DPReview: Digital Photography Review DPReview on Facebook DPReview on Twitter DPReview on Google Plus
The Digital Photography Review Newsletter
The most popular weekly photography newsletter, with over 400,000 subscribers
Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Welcome to the 670th Digital Photography Review newsletter!

With wildfire smoke blanketing the Seattle area for much of the past week, we've barely seen the sky in days (or much further than a couple of miles in any direction, really). But that hasn't stopped us from getting out and shooting, and in the past week we've published several galleries, including a first look at the very lovely new Voigtländer 65mm F2 Macro APO-Lanthar and Fujifilm's very different, but equally lovely GF 23mm F4.

We also put the final touches on our review of the new Canon EOS 6D Mark II, and I spent some time comparing the entry-level Canon EOS Rebel SL2 to its nearest competitor, Nikon's D3400.

Canon EOS 6D Mark II Review

Canon's 'entry level' full frame EOS 6D Mark II improves upon its predecessor in terms of resolution, autofocus performance, burst shooting speed, video shooting and even battery life. But are the improvements enough to make you want one?

Click here to read our in-depth review of the Canon EOS 6D Mark II

Entry-level DSLRs compared: Canon EOS Rebel SL2 vs. Nikon D3400

How do the latest entry-level offerings from Canon and Nikon square up? We take a feature-by-feature look.

Read more about how the Canon EOS Rebel SL2 and Nikon D3400 stack up

Fujifilm GF 23mm F4 sample gallery

After spending some time with the portrait-friendly GF 110mm F2, we've been taking a wider view with Fujifilm's GF 23mm F4, an 18mm equivalent lens for the company's medium-format system.

Take a closer look at how the Fujifilm GF 23mm F4 performs

Voigtländer 65mm F2 Macro APO-Lanthar: sample gallery and user impressions

The Voigtländer 65mm F2 Macro APO-Lanthar is a manual focus lens for Sony E mount cameras. We recently got our hands on one – read on for details on our experience, along with sample images.

Check out our gallery of samples from the new Voigtländer 65mm F2 Macro APO-Lanthar

Marketing isn't a dirty word (but camera companies are not your friends)

Camera makers' product decisions are regularly criticized and second-guessed, but some of this angst stems from a misunderstanding of the role marketing plays. Camera companies want your money, but they're rarely stupid or malicious, argues Richard Butler.

Click here to read more about marketing

Barney

News updates
Published Monday, August 7, 2017 7:26:00 PM GMT

The next version of PlayStation’s Gran Turismo Sport will comes with a 'Scapes' photo mode that lets you capture professional looking photographs of exotic cars, with a surprising amount of ‘photographic’ control over the way the images look.

Published Monday, August 7, 2017 7:07:00 PM GMT

Godox just released a set of studio portraits captured with an iPhone 7 Plus and the company's upcoming Godox A1 smartphone flash and flash trigger. Intrigued?

Published Monday, August 7, 2017 6:04:00 PM GMT

National Geographic and Airbnb have teamed up to give two people the eclipse experience of a lifetime: viewing the whole thing from a private jet.

Published Monday, August 7, 2017 5:26:00 PM GMT

It turns out the "read" and "write" speed written on your memory card is a bit idealistic. In a real-world shootout, YouTuber Tom David Frey shows how real-world performance falls short of the marketing.

Published Monday, August 7, 2017 3:42:00 PM GMT

Apple has officially joined Instagram. If you're a fan of great iPhone photography, you'll definitely want to follow the tech company's new account for inspiration and the chance to have your own #ShotoniPhone photos featured.

Published Monday, August 7, 2017 3:13:00 PM GMT

GoPro's financial fortunes have finally made a turn for the better. After multiple rounds of layoffs, cuts and restructuring work, the company's Q2 2017 financial results showed strong growth.

Published Monday, August 7, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

How do the latest entry-level offerings from Canon and Nikon square up? We take a feature-by-feature look.

Published Sunday, August 6, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

Photographer Markus Hofstaetter had to build a pond in his backyard and play with some serious fire to capture this wedding portrait in a single exposure. Find out how he did it.

Published Sunday, August 6, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

Anti-bullying organization Ditch the Label covers some of the most common, funniest, and also saddest 'Insta Lies' people share through the popular photo sharing service. Any of these look familiar to you?

Published Sunday, August 6, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Camera makers' product decisions are regularly criticized and second-guessed, but some of this angst stems from a misunderstanding of the role marketing plays. Camera companies want your money, but they're rarely stupid or malicious, argues Richard Butler.

Published Saturday, August 5, 2017 4:00:00 PM GMT

Great composition is about a lot more than the 'rule of thirds' and 'golden spiral.' In this episode of The Art of Photography, Ted Forbes dives into two key compositional concepts: simplification and negative space.

Published Saturday, August 5, 2017 2:00:00 PM GMT

Erez Marom tells the story behind this magical snow-laden scene, captured in Myvatn, northern Iceland under the light of a full moon.

Published Saturday, August 5, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Lens manufacturer Venus Optics unveiled its Laowa-branded 7.5mm F2 earlier this year. Take a look at the view from one of the widest lenses available for Micro Four Thirds.

Published Friday, August 4, 2017 5:38:00 PM GMT

The Yongnuo YN686EX-RT is the Chinese company's first Lithium ion powered speedlight, built to work as both master and slave for the Canon RT 2.4 GHz system.

Published Friday, August 4, 2017 3:35:00 PM GMT

The Dell Canvas, Dell's 27-inch 'world's first horizontal smart workspace', is finally available to buy... and a little bit cheaper than initially expected if you act fast.

