"Image quality is where Micro Four Thirds cameras have traditionally lagged behind their APS-C sensor rivals, but the OM-D E-M5 is the first MFT model to equal the results from leading cameras like the Sony NEX-7. Noise doesn't rear its ugly head until ISO 3200 for JPEGs and even the faster settings prove eminently usable, although the E-M5

"The only control feature on the lens is the focusing ring: there are no switches or informational surfaces. The focusing ring is just under a quarter-inch in width, made of a polycarbonate with lengthwise ridges inscribed into it. It is easy to find and use, and offers ninety degrees of turning action: there are hard stops on the close-focusing and infinity end.

"When Luminous Landscape's Nick Devlin received one of the few D800E cameras in Canada, we knew we'd have to take it out for a day of landscape photography. Nick and The Camera Store's Chris Niccolls took out the D800E and the fantastic Pentax 645D to see how they stacked up shooting the beautiful landscapes of Canmore Alberta."

Spoiler: The cheapest lens is also the sharpest. Who would have thought? This test includes every wide-angle m4/3 lens practically available:

"By f/2.8 the superiority of most of the primes over most of the zooms becomes pretty apparent. The Olympus 17mm f/2.8 is easily the weakest of the prime lenses, which isn’t really surprising. It’s an older design and a consumer-grade pancake lens. The two

Here it is, the big one. The DP Review staff has gone great lenghts in order to produce this exhaustive review, in part because of the special requirements that come with using this monster 36mp sensor:

"Back to resolution though. Can the D800 make good on its pixel count and provide a level of fine detail that trumps its DSLR

If you are tired of pirating paying through the nose for every new Adobe Photoshop release there's also the free alternative called GIMP.  New features in version 2.8 include 16 & 32 bit image editing, a revamped user interface, layer grouping, on-canvas text editing, extensive bug fixing, and more.  Most of the new stuff is explained in the release notes page.

Pentax Q is so small we almost forgot about its existence, but here's a fresh review of this exercise in minisculeness:

"One feature did feel like something of a missed opportunity, though. The Quick dial on the front panel is a great idea, but the list of features which can be assigned to this dial is very brief, and really only of interest to JPEG shooters: Smart Effects, Custom

"The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will survey the entire visible sky every week, creating an unprecedented public archive of data – about 6 million gigabytes per year, the equivalent of shooting roughly 800,000 images with a regular eight-megapixel digital camera every night, but of much higher quality and scientific value. Its deep and frequent cosmic vistas will

Ok, 'roundup' is maybe not the proper word. In any case, Richard Sexton looks into the art of designing cameras, and some iconic exercises in functionality, form and aesthetics, spanning from the Hasselblad 500 to the Olympus E-M5.  

Andrew Kim who loves dogs and cofee takes a broader look, adding the iMac and the VW Beetle to the mix. Interesting read indeed.

Vimeo user Casey Van Nyhuis puts the E-M5 on a quad RC copter for a spin. The result is a very smooth video, another testament to the excellent IBIS Olympus has enginneered into this camera, easily matching the performance from a much more expensive stabilizer rig:

"Olympus just arrived on Friday so i thought i'd take it out for a test flight today. Will take a bit of learning when it comes to

"When it comes to exposure options, the J1 gives you plenty to work with. Beginners will be glad to know that their new camera can be super simple to use with options like Scene Auto selector and Smart Photo selector. Scene Auto selector mode is Nikon's version of intelligent Auto, where the camera selects what it feels are the most appropriate exposure settings (aperture, shutter

"The main thing I like about this flash (other than its amazing power) is it’s ability to zoom from 20-200mm with a Canon lens and to do so automatically. This is quite an improvement over the 580EXII and if I were to buy the 600, that’s the main reason I would do so. The built-in radio control is also a big deal since it eliminates the need to buy third-party flash triggers.

As has been widely reported lately, Nikons new full-frame cameras, especially the D800 appear to be laden with a number of bugs/malfunctions, that include random lockups and viewfinder/focusing alignment issues. Fstoppers writes about the out of alignement viewfinder issue, and PDN news covers the lockup bug together with Nikon's response and the temp-fix on hand.

