March 2016

Sony a6300: A nearly perfect camera if you can live with the controls

Sony Alpha a6300 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm LensAlmost every photographer I know wishes their camera was smaller and lighter. But of course they don’t want to give up speed or features. This is particularly true with those of us clinging to our DSLRs, but constantly eyeing the mirrorless category for new models, as they creep up on our larger cameras in capability. With the launch of its , yet another set of barriers to moving to mirrorless have come down. I’ve been shooting with one since its launch and while I’ll be doing a more-detailed review, I wanted to get my preliminary thoughts out.

360-degree photos, Virtual Reality, and what they mean for photographers: Some thoughts

With the sudden interest in 360-degree photos and videos – along with a variety of new products for capturing them – it is natural to ask how they will be viewed, and what they might mean for photographers. This is a rapidly-changing area, but with today’s official launch of the Oculus Rift VR headset, it’s a good time to take stock of where we are so far – both in image capture and viewing.

Adobe updates Lightroom, Photoshop, and adds intelligent search to Lightroom Web

Adobe continues to deliver on its promise of steady updates for photographers subscribing to its Creative Cloud Photography plan. This week, Adobe updated the desktop versions of Lightroom and Photoshop with lots of bug fixes (especially to Lightroom), new camera and lens support (including for the new ), and (finally) an updated UI for Adobe Camera Raw. Lightroom for the web has also been enhanced with intelligent object-recognition-based indexing for more powerful search, like this one for trees in my online collections…

Sony HX80: For those desperate to get a tiny superzoom

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX80 Digital CameraIf you really need a 30x zoom (roughly 24mm-720mm in full-frame equivalent terms) that will fit in your shirt pocket, the might fit the bill. It has the usual nicely-speced Sony electronics, backing up its relatively-small 18MP 1/2.3-inch sensor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support Adobe RGB, and it doesn’t support RAW, so it’s not likely to be the right solution for you. If you don’t need the 30x zoom, you’re also better off getting a similar-sized model that does have those features, like the  (for a similar price). You can pre-order the now from B&H for $350, and it is expected to ship in mid-April.

Nikon expands D750 recall to include units made in first half of 2015

Nikon has expanded its recall of DSLRs, one of the few gltiches that has marred this otherwise amazing camera. It is for the same symptom – an un-naturally-shaped flare when shooting in to certain lighting conditions. The recall originally affected only cameras built in a small window in 2014, but has been extended to those manufactured through June, 2015. Fortunately, it is easy enough to check if your camera is affected on .