#1119. WLP: Anamorphic glass, more cool drones, ecotank printers, Oly, Pana, MoMa & much more

Greetings from sunny (humour) Britain. I write this from my son’s living room, looking at the trees rocking in the wind, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the bay-windows. As the date moves closer to summer, our souls hanker for more sun, but I have to say it is beautiful to watch from inside a warm house with biscuits and tea as extra comfort. I’d show you, but my roaming capabilities are seriously limited by obligatory, and strictly enforced by home office personnel, quarantine.

 

So, let me illustrate the post with a shot from Green Provence and let’s jump right in 🙂 Oh, and WLP stands for Week Links of Photography. Enjoy!

Gear

SIRUI 75mm Indiegogo VIP Group. Sirui are launching a new anamorphic lens. A 75mm. Yes, such lenses are generally used for filmmaking, but I’m curious to see photographers use them in their stills. If you’re interested, Sirui is a great place to start, as their lenses are cheap and cheerful, in the best possible way. They are not free of aberrations, what can we expect at a price that’s 95% cheaper than a pro-cine lens, but certainly up to the job for photography. If you’re interested in the look and format, here’s a video from their 35mm launch.

Has Nikon got a cinema camera range in development? They’d be crazy not to, that’s where the money is today. This post asks: “What does Nikon have that stands out?” after enumerating the bragging rights of other brands. And, if the Z-mounts is key to a new range of cameras and specialised lenses, what can these bring to the table to that others don’t? Speaking of Z-mount, Viltrox will announce 6 new autofocus lenses for Nikon Z-mount.

And, speaking of video, SAR has a SOLID RUMOR: I saw the new APS-C E-mount camera: it is NOT named A6xxx and uses the 24MP sensor … The solid rumor camera looks real nice, in metal finish, and should be destined to vloggers.

Zeiss Lens Families Are Named After Birds. Most of us know that, but do we know the bird varieties themselves? After reading this, would you rather be a sparrow that a hawk?

Take the best affordable drone and make it better. Trust Phillip Bloom 🙂

At the other end of the price range, Sony seem to be making magic:

That is seriously yummy footage, though I can only imagine the noise and disruption cause by monstertruck drones such as this. For a film-crew, this does seem very attractive, though.

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IIIs – A Real Life Shooting Experience. Robin Wong was one of my favourite reviewers when I was in the market for m43 photo cameras. He actually makes photographs with the gear under review, he bases his reviews on facs, not specs, and he specialises in lovely Olympus gear. What’s not to like? Here is Robin again reviewing the OM-D E-M10.

Epson’s NEW EcoTank Printers – Things Are About to Change. I don’t print much. Most of my prints are just small and made to validate the proper settings to get a print made by a pro lab in a more interesting process than inkjet. Even this drains the -super expensive – ink cartridges in no time. And large tank printers can be quite pricey too. Not anymore.

Rear filtering for RF lenses, anyone? Kolari has you covered.

What could possibly go wrong?

Finally, Panasonic is about to announce new cameras (May 25th). You can view the launch here:

Based on rumoured specs, the cameras have been preemptively dissed by the usual spec-brigade suspects. This could indicate the cameras will actually be excellent 😉

 

Technique

Ever use the calibration tool? This video will encourage you to.

Portrait or Landscape Format: Which to Choose? Good article on composition. Too many educative posts on composition miss step #1, the foundation of everything that follows: the frame. This not only corrects that but ends in good, practical advice. A good read.

Misc

We want you! Or, at least, the MoMa wants your photographs: Join the MoMA Photo Club. You can send your best work about nature’s abstractions and get your work displayed in numerous high-profile locations. Only niggle : you no longer really own the work. If exposure matters to your work, it can still be worth the slightly predatory experience.

And let’s end with this spectacular video of sprites, along with scientific explanations of the fascinating phenomenon:

Please leave feedback and please share with anyone who might be interested! Thanks in advance.

(ps When I get back home next week, the Church “Share Your World” challenge will be published. I you feel like participating and haven’t yet sent in your images, now’s the time 🙂 )