Most Influential Photography News From the Second Week of September

I’ve scoured the internets in order to find you the most interesting and compelling photography-related articles of the week. Whether you’re a news junkie, technophile, love everything photographic, or just want to know what you might have missed, I compiled a list of the biggest photo news for the second week of September 2015. A lot of it will give you camera envy, some will make you laugh, and one in particular will make you mad that a video journalist would behave so poorly.

Here are the most influential photography news stories of the second week of September:

National Geographic Magazine Goes Commercial

National Geographic Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization has sold their iconic magazine to 21st Century Fox. Rupert Murdoch and his multimedia company now holds the majority share of National Geographic magazines and all of its properties, and intends to make it a for-profit magazine. This is by the same media mogul who owns Fox News Channel, a conservative news organization that reports climate change isn’t real. National Geographic, who has been covering and documenting climate change for years, is now owned by the same media company.

The irony of this acquisition…

Camerawoman Trips/Kicks Syrian Refugees in Hungary

I officially dub Petra László as the ‘asshole of the week’. She was caught on video kicking and tripping Syrian refugees in the Hungarian border town of Rőszke Tuesday. According to The Guardian she is a video journalist associated with the far-right group Jobbik, a political party with anti-semitic and anti-immigrant views.

László was shooting the refugee influx in Rőszke for N1TV, and was caught by another video journalist tripping and kicking them. Once the video was released N1TV fired her immediately.

Virtual Reality Camera

GoPro, the innovator of cameras and videos that can be taken into extreme environments, announced the Odyssey this week. The Odyssey is a 360° 16-camera rig that aligns 16 HERO4 Black cameras in a complete circle to record 8K video at 30 frames per second. The Odyssey was specifically made for Google’s Jump software that processes the the 16 cameras footage into one 360° video. This immersive new technology from Google and GoPro looks amazing. Check out the YouTube video.

As you watch, use your mouse to pull left and right, up and down, to see a complete 360° video perspective.

Canon Develops 250-Megapixel CMOS Sensor Camera Prototype

Canon announced their new CMOS sensor prototype camera with an APS-H sized CMOS sensor with 250-megapixels of resolution, making it the world’s smallest CMOS sensor with the highest resolution. The Video footage that can be captured with the image sensor is 125 times bigger that Full HD and 30 times bigger than 4K video.

According to Canon:

When installed in a camera, the newly developed sensor was able to capture images enabling the distinguishing of lettering on the side of an airplane flying at a distance of approximately 18 km from the shooting location.

Exploring The Effects of Different Aspect Ratios

Watch this awesome video describing how aspect ratios are used to create different effects. For instance, when a filmmaker uses the 4:3 it provides the viewer with the feeling of an older time period where this aspect ratio was often used, or how an ultra-wide aspect ratio is sometimes used in sci-fi to show the vastness of outer space. The narrator also and explains how aspect ratios can be used to convey a feeling or emotion.

Totally Radical Dude!

Get your fix of sweet 90s guitar during this video of the camera technology in this demonstration video shot for the Los Angeles Times in 1993. The video features Jean-Claude Van Damme with a sweet mullet, and the 1990s versions of a drone with a camera!

Sony Announces New Camera

Sony just introduced the α7R II a few weeks ago, and now they have another αlpha: the α7S II. It looks like a videomaker’s dream camera…

Here are some of the most notable specs of the Sony α7S II:

• Ultra-high sensitivity up to 409600 with low noise across the whole range
• Wide dynamic range across entire ISO range delivering smooth tonal gradation from dark to bright conditions
• In-camera 5-axis optical image stabilization for expanded shooting possibilities
• Internal 4K movie recording featuring full pixel readout without pixel binning in full-frame format
• Wide range of professional movie functionality including S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3, new Gamma Assist Display, enhanced Zebra Function, Full HD 120fps recording and 4x/5x slow motion recording and full pixel readout without pixel binning in full-frame format
• High-speed AF with enhanced accuracy in wide ranging scenes and advanced shooting functions

Bigger Apple iPad With Stylus

On wednesday Apple announced the new iPhone 6S, the iPad Pro, and a new Apple TV. Most notably for photographers is the announcement of the iPad Pro, a bigger tablet with 12.9-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2732×2048, multitouch technology that uses haptic response (the tablet can detect how hard you press on the screen), and the Apple Pencil, a sensitive stylus pen. The Apple Pencil combined with the iPad Pro should be a welcomed product for photographers that want to do their image editing on a tablet.

Zeiss Releases Milvus DSLR lenses

Zeiss announced 6 new DSLR manual focus lenses for Nikon and Canon DSlRs: ZEISS Milvus 2.8/21, ZEISS Milvus 2/35, ZEISS Milvus 1.4/50, ZEISS Milvus 1.4/85, ZEISS Milvus 2/50M, and ZEISS Milvus 2/100M. The lenses are made for Canon EF cameras and Nikon F mount cameras (both full frame mounts), and according to Zeiss, the Milvus lenses will allow the photographer to make more precise focusing adjustments.

Precise-Moment.com Week in Review

Take a look at the strikingly beautiful macro photography of Anna Agoston.

National Geographic becomes a a for-profit model. Will this change the editorial and art direction of this iconic magazine? Read more here.

If I missed anything, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend!