Digital Photography Review Newsletter: Wednesday, 20 August 2014

	Digital Photography Review Newsletter Wednesday, 20 August 2014 The most popular weekly photography newsletter, with over 300,000 subscribers
Welcome to the 523rd Digital Photography Review newsletter. As Photokina draws closer, rumors abound about what's coming around the corner. What's on your wish list? A Canon EOS 7D Mark II? A Nikon 'D750'? It's still a little too far out for us to know anything official, but both cameras - if real - would certainly be exciting. Back in the real world, here are a few other content highlights from the past few days: What's NEX? Sony Alpha a5100 first impressions review As Sony introduces the Alpha a5100 interchangeable lens camera, it officially leaves behind the NEX moniker its mirrorless line originated with. The a5100 picks up where the NEX-5 series leaves off, combining the 24.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor of the a6000 and the more compact footprint of the NEX-5T. The a5100 also inherits many of the a6000's good qualities, including its impressive autofocus system. The a5100 also one-ups its big brother by offering 1080/60p video at 50Mbps. We took a hands-on, preliminary look at the a5100. Click here to read our first-impressions review of the Sony Alpha a5100 Accessory Review: Drobo Mini RAID The Drobo Mini is a portable RAID storage solution with four HD bays, speedy Thunderbolt connectivity, and desktop-based monitoring software. Ideal for photography and videography, the Drobo Mini has many features that might make it attractive to enthusiast and professional photographers and videographers. See how the Drobo Mini fared in our review. Read our review of the Drobo Mini RAID Site News: New 'Features' Index Page! Just a reminder, we've created a new index page for non-review content. This is where you'll find articles and news stories, arranged in categories according to theme - everything from interviews and show reports to accessory reviews. Read more and check out our new features index page Readers' Showcase: Astrophotography In all the talk about new gear, it's easy to overlook the end result of our shared passion - the pursuit of stunning images. Among our large community there are some incredibly talented photographers who share their work in our forums, galleries and photo challenges, and from time to time we like to showcase some of the best work on our homepage. Recently we asked users of our astrophotography forum to submit their favorite shots and as usual, the images were excellent. Click here to take a look at our gallery of readers' images DPR reader loses camera in fall, sustains injury and lives to tell the tale Let's get the important thing out of the way first - Greg Theulings is fine. His Fujifilm X-T1, on the other hand, is not. Keen landscape photographer and DPR forum member, Theulings was on a trip to to Luxembourg and the German Eifel photographing the some rapids when he slipped on a rock, fell into the water and dislocated his shoulder. His camera and lens were destroyed, but his memory card survived. See his photos and read his story - and maybe take a little extra care on those rocks when you're out on your last photo trip of the summer. Click here to read more and see a gallery of Greg's images What's coming up? Business as usual - we're finishing up our reviews of the Panasonic GH4 and Sony Alpha 7S, and hard at work adding more to our detailed first-impressions review of the D810 - specifically looking at the AF system. We've also got a couple of real-world samples galleries coming soon as well - one from the very nice Samsung NX3000 and another from Fujifilm's new weather-sealed 18-135mm X-mount zoom lens. See you next week! Barney GearShop update - a message from the team Now is the time to save $300 on the Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 lens (24-100mm equivalent). With its low-profile, fast autofocus, weather-sealed body, and speedy 9fps shooting speed, this handy unit will make the best of travel companions. Another $300 savings deal awaits in the Olympus XZ-2 enthusiast compact. This camera offers a hand grip for those occasions where you want to have sure hold while shooting 1080p HD video of your adventures. It will accept a dedicated flash, but also includes a built-in flash. You may not need to use either one, however, as the fast F1.8-2.5 zoom lens (28-112mm equivalent) makes it easy to use available light to get the shot. Until next week - the GearShop Team
News updates Canon offers three new wireless Pixma inkjet photo printers Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 6:52:40 PM GMT Canon has announced three new Pixma All-in-One inkjet printers, the Canon Pixma MG7520, MG6620 and MG5620 (MG7550, MG6650 and MG5650 in Europe). They all offer wireless support with Apple AirPrint connectivity, as well as compatibility with Canon's Easy-PhotoPrint+ web application and Pixma Printing Solutions. Read more Read full story → Nikon announces service advisory for D810 'bright spots' Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 4:52:00 PM GMT Nikon has announced a service advisory for the Nikon D810, in response to reports of 'bright spots' in images taken at long shutter speeds and in 1.2X crop mode. According to an announcement on Nikon's website, affected cameras will be serviced free of charge. Apparently, the issue only affects cameras within a certain serial number range, and if you're lucky enough to have got hold of a D810 already, you can check the serial number of your camera against Nikon's database via the company's service and support pages. Click through for a link.  Read full story → Sony Xperia Z2 camera review Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 7:01:00 AM GMT The Xperia Z2 is Sony's latest flagship Android smartphone and a solid upgrade to its predecessor, the Xperia Z1. Though the Z2 offers nearly identical camera specs to its predecessor, its 20.7MP 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor is capable of recording 4K video, unlike the Z1. We've put the Sony Xperia Z2 through our usual testing routine to find how image quality compares to the preceding model, and how the new features perform in real-life shooting. Read more Read full story → Profoto confirms Nikon compatible B1 update for September Published on Tuesday, August 19, 2014 1:00:00 AM GMT Profoto, the Swedish flash manufacturer, has confirmed that a Nikon compatible TTL remote will be available for its popular B1 off-camera flash on September 15th - just in time for Photokina. The Air Remote TTL-N will give Nikon photographers the same TTL functionality enjoyed by Canon shooters with its Air Remote TTL-C since the November 2013 launch of the B1 flash. Read more Read full story → What's NEX? Sony Alpha a5100 first impressions review Published on Monday, August 18, 2014 4:00:00 AM GMT As Sony introduces the Alpha a5100 interchangeable lens camera, it officially leaves behind the NEX moniker its mirrorless line originated with. The a5100 picks up where the NEX-5 series leaves off, combining the 24.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor of the a6000 and the more compact footprint of the NEX-5T. The a5100 also inherits many of the a6000's good qualities, including its impressive autofocus system. The a5100 also one-ups its big brother by offering 1080/60p video at 50Mbps. We took a hands-on, preliminary look at the a5100. Read more Read full story → Hands-on with the Sony Alpha a5100 Published on Monday, August 18, 2014 4:00:00 AM GMT The Sony Alpha a5100 is a petite, compact mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with a lot to offer. We've had access to a pre-production sample for a few days, and as well as a full first impressions review we also got hands-on with Sony's latest Alpha. Click through for a tour of the a5100's major features. Read full story → Sony announces Alpha a5100 compact mirrorless camera Published on Monday, August 18, 2014 4:00:00 AM GMT Sony has announce its new Alpha a5100 mirrorless camera, which takes the 'guts' from the a6000 and puts it into the compact body inherited from the NEX-5 line. The a5100 offers the same 24.3MP sensor with on-chip phase detection as the a6000, along with a 3" LCD that flips up 180 degrees for taking self-portraits. The a5100 has impressive video features for its price, including support for the XAVC S codec, which allows for 1080/60p/24p recording at 50Mbps. Read full story → Readers' Showcase: Astrophotography Published on Sunday, August 17, 2014 9:00:00 AM GMT In all the talk about new gear, it's easy to overlook the end result of our shared passion - the pursuit of stunning images. Among our large community there are some incredibly talented photographers who share their work in our forums, galleries and photo challenges, and from time to time we like to showcase some of the best work on our homepage. Recently we asked users of our astrophotography forum to submit their favorite shots and as usual, the images were excellent. See gallery Read full story → DPR reader loses camera in fall, sustains injury and lives to tell the tale Published on Saturday, August 16, 2014 9:00:00 AM GMT Let's get the important thing out of the way first - Greg Theulings is fine. His Fujifilm X-T1, on the other hand, is not. Keen landscape photographer and DPR forum member, Theulings was on a trip to to Luxembourg and the German Eifel photographing the some rapids when he slipped on a rock, fell into the water and dislocated his shoulder. His camera and lens were destroyed, but his memory card survived. See his photos and read his story - and maybe take a little extra care on those rocks when you're out on your last photo trip of the summer. Read full story → Rare Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L USM goes on sale in UK Published on Friday, August 15, 2014 3:56:00 PM GMT A copy of one of the largest interchangeable lenses for SLRs ever produced has emerged for at a UK retailer. Canon's massive EF 1200mm f/5.6 L USM is a rare beast, and the longest lens in the world with AF. MPB Photographic describes it as being in mint condition and has priced the lens at £99,000. Read more Read full story → ESA's ATV-5 equipped with camera to document atmospheric breakup Published on Friday, August 15, 2014 12:01:00 AM GMT The European Space Agency's ATV-5 supply vessel docked a couple of days ago with the International Space Station. Not just loaded with cargo for the ISS, the ATV-5 is also carrying newly developed camera technology which will record the final moments of ATV-5's breakup on re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The Break-Up Camera was designed in only nine months and will relay images from the last 20 seconds of the vessel's life to a capsule that can survive the extreme heat of reentry. Learn more Read full story → Accessory Review: Drobo Mini RAID Published on Thursday, August 14, 2014 3:00:00 AM GMT The Drobo Mini is a portable RAID storage solution with four HD bays, speedy Thunderbolt connectivity, and desktop-based monitoring software. Ideal for photography and videography, the Drobo Mini has many features that might make it attractive to enthusiast and professional photographers and videographers. See how the Drobo Mini fared in our review. Read full story → Manfrotto announces carbon fiber BeFree tripod Published on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 6:40:00 PM GMT Manfrotto has announced a carbon fiber version of its BeFree tripod, previously available only in aluminum. The lighter carbon fiber BeFree weighs 1.1 kg/2.4 lbs (as compared to the 1.4 kg/3 lb aluminum version) and features a reverse folding design that allows it shrink to 15.7 inches (~40cm) in length when collapsed and stored. Designed for travel, it can hold up to 4 kg/8.8 lbs and is available now in the US for $389. Read more Read full story → Samsung announces Galaxy Alpha with metal body and 12MP camera Published on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 4:40:00 PM GMT Samsung has announced the Galaxy Alpha - the first Galaxy smartphone with a metal frame. With its 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED screen the Galaxy Alpha is similar in dimensions to the Galaxy S5 Mini but 6.7mm thinner. The device comes with a 12MP rear camera which is unusual in that no other current high-end Samsung offers this sort of megapixel-count but no information on sensor size and technology is currently available.  Read full story → Weather Channel announces photo contest winners Published on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 10:00:00 AM GMT The Weather Channel has announced the winners of its inaugural photo contest. Photographers submitted images that best capture the spirit of the Weather Channel's 'It's Amazing Out There' tagline. From over 30,000 entries, one Grand Prize Winner was selected along with three finalists from each category - Living World, Adventure and the Elements. Take a look at the winning photos. See gallery Read full story →
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