Photography
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RED teases mysterious, compact Komodo camera
RED is countering the tales of its smartphone camera woes with something more exciting... if also cryptic. Company chief Jarred Land has teased an upcoming Komodo camera that doesn't appear to fit into the company's usual categories. While the lone image doesn't show much more than a compact body with an interchangeable lens mount, Land is happy to tell you what Komodo isn't.
Square offers sellers $10 photoshoots for their products
If a picture really is worth a thousand words, then great product photography needs to be at the top of the agenda for anyone selling stuff on Etsy, eBay, Kickstarter or basically anywhere online. Sometimes, though, shooting on your iPhone just doesn't cut the mustard, and hiring a professional photographer -- or even just the right kit -- is pretty expensive. Enter the Square Photo Studio, which will take high quality product shots for you, at the fraction of the cost.
Sony says its USB hub is the world's fastest SD card reader
It's hard to spice up USB hubs when they're practically ubiquitous. Sony's solution? Make it indispensable to pro photographers. The company's newly announced MRW-W3 hub is billed as the "world's fastest" UHS-II SD (and microSD) card reader, supporting read rates up to 300MB/s. Whether or not it lives up to the boasts, it should easily transfer your camera's giant RAW photos and 4K videos. This isn't a one-trick brick, either -- it's meant to handle many of your laptop's other needs while you're on the road.
Leica's V-Lux 5 is a high-end, travel-friendly camera
Leica isn't exactly known for offering cameras that both offer long-zoom lenses and a relatively affordable price, but it's ready to bend those rules a bit. The company has introduced the V-Lux 5, an upscale rebadge of Panasonic's FZ-1000 II long-zoom camera. The differences mostly boil down to a spruced-up design with the signature red dot on the front, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when the core camera is solid -- this is a fairly powerful option for travelers.
Leica's new 'entry' M rangefinder camera costs $3,995
Good news: Leica just made its M-series cameras more accessible... relatively speaking. The company has introduced an M-E (Typ 240) model that preserves the compact rangefinder design and a 24-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, but at a slightly easier to swallow $3,995 price. It's not what we'd call a budget camera, but it beats spending thousands of dollars more. You will have to live with some limitations, though.
Nikon plans an answer to Sony's A9 mirrorless pro camera
You knew Nikon was going to expand its mirrorless camera lineup after the Z6 and Z7 arrived, but in what direction? Now you know. Company president Toshikazu Umatate has revealed to Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun that Nikon will release a mirrorless "equivalent" to its flagship pro DSLR, the D5. He didn't provide a timetable or technical details, but the D5 is meant as a no-compromise cam with high-speed shooting and low light prowess. You could expect similar abilities, just with the benefit of a few years of technological progress.
The best lenses for Canon RF mount
Many photographers keep a cheap compact 50mm lens in their bags, but that is not what Canon has made here. The Canon RF 50mm F/1.2 is over 2 pounds and costs more than $2,000, but what you're getting for that is an incredible sharp lens with an ultra-wide aperture, perfect for super-blurred backgrounds or letting in tons of light. With no image stabilization and a noisy focus motor this is not a lens for video, but if you need a top-performing lens that takes full advantage of the new RF mount, the RF 50mm F/1.2 is the top of the class. READ ON: The best lenses for Canon RF mount
The best lenses for Nikon Z mount
While Canon went big in both price and performance with its low-light specialist $2,300 RF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens, Nikon elected to release the cheaper, slower $600 Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S. Don't be fooled by the price, though. While it's a stop slower than Canon's offering, this is still a very speedy lens, as f/1.8 is plenty fast enough for most shooting situations. Of course, it helps that this might be Nikon's sharpest, most flare-resistant lens ever. And to top it all off, it has great bokeh characteristics. READ ON: The best lenses for Nikon Z mount
The best lenses for Fujifilm X mount
If you have an interest in portrait photography, and if you can afford it, the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R is a no-brainer. Images are sharp edge-to-edge, even when wide open, and out-of-focus areas are buttery smooth. It's not quite as fast to focus as the 50mm on this list, but optically this is perhaps the best Fuji lens money can buy. READ ON: The best lenses for Fujifilm X mount
The best lenses for Sony FE mount
More often than not, there's no wow factor to standard zoom lenses. But that's not necessarily the case with the Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8GM lens, which is designed to be ideal for portrait and travel photography. The best feature of this G Master glass, without a doubt, is the ability to keep the same exposure and depth of field even at its widest aperture of f/2.8. That should give your great level of bokeh, a signature feature of all G Master lenses, including the FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM. Like that lens, the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM is also priced at $2,200. READ ON: The best lenses for Sony FE mount
The best companion cameras
Looking for a trusty point-and-shoot with a versatile lens and don't want to spend $1,000? The Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II -- with a 20MP sensor and strong low-light performance -- might be the camera for you. The G7 X Mark II's lens is 24-100mm equivalent, and it comes with a tilting screen, manual control ring that can be used to adjust aperture, focus or zoom (among others), and even a tilting pop-up flash. Its 12-bit raw files give a lot of flexibility in editing, and while its battery life falls a little short of the competition, if you need a travel or social camera, the G7 X Mark II has a lot to offer. READ ON: The best companion cameras
Moment's big Pro Camera update brings its Android app up to speed
Moment has announced its biggest ever update for Pro Camera, which adds a bunch of cool new features to the app, and brings the Android version up to parity. And to celebrate, if you download the app for the first time you'll get 15 percent off in the Moment Shop, which carries more than 20 photography and travel brands.
