Photography News & Updates
Handpicked photography news, updates, and deals // New lenses for Nikon Z, Lightroom gets a major update, the National Gallery on 70s documentary photography, and new action cams from GoPro and DJI.
Just for fun, all of the photos I’ve included in this edition are ones I took with the two new action cams mentioned below, the GoPro HERO13 Black and DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro. It’s not a typical use for action cams, but I’ve long argued that they’re underappreciated and fun for stills photography and not just useful for video. It’s a topic I’ll likely come back to in more detail in a future newsletter.
Gear
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Nikon finally announced a new fast nifty fifty f/1.4 for their Z-mount mirrorless cameras.
There's been a flurry of announcements of other new lenses lately. The one I’m personally most excited about is that This is the one I've been waiting for. They already have an f/1.8 and f/1.2, each of which has clear strengths, but the f/1.4 looks to hit the sweet spot on optical quality, speed, and price. It also has some video-friendly features to make it a general workhorse lens. I wish it was sized a little closer to the AF-S 50mm f/1.4G, but it does have the virtues of being lightweight and weather-proofed. It's priced at $499. I’ve bought one and have been shooting with it for a few weeks. Stay tuned for my in-depth review and sample images.
Sony trade-in deal is now live.
Sony is offering up to $800 in bonuses when you trade in your old gear for new Sony camera and lens gear. The gear you trade in doesn’t have to be Sony, but it does have to be working interchangeable-lens digital camera body or lens. They’ll take the usual trade-in value and then add a bonus amount depending on what gear you’re trading in (up to $800). Ends 12/31. Find the online quote form at B&H here.
7Artisans has a new 85mm ƒ/1.8 full-frame autofocus for Nikon Z-mount (also for Sony E).
There aren't yet a lot of third-party autofocus lenses natively built for Nikon Z (without the FTZ mount adapter). I'm curious to try this one out, in large part because of its eye-catching price of $299.
Peak Design has launched a new range of rugged packs designed for outdoor use.
It's not like their existing packs are flimsy, but these are designed with heavier-duty materials and design elements to take more of a beating from the elements. The line includes camera backpacks, slings, and packing cubes/pouches.
New surf/underwater housing for the Ricoh GR III.
Salty has released a new underwater housing for the Ricoh GR III. It’s aimed as a surf housing and a shallow underwater housing. It looks slick, and I can see the appeal of shooting with a GR III underwater. It would be great (but expensive) as a surf housing, but its depth rating also makes it a viable option for shallow dives. Two things about this one give me pause. Firstly, its price ($1178). As much as I love the GR III, I have to wonder whether the results justify the expense rather than just use an OM System TG-7. Secondly, if you’re using it as a dive housing, it’s pretty easy to go below 20m at times even on a reef dive.
Action Cam Photography
GoPro announced two new cameras.
The most interesting to me is the HERO13 Black, their new flagship model. While it has some interesting new features, it's fundamentally an incremental upgrade over the HERO12 Black. I have my copy and am in the process of putting it through its paces. Stay tuned for more on it. It’s priced at $399.
DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro released.
Hot on the heels of GoPro's release, DJI released a new DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro. It's another incremental update over the previous model, but has some interesting improvements such as a new sensor and burst photo mode (finally!). I've been shooting with one alongside a GoPro HERO13 Black. It’s priced at $349; you can also pick up the DJI Osmo Action 4 for $249.
DJI announced a new low-cost, beginner-friendly drone.
It's uncertain times for DJI in the US, with Congress in the process of banning the company from selling its drones in this country, and US Customs has apparently been holding up imports. But they’ve gone ahead and announced a new beginner-friendly and inexpensive drone, the DJI NEO (priced at $249).
Digital Darkroom
Major Lightroom update released.
Lightroom, along with pretty much all of the apps in Adobe’s Creative Cloud, has been given a major update. Highlights include improved Generative Remove now rolled out across the line and new Quick Actions that provide automatic contextual masks (latter as an Early Access feature in Lightroom Classic 14.0). It comes alongside a slew of updates to Camera Raw and most, perhaps all, of Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps. Photoshop, for example, now has what they’re calling Distraction Removal, which is a generative removal tool for things like power cables (something Skylum Luminar/NEO has had for quite some time already).
DxO released a major overhaul of ViewPoint.
