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Microsoft unveils Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2, and Surface Studio 2

04 Oct

At a small press event in New York yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its latest generation of Surface products: the Surface Studio 2, Surface Laptop 2, and the Surface Pro 6. The trio of devices offer upgrades over the previous models, with Microsoft boasting that the Surface Pro 6 is its “most powerful Surface Pro yet.” Similarly, the company claims the new Surface Studio 2 is the “most powerful” Surface device it offers.

The new Surface Pro 6 features the 8th-generation Intel Quad Core processor, boasting 67% faster speeds than the 5th-gen Surface Pro 2017 model. According to Microsoft, it worked to strike a balance between portability and performance, the end result being all-day battery life (up to 13.5 hours) combined with a high level of versatility.

The Surface Pro 6 features a 12.3-inch PixelSense touch display with a 2736 x 1824 267ppi resolution, SSD storage options ranging from 128GB to 1TB, Intel UHD Graphics 620, and 8GB/16GB RAM options. The model starts at $ 899 USD with an October 16 availability date for US customers.

The Surface Laptop 2 likewise offers the newest 8th-generation Intel Quad Core processor, that giving it a speed boost of 85% versus the original model. The Surface Laptop 2 features a 13.5-inch PixelSense touch display with a 2256 x 1504 201ppi resolution, as well as up to 14.5 hours of battery life. This model features the same RAM, storage, and graphics options as the Surface Pro 6.

The Surface Laptop 2 starts at $ 999 USD with an October 16 shipment date in the US.

Finally, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Studio 2, its “most powerful Surface ever.” This model sports next-gen Pascal graphics and a 50% GPU speed increase over the previous model. The 28-inch PixelSense touch display on the latest Studio model is 38% brighter than the original, bringing 22% greater contrast and a 4500 x 3000 192ppi resolution.

The Studio 2 offers Vivid, sRGB, and DCI-P3 color settings, support for up to two 4K Ultra HD 30Hz or one 4K UHD 60Hz external displays, and two NVIDIA graphics options: the GeForce GTX 1060 6GB and the GeForce GTX 1070 8GB. Other features include the 7th-generation Intel Core i7-7820HQ processor, support for Windows Hello authentication, and Xbox Wireless built-in.

The Surface Studio 2 starts at $ 3,499 USD with a November 15 shipment start date in the US.

According to Microsoft, preorders are available now in “select” markets; the products are expected to launch in other regions some time next year.

Via: Microsoft

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DJI can now enable drone operation in controlled areas

03 Oct

Drone maker DJI has been approved by the The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to authorize drone flights in controlled airspace around airports as part of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) program.

LAANC was established earlier this year by the FAA to facilitate drone operation for professional pilots near approximately 500 airports where commercial drone flights generally require prior authorization. Pilots will be able to receive near-real-time authorization instead of going through a more long-winded and slower process.

The program designates locations within the restricted airspace that can be used safely up to approved altitudes, and monitors temporary flight restrictions and other limits that could affect flight permissions. Drone pilots can use LAANC to check those limits, plan flights and file applications. Applications are processed instantly and LAANC provides flight information to FAA Air Traffic.

“Before LAANC, using drones for productive work near many airports required detailed applications and up to months of waiting, even when the benefits were clear and safety was prioritized. Now, LAANC allows easy drone use in more than 2,000 square miles near airports, including many populated areas that can benefit tremendously from drone operations,” said Brandon Montellato, DJI Program Manager – Enterprise Solutions. “More than 100,000 Part 107-certified drone pilots will now be able to perform valuable work – from inspections and surveys to filming and photography – with near-instant approval.”

DJI is one of 9 new companies and organisations that have been authorized by the FAA after a rigorous testing and validation process. The others are Aeronyde, Airbus, AiRXOS, Altitude Angel, Converge, KittyHawk, UASidekick, and Unifly.

Thanks to the approval DJI can now allow customers to apply for LAANC approvals via their DJI accounts to plan flights. The company says it will provide more information on how the process will be integrated into its products lineup in the near future.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Camera app developer says there’s no ‘beauty filter’ being applied on the iPhone XS, XS Max

03 Oct

Yesterday we learned that at least a handful of iPhone XS and XS Max users are unhappy with their new devices’ front camera image quality, with some early adopters reporting over-excessive skin smoothening and beautification effects when taking self-portraits.

Software developer Sebastiaan de With, the man behind the Halide camera app, has had a closer look at the new iPhone models’ camera processing and says there isn’t any beautification applied to the front camera images. Instead, he says, it’s Apple’s new approach to image processing that can result in soft textures and smoothening.

