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Canon announces the EOS R100 sub-$500 entry-level mirrorless camera

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Nikon might not see value in transitioning the D3x00 DSLR series over to mirrorless, blaming smartphones, but it seems they don’t speak for everybody. Canon sure sounds like they want to target that market with today’s announcement of the Canon EOS R100 (buy here). It’s an entry-level APS-C RF mount camera with a price tag that puts it well and truly in the beginner market.

Despite Nikon’s suggestion that smartphone users want more from their entry-level cameras these days (with a higher price tag), Canon doesn’t appear to share the sentiment. The new Canon EOS R100 entry-level camera is targeted directly at newer photographers and usurps the EF-S DSLRs and EF-M mirrorless cameras that came before it. Sort of.

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Fujifilm X-S20 shoots 6.2K video with AI-based autofocus system

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Fujifilm has announced the new Fujifilm X-S20 mirrorless camera (buy here) at the Fuji X Summit in Bangkok, Thailand. It offers a small, lightweight form factor similar to that of its predecessor, the Fujifilm X-S10 (buy here), announced in 2020 but comes with some new tricks. It shoots 6.2K 30p video, streams 4K 60p natively over USB and comes with an AI-based subject-detection autofocus system.

It features a 26.1-megapixel X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor, with a high-speed X-Processor 5 imaging processing engine. Fujifilm says this lets you create high-quality images with lower power consumption than the X-S10. So, at least in theory, your batteries should last longer. It includes 19 different Film Simulation modes, including “Nostalgic Neg”, with high saturation and soft tones.

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Nikon adds Z8 support for NX Studio, SnapBridge and other Nikon apps

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Nikon has released new versions of its array of software to provide support for the Nikon Z8 (buy here). Updated applications include Camera Control Pro, Picture Control Utility, Wireless Tether Transmitter Utility, NX Tether and NX Studio. The last one on that list, NX Studio, also sees a range of other enhancements for NEF (HLG) and HEIF support. The new updates are all available to download now from the Nikon website, and links are provided below, along with the release notes for each new version update.

The SnapBridge apps for both iOS and Android have also been updated to provide support for the Nikon Z8. These apps are available to download and update on your device from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store for iPhone and Android users, respectively.

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Your brain is lying to you – These eyes aren’t blue

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Optical illusions are a lot of fun, particularly when they’re based on colour. Ones such as this, posted by Dean Jackson on TikTok, is a great one that shows how our brain tricks our eyes into seeing colour that isn’t really there. This particular video starts off as a black-and-white image of a lady which then has a red filter placed over it, except for the eyes. Suddenly, we now see her eyes as blue.

Except they’re not really blue. They’re still grey. Our brain has tricked us into thinking that they’re blue based on the warmth of that red filter. It’s an interesting quirk of our brains that allows us to see beyond colour inconsistencies and fill in gaps for information that isn’t really there. A quirk that has real implications for photographers and filmmakers, especially when it comes to colour correction.

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Adobe and MIT develop new way to identify materials in images using AI

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Scientists at MIT and Adobe Research have developed a new way to identify materials using AI vision. They say that the system is not affected by shadows or inconsistent lighting and that it could one day be used to help guide robots that interact with objects in the real world. It may also ultimately come to Lightroom and Photoshop to assist with image editing more easily.

The machine-learning system allows you to specify just a single pixel of material, and it detects all pixels in the scene which match the material. It was trained using “synthetic” data, essentially 3D renders, although they say that it’s very effective at picking out materials in real scenes, too. There’s still a long way to go, although it looks like the team has taken a very big first step.

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Sony refreshes its compact vlogging camera with the ZV-1 II

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Sony has announced its new Sony ZV-1 II (buy here) vlogging camera, the successor to the popular Sony ZV-1 (buy here), released in 2020. At release, the ZV-1 seemed to essentially be an RX100 V in a new vlogger-oriented form factor. And true to RX100 fashion, the ZV-1 series seems to be following suit. The ZV-1 II is largely quite similar to the original, with some slight – but significant – changes.

The Sony ZV-1 II and ZV-1 both feature the same 20-megapixel 1.0 type sensor, but the lens has been switched out. Gone is the 24-70mm equivalent f/1.8-2.8 lens of the original ZV-1, replaced by a smaller range 18-50mm equivalent lens with a slower f/1.8-4 variable aperture. I said the changes were significant. I didn’t say they were necessarily better. Some will find it better, with the wider angle on the short end providing more environmental context. However, the slower aperture at the long end is not so great.

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This is the “world’s first talking timelapse” and how it was made

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A YouTuber who goes by the name of Lotrfan, has created what he calls the “world’s first talking timelapse”. While it’s arguably better classified as stop motion, it does also show the passage of time over a 285-day period. There’s been some thought put into this one, and both the concept and final result are pretty cool.

The project began as just a regular video clip, as Lotrfan explains partway through the video above. But then, after shooting a photo every day for over nine months, we end up with the final 9-second video.

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First image leaks for upcoming 7Artisans 24mm f/1.4 for E/X/M42/RF/EF-M/Z

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7Artisans seems to be preparing to launch a new lens. An image has leaked of a 24mm f/1.4 lens for APS-C cameras, with a wide range of mounts. The list includes Sony E, Fuji X, Micro Four Thirds, Canon RF, Canon EF-M and Nikon Z, although there’s no word as to which mounts may come first or when.

Being a 7Artisans lens, it’s pretty much a sure thing that it will be a manual focus lens. That it’s being released for Canon RF and Nikon Z mount cameras also suggests that it won’t have electronic contacts to pass EXIF and other data between the camera and lens.

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This is how Kodak film gets from the factory to camera store shelves

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It’s been a while since we last saw an update on Destin Sandlin’s visit to the Kodak factory in Rochester, New York. Part One was posted way back in March of last year. It looked into how Kodak produces the actual film onto which the chemicals are placed. Part Two arrived a few months later in July, going over the chemical processes involved in making it light-sensitive and how they’re applied to that film base.

Now, we’ve finally got Part Three, where Kodak takes us from those big drums of sensitised film to cutting it up, adding the sprocket holes, making and filling the canisters, popping those into film cases and finally, retail packaging. Let the adventure continue!

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Is this a Canon EOS R1 prototype spotted at G7 summit?

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The Canon EOS R1 has been hotly anticipated for a long time. In fact, ever since Canon confirmed a mirrorless replacement for the Canon EOS 1DX III (buy here) in 2020. That camera turned out to be the Canon EOS R3 (buy here), but an EOS R1 was still on the minds of many photographers.

Canon has been very tight-lipped about what the camera may contain, but they did confirm as recently as March 2023 that it was definitely coming… eventually. The common belief is that its announcement will be timed to coincide with the 2024 Olympics in Paris. But has an EOS R1 prototype been spotted in the wild? This short clip from the G7 summit suggests that it might.

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