Deal: X-Rite ColorMunki Smile Color Calibration Solution – $69 (reg. $99, today only)

X-rite

X-Rite ColorMunki Smile Color Calibration Solution at a glance:

  • Intuitive Color Calibration Solution
  • For Use with One or More Displays
  • Includes Color Measurement Device and CD
  • Automatic Reminders for Re-Calibration
  • Windows and Mac Compatible

Only for today (3/26/19) B&H Photo has the X-Rite ColorMunki Smile Color Calibration Solution on sale at $69. Compare at $99. Free shipping.

More selected deals:

More hand-picked deals are listed here.

Authorised Canon retailer B&H Photo has discounted EOS 5D Mark IV and EOS 6D Mark II bundles on offer for the holidays.

We offer 10% discount to subscriptions to Pixpa all-in-one platform for photographers.

Today’s Gold Box and one day only deals at Amazon USAmazon DEAmazon UKB&H Photo, eBayAdorama.

Canon Europe stores have a cash back promotions going on:

Refurbished lenses and DSLRs at Canon Store (best deals to be found here)

Save $10 on Luminar 4 and/or Aurora HDR 2019 using our code “WATCH” at checkout.

Industry News: Sony Launches RX0 II, World’s Smallest and Lightest Premium Ultra-Compact Camera

Rx0 Ii

The Sony RX0 II kit with the VCT-SGR1 Shooting Grip and bracket will ship in Europe in May 2019, priced at approximately €800/£730/$698. Pre-order the Sony RX0 II at B&H Photo and Adorama.

Sony press release:

Sony Launches RX0 II, the World’s Smallest and Lightest Premium Ultra-Compact Camera

  • Superb image quality delivered by 1.0-type stacked 15.3MP image sensor condensed into waterproof rugged, highly compact body
  • Featuring ZEISS® Tessar T* 24mm F4 fixed wide-angle lens
  • Movie shooting with 4K internal recording and new image stabilisation solutions
  • Advanced functionality for stills photography including up to 1/32000 sec. Anti-distortion Shutter and up to 16fps continuous shooting
  • Diverse range of shooting scenes enabled by waterproof 180 degree tiltable LCD panel and Clear Image Zoom 
  • Perfect for selfie with enhanced colour reproduction, new Soft Skin Effect mode and advanced Eye AF
  • Microphone jack and Shooting Grip (VCT-SGR1) delivers minimal and ideal Vlog shooting solution
  • Multi-camera solution that enables creative video expression from various viewpoints

Sony today introduced an exciting new addition to its highly popular compact camera line-up with the launch of the world’s smallest and lightest premium compact camera, the RX0 II(model DSC-RX0M2). Building upon the waterproof/dustproofii,shockproof, crushproof and ultra-compact qualities of the original RX0, thenew model now offers internal 4K recording, an up to 180-degree and down to 90-degree tiltable LCD screen that even works underwater,iiand new image stabilisation solutions for video recording.

At the heart of the RX0 II sits a 1.0-type stacked 15.3-megapixeli Exmor RS™ CMOS image sensor and an advanced BIONZ X™ image processing engine that offer enhanced colour reproduction including beautiful skin tones. This power packed combination have been optimised to deliver lightning fast performance and exquisite image quality for both stills and movie shooting across a wide sensitivity range of ISO 80-12800. The ZEISS® Tessar T* 24mmiii F4.0 fixed wide-angle lens has a shortened minimum focussing distance of 20cm, making it perfect for selfies or table-top photos. 

[expander_maker id=”2″ more=”Click to read the article” less=”Read less”]

A camera for all conditions

The RX0 II is truly a ‘worry-free’ camera that can be taken into places that no other camera can go. Measuring just 59mm x 40.5mm x 35mm[ and weighing just 132g, the RX0 II fitseasily into a pocket and is ready for whatever the elements can throw at it. It is waterproofii up to 10 metres deep, dustproofii, shockproofvii up to 2 metres and crushproofviii up to 200KG force. 

