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7Artisans’ new 18mm f/6.3 II UFO is a $59 APS-C pancake lens for unobtrusive street photography

7Artisans has announced their new 18mm pancake lens, the 7artisans 18mm F6.3 II UFO. As the name suggests, it has a wide 18mm focal length with a fixed f/6.3 aperture. It’s designed specifically for APS-C mirrorless cameras and is available in Sony E, Nikon Z and Fuji X mount options. This tiny lens has a diameter of 56mm and a depth of a mere 15mm, including the mount.

It’s designed to be a bit of a walkabout lens for street photography, with a fixed f/6.3 aperture that should still give you some nice fast shutter speeds during the day. That 18mm focal length on APS-C offers a field of view equivalent to that of about 27mm on a full-frame body, ideal for street photography shots that show some environmental context. And the new version II of this lens also has variable focus from 0.3m to infinity.

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The Vivo X90 and X90 Pro smartphones with Zeiss 50MP 1-Inch camera launch globally

Vivo’s X90 and X90 Pro have been out in China for a little while now, but today sees their global international launch. Both smartphones feature Zeiss cameras, with the X90 Pro sporting a large 1-inch sensor. Both smartphones feature 50-megapixel Zeiss camera modules, with the non-Pro model also sporting 12-megapixel telephoto and wide-angle cameras. The X90 Pro, on the other hand, features 50-megapixel wide and 12-megapixel telephoto cameras.

With Zeiss optics in both devices, featuring Zeiss’s T* lens coatings, pixel shift, dual-tone LED flash, HDR and panorama modes, the expectations are high for this one. The X90’s 50-megapixel 1/1.49″ sensor offers 4K video at up to 60fps, while the X90 Pro’s 50-megapixel 1-inch sensor lets you record up to 8K at 60fps. Both devices also include a 32-megapixel selfie camera that shoots up to 4K 30p.

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First photo leaks of Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens ahead of next week’s Sigma Stage announcements

There have been rumours about Sigma releasing a 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for mirrorless cameras for a little while. A couple of weeks ago, we saw some of the specs leak and now, thanks to Sony Alpha Rumors, we have our first photo of the lens showing what it’ll actually look like. It’s a significant design change from the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for DSLRs, showing quite a different exterior.

The interior is also different, with a new optical formula with more elements in more groups. Sigma has also announced a Sigma Stage Online event for February 7th, with a description talking about discovering new products. So an announcement for something is definitely imminent. Could it be the new 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens?

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Rode’s NTH-100 headphones are now a headset with the new NTH-Mic microphone

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A few months ago, Rode, a company more popularly known for its microphones, decided to get on the other end of the audio gear process with their first pair of headphones, the Rode NTH-100. They quickly became very popular headphones – and for good reason. They’ve been the main headphones I use on my desktop computer for editing, as well as general use, since they were first launched.

Now, Rode’s expanding the capability of the NTH-100 headphones with the new NTH-Mic. It exploits a feature of the headphones in that it has two audio sockets – one underneath each earpad. When you’re just using them as regular headphones, this means you can plug the cable into either side of them for ease of use. With the NTH-Mic attached, one is still used for the audio cable, but the other is used for the mic.

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The Benro Theta is the world’s first tripod that automatically levels itself

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Benro is preparing to release two new tripods via Kickstarter. They’re called the Benro Theta and Theta Max, and they’re sort of “smart” tripods. One of the biggest features they boast is that they’re auto-levelling tripods – the world’s first, they say. I have to admit, when I saw the video of one in action, it didn’t do it the way I thought it would. When we think of “auto-levelling” cameras, we typically think of gimbals. I assumed the head would move, but no, it’s the legs!

As well as automatic leg levelling, the tripods feature the ability through optional modules to control the camera, with remote live view, file syncing and more. You can also instantly live stream from wherever you are (assuming you have a signal), or there’s even an optical sensor module that automatically detects the ambient light levels and adjusts your shooting settings accordingly for those day-to-night holy grail timelapses.

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The Matte Box IQ is Irix’s take on a lightweight matte box that uses their magnetic filters

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Irix has expanded its product base from just lenses once again. After having already branched out into filters, they’ve now announced the new Irix Matte Box IQ. It’s a small, lightweight matte box designed for filmmakers and video shooters to help control light spill on their lenses. It does have one slight drawback for many filmmakers, though, which might be a deal breaker. It’s only designed to work with Irix’s magnetic filters.

If you’re already an Irix shooter and already own a bunch of Irix’s magnetic filters, then this won’t be a problem. But if you’ve been using industry-standard 4×5.65″ glass filters for video work with other matte boxes, then this one probably won’t be for you. At least, not all the time. It still has some great applications as a secondary matte box for a smaller, portable, lightweight camera rig.

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Blind Spot Gear announces the Power Junkie v2 with USB Power Delivery and charging abilities

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Blind Spot Gear, the company behind 2018’s original Power Junkie, is back with an update. It’s the Power Junkie v2, and it’s just launched today through Kickstarter. If you’ve no idea what the Power Junkie is, it’s a battery plate that takes Sony NP-F style batteries and provides outputs with which you can power other gear, like cameras, monitors, field recorders, etc.

It negates the need to have multiple batteries for multiple devices. Now, you can power everything from a single battery. As well as the neatness of just having a single battery, it means you don’t have to monitor the battery life of multiple devices while you’re trying to record! The new Power Junkie v2 has been rebuilt from the ground up to power up to offer a whole host of new features over its predecessor.

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ProGrade Digital officially announces 3rd generation 1TB CFexpress cards

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It looks like last October’s post was a little premature. Despite appearing on the B&H website, it looks like ProGrade’s 3rd-generation 1TB CFexpress Type B cards hadn’t been officially announced by the company themselves. Well, now, they have.

ProGrade Digital has announced their newest 3rd-generation 1TB CFexpress Type B cards, boasting read speeds of up to 1,700MB/sec, burst write speeds up to 1,500MB/sec and sustained write speeds of up to 1,300MB/sec. But why the delay between listings appearing in October and an official announcement now? Well, ProGrade explains that, too.

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Tokina’s SZ Pro 300mm, 600mm and 900mm reflex lenses finally coming to stores in February

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In November, Tokina announced three new reflex lenses in the SZ Pro lineup. They had focal lengths and apertures of 300mm f/7.1, 600mm f/8 and 900mm f/11. What makes these so special compared to all of the reflex lenses Tokina’s released in the past? Well, these are the first designed specifically for APS-C mirrorless camera systems. This means no more adapters and they can also make the lenses smaller.

At the time of the initial announcement, the lenses were available via Indiegogo, where they raised a pretty meagre $16,100. But Tokina has announced that they’re going on general sale on February 3rd. There are only three mount options available at the moment, including Sony E, Fuji X and Canon EF-M. I’m still hoping that we’ll see Nikon Z and Canon RF versions at some point.

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Voigtlander announces the ultra-bright Nokton 50mm f/1.0 and Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 lenses for Nikon Z

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Cosina has announced two new lenses for the Nikon Z mount mirrorless system. One is an extremely impressive-sounding Voigtlander NOKTON 50mm f/1.0 Aspherical full-frame lens. A standard field of view with an ultra-wide and bright aperture that’s anything but standard. The other is the Voigtlander SUPER WIDE-HELIAR 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical lens, which is also full frame, offering an extremely wide field of view.

The lenses aren’t entirely new. The Nokton 50mm f/1.0 is already available in Leica M mount. The Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 is also available for Sony E mount. But the addition of another mount expands the possibilities for Nikon Z mount shooters – even if they are both manual focus lenses.

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