in NIKKOR rendering performance with superior detail and sharpness” that’s about all we know about the Noct, for now.

Pricing and availability are still firmly TBD, but we’ll bring you more details as they become available.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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7Artisans announces a new 60mm macro lens for multiple mounts

01 Mar

7Artisans is set to launch a new macro lens in a range of mounts from MFT to APS-C in May this year, according to Photo Rumors. Details are a little thin on the ground, but what is known so far is that the lens will cost in the region of $ 200 and will have a close-focus distance of 65mm.

The maximum aperture will be F2.8 and with the help of an optional extension tube users can expect to achieve 5x magnification for extreme macro photography. The website says the lens will be available in Sony E, Canon EF-M, Fujifilm X and Micro Four Thirds mounts and we should expect it to arrive in May of this year.

The 60mm focal length is a popular choice for photographers using cameras with APS-C sensors, as the angle of view achieved is similar to that of the classic 90mm macro on a full frame system. Mounted on a Micro Four Thirds model however the focal length will seem much more like a 120mm. For more information keep an eye on the 7Artisans website where it will probably pop up a little closer to the launch date, or during the CP+ show starting today, where the lens may well be exhibited.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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US transportation agencies ban passenger aircraft from transporting lithium-ion batteries in cargo

01 Mar

The U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration have announced a new Interim Final Rule banning the transportation of lithium-ion batteries in passenger aircraft cargo. As well, the new rule requires lithium-ion batteries transported on cargo planes to have no more than a 30% charge.

The new rules were revealed by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao on Wednesday. The regulation is intended to help protect passenger and cargo aircraft from potentially catastrophic fires that may result from faulty lithium-ion batteries, which are prone to catching on fire and exploding when they overheat. Below is an older video shared by the FAA showcasing what can happen when a lithium-ion battery fault.

Travelers flying in passenger aircraft retain the option of packing lithium-ion batteries in their carry-on luggage. This includes devices with non-removable batteries, such as phones and laptops, as well as standalone batteries, including power banks and spare cameras batteries.

The Interim Final Rule follows the FAA’s 2017 proposal for a global ban on lithium-ion batteries in checked airline luggage. The recommendation was made based on tests conducted by the FAA, which found that fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in a plane’s cargo hold could potentially result in ‘the loss of an aircraft.’

The full Interim Final Rule can be read here [PDF].

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CP+ 2019: Canon shows concept cameras and limited-edition gold EOS RP

01 Mar

Canon concept cameras and limited-edition silver EOS RP

Canon has been working on a small range of concept cameras for a little while now, and following last year’s display of various mockups, this year the company has been demonstrating some working models, which may or may not be developed into real, shipping cameras.

First up is a digital camera designed for kids. This is a non-working example, but it’s easy to grasp the basic idea. It’s a colorful, simple camera with a tunnel-type optical viewfinder and simplified controls.

Canon concept cameras and limited-edition silver EOS RP

Rather than conventional exposure modes and complicated controls, Canon envisions kids interacting with the camera via ‘missions’, designed to help them created images based around simple themes, like emojis, colors, or (cat?) feelings. We’re showing the pink version here, but the camera might be available in several different color variations.

‘Smart’ camera

Next up is a ‘smart’ camera, designed to automatically select and focus on subjects without any user interaction. This particular model is a working camera, set up on Canon’s booth. The housing is motorized, allowing the lens to be directed up and down, and around in any direction, through 360 degrees.

‘Smart’ camera

As I was setting up my camera to grab a shot, it locked on to my face. Which I must admit was a bit disconcerting. Does anyone remember the Kodak Party Shot? This is a similar kind of thing, except it can capture video, and it actually works. I don’t know who the lady is at lower-left, by the way, but I hope she’s not driving.

Telephoto camera

This is a working prototype of a lightweight telephoto zoom camera, which in its current form allows the users to switch between a 100 and 400mm equivalent field of view, at the press of a button.

Telephoto camera

Perhaps intended to provide a means of capturing the action from the stands of a sports stadium or concert arena, we’re told that the simple 100/400mm toggle is provisional – Canon is working on a stepless zoom to allow for the use of intermediate focal lengths.

Telephoto camera

Canon is also working on miniaturizing the concept, and although these are just mockups, we’re told that they’re closer to the ideal size of the camera, if it ends up being developed for commercial release. Notice what looks like an Apple Lightning connector on the pink mockup, reminiscent of the short-lived DxO One.

