The previously reported Hasselblad XCD 25mm f/2.5 V lens is now officially announced and available for pre-order (the lens is 25mm, not 24mm as previously reported):
HASSELBLAD INTRODUCES THE XCD 2,5/25V, A WIDE ANGLE LENS FOR NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
The XCD 2,5/25V is the widest-angle lens in the Hasselblad XCD Versatile (V) series lenses. It has a 20mm full-frame equivalent focal length and a maximum aperture of f/2,5. With its expansive view and large aperture, the XCD 2,5/25V was designed for turning nocturnal cityscapes, starry skies, and indoor portraits into extraordinary captures.
Its wide-angle focal length encompasses a wealth of scenic elements, providing photographers with ample space and composition. The f/2,5 large aperture, coupled with its excellent optical performance, ensures rich highlights and shadows are captured within every frame, even at dusk or after dark.
The XCD 2,5/25V features an optical structure of thirteen elements in ten groups, including four aspherical elements and three ED elements, meeting the high-resolution requirements of 100-megapixel sensors. This ensures images are sharp and crisp from the centre to the edges while effectively suppressing chromatic dispersion.
The optical quality of the lens is also showcased by its robust close-up capabilities. With a 25cm minimum focusing distance and 1:5:8 magnification, its large aperture accentuates close ups, enhancing the expressiveness of subjects like gourmet dishes and flowers.
As part of the Hasselblad XCD V lens series, the design of the XCD 2,5/25V is known for integrating user-friendly functionality with elegance, in both its aesthetics and control. Enhancing the elegance is an engraved “V" insignia on the lens, with the "H" logo engraved on both the focus and control rings.
With a gentle push- pull of the focus ring, photographers can quickly switch between AF and MF modes. In MF mode, intuitive scale marks on the lens keep focus distance and depth of field at a clear glance, enabling precise focus control. Functions such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation can be customised on the control ring, serving as an extension of the camera, allowing users to capture the perfect moment with ease.
The XCD 2,5/25V is equipped with a linear stepping motor and a smaller, lighter focusing lens group, providing a quick and responsive focusing experience when paired with Hasselblad X or V system cameras that support PDAF.
The lens adopts a large-diameter leaf shutter module with a shutter speed of up to 1/4000s. This enables both global shutter and flash synchronisation at all speeds.
The XCD 2,5/25V lens is priced at $3,699 USD / 4,199 EUR and is available to purchase online and at selected retail stores worldwide.
Google has announced the Pixel 8a, its latest mid-priced smartphone, bringing the sensors and lenses from the Pixel 7a but the more powerful processor and features from the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. It also gets a brighter screen, now earning Google's 'Actua' branding.
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The main camera is a 64MP camera with an F1.89 lens with an 80° angle of view (approximately 26mm equivalent, in 35mm terms). This uses a Type 1/1.73 (7.4 x 5.5mm) sensor.
There's also a 13MP ultrawide with an F2.2 aperture and 120° angle of view (∼12.5mm equiv). The front camera remains a 13MP camera with F2.2 lens and 96.5° AoV (∼19mm equiv). Both these cameras use Type 1/3 (4.7 x 3.5mm) sensors.
Pixel count
AoV
f/
Pixel size
Sensor size
Crop factor
Main wide
64MP
80° 26mm e
F1.89
0.8μm
Type 1/1.73 (7.4 x 5.5mm)
4.7x
Ultrawide
13MP
120° 26mm e
F2.2
1.12μm
Type 1/3 (4.7 x 3.4mm)
7.4x
Front camera
13MP
96.5° 19mm e
F2.2
1.12μm
Type 1/3 (4.7 x 3.4mm)
7.4x
While the cameras themselves remain unchanged, the 8a gets an upgraded screen, now offering a peak brightness of 2000 nits. This, and a wider color gamut, earn it the company's 'Actua' branding, previously only used on the top-end phones. The panel is not exactly the same as that in the Pixel 8, though, with the company calling it a glass-OLED, rather than the plastic-OLED panel used in the 8.
