Digital Photography Review Newsletter: Saturday, 18 February 2012

Welcome to the 468th Digital Photography Review newsletter. Panasonic DMC-GX1 reviewed The Panasonic GF1 was the third mirrorless camera to be announced and one of the first that offered the capability and pricing to match its classic small, serious camera design. So it's understandable that enthusiasts were disappointed as time passed and no replacement appeared. Now, with the GX1, that replacement is here and we've put it through its paces to see if it offers enough to impress GF1 owners (and tempt them away from the increasingly attractive alternatives). Equally, we've looked at how comfortably the GX1 sits alongside the less-expensive G3. Click here to see how it fares. Lensbaby Edge 80 The Lensbaby range has come a long way in the past few years, offering increasingly sophisticated products but staying true to its creative, fun, selective focus origins. Now, to add to its increasingly controllable tilt mechanisms, Lensbaby has added an 80mm F2.8 insert lens. Unlike the existing lenses, the Edge 80 is optically corrected across the frame. Does this offer anything that the increasingly common 'miniature' mode on cameras doesn't? Click here to see what we thought. Canon PowerShot G1 X studio samples posted We're working towards an in-depth review of Canon's kit-lensed-DSLR-in-a-compact-camera model. And, as part of that process, we've shot our standard test scenes. The lens struggles at the close focus distances that we use, but it's interesting to see how it performs. Click here to see the results. Richard

News updates 'No Future in Photojournalism' - an interview with Dan Chung Published on Friday, February 10, 2012 12:04:44 AM GMT Award-winning photographer Dan Chung explains why he thinks there's no future for traditional photojournalism. As a staff photographer for the Guardian and Reuters, Dan has been touring the world's trouble-spots for more than a decade, supplying images to newspapers and websites all over the globe. But although he made his name as a stills photographer, he's been shooting increasing amounts of video both for the web and for TV. We asked him why. Read full story → Facebook Lightbox vs Google+: which better presents your images? Published on Friday, February 10, 2012 10:59:35 PM GMT Facebook is making its first steps towards taking photography seriously with the launch of its Lightbox display interface. The change, which is being rolled-out to users in the coming weeks, darkens the rest of the screen when a photo is selected and shows images in greater detail than before (up to 960 pixels in each dimension). How does this presentation compare to the more obviously photo-friendly Google+ service? Read full story → World Press Photo announces 2012 contest winners Published on Saturday, February 11, 2012 12:08:26 AM GMT Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda has won the World Press Photo 2011 award. The prize comes for his image of a woman holding a relative wounded during protests against Yemen's President Saleh. The World Press Photo Contest 2012 also awarded prizes in 18 other categories ranging from Arts and Entertainment to Portraits. Some of these images may be familiar from news coverage throughout the year but they make a compelling and inspiring reminder of the breadth of photography, even within the confines of press usage. Read full story → Book Review: Edward Weston, One Hundred Twenty Five Photographs Published on Monday, February 13, 2012 8:00:17 PM GMT Edward Weston was one of America's most celebrated photographers. Published to mark the 125th anniversary of his birth, Edward Weston: One Hundred Twenty Five Photographs showcases his work through both photographs and excerpts from his journals and letters. Adam Koplan takes a look at this lavish limited-edition collection. Read full story → Just posted: Our Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 in-depth review Published on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:43:44 AM GMT Just posted: Our in-depth review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1. As the long-awaited spiritual successor to the highly-regarded Lumix GF1, this enthusiast-oriented offering from Panasonic combines its 16MP sensor and latest touchscreen interface with a rangefinder-inspired design. The wealth of external dials and buttons speaks to the photographer who prefers to take control over camera operation and exposure settings. Is this the camera GF1 owners have been waiting for? Read our in-depth review to find out. Read full story → Lensbaby introduces Edge 80 telephoto optic Published on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 2:00:41 PM GMT Lensbaby has announced an addition to its unique range of selective-focus lenses, in the shape of the Edge 80. It's an 80mm F2.8 short telephoto that, unlike the company's existing products, is conventionally optically-corrected, and designed to be used as a tilt lens to produce 'slices' of sharp focus across the frame. It has a 12-blade circular aperture diaphragm for attractive out-of-focus blur, and a built-in extension tube for close focusing down to about 19". It's available to order now from the company's website for $300. Read full story → Just Posted: Lensbaby Edge 80 Quick Review Published on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 2:08:32 PM GMT Lensbaby's products have always rather swum against the tide, but the company's latest optic offers something a little different from its existing range. The Edge 80, as its name might suggest, is an 80mm optic that behaves almost - but not quite - like a conventional tilt lens. It's designed for selective focus applications, and its short telephoto focal length makes it ideally suited for subjects such as portraits and abstracts. In our quick review we have look at how the lens works, and what it can bring to your photography. Read full story → Scalado's Remove technology takes distractions out of photos Published on Tuesday, February 14, 2012 10:57:13 PM GMT Mobile imaging company Scalado has created a multi-shot technology that identifies differences to allow unwanted objects to be removed. The 'Remove' technology, currently being shown-off in the form of an Android app, is the first object removal software on a mobile device, it says. The technology allows passers-by to be selected or automatically removed, or cars to be simply edited out of the scene you're trying to capture, without the need for Photoshop. Read full story → CIPA starts to report growing mirrorless sales Published on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 12:06:48 AM GMT CIPA has started publishing sales and shipment figures for mirrorless cameras, giving a clear picture for their take-up around the world. The Japanese trade body will issue separate figures for 'Non-reflex' cameras and Single Lens Reflex cameras, rather than a combined 'interchangeable lens camera' category. The first batch of figures show mirrorless cameras are becoming increasingly popular in all major markets. Read full story → Article: Depth of Field in Macro Photography Published on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 7:50:26 PM GMT Controlling depth of field is of great importance when photographing subjects at a close distance. Nature photographer Erez Marom continues his series on macro photography with a discussion of the challenges this presents when shooting at extreme magnifications. He examines problems common to both beginners and experienced macro photographers and shares two approaches that allow you to overcome shallow depth of field. Read full story → DPReview is looking for a Mobile Imaging Editor Published on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 9:12:33 PM GMT Dpreview.com is looking for a Mobile Imaging Editor to join our growing team based in Seattle, WA. This is a unique opportunity to play a key part in the design and launch of an entirely new content area, and to drive the expansion of the dpreview platform into the fast moving world of connected photography. Read full story → Just Posted: Canon G1 X studio test samples Published on Thursday, February 16, 2012 2:00:21 AM GMT We've shot our standard test scene with Canon's latest PowerShot G1 X large-sensor compact camera. The images have been shot using a production-standard G1 X and, as usual, have been shot in both Raw and JPEG with all original files available for download. The images have been added to our comparison tool and the G1 X preview. They can also be called-upon from other reviews or the standalone comparison tool. Read full story → Former Olympus Chairman and President, and six others arrested over scandal Published on Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:16:06 PM GMT The former President and Chairman of Olympus who oversaw the financial mismanagement that has seen the company's value more than halved, has been arrested. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and his former vice-president Hisashi Mori who has also been arrested, were only forced out of the company after ex-CEO Michael Woodford spoke out, saying he was removed for uncovering their actions. Company auditor Hideo Yamada and four bankers connected to the cover-up of billions of dollars-worth of investment losses were also arrested. (from Reuters) Read full story → Samsung US announces rugged and waterproof SD cards Published on Friday, February 17, 2012 8:58:48 PM GMT Samsung US is showing off a range of tough, waterproof and magnetproof SDHC and Micro SDHC cards. The range includes several high-speed versions in addition to the ones announced in Europe last July. The latest cards include 'Extreme Speed' Class 10 16Gb cards (24MB/s read, 21MB/s write), and 'High Speed' 32Gb (24MB/s read, 17MB/s write) cards also described as Class 10. Read full story →