Show Notes

Greetings everyone you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast, I’m your host Liam Douglas and this is Episode 418 for Thursday Sept 5th, 2024. In today’s episode I am covering the latest news from our friends at PetaPixel and here are this week’s stories of interest.

Peak Design Outdoor Bags

For years, photographers have clamored for Peak Design to make a backpack purpose-built for outdoor adventures. Their calls have been answered, and the Peak Design Outdoor Line has arrived, with the company calling it its most anticipated soft-goods product launch ever.

“Peak Design has straddled the outdoor and photography industries for over a decade,” Peak Design explains. “Having experienced repeated shortcomings with other outdoor bags on the market, Peak developed the Outdoor Line to address issues like poor fit, overly-bulky harness systems, limited access, and over-engineered ‘technically baroque’ designs.”

The Peak Design Outdoor Line comprises two backpacks, two slings, and an ecosystem of “Packing Tools” for photo equipment, clothing, and gear. Peak promises that its Outdoor Line bags deliver customizable modular organization, easy access to gear, and superior comfort for a diverse range of body types.

The Outdoor Backpack, which comes in two sizes (25 and 45 liters), uses a unique harness system with low-profile, highly adjustable shoulder and waist straps that promise “superior comfort and fit with significantly less bulk.” The shoulder straps are inspired by running vests to distribute weight over a larger surface area while including storage and dual camera-carry attachment points. Users can access the gear inside the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack in two ways: a quick-opening top hatch, which Peak calls Ultra Cinch, and a large rear access panel that provides direct access to the backpack’s entire main compartment.

While these features are shared between both sizes of the backpack, there are some vital differences between the two models. The smaller 25L version is designed for day hikes and, as a result, lacks an internal frame — a feature common to many technical outdoor backpacks. It also doesn’t come with a hip belt, a $44.95 add-on accessory. The larger 45L backpack, on the other hand, includes an internal frame and comes equipped with a hip belt. Thanks to its larger size and internal frame, the 45L Outdoor Backpack is a bit heavier than its smaller sibling, tipping the scales at 3.97 pounds (1.8 kilograms) when empty versus 2.54 pounds (1.15 kilograms).

Joining the Outdoor Backpack is the Peak Design Outdoor Sling, available in two and seven-liter sizes. The Outdoor Sling has a padded, removable strap with a custom clasp and quick-adjustment hardware, enabling users to swap it between cross-body and waist bag configurations easily. The 7L model has external Gear Loops to carry gear and can accommodate a Peak Design X-Small Camera Cube, turning the sling into a dedicated camera bag.

There’s a significant crossover between various Peak Design products in the Outdoor Line. For example, both Outdoor Slings can be mounted to the Outdoor Backpacks’ shoulder straps, instantly creating chest-mounted storage. They’re lightweight additions in either case, with the Outdoor Sling 2L weighing just 0.39 pounds (0.18 kilograms) and the 7L size weighing 0.74 pounds (0.34 kilograms).

The Outdoor Backpacks can also store the Camera Cubes, which Peak Design redesigned in late 2023, and the Peak Design Ultralight Packing Cubes released a few months ago. “Camera Cubes in available in five sizes to accommodate any creative kit,” Peak Design explains, “from mirrorless cameras and drones all the way to full-blown professional photography kits.”

Every bag in the new Outdoor Line features Peak’s new PFAS-free 100% recycled weatherproof Tera Shell exterior fabric, abrasion-resistant Ultra Zips, and slash-resistant polyethylene cording.

“Out very first product — Capture — was a clip that let you carry your camera on your backpack strap while hiking,” recalls Peak Design Founder and CEO Peter Dering. “Since then, Peak Design has been synonymous with ‘outdoor photography.’ Yet we still haven’t created true outdoor bags… until now. The Outdoor Line is not only the culmination of everything we’ve learned as bag designers, it’s also a giant nod to our most loyal and longest-tenured customers.”

The Peak Design Outdoor Line is available to preorder on Kickstarter through October 15, 2024, with 20-25% discounts off MSRP. The Outdoor Backpack 25L will retail for $249.95, while the larger 45L version with an internal frame is $329.95. The Outdoor Sling costs $59.95 for the two-liter version, while the Outdoor Sling 7L is $89.95.

