Panasonic GH5s Images Leaked

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There’s no more sure fire way of knowing a new camera release is imminent than leaked images appearing online. I’m never sure how ‘leaked’ these really are, personally I can’t help but feel that’s it’s a standard part of today’s marketing plans. Just look to Apple and Samsung for examples, whether it’s leaked cases or employee images, it all helps to build the excitement around an upcoming product.

By all accounts the GH5s is officially slated for release tomorrow so I’ll leave the specs speculation for now but the camera is expected to reign in the megapixels from the 20 Megapixel sensor found in the GH5 in favour of larger photosites and cleaner high ISO images. Essentially it looks like Panasonic has Sony very much in their crosshairs with this one, and with good reason.

The GH4 and GH5 have been interesting cameras to me, it seems they have created a place for themselves in the market where one shouldn’t really have existed. The micro 4/3 format naturally seems best suited to size focused products such as those seen from Olympus. Over the last few years I’ve seen numerous complaints from Olympus (And Canon/Nikon) users about the camera’s not offering cutting edge video capabilities.

Personally I have no real interest in making video’s with my cameras, sure, it’s a nice feature to have, but not something I want to be paying for. Every time I buy a camera filled with features that are superfluous to my needs I am left feeling cheated, like I have paid an extra 20-30% for the research and development that went into unnecessary features.

I do however have great respect for companies like Panasonic and Sony who, as if in acceptance of the dominance of Canon/Nikon in the photography world, have set their focus upon the video sector of the market. In fact as time goes on I wonder if this is the better long play in a world that’s becoming more and more obsessed with video, vlogging, snapchatting etc. Indeed as sensors and video performance improves, the idea of simply shooting video and extracting stills is a real option for photographers. I know a few doing just this already!

The GH4 and GH5 were also perhaps the most popular option for high end drone pilots around the world, with a variety of drone specific gimbals and mounts available. True, Sony also have options here, but for some reason the Drone community really do favour the Panasonic offerings, possibly thanks to the Micro 4/3 lens options available. Sony on the other hand seems to dominate in area’s such as Wedding Videography, most likely thanks to the cameras exceptional low light performance. With a smaller, sensor Panasonic are almost openly eschewing photographic performance in favour of video performance and honestly, I think that is an inspired idea given that such a large portion of current GH4/5 owners are video focussed.

I can’t wait to see how the GH5s performs, look out for the announcement tomorrow on their website if you’re interested in learning more.

Yongnuo 14mm f/2.8 released

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You may have heard me talk about Yongnuo before, they have a fantastic history with affordable accessories that offer performance that’s not a million miles away from that of their far more expensive competition. Yongnuo have been working on their range of lenses for a while now, offering low cost alternatives to Canon’s most popular lenses.

This week Yongnuo released their new 14mm f/2.8, a lens that I feel is well worth some media attention. Compare it for a moment with one of Yongnuo’s first Autofocus offerings the 50mm f/1.8. At half the price of the Canon 50mm 1.8 it represented great value and, in the same vein as their accessories, was somewhere along the lines of 90% performance for 50% of the price, not a bad trade off. That 50% however amounted to around about £40, hardly breaking the bank and ultimately not really worth the gamble on relatively untested kit.

The Canon 14mm 2.8 however is not a cheap and cheerful lens, it is one of Canon’s most respected [read – expensive] lenses and to me a far more sensible target for Yongnuo than the humble 50mm 1.8. At half the price (or less!) of the Canon I’m not expecting the Yongnuo to match the Canon’s performance, honestly, I’m not even expecting 90% of the performance. Instead I expect markedly worse performance, that doesn’t mean it’s unusable, not at all, it’s just the difference between a cheap canon lens and their expensive pro glass. I would imagine AF performance will be noticeably worse than the Canon, but again, totally useable.

I should also mention that the Yongnuo 14mm 2.8 is extremely similar to the Samyang 14mm 2.8 which was announced this week. The Yongnuo is currently available on sources like eBay, with the Samyang likely to follow very soon.

World’s first ‘Metalens’ created

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This one is taken from an article originally published on Petapixel HERE

Essentially rather than using optical glass elements to create imaging devices Harvard scientists have created an entirely new system that uses ‘fins’ to direct the light. Unlike traditional lenses that require relatively large amounts of heavy glass to eliminate chromatic aberrations and distortion, the Metalens is able focus different wavelengths of light into one point.

The whole idea of taking the glass elements out of lenses is pretty revolutionary, but then again it’s a technology that hasn’t really changed since it’s inception. Ok, we’ve got the likes of Ultrasonic motors doing the heavy lifting when it comes to focus, machine engineering to allow incredible tolerances and exceptional optical quality. But the essential formula is the same.

Engineers at Harvard are now looking at scaling the Metalens UP (That’s right, it’s just currently TOO SMALL!) to 1cm. They have also licensed the technology to a startup for commercial purposes so it will be interesting to see where that leads. I’d imagine that should the startup make any breakthroughs in terms of imaging devices, their tech would most likely be highly coveted among camera manufacturers worldwide. It’s safe to say we’re a fair way off seeing this implemented any time soon, however it’s exciting to see the whole technology behind lenses being rethought for the first time in history!

Lomography launch their ‘Neptune’ Art system

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This week Lomography launched their ‘Neptune’ art lens system for just about every interchangeable lens mount system out there. After a successful Kickstarter campaign the lens system, which comes complete with 35mm f/3.5, 50mm f/2.8 and 80mm f/4 lenses as well as a mount for all three is now available on the Lomo website (here) for £840-£860.

Honestly I don’t get this one. And I’m a big Lomo fan. Personally I don’t see what this system is offering other than a drop in bokeh styling system that will change the look of your background bokeh. For me Lomo is all about film, it’s all about low cost, kind of low quality lenses that we love despite themselves. These lenses aren’t particularly impressive optically, they also aren’t unique enough in their look to justify such expense. I mean, for the same price you can just as easily pick up a used Canon 24-70mm MkI, or a Tamron/Sigma alternative brand new.

If we compare these to something like Lensbaby lenses, we see a far less stylised image at a far more expensive price. I’ve included this in this weeks news because no matter what I think, plenty of people will still go out there and buy this system. Quite why will probably always elude me.

Shutterstock ban ‘Unnatural’ photographs of Apes and Monkeys

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I’m going to finish this weeks news with a bit of genuinely positive news. Stock photography agency Shutterstock has this week decided to ban any images of Apes and Monkeys in unnatural poses, environments and outfits. Essentially, if it’s not living a normal life, they don’t want the images. No more cute monkeys dressed as babies and no more primate exploitation. Well, on Shutterstock at least.

It may only be a small step towards better animal welfare when it comes to media and advertising, this is still a big one, with other agencies likely to follow suit. One would imagine that could well lead to more awareness for animal welfare on the whole when it comes to photography, from looking after endangered species, to simply not exploiting animals for the sake of advertising.

Stock photography websites are huge in our industry, with an eye watering amount of contributors. By issuing guidelines like this to their photographers agencies have the power to create their own code of ethics within the industry, especially when it comes to animals. I really enjoyed reading about this latest statement from Shutterstock and I hope to see other agencies follow suit, as well as Shutterstock following this up by looking at what else they can do to look after our worlds wildlife. Let’s not forget the wildlife photography makes up a huge part of every stock agencies collections, so they really are in the driving seat here!

That’s all for this week folks, thanks for reading! Comments in the section below as usual!

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