Nikon recently announced the release of firmware Ver. 2.0 that reportedly will further enhance the performance of its full-frame mirrorless cameras, the Nikon Z 7 and Nikon Z 6.

According to Nikon, users will enjoy three main additional features following the Ver. 2.0 upgrade. These include:

1. Eye-Detection autofocus (AF) for still-image shooting

2. Extension of the low-light AF detection range

3. Addition of auto-exposure (AE) tracking capability to the continuous high-speed (extended) mode

PRIMARY FEATURES OF THE NEW FIRMWARE

Eye-Detection AF for still-image shooting

The new firmware offers Eye-Detection AF functionality that, according to the company, automatically detects and focuses on human eyes when using the Auto-area AF mode in both AF-S and AF-C. When the eyes of multiple subjects are detected, the multi-selector or sub-selector can reportedly be used to select the eye upon which the camera should focus. According to Nikon, this enables precise focus on the eye of the intended individual, even when looking through the Electronic Viewfinder. This function is applicable even when the subject’s face is partially covered by another object, or in the event when a subject is frequently changing their pose.

AF performance improvements in low-light situations

The new firmware also reportedly enables even faster autofocusing when capturing photos and video in dark or dimly lit scenes, for both stills and video. It will extend the AF detection range from −1 EV to −2 EV with the Z 7, and from −2 EV to −3.5 EV with the Z 6 as claimed by the company. In addition, the Z 6 will reportedly be able to autofocus with even darker scenes, as the available low-light AF detection range will be extended from −4 EV to −6 EV when the Low-light AF function is enabled.

AE tracking in continuous high-speed (extended) mode
With earlier firmware versions, auto exposure (AE) was locked with the first shot in a burst of high-speed continuous shooting at approx. 9 fps (Z 7) or 12 fps (Z 6) in continuous high-speed (extended) mode. Firmware Ver. 2.0 adds support for AE tracking in continuous high-speed (extended) mode, allowing the cameras to track exposure just as it does focus (AF tracking). This, the company claims, will help to ensure that all images captured with a burst of high-speed continuous shooting are in focus and exhibit optimal exposure, even when the brightness of the scene changes.

The Realme X is coming to India soon. It’s hard to say just how soon because the company is yet to announce the India launch date. When the Realme X arrives, it will succeed the Realme 3 Pro that was launched in the country last month at a price of Rs 13,999. The Realme X is an upgrade in every way compared to the Realme 3 Pro right from the display to camera. In China, the Realme X offers the same Snapdragon 710 chipset as the Realme 3 Pro (Review), but that might not be the case in India.

Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth said that the Realme X may not launch in India with the same specs. There could be a couple of ways to look at this statement. The first possibility is that the company could launch the Realme X with downgraded specs, but with a higher price tag, and this seems highly unlikely from a company that has released segment disruptive phones so far. The second possibility is that the Realme X gets the same design and camera hardware, but with a newer, more powerful Snapdragon 730 chipset.

We feel the latter is highly possible for a few reasons. Firstly, Realme already has a phone with a Snapdragon 710 chipset that’s nicely settled under Rs 15,000. This means launching the Realme X with an updated Snapdragon 730 chipset would justify the Rs 18,000 price tag and would nicely separate the two devices. Of course, all of this is mere speculation for now.

Another reason why the Realme X could launch with a Snapdragon 730 chip in India is Xiaomi. Realme’s biggest competitor in India is gearing up to launch a phone with a Snapdragon 730 processor as teased by Manu Kumar Jain in last month. The Xiaomi phone could either be the Mi A3 or a Redmi device, which could also slot in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment. So, it only makes sense for Realme to launch the Realme X with a Snapdragon 730 processor to be able to compete against the upcoming Xiaomi device.

Apart from the chipset and possible RAM and storage configurations, the Indian variant of the Realme X should not differ from the China model much. You can expect the same 6.5-inch FHD+ (2340×1080) AMOLED notchless display with an in-display fingerprint sensor. You can also expect the same Blue and White gradient colours and Sheth has also confirmed that the special edition onion and garlic-based options will also be coming along with one more special variant exclusively for the Indian market.

