In today's episode an $11,000 Leica goes missing from a UPS store, Sony working on a new triple-layer sensor, Adobe adds Image Upscale to their Photoshop software and R0DE is now offering direct connection between the RodeCaster Pro II and RodeCaster DUO models.
You can find the show notes here.
You can find the show notes here.
Show Notes
Welcome back to the show Liam here and you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast Episode 465 for the week of July 31st, 2025. In today’s episode, a Leica goes missing, Sony’s new triple layer sensor, Adobe photoshop upscales and more.
A photographer has shared his heartbreak after his Leica M11-P Safari disappeared from a UPS Store earlier this month.
Dave Herring sold his Leica M11 and another camera setup just so he could purchase the M11-P Safari edition after being drawn to its color scheme. But not long after purchasing it, he had to get it replaced because the frame selector arm fell off.
Herring explains in a YouTube video that he packaged the broken camera according to Leica’s instructions and took it to his local UPS Store — where he is known to employees — paid for the postage, got a receipt, and left the store.
“Leica was supposed to receive the package by Tuesday,” Herring explains. “When I got home at the end of the week, I reached out to Leica and they let me know they never received the camera.”
Leica checked the tracking number, which told him that a “label had been created but UPS never received the box.” At this point, Herring started panicking about his $10,500 camera.
Naturally, Herring was at the UPS store at opening time the next day when he spoke to the owner who told him that it was “impossible” his package did not make it onto the UPS truck the day Herring had dropped it off.
At this point, it is important to make a vital distinction: UPS Stores are not part of UPS, instead they are private entities officially licensed to receive UPS packages. If UPS says that Herring’s package didn’t make it onto the truck, it is saying that the Store didn’t deliver it.
Herring then asked for a search of the store which proved fruitless and then asked the manager to check the cameras to see if an employee processed his package properly. Herring says the store owner was not helpful, didn’t comply with his requests, and asked him to leave the store.
“She was actually pretty rude about the whole thing,” Herring adds. “I texted my wife to say, ‘hey, something is really up here’.”
Since first flagging that his camera was missing, Herring has had a series of phone calls with the manager and another employee in which their “shady” behavior has led him to believe that something happened to his Leica inside the UPS Store.
Incredibly, one of the store employees offered him $100 in compensation.
All of this has prompted him to file a police report against the store and the store’s owner. He has also contacted an attorney to explore civil action against them. Herring says the events have taken a toll on him personally.
“It has been heartbreaking,” Herring says. “At this store, something has happened to my package. Whether an employee threw it away or perhaps one of the employees stole it, perhaps it made it onto the truck and the driver lost it — I don’t know.”
Herring did not take out insurance with UPS when he dropped off his package because he has been a member of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) for many years.
“I have their Plus membership, and everything I own of value is itemized by serial number with PPA and I pay an annual premium based upon the value of that itemized list,” he explains.
He says the PPA have been helpful, empathetic, and professional. Thankfully, the claim has since come through which he views as a fallback option because he would rather be made whole by UPS.
PetaPixel spoke with the store owner on the phone who insists that Herring’s package left the store and that police have reviewed the footage. She says that once the package leaves the store it is a UPS shipping issue.
“My concern is: did the package get taken or stolen or missing in the store? And the answer is no,” she says. “We have footage.”
When asked why she didn’t show the video to Herring, she says that it is “one of those things where we don’t show the footage to the customer.” But insists the footage has been shown to the police.
PetaPixel has also reached out to UPS for comment and will update the article if a statement is received.
Exchanging cameras in the mail can be a risky business. Just yesterday, PetaPixel reported on a photographer who received a box of staples instead of the $2,000 Canon lens she had paid for.
Sony Imaging and Sensing Solutions (I&SS) segment recently held a chat with investors, and as part of its presentation, Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) expanded upon a prospective triple-layer image sensor that promises significant performance improvements.
As spotted by Sony Alpha Rumors, the presentation covers the company’s FY2024 performance — which saw record-high sales and operating income — and Sony’s broader development plans.
As part of its long-term goals, Sony is investing heavily in new sensor technology, including improved multi-layer stacked image sensors. Sony already uses stacked sensors in many cameras, including the flagship a1 II, but these are two-layer sensors. There is a photodiode layer, which includes all the pixels that capture photos, and a second, lower transistor layer that handles processing tasks.
Sony’s long-term ambitions to add a third layer to the image sensor stack essentially means expanded processing and improved image quality. The more processing power at the sensor level, the better, all else equal.