Google says one of its core aims with the new phone was to deliver "the best camera in a smartphone under $500." Underpinning these hopes is the use of the same Tensor G3 processor used in the more expensive Pixel 8.
The Pixel 8a will be available in four colors, including Aloe (pictured), Obsidian (black), Bay (blue) and Porcelain (off-white).
Image: Google
The Pixel 8a includes features such as 'Best Take,' which takes a burst of images and then lets you choose the expression for each person in the image. It also includes Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to fill in the background, allowing you to select, resize and move subjects in the image, and Magic Eraser to remove distracting objects.
It also includes a "photo unblur" system that tried to up-res blurry parts of your images.
New to the Pixel 8a is Audio Magic Eraser, which analyses the audio in videos, splits it up into what it thinks are the different sound sources, and lets you selectively delete just the distracting audio elements.
It also includes the Guided Frame feature that gives audio cues for people with limited vision, which has been expanded to help take photos of pets, food and documents, as well as faces. As with all recent Google cameras it also utilizes the company's 'Real Tone' processing to more accurately render a wider range of skin tones.
The company promises a 15% increase in battery life over the 7a, and the 8a maintains the same IP67 weatherproofing rating as its predecessor. It's also essentially the same dimensions, at 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm (6.0 x 2.9 x 0.4").
The Pixel 8a will be available starting from $499, in 128Gb or 256Gb varieties. Google promises security updates will be provided for seven years from launch.
The Hasselblad XCD 2.5/25 V has a snap-back focus ring, engaging manual focus and revealing a distance scale.
Image: Hasselblad
Hasselblad has announced the XCD 2.5/25V, a 25mm F2.5 lens for its X-system 44x33mm medium format cameras.
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The 2.5/25V ends up acting as a 20mm equivalent ultra-wide lens on the X1D, X2D and 907x cameras, making it the second-widest option in the lineup, behind the 21mm F4. As with all XCD lenses, it features an internal leaf shutter, in this case allowing flash sync all the way up to its maximum speed of 1/4000 sec.
Hasselblad suggests its use for "shooting at night or dusk and blue hour," and says it can be used for: "cityscapes, street photography, natural landscapes/astrophotography ... as well as low light indoor portraits and close-ups."
Image: Hasselblad
It shares the features of the company's V ("versatile") series of XCD lenses, including a snap-back manual focus ring that reveals a distance scale on the barrel. It also has a user-configurable control ring, that can be used to control settings such as aperture value or ISO.
The complex 13-element, 10-group design includes four aspherical elements and three extra-low dispersion glass elements. It features an internal focus design driven by a stepper motor to deliver what the company describes as "fast, accurate, and responsive focusing."
It can focus down to 25cm (9.8"), giving a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:5.8.
The 2.5/25 is 105mm long and 75mm in diameter (4.1 x 3.0") and accepts 72mm filters. It weighs 592g (20.9 oz).
The lens will cost $3699.
Press Release:
HASSELBLAD INTRODUCES THE XCD 2,5/25V, A WIDE ANGLE LENS FOR NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
The XCD 2,5/25V is the widest-angle lens in the Hasselblad XCD Versatile (V) series lenses. It has a 20mm full-frame equivalent focal length and a maximum aperture of f/2,5. With its expansive view and large aperture, the XCD 2,5/25V was designed for turning nocturnal cityscapes, starry skies, and indoor portraits into extraordinary captures.
Its wide-angle focal length encompasses a wealth of scenic elements, providing photographers with ample space and composition. The f/2,5 large aperture, coupled with its excellent optical performance, ensures rich highlights and shadows are captured within every frame, even at dusk or after dark.
The XCD 2,5/25V features an optical structure of thirteen elements in ten groups, including four aspherical elements and three ED elements, meeting the high-resolution requirements of 100-megapixel sensors. This ensures images are sharp and crisp from the centre to the edges while effectively suppressing chromatic dispersion.
