This week we have the Yongnuo YN455 Android Camera, new lenses from TTArtisan, an awesome accessory from Rode, and much more!
Here’s the best news I’ve selected for “The Photography News Show”!

CAMERA NEWS

Yongnuo YN455 Android Camera

Chinese manufacturer Yongnuo has launched the YN455, its latest Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera powered by Android.

Yongnuo released its first Android camera back in 2018, and the YN455 is the latest iteration of that idea, which brings improved ergonomics, a tilt screen, and better specs.

Here are the most important specs:

• 20-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor
• Videos up to 4K 30 P
• 8-core Snapdragon processor
• 64 GB of storage
• 6 GB of RAM
• Mic jack, headphone jack
• Nano-SIM card slot with 4G connectivity
• WiFi & Bluetooth

It surely is a particular product, but I think it can be useful for those who need a portable camera with a big focus on connectivity.

It will cost the equivalent of $600, and it’s still unknown if it will be only available in China or other markets too.

LENS NEWS

Laowa 14mm F4 Zero-D DSLR Announced

Venus Optics has released the Laowa 14mm F4 Zero-D made for Canon EF and Nikon F mounts.

It’s a fully manual lens, and its strength is that it has close-to-zero distortion, making it ideal to shoot architecture.

Here are a few sample images from Laowa’s website:

You can grab it for $500 on Laowa’s site, while if you have a mirrorless camera, you should take a look at Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D, which is available for multiple mounts.

TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 Fisheye APS-C

TTArtisan has introduced a new lens, the TTArtisan 7.5mm F2 fisheye made for APS-C mirrorless cameras, which comes at just $150, and it even has a slot to install ND filters on the back of the lens.

This can be a nice lens to play around with to expand your creativity, but at the same time, you have to be mindful about using it because it’s really easy to overdo it.

Here are some sample images from TTArtisan’s website:

I still remember that when I started out with photography, I got a fisheye and I ended up using it basically with everything, and in hindsight that was probably not the best choice.

Still, it’s a really fun lens to shoot with, so you should give it a try especially considering the price; you can grab it at this link for just $150.

TTArtisan 50mm F0.95 M

The other new lens from TTArtisan is actually a new version of the TTArtisan 50mm F 0.95.

The lens was already launched some time ago, but now it’s available in a beautiful silver version, making it a perfect match with Leica cameras.

It’s a fully manual lens with great built quality, that can be a good choice if you need a super-fast 50mm without wanting to spend too much.

It has a Leica M mount, but it can be used on all full-frame cameras with the right adapter.

ACCESSORY NEWS

RODE Thread Adaptor

Did it ever happen to you to be on a shoot and not having the right adapter to attach something to your tripod or light stand? 

RODE is a company known for its microphones, but this week it has introduced a simple, yet genius product called the RODE Thread Adaptor.

It’s a set of tripod adapter screws and a driver, all combined and attached together to a carabiner. You can simply attach it to your camera bag and forget to have it until you actually need it.

You can grab it here for just $25.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

“Prints for Wildlife”

This week we have a great initiative called “Prints for Wildlife”, where famous wildlife photographers joined forces to raise funds to help the people and wildlife in Africa that have been greatly affected by the pandemic. Specifically, the money raised by selling the prints will be donated to conservation non-profit African Parks, that protect wildlife in 19 parks in Africa.

The fundraiser has raised $100.000 on the first day and I think it’s an awesome initiative to get a beautiful print while helping both animals and people.

RUMORS

Fujifilm GFX 50S Mark II Rumors

Fujifilm has invested heavily in the APS-C market until a few years ago they shocked the industry by announcing their first medium-format mirrorless camera. The latest rumors are about Fujifilm’s next medium format camera, the GFX 50S Mark II.

It should have the same appearance as the Fujifilm GFX 100S, it will cost $4.000, and it will be available from September.

That’s a considerably lower price than what we’re used to from Fujifilm, and hopefully, it’ll make the medium format mirrorless market a little bit more accessible.

Canon $799 Full-Frame Camera

Canon is currently working on a new, entry-level full-frame camera which should have a cost of $799.

There are no other details yet, but that’s going to be a very interesting move as it will most likely force other camera manufacturers to have a lower-priced full-frame camera, if they don’t want to lose market shares, so, let’s wait and see!