I not too long ago picked up an important addition to my pictures gear, and I can’t wait to attempt it out tomorrow. I wore out my previous one final 12 months, and since then, it has been very tough to {photograph} water birds. What important piece of kit am I speaking about? Waders, after all! Tomorrow, I’ll be wading into the cool waters to check a relatively distinctive Nikon lens – and perhaps even movie myself in entrance of the digicam as a substitute of standing behind it. Maybe that’s sufficient data so that you can guess which lens I’m speaking about… anyway, let’s transfer on to a roundup of pictures information from the previous week.
Current Bulletins
- Canon RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6: With this lens, Canon is focusing on primarily novice photographers – or just those that desire a light-weight telephoto on the lowest doable worth. How did they obtain this? By taking a 26-year-old optical design (together with its coatings and AF motor) and giving it a recent look with the present RF mount. Weighing in at 507g and measuring 146.1mm in size, the lens can focus as shut as 1.5 meters. European pricing has been set at £289, whereas US pricing and availability have but to be introduced. I wouldn’t count on optical perfection with this one.
- TTArtisan 35mm T2.1 Twin Bokeh Cine Lens: The producer’s slogan is “One lens, two dreamy bokeh”. This uncommon function works through a swap on the lens physique, letting you toggle between a “delicate” and a “bubble” bokeh impact. Judging by the pattern pictures, the distinction between the 2 settings is kind of noticeable. The lens itself has a basic cinema-style kind issue with a diameter of 88.5mm (0.8 mod gear pitch). Inside its metallic barrel, you’ll discover 10 parts in 7 teams. It might probably focus as shut as 0.28m in delicate mode and from 0.55m when switched to bubble mode. Out there mounts embrace E, X, Z, RF and L, with a price ticket of $380.
- Viltrox Classic Z1 Retro On-camera Flash: A compact flash weighing simply 116g, designed to enhance classically styled (retro) cameras. It provides a information variety of 12 (ISO 100) with a 28mm protection. Relying on the chosen output, its recycle time ranges from 0.2 to three.5 seconds. Flash energy is about manually in seven steps. The flash includes a built-in battery charged through USB-C, with a 50-minute charging time and as much as 10,000 flashes on a full cost. A small diffuser is included within the bundle. Out there for $50.
The Rumor Mill
Safer skies forward with rumored DJIs
A top quality drone isn’t precisely an affordable buy. And a mid-air collision could cause much more injury than “simply” to the drone itself. That’s why DJI equips its drones with impediment avoidance cameras. From my expertise, these impediment avoidance cameras do work fairly nicely – except it’s too darkish.
In these situations, conventional optical sensors might quickly get a serving to hand from forward-facing LiDAR (Mild Detection And Ranging), which makes use of laser beams to measure the gap to something surrounding the drone. In the meanwhile, this expertise will be discovered within the DJI Air 3S, and in response to leaked pictures, it’s anticipated to make its method into the upcoming DJI Mini 5 and DJI Mavic 4 – perhaps as early as this summer season.
By way of Drone XL
Rumored Sigma 200mm f/2.0 SPORT
This quick mid-range telephoto lens was as soon as a part of the DSLR lineup for each Canon and Nikon. With a large f/2 aperture and 200mm focal size, it was the proper instrument for taking pictures concert events, theater performances, and comparable occasions. Sadly, there is no such thing as a such lens for mirrorless cameras, however now evidently Sigma is stepping in to fill that hole. The primary items are anticipated to reach someday early this summer season. Nevertheless, it’ll most certainly solely be for Sony FE and L-mount customers.
By way of Sony Alpha Rumors
The primary full-frame “PRO” lens from Viltrox will likely be a 50mm f/1.4
In Viltrox’s lineup, the “PRO” collection sits just under their top-of-the-line “LAB” collection. And now the corporate plans to introduce three new full-frame prime lenses beneath the PRO label. All of them are anticipated to function a quick f/1.4 aperture, a de-clickable aperture ring, and a programmable perform button. Of the anticipated 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm choices, the 50mm is predicted to be introduced first. Supported mounts ought to embrace Sony E and Nikon Z.
