The previously reported 56mm f/1.8 APS-C mirrorless lens from TTartisan is now officially announced. The Sony E and Fuji X mounts are available now and the Nikon Z version will be released later. The new lens includes ten lens elements arranged across nine groups. It has a 0.5m close focus distance and weighs 233-245 grams, with ED glasses and a 52mm filter size. The lens has a "STM+leading screw" stepping motor, which is small in size and smooth in focusing. Pre-order links with some introduction discounts at Amazon:
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Photo: Shaminder Dulai
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IDS Works (Initial Design Studio) is a very popular third-party accessories manufacturer for Leica cameras (see their products here). For the first time, they decided to create an accessory for a camera different than Leica - meet the new IDSworks grip for the new Fuji X100VI:
Six different grip pad options are available to order - see the order page configuration tool. The grip comes with internal SD card storage and has no blockage to the battery access door:
Introducing our latest addition to the Fuji camera lineup, the X100VI, designed with the same precision and quality as our renowned Leica M and Q series cameras.
We have not implement similar curved opening at the bottom to cut down machine time by half and use a rather common straight opening approach to cut CNC time and reduce cost.
X100VI is a little bit too short causing small finger have no place to grip for many with an average size hand. We decided to increase the height just a little for better grip and maintain a visual proportion between the top and bottom part. We have also include a strap anchor on the grip side for those who prefer attaching a Peak Design strap anchor. The position of the grip pad is placed in a position where your middle finger can easily access the front dial yet not be able to accidently trigger it.
Note: we have a full introduction on why our grip pad shape is unique and how to hold it properly in the "design concept --> back to the basic" section. Please do read it or watch that video, as many did not realize it is very different from holding other similar products. There are some useful tips as well.
Redefining perfect fit
Our grip base design for this camera has a perfect fit after many mockup. We surrounded the bottom of the camera at a height of 1.5mm with inner curvature that wraps the bottom rim perfectly and it sit flush with the camera fully.
Aside from cosmetic concerns, this grip is also add functions by providing
1. On grip ARCA dove tail for quick tripod mounting
2. Inner vertical metal support with vertical sunk in structure grip pad mounting rods providing rigidity. Grip pads only provides comfort with no stress on carry the load of the camera.
3. Internal spare SD card storage
4. grip side wrist strap lugs
5. Battery door access
6. No audio blockage
Base Plate Selection
There are two base colors (Silver and black) to match with the camera body and 6 different grip pad selections for your preference.
During our development, we perfected our anodizing process to achieve this matte finish by carefully selecting materials, controlling temperatures, and using specific chemical mix in production. The result is a finish that resembles the iconic look of a modern Leica M camera finish. Our anodizing factory charge us by sets, unlike other that charges on total kilogram of products to be anodized.
Grip pad selections
To match your style we have the following 6 grip pad for your selection
Bottom Left: Glass fiber composite (G10)
This is a new material we created for two purpose. Many customers likes black but before we only have African black wood and black aluminum. Some found wood rather “old school" and forced to select black matt aluminum but aluminum grip pad is heavy (25g) so we have now this Fiber glass composite for your selection at only 11 grams. It is light, sturdy and have a grid patten on it. This material is commonly use on knife handles.
Top Left: Walnut (5g)
This wood is very light (5g) but it is indeed softer because of its density.
Top Middle: Desert iron wood from Africa (11g)
This wood has better color then Walnut and almost the same density as the African black wood.
Bottom Middle: African Black wood (11g)
This wood has a high density and also beautiful wood grain.
Top Right: Metallic gray aluminum (25g)
Milled on 3 axial CNC and anodized with a metallic gray finish
Bottom right: black aluminum (25g)
Milled on 3 axial CNC and anodized with a matt black finish
The weight of the bottom plate + supporting aluminum rod + aluminum screw with same bottom plate finish (47g)
7Artisans has released a new manual focus 50mm F1.4 Tilt lens, compatible with Sony and Fujifilm APS-C cameras, as well as Olympus and Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras.