As Sony explains, enhanced processing power at the sensor level can improve apparent dynamic range, sensitivity, noise performance, efficiency, readout speed, and resolution, although this last advantage applies more to video performance than to still images. Another sensor layer doesn’t itself change resolution, but by making a sensor faster and more performant, it could unlock new video recording modes. High-resolution image sensors are now typically limited in terms of video resolution by processing bottlenecks, so removing or reducing those could unlock additional video performance.
Better readout speed is excellent for nearly every aspect of a camera’s performance, including with rolling shutter, continuous shooting speeds, and autofocus performance.
Hypothetical dynamic range benefits are complicated. Better sensor-level image processing can help apparent dynamic range, but a sensor’s actual dynamic range depends on many factors, including the full-well capacity of a sensor’s pixels and sensor-level noise performance. While processing impacts noise, full-well capacity is a physical situation with the actual pixels, and adding more layers to a sensor can actually reduce full-well capacity by physically shrinking the pixels.
However, Sony explained this situation way back in 2021 when it unveiled initial concepts of a triple-layer image sensor. As Sony demonstrated previously, the third layer can also be pixel transistors located below the photodiode layer rather than a second pure processing layer.
“Sony’s new architecture is an advancement in stacked CMOS image sensor technology that separates the photodiodes and pixel transistors onto separate substrates that are stacked on top of each other, rather than side-by-side,” PetaPixel wrote in late 2021. “Sony says that the new stacking technology enables the adoption of architectures that allow the photodiode and pixel transistor layers to each be optimized, thereby approximately doubling saturation signal level relative to conventional image sensors and, in turn, widening dynamic range.”
When such a sensor may arrive in an Alpha or FX-series product remains an open question, but Sony Semiconductor Solutions has proven time and again that it can make groundbreaking image sensors, such as the global shutter sensor in the a9 III and the fast, high-res stacked sensor in the a1 series. Sony remains very committed to full-frame image sensor development, and the future looks bright.
Adobe announced a series of Photoshop updates today, including a new AI-powered feature called Generative Upscale. The new tool, powered by Adobe’s Firefly generative AI, allows photographers to upscale images with improved sharpness, clarity, and resolution.
Generative Upscale can increase image resolution by up to eight megapixels, offering scaling options of 2x, 3x, or 4x. Designed to produce high-quality results with minimal manual input, the feature targets a wide range of users, from professionals to casual creators, who require cleaner, more detailed versions of very old or low-res digital photos.
Adobe describes the tool as valuable for photographers, designers, and social media professionals. For those working with older or lower-resolution files, Generative Upscale helps prepare images for print or digital platforms without noticeable quality loss. The feature has been among the most requested additions from the Photoshop user community, according to the company.
“We’re introducing Generative Upscale in beta for Photoshop on desktop and web, bringing high-quality resolution enhancements up to 8 megapixels without sacrificing image clarity. If you’re a photographer, Generative Upscale is helpful for refining edits and especially useful for enhancing image quality for print, delivery, or reworking older files,” Adobe stated. “This has been one of the most requested updates from the Photoshop community.”
Inside the latest Photoshop (beta) version, users can select Image > Generative Upscale from the menu. A dialog box allows users to choose a scale factor, and Photoshop generates a new high-resolution version of the image in a separate document.
Currently in beta, the tool has an output limitation of 4,096 pixels in both width and height. If the selected scale exceeds this limit, Photoshop will prompt the user with options to adjust the size.
In addition to enlarging images, Generative Upscale enhances image sharpness and clarity by analyzing pixel data and intelligently resampling. This complements other AI features already integrated into Photoshop, such as Neural Filters and Photo Restoration, allowing users to refine photos, correct flaws, and even colorize old black-and-white images.
Users can also manually adjust print dimensions while preserving image quality. Photoshop includes tools for maintaining aspect ratio, resampling using various interpolation methods, and refining layer styles to support high-quality output at larger sizes.
Alongside Generative Upscale in beta, the regular public release of Photoshop now features an improved Remove tool powered by the latest Adobe Firefly Image Model. Adobe says it will clean up images with “more precision and quality than ever before.”
“Whether you’re erasing stray power lines, tidying up a portrait backdrop, or polishing a product photo, the Remove tool not only eliminates unwanted elements but also generates realistic content that fills the gaps with better quality and accuracy,” Adobe promises. “Edits blend more naturally into the background with fewer artifacts, so your results look cleaner, more professional, and ready to share.”