ViewPoint5 is DxO’s perspective control tool, which they’ve carved out separately from their Nik offerings. The obvious use that comes to mind is architectural photography, but this new version is *way* more interesting than that. You can seamlessly warp any section of an image to, say, increase the relative size or angle. Or add a digital diorama effect without the hassle and expense of shooting with a tilt-shift lens. And, of course, there’s the expected perspective and distortion fixes. Previous versions of ViewPoint have been a bit clunky to use, frankly. This new version looks far more polished, and I’m looking forward to taking it for a spin. You can see some good examples of what it does here.
Photo Mechanic has added support for IPTC's new Data Mining metadata field.
So you can now specify in image metadata whether to allow or prohibit use of an image in AI training (assuming you don’t strip all metadata out completely, of course). Whether or not AI companies actually take any notice of it is, of course, an entirely different matter, as is whether web services or sites strip out the metadata.
Other Stuff
National Gallery of Art 1970s Photography Exhibition
The National Gallery of Art in DC has just opened a new exhibit titled The ’70s Lens: Reimagining Documentary Photography. I went this week, and it’s quite extensive and really interesting. There’s the expected black and white street photography, but theres a lot more than that; part of the point of the exhibit is how photographers were stretching and reimagining the field of what should be considered “documentary photography.” From the exhibition blurb:
Featuring some 100 works by more than 80 artists, The ʼ70s Lens examines how photographers reinvented documentary practice during this radical shift in American life.
It runs through April 2025. And while you’re there, make sure to go just across the hall to the smaller but still wonderful exhibit of photographs by Gordon Parks.
Nikon Museum Reopening
The Nikon Museum is reopening next week as part of Nikon's move to their new headquarters. I'm definitely going to check it out next time I'm in Tokyo. It looks pretty cool.
BTS w/Radiohead
Colin Greenwood, whose day job is as Radiohead’s bass player, has been taking behind-the-scenes photos of the band for years. And he has just published a new book of some of those photos titled How to Disappear: A Portrait of Radiohead. He’s also been posting other photos on his Instagram. In keeping with the title, he’s been using what might be the most unassuming camera ever (but with a surprisingly good lens): a small Yashica T4 Super film camera.
Taylor Swift’s Camera
And on the topic of musician/photographers . . . apparently, Taylor Swift shoots with an Olympus E-M10IV. In case you were wondering. I like her choice.
FTC Makes it Easier to Cancel Subscriptions
The FTC has finalized a new rule that will make it harder for businesses that make you jump through hoops to cancel subscriptions. Like the ones that make it easy to sign up for a trial online but require you to call during business hours and talk to someone to cancel. Known as the Click to Cancel rule, it sounds to me like a win.
ChatGPT Pro Price to Rise
Subscribing to a ChatGPT Pro account? (I find it of great help with image metadata.) You're currently paying $20/month. They're planning to increase that by $2 by the end of the year—but that’s just the start. Over the next five years, the current plan is to increase it up to $44.
Google Search Images to Add AI Label
Google Search Images will soon label images as taken with a camera, edited, or AI-generated. It didn't go so well recently when Instagram tried this and got tangled up in what kind of image editing constituted "Made with AI."
Google Doesn’t Use EXIF Metadata in Search Rankings
Google does not use EXIF metadata in search rankings (they say). Google has been typically obfuscatory vague over the years about whether EXIF metadata is used in their search ranking algorithm. But a member of their Google Search team has just confirmed that it is not used, at least not for ranking. They do, however, use IPTC copyright information in relation to licensing status.
Worth a Read
"The Incredible Blandness of AI Photography" at The Verge. Yep.
Nikon’s new 50mm lens has reminded me of this quirky but interesting book, Life in 50mm: The Photographer’s Lens, by Tanya Nagar. It’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of fast 50mm lenses, as I am.
Firmware Updates
Sony has pulled two new firmware updates recently. The Sony a7R V firmware (3.00) update issued bricked some cameras. Another firmware update issued the same day, for the FX30 (5.00), has also been withdrawn as a precaution. If you're shooting with either of these cameras, I strongly recommend not upgrading their firmware until Sony sorts this mess out.
Major new firmware for several of Nikon's top mirrorless cameras, including the Z9 and Z8, has been in the pipeline for months. And it's expected to bring some major boosts for in-camera processing. Rumor has it that the hold-up is a major snag with the Nikon Z7II's compatibility with the Nikon Imaging Cloud.
Happy shooting!
David.
