June 25
Downsizers. I've written about Samplers, about Leakers, about Last Camera Syndrome folk, but it appears that there are still categories of camera purchasers that I haven't written about. Recently I got an email from someone that reminded me of another category I've wanted to write about: Downsizers. Article on dslrbodies.com
Best Versus All-Around. I've written many times that the Nikon D850 is the best all-around ILC you can get, and the Sony A7Rm3 is my runner up. I haven't explicitly laid out the case of how I make such a determination. So let me do so today. Article on dslrbodies.com
I've also updated my Three Mirrorless Camera travel kits article for Summer 2018, including the special B&H bundles that they put together from my travel kit list. Those bundles include an extra B&H discount card in addition to everything else I put in the kits. The Summer 2018 kits are based around the Fujifilm X-T100, the Olympus E-M10m3, and the Sony A6300 and all target approximately a 2.2 pound (1kg) overall travel weight while still retaining photographic quality and diversity.
June 22
Supreme Court Overrules Supreme Court. You can tell when a court isn't itself totally clear about what to do. We have one conservative voting with three liberals, and one liberal joining with three conservative justices. The justice in the middle of those ideological leanings, Anthony Kennedy, once again was the deciding vote. What am I referring to? The case in question is South Dakota v. Wayfair, a case about whether sales tax has to be collected by out-of-state entities. Article on dslrbodies.com
The Late Spring Collection. Everyone's on a software update schedule for June it seems. Apparently all the software engineers want to go out and have a summer vacation, so they've been coding up a storm. Article on dslrbodies.com
June 18
Samyang 85mm f/1.4 autofocus lens for Canon EF
The Silence From Nikon. Given Nikon's silence on new camera products for almost a year now, look what's happening with this spring's camera buying. NikonUSA really only has two cameras that are generating any big dollars for the company, and for opposite reasons: the inexpensive and always on sale D3400 and the can't build enough D850. In the UK and Europe, Nikon raised the price of a number of products only to immediately offer cash back sales, which makes it look like they're on sale. Article on dslrbodies.com
Who Leads, Who Follows, Who Wins? One way to look at the changing landscape of cameras is to look at the "who is leading, and who waited to follow?" question. As it turns out, the true leaders in deploying significant technologies have almost always ended up with higher market share initially. Sometimes the followers caught up and re-asserted themselves, but not always. Article on dslrbodies.com
June 14
Nikon's Second "New Product" in 2018. Apparently even the crew in Tokyo has decided that Nikon has been too quiet. With only only one announcement so far in 2018—the 180-400mm f/4E lens—and no camera announcement since the D850 late last summer, Nikon has finally made another product announcement. Article on dslrbodies.com
June 11
Sony A7R Mark III Review. The big news is that the A7Rm3 gets the same new battery and body style pioneered in the A9, and now also present in the A7m3 I reviewed last week. This increases the camera size and weight slightly, but also provides not just a better hand grip, and also much better battery life with the new NP-FZ100 battery (nearly double the previous A7Rm2). Article on sansmirror.com
All Show Versus No Show. You might have noticed that Sony announced another camera last week: the US$1200 RX100m6 (Mark VI in Sony's Roman numeral fetishism). You probably couldn't escape noticing. Article on dslrbodies.com
Samyang 24mm f/2.8 autofocus pancake lens for Sony FE
June 7
Another Problem for the Duopoly. Korean optics manufacturer Samyang and German optics maker Zeiss are starting to show a new problem for the "closed shops." Article on sansmirror.com
Nik Collection 2018 by DxO. DxO has today introduced Nik Collection 2018 by DxO, which offers full compatibility with the latest Adobe CC products and both recent macOS and Windows updates and is 64-bit. Article on dslrbodies.com
Canon introduced new versions of their 70-200mm lenses. 70-200mm f/2.8 III data page. 70-200mm f/4 II data page.
June 4
The Nikon D750 Versus the Sony A7m3. I’ve just posted my review of the Sony A7 Mark III (which I abbreviate as A7m3). Almost immediately the questions started coming in about whether someone should buy a D750 or an A7m3. Indeed, those questions have been coming into my In Box since the A7m3 was announced. Article on dslrbodies.com
Sony A7 Mark III Camera Review. I skipped a generation in the A7 body reviews when I didn't review the Mark II. So we need to get up to date here with some of the key differences between the three models. That's particularly true because Sony has been keeping older cameras still available to buy, so I don't expect the A7 Mark II to disappear overnight now that the Mark III is here. Article on sansmirror.com
The Nikon Mirrorless Wish List. I’ve been communicating with a lot of Nikon DSLR (and some former) users lately about what Nikon might do with their eventual re-entry into the mirrorless camera market. I’ve become more and more curious about what the Nikon DSLR customer thinks Nikon should be doing in their return to mirrorless. Obviously Nikon will do something, but what do the current Nikon shooters expect them to do? Article on sansmirror.com
The Fujifilm X-A5 Gets a Big Brother. Fujifilm today announced the X-T100. This new camera is mostly the X-A5 internals coupled with an EVF and the three-way tilting LCD from the more DSLR-like Fujifilm bodies. Article on sansmirror.com. X-T100 Data Page.
June 3
Nikon Adds Some Lenses to Rebates. Nikon's "See, Thom, we do have some DX lenses (unbuzz, unbuzz)" instant rebates are now active. As usual with Nikkor rebates, I'll outline my thoughts on each lens. Article on dslrbodies.com