The Microsoft Surface Studio Laptop was announced this week, and it’s the most powerful Surface laptop yet, specifically designed for creative work such as photography, videography, or 3D modeling. We then have a pop-up darkroom for film photographers, rumors about the Sony a7IV, and much more.
Here’s the best news I’ve selected for “The Photography News Show”!

LAPTOP NEWS

Microsoft Surface Studio Laptop Announced

I normally start the show talking about either cameras or lenses, but as last week was pretty quiet in those departments, I want to talk to you about the latest laptop from Microsoft, the Surface Studio Laptop, which is made with content creators in mind.

The most noticeable innovation in terms of design is the new hinge mechanism that allows you to use it in 3 different modes.

• Regular laptop
• Tablet on a stand with a trackpad
• Tablet

These modes can be useful also when you attach the laptop to an external monitor and will add more versatility to your workflow.

Besides all these fancy modes, something crucial for a laptop of this kind is power. CPU-wise, it features the 11th Gen of the Intel Core H series, while the GPU is integrated for the entry-level models, and the more expensive ones have the Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti, which will come in handy when you work in Photoshop, PremierePro, or well, when you’re gaming.

The screen is 14.4” big with a 120Hz refresh rate, which helps to make the use of the Slim Pen 2 more natural, something of the essence when you’re working on something creative.

The price is $1,600 for the base model, up to $3,100 for the one with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. It can be pre-ordered and shipping should start in October.

This can be a great choice if you need a workhorse for your professional creative job, where there’s no such thing as enough power, and it’s a new option for those of you that prefer PCs over Macs.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8 Announced

During the Surface Event, Microsoft has also announced the Surface Pro 8, the latest iteration of its two-in-one tablet laptop.

It promises great performances for working on the go, but it doesn’t come cheap, especially if you want to get enough RAM and storage. This tablet only has an integrated graphics card that is surely way less capable of the RTX 3050 of the Studio Laptop, but these products with different usages in mind.

The Surface Studio Laptop is more of a compact workstation, while the Surface Pro 8 is an ultra-portable solution to work on the go.

DRONE NEWS

The Sony Airpeak S1 Can Be Preordered in Japan

The Sony Airpeak S1 development was announced in January 2021, and after a ton of rumors and previews, it was officially presented a few months ago. Still, there were no details about pricing nor availability. This week though, pre-orders have opened in Japan, where you can secure the S1 for ¥1,100,000, the equivalent of $10,000, and shipping will start in late October.

There are no details on when it will come to other countries, but the drone has recently been listed on B&H, so I guess it won’t be too long before pre-orders start. In case you need a bit of a recap on this drone, the Airpeak S1 it’s the 1st high-end drone from Sony, and it’s the smallest drone capable of carrying a mirrorless camera with a large prime lens, with a maximum payload of 5 pounds. It can accelerate from 0 to 50 miles per hour in 3 seconds and a half, with a top speed of 55.9 miles per hour. The price surely is hefty, but it will be a great product for film crews that need to fly bigger cameras.

ACCESSORY NEWS

Ilford Pop-Up Darkroom

Have you ever tried developing films at home? That’s a fascinating process, but it can be tricky to have everything set up without messing up your home. This week I have for you a pop-up darkroom developed by nothing less than Ilford.

It includes all that you need to develop your films, and it can be an interesting solution to experiment with film development. It will be available from October 11th and it should cost around $265, which seems to be a fair price, especially if you are not that much into DIY work, such as myself.

SMARTPHONE NEWS

Details about the Samsung 200 Megapixels Sensor

Samsung sensors are widely used in smartphones, and a couple of weeks ago, the Korean company has announced its whopping 200-megapixel smartphone sensor. This week it has published more details about it, which will give us an idea of what we’ll see in the upcoming smartphones.

The effective resolution is a crazy 16,000 by 12,000 pixels, with a burst of up to 7.5 frames per second. When used in 50-megapixel mode, it will be capable to shoot up to 30 frames per second, and at 120 frames per second in 12.5 megapixels.

The interesting thing is that the 200 million pixels will combine in different ways to adapt to the changing shooting scenarios. In dark situations, this sensor will support 4×4 pixel binning, which means that it will combine up to 16 pixels into one bigger pixel to allow more light to be captured.

It comes with a ton of other interesting features, and I’m really excited to see how smartphone manufacturers will implement this technology in the next few months.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

How Thomas Pesquet Takes Photographs from the International Space Station

In this segment, I feature the most interesting pictures I’ve seen on the web! In some past episodes, I’ve shared with you incredible images shot from the International Space Station. This week, Astronaut Thomas Pesquet has posted a couple of Tweets where he explained what it takes to shoot such images.

Planning is, of course, crucial, and he relies on his navigation software, which allows him to catalog the targets. From that software, he can understand where it’s day and night on Earth, while also considering weather conditions.

It basically is a “PhotoPills” app for space, with the detail that once the ISS orbits above a specific target, if it’s night or the weather isn’t good, he will have to wait for another orbit to try again. If everything is perfect, he still has to spot the target from 400 km of distance with his 70-200mm lens, and set up the camera. That doesn’t seem easy, but the results are surely worth it!

RUMORS

Sony a7IV Will Have a Dynamic Range of 15 Stops

The Sony a7IV launch is approaching soon, as it’s scheduled for October. There might be some delays due to the worldwide chip shortage, but the latest rumors are talking about a dynamic range of 15 stops, achievable thanks to the new 33-megapixel sensor together with the new processor.

DJI Mavic 3 Will Have a Micro Four Thirds Sensor

The other rumor of the week is about the upcoming DJI Mavic 3, which will be launched in October and it’s rumored to have a Micro Four-Thirds sensor similar to the one of the Zenmuse X5S.

Going from a 1-inch sensor to a Micro Four Thirds one will surely bring overall improvements to the image quality. There are no details about the lens that it’ll come with, so, let’s wait and see!