Smart Photography January 2023

2022 started on a very tentative note with the effects of the pandemic still taking a toll on every economy in the world. As if this was not enough, the Ukraine war broke out in February sending energy and food prices on an upward spiral. As we end the year, most of the world is either in recession or close to it. Energy prices continue to be high and inflation continues to reign. In such an environment, one can hardly expect the imaging industry to prosper. The camera manufacturers have continued to launch new products rather bravely. In 2022, the majority of launches were in the APS-C segment just as 2021 was a year for full frame products. Towards the end of the year, the festival season witnessed some revival in…

WE ARE GLUED TO THE GLOBAL IMAGING INDUSTRY Our team is updated with all the benchmarks and road blocks that the field of photography and imaging across the globe experiences. This helps us record the changes in the global perspective, thus making us the first to predict which products will be a rage in the Indian markets. WE’RE IMPARTIAL Loyalty towards our readers is a given, and their best interests are always on our mind. Every verdict is honest and not influenced by advertisers or personal favourites. So when we say a product is a ‘BEST BUY’, then, it is just that! OUR TESTS ARE CONDUCTED BY EXPERTS All equipment go through a series of tests at the hands of our experts. Our reviewers are experts in the field of photography across the country and…

Write to us at: Smart Photography, Next Gen Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 608, Trade World, 6th floor, C wing, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai - 400 013 E-mail: sp@nextgenpublishing.net Dear Editor,I am an amateur photographer. Besides photographing everything and anything that interests me, I would love to learn photo editing. Everyone says that Photoshop is the best but I am still a beginner and cannot afford the annual fees for Photoshop. Can you recommend any cheaper alternative? Regards, Bhushan Lal, Nagpur Dear Bhushan, Several software are available for image editing, some free, some paid. Here are a few of them: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Photo, Skylum Luminar, ACDSee, DXO PhotoLab 4, ON1 Photo Raw, GIMP and Capture One. Some of them offer a one-month free trial, so you could download them and…

2022 started on a very tentative note with the effects of the pandemic still taking a toll on every economy in the world. As if this was not enough, the Ukraine war broke out in February sending energy and food prices on an upward spiral. As we end the year, most of the world is either in recession or close to it. Energy prices continue to be high and inflation continues to reign. In such an environment, one can hardly expect the imaging industry to prosper. The camera manufacturers have continued to launch new products rather bravely. In 2022, the majority of launches were in the APS-C segment just as 2021 was a year for full frame products. Towards the end of the year, the festival season witnessed some revival…

Xiaomi has unveiled their 13-series in its annual flagship launch event in China. As the second generation of devices created in collaboration with Leica, Xiaomi 13 Series introduces new optical and computational capabilities with Leica true colour imaging, Leica 75 mm floating telephoto lens, and offers professional camera features derived from Xiaomi 12S Ultra, including Leica optics and two photographic styles. Sporting a new design, the Xiaomi 13 Series features powerful performance with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, as well as Xiaomi’s own Surge battery management system. Price of Xiaomi 13 Series starts from RMB 3,999 (approximately INR 47,000) in China official sales channels. Both Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro feature an all-new minimalistic design language highlighting its powerful technological capabilities. Created in four classic and captivating colours, White, Black,…

Venus Optics has announced a still photography version of their previously released 6 mm T2.1 cine lens. The new 6 mm f/2 Zero-D MFT now features electrical contacts which allow users to control the aperture through the camera body and have EXIF being recorded. This 188 g lens can capture a 121.9° angle-of-view with close-to-zero distortion. Laowa claims that the 6 mm f/2 Zero-D is the widest rectilinear option in the MFT market. The lens provides a minimum focussing distance of 9 cm, which allows photographers to get very close to the subject for dramatic effect. It is also favourable in creating shallower depth-of-field when shooting close-ups, and that helps create a stronger bokeh effect. The lens is constructed with 13 elements in 9 groups including 2 aspherical glasses, keeping distortion…