In Other News: CES 2021, Capture One update, Costco photo center, Apple ProRAW files and more
posted Friday, January 15, 2021 at 4:15 PM EDT
Welcome to the first edition of a new regular feature, 'In Other News'. Each week, you can find a recap of new product releases, updates, videos, tutorials and other photo-related news from around the web. There's a lot of news and great content around the web each week, too much to cover in detail with dedicated articles. 'In Other News' is our way of sharing this content with you.
Without further ado, let's kick off the inaugural edition of 'In Other News' with announcements from CES, a Capture One update, Costco closing its photo centers, Fujifilm killing off another film, a video about Apple ProRAW and more from the photo world.
New monitors, computers and smartphones unveiled at CES 2021
CES 2021 took place this week as an all-virtual show. While there wasn't a lot of photo-centric news, there were some neat products announced that may be of interest to photographers.
In terms of monitors, ViewSonic announced new ColorPro displays. These monitors range in size from 27" to 32" and the resolutions range from 2K all the way up to 8K. The new 32" 8K display, the VP3286-8K, has a 7,680 x 4,320 resolution, 99% Adobe RGB color space coverage and modern connectivity options. Pricing ranges from $500 USD to $5,000 for the flagship 8K display. The monitors are expected to arrive this summer. Not to be left out, Dell, Acer, Asus, Lenovo, LG, and HP launched new monitors as well. Tom's Guide did a quick recap of some of the more interesting new displays.
In addition to monitors, Asus also refreshed its ZenBook laptop series. A standout is the ZenBook Pro Duo 15 OLED, due to arrive this April. In its coverage, The Verge notes that the Zenbook Duo has a primary screen and a secondary display, the ScreenPad Plus. The second display is built into the top half of the keyboard and can be used to keep certain programs off the main display and in the case of software such as Adobe applications, you can use specific interfaces designed for the ScreenPad Plus. You can see the 14-inch ZenBook Pro Duo in the image below. For more details, click here.
Samsung had a live-streamed product launch this week, Galaxy Unpacked. During the event, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy S21, S21 Plus and S21 Ultra smartphones. The latter smartphone is Samsung's fanciest and most feature-packed phone to date. Starting at $1,200, the phone has 3x and 10x optical zoom lenses in addition to standard wide and ultrawide cameras and a 100x digital zoom. The phone has a 108MP camera (standard camera) and records 8K video. You can learn more about the S21 Ultra and the other new Galaxy phones here.
Capture One price changes took effect and Capture One 21 version 14.0.2 released
The price changes to select versions of Capture One we wrote about last week have gone into effect this week. In other Capture One news, Capture One 21 version 14.0.2 was released. The new version adds new camera support, including for the Nikon Z6 II, Nikon Z7 II, Panasonic S5, Leica S 007, Leica M10-R, Panasonic S1M, Panasonic S1RM, Leica Q2 Monochrome and Canon 850D. The new version also supports the Fujifilm GFX 100's Fujifilm Pixel Shift feature. We first saw news of this update at Photo Rumors.
Costco closing photo centers
In less positive news, Costco is closing all its in-store photo centers, which amounts to about 800 photo centers around the United States. The photo centers will shut down on February 14, ending services for ink refills, photo restoration, passport photos, photo printing and more. The online photo center will remain open, so customers can still use Costco's online service to order photo prints. You can learn more about the decision in this PetaPixel article.
Fujifilm discontinues another film, this time Pro400H color negative film is on the chopping block
DPReview published news that Fujifilm has announced the discontinuation of Pro 400H color negative film in 35mm and 120 formats. Fujifilm has had ongoing issues sourcing the materials needed to produce the film and production has consequently stopped. As of today, 35mm and 120 format Pro 400H is still available to order through Adorama B&H, although stock is running out.
On the topic of 400H film, talented photographer Steve O'Nions coincidentally published a video of him shooting woodland photography with 400H film using a Bronica SQA-I camera. O'Nions captures some awesome images, which can be seen in the video below.
New red TTartisan 50mm f/0.95 limited edition lens announced
To celebrate the Year of the Ox, TTartisan has announced a limited edition red version of its 50mm f/0.95 lens for Leica M-mount. It's a flashy lens and only 500 will be produced. The lens is engraved with an ox on the lens cap. We first saw news of this limited lens at PhotoRumors.
ProRAW editing using RAW Power for macOS, iOS and iPadOS
Alongside the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple announced the new ProRAW file format, which is available in iOS 14.3 or later. The ProRAW format combines information found in a standard RAW format with Apple's proprietary image processing. ProRAW files can be edited using the Photos app or with compatible third-party software, such as Gentlemen Coder's app, RAW Power.
Nik Bhatt, the founder of Gentlemen Coders, has published a new video outlining the ProRAW format and how you can use his RAW Power application to edit ProRAW images on iPhone, iPad or Mac. In the video below, he also discusses what makes ProRAW different from standard RAW files and how Apple's computational photography is utilized in Apple's new image format.
If you edit photos on an iPhone, iPad or Mac and have yet to check out RAW Power, you can learn more about the powerful app at the following links: macOS and iOS.
Expert woodworker builds a large format camera
At PetaPixel, the team shared a video from woodworker Patrick Sullivan. Over the last few months, Sullivan has put his 50-plus years of woodworking experience to task building a beautiful custom large format camera. It's an awesome video and a stunning camera. You can view more from Patrick Sullivan by clicking here.
Analog People in a Digital World: A short film interviewing analog process photographers about their craft
Keeping the analog photography train rolling down the tracks, PetaPixel shared this neat short film earlier this week. The film interviews different analog photographers and asks them about the process and what draws them to film in an increasingly digital world. The 11-minute video is an 'Official Selection' for Dallas VideoFest 30 and well worth watching.