Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many camera companies are experiencing delays and temporarily shutting down factories. Japan’s newest financial incentives stimulate manufacturers to move their productions out of China. And since most major camera companies are Japanese, this could change the industry immensely. According to Bloomberg, Japan has earmarked 220 billion yen (around $2 billion USD) to help companies shift production from China back to Japan. There are additional (over $219 million USD) for companies who seek to move their production elsewhere....

According to DC Watch, Chinese lens manufacturer Kamlan is planning to release a new Kamlan KL 32mm F1.1 lens for APS-C cameras on February 12th. The lens is designed specifically for APS-C mirrorless cameras to offer a field of view equivalent to that of a 50mm lens on a full-frame body, although it’s a manual focus lens, not autofocus. As mentioned, the lens is fully manual focus, and also contains a manual aperture ring controlling 11-blades which open up to offer f/1....

So your kit lens is rubbish, you know this for a certainty because numerous photo blogs and camera test sites have told you so. It’s been confirmed repeatedly by a wide array of couch based photo experts on all the forums of great repute and finally the first shots you have taken with it seem to be less than fully impressive. Besides that, there was this nice guy in the camera shop told you that you’d really need a better more expensive lens if you were going to get even half serious about your photography....

For years, one of the staple zoom lenses of serious enthusiasts and professional photographers has been something in the 12-24mm (ish) range. Typically, they have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 and are usually autofocus. They’re also usually pretty expensive. Laowa has presented photographers with a new option, though, as they launch their new 12-24mm f/5.6 full-frame lens. Sure, it’s not got the fast f/2.8 constant maximum aperture and it’s not an autofocus lens, so it’s not going to be for everybody, but Laowa’s new lens comes in at under half the price of much of the faster autofocus options and will be ideally suited to a number of genres, even if not fast action events like weddings....

While Google is one of the biggest software tech giants out there, their adventures with hardware have only been going for a relatively short amount of time. Quickly, though, they’ve established themselves as a pretty serious player in the smartphone market. Although it seems they may want to become more serious about security, too. 9to5Google is reporting that a “large number of possibly stolen Pixel 3 XL” prototype phones have been put up for sale by an alleged Ukranian black market dealer....

Leica cameras and lenses are known to be expensive, but their price is about to get even higher. Starting on 1 May 2018, Leica is increasing prices of their products by an average of 5%. This will affect 66 items in total and most of the cameras and lenses will have an increase of $100-400. But there are some exceptions: for example, Leica S (Typ 007) will reach an increase of over $1,000, while the price of some items will remain unchanged....

Leica has released a smartphone. Well, technically, Japanese multinational conglomerate, SoftBank Group has released a “new” smartphone with Leica branding. But for all intents and purposes, it will obviously become known as “the Leica smartphone”. If the name sounds familiar, SoftBank is the company with which Leica invested $121 million in Light in 2018. While Leica has lent its name to camera modules in various devices from Huawei and others, this is the first time that Leica’s name along with the famous red dot will be front and centre on the device as a whole....

An armed robbery recently occurred in San Francisco, the city that keeps earning a bad rep for camera thefts. Four masked thieves burst into a Leica store near Union Square. While holding the employees at gunpoint, they stole $178,000 worth of gear and fled the scene only a few minutes later. The robbery was caught on surveillance camera, showing four masked men getting out of a gray sedan this Saturday around 1:20 p....

Whether you already shoot film or you’ve only been thinking about it, picking the right film for you can be difficult. There’s so many to choose from, and new ones, are popping up every day. Many film shooters chose long ago what they prefer, but how many did you try before making that decision? This fun web app from friend of DIYP, photographer Vincent Moschetti, is here to help you out with Film Dating....

Well, even though Light’s L16 wasn’t the critically acclaimed success that the hype hoped it would be, it looks like Light’s technology is definitely being taken seriously by the smartphone world. After some heavy investment from Leica, a partnership with Sony, and the new Nokia 9 PureView containing Light tech, Light has now announced a new partnership with Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi. As with much of the smartphone news over the last few days, the announcement comes out of MWC 2019, happening right now in Barcelona....

