Aurora HDR 2018 for both Windows and Mac are now available for preorder!

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Macphun released the new Aurora HDR which comes for both Mac and Windows. You can preorder it at Macphun (Click here).  Here is the press text:

About Aurora HDR:

Aurora HDR is not just a tool for merging bracketed images, it also provides numerous tools and countless options to create perfect HDR photos for every taste – from one-click presets and advanced tone-mapping, to layers, noise reduction and powerful luminosity masking controls.

Offer Availability:

Aurora HDR 2018 will be availabe for pre-order on September 12, and released on September 28.

Pre-Order Pricing:

  • Current users of Aurora HDR may upgrade at a special pre-order price of $49 ($59 MSRP)
  • New users can purchase Aurora HDR 2018 at a special pre-order price of $89 ($99 MSRP)
  • A collection of bonuses will also be included with every purchase.

Pre-Order Bonuses:

  • Trey Ratcliff Deep Dive video
  • Travel Photography Tutorial by Matt Granger
  • Source Brackets
  • 3-month Zenfolio Pro website, including a complementary design consultation. $60 value.

What’s new in Aurora HDR 2018:

  • Next-generation Tone Mapping – A new smart Tone Mapping algorithm automatically reduces noise, and produces more realistic and natural initial results.
  • Mac and Windows versions – Aurora HDR 2018 is available both for Mac and PC users, enabling mixed-computer households to share the same product key.
  • Lens Correction Tool* – The new Lens Correction filter easily fixes all kinds of lens distortion, from barrel and pincushion to chromatic aberration and vignetting.
  • Transform Tool* – Easily scale, rotate and shift your image to better fit your vision.
  • Dodge & Burn Filter – Selectively lighten or darken specific areas of an image to artfully direct your viewer’s eye towards the key subject of your image, similar to a traditional darkroom technique.
  • HDR Enhance Filter – Adds details and clarity to an image, adjusting colors, details and contrast without creating artificial halos or other problems.
  • User Interface – A new, modern and responsive user interface brings a powerful, yet  joyful experience to HDR photo editing.
  • History Panel – An easy-to-reference list of edits made to your image, the History panel allows you to click on any editing step to revert the photo to an earlier stage of editing.
  • Touch Bar support for Mac – Aurora HDR 2018 adds Touch Bar support to give new MacBook Pro users fast access to key editing features and speed up their workflow.
  • Image Flip and Rotate* – Perfect for correcting photos with incorrect horizons or making creative compositions or other stylistic changes to an image.
  • IMPROVED:  New Structure Algorithm – The re-developed Structure tool allows you to adjust detail and clarity of an image to get a classic HDR effect with great detail or a smoother effect with less details.
  • IMPROVED: RAW handling – An improved RAW conversion brings out more details in shadows/highlights, displays colors more accurately and reduces noise in RAW files.
  • IMPROVED: Crop tool update – Now specify custom crop sizes for even more versatility.
  • IMPROVED: Speed – Faster merging and masking performance, improvement in RAW image processing.

* Lens Correction and Transform tools, as well as image flip and rotate will be available in the Mac version at launch, and arrive in the PC version with the first free update in the beginning of October. Other tools and features that are currently available for Mac only would be added to PC version by the end of the year.

Preorder now at Macphun (Click here).

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Aurel Manea moving from full frame to the E-m1II “is the most wonderful thing that happened”

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Aurel Manea switched from the Canon Full Frame system to Micro Four Thirds (Olympus E-m1II). He shared his full insights about the “transfer” and the conclusion in short is:

I like the look of the Olympus photos better and compared to Canon I feel I do less post processing. This might change in the near future but for now I feel this way. Maybe it is just the “new factor” . Maybe all of this will change. Maybe in 1 year I will move back again to full frame. But for now this is the most wonderful thing that happened in my photographic life in the past 8 years.

Olympus E-M1II at [shopcountry 66559].

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a bit of everything…

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Panasonic GH5 4K + Venus Optics Laowa 7.5mm F/2.0 Ultra Wide Angle

10 Great Tips for Shipping Your Valuable Camera Equipment (Explora).
Inside the black market for Instagram verification (Mashable).
Panasonic GH5 CineLikeD ISO 1600 48fps VFR CAME-TV Prophet Gimbal (MrCheesyCam)
How to Piss Off a Photographer (Lok)
Plenty of news on the facebook E-M1II group and the GH5 group.

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New low price on the Panasonic LX100: Now $559!

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The LX100 price dropped to a new record low: it’s $559 now at Amazon US. Let’s see if Panasonic is really going to announce a new LX200 soon.

Reminder:
New Olympus trade-in program at BHphoto, Adorama and GetOlympus.
The Olympus 17mm f/1.8 got a new price drop and now sells for $349 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and GetOlympus.
You now pay the lowest price ever on the Olympus 60mm macro lens sold by Amazon, BHphoto, GetOlympus and Adorama.
You save $100 on the Olympus lens kits sold by BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama and GetOlympus.
Reconditioned E-M1II for $1,699 at GetOlympus.

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Olympus publishes Annual Report. Says wants to focus on OMD cameras, 8K video and PRO lens development

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Olympus published their full Annual Report documents. Here are few highlights about their future goals in the Imaging Business:

1) Focus on the development of high-value-added mirrorless cameras (primarily OM-D series) and interchangeable lenses
(PRO series) boasting competitive prices
2)  Develop systems that allow for improved efficiency in new product manufacturing start-ups and mass production by
transferring production to Vietnam
3) Establish comprehensive range of technologies for 4K and 8K video, development of devices necessary for recording at
these resolutions, and optimization of interface with outputs (monitors)

I guess this means the PEN range will have a minor role in the future (make sense). I am surprised to hear Olympus talk about 8K video commitment.

This is what the detailed report:

Operating Environment and Forecasts
The compact digital camera market is rapidly contracting due to the spread of smartphones, and the Imaging Business continues to face a harsh operating environment as a result. In order to address this major market change, we are pushing forward with structural reforms to shrink the Imaging Business to a more appropriate scale. As one facet of this undertaking, we have developed conservative sales plans with a narrower scope—only including focus products and market segments—that do not presume the pursuit of sales growth, even in the core mirrorless camera market. We aim to minimize risks through this limited scope. In conjunction with this shift in focus, we are revising cost structures to realize a business structure that will enable the Imaging Business to continue generating income, despite the reduced sales. We are also enhancing earnings structures by strengthening sales of high-margin interchangeable lens products

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Panasonic-Leica 8-18mm test at Lenstip: “one of the most interesting ultra wide-angle lenses available on the market”

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Lenstip posted the full Leica 8-18mm lens review:

It is a solid device, with good aperture fastness, physically small and handy, allowing you to use filters with a normal diameter. It is also characterized by an excellent image quality in the frame centre and a very good correction of the majority of optical aberrations. If only the image quality on the edge was a bit better and the price a tad lower, you would have an ideal instrument.

Pros:

  • Solid, metal casing,
  • Excellent image quality in the frame centre at all focal lengths,
  • Imperceptible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
  • Slight lateral chromatic aberration,
  • Lack of problems with spherical aberration,
  • Properly corrected coma,
  • Lower vignetting than in the case of the majority of rivals,
  • Silent, very fast, and efficient autofocus.

Cons:

  • Very high distortion level for RAW files,
  • Image on the edge of the frame at longer focal lengths could have been better.

Leica 8-18mm lens at  Adorama, BHphoto, Panasonic and Amazon. In Europe at Amazon.de.

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