Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO Reviewed


Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO:
Venus Optic / B&H Photo / Adorama

Laowa has been on a roll releasing great value lens after great value lens and it should come as no surprise that some are placing the Laowa Argus 33mm f/0.95 CF APO above all other 0.95 Chinese glass on the market at this time. Sonyalpha.blog just posted its full lengthy review that you can read here, or you can read the Pro/Con below:

Pros

  • Good Sharpness at f0.95, Very Good at F1.1, Excellent as of F2.8
  • Very Smooth background blur giving unique portraits and atmosphere for objects details
  • Very Good Bokeh Balls between F0.95 and F1.4
  • good contrast even at f0.95, very good as of F1.1
  • Excellent build quality
  • Excellent color rendition
  • Very good rendering in video
  • Smoothly dampened focusing ring and clickless aperture ring (ideal for video
  • Moderate vignetting mostly gone at F1.4
  • Good resistance to flare at F11
  • Nice rectangular lens hood
  • Lower lever of color fringing than competitors at F0.95

Average

  • Corners weaker than center but not so bad for a F0.95 (much better than competitors)
  • Moderate Distortion
  • Resistance to flare at F0.95 is weak with halo effects but better than competitors
  • Moderate CA ,
  • Bokeh Balls start to show 9 shaped polygon as of F1.4 instead of circle
  • Price on the high side for a manual APSC lens

Cons

  • Heavy weight
  • Clickless aperture ring for photography does not allow to know where you stand with the aperture
  • Focus breathing
  • Too long focus throw (270 °) to go from 35cm to infinity

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Sony Savings Sunday


Camera Bodies

Sony a7III (Save $302):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony Alpha a7II (Save $400):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony ZV-1 (Save $50):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

FE Lenses
Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 24mm f/1.4 GM (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 (Save $50):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS(Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS (Save $250):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA (Save $200)
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS (Save $300):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS (Save $100):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS (Save$100)
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Tamron
Tamron 20mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2(Model F050) (Save $50):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Tamron 24mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2(Model F051) (Save $50):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Tamron 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2(Model F053) (Save $50):
B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Sigma
Sigma MC-11 (Save $50): B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Other Deals
Pelican Cases Discounted
Memory Card Savings
Power Banks

Battery Banks
Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD
PowerCore+26800 PD
other more affordable options

New Apple Mac Pro: B&H Photo
New Apple iPad Pro and More: B&H Photo / Adorama
New Apple iMac Pro: B&H Photo / Adorama
New Apple MBP: B&H Photo / Adorama
New Apple M1: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
MacBook Pro (Savings still available): B&H Photo

Limited time iPad Pro Savings
iPad Pro Bundles: B&H Photo

Software Deals
Luminar Neo & Luminar AI & Luminar 4 & Aurora HDR 2019 (Savings code FUJIADDICT)
ON1 Photo RAW 2022
Photolemur
Picktorial
TopazLabs

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Sigma Turns 60: Happy Birthday Sigma


On September 9, 2021, SIGMA celebrates its 60th anniversary.
We would like to use this occasion to express our sincere and deep gratitude to our customers and to everyone who has supported our business since our founding in 1961. This 60th anniversary is only possible thanks to your generous and continuous support.

For us, these 60 years represent not only the months and years of our company but also the countless invaluable moments that have been captured and cherished by all those who love photography. True to the meaning of our company’s name, SIGMA lives because of the sum total of these collected moments and memories, months and years.

Like any anniversary, this is also a moment to look back and remember one’s beginnings. Still today, we hold dear the ideas and ideals that guided us during our earliest years. We will continue to devote ourselves to developing products of real, essential value that our customers can rely on when capturing some of their most cherished moments. We hope you will accompany us on our future endeavors.

Message from
Kazuto Yamaki, CEO of SIGMA
On September 9, 2021, SIGMA celebrates its 60th anniversary. Michihiro Yamaki originally founded the company in 1961 to save a group of cooperating companies that found themselves in peril following the bankruptcy of their supplier, and I believe that no one would have imagined at the time that the company would still exist 60 years later.

In these six decades, SIGMA has braved many difficult situations in our industry, from technological revolutions to challenging economic conditions. At times, we even found ourselves on the cusp of a serious crisis. In such situations, Michihiro Yamaki would think back to the time of the company’s founding and utter a remark that could have seemed pessimistic: “I never thought this company, which I founded on request, would even exist this long.” But the company managed to pull through and recover, and now I, having inherited the business from my father, find myself thinking about these same words, though for different reasons.

We could only stay in business for 60 years and follow our passion of creating brilliant cameras and lenses thanks to the generous support of a great number of people. First and foremost, I would like to thank our customers for their invaluable support and their high expectations towards us and our products. Sometimes the encouragement may come in the form of stern words, but it is always an opportunity for me and the company to reflect and improve ourselves. Thank you for everything.

We are also very grateful for the unfailing support of our dealers, suppliers and all other business partners. We have surely caused you trouble on more than one occasion, and I know that our company has only come this far thanks to your patience and your perseverance. For this, you have my sincere gratitude. Furthermore, we are deeply indebted to the communities in which we and our affiliated companies are located, for their warm support and their understanding. We do not take this for granted.

