Photography News: Laowa Fisheye Zoom, Memory Card Deals

The marine iguanas of the Galápagos are truly remarkable creatures. Until my recent visit to the islands, I was convinced they inhabited only two worlds – the land, where they bask in the sun, and the ocean, where they dive for food. But earlier this week, I witnessed something that completely changed my perspective: iguanas can fly! Well, at least with a little help from a Great Egret. I’m just not sure if this particular individual will manage to pass its newfound aviation skills down to future generations. Time will tell. For now, though, let’s look back at what the past week brought to the world of photography.

Recent Announcements

• Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye: Some of you might remember Nikon’s 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5 Fisheye Lens from 2018. At its widest, it offered a circular image with a 180° angle of view, while the long end delivered a heavily distorted fisheye perspective, but with full-frame coverage. The new Laowa lens follows the same formula. Add a minimum focusing distance of 16cm, an optical design of 13 elements in 9 groups, 9 aperture blades, and a weight of 650g. Available for E, Z, L, and RF mounts for $699.
• Sigma Aizu Prime Line: This is a set of twelve professional, manual-focus cinema lenses covering focal lengths from 18mm to 125mm, with a 46.3mm image circle. What makes them special is a constant T1.3 aperture shared across the entire Aizu line. Of the eight lenses introduced in the first wave (from 25mm to 75mm), they share the same 95mm front diameter, similar length (125mm to 128.8mm), and weight (1.6kg to 1.7kg). Whether Sigma can maintain this consistency with the upcoming 18mm, 21mm, 100mm, and 125mm models remains to be seen. The lenses will be available starting August for PL and E-mount at $8,299 each.
• Godox V480C: A TTL flash designed for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and OM System/Panasonic cameras. The V480C strikes a good balance between output and features. Its power won’t challenge the highest-end flashes, but a Guide Number of 50 (ISO 100, 105mm) is enough for most applications. On the features side, Godox didn’t make compromises – this flash can operate as both transmitter and receiver (2.4 GHz X wireless system; 100m range) without additional transmitters. It supports high speed sync up to 1/8000s, second-curtain sync, stroboscopic mode, ±3 EV exposure compensation, and more. A fully articulating flash head offers 330° rotation and –7° to 120° tilt. Its 2,200mAh Li-ion battery provides up to 650 full-power flashes with a recycle time of 1.7s. The controls are dominated by a two-inch colour touchscreen. Considering all of this, its 361 gram weight (with battery) and compact 166mm × 71mm × 49mm dimensions are quite respectable. Price: $169.

The Rumor Mill

Another “portrait” lens from Viltrox

After the Viltrox AF 135mm f/1.8 LAB lens, Viltrox is rumored introduce another addition to the “portrait lens” category at the BildExpo event on June 17. This time, it should be an 85mm f/1.4 lens, positioned within Viltrox’s PRO series (which ranks just below the flagship LAB line). Lots of details are already known: The optical construction is said to consist of 15 elements in 11 groups, including 3 ED and 9 high-refractive index lenses. The circular aperture should be built from 11 blades. Focusing should be possible from 0.79m. Physically, the lens will weigh about 800g and take 77mm filters. Pricing is still unknown, but it’s safe to assume it will remain quite reasonable. A top-tier 85mm LAB version with an f/1.2 aperture is expected to follow sometime in 2025.

Via Sony Alpha Rumors

DJI preps new cameras for air, land, and underwater

Probably as early as this month, DJI should introduce three interesting cameras. One will fly on four propellers – the DJI Mini 5 Pro. A second one is designed for a panoramic view of the world, to be called the Osmo 360. And finally, the next generation of a serious GoPro competitor in the form of the Osmo Action 6. Speaking of which, if you happen to be heading for the Galápagos anytime soon, don’t repeat my mistake. Be sure to pack some sort of underwater camera. You won’t regret it.

Via Photo Rumors

Canon EOS R6 Mark III – With higher resolution then expected?

