Sigma has unveiled the 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN lens, a versatile APS-C lens with a constant wide aperture, both for Sony E and L mount. We then have the Sony a7IV, and much more!
Here’s the best news I’ve selected for “The Photography News Show”!

LENS NEWS

Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN Lens Announced

Sigma has unveiled the 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN Contemporary lens, which besides having the longest name ever, it’s also the smallest and lightest F2.8 zoom lens for APS-C mirrorless cameras.

Lenses of this kind are normally bulky & heavy, but Sigma has been able to create a super-compact & light zoom for every occasion. When mounted on a Sony E-Mount camera, the lens doesn’t stick out from the body, and it has a weight of just 290g.

If we compare it to the older 17-50mm, made for APS-C cameras with a mirror, the weight has been reduced by almost 50%, and the dimensions by 20%.

That has been possible, of course, thanks to the smaller flange back distance in mirrorless cameras, but Sigma also had to make some compromises. For example, the 18-50mm F2.8 is not stabilized, but in my opinion, this is not a dealbreaker given both the wide aperture and the fact that most cameras now have in-body stabilization. Sigma also had to make a slight sacrifice on the wide end, starting from 18mm. This means that the equivalent focal length on a full-frame camera is 27-75mm. Not too wide, but still it’s a very versatile focal range for different photography genres, such as landscape, street, portraits, and events. It’s also suitable for some close-up photography thanks to the minimum focus distance of 12.1cm. Talking of focus, the autofocus uses a linear focus motor and it’s compatible with the latest autofocus features, including eye-tracking.

Sigma provided several sample images from which we can see the lens has good performance, and it can be an upgrade for your APS-C kit lens so that you can have a constant wide aperture. If you want to evaluate the sample images, you can find them here.

Besides photos, this 18-50mm can be interesting for videos too. Being so light and compact, it’s comfortable to mount on a gimbal, and you can actually use this lens in Super35mm video format on full-frame cameras for a very light kit. It’s available for Sony E and L-Mount, and you can pre-order it for $549 here.

Samyang AF 24-70mm F2.8 FE Announced Worldwide

In last week’s show, I talked to you about a lens that was only announced in Thailand, and this week, it has been announced worldwide! I’m talking about the Samyang 24-70mm F2.8 FE, designed to be a versatile full-frame zoom at a decent price, specifically $999.

The particularity of this lens is in the fact that it’s a parfocal lens, meaning that the focus position doesn’t change even when you’re zooming in or out, increasing its usability both for photography & videography.

CAMERA NEWS

Sony a7IV Announced

I’ve shared with your rumors of the upcoming camera for several months, and it has finally been unveiled this week. I’m talking about the Sony Alpha 7 IV, the evolution of the super successful Alpha 7 III. The a7II was a well-rounded camera, suited for both photography & videography, with great autofocus too, and that was the reason behind its success. The new Alpha 7 IV brings improvement in every aspect, making it a true hybrid full-frame camera. Imagine taking the A7RIV and the A7SII. Mix them together, dial down some features, and you have the A7IV. 

It has a newly developed 33-megapixel sensor with a dynamic range of 15 stops, and a whopping 94% of coverage for autofocus, with 759 AF points. The real-time Eye Autofocus for people has been improved by 30%, and the camera can also track animals and birds. That, together with a burst rate of up to 10 FPS and a continuous shooting of 828 RAW + JPEGs, makes the A7IV suitable for virtually any kind of photography. While talking about videos, it films 4K up to 60p in Super 35 Mode, and Full HD up to 120p. The video quality is in 10-bit 4:2:2 up to 600 Mbps in 4K, from 7K oversampling. Color profile-wise, it comes with S-Cinetone, as well as S-Log3 and S-Gamut3 for optimized grading, maintaining the 15 stops of dynamic range.

The autofocus capabilities are the same for videos too, so basically the whole sensor is covered, and there’s real-time eye autofocus for humans, animals, and birds. Something interesting for video shooters is the breathing compensation, which helps minimize the focus breathing of some lenses. Lastly, the 5.5 on-sensor stabilization helps have stable footage and sharp images.

The hybrid capabilities are also reflected on the camera body, where there is a convenient switch below the modes switch, which allows you to quickly change between photos and videos. What this does, it remaps all the buttons and adjusts the screen data to reflect the mode you’re in, and facilitate your shooting operations. If you shoot both photos and videos, this dial will be very convenient. Talking about convenience, Sony has finally enabled the shutter to cover the sensor when the camera is off, which will greatly reduce the amount of dust that can hit the sensor when changing lenses. The body-only can be preordered for $2,498, while the kit version with the 28-70mm comes at $200 more.

It surely doesn’t come cheap, but if you need to shoot both photos & videos, this can be the only camera you need.

Nikon Z9 Autofocus

the other camera news of the week comes from Nikon, which has shared a 3rd teaser video about the upcoming Z9, and it gives some hints on the tracking capabilities. In fact, we see the camera tracking all sorts of subjects: motorbikes, athletes, and cars. In the video, you can also hear the burst, which seems to be around 20fps. The camera should be announced soon, and I’m curious to see how it will compare to the EOS R3 and the Alpha 1.

APP NEWS

Post On Instagram from Desktop

Instagram has finally made it possible for everyone to upload photos directly from computers! You just have to open up Instagram on your browser, and you’ll see a plus icon at the top.

After clicking on it, you can select the photo you want to upload, crop it, edit it, write your caption, and post! I don’t understand why it took them this long to implement this feature, but I guess they were too busy copying features from other apps.

Adobe Photography Plan to Include Premiere Rush & Photoshop Express

Talking about apps, I’ve some good news for you if you have the Adobe Photography Plan. In fact, Adobe will soon include Premiere Rush and Photoshop Express in that $10/month plan. They both are simplified versions, respectively, of Premiere Pro and Photoshop, and can be useful if you need to do some simple edits to your content.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Close-Up Photographer of the Year

In this segment, I feature the most interesting pictures I’ve seen on the web!

This week we have the winners of the Close-Up Photographer of the Year. The overall winning shot is a photo of bugs caught in a lamp, an interesting choice from the jury. Some of the shots I’ve selected for you are a 20-second exposure of a spider, fungi grown directly on an autumn leave, an octopus hidden in an empty shell, and a cockroach in the middle of a bracket fungus releasing spores.