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About John Aldred

John Aldred is based in Scotland and photographs people in the wild and animals in the studio. You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube.

The Loupedeck Live S console for creatives and live streamers is now available at retailers

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Loupedeck has released a new control console for your computer. This one’s the Loupedeck Live S and as the name suggests, it’s designed for and targeted specifically toward live streamers. It’s essentially a cut down version of the Loupedeck Live with a significantly lower price point. It’s launching on Indiegogo with a pledge price of €129 (around $138). That’s a far cry from the $269 the Loupedeck Live demands.

Despite presenting a more streamlined approach for live streamers, though, it’ll still work with all of the apps you’re used to, including Lightroom, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro as well as the other native integrations. Obviously, you won’t get quite the capability you will with the extra buttons and knobs on the Loupedeck Live and Loupedeck CT but at this price point, it’s worth checking out even if you don’t stream.

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TTArtisan releases new 11mm f/2.8 full-frame 180° fisheye lens for Nikon F and Canon EF mounts

TTArtisan has announced a new 11mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens for full-frame Nikon F mount and Canon EF mount DSLRs. Yeah, I know, a DSLR lens in 2022! What are they thinking? Well, it looks like might be bringing out some dedicated mirrorless versions, too, although so far, it only appears to be Nikon F and Canon EF mount ones that are available – although they can be easily adapted!

The new lens offers a wide 180° field of view with an also wide f/2.8 aperture. It has a built-in lens hood and a minimum focus distance of only 17 centimetres. It contains 12 elements in 10 groups, including 4 high refractive index elements to help control distortion and spherical aberrations for improved sharpness. An extra-low dispersion element helps to reduce colour fringing and chromatic aberration.

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First images leak of upcoming non-Pro DJI Mini 3 drone show no obstacle avoidance sensors

Just over a week ago, word came that DJI had registered an upcoming cut-down DJI Mini 3 non-Pro version with the FCC. Now, we’re getting our first proper look at the drone according to reliable DJI leaker, DealsDrone, on Twitter.

From looking at the images, the design looks like a bit of a cross between the DJI Mini 2 and the more recent DJI Mini 3 Pro. But it’s pretty clear that the obstacle avoidance sensors are gone, bringing it more in line with the Mini 2, but with the Mini 2 and Mini 3 Pro having similar capabilities already, aside from the obstacle avoidance, how is this not just a slightly redesigned Mini 2?

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RED has been granted a new patent covering Compressed RAW in all video-capable devices including smartphones

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The words “RED” and “patent” are pretty familiar bedfellows. They’ve used their raw video patents to strongarm every other camera manufacturer from being able to implement raw video in their camera without RED’s approval (and a hefty fee), even if those companies have developed their own raw video technologies. Now, they’ve filed – and been granted – a new patent over compressed raw video.

The new US patent number 11,503,294, joints three other RED patents relating to compressed raw video (8,872,933, 9,479,749 and 9,787,878), but this new one seems to encompass devices other than just cinema cameras. In fact, pretty much any device that’s potentially capable of capturing compressed raw video, including smartphones and even sensor technologies they don’t own or use – like Sigma’s Foveon.

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Nikon suspends sales of Nikkor Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S due to orders that “exceed our expectations”

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I don’t know how long camera manufacturers will continue to think that we believe their “we didn’t know it was going to be so popular!” excuse. Of course, they knew it was going to be popular. because its predecessor was also extremely popular. Still, Nikon has posted an announcement stating that demand “exceeds our expectations”, so they’ve suspended sales of the new Nikkor Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S lens.

All I hear when companies claim they “didn’t anticipate the demand” is Homer Simpson saying, “It’s my first day“. Fortunately, some sellers still have them in stock for now. But once they sell out, it might be a while before they get more. It’s not even a new lens, either. It was announced last October. Here’s what Nikon has to say…

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Watch: How to get super clean images when shooting high ISO raw files

The ISO capabilities in DSLRs and mirrorless cameras today is pretty amazing. But it’s not perfect. You’re still going to see an increase in noise as you ramp up the ISO, even if it’s not quite as bad as it used to be. But we all love clean, noiseless images, don’t we? Along with the improvements in ISO performance, we’ve also seen big leaps in noise reduction technology. But many of them still aren’t perfect, often eliminating noise at the expense of detail.

For some images, you really do need to keep that detail and in this video from Scott Walker at Walks on the Wild Side, we learn three different methods of noise reduction. These methods include simple Lightroom Edits, Topaz Denoise AI and a pretty complex method that’s very involved but “fixes everything”. He also covers a “Pre-noise reduction” process you can do before you bring your photo into 3rd party software.

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FoCal goes mobile with their new iPhone and Android app for lens autofocus calibration anywhere

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The shift to mirrorless has largely helped to eliminate one of the biggest issues of DSLRs; Focus calibration. And although mirrorless is now selling at a higher rate than DSLRs, there are still a lot of them out there. For example, even though I bought half a dozen Panasonic mirrorless cameras for video a couple of years ago, I still have 14 or so Nikon DSLRs. Every time I get a new autofocus lens, I need to calibrate it to each body I plan to use it with.

One of the leading products to help with calibrating your DSLR autofocus lenses is Reikan FoCal. This software makes you shoot a bunch of images and dial various settings in your camera in order to give you a result that ensures sharp focus every time. Well, now, FoCal’s gone mobile with a new app for iOS, iPadOS and Android.

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Nanlite expands its FS LED lighting range with the bi-colour FS-150B and FS-200B

Nanlite has today announced new bi-colour versions of its popular FS-150 and FS-200 LED lights. The new FS-150B and FS-200B are essentially the same as their daylight versions, but with the addition of bi-colour capabilities, offering a range of 2700K to 6500K with a 96 CRI and 97 TLCI. There are a few differences, though. There’s an extra button for switching between modes, and there’s an extra lighting effect.

The new lights also feature both Constant Output mode, for when you don’t want to have to re-meter every time you adjust the colour, and Maximum Output mode, for when all that matters is how bright it will go. But it features quite a few similarities, like the quiet and efficient cooling system, the familiar Bowens mount and remote control from the Nanlink smartphone app over Bluetooth.

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This ultimate guide to frame rates takes you down a super geeky rabbit hole but you need to know this stuff

Taran Van Hemert, formerly a video editor at Linus Tech Tips, doesn’t post all that often on his YouTube channel. But when he does, you know it’s going to be something worth listening to. This time around, he’s talking about video frame rates. Specifically mixing video frame rates on your video editing timeline. With so many cameras out there all shooting different frame rates and nobody able to agree on the “best”, it’s become a bit of a problem.

This video is fairly short by Taran’s standards, coming in at only an hour and a half. Yes, I realise that’s not a short video by any stretch of the imagination, but when you consider that his Premiere Pro Editing tutorial is four hours and twenty minutes long, it’s not that bad at all, really.

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Fuji announces the TG-BT1 Tripod Grip for vlogging and remote camera control

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Fuji has announced its newest accessory for its range of mirrorless cameras, the TG-BT1 Tripod Grip. It’s designed for Fuji’s X series cameras to enhance mobility and ease of use handheld, particularly for video. It folds together as a handle, letting you use it for things like vlogging, with an array of buttons to let you control the camera directly from the handle and the legs also unfold to form a mini tripod.

Releasing such a device has become a common trend amongst mirrorless camera manufacturers as each company start to realise that vlogging is a thing for which people are using their products. We’ve seen similar products from Sony, Canon and Panasonic, and now it’s Fuji’s turn.

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