With its unusual zoom range and bright maximum aperture this lens could fill a significant gap in your kit especially if you often shoot events or portraits Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this informative video examines the new Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens highlighting its unique capabilities compared to standard telephoto zooms Frost emphasizes the practicality of the 50-150mm range noting it's ideal for weddings and similar events where traditional 70-200mm lenses often feel restrictive at the wide end He also points out that this lens effectively replaces multiple prime lenses providing convenience without significant compromise While acknowledging the steep price of around $3,900 Frost suggests the lens' image quality and versatility may justify the investment especially if you prioritize stunning background separation and sharpness The review goes deeper into the lens' build and operational features which are particularly relevant if you often shoot handheld or require quick Frost appreciates the lens’s smooth zoom action and exceptional autofocus performance—qualities crucial for fast-paced event photography Another strong feature is the near absence of focus breathing Despite its significant size and weight (2.9 lbs) Frost finds the lens surprisingly comfortable to handle he advises caution if you're using it on smaller camera bodies as balance could become an issue during extended sessions Image Stabilization: No (relies on camera stabilization) On the optical front, Frost conducts thorough tests on Sony’s demanding 61-megapixel a7R V, confirming excellent sharpness particularly wide open at f/2 and at the lens’ widest focal length Frost does highlight some optical shortcomings such as noticeable vignetting and distortion that benefit from in-camera corrections and less-than-ideal close-up image quality at wider apertures these limitations are minor considering the overall optical strength This lens represents a significant innovation offering an unusual combination of focal lengths and aperture typically found only in prime lenses Frost implies it could become a favorite among professional Sony shooters needing versatility without sacrificing quality though it's probably overkill for casual photography or street shooting Check out the video above for the full rundown from Frost Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based photographer and meteorologist He teaches music and enjoys time with horses and his rescue dogs The 35-150 is very sharp at 35/2.0 and plenty sharp enough for event work across the zoom range and the 35 and 85 primes are a full stop brighter than Sony's 50-150 this way I have backup in case a lens gets damaged onsite Cosmos » Physics Scientists from the Philippines have come up with a clever way to make adjustable water-based liquid lenses which they say could be used as accessible and low-cost improvised lens systems in classrooms and laboratories “This was inspired by the natural shape of a water droplet on a flat surface, which resembles a plano-convex lens,” write the researchers in a paper describing their the method in the journal Results in Optics “We vary the size and curvature of the droplets by changing the droplet volume Traditional glass lenses have a set curvature so they bend light in a characteristic way Only by stacking and altering the spacing between its lenses can the focal length of a camera or microscope be altered But liquid lenses can be adjusted without any moving mechanical parts This is often achieved by manipulating the shape of a sealed pocket of liquid – using pressure or electricity – to alter the way light refracts through it But traditional approaches to fabricating these dynamic liquid lenses are often complex and expensive The simple new approach involved coating an ordinary glass slide with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic using a process called “electrospinning” This involved melting PVC in an electric field which stretched it out into fine microfibres that were deposited onto the glass slide This made the surface more water repellent (hydrophobic) which helps a droplet stay in a spherical dome shape rather than flattening out The researchers shone a laser light through the droplet and found that they could change its focal length by simply adding more water “The focal length increases linearly as the droplet size increases,” they write As the droplet volume increased from 5 microlitres (μL) to 60μL the focal length also increased from 1.3mm to 7.6 mm The researchers say their simple system can produce an array of convex lenses with varying focal length by simply changing the volume and shape of the droplet “While the presented system herein may have a limited dynamic tunability and usability [it] can be used in simple experiments in class discussions and open optical systems,” they write “The proposed design can be used as an accessible and low-cost improvised lens system in simple and laboratory-scale optical experiments “This could also serve as a baseline proof-of-concept in producing a more advanced and sophisticated volume-based dynamic water-based liquid lenses ShareSaveAsiaHands-On: Zeiss Zoom Lens For The Vivo X200 UltraThe best camera phone gets a premium zoom lens made in collaboration with the iconic German optics company.ByBen Sin Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights I cover consumer tech in AsiaFollow AuthorMay 04 11:33am EDTShareSave@font-face{font-family: "Schnyder"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/schnyders/schnyders-bold-webfont.woff2") format("woff2") url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/schnyders/schnyders/schnyders-bold-webfont.woff") format("woff"); font-weight: 700; font-style: normal;} @font-face{font-family: "Merriweather"; src: url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-bold-webfont.woff2") format("woff2") url("https://i.forbesimg.com/assets/fonts/merriweather/merriweather-bold-webfont.woff") format("woff"); 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#article-stream-0 .headline-embed .color-accent{color: #000000;} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.bg-accent #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .bg-accent{background-color: #000000;} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.color-base #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .color-base{color: #FFFFFF;} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.bg-base #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .bg-base{background-color: #FFFFFF;} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.font-base #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .font-base{} #article-stream-0 .headline-embed.font-size #article-stream-0 .headline-embed .font-size{font-size: 54px;} #article-stream-0 .quote-embed.color-accent #article-stream-0 .quote-embed .color-accent{color: #FFFFFF;} #article-stream-0 .quote-embed.bg-accent #article-stream-0 .quote-embed .bg-accent{background-color: #FFFFFF;} #article-stream-0 .quote-embed.color-base #article-stream-0 .quote-embed .color-base{color: #000000;} #article-stream-0 .quote-embed.bg-base #article-stream-0 .quote-embed 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#article-stream-0 .subhead3-embed .color-body-border{border-top-color: rgba(51,51,51 0.8);} .bg-body{background-color: #333333;} #article-stream-0 .subhead3-embed.font-accent #article-stream-0 .subhead3-embed .font-accent{font-family: Graphik,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;}Vivo X200 Ultra with the 200mm lens add-on has a very impressive camera system on its own: a triple 50-megapixel lens array with (relative in the mobile space) large sensors and fast aperture the phone has a high chance of claiming “the best smartphone camera” throne of 2025 The Shenzhen-headquartered company and long-time collaborator Zeiss worked together to build a zoom lens that attaches to the phone to extend the latter’s 85mm optical zoom to 200mm I’ve been testing the whole kit for the