Digital Photography Review Newsletter: Tuesday, 30 July 2013

	Digital Photography Review Newsletter Tuesday, 30 July 2013 The most popular weekly photography newsletter, with over 300,000 subscribers
Hello! And welcome to the 468th Digital Photography Review newsletter. What do camera reviews and London buses have in common? Well, you sit around waiting for one and then three come along all at once! We've published three camera reviews since the last newsletter - the final in our series covering this year's crop of waterproof compacts, the very tiny and lovely Canon EOS Rebel SL1, and the Fujifilm X100S! The latter of which has been something of a labor of love for me, with sections written here and there whenever I had a free couple of hours, for many many weeks. If you've been anxiously awaiting the final review, believe me - I have shared your frustration. You'll find links to all three reviews below, along with highlights from other other recently-published content. So what did you miss? Fujifilm X100S review It's been a long time coming (see below for an indication of how sorry I am about that) but we've just posted our full review of the Fujifilm X100S - Fujifilm's flagship fixed-lens compact. The 16MP X100S offers a fixed 35mm equivalent F2 lens, and builds on the appeal of the popular but quirky X100 by adding improved automatic and manual focus, an overhauled interface and a 16MP X-Trans sensor. Do the on-paper refinements add up to better real-world performance? Read our full review to find out. Click here to read our review of the Fujifilm X100S Canon EOS 100D / Rebel SL1 review Canon's smallest SLR to date was built to take on mirrorless cameras while maintaining the optical viewfinder and compatibility with the company's existing suite of lenses. We put it through its paces both in the studio and in a busy family environment to see how well it held up in the type of settings its most likely to encounter. Click here for our review of the Canon EOS 100D / Rebel SL1 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 review On Friday, we posted the sixth and final review in our round-up of compact rugged cameras. This review is of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30, which offers a much thinner body than its peers. It also has a large 3.3-inch touchscreen OLED display, a host of fun features, and a 1080/60i movie mode. Next week we'll be publishing an article comparing all of the cameras. For now, click the link below to find out what we thought about the DSC-TX30. Click here to read our review of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 Blending modes: Tools for post-processing In this article, Seattle-based photographer Thomas Park shows how you can use Photoshop's layer 'blending modes' to remove stains and blemishes from scanned images, sharpen up your photographs and even warm up cold hands! (sort of). Click the links below to read the full article, 'Blending modes: Tools for post-processing'. Click here to read the full article 'Blending modes: Tools for post-processing' Lomography seeks crowd funding for new production of Petzval lenses The people at Lomography have built a business around promoting and selling lo-fi cameras and accessories. What's (really) old is new again in their latest Kickstarter campaign, an effort to bring the centuries-old Petzval lens back into production. The 'New Petzval' lenses look and function much like the originals with a brass exterior, and would be produced in both Canon EF- and Nikon F- mounts. Click here to read more about Lomography's plan to reinvent Petzval lenses What's coming up? We're not letting our foot off the gas, don't you worry about that. As well as the Pentax Q7 review that I've teased in the last couple of newsletters we're also working through a full review of the Olympus PEN E-P5 and Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM. As we move into late summer, watch out too for new camera releases - 'tis the season, so keep an eye on our homepage for announcements. As always, remember that you can leave feedback, share images and ask questions in our forums, and if there's something you really want to write about, you can also submit your own articles for consideration. We'd love to hear from you. As always, thanks for reading! Barney WTD #1421 Check out What The Duck in our Link Directory GearShop update - a message from Laura After launching GearShop recently we've decided to continue our grand opening promotion a little longer! So if you're a US customer thinking about picking up a new camera, make sure you check out all of the available rebates so you don't miss any discounts or freebies on your way to checkout. Most of the cameras we offer are eligible - check out our deal sections for system cameras and compacts to see if the one you've been considering qualifies for a free tripod or BlackRapid strap. Since my last message, we've received our first shipments of the new Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II. That camera, and anything else that we currently have in stock, can be at your doorstep before you know it with free two-day shipping. Plenty of DPR award winners are in stock (and on sale!) right now. Panasonic's GH3 is currently $200 off, discounted for the first time since it was released. Another one of our favorites, Tamron's 24-70mm f/2.8 VC is available in Canon, Nikon and Sony mounts, with $100 mail-in rebate. Thanks to everyone who's been checking out the site! As always, you can reach me on the GearShop forums. Laura and the GearShop Team