The Realme X also highlight a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 primary rear camera for high-resolution photos. This is backed by a 5-megapixel secondary camera for depth sensing. The camera also supports Nightscape for low-light photography, Chroma Boost and AI scene detection among other things. The pop-up camera houses a 16-megapixel selfie sensor. The Realme X will come to India running on Android Pie with ColorOS on top. The latest Realme phone also houses a 3,765mAh battery and supports VOOC 3.0 flash charging.

Canon EOS 200D II has been launched in India, the Japanese company’s latest DSLR under its “beginner” segment . This is the successor to the EOS 200D and features improvements along the lines of the image processor, video recording, and advanced features such as the addition of Eye AF. The camera goes on sale this week in India with a starting price of Rs. 52,995 for the body and the EF-S18-55 IS STM kit lens. You can also club a EF-S55-250 IS STM zoom lens, for a total cost of Rs. 65,995.

Canon’s new EOS 200D II is positioned as a light and compact DSLR for beginners. In fact, it’s supposed to be the company’s lightest DSLR with a vari-angle touchscreen display, weighing just 449g. It features a 24.1-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with Canon’s latest Digic 8 image processor. You get a total of nine autofocus points, just like the older model, along with Dual Pixel autofocus for quick focusing. The ISO range is 100-25,600 (expandable to 51,200), 5fps burst shooting with One-Shot AF or 3.5fps with Servo AF. The camera can also shoot full-HD video up to 60fps or 4K video at 25fps. You also get a 4K timelapse function and there’s stereo audio recording. The EOS 200D II accepts a single SD card but only up to UHS-I speeds.

The 3-inch touchscreen has a slightly low 1.04 million dot resolution but it can be flipped 180-degrees, outwards, so shooting selfies or vlogging should be simpler. There’s also built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for syncing with a smartphone. One of the interesting features of this camera though, is Creative Assist, which is aimed at helping novice shooters edit and improve their images. It lets you adjust the background blur, brightness, contrast, colours, and even add effects such as Fish-eye, etc. you also get plenty of scene modes to choose from, one of them being Smooth Skin, which adds a varying degrees of skin smoothening.

Google launched its budget smartphones – the Google Pixel 3a and the Google Pixel 3a XL — on the sidelines of Google I/O 2019 last week. Now, nearly a week after their launch, the two smartphones are going on sale in India. Interested buyers can head to Flipkart on May 15 to get their hands on the two newly launched Pixel smartphones in India.

If you are planning to buy any of the two newly launched Pixel smartphones, Google is offering interesting deals as a part of the launch offer that will motivate you to shop now. For starters, customers can get up to Rs 4,000 off on the purchase of Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL smartphones via their HDFC credit card or debit card. In addition to this, interested buyers can get up to Rs 3,000 Rs off on exchanging their old smartphones for a new Pixel 3a or a Pixel 3a XL smartphone.

Apart from this, interested customers can also buy the Google Pixel 3a or the Google Pixel 3a XL smartphones using a no-cost EMI of up to 6 months via Bajaj FinServe and all debit and credit cards. And if you shop frequently at Flipkart (or if you are a Flipkart Plus customer), you can get Rs 1,000 off by redeeming 20 Flipkart Coins.

But the offers don’t end right there. Apart from discounts on the purchase of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones, Google is also offering a three-month subscription of YouTube Music Premium for free. This will give you access to YouTube’s vast catalogue of music videos, concerts and new releases at no additional. And in case you don’t like the experience, Flipkart, which is hosting Big Shopping Days sale on its platfrom from May 15 to May 19, is offering users a chance to return their Pixel 3a or Pixel 3a XL smartphone within 90 days of the purchase at a 90 per cent buyback value as a part of its ‘Love it or Return It’ offer.

