Companies should work harder to convince us that their products are good and selling well. Announcing short supply because of high demand is outdated and laughable.
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We'd never before seen so much silicon wrapped up in such a small package
Photo: Samuel Spencer
The Hasselblad X1D beat Fujifilm to the market by three months in 2016 to become the first mirrorless medium format camera. It wasn't the first "affordable" (or, at least, sub-$10,000) medium format option: that credit goes to the Mamiya DM22, but it was the first larger-than-full-frame digital camera to be designed as a self-contained ILC with no mirror.
It was built around the same 50MP CMOS sensor as the Pentax 645Z, which also underpinned the Fujifilm GFX 50 models, producing some excellent image quality. Hasselblad's modern minimalist design was eye-catching, and the operability improved significantly through a series of firmware updates (though it never offered the mass-market slickness of the GFX models).
One of the factors that allowed the Hasselblad to be so small was the decision to build leaf shutters into all the XCD lenses, rather than having a physical shutter in the camera body. This resulted in a camera that could sync with flashes all the way up to each lens's maximum shutter speed. Though this came at the cost both of higher lens prices and of polygonal bokeh, as the shutter/aperture mechanisms had relatively few blades. This second issue was somewhat resolved by an update that allowed the aperture to be opened a fraction beyond the widest listed value, so that the blades don't intrude on the image.
Alongside the X1D came the first series of medium format lenses designed specifically for 44x33mm digital, giving some excellent results (to the point that moiré is a significant risk even when stopped-down to F5.6, given the lack of low-pass filter on the X1D's sensor). It also led to the only instance we've seen of a manufacturer referring to equivalent f-numbers. It's probably no surprise that it would be one of the only companies to solely produce larger than full-frame systems.
We were in the fortunate position to borrow a Hasselblad, Pentax 645Z and Fujifilm GFX 50S at the same time and use them alongside one another, and looked at their comparative strengths and weaknesses. We hope to do something similar with the more refined 100MP cameras from Hasselblad and Fujifilm in the coming months.
Extensions are moving: For your convenience, Extensions will now move from the Extras tab into new locations, among other features.
In the Catalog tab you’ll see the tools for merging photos and enhancing resolution: HDR Merge, Panorama Stitching, Focus Stacking, and UpscaleAI.
In Edit mode, you can find tools for improving image quality: SupersharpAI and NoiselessAI.
Magic LightAI will appear in the Creative section, and Background RemovalAI in Layers.
Luminar Neo now speaks Czech! It's the 17th language we added to Luminar Neo.
We've also added small interface improvements all throughout the app. Discover new icons for tools, the newly moved Extensions, X Membership, the Extras button, and Luminar Share.
List of fixed bugs:
For macOS
When batch merging images in HDR Merge, always have the brackets with the relevant exposure value for Ghost Reduction selected.
More convenient settings pop-up in the HDR Merge tool.
Open unsupported RAW images without it leading to crashes.
More accurate export of upscaled images.
See the file name in the "Reference image" drop-down of HDR Merge tool, even for long file names.
For Windows
Smooth opening of the ObjectAI mask.
More accurate Ghost Reduction checkbox in the Batch HDR window.
Interface improvements for the Portrait Background tool.
Tamron announced an increase in their dividends, The company stock prices have more than doubled this year (+57.96%):
On the 18th, Tamron announced that it would pay a dividend of 70 yen per share for the January-June period of 2024. This is an increase of 20 yen from the previous forecast and an increase of 35 yen from the previous period. This reflects the company's favorable performance, with sales of its main camera business and automotive parts growing. (Nikke)
June includes multiple days devoted to celebrating nature, including World Environment Day (June 5), World Oceans Day (June 8) and World Rainforest Day (June 22). In that spirit, we chose 'Natural Worlds' as the theme for our most recent Editors' Choice photo challenge, with over 100 readers submitting entries.