Another new feature, Harmonize, is available now in beta across desktop, web, and mobile. First previewed as “Project Perfect Blend” at Adobe MAX 2024, this new beta promises improved compositing tools, allowing users to more naturally blend elements into existing photos.
When the user adds a new object to their image when using Harmonize, it automatically analyzes the scene and adjusts the color, lighting, shadows, and “visual tone” to elegantly blend the new object into the existing scene.
Adobe says this will significantly reduce the need for manual adjustments during compositing, which could be a significant time-saver for many Photoshop users.
Generative Upscale is currently available through the Photoshop (Beta) desktop application and Photoshop on the web (Beta). Interested users can try the feature by starting a free trial or by accessing it through their existing Creative Cloud subscription.
Despite no official ban on the company, DJI is having a difficult time selling drones in the United States. That is to say, it’s having a hard time selling them under the DJI brand.
There have been reports that U.S. customs is denying shipments of drones from DJI, although the government agency hasn’t officially commented specifically on its stance with DJI. This has been a problem going back as far as October of last year, when DJI says that it appears to be “part of a broader initiative by the Department of Homeland Security to scrutinize the origins of products, particularly in the case of Chinese made drones,” Reuters reported.
That trend has continued into 2025, as DJI drones are basically nonexistent in the United States. It didn’t officially launch its new Mavic 4 Pro for sale in the US and it remains unavailable.
DJI might have become so fed up with the situation that it elected to get its drones into the US market through a different method: rebranding. According to The Verge, there is strong evidence to suggest the company is selling its Mini 4 Pro drone under the SkyRover brand as the X1. The two drones appear to be identical in design outside of a few color differences. It even uses a very similar app.
While they look the same, there is more to suggest that it might be a DJI rebrand. As reported by DroneXL, a security researcher by the name of Kevin Finisterre has linked the SkyRover X1 to DJI’s cloud infrastructure. Code snippets show that it has direct ties to DJI’s network, Finisterre revealed last week. References to DJI in the code were replaced with “xxx” or “uav.”
When contacted for comment, DJI said that it could neither confirm nor deny the allegations and that it had nothing to add to the reporting at this time.
DJI is facing an outright ban in the United States if it doesn’t pass a security audit by this fall — an audit that has yet to be started and might be rushed. DJI has been pleading with the federal government since early this year to start that audit and says it has nothing to hide, and the clock is ticking.
Tamron Americas launched Tamron University, an online series of free classes led by professional photographers and filmmakers. These new multi-part courses are designed to help beginners and enthusiasts improve their skills and learn valuable business skills that can help them become successful pros.
“Our goal is for participants to take away more than just the basics of photography and videography from these courses,” says Ken Hubbard, Tamron Americas Field Services Manager. “We want them to receive practical business advice, feel inspired to try something new, and learn through real-world, hands-on experiences. Most importantly, we hope they get to see the personal side of our pros and connect with their creative journeys.”
Tamron University is now available and features four classes: “The Art of Storytelling” with Erica Robinson, “Nature Photography” with Kurt Gardner, “Commercial and Celebrity Portraiture” with Hernan Rodriguez, and “The Art of Photographing Birds” with David Akoubian.
Five additional classes are in development and launching soon, including courses on night sky photography, creativity in photography, documentary filmmaking, capturing cinematic Halloween horror images, and adventure filmmaking.
Tamron adds that even more courses “will continue to be added,” creating an “ever-growing resource for enthusiasts and pros who want to learn, grow, and succeed.”
Whenever a photography company provides photographers and filmmakers with free educational resources, it’s a big win for the community. Although Tamron University’s offerings are slightly limited at launch, the foundation looks promising. Further, the website makes it easy to not only find courses but also zero in on the specific lessons that photographers are most interested in.
Tamron University also fits nicely with Tamron’s other educational programs, including Tamron EDU, which provides discounted pricing on Tamron lenses to eligible educational faculty and students in the United States and Canada. Unlike that program, however, Tamron University is open to everyone, regardless of their location. And, of course, it’s entirely free.
For even more free online photography education, photographers should check out PetaPixel‘s guide to the “10 Best Free Online Photography Courses in 2025.” If Tamron University continues to expand as promised, it may find itself on the list in short order.
