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Megadap’s new ETZ-11 autofocus adapter lets you put Sony E lenses on Nikon Z bodies

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One of the best things that’s come out of the last few years of everybody switching to mirrorless and there being so many different mounts out there is the plethora of adapters that keep being released – with varying degrees of capability. We’ve got straight through manual adapters, speed boosters, autofocus adapters, tilt-shift adapters and all sorts.

One relative newcomer to the adapter space is Megadap. who released the MTZ-11 Leica M to Nikon Z autofocus adapter last year. Well, now they’re back with the much more useful Megadap ETZ-11; an adapter that lets you mount Sony E mount lenses on full-frame and APS-C Nikon Z bodies with full auto capabilities.

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Tilta’s $165 Cooling Kit for the Canon EOS R5 and EOS R6 has finally been released

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Back when the Canon EOS R5 was first released and the rumours of overheating first came to light, one of the first companies to jump on the camera cooling train were Tilta, announcing a cooling kit for the EOS R5 & R6 that mounted onto the back of the camera when the LCD was flipped out. The problem was, the EOS R5 firmware was on a timer. It wasn’t temperature-dependent. So it didn’t really work.

Over a couple of firmware updates, things changed and now the EOS R5 (and EOS R6) does monitors the temperature, as proven by Matt Perks’ DIY cooling attempt. This makes Tilta’s $165 camera cooling product, first announced in July 2020, finally, potentially viable. So, now it’s actually being released and it’s compatible with both cameras.

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Google launches Pixel 5a, users report overheating when shooting video

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Google has launched its latest flagship phone, Pixel 5a. Once again, it focuses largely on camera capabilities and packs two rear cameras and a bunch of features for making your photos look as good as possible. It’s capable of shooting 4K at 30 and 60fps – at least on paper. In real-life conditions, it may suffer from an overheating problem after a few minutes of video shooting.

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YC Onion’s new Chips 3.0 slider is also a motorised dolly and a 5-axis motion control system

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YC Onion has only been around for a couple of years, but they’ve made some impressive kit since they first launched. Their latest is a new take on a familiar filmmaking tool – the motorised camera slider. This one, called Chips 3.0, isn’t just a slider, though. Oh no, it’s also a motorised tripod dolly, and it can even turn into a 5-axis motion control system with your gimbal on the top of it.

The Chips 3.0 can communicate with a variety of DJI, Zhiyun and Feiyutech gimbals to provide full 4-axis control for videos and timelapse. You get your X linear movement on the slider as normal, but you also get pitch (tilt), yaw (pan) and roll on the gimbal, too. The fifth, of course, is your focus motor. As a still-new company, YC Onion is taking to Indiegogo to launch this one.

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Fujifilm rumoured to be announcing the X-T30 II (?) and GFX50S II on September 2nd

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Well, this is an odd one. Rather than making the Fujifilm X-T30 successor the X-T40, as logical numbering would dictate given Fujifilm’s history, they’re apparently going to be calling it the X-T30 II, according to a report on Fuji Rumors. There aren’t many details on this at all, really, or any, but it’s expected to be announced on September 2nd, alongside the much anticipated Fujifilm GFX50S II.

Exactly what the two cameras will bring to the table over their predecessors is unknown, but knowing Fuji, it’ll probably be something pretty awesome. Then a few weeks after the pre-orders open up, they’ll announce firmware for the old ones to bring them close to the spec of the new ones.

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Check out these 20 filmmaking gear items you can buy for under $20

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For filmmaking and photography there are a lot of expensive pieces of kit out there that we either need to do our jobs or will make our lives easier and save us time in our workflow. But there are also a lot of very inexpensive items out there, too, which can make our quality of life much easier when shooting and working. There are also a bunch of cheap alternatives to expensive gear, too, if you get a little creative.

In this video, Caleb Pike at DSLR Video Shooter walks us through 20 of his favourite filmmaking accessories that each cost less than $20. It includes a variety of tools covering lighting, grip, power and various other aspects. Some of these are things that Caleb’s been using in his workflow for over a decade and still prove useful.

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End of an era? The Sony A9 is showing up discontinued at online retailers

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Released in early 2017, the Sony A9 immediately proved itself to be a very popular camera. It still continued to remain in Sony’s lineup for almost two years after its Mark II successor was announced in October 2019. Now, though, it seems that the original Sony A9 might be coming to an end as retailers including B&H are listing the Sony A9 as being discontinued.

Despite retailers listing the camera as being disconnected, it is still listed on the Sony USA website. It’s listed as being on sale, too – perhaps a clearout sale? – with a pretty hefty $1,000 discount, bringing the cost down to $2,999. That being said, there’s no “Add to cart” button. Just a button to be notified when it becomes available. There are a couple left on Amazon, though.

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The Feiyu Pocket 2S is the world’s first detachable wearable pocket sized gimbal

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Feiyutech has announced the newest pocket gimbal, the Feiyu Pocket 2S. In normal operation, it acts similarly to practically every other pocket gimbal on the market, but this one has a detachable gimbal, allowing you to mount the head pretty much anywhere you like while allowing remote operation with the handle.

Separating the two doesn’t completely disconnect them from each other – there’s still a cable between them, but it allows you to attach the gimbal to clothing, helmets, or anything you like, really, without the handle getting in the way. It’s being launched via Indiegogo with some big Super Early Bird discounts.

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Godox scales things down with their new Godox MF12 wireless macro ring flash

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The trend in camera flashes over the last few years has generally been to make them more powerful, yet more portable at the same time. Well, bucking this trend, Godox has gone the opposite way, producing a flash that’s on the lower end of the output scale, with the new Godox MF12 Macro Flash. It’s very reminiscent of Nikon’s R1C1 “Wireless Close-up Speedlight System” but at a much lower cost.

Technically, the MF12 is just the individual flash units – like the Nikon SB-R200 is to the R1C1 – and like the Nikon kit, you can attach several of them to a ring that fits around your lens, allowing you to place the light just where you need it. And they’re all controlled from the Godox trigger sitting on top of your hotshoe.

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Mythbusting: Megapixels don’t matter – fewer doesn’t mean better low light performance

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If there’s one big giant myth that’s persisted since the dawn of digital photography, it’s that lower resolution means better low light performance. If you need to shoot a lot of low light stuff, get that lower resolution camera and your images will look better, right? That’s been the common narrative for years now and it seems to make sense, although it’s never really been true.

The resolution of a camera has never really been a factor for me when it comes to which body I grab – at least not as far as low light performance goes – but in this video, Chris and Jordan at DPReview TV explain why it’s a myth and why everybody’s been looking at this topic completely wrong for all these years.

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