Skylum reinvents the approach for managing photos with upcoming Digital Asset Manager

If you are seeking for an Adobe Lightroom alternative this might be for you. Skylum announced this:

Skylum plans to offer the new DAM free to anyone who owns a current version of Luminar. Within a few weeks, the company will announce its final sale of the current version. There will be a well-known, well-publicized, time limit set for this sale and at the end of the sale, the retail price of the product will go up. Everyone who buys (or currently owns) the current version of Luminar before that date, will get the new DAM free of charge. After that date, the price will rise and will still be very affordable.

The new DAM is still under development, and the company wants to make sure it is rock solid before it comes out of BETA. We’re in the home stretch. As soon as possible, the shipping date will be announced. For now, make sure you own the current version of Luminar to put yourself in the queue to receive the new DAM free of charge. 

Note that you save $10 on Luminar when using our code “MIRROR” at checkout!

This is the presentation video of the DAM module:

You can now adapt Alpa lenses on the Hasselblad X1D and it looks gorgeous!

The swiss company Alpa announced their new HXD Adapter for Hasselblad X-mount cameras. I doubt many readers here do actually own Alpa lenses. But for sure it’s worth to check out these gorgeous pictures (Click on them to enlarge):

Here is the press text:

ALPA HXD Adapter

With the introduction of the ALPA adapter HXD, a variety of ALPA lenses and lens modules can now be used on current and future Hasselblad X cameras. The adapter allows the use of high-quality ALPA/Rodenstock optics from 32 to 180 mm on the Hasselblad X1D. Depending on the combination technical movements and multiple stitching beyond 100 megapixels become achievable.

By introducing the electronic shutter in the Hasselblad X1D and the camera’s advantageously short flange distance, a wide range of high-quality ALPA-Short-Barrel lenses (SB-Mount = lenses with shortened lens board) can now be used. The high modularity of the ALPA platform opens up a wide range of combination options for optics from 32 to 180 mm focal length. In addition, lenses for Hasselblad V, Pentax 67 and those with PL mount can be attached via the respective ALPA lens modules. The design of the adapter allows easy and safe mounting. MR

Since the X-cameras can also be attached directly to ALPA bodies via this adapter, multiple stitching is also possible on an ALPA camera movements when long focal length lenses of type SB34 are used. Images of more than 100 MP become reality and with a sufficiently large image circle, even 9-fold stitches with even higher megapixel count can be realized. For a corresponding overview of the possible combinations please see the download area.

The comfortable aperture priority mode of the X cameras makes working extremely comfortable and easy. The electronic viewfinder and the large display allow reliable focusing by zooming and focus peaking.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

ITEM NO 190.070.010
… D I M E N S I O N S …
WIDTH 98 mm
HEIGHT 98 mm
LENGTH 16 mm
WEIGHT 69 g

This would be cutting edge: Brand new Nikon patent describes CMOS global shutter sensor for their future mirrorless system camera

Like Morpheus I know the big question that is swirling in your mind: Is Nikon going to take the blue pill (conservative route) and make a boring entry level FF mirrorless and DSLR surrogate? Or will they go bold take the red pill and make something that will take down Sony’s pants?

Nobody knows it yet but at least on a “Patent-level” I can assure you Nikon is thinking boldly: In January of this year they submitted a patent for a new sensor made for Nikon mirrorless cameras. It has two cutting edge techs current Sony cameras do not have yet:

1) The patent describes a CMOS global shutter
2) The Sensor also has a Canon Dual focus alike tracking system

Nikoneye.com who spotted the patent shares this official Nikon patent description:

In order to realize a global shutter in a CMOS image sensor, there is known an imaging apparatus in which a storage section is provided to a pixel.

Now, patents are ephemeral like clouds, we don’t know if that patent will disappear in Nikon’s deep dungeons or if it will translate into a real storm!

Here are the patents images:

Olympus will announce the new 12mm f/1.2 PRO but no new E-M5III at this years Photokina

Olympus will keep a low profile at this years Photokina and they will definitely NOT announce the new OMD E-M5III. This camera will be launched in early 2019 only. We still have no news if the PEN-F will be announced this year or also in 2019.

What’s 99,999% sure is that Olympus will launch a new 12mm f/1.2 PRO lens.

What about Panasonic? No news yet…but the LX200 is a hot candidate for a Photokina presentation…

15% off (with $100 cap) on all eBay gear today only!

The eBay super deal is back: Today only you save 15% (with max $100 discount) on all eBay products (Click here for details) including all camera/lens gear when using the coupon code “PERFECTDAY” at checkout!

How to redeem your Coupon:
  1. Shop for eligible items. (See below for exclusions).
  2. Pay for your item by 9:00 PM Pacific Time on June 29, 2018
  3. Enter the Coupon code in the redemption code field: PERFECTDAY
Terms & Conditions:
This Coupon is a 15% discount off a minimum purchase of $25, valid from 7:00 AM PT on June 29, 2018 until 9:00 PM PT on June 29, 2018. The Coupon discount is capped at a maximum value of $100. Discount applies to the purchase price (excluding shipping, handling, and taxes) of eligible items on eBay.?com, cafr.ebay.?ca and ebay.?ca. *Eligible items exclude warranties and protection plans, as well as items from the Coins & Paper Money, Gift Cards & Coupons, and Real Estate categories.

Coupon must be used within a single transaction (and can include multiple eligible items), while supplies last. Max one-time use. Only eBay users registered with an address located in the United States, Canada, Latin America or the Caribbean are eligible for the Coupon. Valid only for purchases from eBay.?com, cafr.ebay.?ca and ebay.?ca. Any unused difference between the discount amount, as shown on the Coupon, and the purchase price of an item(s) in a single transaction (or cart) will be forfeited.

