Canon Firmware Update For EOS R5 And EOS R6 Released (ver. 1.5.2, autofocus improvements)

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Canon firmware updates for both the EOS R5 and EOS R6 have been released.

Canon EOS R5 firmware Version 1.5.2 (download) incorporates the following enhancement:

  1. Optimizes AutoFocus accuracy when Extender RF1.4x or Extender RF2x is attached to the RF800mm F5.6 L IS USM and RF1200mm F8 L IS USM lenses.
  2. Enhances the stability of Eye Detection. 3. Enhances AutoFocus tracking when shooting moving subjects.

Canon EOS R6 firmware Version 1.5.2 (download) incorporates the following enhancement:

  1. Enhances the stability of Eye Detection
  2. Enhances AutoFocus tracking when shooting moving subjects.

Get Photo Management Software Excire Foto and Excire Analytics With $39 Off

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Edit: apologies for a mistake: the price is not $39, but is discounted by $39.

Excire Foto has become my favourite photo management software. Automatic photo tagging and keywording, sounds cool, doesn’t it?

Excire Foto is a photo management app powered by artificial intelligence (AI). See what it can do for you:

  • Using advanced image and face-recognition technology, Excire Foto automatically analyses and tags your photos. Looking for photos from a beach holiday or a family celebration? The Excire AI will find them for you in seconds and will uncover all your hidden photo treasures.
  • Intelligent content-based navigation is combined with super fast image display to provide efficiency and fun. Simple, intuitive, powerful: with Excire Foto you will experience a completely new way of interacting with your photos.
  • You search, Excire Foto finds! With just a few clicks you can find the photos you are looking for faster than ever before!
  • Transfer the Excire Foto keywords to photo or XMP files and benefit from the power of the Excire AI across various applications. Excire keywords become available in the spotlight search of your file browser and other applications such as Lightroom.

You have now the chance to get Excire Foto and the new Excire Analytics with a $39/€39 discount. Proceed as follows:

  • click on “buy” for Excire Foto
  • on the next page, put both Excire Foto and Excire Analytics in the cart
  • at checkout use code AnalyticsDeal – the price gets $39/€39 discount
  • Enjoy a rather cool and well made photo management software with no subscription obbligation

Jim Nix tells what Excire Analytics is about.

Canon Technical Advisor Rudy Winston Explains Canon Auto Focus

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Here is a neat video. Host Rudy Winston, Canon technical advisor of renowned fame, explains how Auto Focus woorks on Canon cameras.

Join Rudy Winston, a Technical Advisor in the Product Planning Dept. for Canon USA, and me as we take a deep dive into the amazing auto-focus systems available in the current line of Canon cameras, on this Behind the Shot.

This is a rather exhaustive and long video, coming from Behind The Shot (you can follow Steve Brazill on Twitter). So here is the table of contents:

  • 0:00:00 – Intro
  • 0:01:26 – Interview with Rudy Winston
  • 0:12:56 – General AF Questions
  • 0:18:40 – Canon R5 AF Menu Page 1
  • 0:41:27 – Canon R5 AF Menu Page 2
  • 0:45:41 – Canon R5 AF Menu Page 3
  • 0:57:36 – Canon R5 AF Menu Page 4
  • 1:11:07 – Canon R5 AF Menu Page 5
  • 1:35:58 – My Dual- Back-Button AF Setup
  • 1:39:19 – Speed Round Q & A
  • 1:41:44 – Rudy’s Photographer Pick
  • 1:44:50 – Outro (no typo, they called it that way)

Enjoy the video.

Industry News: Ricoh Announces The Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition Special Limited Kit

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Ricoh announced a new camera, with a clear “life-style” attitude: the Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition Kit.

At a glance:

  • 24.2MP APS-C CMOS Sensor
  • GR Engine 628mm f/2.8 Lens (35mm Equivalent)
  • 3-Axis Shake Reduction System
  • 3.0″ 1.037m-Dot Touchscreen LCD
  • Full HD 1080/60p Video Recording
  • Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi
  • Hybrid AF System, Snap Focus Feature

Limited quantities will be available starting April 2022 for $1099. This is basically an overpriced GR IIIx for hipsters.

Ricoh press release:

RICOH Announces Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition Special Limited Kit

Limited-edition package includes metallic gray-finished camera with blue-accented lens barrel and exclusive accessories; model debuts new GR IIIx exposure and focus modes

PARSIPPANY, NJ, March 9, 2022 — Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation today announced the RICOH GR IIIx Urban Edition Special Limited Kit. This package features the RICOH GR IIIx high- end digital compact camera, with a metallic gray finish and navy-blue ring around the lens barrel. It also includes exclusive, specially designed accessories: a leather hand strap and a metallic hot shoe cover. The kit will be available in limited quantities starting in April 2022 for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $1,099.95.

A second special package–the RICOH GR IIIx Urban Edition body only version (camera body only, without the genuine-leather hand strap and the metallic hot shoe cover)—is scheduled to be available in the summer of 2022.

| Main Features of the RICOH GR III Street Edition Special Limited Kit |

The RICOH GR IIIx Urban Edition camera body is accented by a navy-blue ring around the lens barrel. This color was selected to represent typical street shooter imagery such as deep blue skies reflected in a puddle following a rainfall or the bright neon signs of a never-sleeping city. The camera body is finished in metallic gray, reminiscent of the gritty tones of the urban landscape. This unique exterior finish requires a multi-coat process, which results in the camera’s distinctive appearance and smooth texture. The coating also helps to make it easier for a photographer to get a firm grip on the camera.