Published Friday, August 4, 2017 2:55:00 PM GMT

In a leaked memo, the US Army, the largest branch of the United States armed forces, called for all units to "discontinue use of DJI equipment," citing "cyber vulnerabilities."

Published Friday, August 4, 2017 2:30:00 PM GMT

The Apple HomePod firmware leak has revealed more information about the video capabilities of the upcoming iPhone models, and it looks like Apple is going to seriously upgrade the phone's front-facing camera.

Published Friday, August 4, 2017 2:26:00 PM GMT

Unsplash founder Mikael Cho responds to the criticism that his creation devalues photography, and shares his thoughts on the future of photography and the true value of a photograph that's given away for free.

Published Friday, August 4, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

After spending some time with the portrait-friendly GF 110mm F2, we've been taking a wider view with Fujifilm's GF 23mm F4, an 18mm equivalent lens for the company's medium-format system.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 8:00:00 PM GMT

Backscatter Underwater Video & Photo took the new Nikon 8-15mm F3.5-4.5E ED fisheye zoom lens for a spin beneath the waves. As usual, they came back with some awesome shots, and a few thoughts about this impressive little lens.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 6:39:00 PM GMT

A host of adapters have been launched that allow owners of the Fujifilm GFX to attach new and historic lenses from other brands to their mirrorless medium format camera.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 5:56:00 PM GMT

MIT has developed a new machine learning technology that can retouch an image before you even snap the photo... and it's lightweight enough that it can work on an ordinary smartphone.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 4:55:00 PM GMT

According to information that was found in the source code of the Apple HomePod firmware, Apple's AI technology might be implemented in the iPhone camera to optimize camera settings for specific scenes in real time.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 4:19:00 PM GMT

Bowens employees are reportedly furious at how the lighting company's liquidation is being handled, claiming they were not paid for July and are required to continue working, without pay, for the duration of the process.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 2:29:00 PM GMT

If you're looking to learn Photoshop, or pick up a few nifty new tips, Adobe's got you covered with a brand new YouTube tutorial series called '3, 2, 1 ... Photoshop!'

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 1:20:00 PM GMT

Miggo is back, and they're crowdfunding an interesting new 'Agua' line of waterproof bags designed to carry DSLRs as well as the DJI Mavic and Spark drones.

Published Thursday, August 3, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

When Richard joined the beta program for Adobe's Lightroom over ten years ago, he fully admits he was just looking for easy access to a decent Raw processor. He wasn't expecting it to totally change the way he worked.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 8:43:00 PM GMT

NASA is one-upping every photographer out there for the August eclipse. While we're stuck on Earth, they'll be chasing the eclipse in jets to capture the "clearest images of the sun's corona to date."

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 7:58:00 PM GMT

Researchers with the University of California, Santa Barbara and NVIDIA have developed a new type of 'computational zoom' tech that will let you change a photo's perspective and focal length in post.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 7:52:00 PM GMT

Huge news out of the photo industry today. It seems Blackstone is considering selling their 45% stake in Leica Camera, and Zeiss is one of the potential buyers... but only if they can buy a majority stake.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 5:52:00 PM GMT

YouTuber Marques Brownlee got an exclusive first-look at the RED Hydrogen One: the modular smartphone from RED that features a holographic display and can be turned into a full-fledged cinema camera as you attach more and more modules.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 3:53:00 PM GMT

RED has teamed up with Apple to sell their most 'affordable' camera kit (just $15,000) exclusively through the Apple online store. You can also get demos of the camera system at select Apple stores.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 3:20:00 PM GMT

Light.co, the company behind the 16-module 52+ megapixel Light L16 camera that takes photos using up to 10 camera modules at a time, just released three full-res image samples for you to pixel peep.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 2:32:00 PM GMT

Nikon shooters looking for some budget glass will have something to celebrate very soon. Yongnuo will reportedly release two new lenses for Nikon F-mount very soon: a 40mm F2.8 pancake and a 100mm F2.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 2:28:00 PM GMT

Avid just released Media Composer First, a free version of its pro-level video editing software. Surprisingly, it only comes with a few omissions that most non-professionals will easily be able to live with.

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

Unsure of how to get started with drone photography? In this article, the first of a three-part series, we walk you through the basics of a drone system.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 8:25:00 PM GMT

From erupting volcanoes to fully-submerged surfers, the winners of National Geographic's Travel Photographer of the Year 2017 do not disappoint.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 7:31:00 PM GMT

According to a new court ruling, if your copyright registration is still 'pending' with the US Copyright Office, you won't able to file a copyright infringement lawsuit if someone steals one of your photos.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 6:48:00 PM GMT

VSCO—the brand known among photographers for its film-inspired presets and smartphone photo editing tools—is making its first foray into video with a new editing tool for its iOS app.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 5:28:00 PM GMT

The fortunes of Sony’s camera division have taken a turn for the better with a rise in first quarter sales and operating income thanks to 'high-value' cameras and booming smartphone sensor business.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 4:29:00 PM GMT

A group of photographers are working together to take gigapixel photography to the next level under a collective called VAST. They seek to create "exceptionally

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 3:34:00 PM GMT

A bride and groom who set out to destroy their wedding photographer's career will now have to pay $1.08 million in damages for the "defamatory, disparaging and malicious statements" they made.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:43:00 PM GMT

A lot of vintage lenses contain a Thorium coating, which is radioactive. So you should probably stay far away from these lenses, right? No... not really.

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 2:30:00 PM GMT

The Nikon 1 AW and 1 V3 mirrorless cameras are no longer available to order, and the Nikon 1 J5 is only available while supplies last. Is this the end of the Nikon 1 line?

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2017 1:00:00 PM GMT

There's wide, and there's the Nikkor Fisheye 8-15mm F3.5-4.5. We've spent some time shooting with this unusual zoom.