By way of Photograph Rumors
Good Offers and New Gross sales
You possibly can solely correctly edit coloration photographs on a monitor that shows colours precisely. To make sure that’s actually the case, it’s a good suggestion to calibrate your monitor occasionally. That’s the place units referred to as colorimeters are available in – they “learn” the colours in your display screen and evaluate them to what the monitor ought to show. Any discrepancies are then corrected by calibration software program. Colorimeters are typically a bit expensive, although, which is why a current deal on the Calibrite Show Professional HL caught my eye (now $199, was $279).
Sirui lenses supply a stable worth/efficiency ratio even at full worth. However once they’re discounted by as much as 25%, that ratio will get even higher. So when you’re wanting to avoid wasting cash, B&H Photograph at present has quite a lot of quick Sirui primes on sale at actually tempting costs.
Different Pages of Curiosity
Leica rangefinder cameras are celebrating their one centesimal anniversary, and you may be a part of it. How? Properly, Leica may hope that your reply is to choose up one of many very restricted Leica M11 “100 Years of Leica” cameras. There will likely be six country-specific designs, every restricted to 100 items and priced at $10,695. In the event you can’t get your palms on one, a inexpensive approach to have a good time the anniversary is to go to a Leica gallery. In Dialog: A Photographic Dialogue Between Yesterday and Right this moment fosters a dialog between up to date photographers and Leica Corridor of Fame award winners. It’s at present in Munich, opening in New York on Might 20, adopted by Milan, Taipei, Melbourne… an ideal alternative to pack your baggage.
My subsequent journey tip is legitimate till August 24, 2025. That’s when a significant retrospective of the superb photographer Tono Stano closes on the Prague Metropolis Gallery. His most putting works are his portraits and nudes, however he additionally blends portray and photographic strategies. Along with his iconic pictures, the exhibition options a number of beforehand unpublished items. In the event you’re on the town, it’s positively price a go to.
In the event you choose recent air to gallery partitions, mark your calendar for Might 10. That’s the date of the World Large Day. Birders already know what it’s, however for everybody else, World Large Day is an annual occasion organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the place birders from around the globe be part of forces to document as many hen species as doable in 24 hours. It’s not solely enjoyable and a little bit of pleasant competitors, it’s additionally an necessary supply of knowledge that helps us perceive hen populations. For the document, Colombia topped the listing final 12 months with an unimaginable 1,564 species noticed. Nonetheless, some nations appear to be under-observed. I refuse to consider that there aren’t any birds in Afghanistan, North Korea, or Yemen. And when you occur to {photograph} birds, figuring out the place to seek out them is by far a very powerful a part of wildlife pictures.
And to wrap issues up, one thing scrumptious. The World Meals Pictures Awards 2025 has simply introduced its shortlist, and it’s an actual visible feast. The photographs go far past what you’d sometimes consider as meals pictures. A thousand tastes, a thousand aromas, and pure eye sweet. Positively price a glance.
Photograph Theme Problem, Week #100
Final week’s theme was repeating patterns, and you may see the outcomes on this thread. Thanks to everybody to your submissions! This week’s theme is low key, and you may submit your outcomes on this thread by Saturday, Might 10, 2025!
Week #99 Outcomes
Let’s try a few of the photographs we acquired for the “repeating patterns” theme, beginning with
Mauro70’s photograph:
A basic and superbly captured geometric sample.
Allan369’s photograph:
Allan offers us a pure variation from Dying Valley!
Jason’s photograph:
An attention-grabbing tackle Paddington Station in london, focusing simply on the repeating sample. Good!
Thanks everybody for submitting their photographs within the problem, and we hope to see extra subsequent week within the low key theme.