Both the front and rear cameras in the iPhone XS and XS Max are applying computational photography methods, merging multiple frames into one to optimize image quality across the image. Frames are captured at different exposures, with the image processor picking the best elements of each frame and combining them into the final image output.

In his blog post de Wit says that this method results in a “whole new look” that’s quite different from previous iPhone cameras. The frame merging reduces the brightness of the bright areas and the darkness of the shadow areas, resulting in textures with lower levels of contrast. All the detail is still there but the viewer perceives those areas as softer and less sharp. This is also why the skin in selfie images looks softer.

Additionally, the new iPhone models are applying more aggressive noise reduction — something Apple was already known for going heavy on in the past. This is necessary because the iPhone XS tends to user faster shutter speeds and higher ISO values than previous versions, presumably to keep motion blur to a minimum. Getting rid of the noise inevitably also eliminates some fine detail.

The reduction in detail is particularly true for the front camera where a smaller image sensor comes with higher noise levels to start with. On the plus side, dynamic range is increased which is particularly useful for high-contrast scenes, where highlight-clipping is reduced and more shadow detail visible.

De With also says all these software parameters can be tweaked by Apple. So, if it turns out the “new look” isn’t too popular with consumers the Apple engineers could pretty easily revert to a more “traditional” look via a software update.

De With’s Halide app will soon receive a new Smart RAW feature that “deactivates” Apple’s Smart HDR algorithm to reduce noise reduction and reveal more image detail and fine textures. For more information head over to Sebastiaan’s complete article on the Halide blog.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Review: Peak Design Travel Backpack

03 Oct

Back in 2015, when my wife and I were looking for a bag she could carry her laptop and other work-related items in, we stumbled across a Kickstarter project for the Everyday Messenger from Peak Design. It wasn’t the cheapest option, but it looked like it would stand up to the wear and tear of daily use. And it looked like the company had put a lot of thought into making a solid bag that would meet her needs.

After a bit of research, and comparing it with other bags, we bought one. It was our first experience with Peak Design products. But it certainly wasn’t our last.

Photo of Peak Design's Travel Backpack

Photo courtesy of Peak Design

My wife, who is not a photographer, still uses it every day. In fact, we were so impressed with it that I bought their follow-up product – the Everyday Backpack – for myself.

I take it on my bicycle commute to work every day. I also use it to carry my camera gear when I shoot photos for clients. Its quality, usefulness, and thoughtful design touches are impressive, and illustrate how Peak Design made these products to suit photographers as well as everyday people.

When I found out Peak Design was expanding its offerings from everyday-style bags to a line of products that focus on travel, I was intrigued. The Messenger and Backpack bags have served my wife and I well over the years, and I was eager to see whether the Travel Backpack could live up to the legacy created by their other products.

Travel Backpack filled with camera gear.

The Travel Backpack isn’t specifically focused on photographers, but Peak Design has clearly kept photographers in mind with this bag.

Testing the Traveler

To thoroughly test the Travel Backpack I used it to carry everything I needed for a five-day, 1800-mile road trip up and down the midwest United States to see friends and family. I stuffed it to the brim with:

  • my camera
  • shorts, socks, shirts, and pants
  • my personal care items
  • a Nintendo 2DS XL
  • a host of chargers
  • an iPad for watching Netflix in hotel rooms.

It was tossed around in my car, loaded and unloaded multiple times, and hoisted up and down so many flights of stairs that I lost count.

It performed flawlessly.

I was immediately impressed at the level of design and consideration that went into the Travel Backpack. They’ve made dozens of tweaks and flourishes to every aspect of this bag that separate it from most run-of-the-mill carrying companions. It’s the attention to detail you’d expect with a bag of this caliber and price. The fabric is thick, the fasteners and clips are sturdy, and the zippers are easily accessible. It’s got pretty much everything I wanted in a travel container, as well as some things I didn’t even realize I was looking for.

Photo courtesy of Peak Design

When I returned my wife, who’d recently attended a work conference on the East Coast, said she wished she’d had the Travel Backpack instead of her usual carry-on suitcase. And I’d say the same would hold true for just about anyone. We have a nice set of luggage that works just fine, but having used the Travel Backpack I’d rather take it over our other travel gear.

Pockets, Pockets Everywhere

The Travel Backpack is big enough to hold everything from cameras and clothes to shoes and shower items, yet small enough to fit in an airplane carry-on cargo hold. Pockets abound in the Travel Backpack, with every nook, cranny, corner and flap having a cavity or pouch tucked away for all manner of trinkets, tchotchkes, memory cards and power cables.