past week officially named ZEISS 2.35x Telephoto Converter constructed out of mostly metal and featuring 13 glass elements inside It attaches to the phone via a special case mount which is included with the lens as one kit The case looks great on its own to my eyes with a two tone finish consisting of faux-leather and plastic frame that snaps onto the Vivo X200 Ultra There’s a kickstand at the bottom of the case along with a circular ring that wraps around the camera module with a 67mm filter thread The lens snaps onto the mount the same way a real camera lens does requiring lining up the lens to the mount’s marker As someone who’s tested his fair share of add-on lenses for smartphones There’s a camera grip that also attaches to the bottom of the case to turn the whole setup into something resembling a camera The grip adds a dedicated shutter button for photos and videos as well as two dials to adjust camera settings The grip also packs a 2,300 mAh battery inside to give the phone extra juice This is still ultimately a smartphone that fits into your pocket is still small compared to a dedicated camera So photos snapped by the lens still has a digital look to it likely because Vivo also likes to use sharpening for zoom photos But with the right lighting and a steady hand you can definitely get some jawdropping long zoom photos for a phone I was able to snap a 800mm portrait of my friend Where friend stood relative to me (left); the camera viewfinder; the finished photo The finished photo (right image in above collage) features very strong natural bokeh and background compression and while the image slightly digitally sharpened his face the portrait came out far better than what any previous smartphone is capable of meaning it’s a four times digital zoom of the phone’s default 200mm focal length For those not familiar with camera terminology 800mm is roughly about a 34X zoom from an iPhone (theoretically Notice the shallow depth-of-field and natural bokeh of the 200mm lens You do need good lighting to get the above shots which look like they were snapped with a real camera considering the relative affordability (compared to the cost of typical camera lenses) this is an excellent accessory for mobile photography enthusiasts I can see myself bringing this lens when I go to concerts or vacation This does not include the cost of the Vivo X200 Ultra But the total price of about $1,120 is considered affordable in the camera space As for the Vivo X200 Ultra by itself: it’s a top notch flagship phone with the best processor Even just the phone by itself will capture some excellent images Link IconCopy linkFacebook LogoShare on FacebookXShare on XEmailShare via EmailLink copied to clipboardQueen Mom | Scene Through the LensRoyal bell Edward rededicated the bell - cast at the Whitechapel Foundry in London, the same foundry that originally cast the Liberty Bell in 1751 - and helped kick off festivities leading up to next year’s Semiquincentennial and storytellers ahead of America’s big birthday celebration in 2026 » READ MORE: Pictures of Phambassador pep rally Since 1998 a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in the print editions of The Inquirer’s local news section Tamron says it plans to launch six or seven new lenses this year and as many as 10 new models starting next year the company not only breaks down its fiscal performance but outlines its plans moving forward including ambitious lens development plans The company also brought four existing lenses to new mounts including the 28-75mm f/2.8 and 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 VC VXD to Nikkor Z mount plus the 11-20mm f/2.8 RXD to Canon RF Tamron also counts the new 90mm f/2.8 Macro lens in its Nikkor Z version as a “new” model This is how Tamron accounts for its lenses, so “six new models in 2025” will include bringing older lenses to new mounts. For example, Tamron’s 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD all-in-one APS-C zoom lens is coming to Nikkor Z and Canon RF mounts this year which Tamron counts as two new models in its new financial report given that the lens released on E-mount in 2021 calling it a “new model” is a bit of stretch Hopefully some of Tamron’s new models for the rest of this year will be altogether new — not just existing lenses with a different mount. The company told PetaPixel it is open to making any lenses that photographers want There are plenty of potential options that photographers would love to see Image credits: Featured image created using Tamron product photos and an image licensed via Depositphotos Become a PetaPixel Member and access our content ad-free The Phoblographer may receive affiliate compensation for products purchased using links in this article. For more information, please visit our Disclaimers page. This is good news considering that Canon’s RF models have fewer APS-C lenses while their compact cameras are pretty new in the industry too From the patent, one can gather that these designs are for creating compact, internal zoom lenses for users. The company has several optical designs, all zooms, and for both full frame and APS-C cameras. They just may have a power zoom built-in drive system, much like the RF-S14-30mm f4-6.3 IS STM PZ, which was designed for R50 V there are some lenses with a fixed aperture a smaller aperture could lead to issues for low light It is also entirely possible that these lenses never see the light of day which would be helpful to street photographers and price are some factors that impact sales In another report by Asobinet, Canon filed patent P2025070387 on May 2 The focal ranges appear to be 9.5mm f2.8 and 11.7mm f2.8 both of which are wide-angle and could be used for cameras like Powershot V1 In addition to being small and lightweight the lenses can accept ND filters and “a shutter is disposed in appropriate positions.” the Powershot V1 features an 8.2-25.6mm f2.8-4.5 zoom lens but the difference is that the size of the lens is naturally larger these lenses are designed to use the whole width of the sensor for electronic image stabilization is that Canon is working on smaller lenses but these could be primarily for hybrid purposes rather than just photography Because the company has been targeting content creators This would not be an issue had the company shown the same interest in photographers Not everyone can afford a high-end full frame camera and the APS-C cameras are just as expensive Canon has just released the fourth lens in its L VCM line of Hybrid Primes I got to have an early look and wanted to share my thoughts as I continued to put the lens through its paces I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was really enjoying the shooting process—not just the images I was getting but the actual experience of using the lens with my particular camera body I believe my enjoyment was coming from a simple word: balance I should mention that I have a love-hate relationship with prime lenses I’m someone who enjoys talking about primes but will have some form of zoom lens connected to my work cameras in perpetuity The exception to that rule being cinema lenses and/or walkabout photography lenses if I reach for a zoom for photography purposes and the lens's small form factor is almost as important as its focal length Some of the best prime lenses I’ve shot with are just as big as But it also has a practical effect on my choice you’re asking me to choose between the versatility of a zoom lens versus a perceived sharpness bump of a prime As I am admittedly not a pixel peeper and can rarely tell the difference at first glance I tend to opt for the zoom due to the added versatility But the Canon RF 20mm f/1.4 L VCM is something different It is a high-performing prime but comes in a very light and compact form There is a minimum focus distance of 7.9 inches The lens has a front filter size of 67mm and also includes a rear filter holder for gels giving you even more filtration options in a compact setup 20mm offers a wide field of view on a full frame sensor I like using wide