In Other News: Sony updates A7R III and IV cameras, Rokinon announces 24mm f/1.8 FE lens and more
posted Friday, April 9, 2021 at 4:15 PM EDT
Sony quietly announces updated versions of the A7R III and A7R IV cameras
In somewhat odd fashion, Sony announced updated versions of its Sony A7R III and Sony A7R IV mirrorless cameras. Earlier this week, Sony published a video, seen below, showing the A7R III camera. At first glance, there's nothing unusual about the video, except that Sony published a video this week of a camera from 2017. However, upon closer inspection, Sony had added 'a' to the end of the camera's model name. Similarly, Sony has done the same thing to its A7R IV product page.
So what has changed? Not much. The new 'a' suffix models have an upgraded LCD. The screen is the same size, but it now has 2.359M dots versus 1.44M dots. The Sony logo under the LCD monitor has been removed in the process. The 'a' models also support USB 3.2. As of now, Sony hasn't said much about the upgraded models, including when they'll be available.
Rokinon announces AF Rokinon 24mm f/1.8 wide-angle lens for full-frame Sony E-mount cameras
Rokinon has announced the AF 24mm f/1.8 full-frame lens for Sony E-mount cameras. The compact wide-angle lens is Rokinon's 11th autofocus lens designed for Sony mirrorless cameras. The lens weighs a mere 8.1 oz. and is just 2.8" long. The lens has weather sealing in five areas. The lens includes 11 elements in 8 groups, with two aspherical lenses, three high refractive index elements and a pair of extra-low dispersion elements.
To help deliver smooth bokeh, the lens includes a nine-bladed circular aperture. Autofocus is driven by a new stepping motor design. Rokinon promises fast, accurate and silent autofocus performance. The lens delivers a maximum magnification ratio of 0.21x. The Rokinon AF 24mm f/1.8 also includes a customizable focus-hold button, which will keep the lens locked at a specific autofocus distance. The user can also assign the focus hold button to other desired functions through the Custom Key Settings in their camera's menu.
The lens promises good control of spherical aberrations, and Rokinon states that the lens delivers edge-to-edge sharpness. Given its focal length and maximum aperture, the lens should also work well for astrophotography. To this end, Rokinon states that comatic aberration is well-controlled. Further, the lens includes an 'Astrophotography mode,' which moves and locks the lens to infinity focus. The Infinite Focus Confirmation LED will light in green when focus is achieved and will light in red if the lens is not at infinity focus.
The Rokinon AF 24mm f/1.8 lens is expected to arrive at authorized Rokinon retailers this June with a suggested retail price of $549.00 USD.
Collodion wet plate process photography with Adam Gibbs and Ken Miner
Photographer Adam Gibbs recently spent time with fellow photographer Ken Miner. Miner specializes in collodion wet plate photography. In the video below, Miner explains the process, and the pair capture some photos.
How to focus stack for landscape photography
Photographer and educator Brian Matiash posted a great video about focus stacking to his YouTube channel, and wrote an article for PetaPixel. Matiash goes beyond just explaining how to focus stack images for landscape photography, he starts in the field to discuss why you may need to focus stack in certain situations and how to set up your composition to ensure the best results. He also discusses how to use Photoshop to create your focus stack and what to do when the results aren't what you expected.
How to use the Calibration tool inside Adobe Lightroom to improve your photo editing
Australian travel photographer Pat Kay posted a great video this week to his YouTube channel. We first saw the video at PetaPixel, and it may dramatically improve how you edit your photos in Lightroom. The Calibration tool allows you to change the way that red, green and blue are mixed. You can use it to change the overall rendering of color in an image, remove color casts and make stylistic edits.
Another RAW vs JPEG comparison
Last week, we looked at Blake Rudis' video comparing JPEG vs. RAW images. In that video, Rudis converted the RAW image to a JPEG for his comparison. This time, he checks out a straight-from-the-camera JPEG image versus the same image as a RAW file. It's a fairer comparison, and Rudis learns some interesting things about how cameras produce JPEG files.
Sky replacement in Photoshop and a pack of free skies
Colin Smith of PhotoshopCAFE has a new video showing how to replace the sky in a photo using Adobe Photoshop's 'Sky Replacement' feature. If you click through to YouTube on the video below, you can find a link in the video description to download a sky and clouds pack for free.
7 landscape photo editing mistakes to avoid
We're wrapping up this week's roundup with a 'what not to do' video rather than another 'how-to' video. Photographer Mads Peter Iversen has a new video showing seven common landscape photo editing mistakes you'll want to avoid. Editing is challenging, and it's all too easy to build bad habits. If you want to improve your photo editing, the video below is well worth checking out.