The original assumption regarding the sensor resolution in the EOS R6 Mark III was 24MP. There was even speculation that it could be the same sensor as in the Canon EOS R3. However, there are now indications that the resolution value of the “all-new” sensor could be just over the 30MP threshold (30-32MP). As for the readout speed, it is rumored to be somewhere between the EOS R1 and EOS R5 Mark II. If Canon manages to set a reasonable price (under $3000), this could make for a very interesting, versatile camera.

Via Canon Rumors

Good Deals and New Sales

So far, Samsung’s SSDs have managed to avoid any major mishaps that might tarnish their reputation – not something every hard drive brand can claim with a straight face. If you’re looking for reliable storage for your travels, they’re definitely a solid choice. My preferred capacity for a month-long photo trip with a high-resolution camera like the Nikon Z9 is 2TB. If you’re planning to shoot video as well, I’d recommend doubling that to a 4TB drive. The IP65-certified T7 Shield SSDs, built to handle even extremely humid environments, are currently available at $160 for the 2TB version (was $230) and $290 for the 4TB version (was $405).

After a recent experience, I’ve stopped putting all my eggs in one basket and now always create a duplicate backup to the second card slot of my camera. It works best when both cards are equally fast and have the same capacity. Plus, buying two identical cards at once often saves you a bit of money. Here are a few of my favorite twin-pack deals this week:

• ProGrade Digital 256GB UHS-II SDXC (was $414, now $300)
• ProGrade Digital 512GB UHS-II SDXC (was $900, now $680)
• Lexar 128GB Professional 2000x UHS-II SDXC (was $225, now $180)
• Lexar 256GB Professional 2000x UHS-II SDXC (was $440, now $340)
• Lexar 256GB Professional CFexpress Type B Card DIAMOND Series (was $440, now $340)
• Lexar 512GB Professional GOLD CFexpress 4.0 Type B (was $475, now $330)
• Lexar 320GB Professional CFexpress Type A Card GOLD Series (was $650, now $515)

Other Pages of Interest

Taking a great wildlife photo is hard enough. Capturing one that makes people laugh? That’s an even rarer feat. For the past ten years, the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards has been celebrating exactly those kinds of images. If you have a photo like that in your archives, you can submit it to this year’s contest until June 30th. If not, at least enjoy the current selection of the funniest wildlife photos submitted so far.

Back in mid-May, I came across a fascinating story from Papua New Guinea. František Vejmělka, a Czech scientist from the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of South Bohemia, managed to capture the first-ever photograph of the elusive giant rat Mallomys istapantap. Measuring 85 cm in length and weighing almost 2 kilograms, it is the largest rodent in Australia and Oceania. Despite its impressive size, however, it has been remarkably good at avoiding human attention. This woolly rat was only first described in 1989 based on old museum specimens, and a live one hadn’t been seen in over thirty years. You can find the original Czech article here, complete with an extensive photo gallery. A shorter English version was published on PetaPixel last week.

Finally, I’d like to share a book recommendation that meant a lot to me during my first trip to Ecuador in 2008 – a book that sparked my passion for photographing neotropical birds. The book is Plumas de Ecuador by the outstanding photographer Murray Cooper. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be meeting Murray here in Ecuador later this week to record an interview about photography and conservation in the tropical regions of South America. Believe me, there’s no one better suited to that conversation in this region.

Photo Theme Challenge, Week #105

Last week’s theme was night, and you can see the results in this thread. Thank you to everyone for your submissions! This week’s theme is sparkling light, and you can submit your results in this thread by Saturday, June 14, 2025!

Week #104 Results

Let’s check out some of the shots we received for the “night” theme, starting with EisenRa’s photo:

What better way to highlight the night than show humanity’s most primitive night-time comfort, fire?

Bhoward’s photo:

Of course, another great aspect of night is the beauty of the night sky, and Bhoward did a great job here capturing the Orion Nebula with an 800mm lens!

Finally, vidmarko’s photo:

The night acted as a great simplifying device that allows the lanterns here to stand out in a beautiful abstract pattern. Nice work!

Thanks everyone for submitting their photos in the challenge, and we hope to see more next week in the sparkling light theme.