We’ve been keeping an eye on rare Leica cameras on our vintage finds features, but the upcoming 34th auction of the Leitz Photographica Auction (formerly WestLicht Photographica Auction) is most likely your best bet for scoring some of the rarest. Chances are, you’re still missing one or two (or even all) of the items in the collection, so mark your calendars and make plans for Wetzlar, Germany on June 8th if you’re keen on checking them out.
Getting photos printed, framed, and put on display can sometimes be a tedious task, so it’s not surprising that many opt to skip it altogether for their homes and even work spaces. But looks like that’s going to change with the Wundershine Reframe System, a smart and elegant picture frame that allows you to swap photos on display with ease.
Since November 2017, there has been anxious hype around Instant Dreams–a documentary that is supposed to give the Instant film initiative a major pat on the back. The film, done by Willem Baptist, offers hypnotizing visuals while following the stories of a few key individuals who adore Polaroid and the culture. Those visuals end up being some very gorgeous scenes mixed in with perplexing shots and motion graphics that cause someone to look away or be hypnotized without intense concentration. At the same time, Instant Dreams does very little to truly tell the stories of these folks and does even less to humanize them through the lens of objectivity. But overall, it ignores a few elephants in the room.
Taking a page out of Fujifilm’s books, Sony released a major firmware update for their flagship A9 last week that brings the camera’s firmware to version 5.0. This new firmware update leverages the company’s latest developments into Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and object recognition and adds Real-Time Tracking (first seen in the Sony A6400) along with automatic Eye Autofocus to improve upon the already unparalleled performance of the Sony A9. Even before this update was introduced, the Sony A9 was already one of the most capable cameras on the market, but Firmware 5.0 takes everything great about the camera and makes the process of photography even more seamless and second nature. Aim at your subject, release the shutter, and the A9 takes care of the rest. Some may argue that this is “cheating,” but if you’re a professional sports or wildlife photographer, the Sony A9 is simply the most powerful camera you can have in your arsenal at the moment.
So, you’ve decided to shoot some portraits in the studio, complete with advanced lighting setup. Apart from working out the lighting techniques to use, you will also most likely have to choose a light modifier to get the ideal lighting output for your shots. If you’re not quite familiar yet with these tools, this video tutorial by Adorama and Mark Wallace should give you an idea.
Weather sealing is far more important than you’d think when comes to your camera’s operability. It’s one of the biggest variables that we test with cameras that boast this. With our 10 years of testing cameras and lenses, we asked each manufacturer to show us some of their best. With that said, we asked for weather sealing diagrams on some of their best cameras–and they provided, for the most part. We incorporated this with our real world testing to see just how each system is stacking up to one another.
In the not too distant past, cameras that were priced under $1,000 were often laughed at by photographers the world over. Cheap usually meant poor build quality, less than stellar image quality, and bare bones features, but my times have changed. These days, APS-C cameras that are under $1,000 aren’t just there to make up the numbers, and they aren’t just for moms and dads who want a cheap camera to capture images of their kids. Today’s APS-C cameras at this price point are absolute power houses that are rewriting the books on cheap cameras.
Still on the hunt for the perfect camera backpack for your adventures and outdoor photography? The MindShift PhotoCross 15 backpack, Think Tank Photo’s latest offering, promises to keep your precious gear protected from all the brutal trips you’ll take in search of the perfect shot. Boasting of rugged materials and a faceted design, this backpack is poised to both withstand the harsh elements and provide photographers with a comfortable carry on long days out in the field.
One of the great things about Mirrorless cameras has been the extra support they get in the form of firmware updates. While DSLR’s used to get them, they were very infrequent. However, with the Mirrorless market being so competitive, and with each company always trying to one up each other, firmware updates have become a very normal part of Mirrorless ownership. A new firmware update for the Canon EOS R has been baked by the software guru’s at Canon HQ and it will be ready to push to the masses on April 18th with some goodies in tow.
Everywhere you go these days it seems that Full Frame is the buzz word in the photography world. The gap between APS-C cameras and Full Frame cameras has closed significantly, but there is perhaps still an ounce of difference between the two platforms with Full Frame only just squeezing out a win. With Fujifilm and Sony dominating the APS-C markets, Canon and others may well have to move in a different direction. A recent interview with a Canon exec shed light on a rather interesting topic, and it turns out that there may be a cheaper Full Frame camera coming from Canon in the near future (yes cheaper than the EOS RP). Could this mean a Full Frame Canon Rebel is in the works instead of an APS-C offering? Lets talk about it.