lenses when I’m specifically looking for dynamic foregrounds and compositions This lens doesn’t disappoint in that regard But it also does a good job of controlling distortion around the edges do be sure to utilize either in-camera lens corrections or post-production lens corrections to get optimal results Below is just an example of what the field of view looks like with and without adjustments applied this correction will take place naturally in-camera But the adjustment is a painless process should you need to do so so you’ll want to connect it to a body that has IBIS if you’re intending on using it for handheld vlogging or content creation meaning that Canon claims to have designed it equally for motion and stills Filmmakers will love the manual aperture ring on the lens itself to facilitate smooth iris pulls during production The lens also has a linear focus motor for more precise focus pulls and focus breathing has been kept to a minimum Below are examples of a focus pull from near to far You can see the minimal breathing at the outer edges of the shot The lens is roughly the same dimensions as the others in Canon’s Hybrid Prime line (24mm so changing glass mid-shoot should not necessitate major adjustments to your video rig This seems to be a sweet spot where companies can provide fast lenses that let in a lot of light without needing to make them massive in size like many f/1.2s I found the lens to be plenty sharp enough The image below was shot at the minimum focus distance and was more than sharp enough for my liking The wider aperture and focal length should make this lens popular among astrophotographers looking to take advantage of the low-light capabilities and field of view I got to review this lens at the same time as I got to review two new camera bodies from Canon new cameras are always a bit more fun to play with than new lenses I found the RF 20mm f/1.4 L VCM to be the most exciting to my own personal workflow It’s the first of the L Series Hybrid Primes that I’ve gotten to play with but the experience has definitely gotten me interested in exploring the rest of the line Whether or not this lens, which retails for $1,699 is right for you begins with the utility of the focal length to your subject matter What I can say is that the lens delivers sharp images in a package that is a pleasure to carry around And for those of you looking for a low-light workhorse Christopher Malcolm is a Los Angeles-based lifestyle and cinematographer shooting for clients such as Nike Seems the lens does not properly fill the frame and relies on heavy lens correction that likely to effectively also crop out the corners and resulting is possibly a FOV that is no longer 20mm Fancy posting this as an Astro lens but not bothering to test it as such Throngs of Santa Feans join nationwide protest against real and present authoritarianism Fourth from left: Garrett VeneKlasen joins Thursday protest at the Roundhouse traffic must've been a mess around the Capitol at rush hour on Thursday the honking that echoed throughout downtown Santa Fe was in support of a growing crowd who showed up and showed out in front of the Roundhouse to join a nationwide protest A protest of the authoritarianism that continues to seep from the nation's Capitol protests took place not only at the Capitol but also at St The honking and chanting echoed for blocks until well after dark SFR's Adam Ferguson made the rally at the Roundhouse the subject of The Lens hundreds gathered in the early evening at the Capitol on Thursday to protest recent actions of the Trump administration on May Day—or International Workers Day The tone was fiery and the collective force spread to the streets with passing cars honking in solidarity Signs raised skyward were sharp and vibrant The point of the demonstration was clear: remove the tyrants from office and protect our labor rights immigrant voices and stay the hell away from our public lands and their stewards Thursday’s demonstration was hosted by a collection of progressive grassroots groups including Santa Fe Indivisible D-Santa Fe; Santa Fe County clerk Katharine Clark and Santa Fe County Commissioner Camilla Bustamante “It takes an army of workers to steward our federal public lands the evisceration of our incredible agencies that steward these lands is criminal Our organization is really pissed off about this and if the people listening to this aren't pissed off they're not paying attention,” VeneKlasen tells SFR “This is the foundation of our cultural integrity in New Mexico It's really important to go public and speak out and gather and be unified And we're not going to stop until we drive these people back under the rock from which they came,” VeneKlasen shares While the specific reasons behind the demonstration were many collective force of sovereignty was evident The refusal of backing down was the message being conveyed by a people coming together to demand justice and to reclaim its rights as an equal certified holistic nutritionist and world traveler—one of his favorite places being the Hunza Valley in Pakistan He loves reading philosophy and his favorite book is ;Crime and Punishment; by Dostoevsky When I started on this endeavor, Jonathan Slack a reviewer and beta tester of Leica equipment asked me a very good question: Why not just get an SL3 (which Leica says is optimized for M lenses) my answer comes down to personal preference (size It would also depend on how well other options performed Given the relationship between Leica and Lumix I was especially interested in whether I could confidently use M-lenses on a Panasonic Lumix camera Perhaps in the same way birds are imprinted with their parents at birth I may have been imprinted with rangefinders a hand-me-down Kodak Retina IIIc rangefinder While working in a camera store to put myself through university I managed to buy a Leitz Minolta CL kit which had 40mm and 90mm Minolta M-Rokkor lenses (Leica M-mount.) That camera went with me everywhere I started my photography business after graduating it generally hasn’t been practical for me to own Leica gear it has made more sense to own capable but less expensive systems I started with Canon and eventually moved to Sony and Fujifilm I got some Leica gear but it never really worked out as an everyday system for my photo business With all the excitement of the digital era I suppressed it for a while but eventually found myself missing the zen experience I remembered from my days using all manual cameras and lenses Enter M-lens adapters: I can get beautiful compact manual focus lenses and put them on my digital Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) cameras Having made my living for many years selling large fine art prints I am very particular about the quality of the files coming out of the camera When I make 2 meter/~6 ft prints for patrons (not that unusual) There are exceptions for some types of images but those are I realized that there are more lens adapters for Sony than just about any other full-frame camera Sonys may be soulless but are technically competent cameras so I figured why not try putting some nice M-mount lenses on one I learned that the thick sensor stack (sensor + sensor filtration) in the Sony doesn’t play well with some rangefinder lenses Thicker stacks can cause smearing and exacerbate weaknesses especially on the edges and corners of the image I knew that Leica made the SL line, such as the SL2/S and SL3/S models to work well with M lenses SL bodies presumably have a thin sensor stack for this purpose But an SL3 wasn’t in my budget and after using an SL2 and SL2-S I wasn’t so keen on the size and weight either I had a hunch that with the Leica/Lumix relationship the S5II(x) might have a thin enough stack to be suitable for rangefinder lenses or at least thinner than a Sony a7 series body I got in touch with Ilija Melentijevic, founder of Kolari Vision Amid all the great information he provided he confirmed my hunch that a Panasonic Lumix S5II/S5IIx has a thinner stack than a Sony a7R series camera Whether the