Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF Announced


Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF lens worldwide sales date announcement
Kenko Tokina Co., Ltd. is pleased to announce the sales release of Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF lens.

Sales will commence on August 7, 2020.

Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF is a 400mm super tele lens that adopts catadioptric type optical design with a constant F8 aperture. The lens offers compact alternative to standard tele photo lenses as more and more photographers are looking for easy-to-carry gear. 400mm F8 Reflex MF is designed keeping in mind active travel photographers seeking for outdoor landscape, wild nature or birds by providing compact and lightweight lens to be rediscovered in the new era of also compact but high-tech mirrorless cameras.

Highlighted Features

  • Extremely compact and lightweight super tele lens
  • Macro shooting with 1:2.5 magnification
  • Specific donut-shaped and super smooth bokeh
  • Easy and precise focusing
  • Super compression effect
  • Versatile mount system for 5 camera mounts including 3 mirrorless mounts

Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF adopts 0.75mm pitch and 42mm thread mount standard, that allows this lens to be attached to any camera by using different mount adapters.

Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF can be required in Solo and Kit packages as below:

  • Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF (w/o mount adapter included)
  • Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF to fit Nikon F (with mount adapter included)
  • Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF to fit Canon EF (with mount adapter included)
  • Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF to fit Sony E (with mount adapter included)
  • Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF to fit Fujifilm X (with mount adapter included)
  • Tokina SZX SUPER TELE 400mm F8 Reflex MF to fit Micro 4/3 (with mount adapter included)

Mount adapters can be also purchased separately:

  • Tokina Mount Adapter TA-011 for Nikon F
  • Tokina Mount Adapter TA-012 for Canon EF
  • Tokina Mount Adapter TA-013 for Sony E
  • Tokina Mount Adapter TA-014 for Fujifilm X
  • Tokina Mount Adapter TA-015 for Micro 4/3

Tokina Lenses can be found at B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

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VILTROX 23mm f/1.4 Now Available


Viltrox just announced that their VILTROX 23mm f/1.4 is available for Sony E-Mount. The lens is available from B&H Photo / Amazon.

Viltrox 23mm f/1.4

  • Aperture Range: 1.4 – 16
  • 9 Aperture Blades
  • 10 Groups, 11 Glasses
  • Filter Size: 52mm
  • Weight 250g

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VILTROX 23mm f/1.4: B&H Photo / Amazon

VILTROX 85mm f/1.8 II: B&H Photo / Amazon

VILTROX 56mm f/1.4 (Coming Soon): B&H Photo / Amazon
VILTROX 33mm f/1.4 (Coming Soon): B&H Photo / Amazon

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Luminar 4.3 Released With a9II Support, UI Improvements, 500PX Integration, Search, and More


Luminar brings search, user experience improvements, 500px integration in the latest update
Luminar 4.3 adds a new crop interface, faster Looks experience, photo search, sharing through 500px, and performance improvements.

NEW YORK, NY – July 14, 2020 Today, Skylum released the latest update for Luminar, version 4.3, focusing on enhancing the overall experience for creatives through several refinements and performance improvements.

“With its vast AI-centric features, Luminar 4 has become a state-of-the-art program for photographers and other creatives,” said Dima Sytnik, Co-Founder and CTO of Skylum. “With Luminar 4.3, we continue to optimize the user experience and focus on performance. We know that, with this update, post-processing workflows will become faster and will help photographers be able to get started quicker and easier than ever before.”

Available as a free update for all current Luminar 4 users, the latest update adds the ability to search photos, a user experience improvement to Looks, 500px integration, a new crop interface, and several performance improvements. It also brings a new space shuttle object, along with several improvements, for the AI Augmented Sky tool.

Luminar 3 users will also see the search function added in the program’s next update.

Photo search
With the new Search tool, photographers can find images in their library with ease. Search lets photographers find photos by name, folder, date, or extension, allowing for quick management of photos.

500px integration
Photographers can now share their photos with other creatives across the world on the 500px photo sharing platform.

Stability and performance improvements
Skylum continues its work on boosting performance in Luminar. With the 4.3 update, RAW files now open faster than ever before in Luminar, meaning photographers can start working on their images more quickly.

With the 4.3 update, Luminar tools also use less of the computer’s memory, resulting in quicker and more responsive sliders. What results is a smoother and snappier experience for creatives.

Those using older or less powerful computers should also see speed boosts to help them enhance their editing and management workflows.

Faster Looks experience
While Looks are a powerful part of the Luminar system, they can certainly add up as photographers bring in more packs and create their own Looks. Looks create a lot of data — everything from textures to AI content-aware tools which adapt to each image. Coupled with the amount of data within RAW files, there can be a slight delay in going through each Look.

Luminar 4.3 solves this issue, allowing photographers the ability to preview looks in an instant, just by hovering over them. In our demos and testing with photographers, the ability to preview Looks allowed photographers to browse them easier and make the decision on whether to go with the selected look much quicker.

Improvements to cropping
Crop & Rotate have seen a big update with Luminar 4.3, being moved to the right panel underneath Lens & Geometry. Photographers can open the tool and crop with ease and quicker than ever before. Windows users should also see a significant performance boost, letting photographers seamlessly crop their images.

AI Augmented Sky improvements
The AI Augmented Sky feature has taken creativity to new heights, enabling photographers to create composites that they never thought were possible. In Luminar 4.3, a new space shuttle object has been added to select from.

The AI Augmented Sky experience has also received several improvements. Photographers can easily flip objects and quickly position them, making it easy to perfect your piece of art! A marketplace section on the Luminar website has also been added, featuring objects for use with AI Augmented Sky.

