A good number of websites are talking about the new official portrait of President Obama. It was shot in the Oval Office back on December 6th, 2012 by official White House photographer Pete Souza, whom we’ve written about quite a few times in the past.
Read more…
Nikon has just officially announced its new D5200, a mid-range DSLR geared towards consumers. The successor of the D5100, the D5200 shares a lot of guts in common with its sibling the D7000. It’s difference is that it’s geared towards less advanced photographers and has a body that reflects that.
Read more…
As President Obama’s four-year term in office comes to an end, TIME magazine caught up with his official photographer Pete Souza for thoughts on his career so far. It’s a pretty fascinating read:
Souza recalls one meeting that he missed because it had been rescheduled unbeknownst to him. “I was a little upset with the President’s secretary for not telling me that they had moved the meeting up, and [the President] heard us talking and he said, ‘What are you talking about? You were in that meeting.’ He’s so used to me being there that he thought that I had been in the meeting that I wasn’t even in. So I took that as a compliment.”
His access to Obama’s inner circle and day-to-day routine stems from the trust he built during their relationship prior to the presidency. “I’m there to seriously document his presidency. I’m not looking for cheap shots, and I think that’s the kind of relationship any White House photographer should have with the President they’re covering,” he says. “That they have a level of access and trust that will lead to important photographs for history.”
They also asked Souza to submit an edit of more than 100 photos that provides a nice overview of some of his best shots.
Pete Souza’s Portrait of a Presidency [TIME Lightbox]
Image credit: Photograph by Pete Souza/The White House
After the massive leak of pictures showing these exact cameras on April 30th, their official release isn’t as exciting as it probably should be. But nevertheless, the new NEX-F3 and A37 are now an official part of the Sony lineup, complete with a new 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.
Read more…
Panasonic has officially announced the Lumix GF5, conveniently skipping over the GF4 from the GF3. The tiny Micro Four Thirds camera is geared towards beginners and offers some subtle changes from its predecessor. While the 12.1-megapixel sensor hasn’t changed, the new camera offers a new max ISO of 12,800, faster autofocus, a new 1080/30p HD view mode, a stereo microphone, a higher-res 3-inch touchscreen, a refined user interface, and an increase to 4fps (up from 3.8).
Read more…
Beta testers still have until the end of the month to play around with the program, but Adobe has now officially launched Lightroom 4 to the general public. The program features an improved develop module, a new map module, book creation, new video features, and space saving lossy compression for DNG files. It’s also significantly cheaper than prior versions: the full program costs just $149, while the upgrade costs $79.
Canon has officially taken the wraps off its new 5D Mark III DSLR, a followup to the 5D Mark II that offers a feature set that sits somewhere between its predecessor and the soon-to-arrive 1D X. The camera packs a 22.3MP full-frame sensor, the 61-point AF system found in the 1D X, 63-zone metering, an ISO range of 100-25600 (expandable to 50-102400), 6fps continuous shooting, a 3.2-inch LCD (1.04M dots), and 100% viewfinder coverage (up from 98%).
Read more…
Pretty much everything we wanted to know about the Fujifilm X-Pro1 was leaked over the weekend, but now the camera finally transitioned from the world of rumors into official reality. Fujifilm unveiled the X-Pro1 at CES today, and confirmed the leaked specs. They also announced plans to release 9 additional lenses within the next three years. Sadly, the usefulness of the official announcement ends there — there was no word on how much things will cost when they become available late February (the price will be announced later this month).
Update: The price of the camera, based on a briefly-online Amazon product listing, is rumored to be $1,700 for the body only.
After nearly a year of rumors, speculation, and leaks, Nikon has finally announced its new flagship D4 DSLR. The specs were already leaked, but here they are: 16.2MP, ISO that expands to 204,800, 10fps stills (11 if AE and AF locked), 51 AF points, a new full frame sensor, 1080/30p video recording, a 91K pixel meter (up from 1,005 pixels in the D3S), backlit controls, a 3.2-inch LCD with an ambient light sensor, a 0.12s startup time, and dual card slots (CF+XQD). It’ll cost $6,000 when it hits store shelves in late February.
Read more…
After photos of the camera were leaked a week ago, Panasonic has officially announced the Lumix GX1. The camera should satisfy GF1 shooters who loved the camera but were unhappy about the consumer-oriented GF2 and GF3 followup cameras. The 16MP Micro Four Thirds camera features a max ISO of 12,800, a solid build, .09 second autofocus (with iPhone-esque touch to focus), a 3-inch touchscreen, RAW mode, and 1080/60i HD video. The camera ships for $700 (body-only) starting in December 2011.
Read more…
