Canon makes a bold statement: We are developing lenses with specifications that have never been seen before and that no one can imagine yet

Tetsudo.com has published an interview with the development team of Canon’s RF24-105mm F2.8 L IS USM Z. And when asked about future lenses they released quite a bold statement:

I can’t talk about the specifics, but there are lenses with basic specifications, and there are also lenses with specifications that have never been seen before and that no one can imagine yet. We would like to develop a good balance between these.

Wow! Now it’s up to your imagination to guess what kind of lenses they will release!!!
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Found via Digicameinfo

TTartisan announced a “non Tilt & Shift” version of their 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.

As you know TTartisan is offering a 100mm f/2.8 Tilt Shift 2x macro lens at TTartisan store, Pergear shop and Amazon worldwide store.(400$ / 499 euros).

Today TTartisan announced they will soon launch a “non tilt-shift” version that should be more affordable. There is no reorder option yet but the lens will be available in all different mount version (E / X / Z / RF / L / GFX / EF / F)

 

New Topaz Video AI brings All-new enhancement model, Plus After Effects integration, alpha layer support, and more

Topaz just released the new Video AI 5.2 version (Click here to see th product page). Press text:

This release includes the new Rhea Enhancement model, Pro seat management, Frame Interpolation for After Effects, Alpha layer support, and many UI and backend fixes.

  1. Rhea Enhancement Model

Rhea represents a combination of Proteus and Iris. The model is intended to be more accurate in preserving fine details across a wider range of subjects, while also handling text in a less destructive way.

This model and Rhea internally processes inputs at 4x scale and then downscales to your selected output resolution.

We’re very excited to see your results with Rhea, here are some example frames from this model:

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  1. Frame Interpolation for After Effects

Today we are also launching Frame Interpolation in Adobe After Effects. This plugin addition includes access to all Frame Interpolation models for up to 16x slow motion conversion.

For more information on using the After Effects Frame Interpolation plugin, see this post in the Video AI Plug-ins forum section. 62

  1. Alpha (transparency) layer support

Video AI can now copy alpha layers from inputs and merge them back with AI model output videos. Alpha layer copying is supported in the following codecs:

  • QuickTime Animation
  • TIFF
  • PNG

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Pro seat management

After a pre-launch period with several Pro teams around the world, Video AI Pro will be officially launching later this week. This new license tier offers seat management, commercial usage rights, and multi-GPU support for teams working with Video AI.

As part of this transition in licensing, we will be discontinuing the previous implementation of multi-GPU rendering for the standard license. Our team found that less than 2% of users made use of the multi-GPU setting, and further development will be focused on multi-GPU optimization for Pro teams.

If you are affected by this change and would like to discuss further options, please contact enterprise@topazlabs.com

Bug fixes & other improvements:

  • Preview set saving functionality restored.
  • UI lag greatly reduced, specifically for long operations.
  • Ensures colorspace correctness for input videos with a wider list of colorspace related flags.
    – Uses the setparams filter instead of -colorspace, ... flags to explicitly override the input metadata to ensure only the metadata tags are updated without changing the video data itself.
  • Timeline width now adjusts correctly between different video inputs.
  • Export preferences now save consistently.
  • Added pause/resume controls to right-click menu.
  • Fixed crop settings auto-populating after first digit.
  • Time remaining/elapsed toggle now available for both Previews and Exports.
  • Fixed “Open in Explorer/Finder” button for previews and exports.
  • Disabled automatic generation of TIFF sequences for Previews. These temporary files are no longer in use and the app now reads preview files in the selected Export format.

Canon launched an official teaser for the July 17 announcement: Canon R5II and R1 coming!

Now it’s official! Canon will announce new products on July 17. I expect them to announce the R5II and share many more details about their new flasghip Canon R1 model.

CanonRumors reported a new list of possible R5II specs:

New Canon EOS R5 Mark II Information (Unconfirmed)

  • No blackout during continuous shooting
  • A better implemented pixel-shift high resolution mode (no details)
  • “Some” illumination with the buttons
  • LCD resolution more than doubled
  • Focus sensitivity of -8EV
  • Increased battery performance (don’t expect a quantum leap here)
  • Maximum Electronic Shutter Speed “beyond” 1/8000s
  • Dynamic range claim of 16 stops (claimed vs real world can differ)
  • Full Size HDMI Port
  • New “firsts” for Canon in AF algorithms (I’m sure the EOS R1 would also have those firsts and more)
  • Slightly heavier body (Probably not noticeable)
  • New IBIS performance modes (No details)

Previously Reported EOS R5 Mark II Specifications

  • 45mp BSI Stacked Sensor
  • New EVF design
  • 12fps Mechanical & 30fps Electronic max burst rates
  • Eye Controlled AF from the EOS R3
  • New passive cooling design with two new vents
  • Active cooling grip accessory
  • Battery grip accessory
  • 8K60P (with cavaets)
  • CFexpress Type B / SD card configuration
  • Launch Price: $3999 USD
  • Announcement: July 17, 2024
  • Shipping: August, 2024