For my opening Photography News images, I usually post a photo I took last week. This time I will make a small exception to that rule. The month and day match, only the year is 2005 – prehistoric from the point of view of digital photography. But many of you have negatives or slides at home that are much older. Winter evenings are a great time to digitize them and share them with the family. Now on to the hottest news of the week.
Recent Announcements
- As expected last week, Sony announced two new products of paramount importance. The most attention was attracted by the launch of a camera with a groundbreaking global shutter – the Sony a9 III. Thanks to the a9 III, the term “sync speed for flash photography” may one day be remembered as a relic of the past. But this is far from the only benefit of this technical innovation. You can read more in Jason’s analysis here. The camera can be pre-ordered for $5998.
- The Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens is definitely not a tool for the masses. However, for many sports and possibly wildlife photographers, it is a dream come true. At 1.47kg, it is by far the lightest 300mm f/2.8 lens on the market. You can read more details here. The lens can be pre-ordered for $5998.
- Phase One P5: Another camera with a global shutter. But this one is designed for drone-based surveying. The roughly 700g / 1.5 lbs camera allows you to scan the terrain below you with great accuracy. The 128-megapixel medium format CMOS sensor coupled with a 35mm or 80mm lens can resolve details down to 0.5cm in size. Thanks to the global shutter, it is possible to capture terrain details even at high speeds (around 22 m/s). For obvious reasons, don’t expect it to be cheap. It’s designed for industrial applications where many tens of thousands of dollars are a rounding error, anyway.
- Viltrox AF 20mm F2.8: Viltrox officially announced this AF wide-angle lens. So far, it is only available for Sony E-mount. The optical formula includes 10 elements in 8 groups (2 ED, 2 ASPH, and 1 lens with high refractive index) with HD Nano multilayer coating. Focusing is provided by a quiet STM motor. Filter thread 52mm and weight 157g. Price $158.
- RRS MC-LS Universal L-Set: Wondering what L-plate to get for your Nikon Zf with fully articulated LCD? Or do you have multiple cameras and just want one L-plate that can be swapped from one camera to another? The solution could be this new universal L-set that can be adapted to almost any camera. Price $140.
The Rumor Mill
Shoot digital with an old camera
Back in the dawn of the digital photography era, some manufacturers were thinking about how to convert classic 35mm cameras to digital. One concept that looked promising was a device that looked like a film canister with a sensor plate sticking out instead of film. Then the concept slipped through the cracks.
But now it’s back and it looks pretty viable – though as a Kickstarter, whether it will ultimately see the light of day is unknown. I’m Back Film and Yashica have joined forces to make a device that lets you shoot digital with your good old SLR. The device, with a 20MP Micro 4/3 Sony IMX 269 sensor, is inserted into the camera much like film once was. Here’s hoping it becomes a shipping product soon!
Via I’m Back Film
Good Deals and New Sales
The high ISO performance of today’s cameras hasn’t eliminated the value of flashes in photography – they are just as important a creative tool as ever. Among the flashes with a very good price/performance ratio are Godox. These can now be purchased at a very good price during the Godox Sale at B&H Photo.
B&H Photo is running another big discount event called Holiday Head Start. Here are a few things that caught my eye:
Cameras
- Sony a7 IV (was $2,498, now $2,298)
- Canon EOS R8 (was $1,499, now $1,299)
- Canon EOS R6 Mark II (was $2,499, now $2,299)
- Canon EOS R5 (was $3,899, now $3,399) + free Watson Mini Duo Charger
- Canon EOS R6 (was $2,299, now $1,999) + free Watson Mini Duo Charger
Memory cards
- Sony 256GB SF-G TOUGH Series UHS-II SDXC (was $400, now $300)
- SanDisk 512GB Extreme PRO CFexpress Card Type B (was $600, now $200)
- SanDisk 512GB Extreme UHS-I microSDXC (was $130, now $50)
Portable SSD
- SanDisk Professional 4TB PRO-G40 SSD Thunderbolt 3 (was $800, now $400)
- Samsung 2TB T7 Shield (was $160, now $120)
- SanDisk Professional 1TB PRO-G40 SSD Thunderbolt 3 (was $300, now $180)
Other Pages of Interest
At the beginning of our weekly news, I informed you about the exciting addition of the global shutter to the Sony a9 III. But I have for you an equally amazing achievement in the field of biological evolution. Do you know what class the world’s smallest land vertebrate belongs to? If you guessed a reptile, you guessed right. Discovered two years ago, the Madagascar nano-chameleon, Brookesia nana, measures just 13.5 mm from snout to vent (total length 21.6 mm). In such a tiny body, there are organs whose shape and function are very similar to our own. You can see this beautiful creature here.
Here in the northern hemisphere, as the daylight fades, the winter movie season begins. And since this is a site about photography for photographers, what else to watch but some good photo documentaries? Here are a few you might like:
- The War Photographers (2013)
- The Salt of the Earth (2014)
- McCullin (2012)
- War Photographer (2001)
- Search for the Afghan Girl (2003)
- Finding Vivian Maier (2013)
- Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film (2002)
- Shadow Play: The Making of Anton Corbijn (2009)
- National Geographic: The Photographers (1998)
- Koudelka fotografuje Svatou zemi (2015)
Almost every week I bring you the winning photos from various prestigious photography contests. This week is no exception. The winning photos of The vivo VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards 2023 have one thing in common. They were all taken with a camera that almost everyone carries around these days, and many of us take it everywhere, even into the bath or bed. Here’s a selection of the best out of 210,000 mobile photos from over 80,000 photographers in more than 40 countries and regions worldwide.
Photo Theme Challenge, Week #23
Last week’s theme was leisure, and you can see the results in this thread. Thank you to everyone for your submissions! This week’s theme is noise, and you can submit your results in this thread by November 17!
Week #22 Results
Let’s take a look at a few of the submissions for the leisure theme. Starting, off, we have one from John Graybosch of sailboats in Elliot Bay, Seattle:
What could be more leisurely than sailing? Nice light and composition!
We’ve got a new user bourdett who submitted this shot:
It seems like water is a common theme here, with some very nice colors in the sky reflecting on the ocean.
Finally, another new user PizzaGuy sent us this one:
This photo shows an interesting contrast between the ferris wheel and the city of LONDON behind, which he titled, “Business and pleasure.”
Thanks everyone for submitting their photos! We always enjoy looking at every submission and we hope you’ll consider submitting a photo for next week.