The well-padded shoulder straps can be tucked away beneath thick flaps that snap shut with a satisfying magnetic click. When the bag is zipped up and read to be tossed into a trunk or overhead airplane bin, additional pockets on the sides let you get to your essentials at a moment’s notice.

Photo courtesy of Peak Design

Of course, all those extra are useless if you can’t get to them easily. Thankfully the Travel Backpack gives you plenty of ways to get to your cargo. The back of the unit (the part that you actually carry on your shoulders) unzips and folds back to reveal the entire contents of the pack, leaving nothing hidden or tucked away behind recessed side panels. In a nod to the Everyday Backpack, the sides unzip so can grab something quickly without having to open up the entire bag. And the front zipper lets you access a separate portion of the bag, which can be useful for stowing laptops, tablets, notebooks and other thin items.

One of the hallmarks of the Travel Backpack is how you can tweak and change it to suit your needs. Want more space? Gussets on the front unzip so you can stow significantly more cargo. Need less space? You can squeeze the bag down to a more manageable size by collapsing the top with two convenient snaps. Don’t need  the shoulder straps? Tuck them away behind the magnetic flaps to keep them out of your way.

A tall thin pocket runs from top to bottom on the inner back flap for stowing super thin items, with another pocket inside it. Or you can keep the pockets closed with the Velcro attachments and ignore them altogether.

Whatever you want to bring, there’s probably a pocket to hold it. Photo courtesy of Peak Design.

If you simply want a massive, cavernous, well-designed duffel bag, unzip the divider separating the small front portion from the spacious main portion to create a single massive chamber that can hold just about anything.

This illustrates the many ways the Travel Backpack would be great for just about anyone on the go.

Sweating the Details

Peak Design has incorporated a number of small details in this bag that make it ideal for travelers. Interlocking external zipper straps discourage unscrupulous tourists from swiping your gear. Attachment points on the inside give you convenient locations to strap down your items so they don’t move around. Handles on the top, bottom, sides and back let you carry the Travel Backpack in whatever way suits your needs. And the entire product is just the right size to fit neatly into an airplane overhead bin.

Photo courtesy of Peak Design

The all-round build quality is astounding, just as I’d expect after owning two other Peak Design bags for several years. And no, I’m not being paid to say this. I was a K-12 teacher for five years, and completely wore out several bags inthat time. Let’s just say I can tell a cheaply made bag when I see one, and the Travel Backpack is anything but.

The outer shell is made from thick Kodra fabric, which feels tough and sturdy while still having a degree of flexibility that lets the bag squish and stretch as needed. The main zipper is thick and chunky, and all zippers are hidden beneath long thin flaps that, presumably, providing a degree of weatherproofing and  a sense of security. A casual observer probably wouldn’t even see them.

Even though I wasn’t exactly gentle with the Travel Backpack on my road trip, five days isn’t nearly enough time to assess long-term durability. For that I look to my Everyday Backpack and Everyday Messenger which, after years of near-daily use, barely show any signs of wear and tear. I’d expect no less from the Travel Backpack. Admittedly some of the inner pouches and flaps don’t have the same degree of thickness, but it’s nothing I’m worried about. Peak Design products have a lifetime warranty, so if anything did fail it would be taken care of by the manufacturer. It’s nice to see a company willing to stand behind their products like this.

Photo courtesy of Peak Design

While the Travel Backpack itself is highly useful, customizable and durable, it really excels when paired with accessories such as the Tech Pouch, Wash Pouch, Camera Cube and Packing Cubes. These are optional, but highly recommended if you have specific use-case scenarios in mind, such as carrying cameras and lenses with your clothes and toothbrushes. These accessories are designed to fit inside the Travel Backpack and, in the case of the Camera Cube, include mounting points and special hardware to ensure minimal movement and shuffling around.

If you want to use the Travel Backpack for carrying camera gear, you will definitely want to get the optional Camera Cube. Photo courtesy of Peak Design

The Camera Cube is specifically designed to fit the needs of people who carry cameras and lenses. It comes in three sizes – small, medium and large – with each one using Velcro dividers to create spaces to hold your gear. While other bags use similar systems, the flex-fold dividers used by Peak Design can be folded and reconfigured to a greater degree than I’m used to seeing.

Apart from the Camera Cube, my favorite packing accessory was the Tech Pouch. It help every electronic item I brought with me (other than my iPad), and neatly stowed all my cables, chargers and game cartridges too. It stands upright when open, revealing the entire contents and giving you instant access to anything inside. The Wash Pouch is fine for holding toiletries for a single person, but if you’re traveling with a companion don’t expect everything to fit in a single pouch.