The optional Hip Belt, included with the 45L backpack, is $44.95, while optional Rain Fly covers for each backpack are also sold separately for $29.95.

The Kickstarter page has complete backing information and Early Bird discounts. All new Peak Design Outdoor Line bags are slated to ship in January 2025.

Black Magic Pyxis 6K Camera

Cinematographer Patrick O’Sullivan put the upcoming Blackmagic Pyxis 6K camera through the paces for a commercial shoot, showing that the camera, which Blackmagic Design calls “the world’s most riggable full frame digital film camera,” is capable of remarkable cinema-grade footage.

The Blackmagic Pyxis 6K, announced in April at NAB 2024, is designed to be a versatile solution for filmmakers and small production teams on relatively tight budgets. The Pyxis 6K cinema box camera is priced at just $2,995 for its Canon EF and Leica L versions, making it one of the more affordable full-frame 6K cinema cameras on the market. The Arri PL version costs $200 more, by the way.

A big reason why the Pyxis 6K is so competitively priced is that the camera is essentially just a box, ready to be rigged and expanded upon depending on a user’s needs and restrictions. With multiple mounting points and accessory side plates, it’s straightforward for cinematographers to configure the camera however they want, whether using gimbals, cranes, handles, microphones, external power and storage, or even mounting the camera to a drone.

O’Sullivan is an especially interesting choice for Blackmagic’s test shoot project, as he says he has spent the last four years shooting on an Arri Alexa Mini LF — not a Blackmagic camera. The Mini LF is similar in shape and function to the Pyxis 6K, albeit with a price tag eclipsing $70,000 for just the camera body and a 4.5K large-format sensor (which is basically full-frame). In a breakdown on his YouTube channel, Wandering DP, O’Sullivan says he wanted to test the Blackmagic Pyxis 6K in as many different situations as possible and to push the full-frame image sensor to its limits.

As O’Sullivan’s footage shows, the Pyxis 6K handled the challenges well, demonstrating impressive dynamic range. However, as some have pointed out on Reddit’s Cinematography community, the footage also shows a bit of rolling shutter.

O’Sullivan remarks that he didn’t have to change his workflow when using the Pyxis 6K compared to his Mini LF, a setup that he thinks cost him around $150,000. “It’s definitely less expensive,” he says of the Pyxis 6K, laughing. The fact that O’Sullivan could swap the Pyxis 6K in for the Mini LF in his workflow without suffering any issues with workflow or dynamic range says a lot about Blackmagic’s new camera.

His breakdown video is also interesting for cinematography enthusiasts, as he discusses individual scenes with details on lens selection and lighting. With an admitted lack of interest in cameras and test charts, O’Sullivan demonstrates how much of good video comes down to the operator’s understanding of light, lens selection, composition, and color grading. However, his work also shows that a Pyxis 6K, which costs a fraction of what high-end cinema cameras do, is capable of high-end results, a big win for cinematographers without six figures to spend on gear.

Luminar Neo’s Fall Update

Skylum has announced the latest and greatest updates coming to its flagship Luminar Neo photo editing software that features a massive improvement to the overall user experience as well as some impressive Artificial Intelligence enhancements driven by generative AI technology.

The improvements coming in the Fall Update include many new features and quality-of-life improvements based on user feedback with the Luminar Neo community. These include things like Smart Searching, Color Transfer between images, targeted/object-specific color masking, Catalog Filtering, and many other massive catalog improvements designed to make the life of creatives leveraging the photo editing software all the more enjoyable and efficient an experience.

First up is a new AI-driven tool that is designed to allow users to select colors from a reference image and transfer its color palette to an image of their choice. Once selected, you can adjust the results and intensity of the applied colors using several sliders and apply them using the AI transfer feature to match colors between similar objects within the image, such as sky-to-sky, terrain-to-terrain, or transport-to-transport.

This new feature will help creatives quickly and easily make impressive color changes, giving them much more creative flexibility and precision with their edits so they can mimic the color palettes of their favorite movies, images, paintings, and more. This will allow for far greater control in achieving their desired color-aesthetic choices while editing their favorite photos.

The new Color Masking tool grants further control over a photographer’s image by allowing users to create precision masks based on specific colors in their pictures. The mask is created simply by using an eye dropper tool to select the color, and then the color range can be adjusted using a slider, allowing for far more precise control over the specific areas and objects within the image that are affected.