Apple Aperture won't run in macOS after Mojave
You'll need a backup plan if you've been hanging on to Aperture years after its retirement. Apple has warned that its pro photo editing tool won't run in versions of macOS released after Mojave (that is, the upcoming 2019 release and beyond). If you want to access your Aperture libraries beyond that, you'll have to migrate them to either Photos or Adobe's Lightroom Classic. This isn't a total shock when Apple hasn't updated the software for five years (and hasn't even offered downloads in four years), but it could prove a headache if you've been deeply attached to Aperture's methods.
Use the camera in your brain to master street photography
Like many camera buffs, I've done a fair amount of street photography, stalking subjects in markets, parks and tourist areas. Unfortunately, I often come away with little to show for it. That's particularly frustrating, because I live in Paris on a beautiful street with endlessly interesting subjects and settings. My challenges with the genre -- poor ideas, a fear of confrontation and technical challenges -- certainly apply to other types of photography. However, they're magnified on the streets, due to the improvisational nature and factors out of my control, like subjects, lighting conditions and weather.
Leica's compact, full-frame Q2 captures 47MP photos and 4K video
Leica made a few waves with its original Q camera in 2015, and not without merit: the Q was a compact full-frame camera that took advantage of the company's reputation for high-quality lenses. You'll be glad to hear, then, that Leica is back with a full-fledged sequel. The just-unveiled Q2 borrows the same basic formula, including the non-removable 28mm f/1.7 prime lens, but gives you a much higher-resolution 47.3-megapixel sensor and, at last, 4K video capture. It's also billed as the only camera in its class (admittedly a rather small class) with dust and water resistance.
NASA's free interactive photo book shows the abstract beauty of Earth
NASA just released 168 pages of stunning images showing the planet's atmosphere, water, land, ice and snow from a satellite's perspective. For $53, you can buy a hardcover version of the book, simply titled Earth. Or you can accept the unavoidable truth that print is dead and enjoy the free, interactive online version on NASA's Earth Observatory. And if you absolutely must take the book with you, there are free PDF and ebook versions too.
Flickr will start deleting your photos tomorrow if you're over its limit
If you have lots of photos on Flickr but don't intend to pay for a Pro account, you have mere hours left to consider your options. As warned, the newly Smugmug-owned Flickr will start deleting free users' photos and videos beyond the 1,000-item limit on February 5th. There are exceptions if your additional images fall under a Creative Commons license, but you also can't upload more pictures until you're under that limit. It's not too hard to safeguard your photos if you'd rather not pay $50 per year, although it might require more work than you think.
Apple's 2020 iPhones may use laser-assisted 3D cameras
Apple's plans to improve iPhone photography might go well beyond adding a third rear camera. Bloomberg sources say the tech giant is developing a 3D camera system that uses a laser scanner to capture depth information at distances much greater than the dot projection system used in Face ID on current iPhones. Augmented reality is reportedly the main focus, since this would help gauge dimensions, but it would also help with portrait mode photos that currently have to rely on software to detect foreground objects.
Samsung reportedly bought a company to improve its phone cameras
Many-camera smartphones could soon be par for the course at Samsung, and the company appears determined to make the most of them. Sources for both Calcalist and Globes claim Samsung has bought the Israeli mobile camera technology company Corephotonics in a deal worth $155 million. The exact aims of the purchase aren't clear, but Corephotonics is best-known for developing a form of mobile dual-camera photography that improves image quality -- and suing Apple for allegedly copying the technology.
Kodak's Smile camera and printer are its latest take on instant cameras
While most companies are at CES 2019 trying to sell people on the future of technology, Kodak showed up for the show with a whole lot of nostalgia. The camera company that was once synonymous with memorable moments is hoping people will put down their smartphones and capture the perfect picture with its Smile-branded line of instant cameras and printers.