S5II(x) sensor stack was designed with Leica input or not but my newfound knowledge about the thickness I am grateful to Camera West in Walnut Creek for loaning me the Leica gear I needed to do a thorough This allowed me to evaluate M-mount lenses on my Lumix S5IIx and compare that to the SL2-S and also an M11 The SL2-S is a very good Leica counterpart to the S5IIx (no SL3-S bodies were available.) In case you’re wondering my getting the ‘x’ version of the S5II has no significance other than I like the aesthetics of it better there is no difference between it and the S5II My main goal was to see how the S5 II(x) did against the SL2-S with various M-mount lenses but it was also useful having the M11 as a baseline/standard for reference when I needed it I didn’t expect the 75mm to be much of a challenge for the cameras But it had done poorly on the edges with the thick-sensor-stack Sony until about f/5.6 I first tested some M-lens to L-mount adapters to find the best one I wanted to use the same adapter for both the S5IIx and SL2-S to eliminate that as a variable I conducted tests on all the lenses at both infinity with a detailed horizon and in the studio at closer distances using ISO 12233 resolution test targets My wall of targets is arranged so that lenses are at fairly realistic working distances when testing This may not be entirely scientific but I’m not counting lines of resolution on the charts and it’s quite useful for comparisons among lenses I have collected a useful reference for dozens of lenses over many years my judgment of sharpness is really perceived sharpness as there are many factors that contribute to how I This isn’t meant to be a typical review but I wanted a consistent way to compare the lenses are the shots I did of landscapes on the coast Jonathan Slack offered his input (thanks!) He said: the “easiest way to test is to use a 28mm or 35mm lens near or at infinity when the rear element is closest to the sensor Many people don’t seem to realize that the problem is worst at infinity” I chose a Leica 28mm f/2.0 Summicron-M and it turned out to be the most challenging of the bunch It has a prominently protruding rear element that is close to the sensor and moves closer yet at infinity Although the 28mm “Cron” (Leica users’ parlance for Summicron) does well enough with the S5IIx at f/5.6 and looks very good at f/8.0 especially at wider apertures and at the corners and edges the type of camera for which this lens was designed the 28mm f/2 Summicron exhibits soft corners from wide open through f/4.0 I would stop the 28mm down to f/8.0 for a large print After testing the 28mm f/2.0 Summicron I assumed that an even wider angle lens such as the Voigtlander 21mm f/1.8 VM lens I used would have noticeably worse performance on the S5 IIx The infinity test with such a wide angle makes it more difficult to scrutinize fine detail because that detail is so small Sometimes I had to zoom in to 200% to evaluate differences Bear in mind that if you are going to make a print viewing at 200% doesn’t tell you much that is useful I will view them at 50% on my monitor to get an approximate idea of how a print will look when examined closely But even 50% is greater detail than someone sees at normal viewing distances After decades of doing art exhibitions of my work I could always when people looking at my artwork were photographers because their viewing distance was based on the length of their nose The 21mm lens doesn’t show as much difference between the SL2-S and S5IIx as the 28mm Cron did the SL2-S has slightly better sharpness in the center but the S5IIx appears slightly sharper mid-frame I think this is more about the contrast and lack of/or less anti-aliasing (AA) filtration of the S5 II sensor I would use the “Remove Chromatic Aberration” checkbox in Lightroom or the equivalent in whatever raw processor I use The Leica 50mm f/2.0 Summicron-M certainly lives up to its long-established reputation for excellence The surprise was that it performed better on the S5IIx than the SL2-S This was the case in all parts of the frame By f/4.0 the two cameras are close to equivalent in the center But the S5IIx is still slightly better at the edges and corners so I reshot the SL2-S on a different day and rechecked everything This particular example demonstrates that not only can I achieve comparable results on my S5IIx to pairing this lens with the Leica SL2-S I also tested my Voigtlander 75mm f/1.9 Ultron VM a really compact and fast portrait-length M-mount lens there is a slight advantage to the SL2-S but it sometimes requires 200% to see it There isn’t as much difference in the corners as with some of the other lenses Typically a longer focal length shouldn’t exhibit as much “smearing” of the edges and corners as a wide angle lens so I didn’t think this lens would be much of a challenge I will say that when I tested it on a Sony a7R III it was quite soft (‘smearing”) at the edges Interestingly at the closer tested distance for this lens of 3m/10ft in the studio the S5IIx yields noticeably better sharpness in the center wide open they are fairly close with perhaps a slight edge to the SL2-S overall there are some sacrifices using M-mount rangefinder lenses on the Panasonic Lumix S5 II/S5 IIx body though not as many or as sizable as I would have expected prior to doing all this Leica seems to have optimized the SL2/S and SL3/S bodies to work well with their rangefinder lenses The SL2-S generally did a great job with the M-mount lenses I used The whole point of this exercise was to see if I could take advantage of the benefits of a non-rangefinder mainstream camera and other accoutrement of a modern digital camera body Is it sacrilege to put those beautiful and expensive German-made (or Canadian or Portuguese-made) Leica M-lenses on a Japanese-made Panasonic camera I put Japanese-made Voigtlander lenses on my Leica so why not the other way around I will admit that you do indeed lose some of the Leica je ne sais quois in doing so Consider that the cousin to the Lumix S5II/S5IIx then the Lumix S5II/S5IIx might just be a sweet spot * Both of these cameras allow you to use built-in pixel shift to achieve a 96MP resolution Although there is a handheld mode for this that works pretty well It proved to be a real and useable improvement in resolution A worker mows the lawn at an Exxon station on Capitol Hill on Monday while an image of President Donald Trump marking his first 100 days in office is seen on The Heritage Foundation building in the background Lawfire Is the U.S. doing enough about the Mexican drug cartels that are fueling the deaths tens of thousands of Americans Sheinbaum’s administration has, in fact, taken action against the cartels and the deadly drugs they send into this country.  As the BBC reported in March: “Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to send 10,000 National Guard troops to the border The government has made more than 900 arrests since October in Sinaloa Mexico announced its biggest ever fentanyl seizure in the state: more than a tonne of pills the country has seized more fentanyl in the past five months than it did in the previous year Mexico has also made it harder to import a key ingredient of fentanyl from China prompting cartels to reduce the strength of each pill – and 29 senior drug cartel figures were handed over to the United States including members of five of the six Mexican crime syndicates that President Trump’s administration recently designated as terrorist organisations While not taking a position on the wisdom of doing so, graduating Duke Law 3L Jack Bergantino’s paper, “74,702 Reasons for Action: The Legal Grounds for Potential U.S. Force Against Drug Cartels,” concludes that “the use of force is a legally plausible option for decision-makers.”   Jack’s paper can be found here.  