News updates Fujifilm adds XC50-230mm F4.5-6.7 OIS to X-mount lens roadmap Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 5:00:00 AM GMT Fujifilm has updated its X-mount lens roadmap to include a 50-230mm F4.5-6.7 OIS lens as part of its more affordable 'XC' series. The 75-350mm equivalent tele-zoom joins the 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 XC and the ten existing or announced high-end XF series lenses in Fujifilm's lineup. The company also highlights the three Touit lenses available or planned by Zeiss for the X-mount system. The Fujinon XC50-230mm F4.5-6.7 OIS appears in the fourth quarter of 2013 on the roadmap. Read full story → Royal photographer shares tips on photographing babies, #royalbaby etc... Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 6:10:36 PM GMT As Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge celebrate the birth of a baby son (OMG! #shinynewprince), official Royal photographer for The Sun (that's the British tabloid newspaper) has shared some tips for photographing babies. Arthur Edwards knows what he's talking about, having photographed the proud father, William, when he was an infant. Click through for some of Edwards' top tips for photographing babies - assuming of course that you're not utterly bored of the whole thing by now.  Read full story → Cassini spacecraft takes spectacular pictures of Saturn (oh, and Earth) Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 8:36:20 PM GMT Last Friday, while orbiting Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft turned its camera lens on earth from almost a billion miles away. NASA has released the images, which show not only Saturn and its rings, but also the Earth in the (very far) distance. The original 'raw' images taken by the spacecraft are grayscale, but astronomy enthusiast Valerie Klavans has converted some of them and added color. The results look pretty spectacular. Check them out after the link. Read full story → Eric Kim: What to consider when buying a camera for street photography Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2013 9:58:18 PM GMT Eric Kim is one of the most prolific street photographers around, but he's also a keen blogger. In this article, originally posted on his site back in spring, he offers some advice on how to buy a new camera for street photography. Rather than a simple buyers' guide, though, Kim delves into the psychology of purchase decisions, citing research by psychologist Barry Schwartz which divides us into two categories - 'maximizers' and 'satisficers'. Click through for a link to the full article.  Read full story → First impressions and photos from Nokia's 41MP Lumia 1020 Published on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 4:02:16 AM GMT Nokia's Lumia 1020 is the company's second attempt at a 41-megapixel camera phone, and it's been generating a lot of hype. As the follow-up to last year's 808 PureView phone, Nokia's latest has much to prove. The 808 remains one of the best smartphones we've ever looked at in terms of its photographic capabilities, so we've been keen to get our hands on the 1020 which melds Nokia's innovative 'oversampling' technology with a more modern Windows operating system. We offer our first look at the Lumia 1020 on connect.dpreview.com. Read full story → Canon introduces two all-in-one Pixma printers Published on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 9:07:56 AM GMT Canon has introduced two Pixma printers, the  MG2420 All-in-One and MG3520 Wireless Photo. The Pixma MG3520 supports printing via WiFi networks as well as Apple's AirPrint feature, allowing direct printing from many iOS devices. It also offers auto duplexing and Canon's FastFront ink and paper loading. Both models provide Full HD Movie Print with compatible Canon cameras and ship with My Image Garden photo organization and sharing software. Click through for the full press release and pricing. Read full story → Unified Color Technologies introduces HDR Expose 3 and 32 Float v3 Published on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 1:00:00 PM GMT Unified Color Technologies has announced HDR Expose 3 and 32 Float 3 - the latest versions of its HDR software. HDR Expose is the company's stand-alone software, which works in the company's 'Beyond RGB' 32-bit color space and attempts to manipulate chroma and luminance data separately, while 32 Float is a Photoshop plugin built on the same principles. The latest versions gain improved tone mapping tools that attempt to retain local contrast while increasing the overall range of tones included in the final image, along with upgraded alignment and de-ghosting. Read full story → Extra images added to Sony Cyber-shot RX1R Samples Gallery Published on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 5:27:50 PM GMT We've just added several more photographs to our gallery of real-world samples from the new Sony Cyber-shot RX1R. The RX1R shares the same feature set as its forebear the RX1, but its 24MP full-frame CMOS sensor lacks an AA filter for additional sharpness. We've been impressed by the RX1R's image quality as we work through our usual studio and real-world testing, and we've added more samples (both JPEG and converted Raw) to our gallery for you to take a look at. Click through for a link.  Read full story → Manfrotto creates Arca-Swiss compatible 'Top Lock' quick release Published on Thursday, July 25, 2013 4:02:47 PM GMT Manfrotto UK has announced a 'Top Lock' quick release system for its tripod heads that's compatible with standard Arca Swiss-type plates. It uses a clamp design that allows the camera to dropped in from above rather than slid in from the side, and three bubble levels to help keep the camera straight. The Top Lock release is available as an add-on adapter, or pre-installed on the company's top-end 054, 055, 056 and 468MG ball heads. Read full story → Lomography seeks crowd funding for new production of Petzval lenses Published on Thursday, July 25, 2013 7:16:41 PM GMT The people at Lomography have built a business around promoting and selling lo-fi cameras and accessories. What's (really) old is new again in their latest Kickstarter campaign, an effort to bring the centuries-old Petzval lens back into production. The 'New Petzval' lenses look and function much like the originals with a brass exterior, and would be produced in both Canon EF- and Nikon F- mounts. Click through and read more about the project. Read full story → What the new Nexus 7 tablet means for photographers Published on Thursday, July 25, 2013 10:16:33 PM GMT Google debuted the second iteration of its popular Nexus 7 tablet yesterday at a San Francisco press conference, inciting excitement amongst fans of the Android device