We love seeing your work! Thanks to everyone who submitted. We couldn't call out every image we liked, so we restrained ourselves to a baker's dozen (in no particular order).
If you don't see your work here today, don't despair. We'll soon announce a new Editors' Choice challenge.
Also, a quick reminder to keep comments constructive and civil. These are images submitted by your fellow readers who took the time to share their work. Rule #1: Be nice. That's it, there is no rule #2.
Caption: A lone bull sits under an amazing sky in Nebraska's Sandhills. This part of the state is incredibly diverse, and although it's rare to find public land, this open range area of the western part of Nebraska is one of those rare locations.
Caption: Supervised by the parents, this was the first day out of the nest for this juvenile Pine Siskin. This pine tree is on our front lawn and my wife and I are able to watch the progress through our front window.
Technical specs: Nikon D850 | Nikon AF-S 300mm F4E PR ED DR | 1/320 sec | F5.6 | ISO 720
Edits: Light sharpening, contrast and clarity adjustments in Lightroom
Caption: An Asian green bee-eater in Yunnan, China on June 3..
Technical specs: Sony a1 | Sony FE 600mm F4 GM OSS | 1/2000 sec | F4 | ISO 1600
Edits: List of edits made during post-processing: 1. Color: 3900 2. Toning: +1 3. Exposure: +0.81 4. Contrast: -54 5. High light: +88 6. Shadow: +19 7. White level: +4 8. Black level: +53 9.Clarity: +11 Etc. The photo was taken for an Asian green bee-eater in Yunnan, China on June 3.
Caption: Taken while walking In the fields at Schooley's Mountain Park, Long Valley, NJ. The flower head is quite small, about 2 cm. They are easily missed.
Technical specs: Nikon D500 | Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG Macro | 1/125 sec | F8 | ISO 125
Edits: Raw processed in Photoshop ACR, adjustments in exposure, contrast, highlights, blacks; 0.5 pixel high-pass sharpening.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who participated. Seriously, how amazing is it to see our fellow DPReview reader's work? To see all the entries for yourself, head over to the challenge now. The complete shooting specs and gear used for each photo in the challenge platform can also be found in the challenges gallery.
If you couldn't participate in this editors' challenge, keep an eye out for our next one. And, if you have a suggestion for an Editors' challenge theme, let us know in the comments.
Best-in-class read and write speeds of up to 950 MB/s and 950 MB/s, respectively [1] [2]
Minimum continuous write speed of 850 MB/s for high-speed continuous shooting [1] [2]
Stable high-speed continuous shooting and movie recording with our unique low power consumption technology
VPG400 compatible
Nextorage CFexpress Type A NX-A1SE Series:
Best-in-class read up to 950 MB/s[1] , write up to 950 MB/s[1]
High-capacity lineup for long-time video recording
VPG200 compatible
The NX-A1PROseries is a CFexpress Type A memory card for professional users who handle high-speed continuous shooting and high bit-rate video.
Best-in-class write/read speeds.
The maximum transfer rate of 950 MB/s for both write and read, the highest level in its class, and the minimum continuous write speed of 850 MB/s are achieved. [1] [3] The number of consecutive shots possible during high-speed continuous shooting has been increased, and the buffer memory release time has been shortened. This reduces the number of missed shots at the desired moment.
Dynamic Auto Power Save, a unique low-power consumption technology that stabilizes video recording.
Nextorage's unique power saving technology, "Dynamic Auto Power Save," reduces power consumption by up to 88% compared to the case without. In addition to reducing power consumption during video recording, thermal throttling* is also suppressed by reducing the temperature rise of the card itself. (*Thermal throttling: a control function that attenuates the transfer rate to prevent thermal runaway). This enables stable video recording. It also reduces the camera's battery consumption, which contributes to extending the available shooting time.
VPG400 compliant, as required for professional video shooting.
All capacities comply with the Video Performance Guarantee VPG400 (minimum guaranteed continuous write speed: 400 MB/s). It has the specifications required for professional video recording.
