Photography News issue 72

News

More fromThinkTank Think Tank has been very busy recently. We’ll start the round up with two bags – the Retrospective 4 in case you get caught out in bad weather. This costs £55. On the bad weather theme,

V2 and the Urban Access Sling. The Retrospective 4 is available in black or pinestone and costs £95. It is aimed at rangefinder and mirrorless users. Moving onto the Urban Access Sling, this is available in two sizes, 8 and 10, costing £95 and £105 respectively. The neat design means it can be used across the right or the left shoulder. There’s a third bag, too, but this is not a camera bag. The Road Warrior costs £56 and is a small bag to keep your cables, cards and other small items in one place. Designed to protect super telephoto lenses up to 600mm, the T622 Emergency Rain Cover Large can just be left in your rucksack

Hydrophobia eyepieces are now available. These work in conjunction with Think Tank Photo Hydrophobia rain covers to provide the best protection when the conditions are truly dire. The latest models are for recent Fujifilm, Nikon and Sony cameras. Let’s end with a new roller case, the Airport Advantage, which sells at £249 and is available in black or graphite. It is Think Tank’s smallest roller case and weighs just 2.7kg, but is big enough for a 15in laptop, two bodies with lenses attached and three to four extra lenses. There’s a First Test in this issue on the Airport Advantage’s bigger brother, the XT. snapperstuff.com

The firmware update offers improvements across the board, and Panasonic has delivered two new zoom L-Mount lenses, too Panasonic reveals two new lenses and a firmware update

PANASONIC’S FIRST NEW lens is the Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/2.8 OIS. The fast, constant aperture lens offers a maximum 480fps focus control for high-speed autofocus, as well as a dust- and splash-resistant design. The second offering, the Lumix S Pro 16-35mm f/4, offers a versatile range of wide-angle coverage. The 16-35mm features the same autofocus capabilities and durable construction as the 70-200mm, with the addition of

suppressed focus breathing, making the lens an extremely promising option for filmmaking as well as for stills shooting. The Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/2.8 OIS is available next January at £2599, while the Lumix S Pro 16-35mm f/4 is available in late December at £1499. Panasonic’s firmware update is for its Lumix mirrorless cameras – the S1, S1R, GH5, GH5S and G9. The updates are available now and

include improvements to autofocus and high-speed video, as well as better compatibility with Panasonic and Sigma lenses, and with Profoto wireless transmitters. Other key improvements include the ability to select the card slot to save the JPEGs developed by in- camera Raw processing, and the Fn button can be used for checking the aperture effect. panasonic.com

Leica’s SL-Systemwas first launched in 2015. Now, the SL2 has been announced. Externally, the SL2 features improved ergonomics with a simplified three-button layout and an improved grip, as well as added weather sealing. Leica announces new mirrorless As far as the interface goes, Leica claims that menus have undergone some streamlining, too, making for a better user experience all round. Inside, there’s a 47-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, as well as a newMaestro III image processor. As a result, Leica promises fast and reliable autofocus, which is further complemented by the camera’s Smart AFmode. Another highlight is the SL2’s sensor-shift technology, which offers not only stabilisation, but a multi-shot mode capable of capturing images at a huge 187-megapixel resolution. The SL2 doesn’t just appeal to stills shooters, either. There’s a lot to enjoy for videographers – namely 60fps recording in Cine 4K and high-speed shooting up to 180fps in Full HD. The Leica SL2 body is £5300. uk.leica-camera.com

Issue 72 | Photography News 7

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