The optical quality of the lens is also showcased by its robust close-up capabilities. With a 25cm minimum focusing distance and 1:5:8 magnification, its large aperture accentuates close ups, enhancing the expressiveness of subjects like gourmet dishes and flowers.
As part of the Hasselblad XCD V lens series, the design of the XCD 2,5/25V is known for integrating user-friendly functionality with elegance, in both its aesthetics and control. Enhancing the elegance is an engraved “V" insignia on the lens, with the "H" logo engraved on both the focus and control rings.
With a gentle push- pull of the focus ring, photographers can quickly switch between AF and MF modes. In MF mode, intuitive scale marks on the lens keep focus distance and depth of field at a clear glance, enabling precise focus control. Functions such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and exposure compensation can be customised on the control ring, serving as an extension of the camera, allowing users to capture the perfect moment with ease.
The XCD 2,5/25V is equipped with a linear stepping motor and a smaller, lighter focusing lens group, providing a quick and responsive focusing experience when paired with Hasselblad X or V system cameras that support PDAF.
The lens adopts a large-diameter leaf shutter module with a shutter speed of up to 1/4000s. This enables both global shutter and flash synchronisation at all speeds.
The XCD 2,5/25V lens is priced at $3,699 USD / 4,199 EUR and is available to purchase online and at selected retail stores worldwide. For more information about the XCD 2,5/25V, visit www.hasselblad.com.
Viltrox has formally announced the release of its AF 16mm F1.8 Z lens, a fast, wide autofocus prime lens for full-frame Z-mount cameras. It joins the lineup next to Viltrox's existing AF 16mm F1.8 lens for Sony E-mount. Viltrox says the lens is aimed at applications like astrophotography, landscape and architecture.
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The AF 16mm F1.8 Z is built around 15 elements in 12 groups, including 4 ED and three aspherical elements. It has a minimum focus distance of 0.27m (11") and a maximum magnification ratio of 0.1.
A stepper motor drives autofocus. The lens has a nine-bladed aperture.
The lens also includes two function buttons and includes one-click access to infinity focus, a feature that should be popular with astrophotographers. It features a 77mm filter thread. Viltrox describes the lens as "dustproof."
Although Viltrox is formally announcing the AF 16mm F1.8 Z today, reviews on YouTube began appearing last week.
The AF 16mm F1.8 Z has a suggested retail price of $549 and is available immediately.
Light Lens Lab announced that their new 75mm f/2 “SP-II” lens for Leica M-mount is now in the prototype stage (a prototype copy has been produced for further testing and refinement before production and reviews).
Light Lens Lab will also continue the expansion of the “SP-II” series with several other focal lengths:
21mm
28mm
35mm
50mm
75mm
90mm APO
135mm SAPO
PopFlash is the official distributor of Light Lens Lab lenses in the US.
"Under these circumstances, one company that stands out is Nikon, which has recovered its product supply. Since its release on October 27th last year, the "Z f" has continued to be popular, and a total of 5 models of the body and lens kit have made it into the rankings. A total of 25 models compete with Nikon's 7 models and Sony's 8 models."
"New Nik Collection 7 plugin suite for Photoshop and Lightroom is the biggest upgrade ever The 7 plugins receive major improvements to its exclusive U Point masking technology, updates to Nik Color Efex, speed boosts, workflow improvements, and much more"
Here is the full list of new features:
Brand new Local Adjustments tools and functionality:
– U Point Elliptical Control Points: Control Points can now be stretched or squeezed into elliptical shapes for powerful selective editing — perfect for applying effects or corrections to oval areas without affecting the rest of your image.
– U Point Control Polygons: Create custom shapes with straight lines to fit the exact contours of any object in your photo, from intricate landscapes to complex architectural details — a significant upgrade for those who demand the utmost control over their edits.
