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The Digital Photography Review Newsletter
The most popular weekly photography newsletter, with over 400,000 subscribers
Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Welcome to the 674th Digital Photography Review newsletter.

Once again, Seattle is blanketed in smoke from various wildfires in our general vicinity, but as the ash falls outside (we're not kidding), that's all the more reason to stay in and get some work done. The past few days have seen two new products launched - the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III, and the Ricoh Theta V. Very different kinds of cameras, but both exciting in their own way. You can find links to our full launch content below.

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II: In-depth launch content

Olympus has announced the OM-D E-M10 Mark III, a subtle update to its entry-level OM-D body that nevertheless packs a powerful set of features into an attractively compact body. We've had access to a reviewable camera for a little while, and we've prepared a full set of in-depth launch materials - including a review and samples gallery.

Click here for full coverage of the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

Ricoh Theta V hands-on

Ricoh's new Theta V brings a host of new features to the candybar-shaped 360 camera, from improved performance to live 4K video streaming. Take a tour of the 'V' in our hands-on slideshow.

Read more about the new Ricoh Theta V

Venus Optics Laowa 15mm F2 FE Zero-D gallery and user impressions

This lens, for Sony E-mount cameras, strikes a unique balance of small size, wide field of view (110 degrees) and fast aperture. Even more impressive is its promise of almost zero distortion.

Read more about the new Venus Optics Laowa 15mm F2

Gallery: photographing parkour with the Sony a9

Seattle's Freeway Park is a labyrinth of trees, towers of concrete and tourists. Turns out, it's also a great place to practice parkour. With several Sony a9's in hand, we turned our lenses to the skies to capture some flying humans in our latest sample gallery.

Check out our gallery of samples from the Sony a9

Raw bit depth is about dynamic range, not the number of colors you get to capture

Raw bit depth is often discussed as if it improves image quality and that more is better, but that's not really the case. And it doesn't have much to do with colors or gradation. Here's why 12-bit is enough most of the time.

Take a look at how an iconic image of the eclipse was captured

Barney

News updates
Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 7:37:00 PM GMT

The new Rotolight Neo 2 is being touted as an "industry first." An all-in-one High Speed Sync (HSS) Flash and continuous on-camera LED lighting innovation that aims to "revolutionize how people use light."

Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 4:53:00 PM GMT

The most troubling part of this story is that the officer allegedly offered no warning whatsoever before opening fire on the photojournalist.

Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 4:10:00 PM GMT

If you want to capture the perfect fall colors this autumn, you definitely want to check out SmokyMountains.com's interactive fall foliage prediction map.

Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 3:44:00 PM GMT

Consider this an example of what NOT to do. A Swiss photographer has been stripped of two awards after it was discovered she submitted someone else's public domain photo as her own.

Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 3:00:00 PM GMT

Photographer JunHo Oh captured this spectacular 4K close-up of the total solar eclipse during totality from Warm Springs, OR using a Panasonic GX85, 2160mm f/12 telescope, and robotic mount.

Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 2:02:00 PM GMT

Logitech is has introduced a new keyboard designed specifically for ‘creators’ that features a dial on top intended to make life easier for stills and video editors.

Published Tuesday, September 5, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

What do you get when you mix 42 anamorphic lenses with a volunteer crew of professional filmmakers? The Ultimate Anamorphic Lens Test. You don't need to be a filmmaker to appreciate these tests, and as we discover, anamorphics are for still photographers too.

Published Monday, September 4, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

An interesting example of how time, taste, and technique can lead to two photos of the exact same location that look totally different from one another.

Published Monday, September 4, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

The E-M10 III's decent video spec looks even better when you consider that both digital IS and 5-axis mechanical stabilization can be used while shooting 4K. Take a look at our sample reel to see what handheld 4K footage looks like.

Published Sunday, September 3, 2017 4:00:00 PM GMT

In this video, photographer Dustin Dolby offers you a simple, affordable way to capture that classic splash photography look using only cheap speedlights.

Published Sunday, September 3, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

As his time in New Zealand winds down, photographer Sarnim Dean wanted to capture something special: a mountain biking self-portrait under the Milky Way. Here's how he did it.

Published Sunday, September 3, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

This lens, for Sony E-mount cameras, strikes a unique balance of small size, wide field of view (110 degrees) and fast aperture. Even more impressive is its promise of almost zero distortion.

Published Saturday, September 2, 2017 4:00:00 PM GMT

Photographer Josh Rossi recently embarked on an incredibly touching portrait project: turn a group of disabled and sick children into the Justice League superheroes, and surprise them with the results.

Published Saturday, September 2, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

Wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas tells the story behind this night portrait of a lone hyena in front of a backdrop of stars in a remote National Park in the west of Zambia.

