February 27
Wind in the Sony Marketing Sails. As I noted in my introduction article, Sony themselves introduced the A7III as "a basic model" with the follow-up line to "expect more." Somewhere the marketing gurus at Sony must be patting each other on the back for the latest in Headline Hyperbole that appeared after their announcement. Article on sansmirror.com
Nikon Finally Deals with AF-P in Firmware. A number of Nikon DSLR cameras got firmware updates today, basically to give them better AF-P support. Article on dslrbodies.com
February 26
Sony Updates the Base A7 to Mark III. At the trade show for wedding and portrait photographers in Las Vegas (WPPI) Sony today revealed the third iteration of the A7 (no r, no s) model, the A7M3. As you might guess, it bears a strong resemblance to the way the A7r third generation update was made. Article on sansmirror.com. A7M3 data page.
Panasonic Leica 50-200mm f/2.8-4
Laowa 25mm f/2.8 Macro
Laowa 9mm f/2.8 (APS-C mirrorless)
Canon Adds EOS M50 Model. Canon today announced the EOS M50, and interesting mix of advancements and simplifications that speaks towards the direction of where Canon is headed. Article on sansmirror.com
February 22
Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 Art for Canon EF, Nikon F mount
Tamron 70-210mm f/4 lens for Canon EF, Nikon F mount
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens for Sony FE mount
Tokina 20mm f/2 AF for Sony FE mount
February 20
The New Nikkor Wish List. Instead of updating my Missing Nikkors article for the umpteenth time, I decided to take another approach. What follows is my current Nikkor Wish List and my rationale for it. Article on dslrbodies.com
Qimage is Back. Many many moons ago—at least 150, probably more—Mike Chaney came up with a software program that many of us used to swear by (as opposed to swear at): Qimage. This little utility, while ostensibly a raw converter, had one feature that made us like it so much: it printed our images better than anything else. Article on dslrbodies.com
Canon Discounting Older Full Frame DSLRs Canon has finally joined the fray, placing substantive discounts on older generation models that we haven't seen before. Article on dslrbodies.com
February 15
Fujifilm Drops a New Flagship, X-H1. Fujifilm today introduced the much-leaked X-H1 model, an upscale model to the X-T2 that was previously regarded by many as the APS-C flagship for the company. Article on sansmirror.com. X-H1 data page. MKF18-55mm t/2.9 data page. MKF50-135mm t/2.9 data page.
Zeiss Loxia 25mm f/2.4 for Sony FE
February 14
Vello BG-N19. Updated Again I've posted information about this MB-D18 clone grip for the D850 on the D850 blog. Continued testing shows that the third-party grips and batteries do work, but... Article on dslrbodies.com
February 13
Lightroom Classic CC Speeds Up. Adobe posted Lightroom Classic CC 7.2 today, an update that attempts to improve performance of the venerable browser/converter/do all program. Import is faster. Previews render faster. Export is faster. Panoramas and HDRs are created faster. The Develop module makes adjustments faster. Article on dslrbodies.com
Newly announced products: Panasonic GX9 Data Page, Meyer-Optik 85mm f/1.5 II Data Page
February 12
Nikon NPS has posted a "Winter Sports 2018" blog that is posting articles by NPS professionals at the South Korea Winter Olympics. They've also produced a sponsored article on dpreview about their preparations. Not exactly sure why the number of bodies and lenses they brought is "confidential information," nor why Nikon marketing thought it was better to pay for an article on one site rather than sending out a press release and photos to all sites as Canon did. Canon's press release got covered by all the major photography and technology sites. Nikon's paid article not so much. As for Canon, they claim 300 camera bodies are available for loan, and over 700 lenses. Nikon could have simply stated "hundreds of camera bodies and double/triple that in lenses" and not had to reveal exact numbers. Both companies make claims on how many on-site staff will be on hand, but that number is meaningless without knowing how many photographers are being supported. Curiously, you don't have to be Nikon NPS to access the Nikon NPS Olympic support.
Dynamic Range from Dual Pixels. My friend Iliah and his team have put together a new utility called DPRSplit. If you shoot the Canon 5DM4 in "dual pixel" mode, the resulting image contains two images. Article on dslrbodies.com
Understanding the AF-P Lenses. With the introduction of the AF-P lenses, Nikon caused a big issue: compatibility. First, the lenses to which the following applies. Article on dslrbodies.com
February 7
Olympus Announces PL-9. I think you have to visit Japan or SE Asia to understand the PL series of cameras. Maybe even then you might not get it. I certainly don't. The E-PL9 is the seventh generation of the mirrorless camera that kicked off Olympus' Pen m4/3 series, though it doesn't exactly sport much of a generational difference from its predecessor. Article on sansmirror.com. Camera data page.
February 5
An Intriguing Analysis. One thing about time: data tends to collect. Sometimes you can gain insights into patterns or trends by analyzing that data. Which is exactly what Emmett Rad did with years of photonstopixels data captured by Bill Claff. Article on dslrbodies.com
Searching for the Perfect Dongle. I've been traveling with either a recent 12" MacBook or a 15" MacBook Pro for the past year. That means that I've been in a bit of dongle hell. The 12" has one USB C port, the 15" has four. But that's all they have for ports, and power has to be plugged into one of those. Article on dslrbodies.com
February 4
New Sony Trade-in Event. Sony started their "Winter Trade-in Event" on Sunday. This is a set of new instant rebates coupled with a few trade-in bonuses. As I understand it, you can trade in any camera to get the bonus. Article on sansmirror.com