Here’s the abstract of it: The fentanyl crisis in the United States claims over 74,000 lives annually a tragedy fueled by Mexican drug cartels in collaboration with Chinese precursor chemical manufacturers Cartels leverage their status as non-state actors to traffic synthetic opioids across the U.S raising critical legal questions about a nation’s right to defend itself This paper examines whether international law particularly the United Nations Charter and customary law provides legal grounds for the United States to employ military force against Mexican drug cartels By analyzing the nature of the fentanyl crisis and the applicability of the doctrine of self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter this paper argues that the United States has a legitimate basis to invoke the right to self-defense is “unable or unwilling” to suppress the cartels and whether the use of force is both necessary and proportional under international law This paper draws no conclusions as to what policy measures U.S explicates the international legal structure for addressing the fentanyl crisis who is currently working as the assistant defense secretary for special operations told a Senate committee that Trump’s designation doesn’t automatically give the U.S military the authority to take direct action against the cartels.” Actually, one could agree that mere designation as a foreign terrorist organization would not—alone—constitute a sufficient legal basis for drone strikes against drug cartels yet still find that there are other factors which together can provide “a legally plausible” rationale for such action In fact,  Lawfire® contributor Pete Pedrozo argued recently on the Articles of War blog that: “While Secretary Jenkins is correct that the terrorist designation does not forces to take punitive action against the cartels in Mexico there may be situations where cross-border strikes would be authorized in self-defense if a drug cartel uses force or demonstrates a threat of imminent force against the United States or U.S “This exorbitant death toll begs the question and other illicit drugs that results in over 100,000 deaths a year constitute an armed attack against the United States that justifies the use of necessary and proportionate force in self-defense to neutralize the threat If you compare the scale and effect of drug trafficking into the United States to that of a conventional armed attack persons is clearly grave enough to characterize trafficking by the cartels as an armed attack against the United States that justifies the use of force in self-defense to counter that threat.” As you can see, this is a controversial topic, so you’ll want to read Jack’s essay to fully appreciate his view as to what international law might permit as an option for decision-makers.  I don’t think this issue is going to go away anytime soon, and you’ll find Jack’s thoughtful piece will help you formulate your own perspective.  Again, you can find it here Jack Harrison Bergantino is a third-year law student at Duke University who expects to receive his Juris Doctor in Spring 2025 Jack has a keen interest in American politics and economics: his undergraduate senior thesis Darkness Falls Upon America’s Backyard explores the economic history and future blueprint for impoverished towns in Central Appalachia Jack will begin his legal career at Latham & Watkins in Austin Remember what we like to say on Lawfire®: gather the facts evaluate the arguments – and then decide for yourself Tags: DISCLAIMERPlease read Duke University Privacy Statement Powered by  - Designed with the Hueman theme Former Hungarian President János Áder has called for a more balanced approach to environmental storytelling—one that not only highlights problems but also explores how negative ecological trends might be reversed Áder made the remarks in a new episode of his Blue Planet podcast ahead of the 10th Planet Lens International Nature Photo and Film Festival which will be held in Veszprém from 15–18 May has drawn submissions from 45 countries this year Films are categorized into four sections: classical nature documentaries and works focused specifically on the Carpathian Basin The photo competition also includes international and regional categories editor-in-chief of Élet és Tudomány and Természet Világa the event aims to attract audiences of all ages and interests Screenings will be held at six locations across Veszprém with award-winning entries also broadcast via public media and online platforms documents the transformation of the Hévíz Lake ecosystem as invasive species from abroad reshape the underwater world ‘It’s like visiting a new continent,’ Gózon noted Áder underscored the need to preserve and share well-documented knowledge of such changes He praised the evolving style of modern nature films which increasingly move beyond stunning visuals to incorporate educational aims and solution-oriented narratives pointing to a Hungarian documentary about the rapid loss of the country’s natural standing waters—80–90 per cent of which have vanished in the past two decades—as an example of filmmakers grappling with both the causes and the possible remedies of environmental decline Áder concluded by saying that audiences respond positively when films present hope alongside hardship Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective What does it mean to make art about other people in our lives How can we process grief in different ways These are the questions that Crave: or how to freeze the phantasmagoria asks audiences to consider Members of the rehearsal team gave me a glimpse into the rehearsal process and production design that went into putting Crave up in Shanley Pavilion.  written by Communication fourth-year Lola Bodé follows writer Charlie (Communication fourth-year Abraham Deitz-Green) and Maeve (Communication fourth-year Dahlia Trilling) five years after the suicide of Charlie’s girlfriend Anna (Communication second-year Mila Levit) The show’s inception came when Bodé took Theatre professor Laura Schellhardt’s Advanced Playwriting sequence where Schellhardt requires students to write a full-length play “I had been thinking about what I was going to write about,” she said “I was trying to go out of my comfort zone and write some play that dealt with a genre outside of my usual understanding The initial inspiration came from Bodé’s experiences writing about other people in her life After dealing with grief during her junior year the narrative took a turn that incorporated one of the play’s biggest themes: loss it molded into a story about grief and the way that we process it,” she said “A story I thought was going to be about a bad breakup became a meditation of grief and how we push it away and let it consume us.” Crave marks Communication fourth-year Talia Hartman-Sigall’s first time directing a full-length student-written play she’s directed for shorter shows like Vertigo’s 10-Minute Play Festival and co-directed ”Funny Girl,” a larger scale Wirtz production This play allows her to work with an evolving script that includes all elements of production the characters are a key focus of the story they were real people on a paper,” she said “They had specific traits and quirks and dealt with their emotions in specific ways.” the special effects and production design elements such as set The lights flickered on and off with varying levels of intensity and speed A collection of papers fell down from the wall to reveal a hidden message When I spoke to Bodé and Hartman-Sigall on their second day of tech except for some final dressings like blankets and papers on the wall Seeing cohesion in the design elements marked a crucial moment in seeing the story come alive Our design team and producer just went above and beyond.” One daring design element is the copious amount of lamps crammed into Shanley the lamps serve as a way for Anna to speak to Maeve and Charlie from the afterlife Communication fourth-year Lili Tarnopol designed the lighting and excitedly offered to show me the way each lamp could be flicked on and off Despite the magnitude of effort needed for the designs Hartman-Sigall said tech was relatively calm.  “I have never had a tech so organized and planned,” she said That is credit to our designers and our stage manager.” rehearsal room and cast includes almost ten seniors in their last quarter at Northwestern the relevance to those involved makes the show more meaningful “We’re all thinking about what it means to go into the world and try to be artists,” she said.  “For a lot of us it’s about how you make art about the things you know and love How do we grapple with the changes that we have to face in two months?” Hartman-Sigall hopes audiences will leave the show with a personal connection to the story “This is a play that will mean to every individual what it needs to mean to them in the moment,” she said the people who have shaped them into the people that they are – and how we have to hold tight to that.” Contact Us Editorial Staff NBN Archive (2019 – 2024) Proudly Powered by WordPress | Theme Rumblepress by WebsiteinWP | Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement the kitchen—or “back of house”—is a sacred place Diners might catch a glimpse into the back through double doors left swinging by busy servers or bussers Even open kitchen concepts can’t completely remove the mystique of the back of the house I’ve seen the hard work and dedication it takes to endure the pressure of endless orders pouring in over the course of long For any brave individual who pursues the path of a cook there is a good chance working the line is where they feel most comfortable understood the reality of those capable of sustaining the “back of house lifestyle.” In an interview with PBS NewsHour prior to his 2018 death like to claim that Mexicans are stealing American jobs.” Bourdain never once in his career as a chef witnessed an American come into his restaurant looking for a kitchen job prep cooks and dishwashers (the unsung heroes of any well-functioning restaurant) that delicious plate of food would simply never make it to your taste buds Understanding the entire process of anything allows us to not take things like dining in restaurants for granted and in fact the cuts and the “back of house” vernacular Trump deports 11 million people or whatever he’s talking about right now every restaurant in America would shut down.”  —- Anthony Bourdain, PBS News Hour that its preliminary revenue for April reached NT$4.375 billion (US$142 million) representing an 11% decline from March but a 27% increase compared to April 2024 The cumulative consolidated revenue from January.. Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site Two 135mm lenses are competing for a place in your Nikon Z setup: Nikon’s own Plena and Viltrox’s Lab Series Knowing which lens suits your work means digging into details beyond the spec sheet Coming to you from Dustin Abbott, this insightful video offers a direct comparison between Nikon’s NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens and Viltrox’s LAB Series 135mm f/1.8 lens though some minor but crucial distinctions set these lenses apart the LAB lens offers more customization options like an LCD screen displaying focus and aperture settings the LAB lens also has slightly less distortion than Nikon's version although Abbott emphasizes this difference isn't decisive The differences Abbott identifies between these two lenses mostly come down to build and specific usability features The LAB lens is noticeably heavier by around 273 grams making Nikon’s Plena a better choice for extended handheld shooting Another critical point Abbott mentions is the aperture control: the Plena delivers smoother aperture transitions suitable for video whereas the LAB lens exhibits noticeable stepping making it less ideal for video applications Abbott also emphasizes the superior manual focusing feel of the Plena lens uninterrupted movements compared to the LAB's slight stepping motion Both lenses perform excellently in sharpness with Nikon’s Plena slightly edging out the LAB in central sharpness at wide apertures the Viltrox LAB lens demonstrates superior mid-frame sharpness and marginally better corner performance Close-focusing abilities also favor the LAB which provides higher magnification (0.25x vs potentially enhancing macro or detailed portrait photography Abbott clarifies that while both lenses handle minimum focus distances well Nikon slightly excels in resolving finer detail Abbott also points out Nikon’s Plena’s distinct advantage in vignette and specular highlight rendering The lens shows exceptionally even illumination across the frame and produces more consistently round bokeh highlights an important consideration for portrait photographers seeking visually pleasing background blur The Viltrox performs admirably in this area too though not quite matching Nikon’s standard-setting performance While both lenses struggle somewhat with video autofocus smoothness and responsiveness Abbott finds the Nikon slightly more reliable and less frustrating in practice Portrait photographers who rely heavily on autofocus accuracy will likely favor Nikon’s Plena as it demonstrated a higher rate of focus consistency in Abbott’s controlled tests Check out the video above for the full rundown from Abbott we have worked on several articles to guide you to buy the best product that is easy on your pockets While we will continue to help you find the best deals we will focus on some of the limited edition cameras and lenses from Leica which are not only costly but also available for purchase If you are wondering why we are working on this it is great to give some truly exemplary piece of gear space too “The optics are stunning without the use of editing Aberrations and distortions are very minimal you can buy the collector’s item on eBay we said: “Without the shadow of a doubt one can say that the M Typ 240 is the pinnacle of Leica’s rangefinder camera evolution and most certainly one of the best digital cameras currently around.” This won’t change even today but it certainly is fascinating to see them together which is not a limited edition like the camera The Leica M9-P is an 18MP camera with ISO up to 2500 and a 2.5-inch 230,000k-dot LCD The Rahn edition comes with a Summicron-M 45mm f2 lens with a silver finish The body of the camera has military grey lacquering which is also used for the camera’s cladding The camera and lens both have special numbers engraved on them The rewind on this camera is known to be shaped like the M3/M2/M1 We do hope you had a great time reading and learning about the models When we do come across such historic models again Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this detailed video breaks down the new Canon RF 50mm f/1.4 L VCM lens Frost explains that while the lens is costly at around $1,400 and a bright maximum aperture perfect for low-light shooting or portraiture He demonstrates the lens’ silent and accurate autofocus You’ll also learn about the lens’ aperture ring which smoothly transitions and can lock in place though it currently only functions fully in still mode with certain newer Canon cameras or in video mode with existing ones despite excellent central sharpness from f/1.4 optimal sharpness across the frame typically requires stopping down slightly though corners remain softer until about f/4 Frost also notes minimal distortion and typical vignetting wide open Close-up shooting performance is strong at 40 cm minimum focusing distance with very good sharpness achieved when stopped down slightly He openly discusses the lens’ mild flare tendencies and decent handling of coma and chromatic aberration ensuring you’re aware of potential limitations Frost offers balanced insights into the bokeh characteristics of this lens pointing out minor drawbacks like onion-ring patterns in specular highlights and some corner distortions—common concerns among detail-oriented shooters He stresses that despite these slight imperfections the overall rendering of backgrounds remains pleasing and practical for professional usage Canon Rumors states that Canon is finally listening to astrophotographers The details about the lens’ focal range are not yet disclosed While there are plenty of patents and designs in the past, it now appears