Photoded

HDR used properly is appropriate for photojournalism, says Unified Color’s Omvik

By DPreview, on February 3rd, 2012

Are High Dynamic Range photos appropriate for illustrating news? That’s the debate that’s been started by the Washington Post’s use of an HDR image on its front page in January. Sean Elliot, president of the National Press Photographers Association came down firmly against it, saying, ‘HDR is not appropriate for documentary photojournalism.’ John Omvik, Marketing VP with HDR software maker Unified Color understandably disagrees. He’s written us a response arguing that what we see is closer to HDR than, say, a mono photo shot with Tri-X film.

Kenko-Tokina Reflex 300mm F6.3 compact telephoto for Micro Four Thirds

By DPreview, on February 3rd, 2012

Kenko-Tokina has added the mirrors back into mirrorless with the launch of an ultra-compact Reflex 300mm F6.3 for Micro Four Thirds. This fixed-aperture, manual focus lens revives the catadioptric lens design that was especially popular in the 1970s and ’80s for producing small high-magnification telephoto lenses. With a 55mm filter diameter and weight less than 300g, this is possibly the smallest lens of this type that’s ever been made for stills cameras. The spec is rounded-off with a minimum focus of 0.8m and 0.5x maximum magnification, making the lens potentially interesting for chasing insects and the like, just as long as you can hold it steadily enough.

Kenko-Tokina exhibits mockup of image-stabilised 70-200mm F4 at CP+

By DPreview, on February 3rd, 2012

Kenko-Tokina will exhibit a mockup of a 70-200mm F4 telephoto zoom that features both a ring-type ultrasonic autofocus motor and optical image stabilization at the CP+ trade show in Japan. The AT-X Pro SD 70-200 F4 (IF) FX will be the company’s first stabilized lens, and will likely be especially interesting to Nikon SLR users who currently have no option that’s directly comparable to Canon’s popular and highly-regarded 70-200mm F4 designs. Further details are limited, but the lens appears to feature both internal zoom and focus mechanisms, and has a usefully-close minimum focus distance of 1m. (via Megapixel.il)

Demolition Videos Are Well-Engineered Catharsis

By Wired, on February 3rd, 2012

> It’s Friday, and that means it’s time to set C-4 charges on your week, hit the detonate button and watch the whole thing go kablooie. To set the mood, we’ve provided a few awesome demolition videos. We recommend providing your own soundtrack, maybe some Sabbath or Mastodon . Fight the urge to look in the rearview at the Monday-through-Friday rubble as you drive off into the sunset of the weekend. Enjoy. Above: St. Paul Smokestack Implosion Filmmaker Chris White shot this excellent video of a huge smoke stack coming down in a controlled demolition. The 550-foot high smoke stack weighing a bit over 11 million pounds was built 36 years ago and had to be cleared out for a new power plant. Video: Chris White > View all