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The new NiSi 9mm f/2.8 lens for APS-C and Micro Four Thirds is perfectly imperfect

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NiSi is a popular name when it comes to lens filters, but they’re still a pretty small brand when it comes to the lenses themselves. So far, they’ve only released one, a 15mm f/4 manual focus prime lens for Sony E mount cameras. Well, that’s changed today with the release of the new NiSi 9mm f/2.8 manual focus lens.

This one, though, isn’t a full-frame lens. It’s APS-C and it’s available for Fuji X, Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z and Micro Four Thirds mount cameras. I’ve been shooting with the Micro Four Thirds version for a few weeks now, so let’s take a look at what it can do and why I think “perfectly imperfect” is the best way to describe this lens.

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The XDynamics Evolve 2 is an entry level cinematic drone that shows a lot of promise

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As drones go, the XDynamics Evolve 2 drone sits in an interesting place. It’s an entry-level professional cinematic drone that’s above the likes of the DJI Mavic 3 (even the Mavic 3 Cine) and the Autel Evo II Pro but a hair below the DJI Inspire 2. It’s aimed primarily toward hybrid shooters who use mirrorless cameras on the ground for both stills and video and want to get the same or similar quality of photos and footage from the air.

It comes with a price tag to match, but it does feature an interchangeable lens gimbal-stabilised Micro Four Thirds camera, giving you a lot more filming and photography options than most drones below this price point. And if you’re already a Micro Four Thirds shooter, it can use the lenses you already own. But does the Evolve 2 live up to expectations? Let’s find out…

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Insta360’s ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition is a welcome and huge-sensored addition to the ONE RS family – A review

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Insta360 has seen a lot of success in the 360° camera market over the last few years and they’ve arguably become the leader in pocketable 360° cameras thanks to devices like the Insta360 ONE X2 (review here) and the Insta360 ONE RS (review here).

Today, though, Insta360 has announced that they’re going big with the new Insta360 ONE RS 1-Inch 360 Edition. Co-engineered with Leica the new 1-Inch 360 mod lets you shoot 360° footage at up to 6K resolution using, as the name suggests, a pair of giant 1″ sensors.

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We tested BonfotonUP, a gadget that turns your room into an upright camera obscura

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Have you ever tried turning your room into a camera obscura? It’s a simple and super-fun project that lets the view of the outside world project onto your wall. But due to camera obscura’s nature, there’s a catch: the image will be upside down.

Enter BonfotonUP, a weird and pretty awesome device that hacks camera obscura. By sticking it onto your window, the image rotates and appears on your wall as it does outside. I got the chance to test and review this gadget, and I’m sharing my impressions, tips, and some photos I took.

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The Kandao QooCam EGO is the best hope so far for mass adoption of compact 3D cameras

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3D cameras have fascinated me for years. When I was a kid, my parents had one of those View-Masters. Actually, they had hundreds of them (they owned a bunch of toy shops) but they gave one to me and I’d sit and stare through its binocular viewfinder for hours looking at all the different reels.

3D viewing technology’s come a long way since then, but the fascination never faded. I have a couple of small all-in-one 3D cameras, like the Weeview SID (review here) and Insta360 EVO. Some of you might remember the Kandao QooCam EGO 3D camera launching on Kickstarter a couple of months ago. Well, now I have one, and I’ve been putting it through its paces.

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The Xencelabs Medium Tablet with QuickKeys is actually better than a Wacom Intuos Pro and cheaper

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For quite a long time if you wanted a drawing tablet, Wacom was pretty much the only show in town. I’ve owned an Intuos Pro for several years now, and at first, I was thrilled with it. However, driver issues and constant lack of connectivity made me fall out of love very quickly.

These days there are a lot more choices of brands and types of tablets. Do you want one with a screen that you draw on directly? Do you want to use an Ipad? Or do you want something pretty simple that just does what it’s meant to do? The Xencelabs medium tablet and pen have been tipped as a direct, yet more affordable rival to the Wacom Intuos Pro. I was keen to find out if this was true, and whether it could actually be better.

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Projecting backgrounds behind your subject with the Wemax Nova 4K UST ALDP laser projector

Projectors have been a part of photography for a very long time. Originally, they were designed for boring your friends and family members with slides of your holiday snaps. Since then, though, projectors have become much more useful and now regularly play a creative or practical role in our photography and filmmaking needs.

We’ve shown how you might be able to incorporate projectors into your workflow before, using one as a full-screen preview monitor for video editing. This time, we’re going to take a look at the Wemax Nova 4K ultra-short-throw (UST) ALDP Laser projector with an Ambient Light Rejecting (ALR) screen as a sort of “virtual set” background projection system in the studio.

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The Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5K) is a solid challenge to Wacom’s dominance in the graphics tablet market

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Whether we use Windows or a Mac, one thing we pretty much all agree on is that if you’re a photographer, a graphics tablet of some kind it’s basically a must-have item in our toolkit for working with our images on the PC. They’ve been a staple of the graphics and photography industry for years.

And that’s what we’re going to look at today with the new Huion Kamvas Pro 16 2.5K. This isn’t just your basic tablet, though. This has a built-in 15.8″ IPS display with a 2.5K QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution with an anti-glare surface. It’s also compatible with Windows and Mac, has some basic Linux support and apparently even works with Android devices.

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A great Speedlight, but is it worth the upgrade?

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Godox announced the updated version of their square-headed Speedlight the V860III last summer. Having an extra portable flash unit in your bag is always a good idea, particularly if you’re like me and often end up shooting on location, so I was keen to try it out. Godox boasted several new features such as a new hot shoe lock and modelling light, but is it really different enough from both the previous V860II or the round-headed V1 to warrant an upgrade? Let’s take a look!

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OWC Atlas S Pro V90 UHS-II SD cards are fast, reliable and reasonably priced

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In January, OWC announced their new Atlas S Pro V90 UHS-II SD Cards, available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. They’re priced very competitively, too – that is to say, they’re less expensive than many of their V90 competitors but still a little more expensive than V60 UHS-II cards.

As V90 cards, they guarantee sustained write speeds of at least 90MB/sec. According to OWC, real-world testing has provided write speeds of up to 276MB/sec and read speeds of up to 290MB/sec. Such claims are easy enough to verify – at least, one would think so – so when OWC offered to send us some to try out, we decided to put these speeds to the test ourselves.

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