Abundant lineup of capacities for various applications
80 GB/160 GB capacity lineup for high-speed continuous shooting of still images and VPG200 for video shooting requiring. High capacity 320 GB/640 GB available. The CFexpress Type A is now available to professional users who have not yet used the CFexpress Type A.We want our customers to experience the performance of our 40GB capacity at an affordable price.
The NX-A1SE series is a CFexpress Type A memory card for video creators who shoot long, high-quality videos.
Best-in-class write/read speeds.
Achieves a class-leading maximum write/read transfer rate of 950 MB/s. [1] Reduces data transfer time after shooting.
High-capacity lineup for long-time video recording
The high-capacity lineup of 480 GB,960 GB and 1,920 GB supports long-time movie recording, and is ideal for switching from SD cards, as it dramatically improves shooting time and data transfer speeds compared to SDXC UHS-II memory cards.
VPG200 compliant for stable, high quality video recording
All capacities comply with the Video Performance Guarantee VPG200 (guaranteed minimum continuous write speed: 200 MB/s). It has the specifications required for professional video recording.
Durability
Both the NX-A1PRO and NX-A1SE series are durable and come with a 5-year warranty in accordance with CompactFlash Association regulations.
Heat resistance: -10 °C to 70 °C (guaranteed operating temperature)
Shock resistance (EIA-364-27A compliant)
X-ray resistant (ISO7816-1 compliant)
UV resistant (ISO7816-1 compliant)
Magnetic resistance (based on Nextorage's own testing)
Electrostatic resistance (conforms to IEC 61000-4-2)
The Alice Camera, a phone-driven Micro Four Thirds camera that creates AI-enhanced images, is about to ship to customers who placed pre-orders.
The camera, which is operated using an app on a smartphone that connects to the main camera unit, is designed to deliver social media-ready imagery without the need for manual editing.
Image: Photogram
It's underpinned by powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon and Google Edge TPU processors. Edge refers to AI algorithms running on the end device, rather than in the cloud. These are tasked with optimizing color, white balance and image brightness to automatically give the polished end image, more like the computational output of a modern smartphone, rather than the relatively neutral photographic representation of most dedicated cameras.
However, unlike a smartphone, the Alice Camera is built around the Micro Four Thirds lens mount, allowing the use of a wide range of lenses, which significantly boost the creativity and flexibility that the camera can offer.
It's built around a Sony-sourced four thirds sized sensor which the company describes as featuring Quad Bayer HDR and 4.63μm pixels. This almost certainly makes it the same sensor used in the Panasonic GH5S, which would give around 10.5MP images. The Quad Bayer design placed four photodiodes under the same filter color of a Bayer array (there are actually around 42 million 2.3μm photodiodes on the chip).
Alternate rows of the sensor can be read out early, giving a reduced exposure to capture highlights, and this data is easily combined with the full exposure given to the other half of the pixels, to deliver wider dynamic range.
As well as stills, the Alice camera can shoot 4K video at up to 30p and 1080 at up to 60p.
Photo: Photogram
Development of the Alice Camera has been delayed by Covid lockdowns and the chip shortages that followed but Photogram says cameras will ship to customers starting with UK customers next month.
Alice Camera, a novel AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera, Prepares for Delivery
London, UK – June, 2024 – After three years of dedicated development, Photogram is thrilled to announce that the Alice Camera, a novel AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera that attaches to iOS and Android smartphones, will begin shipping to pre-order customers from 15th July 2024 (see proposed delivery dates below). Designed to streamline high-quality social media content creation for creators, businesses and everyday users, Alice Camera aims to bridge the gap between mirrorless cameras and smartphones. Users will be able to capture content with interchangeable lenses, a smartphone-like user experience and on-camera AI-driven computational photography.
