Have you ever wondered what the subject you are photographing would look like if you had a different camera? Namely, a camera with a smaller or larger sensor than the one you currently have? I have asked myself this question before, and will soon offer my answer in an article. As a little appetizer, here’s a photo of a white-throated dipper taken with a Micro Four Thirds sensor, followed by this week’s photography news.
Recent Announcements
- Sony FE 16-25mm f/2.8 G: For those who find the Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II too large, or the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM unnecessarily wide (or both too expensive), Sony now offers an alternative. The new lens covers the most commonly used wide-angle focal lengths, and thanks to its relatively small focal length range, maintains a bright f/2.8 aperture without costing or weighing too much. Its dimensions (74.8 x 91.4mm, filter size 67mm, 409g) are almost identical to the Sony FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G, a lens that many photographers likely will pair with it. The lens can be pre-ordered for $1,198.
- 7Artisans 50mm F1.4 APS-C Tilt shift MF Lens: Relatively affordable fast-aperture, MF, tilt-shift lens for Sony-E, Fuji-X and Micro 4/3 mount cameras. Despite the “APS-C” in its name, this lens seems to cover the entire sensor area of full-frame Sony cameras. The lens has 7 elements, a 12-blade aperture and weighs 364g with its glass/metal construction. The minimum focusing distance is 0.6m. The price is $226.
- Insta360 X4: A 360-degree camera featuring up to 8K (30fps) video and gesture control. Compared to its predecessor (X3), it offers higher video resolution, a larger (2.5″) touchscreen, up to 67% longer battery life, and a more rugged build. The aforementioned gesture control means that instead of using voice commands, the X3 can take a picture with just a wave of the hand (like at 2:10 of this video). Available now for $500.
- DJI Power 1000 and Power 500: DJI not only has a wide range of drones, action cameras, and gimbal stabilizers in its portfolio, it also offers a way to power all those power-hungry beasts on the go. Among its specs, I’ll highlight a maximum output power of 2400W and a battery capacity of 1024Wh (512Wh for the Power 500), two 140W USB-C outputs (100W for the Power 500), a charge time to maximum capacity in 70 minutes, support for solar charging or charging via a car socket, and a quiet operation of 23dB. The Power 1000 retails for $699 (now $300 off). The DJI Power 500 is not available yet.
- Peakto Search: A new Lightroom plug-in offers a helping hand for those who can’t easily navigate the tangled corners and forgotten sediments of their digital archives. Both photos and videos can be searched using simple prompts, or similar images. The app can search across all your catalogs. It is always accessible from the menu bar, so you can search your archive even when Lightroom is closed. A seven-day trial and subscription plans are available on the Cyme website.
The Rumor Mill
Medium format for wildlife?
Earlier this year, I reported that, according to various rumors, 2024 will be the year of the 500mm lens. By all accounts very good lens, the Sigma 500mm f/5.6 DG DN OS Sports is already available for pre-order for $2,999. Another “five-hundred” lens expected to arrive this year is the Canon RF 200-500mm f/4L IS USM. But which one will we see after that? Rumors suggest that it may be a Fujinon GF 500mm f/5.6.
This would open up the possibility for photographers to use Fuji’s 100 MP medium format cameras for subjects like wildlife, where these cameras are not very common. With a crop factor of 0.79, this would be roughly equivalent to a 400mm on a full frame camera. Imagine the amount of detail and subtle transitions on a 100MP sensor. And now I’m going to speculate a bit. Is it possible that the new telephoto lens will also be compatible with the X-mount?
Via Fuji Rumors
Good Deals and New Sales
Tripods are the gold standard for camera stability, but when shooting with a supertelephoto lens, monopods are often more popular. They hold the weight of the camera for you, while allowing you to quickly rotate and follow the bird or athlete that you’re photographing. As with tripods, it pays to invest in carbon fiber versions, which are much lighter and stronger. This week, there are some good deals on carbon fiber monopods both from Gitzo and from Leofoto.
