Press "Enter" to skip to content

SHORTS & BRIEFS: July 20

A concise round-up of new product updates, international snippets and other interesting stuff from the wonderful world of photography: Velvia 100 banned in USA… Canon adds Log 3 to R6, 1D X III… JPEG XL the new JPEG?…


Velvia 100 banned in USA

Fujifilm has withdrawn Fujichrome Velvia 100 in the US due to a new regulation banning phenol, isopropylated phosphate (PIP).

The move follows the introduction of a new toxic substances regulation which prohibits the use of PIP, which is typically used as a flame retardant and for lubricating properties. Fujifilm claims Velvia 100 has less than .0003 percent of the chemical. Velvia 50 is presumably IPI free.


Canon firmware adds Log 3 to R6, 1D X III…

New firmware for Canon’s EOS-1D X III and EOS R6 cameras adds Canon Log 3 and additional support for RAW movies plus more options for dual card recording.

Firmware Version 1.5.0 for the EOS-1D X Mark III provides the following enhancements and fixes:

  1. Adds [Canon Log 3] to [Canon Log settings].
  • Support for RAW movies shot with Canon Log 3 and RAW (Light) will be available in a future version of Cinema RAW Development and in Digital Photo Professional software.
  • Support for the processing of RAW movies shot with Canon Log 3 and the application of Viewing LUT will be available in a future version of Digital Photo Professional software.
  1. Simultaneous movie recording on card 1 and card 2 has been added, however RAW movies and RAW(Light) movies cannot be recorded simultaneously on card 1 and card 2.
  2. Support for the VPG 400(Video Performance Guarantee Profile), a standard based on the CFexpress 2.0 specification, has been added.
  3. Fixes an issue in which there are rare instances where the shooting settings for Still Photo mode are retained when a user switches to Movie mode.

Click here to access the download page.

Firmware Version 1.4.0 for the EOS R6 incorporates the following enhancements and fixes:

  1. Adds [Canon Log 3] to [Canon Log settings].
  2. Simultaneous movie recording on card 1 and card 2 has been added.
  3. Improves operation stability when using the RF400mm F2.8 L IS USM and RF600mm F4 L IS USM.
  4. Fixes an issue in which, during HDMI connection, if the camera’s screen turns off, a zebra pattern is displayed via the HDMI output.
  5. Fixes an issue in which sufficient image stabilization effects may not be attained immediately after the start of shooting.

Click here for installation instructions and to download the new firmware.


JPEG XL the new JPEG?

Every few years there’s an announcement of a new, improved image file format (JPEG 2000, JPEG XR, Google WebP, and more recently HEIC, adopted a couple of years ago by Apple) which, the announcement invariably informs us, will render good ol’ JPEGs redundant. This year’s candidate is JPEG XL.
JPEG XL can convert existing JPEG files losslessly, at the same time reducing the file size. A single JPEG XL file can be stored on a server and serve both JPEG and JPEG XL clients. A wide colour gamut, high dynamic range  and high bit depth are benefits claimed for the new format.

‘JPEG XL further includes features such as animation, alpha channels, layers, thumbnails, lossless and progressive coding to support a wide range of use cases including but not limited to photo galleries, e-commerce, social media, user interfaces and cloud storage. To enable novel applications, it also adds support for 360 degree images, image bursts, large panoramas/mosaics, and printing,’ states the jpeg.org website.

Will JPEG XL see off the nearly three-decades-old JPEG format? It’s unlikely, given there’s no widespread dissatisfaction with JPEG, and both memory and computing speed and power continue to drop in price and increase in capacity. If it’s still being talked about by the end of the year – all the other new formats were nine-day wonders – perhaps.

 

 

 

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Our Business Partners

Top