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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.

These are the five top tools and features Photoshop needs that Affinity Photo has

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Until just a few short years ago, pretty much the only serious player in the game when it photo editing was Photoshop. Sure, there was always GIMP, but it hasn’t ever really been a serious contender (sorry, but it’s true). But in those last few years, we’ve seen quite a few potential hopefuls come up and really eat a chunk of Adobe’s share.

One of the biggest names amongst them has been Affinity Photo, which offers many similar features to Photoshop, but also has a few unique tricks up its sleeve. Tricks that some people wish Adobe would pay attention to and add to Photoshop – at least according to this wish list from the Abbey Esparza at Photo Manipulation.

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Laowa has released an automatic aperture version of their 7.5mm f/2 lens for Micro Four Thirds

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Third-party lenses are wonderful things. They prevent us from being locked those manufactured solely by the company that makes our cameras. It provides us with options that the camera manufacturers don’t even offer. For some systems, though, they don’t always offer the same feature set as OEM lenses. For Micro Four Thirds, that sometimes means no automatic aperture.

Laowa’s original 7.5mm f/2 lens for MFT was one such lens. So, they’ve now announced a new 7.5mm f/2 lens for MFT which updates the old one with automatic aperture capability, allowing you to control your aperture from the camera itself and have that setting stored in the EXIF data of your images.

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Here are the satisfying shutter sounds of 18 different cameras from 35mm to 8×10 large format

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With so many cameras offering completely silent electronic shutter these days – which is understandable for things like weddings and events where the noise of shutters can be quite distracting – it’s easy to forget just how satisfying the sounds of some camera shutters can be. It’s also quite interesting how these sounds can take some of us back to our past when we hear certain sounds from cameras we’ve shot and have pleasant memories of.

In this video, photographer Sails Chong has recorded the sounds from 18 different camera shutters, and various other noises and compiled them into a very relaxing 5-minute video. The video covers everything from 35mm SLRs through Fuji, Hasselblad and Phase One medium format up to 8×10 large format.

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ZY Optics brings its Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 to Leica L mount

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ZY Optics has announced the release of their Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 lens for L mount. The fast aperture manual focus lens is designed for use with full-frame mirrorless cameras and is compatible with the complete line of L mount cameras from Sigma, Panasonic and Leica.

The Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 was initially offered in full-frame format with Sony E mount in 2014. A Mark II came in 2017 and it was then refreshed in 2019 with a new Mark III version. The Mark III was still available in Sony E mount but also Nikon Z and Canon RF, too. Today’s release now makes it available for every full-frame mirrorless system currently available.

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Samsung’s new 50-megapixel JN1 sensor has the smallest pixels in the world

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When it comes to smartphone camera sensors, there are only really two big players. Sony and Samsung. And while Sony might be selling more units, Samsung always seems to be pushing things that little bit further. Or, in this case, smaller. Samsung has announced its new 50-megapixel ISOCELL 2.0 JN1 sensor, boasting smaller pixels than even its 108-megapixel flagship smartphone sensor.

This tiny 1/2.8-inch chip has a pixel pitch of only 0.64μm compared to the slightly larger 0.7μm pixel pitch of Samsung’s ISOCELL HM2 108-megapixel 1/1.52-inch sensor. Yet they still manage to pack in their Smart-ISO tech along with the “Double Super PDAF” autofocus system. And it sounds like it’s basically just a drop-in replacement for existing 1/2.8″ devices.

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First specs leak of a possible Sony FE 100mm f/1.4 GM lens

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There have been one or two rumours that Sony might be about to introduce a 100mm f/1.4 GM lens. They may not be true, but it would be a great lens for Sony to add to their lineup. Nikon has its 105mm f/1.4 and while there is an FE mount version of Sigma’s 105mm f/1.4 “Bokeh Master” Art lens, it’s essentially still an adapted DSLR lens.

Sony Alpha Rumours has posted what might a possible spec sheet for an upcoming Sony 100mm f/1.4 GM lens – although “spec sheet” would be generous. There’s very little actual information, even if it turns out to be true. But the idea of a native FE mount 100mm f/1.4 by Sony themselves in the form of a GM lens is quite exciting.

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Vaxis has released five new cine FX filters for 4×5.65″ matte boxes

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Vaxis, typically better known for its wireless video transmission systems is branching out. They’re getting into the world of filters and they’re kicking it off with a line of 4×5.65″ cine FX filters. Designed to slot straight into the industry-standard 4×5.65″ filter slot in your matte box (sorry, PolarPro users), the new range of filters offers a variety of different lighting and flaring effects for your shot.

There are five filters in total, with three of them coming in three different options to produce slightly different looks. Being 4×5.65″ filters they’ll work with most of the lightweight matte boxes out there these days from companies like Tilta, SmallRig as well as the vastly more expensive systems.

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Sony has officially launched their new $9,000 Airpeak S1 Drone

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Sony has now officially announced their new Airpeak S1 drone, hailing it as “the world’s smallest drone that can be equipped with an Alpha mirrorless camera”. I wonder if that comes with similar caveats as the “world’s smallest full-frame mirrorless camera” claim of the A7c? Still, it’s certainly smaller than the DJI Matrice 600 and boasts an impressive set of specs.

The new Sony drone features proprietary motors with 17″ blades for a top speed of 55mph – significantly quicker than much of the competition – wind resistance in wind speeds up to 44.7mph and the ability to attach a gimbal for mounting your Sony Alpha mirrorless camera. Oh, and it will cost $9,000.

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OM Digital has announced the new Olympus PEN E-P7 but not for the USA!

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OM Digital Solutions has announced the new Olympus PEN E-P7 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera. The E-P7 is OM Digital’s first camera release since the acquisition of Olympus by JIP was completed in January. It will be available in Japan and Europe, although it’s apparently not coming to the USA. At least, not yet.

The official announcement confirms that OM Digital will be keeping the Olympus branding for at least the foreseeable future. It features a 20-megapixel Live MOS sensor and high-speed TruePic VII processor with “advanced” continuous autofocus and Face/Eye priority performance brought over from the higher end Olympus OM-D cameras.

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Sigma looking to make RF and Z mount lenses – Full Frame Foveon may not come until 2023

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DPReview recently had a chance to have a video call and a bit of a chat with Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki. In the interview, a number of topics are touched on, including Mr Yamaki’s vision for the future of the company, compatibility with mirrorless camera systems other than L and E mount, and various other things.

One thing briefly spoken about was what’s happening with the long-awaited full-frame Foveon mirrorless camera, initially announced in 2018 and put on indefinite hold in 2020. In March last year, Sigma aiming for a Summer 2021 release, but now a launch might be as late as 2023… But they’re working on it.

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