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The new 50mm lens is made up of seven elements in six groups and has 12 aperture blades. It has a minimum focusing distance of 0.5m (19.6") and weighs 364g (12.8oz). 7Artisans states the lens has a full metal build but does not mention weather sealing.
At the front of the lens is a numbered aperture ring, with the depth of field scale and distance scale focus ring sitting just behind. Users can rotate the lens a full 360-degrees and the tilt axis moves left to right. The company has yet to confirm how many degrees the lens can tilt on either side.
Although photographers commonly use tilt lenses for architecture photography and to experiment with depth of field, 7Artisans claims the 50mm F1.4 offers enough clarity for portraiture, claiming distortion of only 1.9%.
Search engines will likely confuse the new 7Artisans lens with another 50mm F1.4 tilt lens made by TTArtisan. Although similar brand names, they're two separate companies, so it's worth confirming who you're buying from should you decide to purchase either lens.
Pricing and availability
The new 50mm F1.4 tilt lens is now available from 7Artisans' website and Amazon at a suggested retail price of $226, and could be an affordable option for those looking to be more creative with their photography.
Entries for Fujifilm US's Limited Edition X100VI raffle are now officially open. Entry is free and only open to US residents (18+). The raffle closes on April 21st (11:59 p.m. EDT), so if you want access to Fujifilm's highly talked about camera, you'll need to enter quickly.
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Unlike other photography raffles, the prize isn't a free camera. Instead, you're entering to win an opportunity to purchase the camera at the list price of of $1995.95 (plus taxes and shipping). That's still considerably cheaper than the aftermarket prices. Fujifilm will select a total of 200 winners and will notify them via email on April 25th.
Fujifilm states there will be a set deadline for winners to purchase the Limited Edition X100VI, but is yet to confirm when that is. The company doesn't say how long winners will have to wait to receive their cameras either.
Fujifilm US originally allocated its 300 units of the 1934-strong limited edition on a first-come, first-served basis. But then said it had "intercepted a large number of suspicious X100VI Limited Edition orders," which it then canceled. The fact that 200 units are again available suggests it canceled a large number of the 'confirmed preorders' that were listed on eBay immediately after the initial release.
You can enter with an email address, after which you will receive a unique authentication code that you'll need to submit. Fujifilm then asks for your full name, address and that you agree to the T&Cs. You can only enter once and the company says it will actively monitor potential duplicate entries, voiding any it finds guilty of misusing the entry form.
The distribution of these 200 units is likely to bring an end to the surprisingly complex international saga of the limited edition's allocation.
To be in with a chance to win, simply head over to the Fujifilm US Events website. Good luck!
"The AstrHori macro focusing rail slider comes with a micrometer adjustment knob, moving 0.05mm per revolution for more precise adjustments, enhancing the stability of macro photography imaging. The adjustment knob facilitates a 2mm movement per rotation, providing precise tuning capabilities within a range of 1mm. Utilizing a multi-head lead screw mechanism, it enables swift positioning, achieving a movement speed that is 14 times faster than that of a standard lead screw."
Retouch4me announced a new update for the Retouch4me Panel: now they offer cloud-based retouching with all Retouch4me plugins and introduce a new pay-per-retouch model. As the Panel is free software with 20 complimentary retouches, you can try it right away. Additional information:
Fast and professional retouching: the new Retouch4me Photoshop Panel automates photo editing in the cloud
Retouch4me rolls out an update for Photoshop Panel, extending its original functionality. Now users can edit images from a single interface in Photoshop, both on a local computer and in the cloud.
Tallinn, April 16, 2024 — Retouch4me, a leading provider of innovative editing software solutions, announced today an upgrade for its Photoshop Panel. It offers an interface to select between two retouching options. The first one enables image editing using the installed Retouch4me plugins on the user's device. The second option allows for retouching with all the plugins available in the cloud.