- Gitzo GM4552L Series 4 (was $489, now $389)
- Gitzo GM4562 Series 4 (was $455, now $380)
- Gitzo GM2542 Series 2 (was $362, now $300)
- Leofoto MPQ-404C 4-Section (was $199, now $159)
- Leofoto MP-365C 5-Section (was $139, now $111)
- Leofoto VH-30LR Two-Way Monopod Head (was $239, now $191)
- Leofoto VH-10S 2-Way Aluminum Monopod Head (was $80, now $64)
Investing in a medium format digital camera usually means digging deep into your pocket. However, if the timing is right (e.g. just before a new generation is introduced), the price of a medium format camera is not much different from a full frame camera. These two sales are examples of that:
- Fujifilm GFX 100S (was $5,999, now $4,399)
- Fujifilm GFX 50S II (was $3,999, now $2,999) and with 35-70mm lens (was $4,499, now $3,499)
Many of Fuji’s medium format lenses are also on sale for $500 off:
- Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR (was $2,499, now $1,999)
- Fujifilm GF 80mm f/1.7 R WR (was $2,299, now $1,799)
- Fujifilm GF 45-100mm f/4 R LM OIS WR (was $2,299, now $1,799)
- Fujifilm GF 110mm f/2 R LM WR (was $2,299, now $1,799)
- Fujifilm GF 32-64mm f/4 R LM WR (was $2,299, now $1,799)
- Fujifilm GF 100-200mm f/5.6 R LM OIS WR (was $1,999, now $1,499)
Other Pages of Interest
A few weeks ago, the regional results of World Press Photo 2024 were announced. This week you can already see the photos that impressed the jury the most. The Photo of the Year award went to Mohammed Salem’s photo of a Palestinian woman embracing the body of her niece. Best Story of the Year, the Valim-babena by Lee-Ann Olwage, is about Dada Paul (91) from Madagascar, who has lived with dementia for 11 years, and his daughter Fara (41), who takes care of him. The Long-Term Project Award went to The Two Walls, a series of black-and-white images by Alejandro Cegarro that sensitively documents the difficult lives of migrants in Mexico. Finally, Julia Kochetova received the Open Format Award for her collage of photographs, drawings and text entitled War Is Personal.
April 22 is traditionally celebrated as Earth Day. One of its main themes is the pollution of our planet with plastic waste. Unfortunately, even the most remote corners of our planet bear some ugly traces of our civilization. It’s not just that a pile of plastic garbage washed up on a pristine beach looks ugly. The bigger problem is that plastic permeates all life. Microplastics have been found in human amniotic fluid and even in the placenta. Larger pieces of plastic are causing population declines in seabirds that mistake them for food. You can read more about this in the article Angry Birds Are Angry at Plastic.
Finally, I have some interesting videos from the world of wildlife. The first one shows an interesting predator, the honey buzzard, collecting its unusual food, the larvae of wild bees. The second video takes us to Antarctica, where a National Geographic crew witnessed a unique event. Young emperor penguins leap from the edge of a tall ice cliff into the icy waters of the ocean. It reminded me a bit of a scene at the 2:10 mark of Penguins of Madagascar.
Photo Theme Challenge, Week #45
Last week’s theme was eclipse, and you can see the results in this thread. Thank you to everyone for your submissions! This week’s theme is black and white, and you can submit your results in this thread by Saturday, April 20, 2024!
Week #45 Results
We wanted to see how our readers captured the recent eclipse – or any past eclipse, for that matter – and you didn’t disappoint! Here’s a striking composite by Bhoward showing every stage of this year’s eclipse:
Tom Pazol went a different direction, with this very cool photo of the partial eclipse over the John Hancock building in Chicago:
John Graybosch did a great job capturing this classic view of totality:
Myotis submitted a moody image of an eclipse over Germany in 2022, just barely visible through the clouds:
And lastly, we have a great photograph by rjbfoto showing a different type of eclipse:
Thanks everyone for submitting their photos in the challenge, and we hope to see some of your black and white photos next week!
If you’re wondering what your photos would look like, taken with a different sized sensor, you have WAY too much time on your hands.
Curiosity is the driving force of humanity.
For some, and usually to their detriment.
The emperor penguin video was startling and a complete hoot! Thank you. I love the new gear, because it will drive down the prices of the amazing tech of yesteryear. Instead of the latest Fuji X-cessively priced cam I’m thinking of getting a first-gen Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L for my R6. If I can get my heart in the right place I think it will allow wonderfully moving pics to happen.
100% agree on new tech. I’ve bought a lot of used lenses, recently, I could have never justified buying only a few years ago.
I totally agree. Although new Z-mount lenses usually outperform their F-mount predecessors, and the same is true for Canon, not everyone finds higher resolution, faster and more reliable focusing, or lighter weight so important that they pay a significantly higher price for it. Let’s take a look at photos of masters from recent years. Back then, they were all shooting with DSLRs or even SLRs, often manual (like the Nikon FM2 or Leica M). When I stand in front of their prints at an exhibition, it never occurs to me how much better these photos would be if they were shot with today’s equipment. But back to the gear. The biggest advantage of a large mount is noticeable with shorter lenses. With telephoto lenses, the comparison between generations is much tighter. So George, I’d say that since Canon is about to announce a new 35mm f/1.4, it’s the perfect time to buy the good old Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L. I believe it will do you a great service.