Outdoor action camera

Finally, here’s a concept for a colorful outdoor action camera, based around a fixed wideangle lens. The square cutout is both a simple framing device, and (as shown here) a means of hanging the camera from, or attaching it to things. The flat panel on the front of the camera is removable, and held on by a magnet.

Outdoor action camera

Canon is showing off a range of representative swappable panels, which might be swapped in for quick customization.

Outdoor action camera

A simple control dial allows the camera to be switched between modes.

Gold EOS RP

Next up is the very real, very working, and definitely shipping limited edition gold EOS RP. Sadly this color variant will only be available in limited numbers, in Japan. We say ‘sadly’ because it’s actually quite handsome.

Gold EOS RP

And in fact, strictly speaking it’s more of a champagne finish. If you remember the old film-era EOS 50 / Elan II it’s rather similar, with the control dials picked out against the warmer body finish in bright, neutral silver. Sadly if you want one, you’ll probably need to fly to Japan to get it – and be quick, because there are only 5,000 in existence.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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USB 3.2 specification arrives this year with confusing new naming structure

01 Mar

The USB 3.2 specification announced by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) in 2017 will be arriving soon, and it’ll bring a relatively convoluted new naming structure with it. As was the case when the USB 3.1 specification launched, the new USB 3.2 spec will absorb the previous generations before it, designating them as Gen 1 and Gen 2.

The new USB 3.2 specification, which brings speeds up to 20Gbps, will be known as USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. Joining this will be USB 3.2 Gen 1, which originally launched as USB 3.0 and was later renamed USB 3.1 Gen 1; this specification supports transfer speeds up to 5Gbps.

Between the two will be USB 3.2 Gen 2, which originally launched as USB 3.1 and was late renamed USB 3.1 Gen 2; this specification supports transfer speeds up to 10Gbps. In order to hit the 20Gbps speed, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 will utilize two of these 10Gbps high-speed channels.

To help consumers understand which version they’re getting, the USB-IF suggests manufacturers use the following terms:

  • USB 3.2 Gen 1: ‘SuperSpeed USB’
  • USB 3.2 Gen 2: ‘SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps’
  • USB 3.2 Gen 2×2: ‘SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps’

According to The Verge, the new USB 3.2 specification will hit the market sometime this year.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Leica announces new APO-Sumicron-SL 35mm F2 ASPH L-Mount lens

01 Mar

Leica has announced its new APO-Summicron-SL 35mm F2 ASPH lens, an L-mount lens designed to be used with Leica’s SL mirrorless cameras as well as Panasonic and Sigma cameras as part of the L-Mount Alliance.

The lens features 13 elements in 11 groups, including five aspherical elements. The optical elements feature ‘high-quality coatings’ on the various lens elements to help reduce unwanted reflections ‘to an absolute minimum’ and also feature a hydrophobic Aquadura coating on the exterior lens surfaces. The body of the lens is sealed against both dust and moisture.

As with other lenses in Leica’s Summicron-SL collection, the 35mm F2 ASPH lens features a Dual Syncro Drive (DSD) steeping motor for fast autofocus. Leica says the lens ‘completely travels the entire focus range in just 250 milliseconds.’ The lens measures 102mm / 4.02in long and 73mm / 2.87in in diameter and weighs in at 720g / 25.4oz.

The APO-Summicron-SL 35mm F2 ASPH lens will go on sale in mid-April for $ 4,595 at Leica Stores, Boutiques and authorized retailers.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to Use Photoshop to Resize and Sharpen Images for the Web

28 Feb

The post How to Use Photoshop to Resize and Sharpen Images for the Web appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter Dam.

Do you struggle with getting your images to look super sharp when you use them online? Do they even look blurry? No matter if you share your images on social media platforms or photo sharing sites like Flicker and 500px, you want your images to look as sharp as possible.

Most photographers come across web sharpening issues at some point. But did you know that most of the web sharpening issues you experience come from the resizing process? Resizing your image can make your image look blurry and a lot less sharp than the full sized image. You might have spent a long time processing your image so it would be a shame that it should end up as a less sharp online version.

In this article, you will learn the common pitfalls to sharpening your images for web use, and more importantly, how to sharpen in a way that gives you both full control and the best results.

However, let’s take a look at how not to resize images for online use before we dig into the best way to resize and sharpen in Photoshop.

Milford Sound Mitre Peak © Peter Dam

How NOT to resize and sharpen your images for online use

To get sharp and great looking images online, avoid uploading a full-sized image and relying on the website to handle resizing for you. You don’t have any control over the amount of sharpening (if any) that a website’s upload function add to your image.

