If your dream is to print your images on EVERYTHING you can now preorder this UV printer on Kickstarter (Click here). With their new UV tech you can print your images on over 300 materials and in all possible 2D and 3D shapes!

Here you will find some instructions and reviews:

In the US you now have to pay a lot more for Leica cameras:

• 90% price increase for the Leica D-LUX 8 from $1,595 to $2,790. This camera is made in China.
• 10% price increase for the Leica M11 Monochrome. From $9,195 to $10,160. This camera is manufactured in Germany.
• 7% price increase for the Leica M11-D. From $9,195 to $9,839. This camera is manufactured in Germany.
• 7% price increase for the Leica SL3. From $6,995 to $7,485. This camera is manufactured in Germany.

The price increase also affected all Leica L and M-mount lenses.

300-600mm preorders at BHphoto. Amazon. Adorama. FotoErhardt. Fotokoch. WexUK.

Mark Amir-Hamzeh, President of Sigma America just sent out this statement:

Dear customer,
Thank you for your continued support and trust in Sigma. We are writing to inform you of an upcoming pricing adjustment to our products, effective June 2, 2025.
Due to the recent implementation of government-imposed tariffs, our costs have increased substantially. We have made every effort to absorb these added expenses, but the sustained impact of the tariffs now necessitates a price increase to ensure we can continue delivering the quality and service you expect.

Key details:

• Current pricing will remain in effect for all orders placed through June 1st, 2025, subject to product availability.
• New pricing will take effect on June 2, 2025, and will apply to all new orders and any unfulfilled items.

We understand this is difficult news to hear, and please know this decision was not made lightly. We have always prided ourselves on delivering unmatched value to our customers, and we are doing everything we can to continue to do that while providing the same service and product excellence.
We sincerely appreciate your understanding and continued partnership.

Sigma manufactures all its lenses in Japan. And Japan has been slapped with a 10% tariff. How high the final price increase will be is unclear. The 10% tariff applies to the price of the imported product, not the final price you pay in the US shop. I therefore estimate that the actual price increase for consumers will be about 5% on top of the current price. This is something you can feel with the more expensive lenses. The new 300-600mm is available for pre-order for $6,000. An increase of 5 % would mean a price of $6300.

The uncertainty lies in the negotiations. It could be that the tariffs are ultimately set to zero again or that the tariffs are increased further if the negotiations fail. But this is all political speculation and I don’t want to guess what will happen in a few months’ time.

If you like to avoid paying the extra price you should consider preordering now your lens on those Sigma pages at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama.

DxO just released the new Nik Collection 8 suite (Click here). You can buy it here or try it out here.

Press Text:

Nik Collection 8 expands Photoshop’s photo editing potential across all seven plugins thanks to new integration and powerful features
Version 8 unlocks the full power of Photoshop masks, and upgrades make Nik Color Efex better than ever. Plus, Nik Silver Efex has been rethought to ensure effortless black-and-white images.

Paris (France): DxO today unveils Nik Collection 8, the latest version of its celebrated creative plugin suite for photographers. This new release brings a completely redesigned Photoshop panel, powerful new masking functionality, and significant improvements to Silver Efex and Color Efex, delivering a more dynamic editing experience.

“With Nik Collection 8, we wanted to enhance both creativity and efficiency,” said Boris Oliviero, Product Director. “We’ve reimagined the Photoshop workflow, making it easier than ever to apply powerful effects, refine local adjustments, and move seamlessly between plugins.”

Powerful new mask options

Photographers can now import masks directly from Photoshop into any Nik Collection plugin, making full use of Photoshop’s powerful selection tools. A new feature in the Local Adjustments panel also lets users transfer masks effortlessly between plugins. And when ready, photographers can send masks created in Nik Collection straight back to Photoshop for further
refinement. With Nik Collection 8, your masks remain accessible at every step of the workflow, whether they originate from Photoshop or a Nik Collection plugin.

A smarter, more flexible return to Photoshop

Bringing edits back into Photoshop is now more intuitive. Users can choose to:

• convert edits into a Smart Object for non-destructive editing;
• apply changes to the current layer or create a new one;
• generate a new layer with a mask, providing additional flexibility.

Send edits as Layers to Photoshop

Photographers can now send their Nik Collection edits directly to Photoshop as a new Photoshop layer while continuing to work inside Nik Collection. This allows users to test multiple ideas for an image without breaking their creative flow, and have all of their edits immediately at hand once back inside Photoshop.

Brand-new Photoshop panel for maximum efficiency

Nik Collection 8 introduces a fully customizable and dockable Photoshop panel, replacing the traditional Nik Palette. This new design allows photographers to save screen space by choosing which plugins to display, and launch any plugin with a single click for a more fluid workflow. Plus, all of the essential controls for managing layers and masks are immediately accessible.

Major upgrades to Nik Silver Efex

Nik Silver Efex, the industry’s leading black-and-white editing tool, gets significant usability and
feature boosts:

• Color Reference Image: Users can now view their original color image while working in
  black and white. This makes it easier to make changes that are dependent on the
  original image, such as applying Color Filters or adjusting the Sensitivity sliders inside
  the Film Types filter.
• Streamlined interface: The logic of the interface now matches that of Nik Color Efex and
  Nik Analog Efex, keeping filters on the left-hand side until they are used to edit an image.
• Better logic when applying presets: Only the relevant filters appear on the right-hand
  side when a preset has been selected.
• New Local Adjustments: ClearView and Selective Tones can now be applied locally.
• New Filter Looks: Each filter now includes various pre-defined options for quick
  application.

New Color Masks bring precision edits to Nik Color Efex

Targeting local adjustments just became more powerful as the suite now lets photographers select a range of colors for changes. Simply click on the desired color, tweak the handles as
required, and then start making adjustments.

Quick Export upgraded for a faster workflow

Upgrades make it quicker to switch to TIFF format when using the Quick Export button. Plus, the export options are now instantly accessible so that users can tweak the Quick Export configuration directly rather than having to navigate the menu.

Interesting to see what cameras “famous” influencers do use!

We are going to have at least three but probably even more announcements this month:

• On May 13 Panasonic will announce a new S1II, a S1IIx(?) and a new standard zoom
• Sony is rumored to announce a new camera in May
• On may 22 Fujifilm will announce the X-Half with 20MP  1 inch vertical aligned sensor

But there is aloes a fair chance Hasselblad will announce the new X2DII and Sigma the new 200mm f/2.0.

Snappiness writes:

I bought the worst kickstarter camera ever (maybe worst camera ever?) and tried to photograph with it. What I didn’t realize was how fun this camera could actually be and how misleading the original advertising of the camera was. I also took the camera apart and made a big discovery about the lens.