Digital Photography Review Newsletter: Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Digital Photography Review Newsletter for Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Digital Photography Review Newsletter The most popular weekly photography newsletter, with over 400,000 subscribers Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Welcome to the 575th Digital Photography Review newsletter. First - a reminder, in case you missed last week's newsletter: We're putting on a show! Save the date for PIX 2015 Join us in Seattle and online for PIX 2015, a live-streamed expo, conference and interactive photo playground! On October 6th and 7th we'll be hosting two days of talks, hands-on photo activities, demos and inspiration for your photography at the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle. The event is open to the public and will also be streamed live online. Our featured speakers include: wedding and portrait photographer Bambi Cantrell, Robert Hurt of NASA, Lynette Johnson of Soulumination, Joe McNally, Jared Polin of FroKnowsPhoto, celebrity portrait photographer Brian Smith and you won’t want to miss our keynote speaker Cristina Mittermeier. Christina is a celebrated writer and photographer who among a career's worth of achievements, founded the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP). RSVP on Facebook to let us know you're coming and stay tuned to PIX2015.com to learn more about our speakers, sign up for email updates and register for tickets to the show. See you at PIX! Click here to learn more about PIX 2015 Bang for the Buck: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II Review The Olympus OM-D E-M10 II is the next evolution of an already impressive camera. The E-M10 II introduces 5-axis stabilization to the entry-level OM-D line, while it maintains the 16.1MP Live Mos sensor and TruePic VII engine of its predecessor. A number of ergonomic and feature upgrades make the E-M10 II an enticing little ILC at a nice price. Does it deliver? Read our full review of the Olympus OM-D E-M10 II Sony Alpha 7R II: Real-world ISO invariance study The recently announced Sony Alpha 7R II packs a lot of groundbreaking features, and one of its highlights is the new full-frame 42.4MP BSI-CMOS sensor. Sony sensors tend to show very high Raw dynamic range due to low noise characteristics, but we wanted to take a closer look at exactly how little noise the camera itself contributes to images. Check out our real-world study of ISO invariance with the Sony a7R II Crazy 8: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 sample gallery The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 is the follow-up to the company's successful GX7 rangefinder-style mirrorless camera. The GX8 boasts a new 20MP Four Thirds sensor and 'Dual IS', which combines sensor and lens shift image stabilization for better results. The camera's ISO range tops out at 25,600 and it offers a max burst rate of 10 fps with single AF and 6 fps with continuous AF. We've been shooting with one for a little while - check out our gallery of samples! Take a look at our gallery of samples from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 Readers' Showcase: Zhi Yuen Yap Zhi Yuen Yap finds living in New Zealand a blessing and a curse. Getting off the beaten path to find unique locations can mean braving harsh, unpredictable weather and inhospitable terrain. Based on his photos, though, we'd say he's been pretty well rewarded for his troubles. Take a look at his work and find out more about him in our Q&A. Read our Q&A with DPReview reader Zhi Yuen Yap Sony Alpha 7R II can match or beat DSLR low light AF performance When the Sony Alpha 7R II was announced, it promised a lot of game-changing features, but its low light AF capability was an unknown. We've already seen some of the incredible continuous AF abilities of the a7R II, including pinpoint eye AF for even moving subjects, but a lot of pros may be wondering: 'if I ditch my DSLR for some of the advanced AF features the a7R II offers, will I be sacrificing low-light AF performance?' Check out our low-light AF tests with the Sony A7R II What else is coming up? We're hard at work on show planning for PIX, but the reviews aren't taking a back seat. We're also preparing to publish a detailed shooting experience report on the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 II, and we're wrapping up the lengthy process of investigating shutter and mirror vibration issues with Canon's EOS 5DS / R, the Nikon D810 and Sony's a7R II. Once this is done, we're really hoping to get all three reviews published in short order. Thanks for your patience! Barney

News updates Samsung NX1 firmware 1.40 adds digital video IS and AF while zooming Published Monday, August 24, 2015 9:46:31 PM GMT Samsung has released another firmware update for the NX1 mirrorless camera, taking the model from firmware version 1.32 to 1.40. The newest software improves existing features such as the audio quality from external microphones, and adds new features including video digital image stabilization. Read more Apple offers to replace faulty iPhone 6 Plus camera modules Published Monday, August 24, 2015 7:19:55 PM GMT Recently we've heard reports of some Apple iPhone 6 Plus cameras failing and producing blurry images. Apple has acknowledged the problem and is offering to replace the faulty camera unit for free. Read more Sony Alpha 7R II: Real-world ISO invariance study Published Monday, August 24, 2015 3:37:00 PM GMT The recently announced Sony Alpha 7R II packs a lot of groundbreaking features, and one of its highlights is the new full-frame 42.4MP BSI-CMOS sensor. Sony sensors tend to show very high Raw dynamic range due to low noise characteristics, but we wanted to take a closer look at exactly how little noise the camera itself contributes to images. Read on Crazy 8: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 sample gallery Published Monday, August 24, 2015 11:00:00 AM GMT The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 is the follow-up to the company's successful GX7 rangefinder-style mirrorless camera. The GX8 boasts a new 20MP Four Thirds sensor and 'Dual IS', which combines