These improvements to the color selecting/masking tools were created to make it easier for photographers and retouchers to apply targeted and precision edits to their images to help save them time and energy and improve the overall experience of editing photographs using Luminar Neo.

The new Smart Search feature in Luminar Neo is a Machine Learning (ML)-based search feature that is designed to help photographers find specific images not only by generic attributes like filename, file type, date, and extensions but also by content within the image such as objects, scenes, and people. These include trees, traffic signs, cars, bikes, subways, people smiling, and more.

The advanced search capabilities of the improved Luminar Neo will significantly enhance the user’s ability to locate incredibly specific images within their catalog, allowing for fast and easy navigation, organization, and selections.

Based on user feedback, Luminar Neo’s new and improved catalog features are designed to provide a far more efficient and enjoyable user experience while working within the image editing application. These updates will provide an enhanced photo organization with filtering options available by camera model, focal length, shutter speed, ISO, rating, and aperture, as well as several other easy-to-navigate parameters that make it far easier for creatives to locate the exact photograph in their backlog they’re searching for.

The new update allows users to see an improved display of filename extensions within the EXIF panel, add/remove star ratings, and provide a more structured “detailed” view that displays filenames, ratings, and favorite/reject flags at the same time. Additionally, this new feature includes intuitive contoured grid views for easy image dragging, an updated view for “File not Found” scenarios, and several other minor UI improvements that include some redesigned icons in the Photo Action Panel to enhance the user’s experience managing and navigating within their photo catalog.

Diving deeper into the catalog improvements bundled into the Fall Update for Luminar Neo includes some significant enhancements to the Filtering features. These give users the ability to filter their catalogs using a variety of new and improved parameters from the metadata in their files, as well as basic image attributes such as camera model, focal length, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, rating, and much more. Using these filters will provide users with an extensive and robust filtering option that allows them to efficiently narrow down their searches within their catalogs, making it far easier to find specific images based on detailed criteria.

A much-beloved feature among photographers has finally arrived at Luminar Neo, and that’s the addition of creating Virtual Copies of their images, allowing for multiple edit versions of the same file. These virtual copies can be created multiple times, duplicating the original file and allowing creatives to experiment with different editing styles, crops, or adjustments while preserving the original file(s), allowing for a lot of wild edits and creative visions. This new feature allows users a safe space to foster creative experimentation without any risk of losing the original “safe” edited file.

Added to the already massive update is the ability to sort folders and albums within the Luminar Neo Catalog. This new feature is designed to allow photographers to sort their image folders and collections by a variety of different attributes, making it far easier to manage large photo collections, while simplifying the process of finding and accessing specific albums and folders.

Finally, the new Fall Update for Luminar Neo will include a Filmstrip in the Edit Tab that gives users the ability to switch quickly between images without having to exit the catalog mode. This improvement to the quality of life will help photographers maintain their focus on image editing and allow for quick synchronization across all images within the folder, effectively streamlining the editing workflow and enhancing your overall productivity.

These new features and UI/Catalog improvements will be available at no additional cost for all Luminar Neo customers this October. A public beta will also be available near the end of September.

Lifetime purchasers will have access to the Catalog improvements and the Filmstrip in Edit Mode. To receive all features and enhancements from the Fall Upgrade 2024, the Spring Update 2025, eight pro-level tools to keep permanently, and three generative features with access valid until January 1, 2026, users can purchase the one-time Upgrade Pass 2024/25. Lifetime purchasers who acquire their licenses between July 1, 2024, and August 15, 2024, will automatically receive the Upgrade Pass 2024/25 at no extra charge.

Luminar Neo is available on Skylum’s website, as well as the Microsoft Store and Apple’s Mac App Store with prices ranging from $11.95 to $199. All updates are included for users on subscription plans. Comprehensive information about pricing and subscription plans is available on Skylum’s website.

RED Slashes Prices of Komodo & Komodo-X

RED, wholly owned by Nikon, has permanently cut the prices of its Komodo and Komodo-X digital cinema camera systems by up to 30%, making the cameras much more accessible for filmmakers.

