Episode 419: Nikon 50mm, Stainless Steel, Rollei for Sale & More..

Show Notes

Greetings, you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast, I’m your host Liam Douglas and this is Episode 419 for Thursday September 12, 2024. In today’s episode, a new Nikon 50mm, Lexar Goes Stainless Steel and the new Rollei is available.

Nikon’s Cheaper, Faster 50mm F/1.4

Nikon announced the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4, a lightweight and affordable fast prime lens for Nikon Z system mirrorless cameras.

The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 follows the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 announced in late June, which set in motion what is now clearly a series of f/1.4 primes for Z-mount cameras. Like the recent 35mm f/1.4, the new 50mm f/1.4 combines a compact form factor, fast f/1.4 aperture, and an approachable price point.

The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 doesn’t promise the image quality performance of the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S-Line lens, nor does it offer the light-gathering capabilities of the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S. However, the 50mm f/1.4 is cheaper than both while still promising high-end performance for photo and video users. Given its 50mm focal length, the Z 50mm f/1.4 is well-suited to portraits, landscapes, street photography, and travel.

“The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 is a modern take on a classic lens design, giving creators the benefits of the latest imaging technology and optical innovations at a very appealing price,” explains Fumiko Kawabata, Senior Vice President, Nikon Inc. “With the recently released Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4, photographers and videographers now have access to a great pair of fast, affordable primes that will help them to take their creativity further.”

The Nikon Z 50mm f/1.4 lens weighs 420 grams (14.9 ounces) and is 86.5 millimeters (3.5 inches) long. The lens accepts 62mm screw-in filters.

Compare that to the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S and Z 50mm f/1.2 S lenses, which weigh 415 grams (14.6 ounces) and 1,090 grams (38.4 ounces), respectively. Despite being faster than the 50mm f/1.8 S, the 50mm f/1.4 is practically the same weight and overall size. The 50mm f/1.2, on the other hand, is 150 millimeters (5.9 inches) long and uses large 82mm filters.

Nikon’s trio of 50mm primes also differ in their optical construction. The new 50mm f/1.4 has 10 elements arranged across seven groups. The 50mm f/1.8 S has a dozen elements in nine groups. Meanwhile, the hefty and fast 50mm f/1.2 S has 17 elements arranged across 15 groups. All three lenses have nine-bladed aperture diaphragms.

As for focusing, the Z 50mm f/1.4 utilizes Nikon’s quick and quiet STM motor technology, and the lens can focus as closely as 0.37 meters (14.5 inches), resulting in a max magnification of 0.17x. This is slightly superior to Nikon’s two other Z 50mm primes.

It is also important to note that the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4, despite faster lenses traditionally being a company’s best engineering efforts, is not an S-Line lens. This means that the 50mm f/1.4 does not come with a promise of class-leading optical performance. Nonetheless, Nikon promises strong imaging performance. If the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 follows the trend set by the Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4, the new prime should deliver strong performance across much of the frame but come up a little short in the corners compared to its S-Line counterparts. For many photographers, this may be a worthwhile tradeoff.

The Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.4 will be available later this month for a suggested retail price of $499.95, more than $125 less than the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.8 S, although that lens is currently on sale for $526.95 thanks to a $100 instant savings promotion. As for the Nikkor Z 50mm f/1.2 S, it’s in a league of its own in terms of price — it is $1,896.95 after a $200 discount.

Lexar’s Stainless Steel Card

Lexar unveiled a suite of new memory cards and storage products at IFA 2024 in Germany, including CFexpress 4.0 cards, stainless steel SD cards, and an SD 8.0-equipped SDXC Express card boasting tremendous speeds.

The Lexar Armor Gold SD UHS-II and Silver Pro SD UHS-II cards are constructed using 316 stainless steel, a world’s first. The durable, rugged cards include IP68 waterproofing, dustproofing, and, leveraging the steel case, bend resistance.

The V60 cards promise similar performance, with the Gold and Silver editions promising read speeds up to 280 MB/s. The cards differ in terms of write speed, with the Silver Pro topping out at 160 MB/s and the Gold delivering up to 205 MB/s write speeds. The Lexar Armor Gold and Silver Pro SD cards will come in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities, although pricing and availability information is not yet available.

