Camera
The most important camera gear of January 2024
Photo: Shaminder Dulai |
Blink, and you may have missed it, but the first month of 2024 has already come and gone. Here’s a recap of the most noteworthy camera gear announced, released, or put up for preorder this January.
Hasselblad CFV 100C
Image: Hasselblad |
Hasselblad has announced a 100MP version of its CFV digital camera back, which combines with the 907x camera to create the smallest medium format camera on the market.
Buy now:
Panasonic Lumix S 100mm F2.8 macro
Image: Panasonic |
In conjunction with CES 2024, Panasonic has announced the Lumix S 100mm F2.8 Macro lens for full-frame L-mount cameras. Panasonic calls it “the world’s smallest and lightest medium-telephoto fixed focal length macro lens.” However, as important as its size and weight is versatility: Panasonic tells us its goal was to produce a macro that can also handle portraiture and medium telephoto shooting with vanishingly few drawbacks.
Preorder:
OM System OM-1 Mark II
Photo: Shaminder Dulai |
The OM System OM-1 Mark II is a high-speed Micro Four Thirds camera based around a 20MP Stacked CMOS sensor. As the name implies, it’s an updated version of the flagship OM-1, with hardware and firmware improvements.
The OM-1 Mark II will be available from February 26th at a recommended price of $2399, a $200 increase compared with the original model from February 2022. US customers ordering before Feb 25th will receive a second BLX-1 battery and $300 off select lenses; we’d expect other regions to offer similar pre-order incentives.
Preorder:
OM System 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 IS
Image: OM System |
OM System just announced its new OM-1 II, but that’s only some of the news the company had to share. Also breaking cover is a 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 super telephoto zoom (equivalent focal length range of 300-1200mm) as well as a new version of the Olympus 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 (18-36mm equivalent) with an updated body and OM System branding.
Preorder:
DJI Mic 2
Image: DJI |
This January, DJI announced the Mic 2, the sequel to its first wireless microphone system released back in 2022. We were fans of the original, especially the details of its interface and user experience, and the Mic 2 expands on that with some additional creature comforts, 32-bit float backup recordings and a new transparent design.
Buy now:
Apple Vision Pro
Image: Apple |
Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro’s February 2nd shipping date during CES 2024. The flagship, first-generation “spatial computer” is now available to preorder on Apple’s website for $3,499. Apple Vision Pro is not primarily a camera, of course, but it is, in part, a device for capturing photos and videos. The Vision Pro will be able to capture spatial photos and video using a button along the top edge of the goggle part of the device.
Preorder:
Sony a9 III
Photo: Richard Butler |
The Sony a9 III is the company’s latest high-speed pro sports camera. It features a Stacked CMOS sensor capable of shooting at 120 fps while reading all its pixels out simultaneously: the long hoped-for ‘global’ shutter. Announced in 2023, it’s currently up for preorder with a February ship date (at Adorama, at least), though some readers report it’s already available in Europe.
Read our review in progress here.
Buy Now:
Camera
Pentax K-1 and K-1 II firmware updates include astrophotography features (depending on where you live)
Yesterday, Ricoh quietly released firmware 2.50 for its Pentax K-1 and K-1 II DSLRs. However, the features you can expect to gain from this update may depend on your geography.
Ricoh’s English-language firmware pages for the K-1 and K-1 II state that firmware 2.50 delivers “Improved stability for general performance.”
However, astute Pentax users noted that Ricoh’s Japanese-language firmware pages (translation) indicate that the update also includes a limited feature called “Astronomical Photo Assist,” a collection of three new features designed for astrophotography: Star AF, remote control focus fine adjustment, and astronomical image processing.
Star AF is intended to automate focusing on stars when using autofocus lenses. Rather than manually focusing on a bright star and changing your composition, it promises to let you compose your shot and let the camera focus.
Remote control fine adjustment allows users to adjust focus without touching the lens and requires Pentax’s optional O-RC1 remote. Astronomical image processing will enable users to make in-camera adjustments to astrophotography images, including shading correction, fogging correction, background darkness, star brightness, celestial clarity, and fringe correction.
According to Ricoh, Astronomical Photo Assist is a premium feature that must be purchased and costs ¥11,000 for an activation key (about $70 at current exchange rates).
Although these astrophotography features appear to be Japan-only for now, a Ricoh representative tells us, “Ricoh Imaging Americas confirmed that the premium firmware features for the PENTAX K-1 and PENTAX K-1 Mark II will eventually be available to US customers.”