Rode this week announced CallMe, a new feature for the RodeCaster Pro II and RodeCaster Duo that adds the ability to connect devices remotely to one another for what Rode describes as a “seamless” remote call that is akin to having two callers sit in the same room as each other.
Offered as a firmware update, CallMe was developed by Rode and UK-based broadcast company Vortex Communications and integrates the latter company’s remote call codec capability into Rode hardware. The feature allows creators to connect remotely over WiFi without relying on any intermediary software or additional equipment — two RodeCasters can simply connect and talk to each other directly. Not only is this available to connect RodeCaster Pro II or Duo devices, but it can also connect a guest contributor using a browser-based interface via email or QR Code.
The firmware update is free, but some features are locked behind paid tiers. On that note, Rode has three levels of CallMe available.
The first, CallMe Lite, is the free version and supports one remote contributor and up to 10 hours of RodeCaster to RodeCaster audio calls per month. It also includes a five-hour trial of the web-to-RodeCaster calling feature. The standard CallMe license costs $9.99 per month or $99 per year and lets subscribers have two remote contributors at a time and unlimited RodeCaster to RodeCaster and web-to-RodeCaster audio calls.
Finally, Rode CallMe Pro is $49.99 per month or $499 per year and promises “advanced tools” for more professional needs, including multi-guest support (up to three CallMe channels at a time), a fully integrated IP audio codec with third-party interoperability, and advanced SIP calling with full protocol support. Rode says that Pro users also get multi-network streaming with external 4G/5G support, “broadcast-grade codec options” with adjustable jitter buffering, touchscreen controls, and a web UI.
“Rode CallMe marks a groundbreaking leap forward in remote production,” Rode CEO Damien Wilson says. “By partnering with Vortex, we’ve removed constrictive technical barriers and eliminated geographic constraints entirely to deliver broadcast-quality results for creators and professionals alike. It’s intuitive, powerful, and built into the gear that creators already know and trust.”
Rode CallMe is available starting today as a free firmware update on the RodeCaster App for all RodeCaster Pro II and RodeCaster Duo users.
A team of computer scientists has developed a novel watermarking method that could make it easier to detect AI-generated videos.
The group from Cornell University’s new watermarking technology is called “noise-coded illumination,” and as Engadget reports, it adds a flickering that cameras can detect but video viewers won’t notice.
The research paper published in ACM Transactions on Graphics will be presented by lead author Peter Michael at SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Canada, on August 10. Michael and the rest of the team explain that their system works by encoding “very subtle, noise-like modulations into the illumination of a scene.”
Artificial light sources in a scene, like in a press room, can themselves be coded to be seen a specific way by cameras. It’s like watermarking a light’s output, basically.
While photographers are used to the concept of a visible watermark, like an artist’s name overlaid on an image, watermarks do not have to be visible to people at all. For example, Google’s SynthID is a digital watermark that software can see but people cannot. While that occurs at the pixel level across an entire image, in this case, AI-generated ones, invisible watermarks can also be applied to real images.
“We propose a new type of watermarking, which we call noise-coded illumination (NCI), that instead watermarks the illumination in a scene,” the researchers explain. “Our approach works by modulating the intensity of each light source by a subtle pseudo-random pattern drawn from a distribution that resembles existing noise.”
To a viewer, videos captured under NCI would look entirely normal, although a camera could pick up the flickering, much like cameras can be affected by LED flicker now. However, tucked away inside the natural noise is a specific code image created by each coded light source in the scene.
When an “adversary” edited or otherwise tweaked that video, like to change what appears to happen in the scene, they would “unwittingly change the code images contained therein,” which would make it easy to detect that the image has been manipulated. This would also work to detect more traditional video editing techniques, like misleading cuts during a recorded interview.
“Knowing the codes used by each light source lets us recover and examine these code images, which we can use to identify and visualize manipulation,” the researchers explain.
While the use cases of such a system are admittedly narrow in scope — it requires coded light sources, for example — it could apply to many critical situations, like when a politician or authority figure is speaking in a press room. When people manipulate what prominent people do or say in an official setting, it can have dramatic societal consequences.
“Our work introduces NCI as a novel forensic strategy that helps protect content in a particular physical space,” the researchers conclude. “Our approach creates an information asymmetry by using randomized illumination codes that resemble noise. It also makes manipulations easier to detect by reducing the manifold of plausible videos. Our approach is inexpensive, simple to implement, and unnoticeable to most observers.”
