We’re BACCCKKKK: RAWtalk 151

After our week of for Stephens much needed vacation we’re back with a brand new extended episode of FroKnowsPhoto RAWtalk, the greatest photography podcast with video in the entire world.

This weeks show is brought to you by HOYA with their new HD3 line of filters that are smoother and HARDER you can’t go wrong with HOYA. They are John Wayne Bobbit approved.

We had some much to talk about this week. Everything from Stephen’s vacation to the #BlameStephen movement to the POPE coming to Philly. This is an action backed show with a lot of information, news and laughs.

Thank you to everyone out there for their continued support and to all the sponsors who keep this a FREE podcast for everyone out there.

Show Intro – 00:00:16
Pope Talk – 00:09:46
Canon Expo Recap – 00:13:15
Photo News – 00:19:32
Gear of the Week – 01:08:05
Flying Solo – 01:11:15
Wheel of Fro – 01:47:30

Here’s all of Stephen’s photo news stories in detail:

First off, here’s the PSA Jared was referring to on this week’s podcast:

This Giant f1.0 200mm Lens Weights 40 lbs And Is For Sale

A germanium 200mm f1.0 lens is for sale on eBay, It’s not cheap either, the giant lens made by Rank-Taylor is going for a Buy It Now price of $386,000. However, the seller notes that “the ‘Buy It Now’ price is set at 10x net market value.” The front element has a 200mm diameter, with the whole thing weighing nearly 40 lbs. To put it to scale, the seller, Abex UK, placed a can of tomato soup next to it along with a ruler. The lens is designed for thermal imaging cameras though, so you can’t just strap it on your camera and shoot. Apparently visible light can’t pass through this since it’s not made of glass, but germanium. Will you be buying this beast of a lens? (via MR)

Photographer Creates World’s Largest Negative

A photographer named Joel Nicholas Peterson created the world’s largest negative for a project he calls “Blueprints for Observation.” A historic building was being demolished near him so he had the idea of turning the building into a giant “disposable” camera. He drilled 1/8-inch holes in all the walls of the building, essentially turning them into a giant 360-degree camera. He used giant lithographic film to pull it off, then once the negatives were developed, he used them to make 14 13-foot tall cyanotype contact prints, which resulted in a 360-degree view from where the building once stood. The Guiness Book of World Records created a new category just for him too, the world’s “Largest Film Negative”. However, it doesn’t beat out the world’s “longest” negative which still stands at 260 ft long and features Beijing’s historic second ring road. Check out a behind-the-scenes documentary on how he pulled it off below: (via PP)

Teenager Killed by Train While Conducting Photoshoot on Train Tracks

Yet another tragedy on train tracks: a teenager was struck and killed by a train while doing a photoshoot in Boyds, Maryland. What makes it worse is that the 16-yr-old teen named John DeReggi was doing a shoot with his girlfriend to celebrate their one year anniversary. The girlfriend’s sister was the one conducting the photoshoot and taking photos that day. Investigators say that the train was traveling at more than 70mph, faster than they thought. When it came around a curve, he just couldn’t get away in time. Check out the whole news report below and remember–stay away from live train tracks! RIP. (via WP)

This Bride Photographed Her Own Wedding

A photographer decided to take things in her own hands on her big day: Liisa Luts recently got married and was the official photographer at her OWN wedding. Luts and her husband already run a small company called Mellow that offers photography, videography, and animation services, so she’s not new at this. Basically she just wanted to get married and avoid the whole wedding planning process so to go along with that concept, she didn’t worry about a wedding photographer, she just hired herself. She says, “I just felt that I want something different, not those posed beauty shots and not that post-processed glamorous photo gallery. With all respect to the wedding photographers, I just wanted something more ‘us’ and therefore more authentic.” She took pictures from her vantage point the whole day obviously, with the occasional mirror selfie. She wasn’t lugging around a giant DSLR either, she chose to stick with something on the smaller side–a Fuji X-T10. View all of her photos from the wedding over on her website here. How’d she do? (via PP)

