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The Digital Photography Review Newsletter
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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Welcome to the 682nd Digital Photography Review newsletter.

Another week, another launch. It's almost as if we're entering the year's peak buying period, or something. Or maybe the camera companies want to have some sort of harvest festival, who can tell?

Nikon D850 review

We've been shooting Nikon's high-speed, high-res, 4K-capable, do everything supercamera for several weeks now. We've conducted all our usual tests, scrutinized the Raw files and just spent a lot of time out-and-about, shooting with it. Now comes the time to tell you what we found and what we think...

Read our in-depth Nikon D850 review

Canon launches the PowerShot G1 X Mark III

Has it really been five and a half years, already? My calendar confirms that it has, so we probably shouldn't be too surprised to see the third iteration of Canon's large sensor, fixed zoom enthusiast compact. It's well-specced camera that's slimmed down considerably, compared to the Mark II, despite the adoption of a larger, APS-C sized sensor.

Click to read more about the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III

Leica factory tour

Barney had the opportunity to visit Leica's factory in Wetzlar, Germany. Much like the company's, his journey ventured from some of the earliest 35mm cameras (and the shameless copying thereof) all the way through to fine polishing and computer analysis of lens elements.

Follow Barney's journey through the factory, down the years and across 39 slides.

Google Pixel 2 Samples Gallery

We've been shooting with Google's Pixel 2 handset, trying to capture the last of the nice weather in Seattle. It may not be a camera in the classic sense, but it'll probably end up being used by more people than most of the cameras we cover. A range of sophisticated computation modes allow it to at least synthesize the results of a more sophisticated camera. Does it exceed your 'good enough' threshold?

 

See our Google Pixel 2 gallery

DJI announces Zenmuse X7

The other rather interesting, non-traditional camera we reported on this week was the DJI Zenmuse X7, a Super 35 (APS-C) camera capable of shooting 6K CinemaDNG footage. As well as an impressive video spec, the camera is also able to shoot 24MP stills and heralds the arrival of the new 'DL' lens mount. As well as writing about the camera, we also wrote about the need to think of DJI as a camera maker.

Read Dale's argument

We've got plenty more going on in the background, including further testing of the Fujifilm X-E3 but beyond that, who knows what the future will hold? Clairvoyants, supposedly.

The rest of us will have to make do with visiting the site, to see what's happening, though.

Richard

News updates
Published Tuesday, October 17, 2017 10:06:00 PM GMT

The ROV Slider is a portable, motorized slider that promises to bring 'beautiful cinematic video and time-lapse' shooting to anybody with a smartphone, GoPro or DSLR that weighs less than 5lbs.

Published Tuesday, October 17, 2017 4:24:00 PM GMT

The new Surface Book 2 laptops come with Intel's 8th generation quad-core processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 and 1060 GPUs. In other words: they pack a serious punch.

Published Tuesday, October 17, 2017 4:12:00 PM GMT

Leica is resurrecting a portrait lens from the 1930s: the Thambar-M 1:2.2/90. This lens features just 4 lens elements, and was famous for its spherical aberration that creates extremely soft images.

Published Tuesday, October 17, 2017 2:30:00 PM GMT

Google's Visual Core is an Image Signal Processor designed to power and accelerate HDR+ processing and other imaging tasks in the new Pixel 2 devices (and beyond).

Published Tuesday, October 17, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

The Google Pixel's camera is among the best we've reviewed, and its successor has already been hailed as class-leading. With expectations set high, the Pixel 2 has nonetheless left a very good first impression on us as we shot some initial sample images.

Published Tuesday, October 17, 2017 12:00:00 PM GMT

Leica is one of the oldest names in photography, and has long been one of the most prestigious. Recently, we had the opportunity to visit Wetzlar, to see for ourselves how Leica's lenses are put together.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 9:26:00 PM GMT

Canon went and put an APS-C sensor in a G series compact. The result is a mighty tempting camera for travel.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 8:32:00 PM GMT

Colorful tripod maker MeFOTO has launched a new tripod... and a whole new brand name. Meet the GlobeTrotter travel video tripod, the first product to be released under the MeVIDEO brand.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 8:12:00 PM GMT

If you own a Moto Z, you'll soon be able to attach a Polaroid instant printer to it. Check out the unreleased Moto Mod, which was leaked earlier today.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 4:47:00 PM GMT

DJI has developed a technology called AeroScope that allows law enforcement to identify and track airborne drones that are breaking UAV regulations, while simultaneously addressing privacy concerns.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 2:52:00 PM GMT

The Nikon D850 is a 45.7MP full-frame DSLR with an autofocus system lifted wholesale from the pro-sports focused D5. 4K capture, continuous shooting at 7 or 9 frames per second make it sound like the ultimate all rounder. Is it all that these specs suggest?

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 1:42:00 PM GMT

The Mate 10's Kirin 970 chipset with integrated AI processing allows for object recognition, motion detection and automatic scene selection in the camera app.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

DxO has announced version 3.0 of the iOS app for its 'One' connected camera. It adds support for multi-camera Facebook Live broadcasting and both time-lapse still and video capture. Android users will be pleased to hear that a One for their platform is on the way, as well. Several new accessories are available, including a battery pack.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 4:00:00 AM GMT

Canon has introduced the PowerShot G1 X Mark III, which borrows the 24MP APS-C sensor and Dual Pixel AF system from the company's recent mirrorless and DSLR cameras, adds a 24-72mm equiv., F2.8-5.6 lens and puts them into a lightweight body – but it'll cost you quite a bit.