The Camera Cube is secured in place by sturdy anchors you can detach. But they’re a bit tricky to operate, and constantly inserting and removing the Camera Cube can be frustrating, especially if you have larger fingers.

More of a curiosity are the Packing Cubes, which hold clean and dirty clothes. They do a good job, but I’m not sure they’re worth the price when you can do essentially the same thing with a plastic bag. But to be fair, plastic bags aren’t made of lightweight breathable fabric, nor do they have zippers to close them up tight.

Travelers, Photographers, and Photographers Who Travel

At this point you might be asking what all of this has to do with photography. After all, Peak Design has been designing straps and clips and cases and bags for photographers since the company was founded.

But the Travel Backpack is unique in their lineup. While it’s certainly useful for photographers, particularly with the Camera Cube, it’s designed to fit the needs of anyone who finds themselves on the road and need a durable, versatile, customizable solution to carry their stuff.

The 45L Travel Backpack compared to my 35L Everyday Backpack, with a DSLR and 70-200 lens for scale.

If this sounds like you, and you regularly carry cameras, lenses, filters, spare batteries, small tripods and other items, you’ll be pleased with the Travel Backpack providing you also buy the Camera Cube. But if you need a bag specifically designed to carry camera gear to gigs, or just a versatile all-in-one carrying solution, the Travel Backpack may not be for you. For those situations you might want something smaller, such as the Everyday Backpack or another bag that isn’t quite so bulky.

And therein lies the rub. While the Travel Backpack is an outstanding product, it’s hard to unequivocally recommend this bag because its usefulness depends on your expectations and how you use its many features. If you’re frequently on the move and need to transport a lot of camera gear, clothes, electronics, or even everyday items then the Peak Design Travel Backpack will definitely suit your needs. It surpasses almost every other small suitcase, backpack and carry-on luggage – and then some. I can’t think of a scenario where the Travel Backpack wouldn’t be ideal if your goal  involves traveling.

Photo courtesy of Peak Design

As a daily multipurpose bag for schlepping cameras, lenses, lighting, clothes, documents, laptops or anything else of that nature, another product would more likely suit your needs. It’s sheer size precludes it from being a solid solution for students. And even though the top snaps to reduce its overall size, it’s still too big for photographers who need to transport a few cameras and lenses around town. But if you have a lot of camera gear the Travel Backpack, combined with a large-sized Camera Cube (which almost takes up the backpack’s entire available packing space), could be the solution you need.

Another issue is the price, and I’d be the first to admit the Travel Backpack isn’t the cheapest option on the market. The MSRP for the backpack alone is $ 300, and that doesn’t include any pouches, camera cubes or even a rain fly, all of which can drive up the cost significantly. If you’re used to carrying your clothes and camera items around in a $ 30 duffel bag, you might balk at the idea of spending ten times as much for something that, in some ways, isn’t much different.

Snaps at the top allow the bag to shrink in size, but it’s still pretty large and cumbersome for everyday usage.

But when you see how the Travel Backpack is so much more than a duffel bag, along with the quality of the materials, the care and attention to detail, and the way it’s designed specifically to meet the needs of busy people on the go, you might think twice. When I think about the ways my Everyday Backpack and my wife’s Everyday Messenger have come through for us over the years while showing hardly any signs of wear, and compare it to our many bags that have disintegrated, broken or fallen apart, the price of a Peak Design product starts to make more sense.

I’m a big fan of the Travel Backpack, and I hope you can see why. If you’re frequently on the road or in the air, this bag will suit your needs impeccably, especially when used in tandem with the Camera Cube, Tech Pouch, Wash Pouch and Packing Cubes. I have a closet full of duffels and suitcases to carry things on trips. But if I had to pick one bag for my travel needs, it would certainly be this one.

Durability: 5/5

Flexibility: 5/5

Cost: 4/5

Overall Rating: 5/5

 

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Skylum teases Luminar DAM module, synchronized edits in new videos

03 Oct

Skylum has released multiple teaser videos revealing aspects of its digital asset manager (DAM) for Luminar. The videos detail the DAM’s speed in a pair of speed tests and edit sync feature in a third.

Last month, Skylum CEO Alex Tsepko stated the Luminar Digital Asset Manager update would be available by the end of 2018. Tsepko likewise confirmed plans to provide the DAM for free to existing Luminar 2018 customers, saying:

We know that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are waiting for this update. But mainly because there are so many people who need this tool, we wanted to take just enough time to make everything right.