In case you aren’t sure of the details, here’s a crash course in Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL specs for you: Both Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 processor and they run on Android 9.0 Pie. The two buget Pixel smartphones sport 6GB RAM along with 64GB internal memory and they feature a 3.5mm jack along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC and Google Cast for connectivity.

In terms of the camera, both Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL sport 12.2MP rear camera with Sony IMX363 sensor and electronic image stabalisation and an 8MP front camera. The only point of difference between the two smartphones is their display and their batteries. While the Pixel 3a comes with a 5.6-inch full HD+ gOLED display with a 3,000mAh battery, the Pixel 3a XL comes with a 6.0-inch full HD+ gOLED display and a 3,700mAh battery. The Google Pixel 3a is priced at Rs 39,999 in India while the Google Pixel 3a XL costs Rs 44,999.

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Olympus has shared a trio of short documentary videos showing the history and subsequent evolution of its three primary business divisions: medical, scientific solutions and imaging.

The above video, officially titled ‘Olympus 100th Anniversary Documentary: A Great Moment,’ shares not only the history of Olympus’ imaging division, but also interviews with Olympus research and development executives, camera store technicians and Pulitzer Prize-winning National Geographic photographer and Olympic visionary Jay Dickman.

Olympus has also created a dedicated website for its centennial celebration, which includes a timeline of the history of Olympus products, from the first microscope it produced to the launch of its mirrorless camera system and beyond.

Following the launch of three ‘WONDER PHOTO SHOPS’ in India’s metropolitan cities, Fujifilm India is all set to unveil its exclusive experiential store in Hyderabad – ‘Wonder Photo Shop’, making it the fourth concept store of its kind in India.

Located at Gachibowli, Miyapur Road, Hyderabad, the store will showcase Fujifilm’s latest gear and also serve as a hub for photographic education and inspiration. According to the company the store embodies a holistic vision of photography, from picture taking to printing, sharing and social networking. With the theme ‘Photo Renaissance’, the store reportedly offers an opportunity to experience an immersive and interactive retail space with Fujifilm’s products and services to meet the aesthetic taste of discerning customers especially the youth.

Today, with the growth of passion among consumers to explore their creativity to print photos and organize them in a fun and imaginative manner, Fujifilm claims that the Wonder Photo Shop allows these customers to discover the wonder of photography and learn how they can bring their favorite photos from smartphones and cameras to life by printing, personalizing, decorating and framing their image creations based on their personal preferences and artistic palate along with unique DIY photo creations.

The Wonder Photo Shop also reportedly features a DIY corner where customers can create their personalized photo products including photo books, wall decor and printed keepsakes like mugs or tumblers. The company wishes to offer a one-stop creative haven for customers by bringing photography, digital tools and handicraft together under one roof. It additionally presents photo booth and photo studio services that are exclusive to this new concept store to further encourage photographic discoveries.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Haruto Iwata, Managing Director, Fujifilm India said, “After the success of our Wonder Photo Shop stores in Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore we are delighted to take another step towards our goal of bolstering our imaging business with this fourth store launch in Hyderabad. With this expansion, we are looking forward to creating the same aesthetic world to cater to the needs of Camera enthusiasts, like we did successfully in the other 3 metropolitan cities.”

The company also claims that Wonder Photo Shop will be a learning center, giving customers an opportunity to experience the various product features thus enhancing the ultimate customer experience. The full range of Fujifilm’s instax instant print cameras and Share Printer SP-2, the line of X Series digital cameras and high-quality lenses will also be on display to touch and try.

According to Fujifilm, the store has been shaped in line with the brand’s philosophy of “Value from Innovation” to create a warm, welcoming environment for guests to spend their time and discover new ways of enjoying photos.

Digitek – a market leader in Photographic and smartphone accessories in India, today announced the launch of Flash Bot – a true flash photography companion for budding and professional photographers. Digitek is highly celebrated for its high-end and innovative professional photographic equipment and camera accessories.