Lastly, I would like to thank all the senior staff – whether retired or still active – who have shaped our company into what it is today. SIGMA only exists because of your hard work. I promise that we will continue to build upon what you have created. As we embrace the 60th anniversary of our founding, we look back and remember all the kindness and support we were shown during these six decades. Looking forward, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to grow and develop SIGMA into a company that is ready to take on the challenges of a new era, while staying true to the philosophies and ideas that have guided us on our way so far. We hope that you will accompany us on our future journeys.

With heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made this 60th anniversary possible,

Kazuto Yamaki
SIGMA, CEO

via Sigma

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Laowa Argus 35mm f/0.95 FF

The Laowa Argus 35mm f/0.95 FF can now be preordered from Venus Optics.

Video

Official Video

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New Luminar Neo


Get your copy Here
Introducing a new creative image editor — Luminar Neo
Skylum helps visual creatives achieve complex results with innovative AI technologies and a flexible workflow

NEW YORK, NY – September 9, 2021 —Skylum revealed Luminar Neo, a new creative image editor which empowers visual storytellers to bring their boldest ideas to life. Luminar Neo builds upon the unique, purpose-driven, AI editing technologies for which Skylum is well-known. Driven by our tradition of innovation, Luminar Neo further reimagines the image editing experience which enables creators to be more expressive with fewer boundaries and rediscover joy in their creative work.

“As the latest member of the Luminar family, we designed Luminar Neo to allow artists to take on more challenging image creation work and achieve results which often seem unattainable.” said Dima Sytnik, Co-founder & CPO of Skylum.

Innovative technologies
Skylum continues to lead the market with innovative approaches and advanced technologies designed to improve the image editing process. Luminar Neo continues Skylum’s commitment to eliminate boring and repetitive tasks and help artists achieve results often seen as difficult.

Transform photos with new relighting options. Luminar Neo analyzes each image to recognize the depth of a scene and its subject which allows precise control over exposure and tone.

Remove blemishes and distracting elements. Luminar Neo automatically recognizes and removes artifacts caused by a dirty camera sensor or lens. New tools make removing unwanted background elements easier than ever before.

Powerful background replacement. Take full control of the background for portrait photos by quickly replacing it with an all-new image or background.

Round-trip mobile image management. Our new companion mobile app makes it simple to add pictures captured on a mobile device to your Luminar Catalog. Once edited in Luminar Neo, results can be sent back to the mobile device for easy social sharing or viewing on the go.

Precise control with flexible editing
We designed Luminar Neo with input from working photographers, artists, and colorists. With this guidance, we built Luminar Neo to help artists break new creative ground with an image editor that allows precise control over every aspect of the final image while providing artists a flexible toolset that can be tailored to their unique creative workflow. These capabilities include:

AI-Driven Compositing

  • Smart, AI-based masking easily isolates elements in individual images.
  • Add numerous images as layers to create entirely new art.
  • Apply any tool and any mask … to any layer, in any order, multiple times.
  • Use creative blending modes, guided by AI, to achieve clean, precise, composite images.

Improved Ease of Use

  • Users can save their photos as well as presets for easy reuse.
  • All editing steps remain editable for complete control over the final image.
  • With a minimalist user interface, the whole process is enjoyable and easy.

High performance
An all-new editing engine drives Luminar Neo, making it possible to apply multiple tools to an image without significant performance loss. Luminar Neo allows for complex layering of several raw images. Our new Luminar engine enables Skylum to further optimize and refine the entire image-processing pipeline.

While built atop an efficient new engine, Luminar Neo inherits the proven, AI-driven technologies which made LuminarAI a ground-breaking image editor.

“The goal of Luminar has always been to help everyone create images they truly love. With Luminar Neo, we empower even more artists and photographers to achieve their full creative vision,” said Ivan Kutanin, CEO of Skylum. “With new tools and a flexible editing workflow, they’ll find powerful new ways to create while being inspired to explore new ways to do so. We can’t wait to see what our creative community comes up with.”

Availability
Luminar Neo ships this winter, but new artists don’t need to wait to create. They can pre-order and save on a bundle that provides LuminarAI now and Luminar Neo when it launches.

Visual storytellers who use other image editing applications can also use Luminar Neo as a plugin. Used in this way, Luminar adds incredibly useful and powerful, AI-driven editing tools to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic.

To learn more about Luminar Neo and sign up for updates, visit http://skylum.com/luminar-neo. We will release additional details about new technologies and explore the core benefits of Luminar Neo in the coming weeks.

Early-bird pricing is available here and includes a 30-day money-back guarantee from the time of shipping. Luminar Neo will also be carried in both the Microsoft Store and macOS App Store.

About Skylum Software
Skylum is a global imaging technology company focused on creating tools that make it easier for creatives to get things done. Skylum’s Luminar platform unleashes creativity through the innovative use of automated and intelligent image processing, which still allows the artist complete control over the final product. Skylum has won the Red Dot Award, Apple’s Best of Year, “Best Imaging Software” by TIPA and EISA, as well as several other top industry awards. To learn more about Skylum, visit skylum.com.

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Profoto B10X 250W and B10X Plus 500W Announced

Profoto B10X Plus: B&H Photo / Adorama
Profoto B10X: B&H Photo / Adorama
Profoto B10X Plus Duo: B&H Photo / Adorama
Profoto B10X Duo: B&H Photo / Adorama
Profoto Air Remote TTL-S: B&H Photo / Adorama

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