sensor and lens shift image stabilization for better results. The camera's ISO range tops out at 25,600 and it offers a max burst rate of 10 fps with single AF and 6 fps with continuous AF. We've been shooting with one for a little while - check out our gallery of samples! Readers' Showcase: Zhi Yuen Yap Published Sunday, August 23, 2015 7:00:00 AM GMT Zhi Yuen Yap finds living in New Zealand a blessing and a curse. Getting off the beaten path to find unique locations can mean braving harsh, unpredictable weather and inhospitable terrain. Based on his photos, though, we'd say he's been pretty well rewarded for his troubles. Take a look at his work and find out more about him in our Q&A. Read more Parallax View: Apple patent hints at 3D effect in photos Published Friday, August 21, 2015 6:59:00 PM GMT Patent spotting site Patentlyaple has discovered an Apple patent application titled "Parallax Depth Rendering" which describes a methodology for rendering images and video that, when viewed on a standard 2D display, give the impression of showing a 3D view. Click through for more details Nikon delays AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8E ED VR lens until October Published Friday, August 21, 2015 5:46:00 PM GMT In a press release on its Japanese website, Nikon has announced that its new AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm F2.8E ED VR lens - announced earlier this month - is being delayed from its original shipping date of 27th August to October. No specific reason for the delay has been given, only that it is necessary to 'satisfy the customer'. Click through for more information Huawei's Honor 7i comes with 13MP flip-out camera Published Thursday, August 20, 2015 6:36:00 PM GMT Huawei has launched a new smartphone - the Honor 7i. In many ways the Honor 7i is very similar to its sister model the Honor 7. However, one major differentiator between the two models is the camera. On the 7i the Honor 7's conventional 20MP module has been replaced with a 13MP camera unit with dual-LED flash that, thanks to a flip-out mechanism, can be used as both front and rear camera. Click through to read more at connect.dpreview.com Sony Alpha 7R II can match or beat DSLR low light AF performance Published Thursday, August 20, 2015 12:30:00 PM GMT When the Sony Alpha 7R II was announced, it promised a lot of game-changing features, but its low light AF capability was an unknown. We've already seen some of the incredible continuous AF abilities of the a7R II, including pinpoint eye AF for even moving subjects, but a lot of pros may be wondering: 'if I ditch my DSLR for some of the advanced AF features the a7R II offers, will I be sacrificing low-light AF performance?' Find out in our video MIT proposes new approach to HDR with 'Modulo' camera Published Thursday, August 20, 2015 12:00:00 PM GMT Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a theory for a new way to solve the issue of bright skies burning out in a landscape photograph. Using what they call Unbounded High Dynamic Range photography they are working on the idea of pixels that reset themselves once they have reached their capacity for recording light so that they can carry on recording - and resetting if necessary. Click through for more details Loki camera rig transforms into four ultra-portable forms Published Wednesday, August 19, 2015 6:11:59 PM GMT UK company Scratch Ideas is seeking £25,000 in funding on crowdsourcing site Kickstarter for a new camera mount it's calling 'Loki'. Loki can be transformed into a dolly, underslung rig, shoulder rig, and cage, and folds up into a portable rectangular brick about the size of a battery grip for transportation and storage. Click through for more details Leica M9 falls from balcony onto granite, granite comes off worse Published Wednesday, August 19, 2015 6:00:00 PM GMT Leica has a reputation for making pretty rugged cameras, going back more than 100 years. But nobody would expect a rangefinder to survive a fall from a balcony, onto granite tiles. However, if a recent post on Chinese social network Sina Weibo is to be believed, that's exactly what happened to a Leica M9 recently, and somehow it survived the experience. Click through to read more iFixit tears down Sony's new a7R II to find its secrets Published Wednesday, August 19, 2015 3:52:00 PM GMT Earlier this week we took you 'under the hood' of the Sony a7R II, metaphorically. Now, thanks to our friends at iFixit, it's possible to take a literal look inside the a7R II. Ifixit took delivery of a production sample a7R II at around the same time as we did, but while we were out testing its AF system and checking to see how its sensor measures up, the hard-working crew at iFixit were busy taking it to pieces. Click through to see what they found   Gitzo updates Traveler range with stronger legs and new locks Published Wednesday, August 19, 2015 10:00:00 AM GMT Premium tripod manufacturer Gitzo has released updates to its well-known Traveler range of carbon fiber tripods. The company has introduced its Carbon eXact carbon fiber tubing to the range, which it claims makes the legs stronger. Read more Apple Digital Camera Raw update extends compatibility to Sony RX100 IV, Leica Q Published Tuesday, August 18, 2015 7:18:07 PM GMT Apple's latest Digital Camera Raw update for its Mac OS X extends support to a handful of new and notable cameras, including the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 IV, a7R II and Leica Q. Read more Pete Ashton's 'Sitting In Stagram' shows image degradation after 90 reposts Published Tuesday, August 18, 2015 6:49:55 PM GMT What happens when you screen-cap and re-post a photo to Instagram 90 times? Artist Pete Ashton's 'Sitting In Stagram' project shows just that - and it's not pretty. Read more Modular, open-source Focal Camera lets you design your own SLR Published Tuesday, August 18, 2015 12:00:00 PM GMT Focal Camera is an open source project designed to teach participants about the inner workings of a camera. With access to a laser cutter, a supply of 3mm plywood and the directions provided, you can be well on your way to creating a camera of your own. Read more

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