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FCC Commissioner recommends banning DJI products in the USA over “National Security” risks

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After DJI’s high yesterday with their Ronin 4D announcement, they’re being brought back down to earth by the FCC after Commissioner Brendan Carr has called for its addition to the FCC Covered List, which would ban the company from selling its products in the USA.

A letter published on the FCC website states that DJI accounts for more than 50% of the US drone market and collects “vast troves of sensitive data”. The Chinese government’s power to compel DJI to assist in espionage activities, it says, is a national security risk.

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DxO releases PhotoLab 5 and FilmPack 6 with more powerful features and Fuji X-Trans RAW support

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DxO has to today announced the newest versions of its PhotoLab and FilmPack applications. PhotoLab 5 features improved sensitivity control over adjustments, better metadata management, a more efficient DeepPRIME engine that’s up to four times faster than the previous version, Fujifilm X-Trans RAW support.

FilmPack 6 also sees X-Trans support along with a new “Time Machine” feature that takes the user journey through time of how analogue photography has evolved over the years with renderings you can apply to your images. Fifteen new film stocks have also been added including popular ones from Kodak, Polaroid, Impossible, Fuji X film simulations and cinematic colour grades.

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Apple is now selling lens cleaning cloth for $19 a pop

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So, the freebie that gets thrown in with even the cheapest low budget lens is now a $19 Apple accessory. Of course, Apple isn’t marketing it as a simple lens cloth. This is a “soft, nonabrasive” material for cleaning the glass and displays on your Apple devices. There’s even a “compatibility” list. Surprisingly (or not, knowing Apple folks), it’s completely sold out until late November.

It appears that the cloth is primarily designed for their Pro Display XDR with nano-texture glass (which is a $5,000 monitor), in accordance with their screen cleaning guidelines. Yes, they have screen cleaning guidelines. But if you lose it and want a replacement – or if you want to get one for your iPad, iPhone, etc. it’s going to cost you $19.

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Ricoh files new lens patents – Is Pentax finally considering going mirrorless?

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A few days ago, Ricoh filed a patent application in Japan for three new full-frame telephoto lenses, one of which is for mirrorless cameras. These aren’t the first they’ve filed, either, having filed patents for a couple of other mirrorless lenses a month ago. Could this be a turning point for Pentax, the one company that’s been holding onto DSLRs for dear life while the rest of the world goes mirrorless?

The three new lenses described by the patent aren’t particularly high end. They’re all variable aperture, although the one for mirrorless has a max variable aperture of f/2.8-4, so not too terrible. It’s doubtful, though that Pentax is planning to pursue the mirrorless market. At least, not yet.

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I tried TikTok’s top photography tips for 7 days, and this is what happened

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I’ve been intrigued by the power of TikTok for a little while, particularly the popularity of it as a place for top tips. But how good are those tips? And do they actually work? For the sake of science and DIYPhotogaphy, I decided to find out. For 7 days I tried the top photography tips that TikTok had to offer. Here’s how it went.

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Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors boast better performance and support more than 16GB RAM

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Apple has announced “supercharged” versions of its M1 processor. Perhaps not surprisingly, they’re called the M1 Pro and M1 Max. Apple says they’re the first Apple Silicon chips designed specifically for professionals with “groundbreaking performance” and “amazing battery life”.

Apple claims that the new MacBook Pro models offer up to 13x faster graphics performance, 3.7x faster CPU performance, 11x faster machine learning and 21 hours of battery life. The specs seem significantly upgraded over the original M1, and the memory limit has finally been increased.

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Nikon promises up to 8 new Z mount lenses despite $262 million loss

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Well, Nikon’s latest annual report is out and it shows a $262 million write off in losses. The report says that Nikon has been facing challenges from the declining demand for camera gear from professionals and hobbyists, increased competition, the global silicon shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite this, Nikon will soon be releasing their new Z9 flagship mirrorless camera and according to Nikon president Toshikazu Umatate, they’ll be increasing their Z mount lens lineup from its current 22 up to “nearly 30”.

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Sony teases new camera (Sony A7 IV?) to be announced on October 21st

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Well, after a blurry photo of what was claimed to be the Sony A7 IV was apparently posted and then deleted by Sony China over the weekend, now it seems that Sony might be finally ready to announce the Sony A7 III successor – and not a minute too soon. The A7 III is a great camera, but it’s been fraught with shutter problems that Sony seems to have thus far evaded.

Still, Sony has today teased a new camera to be announced on Thursday, October 21st and it’s expected to be the Sony A7 IV. Obviously, Sony hasn’t confirmed what the camera is – because they never do – but all signs seem to point towards it.

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