The Flash Bot kit (Model No. DFB-001) is a remarkable package of various quintessential attachments for flash photography enthusiasts using flash guns of any available type, the kit includes Grip, Gel, Grid, Sphere, Bounce and different colored Creative gels. The kit delivers an awesome experience for the photography enthusiasts and takes away the hassle of carrying redundant flash kits. The easy to carry kit with instant universal fit, modular strong and sleek design comes in a box size of 14.5x13x18 cm.

The Digitek Flash Bot Kit includes Grip, Gel Mount, Grid, Sphere, Bounce, Creative Polycarbonate Gels. Commenting on the launch, Mr. Amit Saraf, Managing Director, IMS Mercantiles Pvt Ltd said, “We only address to what market is lacking and what our consumers want, with this focus we are being able to maintain the leading position in the market. The good responses and reviews of our products motivate us to bring even better products with time.” The Flash Bot kit is affordably priced at an MRP of INR 9995 and is available at All leading Photographic Stores and E-Commerce Portals such as Amazon & Flipkart.

BenQ disclosed a new 4K UHD 27” professional monitor for photographers–Photovue SW271 which has HDR10. It covers 99% of Adobe RGB, 93% DCI-P3, and 100% of both sRGB and Rec. 709. The monitor delivers the colour accuracy of Delta E2 with its 10-bit IPS panel and 14-bit 3D lookup table (LUT). Equipped with USB Type-C, it features customisable colour characteristics with X-Rite or Datacolor calibrators and BenQ Palette Master Element software.

“We want to make professional tools accessible to everyone, whether you’re just starting out or you’re a pro upgrading an old monitor, the SW240 is the perfect choice,” says BenQ Product Manager Jason Lee. “It fits in our professional lineup with pristine color accuracy and without the hefty price tag of similar professional monitors.”

The Adobe RGB, sRGB, as well as Black and White modes can be switched between using the addition of SW271’s Hotkey Puck. The GamutDuo mode feature enables users to simultaneously work on picture-by-picture in the two different colour spaces. The monitor has adjustable height, an SD card reader, USB 3.1 (Gen 1), HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.4 ports. The most important feature for this “value monitor” is its price, and that’s where BenQ may have missed the mark. The SW240 monitor is available now for $400 by itself and the optional shading hood will cost you an additional $100, or you can purchase the monitor and hood in a bundle for $450.

GoPro is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. Founded as Woodman Labs, Inc, the company eventually focused on the connected sports genre, developing its line of action cameras and, later, video editing software. It developed a quadcopter drone, Karma, released in October 2016. In January 2018, Karma was discontinued and the company hired JPMorgan Chase to pursue options of selling the company. However around February 2018, CEO denied to sell the company and continue its business in action cameras. Karma was discontinued because of DJI Drones, as they were a tough competitor to fight. Since Dji had many variations in Drones and features, people automatically moved on to it.

GoPro launched its new action camera GoPro Hero7 on October, 2018 with some amazing features for a great comeback in market and it performed pretty well. DJI is planning to keep a hand small camera section as well. After releasing the Dji Osmo Pocket, which was a great success and lot of customers moved from GoPro Hero 7 to DJI Osmo Pocket, and according to rumors soon DJI is moving into action camera as well. It’s interesting that DJI now may be encroaching into GoPro’s market after GoPro failed miserably to break into DJI’s. Since the current level of GoPro is down, DJI’s attempts to cross into a new market will be much more successful. Well this will have a new and tough competitor for GoPro in market and can lead a great loss for them.

According to the rumors DJI will transform its Osmo Pocket into a new action camera with a wide angle lens, it may also include a dual LCD screen (front and back), that it will shoot 4k upto 60 fps and 1080p at 120fps and will have a rectilinear wide angle to produce a more pleasing look. Still there’s no news when DJI might announce its action camera because they haven’t confirmed they are working on it or no. Though GoPro is the first name whicch strikes the mind when you hear action camera, they’re still struggling, and who knows how longer they’ll survive in the market?