We promise we will ship the DAM this year. I know it has been a long wait, but we don’t want to ship a product that we would not use ourselves. The new Luminar (with DAM) will bring you great speed and the most incredible user experience available. Your photos will play the main role. Our software aims to get out of the way.

The update will be free for everyone who has Luminar 2018.

In past updates, Skylum indicated that the DAM will take its Luminar product “in a new direction,” bringing with it customized workspaces, a cleaner interface, speedier workflows, and more.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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NYA-EVO launches Kickstarter for its new Fjord 60-C expandable camera backpack

02 Oct

Photography bag manufacturer NYA-EVO has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new camera backpack, the Fjord 60-C.

Designed to be a larger version of NYA-EVO’s Fjord 36, the Fjord 60-C is an expandable backpack that fits 60 liters worth of gear in full ‘Expedition mode’ while packing up to a more manageable carry-on size of 44 liters (the ‘C’ in Fjord 60-C stands for carry-on).

Specifically, the Fjord 60-C features three different size configurations that can be adjusted using zippers and the expandable top compartment: Carry-on, Adventure mode and Expedition mode. They offer 44 liters, 52 liters and 60 liters of storage space, respectively.

Like the Fjord 36 backpack, the Fjord 60-C will use NYA-EVO’s removable camera inserts that come in small, medium, and large. The Fjord 60-C will also come in the same colors as the Fjord 36: Midnight Blue, Powder White, Pine Green and Graphite Black.

The backpack is constructed of nylon 210 denier fabric with a water-repellant coating, features YKK aqua guard zippers and has an aluminum internal frame to help keep its shape. The shoulder straps have three adjustable configurations for a more precise fit and there’s a new waist belt to help distribute the weight when the pack is full.

The Kickstarter campaign started today, so there’s plenty of time to secure your pledge. €280 (approximately $ 324) will get you a single Fjord 60-C without any removable camera unites, while a €350 (approximately $ 405) pledge will secure you a single Fjord 60-C with all three removable camera unites.

To find out more and make a pledge, head on over to the Kickstarter campaign. As with all crowdfunded campaigns, proceed with caution. Although NYA-EVO has proven in the past that it’s capable of shipping a Kickstarter project, there’s always the risk of unforeseen circumstances from happening.

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How to do Focus Stacking in Photoshop for a Seemingly Infinite Depth of Field

02 Oct

Whenever you do macro or close-up photography you usually have to choose very carefully what you want to keep in focus. This can also happen when you want to shoot a landscape and you want to include an element close to you but you end up with a blurry background.

So it seems that doesn’t matter if you go big or small you always have to make compromises regarding the depth of field. However, there is a post-production way around it, stay with me and I’ll show you how to do focus stacking!

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field

First, what is depth of field?

Depth of field, commonly referred to as DoF, refers to the distance between the first and last object that appears in focus or sharp within an image. It covers the space in front of and behind the focal plane, in other words where you put your focus.

How broad this space or distance is can be determined by different factors: the aperture, the focal length of your lens and the physical distance between the camera and the subject.

Even if you have these three factors to move around in order to expand your depth of field, there are certain conditions that just won’t allow you to get as much DoF as you need. This is where Photoshop comes in, when you need to achieve an impossible or seemingly infinite depth of field.

While this is a post-production process, you need to consider and get it at the shooting stage as it’s not something you can achieve by fixing your photo later. You need to prepare several photos that you’ll stack together in order to create one fully focused image.

So basically what you need to do is shoot the image with different parts in focus. Everything else needs to remain the same, this means the same framing and settings and you ONLY adjust your focus in each shot.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field - source images

A few tricks for shooting images for focus stacking

  • For best results in the post-production, it’s better to have good material to work with so I recommend using a tripod so that the framing is exactly the same in each image.
  • Adjust the focus manually and in order (like from closest to farthest) so that you don’t lose track and have a shot where every area of the photo wasn’t sharp at some point during the shooting. Think of it as bracketing the focus.
  • The more photos you take the better so that Photoshop will have enough information to form your final image.

Getting Started

Okay once you’re back at home base, download your photos to the computer. The first thing you need to do is open them all into the same file in Photoshop. You can do this by going to Menu > File > Scripts > Load Files into Stacks.

In the pop-up window, set it to use Files and then with the Browse button choose the set of photos you took. Check off the option “Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images”, especially if you didn’t use a tripod. But even if you did it’s useful to keep it checked to compensate for the focus breathing which is the change in scale when you re-adjusted the focus for each photo.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field - load images into a stack

Once you have them all, just click Open and Photoshop will load them in the same file, each on a separate layer. The filenames will become the name of each of the layers.