The RED Digital Cinema Komodo 6K camera body now starts at $4,995, down $1,000 from $5,995. The camera sports a 19.9-megapixel Super35 Global Shutter CMOS image sensor, promising 16 stops of dynamic range (although mileage may vary). The camera records 6K/40p, 5K/48p, 4K/60p, and 2K/120p video and offers REDCODE RAW and Apple ProRes file types.

The RED Komodo-X 6K camera has received a significant $3,000 price drop, bringing its new permanent price down to $6,995. It includes the same image sensor as the standard Komodo, although it offers additional I/O, including a 12G-SDI port, a better battery, and improved IP capabilities for streaming. The Komodo-X also shoots 6K at 80p, 4K at 120p, and 2K at 240p, double the capabilities of the Komodo across the board.

“RED’s Komodo lineup has only grown in popularity over the years,” says RED Digital Cinema’s new CEO Keiji Oishi. “Since joining RED, I have heard filmmakers rave about Komodo’s small form factor and the amazing performance of the global shutter sensor. We’re excited to introduce this new pricing which lowers the hurdle for a new group of filmmakers to take advantage of the exceptional cinema quality and creative possibilities of RED cameras.”

“RED always strives to create an accessible and reliable avenue for artists at any level to get their hands on premiere cinema grade imaging technology,” Oishi adds. “The Komodo remains one of the most versatile and powerful camera systems that RED has ever developed, and democratizing image capture technology at this level will always remain part of RED’s DNA.”

While the ink has barely dried on Nikon’s acquisition of RED, it remains something of a novelty that Nikon not only offers cinema cameras with a Canon RF mount but now does so at a lower — and generally very compelling — price point. As for when Nikon’s proprietary technology may make its way into RED digital cinema cameras, or vice versa, the company says it is actively pursuing avenues for integrating software and hardware in both directions, although these things take considerable time.

Beyond price cuts to the camera bodies themselves, RED has also reduced the price of the Komodo and Komodo-X Starter and Production Pack configurations, with the Komodo packs getting a $1,000 price reduction and the Komodo-X packages receiving a $3,000 price drop, commensurate with the discount on the camera bodies themselves.

3 Legged Thing’s Desk Mount

3 Legged Thing’s new Camera Desk Mount System allows content creators to rig up their desks with camera and accessory mounts, eliminating the need for tripods for at-home shoots.

English tripod and rigging brand 3 Legged Thing has announced the new Camera Desk Mount System; a series of clamps, support arms, and ball heads for creators to rig up their shooting areas. The system is designed for content creators who frequently shoot multi-camera setups with a side or top-down angle or streamers who need an always-ready camera mounting system for their desks.

The system comes in three different kits, along with additional optional accessory arms. The base kit includes a single, vertical-extending pole along with an adjustable base clamp for the desk and a ball head with a 1/4”-20 mounting point. The base clamp is screw-adjustable for various tabletop thicknesses ranging from 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) to 1.9 inches (4.8 centimeters).

There are also two additional expanded kits for more complex setups that allow additional items to be mounted to the kit. One kit includes a single horizontal arm that can be attached to the vertical pole. The arm also has a ball head mount on the far end, making this an easy way to rig up a monitor or ring light.

The second expanded kit adds to this further, including an additional arm that can be mounted on the first arm’s ball head to create an articulating joint for accessory mounting. The ability to make a right angle with these accessory arms, allowing the user to mount a piece of gear at eye level with the lens, like a smartphone for a teleprompter or an external microphone to free up the camera’s cold shoe, could undoubtedly come in handy for one-man-band creators.

Beyond these base kits, 3 Legged Thing also sells both accessory arms separately, so users can expand the system and organize the mounting system in several different configurations.

The single vertical pole kit sells for $34.99, and the two expanded kits sell for $49.99 and $59.99, respectively. The additional auxiliary and articulating-auxiliary arms cost more than they do in the kits, so buyers may want to think about their rig before purchasing.

More details and product information can be found on the 3 Legged Thing website.

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Also be sure to join the Liam Photography Podcast Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/liamphotographypodcast/ You can reach the show by call or text @ 470-294-8191 to leave a comment or request a topic or guest for the show. Additionally you can email the show @ liam@liamphotographypodcast.com and find the show notes at http://www.liamphotographypodcast.com.

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