News entries for August, 2014

 

 

We've seen some fairly unusual digital camera form factors over the years, but Casio's EXILIM TR series -- which launched back in 2011 with the Casio TRYX -- has to rank as one of the most unusual of the bunch. The company may just have topped the TRYX, though, with the announcement of the Casio EXILIM...

 

 

We've just taken the wraps off our latest lens review over on SLRgear, the Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ. It seems Olympus has been in a continual development cycle for the kit lens of its cameras: the Olympus 14-42mmEZ lens is no less than the seventh lens they have designed in this category since they started...

 

 

After a couple of weeks with no firmware news, Firmware Friday is back with all guns blazing, as no less than seven DSLRs from Nikon and Pentax receive updates, and Leica promises three more for its cameras will be arriving shortly.

We'll start with Nikon, whose six updates this week dominate the roundup Of...

 

 

Looking for an affordable fisheye lens for your Nikon 1-series compact system camera? If so, the folks at Nikon Rumors have spotted one that might be of interest given a list price of just US$200 and the magical words "Made in Japan".

The Rokinon 7.5mm f/8 RMC fisheye lens doesn't appear on the company's own...

 

 

Just in time for the start of our Nikon D810 review Shooter's Reports, French software company DxO Labs has released an update supporting the camera in its flagship application, DxO Optics Pro. The update to Optics Pro v9.5.2 not only adds support for raw files shot with the D810, but also brings minor bug fixes...

Cloud storage services have been interesting for photographers on the go for quite a while now, but with storage prices plummeting the way they do, there will soon be no more need to carry an external hard drive around. The latest service to cut its prices (and up its included storage capacity) is Dropbox, who is now offering its Pro...

 

 

Back in late 2012, when Olympus launched the PEN E-PL5 compact system camera -- a model just replaced by the Olympus E-PL7 this very day -- it also unveiled a new, limited-edition variant of its M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12mm f2.0 prime lens.

The new optic was identical to the silver variant first released by the...

In mid-2013, Olympus introduced the E-PL6, a camera that never came to the US market, perhaps because it was such a modest tweak to 2012's E-PL5. Today, the Olympus E-PL7 arrives as a much more comprehensive revamp, although its heart -- a 16.1-megapixel Live MOS image sensor -- is unchanged from the earlier cameras. Our Olympus E-PL7 arrived...

 

 

If you thought most new cameras nowadays are all about being "retro" and taking cues from cameras of yesteryear, take heed: Ricoh is going in a bold new direction with their latest DSLR, the new Pentax K-S1. Sporting a strikingly futuristic design, the K-S1 features a new 20-megapixel APS-C image sensor with a high...

After teasing the upcoming announcement of a "dream" lens, the Korean optics manufcaturer Samyang, whose products are also sold under the Rokinon and Bower brands in the US, has announced a new 50mm f/1.4 "dream lens" as well as a T1.5 cine counterpart in various mounts. Both lenses compelemt the company's lineup of DSLR and cine lenses which...

 

 

Have you ever wondered how your DSLR was designed? As it celebrates the 25th anniversary of its flagship EOS-1 series of film and digital SLRs, Canon has pulled back the curtain and given us a peek into the world of camera design, publishing an interview with two rather influential men in the company's...

 

 

The Sony A5100 is a bit of an anomoly. For starters, its name implies that it succeeds the A5000, which it most certainly does not! The A5000 succeeds the lower-tiered NEX-3N, while the A5100 succeeds the mid-level NEX-5T. The popular A6000 succeeded the NEX-6 earlier this year, leaving only the flagship NEX-7...

 

 

Creating a good hyperlapse video can be a lot of fuss. The defining feature that makes the technique so much more interesting than a simple time-lapse is camera motion, but simply moving your camera by hand or shooting from a moving vehicle isn't enough. The accelerated playback speed of hyperlapse means that even...

Google has been busy sending its Street View cars (and backpacks, snowmobiles and tricycles) all over the world to document not only streets, but also all kinds of sights for us to enjoy from the comfort of our homes, without having to actually travel anywhere. A notable recent addition to the company's treasure trove of virtual sightseeing...

 

 

They say "three's a crowd," but in the case of the Sony A7-series of full-frame mirrorless cameras, perhaps the more apt analogy is "The Three Bears" in that with the A7, A7R and now the A7S, there's something for everyone, and you can find an A7 camera that's "just right" for you. The A7 is more focused on speed...

Due to the limited dynamic range of digital imaging sensors, high contrast scenes often require the capture of bracketed exposures and subsequent HDR conversion in order to convey their full tonal range. The capture of bracketed exposures usually takes a couple seconds, depending on how many exposures are taken, and it requires both camera and...

 

 

Good news, Fuji fans: the Fujifilm X30 is here, following in the footsteps of 2012's Fuji X10 and 2013's X20, both popular -- if occasionally quirky -- fixed-lens, compact cameras. Their classic styling and generous selection of physical controls helped them stand out from the crowd, and the X30 builds on...

 

 

Last week, we posted a big selection of real-world sample photos -- today, our Nikon D810 review takes another step forwards with the addition of my first Shooter's Report section. After days of uncooperative weather, when the sun peeked out briefly I shot all manner of subjects around downtown Knoxville,...

 

 

We've just finished our Samsung NX30 review, after it spent a lot of time out in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains in the hands of reviewer John Shafer, and overall, the NX30 is a solid little camera. Samsung is an extremely large company with a vast portfolio of products, but in the photographic world, more...