The latest issue of The Camera from Wetzlar, an independent magazine for Leica fans, includes an interview with a Leica executive, where he dishes on a new apochromatic 135mm prime lens in the works for L-Mount.
As reported by Leica Rumors, Leica’s head of optics, Peter Karbe, went on the record saying that Leica is working on an SL 135mm APO-Elmarit lens.
“One last question, Peter: In the future, might we see a 135mm SL APO-Elmarit? I mean, the Vario-Elmarit-SL 70-200mm f/2,8 is sensational, but it’s a bit bulky and not exactly lightweight. Wouldn’t an apochromatic 135mm telephoto be a great addition to the SL lens catalog?” The Camera from Wetzlar asked Karbe.
“We’re already working on it,” Karbe responded.
This is a major scoop in and of itself, as companies rarely comment on products in active development, but it is also fascinating given the growth of Leica’s SL line in recent years.
As Leica explains, “APO” stands for “apochromatically corrected.”
“In normal lens designs, blue and green light converges on one focal plane, while the (longer) wavelength of red light is refracted to a slightly different plane of focus. This effect (known as ‘chromatic aberration’, or ‘color fringing’) is more pronounced in longer focal lengths — making it a particular problem in long telephoto lenses,” Leica writes. “With APO lenses, on the other hand, the construction of the lens elements and the use of low-dispersion glass enables all colors to converge at the same point of focus — resulting in a sharper image without color fringing.”
Leica’s SL line, which comprises 17 lenses and two teleconverters, features many Leica-branded lenses that are clearly based on existing designs from other L-Mount Alliance members, albeit none that are “APO” lenses.
Of the last four Leica SL lenses, only one was a wholly original creation, the Super-APO-Summicron-SL 21mm f/2 ASPH.
Leica came out of the gate strong with many excellent SL prime lenses, but the new 135mm prime will also fill a void, as the current longest prime lens in Leica’s SL family is the APO-Summicron-SL 90mm f/2 ASPH. released in 2018 alongside the APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH.
Once the 135mm prime enters the fray, Leica will have 10 SL primes, including at 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, 90mm, and 135mm focal lengths. That’s a very healthy mix. Considering photographers can attach any Leica SL lens to a Sigma or Panasonic L-Mount camera, or use other L-Mount glass on their Leica SL camera, L-Mount photographers have a wide range of prime lens options, but not many longer ones. It will be exciting to see how Leica’s lens compares to the Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art lens, which is currently available for L-Mount for $1,349.
Viltrox’s newest compact and affordable Air series lens is its widest yet, the AF 15mm f/1.7 Air.
Joining the Air 25mm f/1.7 and Air 50mm f/2, the Air 15mm f/1.7 gives APS-C photographers a wide-angle 22mm equivalent fast prime lens that won’t break the bank. Starting at $227 with a 5% launch discount, Viltrox’s latest lens is an affordable option for both photographers and videographers seeking a nearly ultra-wide field of view (84.9 degrees).
Viltrox says its new Air lens is well-suited to street, landscape, and interior architectural photography. It can also focus as closely as 0.23 meters (0.75 feet), making it suitable for semi-close-up shots. Although the focal length is a little wide for typical portraits, it could also work for environmental portraiture.
The lens is also designed with video content creation in mind, and wide-angle lenses are popular choices for self-facing video and vlogging. Viltrox promises minimal focus breathing and low distortion, and notes that the lens’s compact and lightweight design makes it well-suited for “creators on the move.” At just 180 grams (6.3 ounces), the lens will also easily work on many gimbals. The lens is just about 57 millimeters (2.2 inches) long and accepts 58mm filters.
The lens has a dozen elements, including three ED elements, three high-refractive-index elements, and a couple of pieces of aspherical glass. Viltrox promises edge-to-edge sharpness, even when shooting wide open. The company says its advanced coatings reduce flare and ghosting.
While PetaPixel has not yet gone hands-on with the AF 15mm f/1.7 Air, the 25mm f/1.7 Air proved to be a great lens earlier this year, especially concerning its sharpness. While it has some optical shortcomings, which makes sense given its price point, the lens delivers excellent overall results.
“I truly wish that Viltrox will produce more affordable primes in the future if they are anything like this latest little wonder,” Chris Niccolls wrote in March. His wish may have come true in short order.
The Viltrox AF 15mm f/1.7 Air is available to order now for $227, 5% off its regular retail price of $239. The Viltrox AF 15mm f/1.7 Air is available for E, X, and Z-mount mirrorless cameras.
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