that Canon may be launching one such lens. This won’t be a VCM lens, but is expected to have an STM motor while the STM motor has reduced its size over the years the report adds that the lens may rely on software for optical corrections but that could work in favour of some photographers we liked the new version so much that we gave it five out of five stars but in a way that helps to tell stories,” we wrote about the 10-20mm f4 and depth that is hard to get from many other lenses It’s a lens for people that don’t want to pixel peep just to compare lenses.” So our hope is that the company continues to drive innovation forward and aberrations are some issues that the lens will face the patent states that the problems should be resolved producing the lens is a whole different ball game it will be another innovation in Canon’s hall of fame It gives photographers the much-needed brightness for low-light shots while making it extremely pleasing and cinematic both lenses may prove that Canon is a serious innovator we aren’t sure when the lenses will launch Canon has long been known for pushing the boundaries of lens design A new patent filing hints at an ambitious leap in lens design: a 24mm lens with an f/0.7 aperture This combination of ultra-wide and ultra-fast is rare and pretty much whatever else you can think of According to Canon Rumors this intriguing development stems from Canon's patent application JP 2025-040484 which outlines a compact optical system aiming to merge a wide field of view with an exceptionally large aperture lenses like the Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7—originally developed for NASA's Apollo missions and later used by Kubrick in "Barry Lyndon"—have achieved such apertures A 24mm lens at f/0.7 would be unprecedented potentially offering photographers and filmmakers new creative possibilities in low-light scenarios Achieving this design involves overcoming significant technical challenges Wide angle lenses at such apertures often suffer from issues like coma the shorter flange distance in mirrorless camera systems leaves less room for internal lens elements Canon's patent suggests solutions to these problems including innovative use of internal focusing groups to minimize composition shifts during focusing While the patent demonstrates Canon's commitment to pushing optical boundaries it's important to note that not all patents result in commercial products I'd be extraordinarily surprised to see an f/0.7 lens but perhaps Canon is seeing how far they can push things to find a Goldilocks lens in the middle — perhaps f/1.0 This lens would be insanely exciting but I suspect the reason no one has done it to date on a modern mount is because it is so hard to execute this sort of lens but still meet modern expectations of image quality though I am sure the price tag will be bonkers if Nikon's 58mm 0.95 is a predictor They still re-released the 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 from 1999 for RF mount But who am I to complain about the 2nd brightest 300mm lens in the Canon RF lineup.. If Canon actually made half the stuff they patent but I wonder what's cheaper: making this lens or making a sensor with 2.2 stops better ISO performance ;) I wanna shoot high key portraits on the dark side of the moon 1 stop = multiply or divide by sqrt(2) = 1.4 f-stop comes from the ratio of the diameter between aperture and focal length 1 stop means twice the amount of light let through (area) and since twice the area actually has a radius (or diameter) sqrt(2) bigger might be more interesting to see if even at f/0.7 it would still transmit more light through than a f/1.0 or f/1.2 lens due to internal losses if it did get produced it would prolly be price-tagged in the 5-digits Sign In (The winner of the 151st Kentucky Derby — Sovereignty / All Photos by Holly M (Governor Andy Beshear knows now who is #1 / All Photos by Holly M What a weekend for Churchill Downs — with record handle and the largest TV audience in history What a day for Thoroughbred racing — as the horses glistened against the water falling and the water pooling What a day for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott who added to his impressive life-long achievement awards who claimed his first title on the first Saturday in May What a day for Sovereignty — the grandest horse of them all here are the photos from our master artist — Holly M They Are Off & Running in the 151st Kentucky Derby… Other Photos From Around the Oval on Saturday… it’s not the name of a new rock band… Sovereignty — the Winner of the 151st Kentucky Derby: You must be logged in to post a comment In the largest Tiger Group AV sale so far this year a three-day auction features gear from premium Los Angeles rental house The Camera Division LOS ANGELES, May 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tiger Group today announced its largest audiovisual sale so far in 2025—a three-day auction featuring more than 2,000 lots of cameras accessories and other gear from The Camera Division The sale will take place from May 13-15 and features assets valued at approximately $11 million Tiger's Commercial & Industrial division is conducting the event by order of secured creditors "Tiger has had a working relationship with The Camera Division for the past six years," the executive noted "The asset makeup for this three-day sale is very deep with a high-caliber lens inventory that includes vintage and rare lenses in excellent condition This is an amazing opportunity for all our buyers as well as new participants interested in acquiring gear that is ready for rental or to be utilized in productions." Bidding for the three-day event opens on Tuesday with the online auctions closing each day at 10:30 a.m Inspections are available May 9-12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (PT) in North Hollywood. To arrange an inspection or obtain other information, email: [email protected] or call (805) 497-4999 Media Contacts: At Tiger Group, Maria Hoang, (805) 497-4999 [email protected]. At Jaffe Communications, Elisa Krantz, (908) 789-0700, [email protected] A Tiger Group online auction on May 8 features excess AV gear from Solotech "Tiger Group is extremely pleased to announce that we have been chosen.. committed $95 million of capital in the first quarter to support an array of new clients'.. Entertainment Computer & Electronics Film and Motion Picture Consumer Electronics Do not sell or share my personal information: Metrics details Oryza is a remarkable genus comprising 27 species and 11 genome types that possesses a virtually untapped reservoir of genes that can be used for crop improvement and neodomestication Here we present 11 chromosome-level assemblies (nine tetraploid two diploid) in the context of ~15 million years of evolution and show that the core Oryza (sub)genome is only ~200 Mb and largely syntenic whereas the remaining nuclear fractions (~80–600 Mb) are intermingled we found that despite detection of gene fractionation in the subgenomes homoeologous genes were expressed at higher levels in one subgenome over the other in a mosaic form The integration of these 11 new reference genomes with previously published genome datasets provides a nearly complete view of the consequences of evolution for genome diversification across the genus and investigated the phenomena of subgenome dominance and equivalence in O Correlation between (sub)genome size (Mb) and TE content (Mb) in the nine tetraploid and two diploid wild Oryza species The significance of the linear correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficient DNA transposons are shown as follows: hAT (DTA) LTR retrotransposons are shown as: LTR Copia Unspecified TEs are shown in white; non-TE content is shown in gray (Sub)genomes of the species are ordered by genome type (BB a, Phylogenomic profiling of clusters of syntenic genes across 30 Oryza (sub)genomes (the nine tetraploid and two diploid species presented here and ten additional diploid species listed in Supplementary Table 8) and outgroup species