Panasonic Turns 100

By Louis Ferreira | Published: March 12, 2018


Panasonic is celebrating its centennial this year and they are kicking things off with a website dedicated to Panasonic innovation over the past 100 years. Corporate culture is very important to stand the test of time and Panasonic has a rich one that’s worth exploring so check it out if you have some time over the coming days.

Unchanging principles for a rapidly changing world
Panasonic was founded in 1918 by Konosuke Matsushita. That year, Panasonic introduced an improved attachment plug, which allowed people to power an electrical appliance from a light socket. Next was a double cluster socket that made it possible to power lights and appliances from a single source. Our principles of making life ever more comfortable originated from these small ideas.

Panasonic’s 100th anniversary is upon us. To address the changing times, we continue to develop the products of the future worldwide, always cherishing the principles our founder defined for us one century ago.

via Panasonic

Posted in Panasonic| 1 Comment

Panasonic and Olympus Deals

By Louis Ferreira | Published: March 11, 2018

B&H Photo still has a variety of Panasonic and Olympus bodies and lenses on sale.
Panasonic/Olympus Body Savings
m43 Lens Savings

Posted in Deals, Olympus, Panasonic| 2 Comments

Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark II Firmware 2.1 Update

By Louis Ferreira | Published: March 9, 2018


Olympus released firmware 2.1 for the OM-D E-M1 Mark II and it addresses issues with the Leica 200mm

Corrected issue of C-AF not operating correctly when using the “LEICA DG ELMARIT 200mm F2.8 / POWER O.I.S. (H-ES200)” interchangeable lens produced by Panasonic.

You can download the update here.

Posted in Olympus, Panasonic lenses| Tagged , , | 2 Comments

LensRentals Compares 6 Fast 40’s

By Louis Ferreira | Published: March 8, 2018


LensRentals compared their 40mm range of m43 lenses and came up with some surprising results. The Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95 was a great performer that sharpened up very quickly as it was stopped down, while the Panasonic Leica DG Macro Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 showed some worrisome sample variation, which led to disappointing results. I was surprised to see the Panasonic Leica DG Macro Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ranked poorly because I once owned this lens and mine was great, but I might have received a good copy.

According to LensRentals m43 lenses are different than most other lenses in that they can’t be adjusted once they are assembled so a bad sample is a bad sample period. Other lenses that are produced can be tweaked at the end of the assembly line to make up for errors, but this is not the case with m43, which surprised me. It’s also interesting to see how much variance there is in these m43 lenses because it could lead to a lot of arguments on the internet. The conclusion ends up being:

Well, I learned that no matter how much I dislike Voigtlander, the company, I sure do admire Voigtlander lenses. The performance of the 42.5mm f/0.95 is spectacular. Of course, you also have to be OK with manually focusing, but still, that’s a lens worth considering.

I would have to agree with LensRentals many Voigtlander lenses are excellent lenses for the price and they do have a look to them that is often unmatched. Out of the 6 lenses tested I would pick the Voigtlander on the expensive side of things and the Panasonic f/1.7 for an inexpensive option. You can read the full review here.

Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95 ASPH: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Panasonic 42.5mm f1.7 ASPH OIS: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm f/1.8: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Olympus M. Zuiko 45mm f/1.2 PRO: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Leica DG Macro Elmarit 45mm f/2.8: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
Leica DG Noctitron 42.5mm f1.2 ASPH Power OIS: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Posted in 3rd Party Lens, Olympus, Olympus lenses, Panasonic, Panasonic lenses| Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

ON1 2018.1 Released

By Louis Ferreira | Published: March 8, 2018


ON1 released their first major update for 2018 and they have some special pricing. You can get your copy here.

NEW IMPROVEMENTS

  • Debayering – The algorithms have been improved to increase the amount of micro detail while reducing aliasing, yielding photos that are noticeably crisper with less color artifacts.
  • HDR – HDR alignment and deghosting have improved, yielding sharper results with less ghosting, noise, and color fringe. Users now have the ability to select which frame is used for deghosting and can also adjust the amount of motion visible in water and clouds.
  • Faster Cataloging – The thumbnail and preview generation of images is now faster. Searching photos has also been improved.
  • Noise reduction – Improvements to reduce large noise from very high ISOs. Automatic hot-pixel removal has been added, and green and purple color aberration reduction has improved.
  • Sharpening – The sharpening algorithms have been improved to enhance micro details and provide sharper initial results.
  • Panorama – The panorama merge dialog now does a better job with vertical panoramas as well as really large ones. It can now stitch together up to 25 photos at a time. Blending of photos to compensate for differences in exposure and white balance have been improved.
  • Preview Quality – The preview window has been improved to more accurately reflect the details and sharpness in photos at different zoom levels.

NEW FEATURES

  • NEW Import – Get photos from your camera to your computer, choose where you want the photos to go, assign metadata, and more.
  • NEW Tethered Shooting – Get your photos to your computer instantly and apply import settings. Currently supports Canon and Nikon.
  • NEW Soft Proofing – Simulate what your photo will look like when it’s printed.
  • NEW Metadata Templates – Add metadata to a group of photos using presets. This allows you to choose and save only the information you want applied to your photos.
  • NEW Video Browsing & Organizing – Now supports viewing video files so you can organize those as well. Copy, move, name, add metadata, and more.
  • NEW Custom Sorting – This option in Browse allows you to put your photos in any order you choose.
  • NEW Batch Rename – Rename all of your photos in a batch to add unique information to filenames.
  • NEW Edit Capture Date – Adjust date and time on your photos so they match the actual date and time they were taken.
  • NEW Auto Advance – Automatically switch to the next photo during the culling process when rating or tagging photos.
  • Additional Camera & Lens Support — Added support for several new cameras and many new lenses.
Posted in Software| Tagged , | 1 Comment