Firmware update 2.50 for both the K-1 and K-1 II is available for download from Ricoh’s website.
Camera
On this day 2017: Nikon launches D850
As part of our twenty fifth anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant cameras launched and reviewed during that period. Today’s pick was launched seven years ago today* and yet we’re only quite recently stepping out of its shadow.
The Nikon D850 is likely to be remembered as the high watermark of DSLR technology. We may yet still see impressive developments from Ricoh in the future (we’d love to see a significantly upgraded Pentax K-1 III), but the D850 was perhaps the green flash as the sun set on the DSLR as the dominant technology in the market.
Click here to read our Nikon D850 review
Why do we think it was such a big deal? Because it got just about everything right. Its 45MP sensor brought dual conversion gain to high pixel count sensors, meaning excellent dynamic range at base ISO and lower noise at high ISOs. Its autofocus system was one of the best we’ve ever seen on a DSLR: easy to use and highly dependable, with a good level of coverage. And then there was a body and user interface honed by years of iterative refinement, that made it easy to get the most out of the camera.
None of this is meant as a slight towards the other late-period DSLRs but the likes of Canon’s EOS 5DS and 5DSR didn’t present quite such a complete package of AF tracking, daylight DR and low-light quality as the Nikon did. With its ability to shoot at up to 9fps (if you used the optional battery grip), the D850 started to chip away at the idea that high megapixel cameras were specialized landscape and studio tools that would struggle with movement or less-than-perfect lighting. And that’s without even considering its 4K video capabilities.
In the seven years since the D850 was launched, mirrorless cameras have eclipsed most areas in which DSLRs once held the advantage. For example, the Z8 can shoot faster, autofocus more with more accuracy and precision, across a wider area of the frame and do so while shooting at much faster rates.
But, even though it outshines the D850 in most regards, the Z8 is still based around what we believe is a (significant) evolution of the same sensor, and its reputation still looms large enough for Nikon to explicitly market the Z8 as its “true successor.”
Nikon D850 sample gallery
*Actually seven years ago yesterday: we had to delay this article for a day to focus on the publishing the Z6III studio scene: the latest cameras taking precedence over our anniversary content.
Camera
Nikon Z6III added to studio scene, making image quality clear
Photo: Richard Butler |
We’ve just received a production Nikon Z6III and took it into our studio immediately to get a sense for how the sensor really performs.
Dynamic range tests have already been conducted, but these only give a limited insight into the image quality as a whole. As expected, our Exposure Latitude test – which mimics the effect of reducing exposure to capture a bright sunrise or sunset, then making use of the deep shadows – shows a difference if you use the very deepest shadows, just as the numerical DR tests imply.
Likewise, our ISO Invariance test shows there’s more of a benefit to be had from applying more amplification by raising the ISO setting to overcome the read noise, than there was in the Z6 II. This means there’s a bigger improvement when you move up to the higher gain step of the dual conversion gain sensor but, as with the Z6 II, little more to be gained beyond that.
These are pushing at the extreme of the sensor’s performance though. For most everyday photography, you don’t use the deepest shadows of the Raw files, so differences in read noise between sensors don’t play much of a role. In most of the tones of an image, sensor size plays a huge role, along with any (pretty rare) differences in light capturing efficiency.
As expected, the standard exposures look identical to those of the Z6 II. There are similar (or better) levels of detail at low ISO, in both JPEG and Raw. At higher ISO, the Z6III still looks essentially the same as the Z6II. Its fractionally higher level of read noise finally comes back to have an impact at very, very high ISO settings.
Overall, then, there is a read noise price to be paid for the camera’s faster sensor, in a way that slightly blunts the ultimate flexibility of the Raw files at low ISO and that results in fractionally more noise at ultra-high ISOs. But we suspect most people will more than happily pay this small price in return for a big boost in performance.
-
Solar Energy3 years ago
DLR testing the use of molten salt in a solar power plant in Portugal
-
Camera3 years ago
Charles ‘Chuck’ Geschke, co-founder of Adobe and inventor of the PDF, dies at 81
-
world news8 months ago
Gulf, France aid Gaza, Russia evacuates citizens
-
world news3 months ago
Jewish diaspora expresses concern as Iranian drones launch toward Israel
-
Camera3 years ago
80,000MP panoramas: EarthCam announces world’s highest-resolution robotic webcam
-
TOP SCEINCE3 months ago
Can animals count?
-
Solar Energy8 months ago
Glencore eyes options on battery recycling project
-
Camera8 months ago
DJI Air 3 vs. Mini 4 Pro: which compact drone is best?