I like to start my Photography News on a positive note, but it is not always easy. Especially when I see my favorite country, where I spent several years of a happy life, turn into a battlefield. Ecuador is the place on earth with the highest number of bird species per square kilometer. But at the same time, Western demand for cocaine has brought it into a state of internal military conflict. This may not be news from the world of photography, but I, as a wildlife photographer and as a human being, am deeply saddened by this situation. Peace be with you, Ecuador, and I hope to see you in June.
Recent Announcements
- Panasonic Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro: At 82mm in length and 298g in weight, this macro lens is the smallest in its class. In addition to its small size, the lens features a new quiet dual-phase linear motor system for fast autofocus performance, weather-resistant construction, and of course 1:1 magnification. The front of the lens accepts 67mm filters, and the rear accepts all L-mount cameras. The lens will be available from February 2024 for $998.
- Swarovski AX Visio: A unique combination of binoculars, camera, and identification guide in one package. Everything you see can be photographed or video recorded (up to Full HD and 60fps) with the built-in 13MP camera. The binoculars’ modified Android system and built-in Merlin Bird ID app will also help you identify what you’ve just seen – it can currently identify over 9000 species. The binoculars feature an optimal magnification of 10x and a lens diameter of 30mm. The binoculars will be available from February 2024 for $4,799.
- Lexar Professional CFexpress 4.0 Type B DIAMOND and Type A GOLD Series cards: Lexar is another manufacturer whose fastest cards take advantage of the PCIe Gen 4 bus. The newly introduced Type B cards are designed to deliver read speeds of up to 3600MB/s and write speeds of up to 3300MB/s. Type A cards have also been bumped up to 1800MB/s read and up to 1650MB/s write. All that remains is to introduce a camera that can take full advantage of these speeds. The price has not been announced yet.
The Rumor Mill
Canon EOS R1 could be announced next month
The long wait for the Emperor may be over as early as next month at the CP+ trade show. What can we expect from the Canon EOS R1? Surprisingly, the rumors suggest the resolution will not be massive. It’s not even expected to feature 8K video, which will likely remain the domain of the smaller R5 and R5 C. What will be the R1’s main ace up its sleeve? We’ll hopefully find out soon. (By the way, the EOS R5 Mark II is expected to be announced in the second half of the year.)
Via Canon Rumors
Is Canon planning constant-aperture superzooms for APS-C cameras?
A new patent application submitted at the end of 2023 could indicate this. The patent shows a pair of lenses with focal lengths of 20-120mm and 18-100mm. The common feature of both is a relatively wide constant aperture of f/4. If we were to translate the focal lengths of both lenses to full frame, we would get 32-192mm and 29-160mm equivalents. Interesting range. Which, if either, would you choose?
New name for the upcoming Fujifilm X100
There is currently a lively discussion on Fujirumors about the name of the sixth generation of the popular X100 series camera. Although there have been some interesting suggestions from readers, such as X100 OOS (meaning out of stock), it looks like Fujifilm will stick with the proven Roman numerals. More importantly, X100 VI – assuming that’s what it’s called – will feature the same 40MP sensor as the current X-T5 or X-H2. This will give the camera some interesting cropping possibilities with a 35mm full-frame equivalent lens. The question is whether the focal length will remain the same. There is a possibility to go wider, similar to Leica’s Q-series. We’ll see soon.
Via Fuji Rumors
Good Deals and New Sales
Although a lot of new mirrorless cameras use CF Express card, the most widely-used memory card today is still the traditional SD card. If your camera supports them, you may be interested in a discount on the following SD cards, which all sport the faster UHS-II standard:
- Lexar 256GB Professional 1667x UHS-II SDXC (2-Pack) (was $175, now $121.50)
- ProGrade Digital 256GB UHS-II SDXC (was $270, now $229.50)
- Sony 256GB SF-G TOUGH Series UHS-II SDXC (was $398, now $298)
- Lexar 256GB Professional 1800x UHS-II SDXC (GOLD Series, 2-Pack) (was $330, now $207)
- SanDisk 256GB Extreme PRO UHS-II SDXC (was $400, now $230)
A small SD card is easy to lose in a big backpack. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep them all nicely stored in a durable case… so that you can lose them all at once. Just kidding.
- Ruggard Leda Memory Card Case for SD & microSD Cards (was $20, now $15)
And now for something from the faster category, the CFexpress Type B and Type A memory cards.
- SanDisk 256GB PRO-CINEMA CFexpress Type B (was $470, now $280)
- Lexar 256GB Professional CFexpress Type B DIAMOND Series (2-Pack) (was $750, now $470)
- Sony 512GB CFexpress Type B TOUGH (was $648, now $348)
- Lexar 320GB Professional CFexpress Type A GOLD Series (was $585, now $450.50)
- Sony 320GB CFexpress Type A TOUGH (2-Pack) (was $1,296, now $1,096)
Losing or damaging a CFexpress Type B or Type A memory card hurts even more. Not to mention all the great photos you had stored on it. So, a durable case comes in handy here, too.