– Luminosity Masks: Automatically select areas of your image based on brightness, allowing for seamless adjustments to highlights, mid-tones, and shadows, allowing you to apply corrections to these specific areas.
– Flexible color reference for U Point Control Points and Control Polygons: This increases flexibility, extending the functionality that is already available with Control Lines.
– U Point Control Polygon feathering: Adjust the strength of the effect on the edges and style of adjustments made using U Point.
Effortless organization of Filters and Presets: With the new workspace management system, organizing and categorizing Filters and Presets has never been easier. Create personalized categories that match your editing process, and switch between them with a single click, ensuring that your favorite adjustments are always at your fingertips.
Nik Collection launches 30% faster: Dive into creative process without delay and make the most of your editing sessions.
‘Switch to’ button lets you jump seamlessly between plugins: Transition effortlessly between plugins without ever leaving your creative zone. This feature is designed to remove interruptions to your workflow, enhancing efficiency, and offering a smoother editing experience.
Quick Export from Nik Collection: Export results in TIFF or JPEG format directly without leaving the plugin. This feature unlocks the potential to create and compare multiple versions of corrections for a single image when refining details, experimenting with color, or exploring different creative visions — or simply to share quickly online.
Global Search for Filters and Presets: This practical tool simplifies access to Filters, Filter Looks, and Presets. Type the name of the Filter or Preset in the search field and a list appears instantly for quick access.
Flexible HSL, ClearView and Grain features in Nik Color Efex: Apply HSL, ClearView and Grain Filters as local adjustments. This functionality allows the fine-tuning of specific parts of the images, providing unparalleled precision and creative freedom.
– Multiple instances: Apply several instances of each Filter for varied effects, allowing for complex and layered enhancements.
– Blend and mix: Seamlessly mix these Filters with other Nik Color Efex Filters for a truly customized editing experience. The possibilities are endless, allowing you to achieve the perfect balance in every photo.
Access Nik Viveza corrections as Filters within Nik Color Efex:
– Globally or as local adjustments: Take full control over the changes offered by Nik Viveza.
– Multiple instances: Apply several instances of each Filter to different workflows for varied effects, allowing for a complex and layered enhancements. Internal
– Blend and mix: As with all Nik Color Efex Filters, you can stack them in any order you wish, giving you greater flexibility.
Enhanced HSL feature in Nik Color Efex, allowing you to correct colors across specific ranges:
– Select colors using a Color Picker.
– Adjust colors manually using a flexible tool.
– The Global channel now has a Vibrancy slider for even greater control.
Set the default Look of a Filter in Nik Color Efex: Change the default Look of a Filter that is selected automatically when the Filter is first applied. In addition, mark your preferred Filter Looks as Favorites for easy access.
Camerainsider confirmed today that a new Hasselblad XCD 25mm f/2.5 lens will be announced this week. The question now is what is the correct focal length: 24mm or 25mm?
There is another new Hasselblad XCD lens rumored to be announced later this year (135mm f/2.5):
Just a reminder that the latest Hasselblad XCD 90mm f/2.5 V lens was officially released in August last year (2023) and it is still not available (check availability at Adorama and B&H Photo).
The author looking pensive, perhaps pondering whether he's condemned to over-think every aspect of cameras.
It's unusual for us to publish both a review and then follow up with an opinion piece. So why am I doing it here? Our reviews do their best to act as a guide for the 'typical' user of a product, and to provide enough information for you to make your own mind up.
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But we all have different needs and expectations, myself included. I don't believe my own personal perspective represents the 'typical' user, so didn't want to weight the review too heavily towards it. Instead this is just my opinion, based on my experiences with the X100VI and how it worked for me.
So don't you like the camera?
I really like the Fujifilm X100VI. It's the best version yet of the kind of camera that we always hoped someone would make. Photographers who looked back longingly at the likes of the Contax T series or Olympus RC rangefinders were overjoyed when the X100 was launched, and the cameras have just got better. Hence the Gold award.
