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The things that Canon told and didn’t tell us about the Canon 1Dx Mark III at Photo Plus 2019

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We live in a world where you get a new iPhone every year, with or without significant features. It is so refreshing to see a camera like the Canon 1Dx Mark III getting an announcement, even if just a development announcement. It took three years from the release of the  Canon 1Dx Mark II to get a sign of life for the series, and we could not be happier.

Again, this is only a development announcement. What this means in practice is, “we’ve been making this camera, just so you know”.

We have the privilege of speaking to Drew Maccallum, a Senior Technical Specialist from Canon, who gracefully took the time to answer (or gracefull ignore) all of our questions, speculations, and concerns. With the PR team being away from the show, we could not get any representative on camera. Drew spoke very selectively about the information he was able to disclose. If you ask me though, he knows more than he shares. Many most of the questions you’d like to know were responded with a smile and a wave of the hand: “These are not the droids you’re looking for” or something along the lines of “I can’t answer that right now”.

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The DJI Mavic Mini is official – It weighs 249g, shoots 2.7K video and has 30min flight time

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There have been rumours about the DJI Mavic Mini for a little while now and at least one of them appears to have been correct. DJI has today officially announced the new DJI Mavic Mini, a 249g gimbal that shoots 2.7K video from a camera mounted to a 3-axis gimbal and has a flight time of up to 30 minutes.

The DJI Mavic Mini appears to essentially be a DJI Spark successor. The DJI Spark is now showing as discontinued on various websites and isn’t even for sale on DJI’s own store anymore. But it’s ok, because the DJI Mavic Mini is substantially cheaper than the Spark was and it looks like a much more capable system.

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The Loupedeck Creative Tool is a tiny control deck for creatives with massive potential

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Since Loupedeck hit the scene a couple of years ago, they’ve become very popular tools for photographers and more recently for video editors, too. The original Loupedeck was only compatible with Lightroom. The Loupedeck+ expanded that compatibility to Capture One, Aurora HDR, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Audition.

Now, Loupedeck has announced the new Loupedeck Creative Tool (CT), a much smaller unit with a wide array of software compatibility and a powerful adaptable user interface and touchscreen display that’s customisable and switches to your needs.

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This is what Canon’s “Defocus Smoothing” coating does to bokeh

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Canon recently announced the new RF 85mm f/1.2L USM DS lens for the EOS R mirrorless system. But what exactly does DS mean? Sure, it means “defocus smoothing”, but what effect does that actually have on the image? How does it make the bokeh look? Well, Canon has put out a video showing exactly how it looks.

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Canon’s new RF 70-200mm f/2.8L and 85mm f/1.2L DS lenses are now available to pre-order

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Along with the development announcement for the 1DX Mark III, Canon has also announced availability for two new lenses. These aren’t EF mount, though. They’re RF mount for Canon’s EOS R mirrorless system. They’ve been mentioned before, but now they’re official. The Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM and Canon RF 85mm f/1.2L USM DS lenses.

Canon did already release an 85mm f/1.2L lens for the EOS R system, although this new one adds what they’re calling “Defocus Smoothing” which they say helps to soften and smooth bokeh when working at wider apertures, improving the aesthetic of super shallow depth of field shots.

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Tamron has now officially launched their new 20mm, 24mm and 35mm f/2.8 lenses for Sony E

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Everything leaked early yesterday, but Tamron has now officially launched their new 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2, 24mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 and 35mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M 1:2 lenses for Sony E Mount. All three of the new prime lenses have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 and offer 1:2 macro capability. All three lenses are the same size, weigh around the same (215g-ish) and feature the same sized 67mm filter thread.

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Irix is finally releasing a 45mm lens, but it’s not the f/1.4, it’s a T1.5 cinema lens

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I want to take you back in time. To a brighter, happier time. It’s September 2016, the largest swinging bell in the world sits silently in Cologne Cathedral as Photokina is as noisy as ever in the Koelnmesse just down the road. Irix is showing off a prototype for a new 45mm f/1.4 lens. It was a very sexy looking lens, although here we are, three years later, still no closer to an actual announcement for its availability.

What Irix has done, though, is announce the impending launch of the Irix 45mm T1.5 cinema lens. According to their press release, this is the third full-frame cinema lens Irix has made, adding to the 150mm T3.0 1:1 Macro (the only one they currently list on their website) and the upcoming 11mm T4.3.

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Full specs and sample photos of Tamron’s new Sony FE mount lenses leaks ahead of official announcement

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Tamron first teased a collection of four new lenses back in August. There wasn’t really any information about them back then, but they were expected to be Sony FE mount. In September we found out that they are the 20mm f/2.8, 24mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.8 and 70-180mm f/2.8 lenses and were indeed Sony FE mount lenses.

Now, the complete press release for the announcement has shown up on Sony Alpha Rumors, along with photos of the lenses and sample images. The official announcement is expected later today (or early tomorrow, for those in Europe).
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Olympus announces the OM-D E-M5 Mark III with up to 6.5 stops of stabilisation and IPX1 waterproof rating

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It’s been a while since Olympus announced the OM-D E-M5 Mark II, which was already a pretty solid little camera. But now, Olympus has announced its successor, the 20-megapixel Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III, with improved stabilisation, 4K UHD and DCI video, a new EVF and improved weather sealing. Like the Mark II, the Mark III is available in black or silver. There’s no word on whether we’ll see a Titanium version yet.

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Tokina’s releases their new atx-i 11-16mm f/2.8 APS-C zoom lens for DSLRs

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Tokina’s line of 11-16mm f/2.8 lenses for APS-C DSLRs have been pretty regularly recommended for years. They weren’t perfect, but they were rather good for what they cost. Tokina has now announced an update to this lens, in the form of the new Tokina atx-i 11-16mm f/2.8 CF for both Nikon and Canon.

The new lens promises increased clarity and sharpness as well as greater contrast, coatings to prevent flaring and ghosting and aspherical and low dispersion elements to combat chromatic and other aberrations.

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