As an official Micro Four Thirds system partner, Photogram has built the Alice Camera to meet the standard's specifications and requirements. Alice Camera utilises the Micro Four Thirds lens mount and a Sony 4/3" HDR, dual-native ISO CMOS sensor. However, what sets Alice Camera apart from other mirrorless cameras is its use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon and Google Edge TPU chips as its primary processing units. These processors accelerate the calculations necessary for running Photogram’s proprietary AI-driven computational photography algorithms and software-based image signal processing (ISP) pipeline directly on the camera. Unlike hardware-based ISPs in traditional mirrorless cameras, Photogram's AI-driven software-based ISP is an innovative approach as it enables additional AI features and improvements to be brought to their existing cameras over time. In 2023, Photogram joined Google Cloud’s program for AI startups in London, where they received credits and mentorship to further train and develop their pipeline, which automates essential functions like white balance, exposure and colour grading.
Alice Camera's smartphone app offers an intuitive design for camera control, file management, and content sharing. Alice Camera OS, a Linux-based camera-specific operating system, allows for over-the-air software updates and open-access development, opening up new creative possibilities. Developers and businesses interested in building their own AI algorithms and custom apps on the Alice Camera platform are encouraged to contact the team.
"We're incredibly excited to finally bring the Alice Camera to the world," said Vishal Kumar, CEO at Photogram. "We set out to build the Alice Camera because we wanted to offer our customers a new type of mirrorless camera built specifically for a new era of content. We’ve developed a fundamentally new engineering paradigm for mirrorless cameras, with significantly novel implementations on hardware, software and with AI algorithms. Alice Camera represents an innovative step forward in how mirrorless cameras are designed and how our users will process, capture and share their experiences. We can't wait to see the amazing content created with the Alice Camera."
The journey to launch was not without its challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns in 2021 and 2022 caused severe chip shortages impacting Alice Camera’s manufacturing. Further delays arose in 2023 as the product underwent rigorous consumer electronics regulatory testing. Despite these hurdles, Photogram persevered, thanks to the support of its backers and investors. "We are deeply grateful for the belief and patience our community has shown throughout this journey," added Vishal Kumar. "As a new entrant in the camera industry, we hope to bring fresh perspectives. All the difficult development work over the last three years is now done. Now, we’re ready to deliver and start to scale manufacturing. Our journey begins from today… We’re just getting started."
PROPOSED DELIVERY DATES
Cameras for the UK will begin shipping from 15th July 2024.
Cameras for US, Japan, EU, Australia are scheduled to start shipping from 15th August 2024.
Cameras for Canada, France and Rest of the World are scheduled to start shipping from Sept 2024.
Viltrox has a patent for what appears to be a new 28mm pancake autofocus full-frame lens. The patent number is CN308440949S - it was filed on July 20, 2023, and it was published on January 26, 2024:
I have been covering the AI-powered Micro Four Thirds Alice Camera for 4 years now, and it is good to see that they are finally starting to ship to customers.
Here are the details on the Alice Camera shipping:
Alice Camera, a novel AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera, Prepares for Delivery
London, UK – June, 2024 – After three years of dedicated development, Photogram is thrilled to announce that the Alice Camera, a novel AI-powered Micro Four Thirds camera that attaches to iOS and Android smartphones, will begin shipping to pre-order customers from 15th July 2024 (see proposed delivery dates below). Designed to streamline high-quality social media content creation for creators, businesses and everyday users, Alice Camera aims to bridge the gap between mirrorless cameras and smartphones. Users will be able to capture content with interchangeable lenses, a smartphone-like user experience and on-camera AI-driven computational photography.
As an official Micro Four Thirds system partner, Photogram has built the Alice Camera to meet the standard's specifications and requirements. Alice Camera utilises the Micro Four Thirds lens mount and a Sony 4/3" HDR, dual-native ISO CMOS sensor. However, what sets Alice Camera apart from other mirrorless cameras is its use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon and Google Edge TPU chips as its primary processing units. These processors accelerate the calculations necessary for running Photogram’s proprietary AI-driven computational photography algorithms and software-based image signal processing (ISP) pipeline directly on the camera. Unlike hardware-based ISPs in traditional mirrorless cameras, Photogram's AI-driven software-based ISP is an innovative approach as it enables additional AI features and improvements to be brought to their existing cameras over time. In 2023, Photogram joined Google Cloud’s program for AI startups in London, where they received credits and mentorship to further train and develop their pipeline, which automates essential functions like white balance, exposure and colour grading.