Last year, we showed you rctestflight’s crazy 1000 Watt LED light bar. Made from 10 individual smaller lights, it gives a total output of around 90,000 lumens. Already, it’s a pretty cool feat. For under $300 you can light up half a mountainside. Such a light would be a fantastic tool for filmmakers and photographers. But what if you want to raise it up a little higher? Rctestflight has taken things a little further this time around....

As LED lights have gotten more powerful and colour accurate, they’ve pretty much become the new standard for continuous lighting, replacing the more traditional tungsten lights on-set. One of the things LED lights have now started to incorporate more often is DMX lighting control. Conceived in the 1980s, DMX allows the remote control of one or multiple lights from a single control base. Lighticians lets you do this, too, using existing DMX systems, all from the screen of your smartphone....

While taking photos in public places is one of your constitutionals rights, some officials seem to violate the Constitution more often than ever. The latest case happened in Los Angeles, where the city officials have issued the ban on photographing free concerts in a public park. Not only you can’t shoot the concert as a regular viewer, but it seems you can’t even get the press permit. As SLR Lounge reports, Cliff Cheng, a photojournalist of the Los Angeles Collegian newspaper tried to get a press permit for public concerts in Pershing Square....

Lowepro has completed their PhotoSport III backpack lineup with the announcement of a new range of PhotoSport Pro backpacks. Aimed squarely at adventure and travel photographers that need to pack a lot of gear, the bags come in 55 litre and 70 litre capacities and Lowepro’s “AW” (All Weather) moniker to withstand harsh conditions. The PhotoSport Pro backpacks join Lowepro’s “Green Line” label, joining the rest of the PhotoSport III series, which Lowepro says covers “all gear carrying solutions […] made from recycled fabrics“, in this case around 85-86% for the backpacks themselves, 84% for the daypack and 47-50% for the modular inserts....

With Luminar 4, Skylum’s image editing software has become more focused on AI-based features. The latest free update, Luminar 4.2 is now out. It could be a real treat for everyone dealing with composites and digital art – or those of you who would like to try it out. Of course, there are a few other improvements and features for the rest of you, so let’s dive in and see what’s new....

Control decks for Lightroom and other applications seem to be becoming all the rage these days. And for good reason. I’ve got the Loupedeck+, you can check out the review here, and it’s becoming a pretty valuable tool. More so for me if they ever add DaVinci Resolve support, though. But what if you already have an Arduino and a bunch of components laying around and want to save some money?...

So you turn up to a portrait shoot and meet your model. You’ve scoped out the location, organised outfits and the weather is perfect. Only thing is, you pick up your camera and it isn’t working. Something’s wrong with the lens. You’re a hobbyist, so you don’t have any spares. You should’ve checked before you left home, but you forgot. Normally this would mean you’d have to cancel or reschedule the shoot....

Apple has announced the Apple Watch Series 6. While this gadget may not have to do much with photography, it looks like the latest model of the watch aims at photographers as well. Other than its usual features, Apple Watch now tells you when is the best time to shoot, and astro and landscape photographers could find it especially handy. Let’s start with the photography-friendly features first. The Apple Watch Series 6 watch has a new face powered by Lumy....

As we reported before, Nikon has mentioned their plans to switch focus to medium and high-end DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. In a recent interview for Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, company’s President Kazuo Ushida has confirmed –we can expect a new mirrorless camera from Nikon. Even though the company didn’t start off all well this year, they’ve undergone major business restructuring. Their 100th Anniversary line of products is now available, and in the future, we can expect a new mirrorless camera from the company....

Ah, buying new camera gear. The most exciting moment in every photographer’s life. When you’re just starting, you sure need a bunch of stuff – but don’t rush! There are some things that you should never buy, no matter how tempting they seem, and in this video, Miguel Quiles gives you five of them. Let’s see if you agree. 1. UV filters If you’re a first-time buyer of a camera and a lens, a salesperson will often offer you a UV filter to protect your lens....