- Ruggard Leda Memory Card Case for XQD or CFexpress Type B Cards (was $30, now $20)
Other Pages of Interest
Joining Leica and Sony, Nikon is making its contribution to the fight against AI-generated or otherwise manipulated content in photojournalism. Along with the aforementioned brands, Nikon is a member of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). You may have heard about this endeavor, which will allow photos to be accompanied by a digital watermark that confirms their authenticity. What’s new is that Nikon is collaborating with the French news agency AFP to develop another, very robust watermark. The two methods will work together to create a verifiable photo authentication system. You can read more about this in Nikon’s press release.
I have an anthill of wood ants right next to my house, and it never occurred to me to photograph their original and interesting way of defending themselves against birds and other intruders (including people). René Krekels had that idea and won. Specifically, he won first place in the insect category of the Close-up Photographer of the Year competition. You can see this and the other winning photos at The top 100 winning images of CUPOTY 5.
Photo Theme Challenge, Week #32
Last week’s theme was glass, and you can see the results in this thread. Thank you to everyone for your submissions! This week’s theme is lines, and you can submit your results in this thread by Friday, January 19!
Week #31 Results
This week, we got some amazing results on the theme of glass! Let’s see a few of them. We’ll start with Ronald’s shot:
I really enjoyed how the imbalance of tones in the background is restored with the reflections and refractions in the glass sphere.
Next, we’ve got a shot by Ircut:
The golden light of the sun complements this fascinating pattern of broken glass.
Finally, let’s take a look at PRG Lagarde’s submission:
The symmetry and reflections are very pretty, and the colors look great also. The reddish hues work very well to complement the triangular arrangement of these champagne glasses.
Thanks to everyone for submitting photos for our weekly challenges. We all enjoy looking at what you folks come up with, and we look forward to seeing more next week.
Thank you Libor, I am always looking forward to, and enjoy reading these weekly posts!
A quick note about the challenge – I think it is time to leave the 2023 calendar behind, and move to 2024: this Friday is January 19 😉
I’m not saying I still think it’s 2023 but
Thank you for the feature Libor.
About Ecuador, sad news indeed and as we are all connected in a way or another it is sad for the whole planet, on many levels.
It’s true, it’s getting harder and harder to remain optimistic. On the other hand, what the news doesn’t say, most people on this planet are good. I see hope in that.
Of the imagined Canon APS-C zooms, I’d pick the one with the best image quality (note: I didn’t say sharpness). Sorry, but I’ve been thoroughly spoiled by cheap and amazing L glass: the EF 24-105 F/4 and EF 135 F/2. You can argue specs all day long, but you can tell a great lens by the great photos and videos it takes.
I know exactly what you’re saying, George. It’s very easy to get spoiled by quality. It’s hard to go back. But lately I’ve been seeing a very pleasing trend that even cheap (original) lenses have pretty high standards. So if we stick with the traditional manufacturers, it’s getting harder and harder to make the wrong choice. I’m not talking about the variability between different specimens.
“Western demand for cocaine has brought it into a state of internal military conflict.”
it’s ‘conflicting opportunism’ which brought it to your country. Bananas did the same thing to much of Central America. demand and supply go hand-in-hand. hoping this battle does not come at a great cost to your wildlife — or your way of living. ✌️
Hi Whisky, the problem is of course much more complex than can be summed up in one paragraph. Like cocaine, or the bananas you mentioned, we could put anything else in there that has the potential to make a lot of money. Oil, avocados, tropical timber… The fundamental problem lies more in the dire socio-economic situation and the limited ability (and willingness) of the government to address the situation. But Ecuador is not my country, just a country I love. And since it is a place of immeasurable natural wealth, the fate of its nature is also close to my heart.
I hope so too, though it is not just Libor’s wildlife. It is all of our wildlife, and conflict certainly impacts wildlife more than just wildlife photography. Conflict also tends to destabilize protections for wild areas, and since these wild areas provide a habitable world for us, we should be saddened both for the people and for the birds and ecosystems, especially since the plants and animals in such zones have no say or defense in human conflict.
Just like you wrote, Jason. The conflict doesn’t have to be of major proportions and can greatly affect the desire of tourists to visit the country. And the consequence? Without foreign tourists (locals don’t travel much), conservation gets a serious crack. “Why protect the forest when there is no benefit to be gained from it? I’d rather turn it into pasture and have milk and meat to sell.” That is unfortunately the reality. Conservation must pay off at a local level. Without that, every law is just a piece of paper. Especially in countries where law enforcement is somewhat questionable.
An 18-100mm f/4 for APS-C would be a wonderful alternative to an 18-85 or 18-200mm variable zoom for APS-C.
It looks like everybody’s doing some interesting lens development these days. I’m glad to see some love going to the oft-neglected APS-C side of the big 3’s lineup.
I definitely welcome any effort to expand the range of APS-C lenses, regardless of brand. Personally, I would also like fast primes of classic focal lengths, like 16mm (24mm eq.) or 23mm (35mm eq.). Also a lens like the 16-70mm f/2.8 would be great.