Alice Camera's smartphone app offers an intuitive design for camera control, file management, and content sharing. Alice Camera OS, a Linux-based camera-specific operating system, allows for over-the-air software updates and open-access development, opening up new creative possibilities. Developers and businesses interested in building their own AI algorithms and custom apps on the Alice Camera platform are encouraged to contact the team.
"We're incredibly excited to finally bring the Alice Camera to the world," said Vishal Kumar, CEO at Photogram.
"We set out to build the Alice Camera because we wanted to offer our customers a new type of mirrorless camera built specifically for a new era of content. We’ve developed a fundamentally new engineering paradigm for mirrorless cameras, with significantly novel implementations on hardware, software and with AI algorithms. Alice Camera represents an innovative step forward in how mirrorless cameras are designed and how our users will process, capture and share their experiences. We can't wait to see the amazing content created with the Alice Camera."
The journey to launch was not without its challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns in 2021 and 2022 caused severe chip shortages impacting Alice Camera’s manufacturing. Further delays arose in 2023 as the product underwent rigorous consumer electronics regulatory testing. Despite these hurdles, Photogram persevered, thanks to the support of its backers and investors. "We are deeply grateful for the belief and patience our community has shown throughout this journey," added Vishal Kumar. "As a new entrant in the camera industry, we hope to bring fresh perspectives. All the difficult development work over the last three years is now done. Now, we’re ready to deliver and start to scale manufacturing. Our journey begins from today… We’re just getting started."
PROPOSED DELIVERY DATES
Cameras for the UK will begin shipping from 15th July 2024.
Cameras for US, Japan, EU, Australia are scheduled to start shipping from 15th August 2024.
Cameras for Canada, France and Rest of the World are scheduled to start shipping from Sept 2024.
About Photogram
Founded in London by a team of data scientists, engineers, content creators and camera enthusiasts, Photogram is a London-based computational photography startup with a mission to empower creators, business and everyday users with a camera more suited for a new era of content. By combining Micro Four Thirds optics with AI-accelerated hardware and computational photography algorithms driven by AI the team is offering a device more suited to a fast-paced content lifestyle. Alice Camera’s USP is to leverage a proprietary AI pipeline on-device; instead of doing post-processing on a laptop, editing can be done in real-time on the camera, drastically streamlining workflows.
In 2021 the team raised a $235,000 grant from Innovate UK, the UK government’s innovation agency, and $200,000 from backers on Indiegogo to develop Alice Camera. Then, in 2022 the team secured $1,300,000 in venture capital funding from Ascension Ventures, Cur8 Capital and 7pc ventures. In March 2023 the team was selected to pitch on stage at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, and was recently selected by the British Government to display at the inaugural CogX, Festival of AI, in Los Angeles in May 2024. Alice Camera is one of the first mirrorless cameras to be designed and released from London and/or the United Kingdom in the last two decades. Read more about the company, its co-founders and their story.
To commemorate their 20th anniversary, DxO announced a new promotional offer where you can get a 20% discount on all products for the next 20 days (starting today until Sunday, July 7, 2024):
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During our time with the Nikon Z6III we were able to get out and shoot with the camera in a couple of different situations and with a selection of lenses (though it was a fairly typical Seattle spring day).
We also shot a first-look video, running down the basic specs of the camera and discussing what the camera is.
If you really want to get into the fine detail of what the new camera offers (and there's a LOT), then we'd recommend you read our in-depth initial review. But if you just want a quick introduction, this video should get you up to speed in no time.
Connexion