Photo by Liisa Luts

Drone Pilot Banned From Flying Drones in 1st Drone-Related UK Ruling

DRONE NEWS: a drone hobbyist became the first person to be officially prosecuted by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service for misuse of a drone over in the UK. Nigel Wilson–the drone pilot–has officially been banned from flying drones after he pleaded guilty of flying over Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the Shard and other populated areas in the UK like major football stadiums. The ruling says he’s banned from owning and flying a drone for the next two years, and is also not allowed to help others with using one. Plus, he was fined £1800 (~$3K) and ordered to pay £600 in costs (~$1K). His YouTube channel still remains live with most of the drone videos in question, including several stadium shots when he flies over thousands of people in packed arenas. Do you think the ruling was fair? (via Bokeh)

Here’s How Much Hockey Players Hate Drones

Speaking of drones, there’s a new video of how hockey players deal with drones. Steven Stamkos says he “hates drones” and is seen in a new video having target practice with drones in a local hockey rink. Watch below as he destroys each one which are all seen with flying red targets hanging from them: (via Gizmodo)

Sony Unveils a7S II with Internal 4K Recording

Sony has announced their new low light shooter, an upgrade to the a7S with the new a7S II. Big changes include internal 4K recording, 120fps in full HD, uncompressed 14-bit RAW, and new “professional movie functions.” Other specs include in-body 5-axis stabilization like its other a7 brothers, 12MP full frame sensor with ISO capability of 100- 102,400, expandable up to 409,600. Watch the video below where they showcase what the camera can capture in 4K at night from ISO 100 up to 409,600. Also, it has the new “pro movie features” including S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3, 14-stop latitude in S-Log3 gamma, new Gamma Assist Display, and enhanced Zebra Function. Plus, 169 autofocus points up from 25 in the original a7S and a more accurate autofocus, focusing in conditions as dark as -4EV. The new shooter will be available in October starting at about $3,000. Will you be upgrading?

Sony Upgrades to 14-Bit Uncompressed RAW in a7 Models

Along with that announcement, Sony has also said that the a7R II will be upgraded with 14-bit uncompressed RAW up from 12 via a free firmware update. Other Sony cameras could also be getting the same upgrade soon too — Sony says that the “additional model” roll out will start with the a7R II. Sony VP Neal Manowitz says, “The addition of Uncompressed 14-Bit RAW processing is a direct result of customer feedback. Widely requested by photo and video enthusiasts, we believe the choice of RAW processing types will further elevate the performance of these extraordinary cameras.”

Sample Video of Canon’s New Industry Camera at 4,000,000 ISO

Speaking of low light shooters, sample video of Canon’s new 4,000,000 ISO ME-20F-SH industry camera is now online. It features the camera shooting against a c300, clearly winning in low light. The video below shows it shooting underwater at night, filming sparklers, airplanes in the night sky, animals in complete darkness, going all the way up to its max ISO of 4,560,000. The camera will ship in December with a price tag of $30,000. (via MR)

Termites Built a Colony in this Photographer’s Camera

Apparently weather sealing in cameras don’t keep out bugs, especially termites. Wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer found this out the hard way after he set up a DSLR “camera trap” in the Amazon jungle in Peru where he wanted to capture wild animals in their natural environment. His trap included a Canon 7D, an IR trigger and a pair of Nikon SB-28 flashes, all sealed in plastic containers and bags. When he came back for the camera a month later, he found termites in and around the camera, building a nest inside. They were everywhere, even starting to eat away at the memory card. Luckily, the card survived so he recovered all the images. Jeff thinks he weatherproofed it so well that the termites found it to be a suitable fortress to colonize. Check out a behind-the-scenes video of how he set up the trap below and the resulting images here. (via Gizmodo)

Apple Releases iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with “Live Photos”

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus with “advanced pixel technology” and a Retina HD display. Regarding updates to the camera functions, the new smartphone now shoots 4K video and 12MP stills. It also has a new “live photos” function that show the moments immediately before and after a photo was taken. Apple says it lets you, “enjoy a living memory rather than an instant frozen in time.” They also updated the Facetime camera to a 5MP sensor, which comes with “retina flash” too that will increase the screens brightness to 3x the normal illumination. The phones are now available, with the 16GB 6S model costing $199 with a two-year contract, the 16GB 6S Plus costing $299, and the 128GB versions will cost $399 and $499. Will this be the most popular camera once again?