I understand that there are people who'd like a camera that's smaller, or one with a lens that's wider, or who don't see the appeal when interchangable lens cameras exist. But, just as with the Ricoh GR cameras: the X100 is what it is and it isn't (and isn't supposed to be) anything that it isn't.
And armed with this perspective, I don't feel there's any contradiction between giving the X100VI a positive review for what it is, and then saying what I wish were different about it. Because I'm not asking for it to be something it's not, but instead that I wish it were even more what it's trying to be.
In short, I feel that the X100 borrowing so much from Fujifilm's other models risks detracting from its X100-ness.
Loss of focus
As the X100 series has continued, it's gained the dual clickable dials from the other cameras in Fujifilm's range, along with a using the focus ring as a control ring. This means there are more possible ways of controlling it but risks it taking longer for you to settle on your preferred way of doing so.
Noticeably, when you first switch the camera on, there are three settings assigned to the front dial, none of which actually does anything unless you hand-off control from the dedicated dial for each of those settings.
Given the number of direct controls on the camera, it seems odd to have four exposure parameters also assigned to the front and rear dials. And while I appreciate being able to use a press of the rear dial to punch in on the camera's live view, I feel that one or both dials being non-clickable dials would still allow for most people's preferred way of controlling exposure while also giving a higher-quality feel and less chance of accidentally pressing a dial and changing the function.
A control point that does do something out-of-the-box is the manual focus ring when you're not in MF mode. It's a free-rotating ring, ill-suited to the stepped variables that can be assigned to it, and it's all too easy to knock and only later wonder why you've spent the last two hours shooting in an unexpected Film Simulation mode or Small image size.
The X100's manual focus ring now acts as a far-too-easy to nudge control ring. I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to make it so easy to accidentally change film simulation or switch to Small image size, but I doubt we'd get along.
Of course, it's quite possible that this only stands out to me because, as a camera reviewer a) it's my job to explore the ways in which the camera could be used, rather than just picking one and getting on with it and b) because I've used all the other cameras its UI resembles, such that I recognize that the X100VI feels like the do-everything X-T5 but can't do as much. Upon tapping the front dial, I found myself having to think about how to configure and use the camera before I could start to fall in love with it.
Inappropriate features
The hybrid X-H2 models, which are designed to cover a wider range of photo and video pursuits than the X100VI, have fewer dedicated dials, yet don't have clickable command dials. So why does the X100VI need them?
From a development (and cost) perspective, it makes sense for Fujifilm to offer as much commonality across its cameras as possible. And there's no-doubt some added concern about appearing to be withholding features if you omit something that the hardware is capable of offering. But does the X100VI need all the X-T5's features?
The X100VI has the same machine-learning-trained subject recognition system as the X-H2S and X-T5, but its much slower-moving lens means it can't focus on moving subjects with anything like the hit rate they offer. Likewise, do enough people capture pictures of birds with a 35mm equivalent lens to make the presence of bird detection AF worthwhile? Maybe other people are better at quietly approaching birds without disturbing them, but even with a 40MP sensor, I think I'd need to crop extensively to get anything useful.
And, even as someone who's written about why virtually all cameras include video, I'm not sure the X100VI would be any worse for not being able to capture cropped, rather rolling-shutter prone 6K video. Though I accept it may be more expensive, if it meant establishing parallel development streams for its firmware.
Overlooked quirks
Finally, I worry that carrying over so much code from other models means that the unique properties of Fujifilm's rangefinder-style cameras aren't as fully developed as they could be.
Take, for example, the behavior of the pop-up tab in the optical viewfinder, onto which an electronic preview can be projected. This retracts every time you nudge the AF joystick, then pops back up when you try to focus. But it only does this with the joystick's default behavior. If you set the joystick to simply position the AF point, rather than moving and letting you change its size, then the pop-up tab remains engaged.
