New OM-3 grips and leather cases
In the past weeks many known companies announced new OM-3 leather cases (here on Amazon) and OM-3 wood grips (here on Amazon).
MicroFourNerds: Putting the 6 BEST low light Micro Four Thirds lenses to the test
Micro Four Nerds considers these to be the best low light lenses for MFT:
- Voigtländer Nokton 17,5mm f/0,95 (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
- Olympus 25mm f/1.2 PRO (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
- Leica 15mm f/1.7 (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
- TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
- Olympus 8mm f/1.8 PRO (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
- Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
Do you agree or do you habve a different list to propose?
Trump’s tariffs will drastically increase the USA prices of OM/Lumix gear….OM-3 price could go up by 45%!
Important note: We are not talking about politics here, but simply about the economic impact of the new tariffs on camera gear.
Yesterday, Trump announced hefty tariffs that will affect the entire camera industry. That’s why I’ve grown tired of analyzing the possible consequences in the form of price increases. Let’s first look at where the companies manufacture their equipment
- Canon – Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, and China
- Nikon – Thailand and Japan
- Sony – Thailand and China
- Fujifilm – Japan and China
- Panasonic – China and Malaysia
- OM System – Vietnam and China
- Leica – Germany and Portugal
- Sigma – Japan
- Tamron – China and Vietnam
Assuming that camera manufacturers have very little room to offset these tariffs through some sort of cost reduction, US consumers will have to pay the tariffs on the camera/lens equipment. I have provided some examples in this table:
Camera Tariff Table
| Camera Model | Manufacturing Country | Tariff Rate | Original Price | New Price (with Tariff) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canon EOS R1 | Japan | 24% | $6,300 | $7,812.00 |
| Canon EOS R5 Mark II | Japan | 24% | $3,999 | $4,958.76 |
| Sony A1 II | Japan | 24% | $6,499 | $8,058.76 |
| Sony A7V | Thailand | 36% | $2,500 | $3,400.00 |
| Nikon Z8 | Thailand | 36% | $3,999 | $5,438.64 |
| Sigma BF | Japan | 24% | $1,999 | $2,478.76 |
| Panasonic S1R II | Japan | 24% | $3,299.99 | $4,091.99 |
| OM System OM-3 | Vietnam | 45% | $1,999.99 | $2,899.99 |
| Leica M11 | Germany | 20% | $8,995 | $10,794.00 |
| Fujifilm X100VI | China | 34% | $1,599 | $2,142.66 |
| Fujifilm GFX100 II | Japan | 24% | $7,499 | $9,298.76 |
| Hasselblad X2D | Sweden | 10% | $8,199 | $9,018.90 |
Lens Tariff Table
| Lens Model | Manufacturing Country | Tariff Rate | Original Price | New Price (with Tariff) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 | Japan | 24% | $1,999 | $2,478.76 |
| Canon 200-800mm | Japan | 24% | $2,499 | $3,098.76 |
| Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II | Japan | 24% | $2,299 | $2,850.76 |
| Sony 400mm f/2.8 GM | Japan | 24% | $11,999 | $14,878.76 |
| Nikon 85mm f/1.4 | Japan | 24% | $1,599 | $1,982.76 |
| Sigma 300-600mm f/4.0 | Japan | 24% | $5,999 | $7,438.76 |
| Panasonic 24-70mm f/2.8 | Japan | 24% | $2,199 | $2,726.76 |
| Tamron 35-150mm f/2.0-2.8 Di III | Japan | 24% | $1,899 | $2,354.76 |
| Samyang 35-150mm f/2.0-2.8 | South Korea | 20% | $1,044.27 | $1,253.12 |
| Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 | China | 34% | $854 | $1,144.36 |
| OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO | Japan | 24% | $7,499.99 | $9,299.99 |
This is just a theoretical calculation of the possible price increases. There are many variables that could change this:
- Companies could decide to cut some of the profit margins to offset the tariffs
- Negotiations between US and other countries could change the tariff rates in the near future
I don’t know when these price increases will come into effect at shops like BHphoto and Amazon. The current cameras that are in stock are still ‘duty free’. But any new stock of cameras coming into the country will be affected by the new tariffs. I would suggest you to buy the gear now!
The bad news for all of us:
I have heard from managers that companies should slow down the introduction of new products due to the great uncertainty of this situation. They need to evaluate the following two important points:
- Wait for negotiations to happen and see if tariffs will indeed change
- Asses how much the tariffs will affect the sales of cameras and lenses on the US market
Big mess:
Again, this is not about politics, but solely about the economic consequences of such a measure. What is certain is that this is a big mess at the moment and the times ahead will be difficult.
a bit of everything…
Stop Buying Into The Full Frame Hype | OM System OM-1 Mark II Might Be A Better Camera For You
Today deals at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, FotoErhardt DE, FotoKoch DE.
10 Great Cameras From 10 Years Ago That You Can Purchase Today (ThePhoBlographer).
The Panasonic GH6 For Photography? (Robert Grant)
Lighting for Outdoor Photo and Video (Explora)
Gift Guide for the Traveling Creator (42West).
Plenty of news on the facebook OMD group, Panasonic FF and the GH5 group.
I kindly invite you all to follow me on Youtube, Instagram, Threads for more broader camera talk.
High-Resolution Film Scanning on a Budget with the Olympus OM-D E-M5II
Kyle McDougall used the very affordable used Olympus OM-D E-M5II to make professional film scans. Kyle writes:
In this video, I’m testing out using Pixel Shift technology to get high-resolution film scans from lower MP sensors. I ended up going down a rabbit hole and eventually built a setup using an old and very affordable digital camera to see how it performs. The results surprised me!
a bit of everything…
PEN-F II – Is There Still Any Hope? Let’s Talk
Today deals at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, FotoErhardt DE, FotoKoch DE.
Is XIAOMI The FUTURE Of Micro Four Thirds? (Robin Wong).
The Lumix S1R II Proves How Good the GH7 Is – But YouTubers Didn’t Defend It. Why? (Pragmatic Filmmaking).
Vintage Full-Frame Looks in a Modern Design from Tokina (Explora)
Photography 101: Part One, the Exposure Triangle (42West).
Plenty of news on the facebook OMD group, Panasonic FF and the GH5 group.
I kindly invite you all to follow me on Youtube, Instagram, Threads for more broader camera talk.
Topaz Photo AI v.3.6 released: Now deblurs 500% faster
Topaz released the new Photo AI v.3.6 update (Click here)
Press text (full release info here):
We’re excited to announce another major update to Photo AI
- Super Focus v2: A second-generation of Super Focus and now our most powerful sharpening and focus recovery model EVER. Powered by the same architecture as Recovery v2, this model is 500% faster than before.
- Super Focus is MEGA FAST in the Cloud: It’s true! This model is even FASTER in the cloud than some of our standard sharpening and upscaling models. This means the credit cost is super low in comparison to before. If you can’t run Super Focus v2 on your machine – no worries, because you’re gonna love this in the cloud.
- Color Correction, Highlights, and Shadows with Adjust Lighting v2: Our second generation AI color and lighting filter is incredible, and now you can pick whether you want color correction on or off when applying the model to your images. You can also adjust highlights and shadows to boot.
- More Improvements are also packed into this release, including a much-requested Zoom to Fit preference, new image formats and extensions (fancy JPG or JPEG? TIF or TIFF? no problem), and of course many other fixes and optimizations under the hood as well.
Reminder: Topaz launched the new Gigapixel 8.3 update (Click here). You save 15% for a limited time!