Note: If you forgot to check the Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images in the step before, you can always do this by selecting the layers and going to Menu > Edit > Auto-Align.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field - layers

Blending the layers

Now, select all of your layers. You can do this by clicking on the first one, then holding Shift+Click and click on the last layer. That way everything in between will get selected too. Now go to Menu > Auto-Blend Layers. A pop-up window will appear, check the “Stack Images” option and leave the Seamless Tones and Colors checked as well.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field - auto blend

From there Photoshop will do all the work so you just have to be patient.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field

I recommend that you zoom in and check the edges as you can find some problem areas that may require you to copy paste from the original files for fine-tuning, like this:

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field

Once Photoshop has your image pasted together, you can go to Menu > Layer > Flatten Image to compress all the layers into one. Finally, make any adjustments you need to the exposure or contrast to get your final result.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field

This is the best way of doing focus stacking in Photoshop. However, if you find yourself outside the studio, without a tripod and unprepared, you can still give it a go. Just try to stay as steady as possible or you won’t achieve the required result.

For example, I took two photos, one where the small sculpture of the head in the foreground was focused and one where the background was focused. It was done without a tripod or any care about it leaving all for Photoshop to fix and as you can see it wasn’t able to align them.

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field

However, in these examples, I also used only two pictures and no tripod but I was very careful and did my best not to move at all except for my two fingers turning the focusing ring. Of course, it’s impossible to actually do that but it was good enough for Photoshop to do an acceptable result on my images.

So it’s not ideal but it can be done, never prevent yourself from trying!

Focus Stacking for an Infinite Depth of Field

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Hands-on with the new Laowa lens collection

02 Oct

Hands-on with Venus Optics’ new Laowa lenses

As we reported last week, lens manufacturer Venus Optics launched a total of eight Laowa lenses at the Photokina trade show this year. Or more accurately, nearly launched eight as some of the cine lenses were plastic dummies behind glass – but we went to the stand to see those on display to get a taste of what they’re like.

Venus Optics has produced some really excellent lenses in the past, and seems to specialize in lenses that other manufacturers aren’t making – such as the unusual 24mm probe macro lens recently released. The company’s Zero-D range has also gained a very good reputation as a series of extreme wide angles that display hardly any curvilinear distortion – hence the Zero-D name.

Above you’ll see the 17mm F4 GFX Zero-D – an interesting lens and the first Laowa lens for Fujifilm’s GFX system. Its 17mm focal length delivers the angle of view we’d expect from a 13mm lens on a full frame system, and as such it’s the widest lens available in the G-Mount.

Laowa 17mm F4 GFX Zero-D

It is pretty big, but well-made and solid in the hand. Some of the 829g/1.8lb weight comes from the 21 elements inside the barrel, but the rest comes from the shell-case metal construction. Its size will make it look at home perhaps on the GFX 50S but it may look odd on the new 50R rangefinder style model.

Laowa 17mm F4 GFX Zero-D

The lens measures 77×124.5mm and takes an 86mm threaded filter. It can focus to 20cm, offering a maximum magnification of 0.28x. The iris uses seven blades while Fujifilm’s own GF 23mmF4 R LM WR uses nine. The smallest aperture is F22 and the angle of view is 115°. The aperture ring offers clicks only in full stops and only closes down to F22.

Laowa 12mm F1.8 MFT

This is a tiny lens considering the focal length and the maximum aperture, making it best suited to the smaller of the Micro Four Thirds cameras – on which it will behave as a 24mm would on a full frame system. The lens hood is detachable and 46mm filters can be used.

Laowa 12mm F1.8 MFT

The example on show was very much pre-production, but the focus movements felt very nice. This is another 5-bladed iris lens, for the sunstar fans, and it can focus down to just 14cm/5.5in. The lens weighs 165g/0.4lbs, and measures just 5cm/2in long.

Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 Cine Lightweight Zoom

This might be a lightweight cine zoom, but it is still a pretty big piece of kit. Venus Optics was showing the lens on the front of a Kinfinity 6K Terra, the company’s smallest camera – a combination designed to emphasize the compact nature of the package. The lens has three geared rings, for the iris, the zoom and the focus, all of which turn smoothly and with a pleasant resistance.

Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 Cine Lightweight Zoom

The lens has a constant maximum aperture of T2.9 across the zoom range, and Laowa maintains that focus is retained during zooming as well. The company says that while some other brands convert a stills lens for video this Laowa Ooom was designed for cinema from the off.

Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 Cine Lightweight Zoom

Focus, aperture and focal length markings are repeated on each side of the barrel, and are controlled with some rugged looking gears. The lens will be available in PL mounts, as well as Canon EF and Sony E. It has a covering circle sufficient for Super 35mm sensors.

Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 FE Zoom

This is an intriguing little lens that shows what can be achieved when one of your goals isn’t a wide aperture. The tiny dimensions defy the extreme wide angles and the fact that it is designed for full frame cameras – Sony FE. That it will most likely be used closed down means the 5-bladed iris probably won’t show in highlights, and Laowa claims it will make lovely sunstars when aimed at bright point sources.

Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 FE Zoom

The rear of the lens offers a 37mm filter thread for hiding an ND, or similar, away from the flare of the front of the barrel when filming. Laowa is also working on a front mounted system for 100mm filters that will work with some sort of clamp mechanism. It offers clicked and unclicked apertures via a switch on the side of the barrel.

Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 FE Zoom

Amazingly the tiny barrel contains 14 elements in 10 groups. The length of the lens is 90.09mm and it weighs just 496g. Laowa claims it is the widest zoom available for Sony FF users, and that it is ideal for travel, landscapes and architecture.

Laowa 17mm F1.8 MFT

This is a very neat little lens that comes with a plastic hood and is designed to be an everyday 35mm-type focal length for the small cameras of the Micro Four Thirds system. It is quite small for the size of the maximum aperture, and weighs only 160g/0.36lbs.

Laowa 17mm F1.8 MFT

It feels very well made, and the construction is the sort of solid you get from a most-metal lens. It features 9 elements in 7 groups, and the company boasts it only has a 5-bladed iris – which it says makes the lens excellent at producing clean sunstars.

Laowa 17mm F1.8 MFT

Shown on an Olympus Pen the lens looks very much at home and in proportion. Its solidity makes a nice balance with the small camera, and the smooth focusing ring makes it feel like a quality lens.

Laowa 4mm F2.8 Fisheye MFT

This is a seriously nice wide lens. I’m not usually a fan of circular fisheyes but this might change my mind. It is really well made and produces a 210° angle of view, in a delightfully small form, and is designed for the MTF system.

Laowa 4mm F2.8 Fisheye MFT

The front element is really bulbous and the reflections in it give some idea about what it can see. The focus ring is fitted with a small handle to make working with just a finger easier. The aperture range covers F2.8 to F16, and inside there are seven elements in six groups controlling the light path. It doesn’t take filters!

Laowa 4mm F2.8 Fisheye MFT

Mounting it on my Lumix G9 I could immediately see why Laowa was displaying it on a flat-fronted Olympus Pen, as my fingers and the grip of the camera were clearly visible at the edge of the frame – as well as my stomach at the bottom of the picture! It is a fun lens that is very well made, but it will be difficult to use.

Laowa 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO

Why there aren’t more macro lenses that allow magnifications greater than 1:1 I don’t know, but Laowa is making the most of the gap in the market with its second model. The 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO is quite a beast compared to the other miniature lenses on the stand, but remains quite lightweight as a lot of the barrel is empty space. It will be available for Nikon, Sony, Pentax and Canon users, and focuses from 24.7cm to infinity.

Laowa 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO

The front element drops about halfway down the barrel when focused at infinity, and extends right to the top for close working. The 67mm filter thread is actually on the barrel itself rather than attached to the front element housing, so it will remain still the whole time – just sometimes closer to the lens than at other times.

Laowa 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO

The rear of the lens reveals something Laowa is excited about – contact pins that allow the lens to work with Canon cameras while retaining aperture controls. This also allows aperture coupling in Nikon F cameras which makes life a lot easier.

Laowa 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO

Mr. Li Dayong, the General Manager and lens designer at Laowa, says the lens has APO corrections and is suggested for portraiture as well as macro. He also says that the variation in the number of aperture blades between the different mounts is accounted for in the design differences he had to make when creating the automatic iris mechanisms.

Laowa 9mm F2.8 Zero-D MFT

Laowa has introduced two new 9mm F2.8 Zero-D lenses – one for Micro Four Thirds and the other for the DJI DL mount. It will be the widest option for DJI Inspire 2 drone owners with the Zenmuse x7 gimbal, and the imaging circle is enough to cover Super35 sensors.

Laowa 9mm F2.8 Zero-D MFT

The lens weighs only 215g and is very small indeed. It has the standard Laowa finish and offers a detachable hood. This is the same lens that the company already produces in the Fuji X, Sony E and EOS-M mounts.