Coupon is subject to U.S. laws, void where prohibited, not redeemable for cash, has no face value, and cannot be combined with any other Coupon, or when paying with PayPal Credit Easy Payments or Gift Cards. eBay may cancel, amend, or revoke the Coupon at any time.

New SD Express standard annouced

Press text:

SHANGHAI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mobile World Congress Booth N2.C40 — The SD Association announced today SD Express which adds the popular PCI Express® and NVMe™ interfaces to the legacy SD interface. The PCIe interface delivering a 985 megabytes per second (MB/s) maximum data transfer rate and the NVMe upper layer protocol enables advanced memory access mechanism, enabling a new world of opportunities for the popular SD memory card. In addition, the maximum storage capacity in SD memory cards grows from 2TB with SDXC to 128 TB with the new SD Ultra Capacity (SDUC) card. These innovations maintain the SDA’s commitment to backward compatibility and are part of the new SD 7.0 specification.

“With SD Express we’re offering an entirely new level of memory card with faster protocols turning cards into a removable SSD”

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“SD Express’ use of popular PCIe and NVMe interfaces to deliver faster transfer speeds is a savvy choice since both protocols are widely used in the industry today and creates a compelling choice for devices of all types,” said Mats Larsson, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource. “The SD Association has a robust ecosystem with a strong history of integrating SD innovations and has earned the trust of consumers around the world.”

SD Express keeps pace with growing performance levels of mobile and client computing, imaging and automotive as they adopt faster communication and embedded storage protocols designed to make processing data faster.

“With SD Express we’re offering an entirely new level of memory card with faster protocols turning cards into a removable SSD,” said Hiroyuki Sakamoto, SDA president. “SD 7.0 delivers revolutionary innovations to anticipate the needs of forthcoming devices and content rich and speed hungry applications.”

“PCI-SIG is pleased to have teamed with the SDA to collaborate on this innovation for the world’s leading removable memory card – SD,” said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG president and chairman. “PCIe specification conformance tests are available today by major test vendors, offering a significant advantage for any new PCIe adopter.”

SD Express delivers speeds necessary to move large amounts of data generated by data-intense wireless communication, super-slow motion video, RAW continuous burst mode and 8K video capture and playback, 360 degree cameras/videos, speed hungry applications running on cards and mobile computing devices, ever evolving gaming systems, multi-channel IoT devices and automotive to name a few. SD Express will be initially offered on SDUC, SDXC and SDHC memory cards.

“NVMe is the industry-recognized performance SSD interface from the client to the datacenter, shipping in millions of units,” said Amber Huffman, NVM Express™ Inc. president. “Consumers will benefit by SD Association adopting the NVMe specification for their new SD Express cards.”

SD Express uses the well-known PCIe 3.0 specification and NVMe v1.3 protocols defined by PCI-SIG® and NVM Express, respectively, on the second row of pins used by UHS-II cards today. By relying on successful protocols already in the marketplace, the SDA gives the industry an advantage allowing utilization of existing test equipment and saving in development process by usage of existing building blocks used in existing designs. These cards also provide system developers new options offered by PCIe and NVMe capabilities, such as Bus Mastering, Multi Queue (without locking mechanism) and Host Memory Buffer. A new video explains more about SD Express.

The SDA released visual marks to denote SD Express and SDUC memory cards for easy matching with devices’ recommendation for the best SD memory card for optimal performance.

A new white paper, “SD Express Cards with PCIe and NVMe Interfaces,” provides more details on the new capabilities and features found in the SD 7.0 specification. More information is available on our website.

Find the SD Association at Mobile World Congress Shanghai in Booth N2.C40, June 27-29, 2018, in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) Shanghai, China.

SD Association

The SD Association is a global ecosystem of nearly 900 technology companies charged with setting interoperable SD standards. The Association encourages the development of consumer electronic, wireless communication, digital imaging and networking products that utilize market-leading SD technology. The SD standard is the number one choice for consumers and has earned more than 80 percent of the memory card market with its reliable interoperability and its easy-to-use format. Today, smart phones, tablets, drones, IoT devices, HDTVs, audio players, automotive systems, computers, digital cameras and digital video cameras feature SD interoperability. For more information about SDA or to join, please visit the Association’s website, https://www.sdcard.org.

SD Logos are trademarks licensed by SD-3C LLC.

PCI-SIG

PCI-SIG is the consortium that owns and manages PCI specifications as open industry standards. The organization defines industry standard I/O (input/output) specifications consistent with the needs of its members. Currently, PCI-SIG is comprised of nearly 800 industry-leading member companies. To learn more about PCI-SIG, and for a list of the Board of Directors, visit www.pcisig.com. PCI Express® is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG.

PCIe® – PCI Express, is a standard developed by PCI-SIG® and PCIe® is a trademark owned by PCI-SIG®

NVMe™ – NVM Express™, is a standard developed by NVM Express Inc. and NVMe™ is a trademark owned by NVM Express Inc.

Contacts

SD Association
Kevin Schader, 1-925-275-6670
media@sdcard.org

Sony is going to announce the new 400mm f/2.8 FE today…

Today at 15:00 London time Sony will announce the final specs and pricing of their new 400mm f/2.8 FE lens. There should be no new camera announced today. But we might get a glimps about the future Sony 500 and 600mm lenses?

We know Sony did patent these lens designs along the new 400mm…so maybe…