Lexar also showed off a new, high-speed SD card, the Lexar Professional Gold Pro SDXC Express Card. The card adheres to the SD 8.0 specification, announced way back in 2020, and promises theoretical speeds up to four gigabytes per second. Now, that’s different from what the new Lexar card promises — it promises read speeds up to 1,700 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s. However, these speeds are significantly faster than other SD cards. Lexar says the Gold Pro Express is over five times faster than SD 4.0 cards.

It is vital to put a giant asterisk here, though, because a card capable of those speeds doesn’t mean most use cases will be able to realize them. Although Lexar’s new card should work with any device compatible with SDXC cards, a camera or card reader must be able to take advantage of the SD 8.0 standard’s PCIe 4.0 technology to reach the promised performance.

It’s akin to CFexpress 4.0 cards, which Lexar also announced. If a camera or device isn’t CFexpress 4.0 compatible, a card won’t reach its limit. It’ll work, but only at the level of the host device.

Speaking of CFexpress 4.0, Lexar’s new Type B Diamond, Gold, and Silver cards utilize next-gen PCIe 4.0 technology, as does the latest Type A Gold card. They’re all designed for 8K RAW video recording. The Lexar Professional Diamond CFexpress 4.0 Type B card is swift, promising read speeds up to 3,700 MB/s and write speeds up to 3,400 MB/s.

Lexar hasn’t announced availability or pricing for any of its new memory cards, although it’s a safe bet the SD 8.0 card and CFexpress Diamond Type B cards won’t be cheap.

Pre-orders for New Rollei

Mint’s long-awaited Rollei 35AF film camera is finally available for preorder. However, due to high demand, the preorder window is slated to close in just two days, so analog photography enthusiasts don’t have long to pull the trigger.

“A project as important as this shall not be taken lightly,” Mint explains. “While the final product bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor, its capabilities have undergone a remarkable transformation.”

The Rollei 35AF, based on the beloved Rollei 35 S, is designed for beginner and advanced photographers alike, boasting automatic and manual exposure meter systems. One of the biggest modernizations on offer is the LIDAR-powered autofocus system. Further contemporary accouterments include an OLED display next to the mode dial on top, a built-in flash, and a self-timer.

However, despite some fanciful upgrades, the Rollei 35AF is very much an analog camera built with a tactile experience in mind. The blocky camera has a classic Rollei look and the curvy Rollei logo, which is used with Rollei’s official blessing.

Mint founder Gary Ho says the company wanted to address three main shortcomings of the original Rollei 35 S for a modern audience while still evoking the same sense of joy for photographers. These shortcomings include a lack of autofocus, built-in flash, and cumbersome ergonomics.

As for autofocus, the LIDAR-equipped Rollei 35AF can precisely focus from 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) to infinity, which Mint says, “eliminates the frustration of guessing the wrong focus.”

“No more manual zone focusing — simply point, focus, and capture your prefect shot every time,” the company promises.

There’s not a lot to say about the built-in flash except that it’s present and promises to automatically balance with the prevailing lighting conditions in a scene. The flash has a range of 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) at f/2.8, per Mint.

Ergonomically, the camera includes a tripod socket, self-timer dial, shutter speed dial (1s to 1/500s plus a bulb mode up to 60 seconds), film type dial, and numerous buttons and switches, including manual film advance and rewind levers. The camera’s viewfinder offers 0.5x magnification and 90% area coverage, so photographers will need to be careful with the edges of their shots.

The Rollei 35AF includes a built-in 35mm f/2.8 lens. The lens comprises five glass elements, and the aperture can be stopped down to f/16 in full-stop increments.

As mentioned, exposure can be controlled automatically or manually. The camera’s film speed (ISO) selector dial also serves as the Rollei 35AF’s exposure compensation control. The camera uses a center-weighted average metering system.

The Rollei 35AF is available to preorder now in silver ($799) and black ($829) colorways. Preorders will be fulfilled in the order they were placed, and the first shipments are expected later this year.

Mint says orders may take “several weeks or months” to fulfill after the camera starts shipping. Further, preorders are only open until September 12 at 3 AM GMT, which is 11 PM ET (8 PM PT) on September 11. Time is running out on this highly anticipated brand-new 35mm film camera.