“The development goal of the original RX0 was to build a camera that enabled new forms of creative expression through its form factor and technical capabilities,” said Yann Salmon Legagneur, Director of Product Marketing, Digital Imaging at Sony Europe. “We have built upon this with the new RX0 II and added features and functionality that we believe make this an ideal camera for any type of travel and will perform equally well as a stills or video camera across a huge range of shooting and vlogging scenarios.”

Movies and More 

The RX0 II offers 4K 30p internal movie recordingiv with full pixel readout and no pixel binning to collect approximately 1.7 times the amount of data required for 4K video. This oversampling reduces the appearance of moiré and jaggies and delivers smooth, high quality 4K footage with exceptional detail and depth. Using the recently introduced Sony “Imaging Edge™”mobile applications, this footage can be transferred to a smartphone, edited and shared easily across social networks.

The RX0 II introduces in-body electronic stabilisation[xv] for steady footage, even when shot handheld. This can be enhanced even further when footage is exported to a smartphone or tablet running the ‘Movie Edit add-on’ application where the additional information captured during filming can be processed to produce a video with gimbal-like smoothness. An additional new feature that can be accessed via Sony ‘Movie Edit add-on’ is ‘Intelligent Framing’ where the selected subject is kept in the centre of the frame and image distortion is corrected in a final edit. Depending on where the video will be shared, the required aspect ratio can then be selected. 

Additional movie features of the RX0 II include Super Slow Motion recording at up to 1000 fps, uncompressed 4K HDMI output and simultaneous proxy movie recording. Users can utilise Picture Profile, S-Log2 and Time Code / User Bit functions to ensure a final result that exactly matches their creative vision. 

Precision Photography

The versatility of the RX0 II means thatit offers a host of stills photography features in addition to its video capabilities. It boasts an Anti-distortion Shutter of up to 1/32000 sec. and can shoot at up to 16 fpsv to capture any fleeting moment of emotion that passes across the subject’s face. In an upgrade from the original RX0, colour reproduction has been enhanced to reproduce natural and vivid colours of human skin, and the optional ‘Soft Skin Effect’ can be applied to cover minor blemishes and wrinkles.Rating and Protect functions can be applied in camera and a grouped display of continuously shot images can be viewed on the camera.

Sony’s EyeAF, that is proving hugely popular with portrait photographers across the world, has been upgraded on the RX0 II. Thespeed, accuracy and operation of the EyeAF has been improved to make it even easier to capture a stunning portrait; a simple half press of the shutter button will lock-on to the eye of the subject. The focussed eye can be selected (left / right / auto) in the menu or assigned to a custom button, allowing the user to concentrate on composition. 

The camera can be set for interval shooting, the results of which can be edited with Sony’s “Imaging Edge”desktop application ‘viewer’ into stunning time-lapse videos.

Multi-camera options

Upto 5 RX0 II camerascan be controlled wirelessly using Sony ‘Imaging Edge Mobile’ application and between 6 to 50 cameras will be able to be controlled via an access point (scheduled for Summer 2019.) The RX0 II is alsocompatible with the Camera Control Box CCB-WD1 which enables up to 100 cameras to be connected and controlled in a wired multi-camera setup. These multi-camera solutions unlock a whole new world of shooting opportunities and free video expression from any viewpoint that the user wishes to pursue.

Pricing and Availability

TheRX0 II kit with the VCT-SGR1 Shooting Grip and bracket will ship in Europe in May 2019, priced at approximately €800/£730.

For more information on the new RX0 II camera, please visit; https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/cyber-shot-compact-cameras/dsc-rx0m2

A variety of exclusive stories, videos and exciting new content shot with the newest cameras and other Sony’sAlpha products can be found at https://www.sony.co.uk/alphauniverse. Sony’s European photography hub is available in 22 languages and details product news, competitions and an up-to-date list of Sony events in each country.

[/expander_maker]

A Visit To Sigma’s Aizuwakamatsu Factory

Sigma

The folks at LensVid had the chance to visit Sigma’s Aizuwakamatsu factory in Japan.

From LensVid’s report:

SIGMA’s factory in Aizuwakamatsu is the home of 1400 employees, some parts of the factory work 24 hours non-stop and the employees work in 9-hour shifts. SIGMA’s headquarters in Kawasaki employs 200 more people, over 75% of which are engineers in different R&D departments. This follows SIGMA’s motto to keep management as lean as possible.