Oleg Sharonov, Founder and Board Member of Retouch4me & 3D LUT Creator (RELU OÜ), comments: "Retouch4me Photoshop Panel was initially created to simplify the work with our plugin suite. The idea was to eliminate the steps needed to be done in Photoshop with every plugin, thus speeding up the retouching process. With the new Panel, users can utilize the whole Retouch4me plugin suite right from the cloud and get professionally retouched images in no time. The first 20 retouches are free for testing, and the results are saved as layers in Photoshop. Photographers and retouchers editing a moderate volume of photos will find particular value in the new functionality of the Panel. They can select the desired package of retouches according to their workload, starting at $20 for 200 retouches."
Key features of the Retouch4me Photoshop Panel:
Cloud-Based Retouching: Neural network plugins require powerful computers with modern video cards, similar to high-end gaming computers, for fast processing. With the new Panel, there is no need for high-performance PCs because the processing is done in the cloud. The result of AI processing is sent back to the user in layers. This approach empowers users to fine-tune layers while preserving the integrity of the original image in Adobe Photoshop.
Flexible Payment Model: Retouch4me offers users a versatile payment model for fully retouched images. Users can choose from a variety of cloud retouching options, starting at $20 for 200 retouches. In this case, the cost of one retouch is $0.1, and with the purchase of larger packages, it's $0.06. One retouch can be used either for the full set of Retouch4me plugins or only for the needed ones. This flexibility ensures that users have control over their retouching expenses.
Free Trial: The Retouch4me Panel for Photoshop does not have any upfront costs. Every user has the opportunity to use 20 retouches for free with all plugins and save the results in layers in Photoshop. After using free retouches, one may purchase additional cloud retouching packages or buy a perpetual license for the chosen plugins.
Availability: The Panel is available on both Windows and Mac platforms. It is freely available for installation and use with the purchased plugins, and there are flexible payment options for retouching made in the cloud.
Background: The Retouch4me Photoshop Panel, launched in 2022, is an extension of Photoshop. This tool empowers users to operate multiple Retouch4me plugins through a unified interface. The panel saves users time by allowing them to apply edits made by Retouch4me plugins all at once and save them as separate layers.
About Retouch4me: Retouch4me is a software company that provides innovative solutions for photo and video editing. With neural networks, our software automates manual tasks and delivers natural results, allowing creatives to focus on their artistry. We believe that combining AI and human creativity helps achieve superior results. Retouch4me improves the workflows of photographers, retouchers, and videographers in over 105 countries.
Alongside the Ursa Cine, Blackmagic Designs also announced the Pyxis, a $3000, 6K full-frame (36 x 24mm) modular camera. It will be available with PL, locking Canon EF or Leica L mounts.
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As with most of Blackmagic's cameras, the Pyxis offers a series of aspect ratios and crops in different frame rates, extending from 6048 x 4032 pixel 3:2 open gate at up to 36p, to 17:9 DCI 4K at up to 60p taken from a Super35 (∼APS-C) region of the sensor. Unlike the Ursa Cine models, the Pyxis appears to use a conventional Bayer color filter pattern.
The Pyxis captures to CFexpress cards or outputs over USB-C to an external SSD or over Ethernet. It uses Blackmagic's proprietary demosaiced and compressed 'Blackmagic RAW' format and can generate H.264 proxy files alongside. It has a built-in 4" Full HD LCD panel that can act as an HDR display thanks to its 1500 nits peak brightness. Despite being described as a box camera, the Pyxis includes extensive direct controls, as well as this display.
The camera features a series of mounting points for handles, viewfinders and other accessories and has a replaceable side plate that can be swapped-out for one with a SSD/phone holder or a standard rosette connector.
The Pyxis includes a series of mounting points and comes in a choice of three lens mounts, now including the Leica L mount.
Image: Blackmagic Design
The sensor is a dual conversion gain design that Blackmagic indicates as offering native ISO or 400 and 3200, with these two states used to provide all higher and lower ISO values (rather than using variable amplification as is usually done in stills cameras). Blackmagic claims 13 stops of DR.