The navy-blue stripe on the leather hand strap matches the color of the lens barrel ring, complementing the overall design of the camera. The package also includes a specially designed black metallic hot shoe cover.

This camera also debuts several new functions that will also be available for standard GR IIIx models with firmware updates that will be released along with the availability of this Limited Edition Kit. These are:

  • Snap Distance Priority mode, a new exposure setting: Once the preferred distance for snapshots and the desired depth of field (DOF) are set in advance, the camera lets the user quickly and easily recall these settings. This setting is programmed to select the aperture, providing the depth of field used in pan-focus photography, making it particularly handy for quick snapshot photography.
  • Auto Area AF (Center) focus mode: Instead of covering the entire image field, this mode operates only in nine focus zones around the center of the image field, preventing the camera from focusing on unintended elements, such as a grassy field in the foreground of an image.
  • Enable AF mode shutter-release capability: When the shutter-release button is pressed halfway down, the user can lock the AF system only, without locking the AE system.
  • Snapshot mode: A distance setting of 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) has been added to the Snapshot mode; and a long press on the monitor during playback allows the user to instantly recall the playback function selection menu.

When the camera’s power is turned off, the camera displays an original shut-down screen featuring the product logo and a street-view image symbolizing the package’s urban-oriented concept.

Note: The camera’s other specifications are identical with those of the standard GR IIIx model.

Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine Announced By Venus Optics

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Venus Optics released a new lens, the Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine.

Specifications:

Focal length7.5mm
FormatSuper 35mm Cine
MountsSony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, Fuji X
Angle of view123°
T-StopT2.9-22
Optics16 elements in 10 groups
Aperture blades7
Min focus distance25cm
Filter diameter77mm
Dimensions80 x 80.7mm
Weight610g

The Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine is available at B&H Photo | Venus Optics Store

Venus Optics press release:

Anhui China, 7March 2022–Venus Optics, the camera lens manufacturer specialized in making unique lenses for photographers and cinematographers, has officially released Laowa 7.5mm T2.9 Zero-D S35 Cine. The lens is the widest rectilinear lens in the S35 line-up,producingan excellent “Zero-Distortion” image even with the 123° perspective.Filters can also be directly attached to the lens, making it highly user-friendly. The cine lens is now available for order and is priced at USD 699.

Presenting the widest angle of view (123°) ever offered in the Super35 line-up. It provides users with a super broad unique-to-your-eye perspective. A T2.9 large aperture is also beneficial for filmmakers to shoot under low light situations and control thedepth of field. It would be suitable for shooting in a limited space or using it for epic establishing shots.

Zero-Distortion

The lens additionally delivers outstanding image quality with close to “Zero-Distortion.” This enables cinematographers to shoot with straight lines retained. The “Zero-D” design is advantageous when shooting architectural, aerial, and indoor footage.

The shortest focusing distance of this lens is 25 cm/ 9.84”, allowing cinematographers to be close to the subject and still focus. Creating a strong visual impact with an extreme close up and at the same time favorable in creating shallower depth-of-field that helps build a nice background bokeh effect.

Excellent Image Quality

The newly devised optical structure contains 16 elements in 10 groups, with two Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glasses and two aspherical glasses. This helps improve imagesharpness and controls chromatic aberration at bothin-focus and out-of-focus areasto the minimum, hence delivering impressive image quality.

The non-dome-shaped front element

The non-dome-shaped front element allows attaching a 77mm screw-in filter directly. This makes filming easier for cinematographers as a heavy matte box is not required. The easy set-up is especially essential and beneficial for cinematography like aerial.

Hassle-free transportation

The lens comes with a weather-sealed box for hassle-free transportation. This can allow users to travel with their lens without worryingabout bad weather conditionsor damage due tocollisions. Additionally, it keepsdust, dirt, and smudges out, allowing thelens to stay in good condition for years.

Light and compact

This 7.5mm cine lens is highly compact and lightweight despite the extreme specifications. It measures 3.17” (80.7mm) long and weighs less than 1.4 lb (610g). The lens can easily fit onto any stabilizations system, including handheld gimbals.

Do Not Use This Nikon Lens If You Have A Pacemaker (it’s the Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor)

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Not an everyday news. If you have a medical device, i.e. a pacemaker, you should not use this lens, Nikon says. The culprit is a technology named Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor (SSVCM).

The Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S, a lens that sells for almost $14,000, might affect a pacemaker and hence put your health in danger. The user manual for the lens (download here) contains the following warning:

Do not use this product if you have a pacemaker or other medical device. The magnet or magnets in this product could cause medical devices to malfunction.

As PetaPixel explains:

The reason for the warning is the newly-unveiled autofocus drive system in the lens that Nikon has named Silky Swift Voice Coil Motor (SSVCM).

SSVCM uses magnets instead of gears to move the lens focus groups forward and backward within the lens body. It’s a new AF system that, compared to Nikon’s older systems, boasts higher initial speed, higher accuracy, and the smoothest and quietest operation of any Nikon autofocus drive system released thus far.

The magnets, however, are so powerful that they could interfere with pacemakers and other medical devices, which could potentially be fatal to the person the device is implanted in or used by. The risk is apparently so great that Nikon is not taking any chances, warning anyone with any medical device to simply not use lenses with this autofocus system (which is currently just the 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S lens)

Curious about the Nikkor Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S? Have a look at the short video below.

More about the lens after the break.

Click here to open the rest of the article