Photographer Shoots MLB Game with iPhone 6S Plus

Regarding the 6S Plus, photographer Brad Mangin traded out his camera for the new smartphone to shoot a recent MLB game with it for Sports Illustrated. You can find the resulting images here, where there is no mention whether or not they were edited, however they do have Instagram-like filters and are mostly in square format…There was also a photoshoot done with the smartphone for Vogue at New York Fashion Week which you can find here. These on the other hand, look straight out of the phone. (via 9to5)

Photo by Brad Mangin

Apple Unveils 12-inch iPad Pro and Apple Pencil

Apple also unveiled the iPad Pro while we were away, a new 12.9-inch iPad. The new iPad was announced with a stylus this time called the Apple Pencil which is a pressure sensitive stylus that uses multiple sensors for detecting position, force, and tilt, and will cost $99. It also comes stacked with a Facetime camera and an 8MP back camera, has 10 hours of battery life, weighs 1.57 lbs, and is 6.9mm thick. The screen resolution is appealing to photographers, coming in at 2,732×2,048px. If you’re one that works best with a keyboard, there’s that option too for $169 with their new Smart Keyboard accessory. The iPad Pro will start at $799 for the 32GB WiFi model, $949 for the 128GB WiFi model, and $1,079 for the 128GB LTE version.

Zeiss Releases New Milvus Line of Manual Lenses for Canon and Nikon DSLRs

Zeiss has revealed a new line of lenses called the “Milvus” line. Available in both Nikon and Canon mounts, the lenses are optimized for high-resolution cameras, with the initial set including 6 models: a 21mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4, 50mm f/2, and 100mm f/2. Spec wise, the lenses feature an anti-reflective coating, they’re “practically distortion-free,” feature 9-blade circular apertures, manual focusing, a “De-click” function (for Nikon F mounts) for video, an all-metal barrel, and weatherproofing. Price wise, they range from $1,117 on the low end to $1,843. Check out a demo video below, what do you think?

Wedding Photographer Loses 20 Photoshoots Worth of Images After Car Gets Broken Into

A photographer in Iowa named Haleigh Wehr got her car broken into, where the perp stole all her equipment along with two laptops and six memory cards, resulting in her losing 20 photo shoots worth of images including weddings, newborn shoots and more. Wehr had to call the 20 clients informing them of the mishap. Luckily for her though, most were understanding. There’s currently a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thief. Check out the full news report below where they interview Wehr and an upset bride of hers that lost all of her precious wedding photos from the theft. Another reason why photographers need to back up their images immediately! (via PP)

DJI Reveals ZENMUSE Payloads for Inspire 1 That Shoot 4K RAW Video

DJI has announced new micro four thirds camera systems for the Inspire 1 “made specifically for aerial photography and cinematography.” The new payloads, called the ZENMUSE X5 and X5R, feature a new sensor that’s 8x the size of the original Inspire 1 camera. Other upgrades include increased dynamic range at 12.8 stops now, interchangeable lens compatibility, remote focus and aperture control, and it now has a suppressed rolling shutter effect. Also, an ISO range up to 25,600, it shoots 5fps, and has a new D-Log picture style mode for a wider DR. Resolution wise for the X5, it shoots 4K video at 30fps at 60Mbps, and takes 16MP still images. On the higher end, the X5R (“R” standing for “RAW”) will shoot RAW 4K video at 30fps (in lossless CinemaDNG) at a bitrate of 1.7Gbps. How will it record at the insane transfer rate you ask? It will record directly to a removable 512GB mini SSD drive. The X5R will also shoot compressed 4K to a MicroSD card for proxy editing files. The new system is considered the world’s smallest lossless 4K camera. To support the management of the X5R CinemaDNG files, DJI will release software to edit and convert the footage to Pro Res called CineLight, which will be available when the X5R camera is released later this year. Price wise, the standard X5 camera will cost $2,199 and come paired with a 15mm f1.7 ASPH lens or you can get the body alone for $1,699 if you already own an Inspire 1. Pricing for the higher end X5R has not yet been announced. However, you can buy it paired with an Inspire 1 as a kit for $7,999. If you want that option for the X5, it’ll cost $4,499. The X5 will be available next week with the X5R arriving at the end of the year sometime in Q4.