The presence of dual conversion gain, its 36p open gate max frame rate and the need for substantial crops to achieve 60p (a very narrow 2.4:1 6048 x 2520px mode being the highest resolution at which it can be delivered) may point to the use of the 24MP Sony Semiconductor sensor that appears in a wide array of other cameras, from Panasonic's S1H to Sigma's fp and Nikon's Zf. If this is the case, then there'll be appreciably worse rolling shutter than the likes of Sony's (much more expensive) FX6, but with the advantage of higher resolution capture and the greater format flexibility that comes with this.
The Blackmagic Pyxis is available from June 2024 at a recommended price of $3,000.
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
NAB 2024, Las Vegas, USA - Friday, April 12, 2024 - Blackmagic Design today announced Blackmagic PYXIS 6K a next generation digital film camera that features a versatile box or cube design so you can rig up the perfect camera for your production! This new model features a massive 36 x 24mm 6K sensor with 13 stops of dynamic range and dual CFexpress media recorders, all in a customizable body. Blackmagic PYXIS 6K is available in three models, with customers able to choose between L-Mount, PL or Locking EF lens mounts. Blackmagic PYXIS 6K will be available in June from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide from US$2,995.
The Blackmagic PYXIS 6K will be demonstrated on the Blackmagic Design NAB 2024 booth #SL5005.
With multiple mounting points and accessory side plates, it’s easy to configure Blackmagic PYXIS into the camera customers need it to be. PYXIS’ compact body is made from precision CNC machined aerospace aluminum, which means it is lightweight yet very strong. Customers can easily mount it on a range of camera rigs such as cranes, gimbals or drones. In addition to the multiple 1/4″ and 3/8″ thread mounts on the top and bottom of the body, Blackmagic PYXIS has a range of side plates that further extend their ability to mount accessories such as handles, microphones or even SSDs. All this means customers can build the perfect camera for the any production that’s both rugged and reliable.
Blackmagic PYXIS features a massive full frame sensor with a native resolution of 6048 x 4032. That's almost three times larger than a Super 35 sensor and allows customers to shoot with a shallow depth of field or to use anamorphic lenses uncropped for a true cinematic look. Whether users are shooting in bright sunlight or in almost no light at all, the 13 stops of dynamic range with dual native ISO up to 25,600 provide stunning low noise images in all lighting conditions.
Using the full area of the sensor gives customers a unique open gate 3:2 image which also lets customers reframe their shots in post production. The large sensor also lets customers work in true 6:5 anamorphic without cropping, making widescreen cinematic images more detailed and in higher resolution than previously possible.
With 3 models, customers can choose between L-Mount, EF or PL lenses, making Blackmagic PYXIS compatible with the largest range of cinema and photographic lenses in the world. The L-Mount model works with the latest full frame lenses from Leica, Panasonic and Sigma but can also accommodate lens adapters, allowing customers to use a wide variety of new and vintage lenses. The EF model lets customers use high quality photographic lenses customers already own from DSLRs or even Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras. Or the PL model lets customers work with professional cinema lenses from Zeiss, ARRI, Cooke and more without needing an adapter.
Blackmagic PYXIS can shoot in all standard resolutions and frame rates from HD up to DCI 4K and even 6K. Customers can even shoot stills at 24.6 megapixels. Blackmagic PYXIS will shoot up to 36 fps at 6048 x 4032 3:2 open gate or 60 fps at 6048 x 2520 2.4:1 and 60 fps at 4096 x 2160 4K DCI. For higher frame rates customers can window the sensor and shoot up to 100 fps at 2112 x 1184 Super 16.
The built in LCD on Blackmagic PYXIS is more than just a simple status display. It’s a 4″ high resolution HDR touchscreen that is also perfect for monitoring and reviewing shots on set. Its full HD resolution means customers can frame and focus their shots without needing to carry around a bulky external monitor. Customers can even use the display as a focus assist station.