Asteroid Crash Site

A man may have discovered the site of an ancient asteroid impact after he spotted a “suspicious pit” while browsing Google Maps ahead of a camping trip.

Joël Lapointe made the potentially extraordinary discovery as he was casually browsing Google Maps to plan his camping vacation in the Côte-Nord region in Quebec, Canada.

As he looked through satellite images for his camping trip on Google Maps, Lapointe stumbled across a mysterious, spherical pit that was approximately 9.3 miles (15 km) across surrounding Marsal Lake in Quebec.

According to CBC, Lapointe felt there was something about the curve of this pit that appeared suspicious.

After seeing this strange spherical feature on Google Maps, Lapointe decided to contact professional researchers, including geophysicist Pierre Rochette of the Centre de recherche en géosciences de l’environnement (CEREGE) in Aix-en-Provence, France, to help identify it.

Although structures spotted on Google Maps often turn out to be insignificant, the researchers concluded that an ancient asteroid impact event may have caused this one.

Experts now believe the suspicious pit may be a massive crater created by an ancient meteor.

According to NASA, an impact crater is formed when an object like an asteroid or meteorite crashes into the surface of a larger solid object like a planet or a moon. Some craters can date back millions or even a hundred million years.

“Looking at the topography, it’s very suggestive of impact,” Rochette tells CBC.

Rochette, who has already obtained samples from the site, reports that at least one contains zircon — a durable mineral that changes under the force of an impact.

Even though the evidence hinted that the crater was created by an ancient space rock, experts have suggested that it is better to wait for the results of all the tests before reaching a final verdict.

But Rochette notes that the discovery of a site like this would be “significant,” as the last meteorite of this magnitude was found in 2013.

Gordon Osinski, an Earth sciences professor at Western University in Canada, says that the pit could very likely be a crash site of a meteorite and that such discoveries are extremely rare on Google Maps.

“It’s quite easy with Google Earth these days to go on and find structures that are circular or semi-circular in origin,” Osinki tells CBC.

“You know, nine times out of 10 they’re not [craters]. It’s super exciting. It doesn’t happen too often.”

10 Rules for Emerging Photographers

Famed documentary photographer Martin Parr has published a manifesto which reveals his “ten rules of photography for emerging photographers”.

Done in partnership with WePresent, WeTransfer’s digital arts and editorial platform, the British photographer encourages new shooters to explore what makes an image compelling.

Parr is one of the most celebrated documentary photographers of the second half of the 20th century. Known for injecting humor into his images, Parr has published over 40 photobooks and has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1994.

1. Look and learn from other photographers.
2. Identify what makes you like their images.
3. Find a subject you feel strongly about.
4. Select the images you like and understand why they are interesting.
5. Do more like that.
6. Keep shooting more images.
7. Acknowledge you will mainly take failures.
8. Get excited by what you have discovered.
9. Don’t wish you could be a famous photographer.
10. If you do, you will fail — wrong priorities.

Parr made the rules into a poster which can be downloaded from the WePresent Martin Parr manifesto page.

Parr is best known for his colorful photos that are often satirical and a vivid portrayal of modern life. His work explores themes of consumerism, leisure, and social class, with a particular focus on the quirks and absurdities of everyday life.

In a interview with PetaPixel in 2022, Parr said he sees himself as the embodiment of the British sense of humor.

“I’m very democratic in my photography. I’ve done the working class, the middle class, and the upper class. I don’t mind what class you give me. I’m very happy to photograph them,” he said.

“I’m interested in photographing the social classes of England. That’s my biggest project, but remember, I’m very widely traveled. I’ve been all around the world with photographic projects, commissions, and cultural commissions.”

In the early 1980s, Parr decided to move to color from black-and-white photography after being influenced by work coming out of the United States.

“First I saw all the photographers coming from America like Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz,” Parr told PetaPixel. “It was inspiring to see Sally Eauclaire travel to the U.K. with her book The New Color Photography, which we all liked and went to see her and hear her talk. Also, I’ve been collecting postcards around the John Hinde theme, very brash bright postcards, and I thought, let’s just try color [in the early 1980s.]”

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