dpreview News

Just Posted: Our detailed, hands-on Olympus PEN E-P5 preview. We've been using a pre-production E-P5 for the last few days and have had a dig beyond the specifications to discover how the latest range-topping PEN behaves. We investigate the camera's latest features, including its easy-connect Wi-Fi, its degree of customization and its '2x2' dial behavior. We also take a look at how it compares to the E-P3 and OM-D E-M5, and how the high resolution VF-4 handles on the E-P5 and existing models.

Olympus has announced the PEN E-P5, the fourth in its range of enthusiast-targeted, rangefinder-style Micro Four Thirds cameras. The E-P5 takes the 16MP sensor that has appeared in the company's other models and adds a five-axis image stabilization system and shutter capable of shooting at 1/8000th of a second amongst a host of tweaks and feature improvements. The camera will available from May at around $1,000/£900/€1000 body only. The company has also announced black versions of its 17mm, 45mm and 75mm F1.8 prime lenses, priced the same as their silver counterparts. There is also a 2.4M dot LCD electronic viewfinder, the VF-4.

How do you balance the demands of aesthetics and documentary truth? Image manipulation of documentary photographs is nothing new, but it is certainly much easier now than ever before. DW Akadamie has published a feature examining the challenges faced by photojournalists and picture editors in creating attractive and atmospheric images, without compromising their authenticity. Click through for extracts from the article, images and a link to the full feature at www.dw.de.com.

Stephan Schulz, the Head of Professional Photo at Leica Camera AG has given an interview to Forbes.com in which he explains the opportunities - and challenges - of moving into the professional digital medium-format marketplace. Traditionally identified with 35mm (film and latterly 'full frame' digital), Leica announced the creation of the S2 back in 2009, and followed it with the 37MP late last year. Click through for some extracts, and a link to the full interview at Forbes.com.

The UK Intellectual Property Office has issued a 'myth-busting' document about the effect on photographers of a newly-introduced law. The law includes new rules regulating the use of 'orphan works' - intellectual property whose copyright holder cannot be identified. This has led to concern that the changes will allow UK companies to use copyright material from anywhere in the world without the approval of the copyright holder.

When you think about Apple products, the pictures that come to mind of gleaming glass and aluminium are likely the work of a photographer you've never heard of - until now. In an interview with The Verge, industrial photographer Peter Belanger offers an insight into his painstaking processes, including his complex lighting schemes and choice of camera equipment. Learn more on connect.dpreview.com.

Adobe's decision to move to a subscription-based model for its professional creative software has prompted probably  the most impassioned response we've ever seen to a news story on dpreview.com. There's a risk that the sheer volume of comments might prevent a clear message being heard, so we've prepared a poll of the most common complaints, to help establish what your biggest concerns are.

As smartphone cameras continuously improve, we can't help but wonder what's in store for both the future of such devices and the way we use them as photographers. Will the constant upgrade cycle and users' desire for new features make for smartphones with super cameras? Or maybe they'll evolve to become companion gadgets to dedicated cameras, rather than attempting to do it all themselves. In this article, we'll be looking current technology, and what's currently rumored to be in the works, in an attempt to predict what the future of such connected cameras - and photography - might look like. Click through to read more on connect.dpreview.com.

Yesterday's announcement by Adobe that it will cease 'perpetual license' sales of Photoshop and its Creative Suite counterparts has generated considerable backlash here on dpreview and across the web. With such a significant change in store, we spoke today with Adobe VP of Creative Solutions, Winston Hendrickson for his response to the uproar.

After our recent Smartphone Super Shootout we are working full steam ahead toward our comprehensive camera review of the HTC One, the Taiwanese manufacturer's new flagship smartphone which features a 4 'ultrapixel' sensor, a fast F2.0 lens and optical image stabilization. Unti then, we offer up a close look at the new phone's imaging features.

While the sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live mocked the awkwardness of Google Glass wearers this week, the Wall Street Journal offered up an etiquette guide for Glass wearers. Even Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has warned we will have 'develop some new social etiquette' to accommodate the new technology. WSJ's advice covers when and where to don the wearable tech, and more tips for early adopters. Read on at connect.dpreview.com. 

DPReview reader Eric Lew is a keen wildlife photographer, and recently returned from a trip to Antarctica. He shared some recollections, advice and photographs in a post on our forums, but we thought what he wrote was so good it deserved a wider audience. Click through for Eric's 2-page article 'Flying Penguins: Photography in Antactica' and find out how you too can publish articles like this on dpreview.

Falling into the interesting photo experiments category, Patrick Letourneau adapted a Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm F2.5 lens, a surplus lens originally used during World War II in bomber-mounted cameras, to use with his Panasonic GH2. A Thorium-oxide coating was used on the Aero Ektar's rear element to improve its refraction index, a fact that adds a sense of intrigue to the unique project. Click through for more details, and pictures. 

Fujifilm has announced the availability of new firmware for its X100S fixed-lens compact camera. Firmware version 1.02 corrects an issue where the framelines in the camera's viewfinder did not automatically adjust brightness at ISO 1600 and higher. Fujifilm has also issued firmware updates for its Z2000EXR, HS50EXR, F820EXR and F900EXR compacts. Click through for more details and links. 

Adobe has said it will no longer be developing its Creative Suite range of software, leaving its subscription and cloud-based Creative Cloud as the only way of accessing the latest version of Photoshop. Adobe has been trying to encourage users away from the traditional one-off payment licenses and on to a monthly payment model, with features such as online storage and syncing between devices. This latest move ups the ante by making it the only option for future versions of the software.

Adobe has updated its suite of Creative Cloud software, with the latest versions rebranded with the appendage 'CC'. Adobe Photoshop CC highlights include the Camera Shake Reduction tool that Adobe demoed earlier this year, and the ability to apply Camera Raw as a filter to any raster, vector or video layer. Creative Cloud members can now sync their Photoshop preferences across multiple devices. Click to read about these and other Photoshop CC features.

South Africa-based filmmaker David East uses a GoPro camera for his video work, but has started to use it for stills as well. Although not as technically sound as images taken on a dedicated stills camera, there's an evocative quality to his work, taken using an 11MP GoPro HD HERO2, which we really like. Click through for more details, and a small selection of images. 

We've just posted a gallery of real-world samples from the MX-1 - Pentax's flagship compact camera. Announced earlier this year the MX-1 offers a 12MP backlit CMOS sensor, and a fast F1.8-2.5 lens which spans an equivalent focal range of 28-112mm. We wrote a detailed hands-on preview back in January and we're working on putting the camera through our usual gamut of studio and real-world testing. For now, we hope you enjoy this small gallery of samples which - if nothing else - proves that the sun does occasionally come out in Seattle. 

Engineers have developed a curved camera designed to mimic insects' compound eyes. The hemispherical design gives a wide field-of-view with no aberrations and effectively infinite depth-of-field, with the hope it could be used in applications such as endoscopy or as visual sensors on unmanned aircraft. The current design uses 180 light-sensitive elements, each behind its own lens, but researchers hope to build one with 20,000 elements, giving a similar resolution to that seen by dragonflies.

While improvements in camera phone technology have more of us relying on 'the camera that's always with you' than ever before, we're printing our photographs less and less. If you have fond memories of pasting your memories into photo albums, don't despair - a growing crop of apps now make it easy to send your photos from phone to frame using online printing services. In this article, we've gathered eight of the top apps for printing your photos, and examined the results. Click through to read our findings on connect.dpreview.com.