Blackmagic PYXIS features a logical design that puts important functions such as ISO, WB and shutter at their fingertips with both touchscreen and physical controls. A row of 3 customizable function buttons means customers don’t have to go hunting through menus on a tiny screen to find a command. The controls can even be locked to avoid accidentally changing settings during a shot or when the camera is out of reach on a rig.
The innovative side plates expand the riggability of their camera even further. The standard plate included with Blackmagic PYXIS is made from the same aircraft grade aluminum as the camera body and features 2 1/4″ thread mounts and one 3/8″ thread mount, allowing customers to add microphones, brackets or other accessories. Or customers can attach the included SSD plate which offers a convenient location to securely attach a USB-C drive for recording or even a mobile phone for live streaming.
Blackmagic PYXIS records in Blackmagic RAW to preserve control of detail, exposure and color during post production. It also records HD H.264 proxies in real time making it easy to share media around the world in minutes. This means images always maintain unprecedented resolution and quality for color, keying, compositing, reframing, stabilization and tracking in HD, 4K or 6K.
The Blackmagic PYXIS features two built in CFexpress card recorders, and a USB-C expansion port for recording direct to external flash media disks or an SSD. CFexpress media are more durable and faster than even older media so are perfect for recording full resolution, 12-bit Blackmagic RAW files. Plus, with dual CFexpress slots, customers can keep recording because customers can hot swap full cards without stopping.
Blackmagic PYXIS supports creating a small H.264 proxy file in addition to the camera original media when recording. This means the small proxy file can upload to Blackmagic Cloud in seconds so their media is available back at the studio in real time. The ability to transfer media directly into the DaVinci Resolve media bin as editors are working is revolutionary and has never before been possible. Any editor working anywhere in the world will get the shots.
When uploading to Blackmagic Cloud, customers can use an Apple or Android phone to get a connection to the internet via mobile data. Simply connect the phone to the USB-C port and Blackmagic PYXIS will configure for mobile data. Customers can also connect via wired Ethernet using the camera’s Ethernet port. This lets customers get their media out as customers shoot so post production teams anywhere in the world can start work in real time.
Blackmagic PYXIS supports the optional Blackmagic URSA Cine EVF to make outdoors and handheld shooting accurate and easy. Customers get an integrated high quality 1920 x 1080 color OLED display with built in proximity sensor, 4 element glass diopter for incredible accuracy with a wide focus adjustment.
Blackmagic PYXIS features a wide range of connections for audio, monitoring, power and more. The camera includes a 12G-SDI out for monitoring with support for HDR and Ultra HD output. That means customers can connect an SDI display for on set monitoring of images, with or without overlays that show critical information and camera status. SDI allows for much longer cable runs than HDMI making it easier to reach monitors that are further away on set.
Blackmagic PYXIS features a built hardware streaming engine that supports RTMP and SRT streaming to YouTube, Facebook, X and more. For internet access, customers have two options, one to connect via Ethernet or customers can connect a 4G or 5G phone for mobile data. As the streaming is built into the camera, customers can see the stream status and data rate in the viewfinder and the LCD.
"Since the introduction of the original Pocket Cinema Cameras, our customers have been asking us to make it in a more customizable design," said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. "But we wanted it to be so much more than just a Pocket Cinema Camera in a different body. The new Blackmagic PYXIS is a fully professional cinema camera with more connections and seamless integration into post production workflows. We think customers are going to love the incredibly adaptable design and we can’t wait to see how they use it!"
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Features
36 x 24mm full frame 6K 6048 x 4032 sensor.
Open gate 3:2, full height 6:5 anamorphic and Super 35 for creating cinematic content.
Choice of models with L-Mount, PL or locking EF lens mounts.
Records full resolution up to 36 fps or 120 fps windowed.
Built-in 4″ HDR 1500 nit LCD screen.
Records Blackmagic RAW and H.264 proxies.
Extremely fast dual CFexpress card recording.
Ethernet or mobile data for mobile remote streaming.
Optional Blackmagic URSA Cine EVF.