"Some photographers prefer to skip a visual element altogether and opt for text alone, a choice that makes the message of the photographer easier to put across and switches the creative challenge from the design of the watermark to the choice of font. That might be simpler for a photographer but

"The 150mm isn't its sharpest wide open - overall it's acceptably good, and in fact the center is just slightly softer than the corners when used wide open at ƒ/2.8. Stopping down to ƒ/4 provides a considerable improvement in sharpness, providing very good

Robin Steel, the Photo Travel Asia guy takes the E-M5 with him to the Fijuan coast of southern China, writing about his findings along the way. And he sure likes to write:

"Lets cut to the chase, this is an absolutely outstanding travel camera, it's

Yes, this is the 'E' version of the D800, with the missing AA filter. Does it live up to Nikon's claims?:

"To process the Nikon D800 and D800E in Adobe Camera Raw, we opened them using ACR release candidate version 6.7 at its default settings, with the exception that we set sharpening to zero. (We like the results of unsharp masking in Photoshop better

"Like its forebears, the Nikon D4 is an extremely well built and responsive camera that seems to react instantly to anything you throw at it. Start-up feels instantaneous, there is no shutter lag to speak of and with the right lens mounted, focusing is also very fast. The camera is about as rugged as it gets, and the ergonomics is first class. There is a multitude of ways to check and modify

Roger Cicala frm LensRentals com investigates and explains:

"Let me say it here first: I knew this was going to be the fix since the first time I took one apart: Canon has this very cool black tape they used to cover circuit boards (I’m assuming

The E-M5 continues it's tour-de-force, now landing some impressive results over at the ePZ:

"For anyone doubting the ability of mirrorless / compact system cameras, this is the camera that should answer a lot of concerns. It has a weather-sealed compact body, an excellent range of lenses and most importantly excellent image quality - that is

Nowadays this is mostly about austronauts using Nikon gear in the ISS:

"Using reflected light from Earth as an illumination source is a technique that not many have been able to experience.  Here the colors of the Mideast, eastern Mediterranean, and Red Sea are reflected in the payload bay and the wings.  This image was taken on Flight Day 2 during our inspection of the heat shield for any launch damage (this procedure was performed on all flights

The Olympus E-M5 has apparently left a very positive impression on the DP Review team, they douse it with phrases like "the most capable Micro Four Thirds cameras we've reviewed" and "arguably the most likeable mirrorless model yet":

"The E-M5 can't completely overcome the light capture disadvantage brought by its smaller sensor, compared to APS-C, but it 

After yet another update to the LightRoom 4.xx installment, some bugs persist and new ones rear their ugly head. The most peculiar of them is what appears to be a color rendering issue that many users have noticed. There are many threads on this issue on the interwebs, here's one, and another one. Also.

The resemblance to a compact cassette tape is probably not coincidental. The only disisassembly required by the user are two screws, in order for 2 AAA batteries to provide the juice for the camera. The camera can store up to 40 photos, has a usb connection, a shutter button..and, well, that's it. No other specs, nor price available for the moment, although those of you interested can ogle the bried Knappa PDF manual here

"For the modest financial outlay, the new Sigma 19mm f/2.8 EX DN lens is definitely worth considering, especially for Sony E-Mount users looking for an affordable wide-angle lens. It's less attractive for Micro Four Thirds owners, though, with smaller rivals from Panasonic and Olympus available that deliver better image quality, although the Sigma offering undercuts them all in terms of value."

This release adds the best defringing tool Adobe has ever produced, support for many new cameras, and some bug fixes.

Adobe press release

Adobe Announces Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate 2

This is from the very early days of space exploration. The main focus of the Gemini project was to develop and test various parameterers for the Apollo missions. There was photography involved too, and now all the pictures are made available by Nasa in their full resolution, restored glory.

Lots of fixes added, some will make dudes and dudettes from the Samoan Islands and Finland especially happy:

Firmware Version 1.1.2 incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

1. Supports a new accessory, GPS receiver GP-E2.

The microscopic GF5 is probably the last Panasonic m43 camera with this dated 12 Mpixel sensor that hails from the GF1 era. So, do sensors age gracefully, like a good wine for instance? Apparently, the do:

"The GF5 offers the same tiny body design, cutting-edge touchscreen and pared-down user interface as its predecessor, with the principal

Nikon may not have reached Sony levels of innovation yet, but they sure appear to almost ride circles around Canon's offerings in this category. Some highlights: A Sony made (Of course) 24 Mpixel sensor, 921k 3" sensor, 1080p video at 30fps, and a wi-fi module that doubles as a remote trigger and comes with its own Android/IOS app.