Sony big April event: Two new FE lenses and a High End E-mount camera!

It looks like we are finally getting some reliable rumors about the upcoming Sony April announcement. Sony plans to launch the following new E-mount stuff:

  1. 16.-35mm f/2.8 GM
  2. 100-400mm FE G
  3. New Sony High End E-mount camera

The High End E-mount camera is rumored to be displayed at the NAB show. This is probably going to be an ultimate “hybrid” camera with serious video performance and no overheating issue…LOL :)

I don’t think this is going to be a purely sort of Canon C100 cinema oriented DSLR styled camera. I heard the camera is good for sports photographers too as it has about 20fps and the best autofocus system of all mirrorless system cameras (at least that’s what Sony marketing claims).

Cascable 3.0 Beta Program adds Fuji and Panasonic camera support

Cascable announced the 3.0 Beta Program which adds Fuji and Panasonic camera support:

We’re hard at work on Cascable 3.0, which we’re planning to release sometime in Spring 2017. One of the biggest features will be expanded camera support, adding a wide variety of Fujifilm and Panasonic models. Since adding this many cameras is a large undertaking, we’re starting a beta testing program in April that is essentially Cascable 2.x with added camera support. This allows us to focus on camera stability and performance while we work on new features separately.

For more information on what Cascable is, see the Cascable homepage.

To take part in the program, you’ll need iOS 10 installed on your iPad, iPhone (5s/c or higher) or iPod touch, a supported WiFi-enabled camera and a healthy appetite for pushing buttons until stuff breaks. If you have these things, fill out the form below and we’ll consider you for thebBeta program!

Google launches new encoder that reduces JPEG file size by 35%

Google launched a new JPEG encoder named “Guetzli” that reduces JPG files by 35% or offer better image quality at the same file size. These are the images shared by Arstechnica:

Guetzli, according to Google Research, uses a new psychovisual model—called Butteraugli, if you must know—to work out which colours and details to keep, and which to throw away. “Psychovisual” in this case means it’s based on the human visual processing system. The exact details of Butteraugli are buried within hundreds of high-precision constants, which produce a model that “approximates colour perception and visual masking in a more thorough and detailed way” than other encoders.

Download Guetzli here: github.com/google/guetzli/

via Reddit