You should also avoid just using the export dialogue in Photoshop. Even though it is good, it is not great. You can still end up with blurry images, especially if there is a dramatic size change. Like if you want to resize a 6000px wide image to being only 1200px.

Also, avoid just resizing in Photoshop and then let the export tool do the rest if you want the best results. Even though you resize the image, you have little control of the sharpening process when you only use the export tool.

How to sharpen your images in Photoshop for the best results

To follow along, open a copy of an image that you have already processed in Photoshop, as we go through the best method for resizing and sharpening your photos for online use.

Note: Make sure you use a copy of the image and not the original because you are going to resize your image to a much smaller version. If you accidentally save the image without renaming and close Photoshop, you can’t recover the image back to its full size.

The Chute © Peter Dam

It would be logical to go straight ahead and resize your image to the output size you want. However, this won’t lead to the best results as it may be difficult for Photoshop to properly sharpen an image that suffers from a quality loss when you resize a lot.

Instead, resize in two steps and sharpen in between the steps.

Let’s go through the process step-by-step using the dimensions from above as an example, resizing from a 6000px wide image down to 1200px wide.

The first step is to resize your image down to approx. 1.6 of the final output size that you want to use online. In this case, this would be 1.6 X 1200px = 1920px.

To resize your image in Photoshop, you should go to Image->Image Size and enter the width.

This gives you an image that hasn’t degraded too much from being resized but is still relatively close to the final image size.

Before resizing to the final output size, you should add sharpening. You do this by going to Filter->Sharpen->Sharpen.

If you like to keep track of what each layer does, I suggest renaming the layer to “Sharpened.”

After applying this first layer of sharpening, duplicate the layer. You can do this by pressing CMD+J (on Mac) or CTRL+J (on Windows).

Then apply another round of sharpening by using the menu Filter->Sharpen->Sharpen. Rename this layer to “Extra sharpening.”

Now you are ready to resize to the final image size. You do this by going to Image->Image Size and enter 1200px as the width.

Now that you have resized the image to the final output size, you should see that the image looks very sharp when you view it at its actual size.

If you think that it looks somewhat over-sharpened, you can easily adjust it by just changing the opacity of the of the topmost layer (the one called “Extra sharpening”). Pull down the opacity to around 60-70%.

Now you are done with the sharpening process. However, you should know that there are additional issues that occur when resizing images.

Sharpening an image also tends to make it a tiny bit brighter. If you want to address this, you should add a Levels adjustment layer and pull the midtone point slightly to the right. Usually changing the midtone point to 0.97 brings back the original brightness level. You can also use an Exposure adjustment layer if you prefer to use that instead of a Levels adjustment layer.

The colors in your image also suffer a bit when resizing and sharpening; however, it is not always visible. If you find that your image looks a bit less colorful now that it is resized, you should add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and add a bit of saturation back into the image. About +5 to +9 usually brings your image back to the level it was before resizing and sharpening.

That is the end of the web resizing and sharpening method used by many professional photographers using Photoshop.

If you are familiar with creating Photoshop actions, you can record the process of resizing and sharpening images to the dimensions you most often use online. This allows you to speed up the process significantly.

Exporting your image

The final step is to export your image. You can do this by going to File -> Export -> Export As…

The setting you choose when exporting your image depends on where you want to upload your image. For some sites, like image galleries or your portfolio website, image quality is more important than the file size. Whereas, blogs prefer to have smaller file sizes, but with a bit lower image quality.

One of the most important things, as discussed in this article, is that the result is a sharp looking image. You already took care of this by following the sharpening and resizing workflow above, where you resized the image to the output size you need. This means that you don’t have to worry about resizing the image or what resample method to use during export.

The only thing to worry about when following this sharpening and resize workflow is choosing the file format you want and the quality to use. The file format is most likely going to be JPG for web use. The image quality settings depend on whether you prefer a really small file size (so the image loads lightning fast online), or whether you prefer to maintain the best image quality possible. Usually, you can lower the image quality to 80% without a visible drop in image quality. This is my preferred personal setting for image quality. You can optimize the file size even more by using a lower image quality. However, I would never recommend going lower than 50% to get smaller file sizes. There are also some image optimizing sites you can use, such as TinyJpeg, that lower your file size without compromising your image quality too much.

Conclusion

Admittedly, it is a lot more complicated method for resizing your images than using the inbuilt Export feature in Photoshop. However, it also leads to much better results. What use is it to put much effort into capturing and processing an image, if it doesn’t look as great as it could when you show it online?

What method do you use for sharpening your images before using them online? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

The post How to Use Photoshop to Resize and Sharpen Images for the Web appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter Dam.


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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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