Here Is Another Proof Of How Significantly Latest Canon EOS R Firmware Improves Eye-AF

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If you’re a Canon EOS R shooter most likely you already know about the significant improvements of the latest Canon EOS R firmware. If not, read on.

Chris and Jordan from DPReview test the latest Canon EOS R firmware (v1.4, click here to download) to see how much it improves autofocus. See for yourself.

If you want to learn more about Canon EOS R firmware v1.4 have a look at this comparison with Sony or at this article.

Canon EOS R: [shopcountry 52287]

Click here to open the rest of the article

Venus Optics Adds RF Mount Versions To Three Popular Laowa Lenses

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Venus Optics announced they will soon release Canon RF mount and Nikon Z mount versions of three of their popular Laowa lenses.

The Laowa 12mm F2.8 Zero-D, Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro and Laowa 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro are the three lenses that will be released for Canon and Nikon’s full frame mirrorless systems.

Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D

World’s Widest f/2.8 Lens with close-to-zero distortion.

Featuring the widest angle of view (122°) ever offered from a f/2.8 lens, this is an ideal lens for a wide variety of shooting situations. From landscape, architecture, interior, travel to the most important, astro photography.  The lens is the lightest and most compact lens in its class. Ideal for everyday shooting. It also features close-to-zero optical distortion, allowing photographers to take landscape/architecture shots with straight lines retained. Our exclusive water and dust repelling “Frog Eye Coating” is added to the front element of the lens. For maximum creativity, you can use CPL or ND filters by adding an optional Laowa 100mm filter holder system.

Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro

The most compact and versatile high magnification macro lens.

This lens is optimized for macro shooting between 2.5X – 5X life-size. The lens is specially designed with an extended working distance (45mm at 2x & 40mm at 2.5x) and small lens barrel. This allows sufficient lighting on the object for easier shooting in the field. The lens is much more compact and lighter than other macro lenses. This lens also provides a greater depth of field compared to other extreme macro lenses in the market. The Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X is developed for both professional and leisure macro photography, to be used in the field or indoor set-ups. An optional LED Ringlight and Tripod Collar are available for added control and precision operation.

Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO

Followed by the success of the Laowa 60mm f/2.8 2:1 Macro, the 100mm f/2.8 2:1 Macro is the 2nd member of Laowa 2:1 macro line-up. It features an apochromatic (APO) characteristic that chromatic aberration at both ‘in-focus’ & ‘out-of-focus’ is both invisible. This new 100mm lens can cover full frame sensor size and focus from 2:1 magnification to infinity. The lens has a similar physical size to other 100mm Macro lenses in the market but its wider magnification range allows macro photographers to capture subjects at any sizes. This 100mm f/2.8 lens can also focus to infinity and serve as a portrait lens with exceptional optics quality.

Canon RF mount version is equipped with a CPU chip and motor for aperture control via the camera. The lens is not currently compatible with electronic adapters. For people using on Sony FE mount cameras, please select the Sony FE option instead.

Have Canon And Nikon Lost The Full Frame War? Latest Japan Market Figures Suggest So

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BCN rankings for the market figures 2019 in Japan are out. If there was a full frame war, there is only one winner.

If you look at the image on top you can clearly see that only one manufacturer managed to increase unit and value sales for compact cameras, APS-C cameras, and full frame cameras. Oh, it’s Sony.

Canon and Nikon sale figures are rather bad with the exception of the Canon’s full frame unit sales (up 6%, but value sales down 7%). Sony is now the leader in full frame camera sales (in Japan, but we can assume it reflects the global trend). No more full frame war.

full frame war

If you wonder how big the share of full frame cameras is compared to other systems, have a look at the image below. You’ll see it’s much less than you might have thought (these are figures for the Japanese market).

full frame war
[via Mirrorless Rumors]

Here Is DPReview’s Favorite Gear Of The Year

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DPReview published their favorite gear ranking for 2019. Canon has it place in the ranking, especially with the new RF lenses.

They say:

If 2018 was the year that full-frame mirrorless went mainstream, 2019 was the year when all of the major manufacturers really doubled-down on their mirrorless strategies. Canon pumped out a series of very high quality RF lenses, alongside the world’s cheapest full-frame mirrorless camera. Nikon went all-in on its range of affordable F1.8 primes, and Sony pulled out all the stops – yet again – in the a7R IV.

Meanwhile, Olympus threw all of its technological know-how into the sports-oriented OM-D E-M1 X, Fujifilm reinvented medium-format with the GFX 100 and Ricoh’s GR III and Leica’s Q2 offered a welcome refresh for fans of fixed-focal length compacts.

Read the story at DPReview.

Here is some of the gear of the year.

In the category “Best Zoom Lenses”:

Category “Best Midrange ILC”:

Category “Best high-end ILC”:

The Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM lens also got DPReview’s innovation award and is classified among the products of the year.

Nikon Is Dying, Say These YouTubers (but there is hope)

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Apocalyptic camera industry conspiracies seem to never end.

Tony & Chelsea Northrup say Nikon is dying, but there might be hope.

Nikon is expecting to lose $92 MILLION in 2020 on its camera business. That’s bad, but it gets worse – Nikon is planning to reduce R&D, so we can expect the rate of their technical advances to decrease. Nikon is also predicting that their market share will decrease, and the total market size is decreasing, so their revenue will inevitably drop.

We believe Nikon can pull through this, but their current plans might not be the right plans. We believe they should cater to existing DSLR customers rather than trying to push everyone to their mirrorless Z system. We believe the Z system is an area for long-term growth, but producing F-mount products will help raise cash to keep the business running in the short term. Finally, we believe Nikon should INVEST and take an even bigger loss for a couple of years, allowing them to grow their market share instead of cutting it.

Nikon’s possible imminent dead and possible ways to avoid it are further discussed in the video below.

Smartphones Might Not Be The Only Reason For The Shrinking Camera Market

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Smartphones are usually seen and named as the culprit for the shrinking camera market. But there might be more.

Robin Wong discusses the shrinking camera market from a broader perspective, and identifies four reasons for it.

He says:

We can easily point the blame solely to the existence of smartphones, but that is not the only reason. I admit smartphone camera improving drastically over the years with the convenience of only carrying one device to do it all, there seems to be less reason to pick up a dedicated camera. I acknowledge that smartphones played a huge contributing factor to the shrinkage of the camera market overall, but in this I want to explore several other valid reasons why less and less people are buying cameras. 

The other reasons he identified are:

  1. Camera has hit sufficiency
  2. Interest in photography is dying
  3. Social media changed the landscape of photography
  4. Photography is stagnant