“The biggest advantage of a large mount is noticeable with shorter lenses.”
I disagree. The recent Sony wide-angle lenses, reviewed by Spencer Cox, have outstanding performance.
Mount inner diameters (approx):
44mm Nikon F-mount
46mm Sony E-mount
55mm Nikon Z-mount
Sony undoubtedly has great lenses, I don’t dispute that. That’s why I used “comparison between generations” instead of “comparison between brands”. Especially with Nikon lenses, there is a pretty clear trend that almost every Z-mount lens is better than its F-mount counterpart. Of course, you cannot put all the credit on the mount diameter alone, but there is no doubt that it is one of the factors that has made lens design much easier. This is especially true for wide-angle lenses, since digital camera sensors (unlike film) don’t like light hitting them at an angle.
The angle at which the ‘light hits the sensor’ is determined by the rear focal length of the lens (exit-pupil-to-sensor distance), not by the diameter of the mount. As is the magnitude of natural vignetting with the lens stopped down.
It seems that you swallowed Nikon’s initial Z‑mount marketing hype, hook, line and sinker.
Sony went to great lengths some years ago to explain that their E‑mount does not limit lens performance compared to larger mounts. A claim that has been more than adequately demonstrated to be correct.
Have you really failed to noticed that the performance of lenses has increased substantially over the last decade — third-party manufacturers included — irrespective of lens mount?
The reason is fourfold: a wider range of glasses; better lens design algorithms; better manufacturing techniques; consumer education (I use the term loosely).
A simple example of increasing performance that has nothing whatsoever to do with lens mount size:
Nikon F-mount 50mm f/1.8G has 7 elements in 6 groups, including 1 aspherical element.
Nikon Z-mount 50mm f/1.8 S has 12 elements in 9 groups, including 2 aspherical and 2 ED elements.
I don’t think we have different views, Pete. As I wrote, “…you can’t give all the credit to the mount diameter alone, but there is no doubt that it is one of the factors that has made lens design much easier”. And indeed, it’s not just the big hole in the camera that makes mirrorless lenses from Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. better than those for DSLRs. The fact that the absence of a mirror has allowed the rear element of the lens to be moved much closer to the sensor is also a major factor. Of course, optics have come a long way over that time. I’d also say that people’s willingness to invest in optically superior lenses has increased, which may be one reason why the older 50mm f/1.8 is less complex overall than the current one. Sensor resolution has also increased, and sharpness that was previously considered great is suddenly poor. There are certainly more factors at play. But I think we’re getting pretty far away from George’s post that started this thread.
Science isn’t a point of view.
Before the time that you started writing for PL, Nasim Mansurov, Spencer Cox and some of the other authors showed their appreciation for the technical input I have provided to PL over the years.
You and some of the readers are making it increasingly clear that technical accuracy has become not just unnecessary, it is also unwelcome.
Notwithstanding, I shall continue to correct erroneous statements, not for your benefit, not for my benefit, but for the readers who prefer learning facts to myths.
Now, these statements of yours are factually incorrect, erroneous; not just wrong, but they are disinformation if they influence anyone’s purchasing decision:
“The biggest advantage of a large mount is noticeable with shorter lenses.”
“you can’t give all the credit to the mount diameter alone, but there is no doubt that it is one of the factors that has made lens design much easier”
The advantages of the Z‑mount over the F‑mount include:
● a more robust mount for long and/or heavy lenses (not for short lenses), e.g.,
“Interestingly, there are now a total of 4 metal ridges that hold the lens, which means that attached lenses should stay more securely on the Nikon Z compared to Nikon F.”
— Nasim Mansurov
● The much reduced flange focal distance of the Z‑mount (16 mm vs F‑mount 46.5 mm) [and other mirrorless camera mounts] does indeed ease the design of some wide-angle lenses, but when this feature is fully utilized by the lens designer, it drastically increases the natural vignetting of the lens. This is a disadvantage because natural vignetting isn’t reduced by stopping down the aperture !
Here’s an archived copy of the superb article “Vignetting” by Paul van Walree:
web.archive.org/web/2…tting.html
Any software distortion / vignetting correction automatically baked into Sony raw files?