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Breakdown of the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens shows internal design like nothing before

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Seeing lenses taken apart and dismantled for the first time, or anything mechanically or electronically complex just fascinates me. I don’t know what it is about it, because it’s unlikely I’ll ever need to take one apart myself, and it serves no real educational or practical benefit. But I just find it interesting to see what makes this stuff tick.

One I’ve been particularly seeing inside is the new Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens, and as usual, Lens Rentals has not let us down. They’ve just posted a teardown of the Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens to their blog, and it shows that Nikon really seems to have stepped up their game when it comes to design and engineering.

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Tearing down the Sony A7R IV to see what makes it tick

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2020 is just around the corner, and if there is one thing we can be sure of, it’s that Sony probably isn’t going to be slowing down. While every iteration of the different A7 and a6000 camera lines launch with significant improvements over their predecessors, the most recent A7R took leaps and bounds in both capability and design progress.

We’re at 61 megapixels on a full-frame now. The A7R IV brought us here, past the D850, the 5Ds, and even Fuji’s GFX 50 cameras. With that, it brings a 10fps continuous drive rate and all the top-notch AF and video capability we’ve come to expect from Sony. The body itself is just a little different on the outside. The grip is definitely a little beefier than before.

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How a film camera superimposes the date onto photos

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Have you ever wondered how on earth old film cameras added the date onto photos? I know I was always curious about this as a kid. Well, Ben Krasnow of Applied Science has the answer to our question. In the latest teardown, he disassembles an old camera from 1990 to show us how it superimposes the date onto photos.

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We tore down the Panasonic Lumix S1R to see what makes it tick

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We really didn’t know what to expect going into this. Panasonic hasn’t even made an APS-C body before, nevermind a full-frame flagship mirrorless camera. Though, it seems they realized the S1 series needed to make a splash if its release was going to trail behind Canon and Nikon’s first foray into professional-grade mirrorless cameras because the Panasonic S1R is massive.

This body is titanic compared to its competitors: the A7R III, Z7, and EOS R. Panasonic has decisively abandoned the notion that photographers want mirrorless cameras because of their reduced size and weight. The Panasonic S1R weighs in at 1.98 pounds. That’s about half a pound heavier than the Z7, or less than an ounce shy of the medium format Fuji GFX 50S! This camera is a beast!

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Dismantling the new Canon EOS RP in this extreme teardown

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I’d think most people were pleasantly surprised with the release of the EOS RP. Full-frame mirrorless cameras were getting increasingly sophisticated, which is a good thing, but they were getting increasingly expensive along the way. After all, it’s the enthusiast and prosumer crowd that wants mirrorless cameras more than anyone else.

Top tier professional photographers are still largely sticking with traditional DSLRs, for now. The only full-frame mirrorless options for that growing crowd of serious but not seriously paid photographers were the now-5-year-old (time is really flying) Sony A7 II or the even older and clunkier A7. Anything with current tech would run you $2,000 minimum, namely the A7 III. I’m not saying this camera wasn’t an absolute steal considering what it can do, but $2,000 is still a lot of money for most people who do not shoot full-time for a living and leaves little room for modern, mount-native glass. If only there was something to fill that gap.

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This 4.9mm Hyperfisheye prototype lens is so wide it can see behind itself

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LensRentals has posted some fantastic teardowns with impressive regularity over the years, but it’s rare that we see them put something together. They thought that it was about time to show off building a lens, after shooting timelapse of tearing down the massive C-4 Optics 4.9mm f/3.5 Hyperfisheye prototype lens from scratch, LensRentals founder, Roger Cicala posted a detailed write up of the lens being reconstructed from scratch.

Unlike most of the lenses today, this lens is all mechanical. There’s no fancy autofocus, image stabilisation or electronics to deal with. And that short 4.9mm focal length offers an insane 270° field of view. Yes, it can see behind itself!

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Nikon Z6 teardown shows that it’s just as solid and well-built as the Z7

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Nearly two months ago, we dove into the Nikon Z7 and showed you what was happing inside all the way down to the sensor. Today, we did the same with the Z7’s standard resolution counterpart, the Nikon Z6. At 25 megapixels and just under $2000 MSRP, the Z6 is encroaching on the Sony A7 III’s turf. The A7 III has proven itself to be a high-performing, tuned down version of the A7R III, “the basic model”, delivering beyond what the market is accustomed to at that price point. So, does the Z6 meet this new standard for the $2000 camera body? The specs certainly check out, but what about the build? Is the Z6 as well built as the Z7, or did Nikon cut corners to meet the lower price point?

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The ultimate Fujifilm X-T3 disassembly and teardown

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You might have thought the Fujifilm X-T series was finished with the release of the X-H1, that Fujifilm was digging into the competition and leaving their love of style behind as was evident with that monstrosity. (We mean that lovingly.) But, the X-T3 is here, and it’s as beautiful as ever. Not only that, but the X-T3 even outperforms the X-H1 in many areas as far as their spec sheets are concerned. Fujifilm’s approach to the mirrorless camera war of 2018-20?? is a two-pronged assault on the flanks. They’re releasing powerful cameras with APS-C and medium format sensors in multiple iterations while skipping full-frame entirely. Fuji’s alternative strategy is a very interesting pincer attack on the market, and we definitely shouldn’t count them out just because they’ve officially rejected full-frame.

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The unbiased Canon EOS R disassembly and teardown

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The Canon EOS R was cause for some internal controversy here at Kolari Vision. After all, we’re in the middle of The Great Mirrorless Camera War. Tensions are bound to rise, turning brother against brother, camera tech against camera tech, and photographer against photographer. Despite this, I will do my best to describe the form factor and internal construction of the EOS R in a fair and unbiased manner.

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Nikon Z7 disassembly and teardown

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Our brand new Nikon Z7 full frame mirrorless camera arrived at the office this week, and we immediately got down to business. Four years ago, Sony fired the first shot of this battle with the A7 and continued to release one iteration after another, each improving on the last, and did so completely unanswered by the competition until August 23rd of this year when Nikon announced the Z7 and the Z6. Based on the popularity of our last teardown where we took the A7R III all the way down to its sensor, we’ve decided to provide model-by-model coverage of the full-frame mirrorless wars by showing you what’s under the hood.

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