Published Monday, October 16, 2017 4:00:00 AM GMT

It's not often that we see a genuinely interesting compact camera, and the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III is one such beast. We've pulled out the top features of the camera and tell you why they matter – and put the Mark III up against the competition.

Published Sunday, October 15, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Apple's HDR effect in the iPhone 8 Plus is on by default and more aggressive than in previous generations. It's also good enough to convince DPR contributor Jeff Carlson to leave it on all the time.

Published Sunday, October 15, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Canon's 28mm F2.8 IS USM may be small in size, but it's big on fun. We wrote about our experience using it as our only lens in Big Sur, California, but in case you missed out on our full gallery, take a look to see what this little lens can do.

Published Saturday, October 14, 2017 4:00:00 PM GMT

Travel photographer Elia Locardi tells the story behind this gorgeous (and rare) panorama of the Dubai cityscape draped in fog.

Published Saturday, October 14, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Bison, drift cars, horseback riders, antelope – from the beach to the race track, the Sony 100-400mm G Master is one versatile piece of kit.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 5:23:00 PM GMT

Casio's bionic-looking new action camera, the GZE-1, is built with extreme sports in mind. The little camera is drop-proof, freeze-proof, dust-proof, and waterproof to 50 meters.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 4:57:00 PM GMT

Yashica recently released the digiFilm Y35: a camera that tries to simulate the "experience" of shooting film... and it's just the worst.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 4:05:00 PM GMT

Western Digital has revealed some interesting new technology that, it claims, will allow them to develop 40TB hard drives by the year 2025.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 3:09:00 PM GMT

Photographer Micael Widell wanted to see just how affordable it could possibly be to get into digital photography—so he bought a full DSLR kit with battery grip and 50mm lens on eBay for just $80.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 2:46:00 PM GMT

Confused about DxOMark's scoring system? This straightforward video by Marques Brownlee breaks down how DxO gets its scores, and why you should always look beyond that "overall" number.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

It's not exactly a revolutionary device, but the iPhone 8 Plus does promise some evolutionary updates in the camera department. DPR contributor Jeff Carlson has been putting the 8 Plus to the test in some everyday shooting situations – take a look at how it fared.

Published Friday, October 13, 2017 12:00:00 PM GMT

This week in Hollywood, DJI introduced its new Zenmuse X7 camera, a Super 35 format cinema camera of its own design that can also capture 24MP still images in APS-C format. Is it time to start thinking of DJI as a camera company?

Published Thursday, October 12, 2017 4:42:00 PM GMT

Landscape and astrophotographer Asif Islam shot a series of timelapses starting in Los Angeles and getting farther and farther away, showing how the Milky Way emerges as the light pollution fades.

Published Thursday, October 12, 2017 3:46:00 PM GMT

Ultraviolet photography is something that relatively few photographers explore, but it’s a fascinating realm to explore with less of an investment in equipment than most people think.

Published Thursday, October 12, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

After almost fifteen years of nearly buying one, Barney recently found a working Canon PowerShot G5 in his local thrift shop. It must be Throwback Thursday.

Published Thursday, October 12, 2017 1:00:00 AM GMT

DJI has launched the Zenmuse X7, a Raw video capable Super 35 camera module. The camera/gimbal system which mounts to the company's drones features a new, proprietary lens mount.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 8:16:00 PM GMT

Windowed is a free app that lets you upload photos to Instagram straight from your Mac or PC—no tablet, smartphone, or complicated workaround required.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 7:50:00 PM GMT

Nikon has published a list lenses that it deems worthy of its newest DSLR: the 45.7MP Nikon D850.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 6:14:00 PM GMT

The Nikon D850 isn't the first camera to hit triple digits on DxOMark; in fact, the Pentax 645Z was listed at 101 all the way back in 2015. So why was the full review never published? DxOMark explained earlier today.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 5:37:00 PM GMT

Due to 'slower-than-expected development of the VR market,' Nokia has decided to pull the plug on its $25K Ozo VR camera while it restructures the company and sheds as many as 310 jobs.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 5:07:00 PM GMT

Photographer and filmmaker Daniel DeArco built his own, custom, 'world's fastest camera slider.' See it in action in these behind the scenes videos.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 3:47:00 PM GMT

Zeiss has opened its annual photography competition for entries, and this year the company is offering €12,000 of lenses for the best collection of images. The winning photographer will also get €3,000 to spend on travel for a photography-related project.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 2:39:00 PM GMT

Samsung Electronics has launched two new smartphone image sensors with some interesting features and a design that can fit into very thin devices without the need for a camera bump.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

We've spent some serious time assessing the autofocus system on the D850; from portraits to bicyclists, we've found out just how precise this camera's focus is, and how well its subject tracking will keep up. Check it out for yourself in our updated First Impressions review.

Published Wednesday, October 11, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Crowdfunded projects have repeatedly promised to convert old 35mm film cameras to digital. "Not going to happen" says our resident pessimist, Richard. A roll of the revived Ektachrome will come sooner than a useable digital conversion.