This is a little odd, but becomes even stranger when you remember that it's not actually possible to change the AF point size when you're looking through the OVF. So why doesn't the joystick simply switch to position-only mode, when your eye is up to the finder?
Similarly, the pop-up tab can show a magnified version of the chosen AF point, for confirming critical focus position and accuracy. But only in AF-S mode. If you set the camera to AF-C (though why would you?), the tab shows a tiny version of the entire scene: the thing you're already seeing through the viewfinder itself. Both of these are really, really minor oddities, but could they have been better if Fujifilm had time to focus solely on what the X100 can do, rather than sharing firmware more widely?
And yet?
For all of my nit-picking about the X100VI, I think it's a superb photographic tool.
To be clear, none of this stops the X100VI being an excellent camera. But part of me misses the simplicity and, perhaps, inflexibility of the early models. If you've decided to straightjacket yourself with a slow-to-focus camera with a fixed focal length, would it be so terrible to have to adapt to the way it's designed to be used, rather than even having to think about how to configure it and deal with its foibles? And would a few fewer features in any way diminish the appeal?
Perhaps Leica, whose SL cameras are full of functions but whose niche manual-focus rangefinders have had their video capabilities excised, is onto something.
Megadap released a new EFTZ21 lens adapter for using Canon EF lenses on Nikon Z cameras (previously reported here). The adapter works with full-frame and APS-C lenses, unlocking 150+ new EF lenses to the Nikon Z system.
Multiple new product announcements are expected in May - some will happen as early as next week. Here is a list of some of the rumored cameras and lenses:
"KEIRIN is a conceptual digital camera designed as a testing ground for exploring new design paradigms, seamlessly integrating hardware and software. It aims to provide an immersive shooting experience focusing on the photographic craft without distractions. Named after the Japanese word keirin 競輪 ー a bike race in a velodrome ー is the perfect name for a concept where hardware and software cycle together." (vwfndr.camera)
"The Keirin is designed around a 60-megapixel full-frame sensor with a 35mm lens. The plan is for the camera to include SSD storage and mobile connectivity so that photos can automatically be saved and backed up to the cloud. VWFNDR has also designed a proprietary magnetic expansion bay — called XPNSNBAY — that uses pogo pins to allow for peripherals like a panoramic optical viewfinder. Another clever accessory is REMOFLSH, a wireless flash unit that directly communicates with the camera’s built-in trigger. " (The Verge)
We've been pretty busy testing cameras over the past few weeks, and these days, camera testing usually includes shooting video samples to evaluate video quality.
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You can find these samples in our recent or upcoming camera reviews, but here's a quick roundup of video test reels we've shot recently for those who may have missed them.
Sony a9 III
Sony's a9 III is the first mirrorless camera to feature a global shutter, which is exciting to many videographers. But what about video quality? Check out this sample reel by former DPReview editor Carey Rose to see how it performs.
Fujifilm announced the much-anticipated X100VI rangefinder-style camera at an event in February. DPReview editor Richard Butler was present at the camera's launch in Japan and shared this overview of the camera from the streets of Tokyo.
The Panasonic S5II landed on our doorstep just as we learned of our parent company's intention to close DPReview in 2023, and we've been looking for an opportunity to shoehorn it back into our testing calendar ever since we joined Gear Patrol last summer. The good news: we finally managed to block out time to finish our review of the camera.
For this video test reel, shot with the S5IIX, editor Dale Baskin picked a maritime theme and took the camera to Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal, Fisherman's Terminal and Ballard Locks to capture samples in a variety of of settings.
The long-awaited Panasonic G9 II is an impressive camera for both stills and video. Former editor Jeff Keller, who still writes for DPReview and authored our Panasonic G9 II review, took the camera to the Bloedel Reserve, a forest garden near Seattle, to capture this video reel.
The Nikon Zf may look like a film camera from the 1980s, but it's a capable video tool. For this sample video, Richard Butler followed a friend on a ferry trip across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island to visit a favorite haunt for fish and chips.
Connexion