Laowa 12mm T2.9 Zero-D Cine

This 12mm cine lens is part of the Zero-D range and is designed for full frame cameras. It will come fitted with either a PL or Canon EF mount, and is a cine version of the existing lens aimed at stills photographers. Of course it has stepless apertures and uses 0.8 gears, as do all these cine lenses, and has had the rotation of its focus ring extended to 270° to make life easier for focus pulling during recording. It has a closest focus of 0.6ft/18cm and weighs 650g/1.4lbs.

Laowa 7.5mm T2.1 Cine

There wasn’t too much to see here as the lens is clearly some way from being finished. It looks nice though! The lens will be available for MFT and weighs 180g/0.4lb, it uses 13 elements in 9 groups and has a 46mm filter thread.

For more information on these lenses see the Venus Optics Laowa website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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The cameras inside the iPhone Xs and Xs Max are estimated to cost $51.10

02 Oct

The cost benchmarking team at analyst firm IHS Markit has dissected an iPhone Xs Max in order to estimate the cost of components. For the 64GB version the team has calculated an estimated total bill of material (BOM) $ 390, a $ 20 increase from the smaller, previous-generation iPhone X.

With a starting price of $ 1,099 at the retail end of the supply chain this $ 20 increase in component cost translates into a $ 100 increase of retail pricing, however. As a comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy S9+ with 64GB of RAM has a BOM of $ 375.80 and retails at around $ 840.

The total cost of camera components inside the new iPhone models (the iPhone Xs and Xs Max use the exact same camera components) amounts to $ 51.10. This estimated total includes the two cameras on the rear of the device, the front-facing camera and the TrueDepth sensor used for FaceID, Apple’s face recognition feature. Without the TrueDepth module, the cost of the two 12-megapixel cameras on the rear of the camera and the 7-megapixel front-facing camera comes out to an estimated price tag of $ 37.60.

Combined, all of the camera components inside iPhone Xs and Xs Max devices represent approximately 13 percent of the total BOM, showing camera technology is becoming even more important on newer smartphones. On the single-camera iPhone 7 from 2016 the total cost of all camera components was only 9.6 percent of the total.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Over $200K in Leica gear stolen from Scottish camera store Ffordes

02 Oct
Image of the Leica cabinets the equipment was stolen from, provided by Ffordes

Ffordes, a camera store in northern Scotland, was the target of what’s believed to be a professional burglary that’s left the store more than $ 200,000 in missing Leica equipment.

On Wednesday, September 26th, the alarm at Ffordes went off. Both the police and a member of the Fforde team alerted management, who quickly arrived on scene. Upon arriving at the shop, it was clear there had been a break-in. One of the front windows had been broken into and a secondary protection window was also removed. Once inside, it was discovered just how much was stolen.

‘From the CCTV footage, the thieves were very well prepared, not just for removing the safety window units but timing,’ said Fforde manager Alister Bowie, in an email to DPReview. ‘They were in and out in under 10 minutes. They went directly to the cabinets with the most expensive equipment inside [passing two other cabinets], broke the doors down and started filling the bags that they had taken in with them. [They were] all suited up and covered [but some] made mistakes and Police are looking over this at the moment. Out of the 12 shelves they only took from 9 of them — the most expensive items and the easiest to sell — they knew what they were looking for.’

Not only was the burglary quick, it was also meticulously planned. According to Bowie, the burglars had been scoping out the location for week and even went so far as to dismantle the street lights and flood lights outside the building. The vehicle believed to be used as a spotter and getaway car was parked 250 yards down the road. Ffordes says authorities are currently combing through both internal and external security footage in an attempt to find out more information.

Bowie says Ffordes has already submitted all of the information it has to the appropriate authorities and will soon release more details, pictures and videos of the burglary in hopes of catching the perpetrators.

Leica Germany has been notified and currently has all of the items re-registered as stolen. Leica dealers around the globe have also been notified and will be keeping en eye out for the stolen gear.

Ffordes has also started a massive social media campaign in an effort to track down the missing gear. Ffordes ‘honestly believes the equipment would be shipped abroad within 12 hours of it being stolen,’ but still has hope the gear will be recovered. Below is a full list of equipment that was taken, complete with serial numbers for verification.

If there’s a shred of good news in this, it’s that the gear was insured. Bowie says the insurance company is currently working on its own investigation and is expected to settle, albeit for far less than what Ffordes paid for the equipment.

If you have any information about the burglary or come across gear on the list, Ffordes asks that you connect with them via email or phone using information found on its contact page.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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