and plenty of comparisons to Apple's iPad mini. Of course we're most interested in how this second-gen device might fit into a photographer's workflow. Click through for our opinion on connect.dpreview.com. Read full story → Just posted: Canon EOS 100D / Rebel SL1 Review Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 3:00:54 AM GMT We just posted our Canon EOS 100D / Rebel SL1 review. Canon's smallest SLR to date was built to take on mirrorless cameras while maintaining the optical viewfinder and compatibility with the company's existing suite of EF and EF-S lenses. We put it through its paces in a busy family environment to see how well it held up in the type of setting it's most likely to encounter. Click through for our review. Read full story → Fujifilm posts revised X-Pro1 firmware 3.01 with movie mode fix Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 10:26:34 AM GMT Fujifilm has posted firmware version 3.01 for the X-Pro1, which resolves a bug in the recently-released v3.00 that caused movies to be recorded incorrectly under some circumstances. It's otherwise the same, meaning that it promises faster AF speed, and adds a 'peaking' display mode to aid manual focus, compared to prevous versions. Click through for the download link.      Read full story → ACDSee 16 and Pro 6 gain Raw support for 14 additional cameras Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 12:00:00 PM GMT ACD Systems has extended the Raw support offered by its ACDSee Pro 6 and ACDSee 16 software packages. Version 6.3 of the Pro version and and ACDSee v16.1 gain support for an additional 14 cameras including the Canon EOS 100D and 700D, Nikon D7100 and Coolpix A, Sony NEX-3N and SLT-A58, Olympus XZ-10, and the Panasonic DMC-G6. This update also includes performance improvements. Click through for more information. Read full story → Blending modes: Tools for post-processing Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 6:08:14 PM GMT In this article, Seattle-based photographer Thomas Park shows how you can use Photoshop's layer 'blending modes' to remove stains and blemishes from scanned images, sharpen up your photographs and even warm up cold hands! (sort of). Click through for a link to the full article, 'Blending modes: Tools for post-processing'. Read full story → Just posted: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30 Review Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 6:29:22 PM GMT We've just posted the sixth and final review in our round-up of compact rugged cameras. This review is of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX30, which offers a much thinner body than its peers. It also has a large 3.3-inch touchscreen OLED display, a host of fun features, and a 1080/60i movie mode. Next week we'll publish an article comparing all of the cameras, but while you're waiting, check out the TX30 review after the link. Read full story → Photojournalist Ben Lowy shows off updated EyeEm app Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 9:41:12 PM GMT Photojournalist Ben Lowy famously brought mobile photography to mass media when his Hipstamatic images from Kabul, Afghanistan were published by the New York Times Magazine in 2011. He's also well known for an image of Hurricane Sandy taken with his iPhone which made the cover of TIME Magazine last year. Today on Connect we look at some of his most recent work using EyeEm's new Clara filter to document life in Sarajevo.   Read full story → What The Duck #1421 Published on Friday, July 26, 2013 11:02:03 PM GMT We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. Click through for one from Aaron's archive. Appropriate this week, we think... Read full story → Then and now: Photographing the Bay Bridge Published on Saturday, July 27, 2013 11:28:47 PM GMT Peter Stackpole was just 21 when he brought his Leica A to the top of the still-under-construction San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It was 1934, and Stackpole had no official authorization to capture images that would eventually land in Vanity Fair. Decades later, photographer Joseph Blum captured yet another bridge project in the bay area. Despite considerably tighter safety restrictions, he made soaring images of the modern construction site. Click through to see samples, then and now. Read full story → New cheat sheet tells you how to keep photos sharp when sharing Published on Monday, July 29, 2013 7:11:20 PM GMT The cautious photographer is always conscious of what's happening to their images when they're being shared online - whether they're being resized, re-compressed or otherwise modified from the original. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter all treat images differently, but a new cheat sheet can help you keep your pictures sharp by detailing the pixel dimensions of just about every component on the major social networking sites. Click through for more details on connect.dpreview.com Read full story → Macro photographs reveal the tiny, brutal world of ant warfare Published on Monday, July 29, 2013 9:25:57 PM GMT Think ants are only interested in crashing your summer picnic? When they're not after our stray watermelon slices, it seems they're busy in engaging in ant-to-ant combat. Alex Wild's macro photography reveals the warring nature (and surprisingly frightening jaws) of these seemingly unassuming insects. His photos reveal fights over territory, conflicts between colonies and brutal take-downs that rival UFC brawls - all going on otherwise unnoticed at our feet. Read full story → Just Posted: Fujifilm X100S Review Published on Monday, July 29, 2013 9:53:34 PM GMT We've just posted our long-awaited review of the Fujifilm X100S - Fujifilm's flagship fixed-lens compact. The 16MP X100S offers a fixed 35mm equivalent F2 lens, and builds on the appeal of the popular but quirky X100 by adding improved automatic and manual focus, an overhauled interface and a 16MP X-Trans sensor. Do the on-paper refinements add up to better real-world performance? Click through for a link to the full review, and a note from the editor. Read full story →
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