Custom skies and sky objects
In the AI Sky Replacement and AI Augmented Sky tools, photographers can now comfortably access a custom folder of locally stored skies and sky objects. It’s also now easy to copy and paste multiple skies in the sky folder in just a few clicks, for convenient editing.

Camera support
Luminar 4.3 brings new camera support to recently released cameras. Now Luminar supports the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III (uncompressed only), FUJIFILM X100V, FUJIFILM X-T200, FUJIFILM X-T4, Leica SL2, Nikon Coolpix P950, Nikon D780, Nikon Z50, Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus E-PL10, Panasonic DC-S1H, and the Sony A9 Mark II.

New masking brush workflow
The masking tool is now extremely easy to use, as masked areas are visible mid-process thanks to a transparent red mask. Enjoy viewing the instant effect of the tool for pleasant and fast editing.

Improvements to localization
Luminar 4.3 includes improvements to translations for all supported languages, and understands German, Japanese, Korean, Italian, French, and Spanish better than ever!

How to update
Luminar 4.3 is a free update to current Luminar 4 users. On a Mac, click in the Top Menu Bar and choose Luminar 4 > Check for updates. If you purchased via the Mac App Store, simply open the App Store and go to the Updates tab. On Windows, in the Top Menu Bar choose Help > Check for updates.

If you are running Luminar as a plugin with Photoshop, Lightroom Classic or Photoshop Elements, it’s also recommended you rerun the plugin installer.

An expanded user manual is also now available, making it easier than ever for users to search and find answers to questions they might have about the software.

Get your copy of Luminar 4 today!
Luminar 4 is available at a retail price of $89. Be sure to visit skylum.com to learn more and check out special offers throughout the summer.

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Sony a7SIII Launch Will Be A Two Day Long Announcement Event


A reader sent me the following information. It seems the July 28th, 2020 at 10:00 EDT announcement will be followed on July 29th, 2020 at 12:00 EDT by a 90-minute live stream giving us an in-depth look at what Sony a7SIII has to offer. Very little accurate information is out there about the a7SIII with dozens of made-up specs floating around so maybe one will be right if only by chance, but as of now, this is the most accurate information we have about the a7SIII.

28th July 3:00 PM (BST) / 4:00 PM (CET)
Official global announcement and details revealed about this long-awaited model.

29th July 5:00 PM (BST) / 6:00 PM (CET)
Exclusive 90-minute livestream Webinar for an in-depth look at the camera. We will also have special guest interviews revealing their first impressions of using it in real conditions, along with Sony technical experts.

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Sony a7SIII Coming July 28th 2020 at 10:00 EDT


Join us for our live blog July 28th, 2020 at 10:00 EDT for the announcement of the long-awaited Sony a7SIII. There are bound to be some surprises with how much misinformation has come out about this camera. It certainly is interesting that of all entities B&H Photo was the first to truly confirm the Sony a7SIII will be announced this month.

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Sony a7 Owners Group
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TCSTV: Sony Z-V1 vs Panasonic G100

Vlogging cameras might become a new camera category or vloggers might stick with cameras that have selfie screens. Either way the Sony Z-V1 and Panasonic G100 are the first cameras released by major camera manufacturers specifically for vlogging. Sure each has cameras that can be used for vlogging, but vlogging was more of a feature than the point of those cameras. Below is a summer of TCSTV’s Best Vlog cameras of 2020:

Intro

  • m43 sensor vs 1-inch
  • Both do 4k
  • Both have selfie screens

Sony ZV-1

  • Fits in your pocket
  • Same 24-70mm lens as the RX100M5
  • A lot of similarities to RX100M5
  • No EVF
  • No Flash
  • New microphone system goes on top a little odd-looking
  • Tally light on the front
  • Big red record button
  • Easy to vlog with
  • Built-in ND filters which is great for sunny days
  • Image stabilization
  • Active stabilization crop isn’t necessary
  • The new mic accessory has 3 mics with 2 in the front and one in the back
  • AF tracks eyes even with sunglasses
  • Great automatic video features that make it easy to use
  • Useful defocus button that opens up your aperture and adjusts your exposure to look great
  • Great AF CDAF/PDAF
  • Product showcase is great for showing products
  • The new grip is great
  • Put all the ports on the right side so the flip screen doesn’t get in the way
  • Small battery dies quickly, but you can attach an external one via USB 2.0 or get 4-5 batteries
  • Charge and run the camera at the same time via USB
  • Tripod socket is poorly placed and you have to remove anything in the tripod socket to change the battery or SD card

Panasonic G100

  • Full auto delivers decent results for those that know nothing about video
  • Bigger grip that feels better
  • Has a EVF
  • Big bright screen on the back
  • Can use m43 lenses on this camera
  • Can do 4x slow motion HD
  • Improved audio that has a left and right input along with a third input that helps the camera tell where sound is coming from
  • New audio system does a good job of delivering good audio
  • Decent stabilization
  • High stabilization is digital and physical so there is some crop
  • DFD AF has improved quite a bit, but not as good as Sony
  • Worlds smallest pop up flash works for about a foot away but is otherwise useless
  • Mic port is nice, but you have to watch out for it interfering with the rotation of your screen
  • You can only charge the camera via USB, but you can’t run it via USB

Conclusion

  • Would almost buy the Sony ZV-1 just for product demonstration mode and its great AF performance
  • The Panasonic G100 is a better hybrid camera because you can use m43 glass and have an EVF
  • Panasonic G100 has touch operation via the screen and the Sony ZV-1 only lets you pick focus points so you need to use buttons to change settings

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Sony ZV-1: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Panasonic G100: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

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