Arriving at the factory in Aizuwakamatsu, we were greeted by SIGMA’s Service & Support section chief, Mr. Manabu Sato, he is going to be our host in this factory tour. We started by going to one of the conference rooms for a short introduction to SIGMA’s history, put on our hats and coats and went to meet the engineers. It’s worth mentioning that in no part of our visit we were required to wear protective gear or noticed any scent of volatile materials, the factory is very well ventilated and it feels that SIGMA is working hard to make the factory as safe as possible to their employees.

Read the report at LensVid…

Deal: Canon EOS R at $1815, EOS R with RF 24-105mm f/4L IS at $2599 (import model)

Canon Eos R With Aps-c

Canon EOS R at a glance:

Seller einfinityshop4 (99.7% positive ratings) has two good deals on the Canon EOS R.

Please note: this is an import model, 1 year US seller warranty applies. Import models are legally imported from another country through channels other than the maker’s official distribution system.

Is Quad Pixel Autofocus The Upcoming Evolution Of Dual Pixel AF?

Canon Patent

A recently spotted Canon patent application suggests Canon might be at works to design the technological evolution of its patented Dual Pixel Auto Focus (DPAF).

Canon patent application 2019-041178 (Japan) describes a technology where pixels are split in four parts. This should allow for a more precise AF in all possible directions.

From the patent literature:

Therefore, there is the object of this invention in providing the image sensor which can always perform focus detection by an image surface phase difference system with high precision, and the imaging device using this image sensor. 

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the image sensor by the present invention, A plurality of optical waveguides which a unit pixel part provided with a plurality of pixels is the image sensor arranged by two-dimensional matrix form, and draw light to said plurality of pixels, respectively, It has the segregant formed among said plurality of waveguides, the height and position of the aforementioned segregant are changed according to image height, and the pupil distance of said plurality of pixels is changed in each of the aforementioned unit pixel part. 

The patent literature seems to describe an APS-C sensor with a resolution around 20MP:

A unit pixel has the 1st focus detection pixel 201, the 2nd focus detection pixel 202, the 3rd focus detection pixel 203, and the 4th focus detection pixel 204, and these pixels are arranged by two lines x two rows. In the illustrated example, although the pixel structure of four lines x four rows is shown, the many pixel is actually arranged by two-dimensional matrix form. For example, the image sensor is 4 micrometers in the cycle P of a pixel, and is side [ of 5575 lines ] x [ 3725 rows ] long = about 20,750,000 pixels in the pixel number N. The image sensor is 2 micrometers in the line writing direction cycle PAF of a focus detection pixel, and is side [ of 11150 lines ] x [ 7450 rows ] long = about 83,060,000 pixels in the focus detection pixel number NAF. 

No idea if this patent describes a technology that might get into production soon. More Canon patent applications are listed here. Some particularly interesting patent applications we think might get into production in the next few years are these:

Canon Patent For 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.2 and 70-200mm f/2.8 Lenses for Full Frame Cameras

Canon Patent

Hi Lows Note spotted a Canon patent application (2019-45631A) describing optical formulas for a 35mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.2 for full frame DSLRs, and for a 70-200mm f/2.8 for full frame mirrorless cameras (the EOS R system).

Focal length: 34.31 mm
F number: 1.45
Angle of view: 32.24
Image height: 21.64 mm
Lens length: 139.98 mm
Back focus: 39.01 mm

Focal length: 85.00 mm
F number: 1.24
Angle of view: 14.28
Image height: 21.64 mm
Lens length: 123.50 mm
Back focus: 39.70 mm

Zoom ratio: 2.71
Focal length: 72.00 ~ 134.99 ~ 194.94 mm
F number: 2.91 ~ 2.91 ~ 2.98
Angle of view: 16.73 ~ 9.11 ~ 6.33
Image height: 21.64 mm
Lens length: 172.73 ~ 219.96 ~ 231.71 mm
Back focus: 14.37 ~ 18.40 ~ 28.12 mm