Canon’s New Community

Canon introduced a new online photo community that will provide a combination of artificial and human intelligence to guide photographers looking to hone their craft. Dubbed RAISE, the site will serve several functions: Images that are uploaded to the platform will be automatically tagged using an AI-based algorithm that can detect a variety of image characteristics including color, composition, subject matter and more. The system will automatically apply tags where it has an 80 percent or higher confidence in the accuracy of the tag, but it will also generate a list of potential tags that it has less confidence in that you can manually apply to your images. Canon also plans to introduce a Lightroom plug-in for uploading images to the service that will automatically synchronize a Lightroom collection with RAISE as well as apply RAISE tags to images in Lightroom.

The service is free to join and Canon will initially cap users at 1TB of storage. Users will be able to download the full-res images they upload, and at the moment, the service can only accept JPEGs.

raise.usa.canon.com

Savage Universal RGB Ring Light + Modifier

Savage Universal’s newest LED ring light offers something few competitive products have offered to date: colors! The 17-inch RGB Ring Light can display 360 RBG colors and has an adjustable color temperature from 2700-10,000K. It has a 12-inch diameter opening with a shoe mount and ball head for placing your camera. A built-in LCD display reads out power level, color temp, battery life and RGB color status. Savage also introduced its ModMaster Adaptable Speedlight Softbox. The softbox includes a detachable speedlight adapter that can be handheld or mounted to a light stand. When the speedlight adapter is removed, the included Bowens mount allows you to mount the Speedlight Softbox to any compatible strobe. It is sold in 25- and 35-inch sizes.

Prices: $80 (25-inch softbox), $97 (35-inch softbox), $280 (rbg ring light)
savageuniversal.com

Sony’s Portrait Prime

Sony is expanding the ranks of its premium G-Master lens lineup with the addition of the FE 135mm f/1.8. The lens features an optical design with extreme aspherical and Super Extra-Low Dispersion elements in the front group to combat telephoto lens aberrations (in addition to axial chromatic aberration and color fringing). The lens also uses Nano AR Coating to reduce flare and ghosting. The 135mm prime lens has 11 aperture blades and a minimum focus distance of 2.3 feet with a maximum magnification of 0.25x. Autofocusing is driven by four XD linear motors. There’s an aperture ring and a focus ring for manual control plus a pair of customizable focus hold buttons. Sony also plans to sell a line of circular polarizer filters for its lenses in 49mm, 55mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm and 82mm sizes. Zeiss T* coating will be used to minimize flare.

Price: $1,900 (filters starting at $100)
sony.com

Sigma Embraces L-Mount

Sigma is making good on its Photokina promise to offer its Art lenses for L-mount cameras. The initial tranche of L-mount models will be 11 prime lenses spanning focal lengths from 14mm to 135mm. All of the lenses will support autofocusing for any L-mount camera, including AF-C. They will also transmit their focal length to any L-mount camera to facilitate image stabilization and in-camera aberration correction. The Art lenses will offer a rubberized sealing on the lens mount for dust and water resistance.

Price: tbd |
sigma-photo.com

Tamron Tips Lens Trio

Tamron is planning to introduce three new lenses for 2019, targeting both DSLR and Sony E-mount camera owners. Details are still a bit hazy, but here’s what we do know: The 17-28mm F/2.8 Di III RXD (Model A046) will be available in Sony E-mount and will be very compact with a 67mm filter diameter. It will deliver an f/2.8 aperture throughout its zoom range and be able to focus on objects as close as 7.5 inches at the wide-angle setting. Autofocusing will be driven by the RXD (Rapid eXtra-silent stepping Drive) stepping motor unit.

The 35-150mm F/2.8-4 Di VC OSD (Model A043, pictured) is a fairly unique zoom that’s aimed at delivering every focal length a portrait photographer could ask for. Available for DSLRs, it will have a minimum object distance of 17.7 inches across the entire zoom range. It will use LD (Low Dispersion) glass elements and aspherical lenses to keep aberrations at bay and use a Dual MPU (Micro-Processing Unit) system for autofocusing and vibration reduction.

Finally, Tamron will celebrate the 45th anniversary of its SP lens family with the SP 35mm F/1.4 Di USD (Model F045), promising that it will offer a high-precision AF system and high resolving capability. 

Price: tbd
tamron-usa.com

Fotodiox Mirrorless Adapters

With Canon and Nikon throwing their weight behind full-frame mirrorless cameras, it was only a matter of time before lens adapters caught up. One of the first is Fotodiox, which launched an extensive lineup of both EOS R and Nikon Z mount adapters. Nikon Z owners can choose from 17 different adapters for a wide range of lens mounts including Leica M, Pentax K, Sony A, Arri PL, Canon EF and more. Canon EOS R owners have 14 different adapters to choose from including Canon EF, Pentax K and more.

Prices: starting at $45
fotodiox.com

Related: 10 Must See Products at WPPI 2019

Canon Introduces RAISE Photography Community at WPPI 2019

Sneak Peak! 8 Innovative Pieces of Photo Gear to Look Forward to at WPPI 2019