Published Saturday, September 2, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Seattle's Freeway Park is a labyrinth of trees, towers of concrete and tourists. Turns out, it's also a great place to practice parkour. With several Sony a9's in hand, we turned our lenses to the skies to capture some flying humans in our latest sample gallery.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 8:10:00 PM GMT

Here's a silly-but-kind-of-awesome little product for the photo nerds among us (read: everyone reading this). Drink coasters that, when you stack them together, look like a camera lens.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 7:04:00 PM GMT

Despite plenty of warnings, a few renters still managed to destroy some of Lensrentals gear during the August total solar eclipse. In case you're curious, LR shared pictures of the damage.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 4:23:00 PM GMT

The ill-fated Lily Drone has been resurrected by a company called Mota Group, and re-released with better looks, additional features and a new name: Lily Next-Gen.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 3:45:00 PM GMT

The new plant, which will be more than 70% automated, will mark the first time Canon has built a camera production facility in Japan since 2010.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 2:44:00 PM GMT

VSCO's Mobile Presets 02 pack is designed for photographers who'd rather edit their photos on desktop, but want to get the same looks offered by the company's popular mobile app.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 2:22:00 PM GMT

Longsys, one of China's foremost manufacturers of consumer flash storage, has officially acquired the Lexar trademark and branding rights from Micron Technology, Inc.

Published Friday, September 1, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Raw bit depth is often discussed as if it improves image quality and that more is better, but that's not really the case. And it doesn't have much to do with colors or gradation. Here's why 12-bit is enough most of the time.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 7:30:00 PM GMT

Photographers Martin J. Romero-Clark and Andrew Lillibridge face three felony charges apiece after illegally climbing the Ben Franklin Bridge to capture some cityscape shots.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 6:40:00 PM GMT

The Instagif Camera is a custom creation that looks just like an old Polaroid One Step, except instead of instant photos it instantly 'prints' animated GIFs.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 6:27:00 PM GMT

The four-LED lighting system from Spiffy Gear can take multiple shapes to suit different shooting scenarios: from 'ring' light, to strip light, to LED panel.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 4:27:00 PM GMT

Meet the Photonicz One: the world's first compact, weather-sealed LED strobe light... assuming it can get funded on Kickstarter.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 4:15:00 PM GMT

DJI debuted an updated version of the Mavic Pro at IFA today. It's called the DJI Mavic Pro Platinum, and it boasts 11% better battery and 60% quieter flight than the original Mavic.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 2:45:00 PM GMT

The SanDisk iXpand Base combines a 15W charger with a built-in harddrive, and offers up to 250GB capacity to back up your iPhone while it charges.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 2:21:00 PM GMT

The new SanDisk Ultra PLUS microSDXC memory card can store up to 40 hours of video in Full HD resolution.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 1:42:00 PM GMT

The new Sony RX0 is aimed at professional and enthusiast level videographers and imaging professional who work in challenging conditions.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

The new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III is superficially quite similar to its predecessor, but despite inheriting many of the same features, the feature set has been tweaked to make the new camera easier – and more fun – to use.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 12:30:00 PM GMT

The inclusion of a Snapdragon processor allows Ricoh's latest 360-degree camera to shoot 4K video. The Theta V offers a number of other improvements too, like faster image transfer and omni-directional audio capture.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 12:30:00 PM GMT

Ricoh's new Theta V brings a host of new features to the candybar-shaped 360 camera, from improved performance to live 4K video streaming. Take a tour of the 'V' in our hands-on slideshow.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 12:00:00 PM GMT

With today's introduction of the OM-D E-M10 III, we thought it would be nice to jump back in time to 2009, when Olympus announced the PEN E-PL1, its first mirrorless camera.

Published Thursday, August 31, 2017 8:00:00 AM GMT

The E-M10 Mark III is a subtle update to Olympus' entry-level OM-D body. The addition of a TruePic VIII processor brings 4K video capture, and a ergonomic changes introduce bigger dials and a curved handgrip to the still-diminutive camera.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 6:56:00 PM GMT

DJI is offering 'bug bounties' ranging between $100 and a whopping $30,000 to anybody who can find software vulnerabilities in the company's products.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 6:43:00 PM GMT

WD just revealed their newest consumer-facing wireless backup drives called My Cloud Home. The drives come in capacities of up to 16TB and act just like a cloud backup system... except you own the hardware.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 5:11:00 PM GMT

Need a cool photo experiment to try this weekend? Why not try a black-and-white film reversal: transform a black-and-white negative into a direct positive transparency at home.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 3:53:00 PM GMT

If you own a Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM, you'll want to check your serial number. Some lenses are experiencing a focusing issue that Canon will fix for free.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 2:24:00 PM GMT

This poor cricket reporter is making the rounds online after he tried to pass off his iPhone calculator as a "light meter." Too bad the light was good enough to spot his gaff...

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 1:58:00 PM GMT

DPReview Exclusive: Nikon Sr Product Manager Lindsay Silverman and Sr Technical Manager Steve Heiner answer 20 of the most popular user questions they've received about the new Nikon D850.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 1:45:00 PM GMT

The upcoming GH5 firmware update adds a number of unexpected improvements, such as more responsive autofocus, especially in 24p video shooting.

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2017 12:59:00 PM GMT

The Insta360 ONE is a new 360-degree camera that can record 4K video (3840 x 1920) at 30 frames per second and capture 24MP spherical still images. And our friends at Photo Gear News have had access to a pre-production unit.