Features 12G-SDI for monitoring with status overlay.
Professional mini XLR input with 48 volt phantom power.
Complete streaming solution for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and more.
High capacity BP-U series batteries.
Availability and Price
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K will be available in June from US$2,995, excluding duties, from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.
Multi-shot modes can have their moments, especially if there's any degree of motion correction available. I had to borrow a tripod to capture this shot and even after all that it doesn't show a major boost over the single-shot image of the same scene.
Sony a7R V | Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II @ 28mm | ISO 100 | F9 | 1/400 sec Photo: Richard Butler
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but I'd argue that multi-shot high-resolution modes are all but pointless.
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Not entirely pointless: I'm sure there are applications out there where the subject stays still enough and where it's practical to bring a tripod, and the improvement is worth the effort. And if you're someone whose photography it suits, then I'm happy for you. But that's very rarely the case, so it's just not a feature I find very useful, and it's certainly not one I'd use to choose one camera over another.
A lot of this is because most implementations are terrible. Noticeably, every brand appears to have a slightly different implementation, with the exact approach, the number of shots and whether they can be combined in-camera differing. This strongly points to it being an area in which each manufacturer is patenting its own approach and blocking others using it, and in doing so, making it harder for anyone else to deliver a usable/useful version.
Lost in a thicket of patents
It's no surprise that some of the earliest pixel shift modes came from Olympus and Pentax: two companies that committed early to the idea of in-body stabilization, both looking for other features it could be used to deliver.
The Pentax system shoots four images, canceling out the Bayer pattern so that it has full-color information for each output pixel. This delivers greater color resolution with less aliasing, greater sharpness (through lack of demosaicing) and the improvement in noise that comes from combining multiple images. These individual shots are combined into a finished output file.
The Olympus method shoots eight images: four canceling out the Bayer pattern, then moving to position 1/2 a pixel offset from this and repeating the process to quadruple the output resolution. This system also combines the images in-camera and is unique in letting you set a delay if you were shooting, say, product photos and needed time for your strobes to recycle between shots.
Panasonic currently has one of the best (least-terrible?) high-res implementations. There's an eight-shot mode with the option of 4X or 2X the normal pixel count, with or without motion correction, or a handheld mode. But the fact that it's essentially three modes, each with its own trade-offs, hints at how far from ideal they all are. At least they're combined in-camera, though.
Panasonic G9 II | Panasonic 12-60mm F2.8-4 Asph OIS | ISO 100 | F5.6 | 1/320 sec Photo: Jeff Keller
It's been mostly downhill from here, though. Sony first adopted a Pentax-like four-shot mode that had to be combined on a computer, before later adding a more Olympus-like 16-shot option. Nikon also offers a choice of Pentax-like Bayer-canceling or an Olympus-like res-boosting one, each with the option to perform it twice for a greater noise/tonal quality improvement. But, like Sony, these need to be combined off-camera, which requires a level of patience, file management and messing around in clunky own-brand software that builds into an appreciable hurdle.
Thanks to the complexity of the X-Trans sensor, the mode on its X-series camera requires 20 shots to deliver its pixel shift mode. Personally, I find that most subjects (even landscapes) have too much movement to wait this long and, on a grander scale, that life might be too short for such a commitment.
Limited benefits
I wanted to capture this burnt-out car, abandoned outside a defunct car dealership before it disappeared. I made the effort to arrive early on one of the only spring mornings with any light and then combined the images when I got home. As a result, I have a bit more detail, some odd cross-hatching in areas of movement, 16 massive Raw files and more information than I wanted about the lens' corner performance. Yay.
Sony a1 | Sony 16-35mm F2.8 GM @ 16mm | ISO 100 | F9 | 1/100 sec Photo: Richard Butler
Not only are they slow and clunky to use, but the benefits of multi-shot mode are often limited. Even with a static scene and optimal conditions, a 100MP multi-shot mode won't match the results of a 100MP camera, but in most situations it often won't even deliver its own maximal performance.
