This week was one other pleasantly busy one for our crew. Spencer went to Yellowstone with a truck stuffed with digital camera tools to check for you. Jason returned from his birding grounds having photographed a number of new fowl species for the primary time. And I simply got here out of the woods after testing my largest lens on Europe’s smallest fowl. What about the remainder of the pictures world? Right here’s a roundup of the information from this week.
Latest Bulletins
- Viltrox AF 40mm f2.5: A comparatively compact autofocus lens (with STM motor) for Nikon Z and Sony E-mount. The lens has 10 components in 6 teams (together with one ED, one ASPH and three HR components). The filter thread has a tiny 52mm diameter. The lens features a USB-C port for future firmware updates and is priced at simply $158.
- Pergear 25mm F1.7: A featherweight (simply 165 g / 0.36 kilos), absolutely guide (doesn’t assist EXIF switch), retro-looking lens for APS-C or Micro 4 Thirds cameras. It helps Fuji X, Sony E, Nikon Z, M3/4, and Canon RF mounts. The lens affords a subject of view equal to 37.5mm on full body (50mm on M3/4) and its optical design consists of 7 components in 5 teams. Accessible in black and silver. An fascinating parameter is the minimal focusing distance of solely 0.2m (7.87″). And perhaps much more fascinating is the value, which is $75.
- 7Artisans 27mm F2.8 STM APS-C: The third small and light-weight lens launched this week! This one weighs 172 g / 0.38 kilos and consists of autofocus. It’s an APS-C solely lens, at the moment obtainable only for Sony E mount. The USB-C port on the lens barrel is prepared for future firmware updates. The value is $129.
- Exascend Important Professional CFexpress 4.0 Kind A: The brand new PCIe Gen 4 reminiscence card line for Sony customers affords a most learn pace of 1800 MB/s and write pace of 1650 MB/s (VPG400 licensed). Along with the excessive speeds, the brand new playing cards are stated to be resistant to numerous disasters – based on the producer, they’re dust-resistant, weatherproof, shock-resistant, magnetic-resistant and X-ray-safe. They’re obtainable in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities. The value is $699 for the 1TB model.
- Sony A1 and Sony A9III firmware updates: These firmware updates add customized gridline assist (obtainable for an additional payment) and repair quite a lot of bugs, whereas additionally including some minor new options. For particulars and downloads of the newest firmware variations, see the hyperlinks above.
The Rumor Mill
What lenses is Canon planning for 2024?
That’s what an article in Canon Rumors from April twenty fourth tries to reply. First must be a trio of “hybrid” prime lenses within the L collection. What’s going to make them hybrid? Maybe they are going to have the identical type issue as cine lenses. We will anticipate a 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm lens, all with a most aperture of f/1.4. The 35mm is alleged to be the primary to be launched, someday in late Might.
Together with that, within the press part on the Olympics, we may catch a glimpse of the Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Z. And someday later this 12 months, different attainable glass consists of three extra APS-C lenses and the much-discussed autofocus tilt-shift lens. However… what occurred to the 200-500mm f/4?
By way of Canon Rumors
What’s new from Sony?
In accordance with Sony Addict, Sony’s lens portfolio is about to increase with two fascinating lenses by June this 12 months. The primary one is anticipated to be the FE 85mm f/1.4 GM II. In comparison with the present technology, it mustn’t solely be optically higher, but in addition smaller and lighter. The second is the FE 24-70mm f/2.0 GM. You would possibly know the same zoom lens from Canon, nevertheless it begins at 28mm, so 24mm could be a pleasant enchancment.
By way of Sony Addict
New quick wide-angle lenses for Nikon Z
In case your coronary heart is racing that the long-awaited Nikon Z 35mm f/1.2 remains to be hiding behind the scenes, I’m most likely going to disappoint you. The rumor at the moment regards completely different quick wide-angle lenses – specifically, the Thypoch Simera 35mm f/1.4 and Thypoch Simera 28mm f/1.4. These two manual-focus lenses must be introduced quickly for the Nikon Z-mount. These lenses have solely been provided for the Leica M-mount thus far.
By way of Nikon Rumors
Good Offers and New Gross sales
I went via an assortment of mirrorless lenses from Canon, Nikon, Sony, OM System, Fuji, and Sigma. Numerous them are on sale this week – some ongoing gross sales, some new ones. My favorites amongst these offers are beneath:
Canon
Nikon
Sony
OM System
Fuji
Sigma
Different Pages of Curiosity
Since 1991, the Technical Picture Press Affiliation (TIPA) has been awarding the most effective picture and imaging merchandise of the 12 months. To search out out which merchandise have gained this prestigious award for 2024, go to the TIPA World Awards web site. (As a aspect word, because of the acquisition of RED, you would say that Nikon not solely owns the award for finest skilled full body digital camera, but in addition for finest skilled video digital camera.)
The Sony World Images Awards is likely one of the most prestigious competitions on this planet. A couple of month in the past, I offered the finalists right here, and now we all know the general winners. Let’s get impressed by taking a look at the most effective photos from a complete of 10 classes throughout the 2024 Skilled competitors.
From my viewpoint, the best Google product is Google Earth, with an in depth second being Google Maps. They provide you a fowl’s eye view of just about each nook of the planet, and I usually use them when planning my expeditions to unknown locations. It’s from their aerial images that Google created their annual Earth Day Doodle this 12 months. You possibly can watch a brief video about the way it was created on the Google Doodles web page.
Photograph Theme Problem, Week #47
Final week’s theme was black and white, and you may see the outcomes on this thread. Thanks to everybody on your submissions! This week’s theme is water, and you may submit your outcomes on this thread by Saturday, Might 4, 2024!
Week #46 Outcomes
Let’s try among the photographs we acquired for the “black and white” theme, beginning with rjbfoto’s picture:
The sturdy shapes and textures on this picture make for a compelling black and white.
Subsequent let’s take a look at Mark Fulton’s picture:
The dearth of coloration right here permits the attention to focus absolutely on the drops of water, showcasing a really good sample.
Lastly, we’ve bought florin’s picture:
I believed this picture was very fascinating as a result of its converging strains in direction of the middle in a crossing sample. And it’s a really fascinating use of a extra panoramic ratio!
Thanks everybody for submitting their images within the problem, and we hope to see extra subsequent week within the water theme!