Unlike smartphones, which make extensive use of multi-shot combination, most large-sensor cameras read out their sensors quite slowly, creating appreciable delays between each shot, raising the risk of subject movement. The more sophisticated systems correct for this motion to some degree but do so by dropping back down to using a single image's data, throwing away the detail benefit for any subject that's moved, as well as leaving ghosts and artifacts around the image.
They're also based on making precise sub-pixel movements, so are very sensitive to any camera motion, and can't apply stabilization because the mechanism is too busy making pre-planned movements.
Finally, the flip-side of the higher resolution pushing aliasing to higher frequencies is that, just like a high-resolution sensor, the shots are quickly limited by diffraction. This means that you'll need very sharp lenses, fairly wide open if you want to minimize the degree to which lens shortcomings and diffraction eat away at the hoped-for resolution boost.
My point being that it's very easy to go to considerable extra effort for minimal gain. You still get the noise benefit, of course, but you can gain that by pressing the shutter button several times and merging the images yourself: you don't really need a special mode for that.
Handheld multi-shot modes
Hand-held multi-shot modes don't work the same way as tripod modes, so don't offer the Bayer-canceling benefits or the same level of additional detail capture, but they're usable in a much wider range of circumstances. This was shot on an impromptu hike on which I didn't want to play tripod-sherpa.
OM System OM-1 | 12-40mm F2.8 Pro II @ 18mm | ISO 200 | F5 | 1/1250 sec Photo: Richard Butler
Increasingly, we're seeing handheld multi-shot modes appear, and these can be used in a broader range of circumstances. But it's worth noting that these aren't quite the same thing. Instead of moving the sensor in a precise, controlled way, they measure the degree to which your hand shake has moved the camera, then combine some of a burst of shots to try to boost detail levels. You don't gain the Bayer-cancelling improvement in color resolution or sharpness through this approach, and won't see the same degree of detail improvement.
Old man yells at cloud?
Ultimately, I'm not so vehemently against multi-shot modes that I don't think they should exist. Even if they're only useful to a tiny subset of users, I certainly don't begrudge those people gaining a feature they want. But they're so often so awkward to use and offer so little benefit in most circumstances, that I find it hard to be that enthusiastic about even the best (least-bad?) versions.
There's a chance that my position is every bit as solipsistic as those who argue that cameras shouldn't have video modes, just because they don't use them. I'd like to think that my position is slightly different in that I dislike them because I don't use them and have found them to be highly impractical and often awkward to use.
But to each their own. I'm certainly not about to start marking a camera down for having an extra feature, no matter how much clutter it adds to the menus. But equally, I'm not about to take up the cause of any commenters demanding that it's a feature every new camera MUST have.
→ Lexar announced new Rugged Series SD memory cards: ARMOR GOLD SD UHS-II V60 and ARMOR SILVER PRO SD UHS-II V60 (coming soon to the Amazon Lexar store). The full list of new products can be found here and here.
The Sony FE 16-25mm F2.8 G is a relatively compact wide-angle zoom E-mount lens aimed at street and travel photographers.
We were able to get our hands on the lens for a day and figured most readers would be curious to see some street and architectural photography out of this lens, so we hit the streets of downtown Seattle and ducked into the Seattle Public library when the weather turned ugly.
Note: Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.
DxO also released 1401 new Optics Modules with support for the latest cameras and lenses. The new modules are available across DxO’s full range of software:
Here are some quotes from a recent interview with Sigma's CEO Kazuto Yamaki on the latest Foveon sensor development:
"Unfortunately, we have not made any significant progress since last year"
"We made a prototype sensor but found some design errors. It worked but there are some issues, so we re-wrote the schematics and submitted them to the manufacturer and are waiting for the next generation of prototypes."
"We are still in the design phase for the image sensor"
"When it comes to the sensor, the manufacturing process is very important: we need to develop a new manufacturing process for the new sensor. But as far as that’s concerned, we’re still doing the research. So it may require additional time to complete the development of the new sensor."
Connexion