L and each column shows a syntenic cluster (that is a grouping of syntenic homologous genes across two or more Oryza species and/or between Oryza and L The minimum number of genes in a cluster is two homologous genes in two different species or genera Clustering of the Oryza (sub)genomes was based on presence and absence patterns of syntenic clusters using Euclidean distance and is shown as a dendrogram on top of the figure gene copy-number variation is represented as follows: gene absence vertical bars represent the genome type of the (sub)genomes: AA Histogram showing the frequency distribution of syntenic clusters in the 30 (sub)genomes shown in a and shared by increasing numbers of Oryza (sub)genomes (x axis) The legend shows the percentage of core (found in all 30 subgenomes) dispensable (found in 2–26 subgenomes) and private syntenic clusters Percentages of genes classified in the different syntenic cluster categories (core (blue) softcore (green) and dispensable (yellow)) in the 30 Oryza (sub)genomes Percentages of genes classified in private syntenic clusters are not shown Single-line branches denote diploid species, whereas double-line branches denote tetraploid species. Single dashed lines represent unknown diploid wild relative species. Forward slash (/) indicates that the species names—O. meyeriana and O. granulata—are considered synonyms (https://powo.science.kew.org) One asterisk (*) denotes that the maternal donor is a BB genome species Two asterisks (**) denote that the maternal donor is a CC genome species Genome types and known representative species are shown next to the terminal nodes The relative times of hybridization events are based on the current study The tree includes the new designation of O schlechteri as KKLL genome type (the same as O japonica (here collectively referred to as Leersia) are the outgroups According to estimates of LTR-RT insertion times (Supplementary Fig. 3) amplification of these retroelements occurred mostly after the polyploidization event in the allotetraploids with the majority of LTR-RTs (ranging from 77.7% in the LL subgenome of O coarctata to 98.7% in the DD subgenome of O latifolia) having inserted in the past 3 Myr a, Distribution of gene retention (percentage, y axis) in the subgenomes of the tetraploid species (x axis). Each genome type is colored as in Figs. 3a and 4b The red dashed line indicates the average percentage of gene retention calculated genome-wide for each species P values from two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and numbers of sliding windows (n) are shown Transcript abundance of homoeologous genes in O Gene expression as log2 (TPM + 1) was measured in the leaf and in the root considering the replicates together P values from two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum tests are shown the 50th percentiles are defined by middle lines; lower and upper hinges correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles The upper whisker extends from the hinge to the largest value at most 1.5 times the interquartile range from the hinge The lower whisker extends from the hinge to the smallest value at most 1.5 times the interquartile range of the hinge Data beyond the end of the whiskers were considered to be outliers and plotted as individual points Homoeologous gene pair expression bias (B) in the leaf (left) and the root (right) of O Blue and orange bars represent the expression of homoeologs biased toward KK (B < −1) and LL (B > 1) subgenomes Homoeolog pairs with −1 ≤ B ≤ 1 (gray bars) are defined as nondominantly expressed N represents the number of homoeologous gene pairs in the three categories (NKK homoeologous gene dominantly expressed in KK subgenome; NLL homoeologous gene dominantly expressed in LL subgenome; Nnonbiased homoeologous gene not dominantly expressed) BLL and Bnonbiased represent average expression bias for the homoeologous pairs in the respective categories nonfractionated (homoeologous gene pairs); f sativa genes homologous to nonfractionated O coarctata genes (paired homologous); Os-sch Gene loss was faster in younger species (the BBCC species that originated ~1.73 Ma) and progressively slowed in older species (the HHJJ and CCDD species that originated ~2.24 Ma and ~2.54 Ma for which the expression of homoeologous genes was compared with that of homologous genes in the diploid wild relative Panicum hallii Additional tissues need to be analyzed to provide further evidence of subgenome equivalence in O Investigation of subgenome dominance/equivalence in leaf and root tissue of O coarctata (KKLL) did not reveal evidence of expression dominance of one subgenome over another even though gene fractionation was higher in subgenome KK coarctata and the other tetraploid species will be needed to investigate the phenomenon of subgenome dominance/equivalence in Oryza schlechteri (IRGC 82047) were obtained from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI Philippines) under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement Seeds were sown in potting soil and grown at an air temperature of 24–29 °C with 15–25% humidity in a greenhouse coarctata (IRGC 104502) leaf tissue was obtained from a vegetative voucher plant imported from IRRI through the USDA and grown at an air temperature of 24–29 °C with 15–25% humidity in the greenhouse at the University of Arizona The AA pangenome included the species Oryza barthii Genes and transcripts were retained if the annotation edit distance was less than 1 GO mapping of the protein blast hits onto the Gene Ontology Annotation database (v.2023.08) was performed (GO terms refer to the UniProt ID-mapping) GO annotation of the GO term candidates was performed using an annotation score cut-off of 75% to select the GO term for a given GO branch O. sativa homologs of either O. alta and O. grandiglumis genes duplicated in the CC(DD) subgenome and depleted in the DD(CC) subgenome were used for GO enrichment analysis in PANTHER (v.18.0) (https://www.pantherdb.org/) grandiglumis genes in the CC(DD) subgenome PANTHER GO-Slim annotations for each ontology (molecular function biological process and cellular component) were assigned to test and reference gene sets Fisher’s exact test was used with a P value threshold of 0.001 and P values were corrected using the false discovery rate For functional enrichment analysis of the syntenic pangenome two-tailed Fisher’s exact test with a P value threshold of 0.001 was used on the set of GO-annotated genes in each pangenome category (core softcore and dispensable) and a reference set containing all GO-annotated genes in the pangenome P values were corrected using the false discovery rate The top ten overrepresented and underrepresented GO terms were then selected for each GO ontology Distributions were represented as percentages of complete LTR-RT insertions in bins of width 0.5 (Myr) were analyzed in GENESPACE using default settings The macro-synteny analysis was run with each tetraploid genome separated into two individual subgenomes (that is the analysis was performed considering each genome type separately) The macro-synteny results were visualized as a riparian plot using the embedded plot_riparian function and the homology and collinearity information at the subgenome level was used to build a synteny-constrained phylogenomic framework of the Oryza (sub)genomes The syntenic homologs were then used for multilocus phylogenomic analysis to infer the phylogeny of the (sub)genomes phylogenomic profiling of the syntenic clusters to determine which (sub)genomes contained which clusters was performed using the cluster_network function as implemented in syntenet The phylogenomic profile was converted into a binary matrix in which the presence or absence of a syntenic gene from a given (sub)genome was coded as 1 or 0 phylogenetic analysis of the binary matrix was conducted using IQ-TREE v.2.3.6 with 1,000 Shimodaira–Hasegawa-like approximate likelihood ratio bootstrap replicates were used to identify collinear blocks of homologous genes between subgenomes of the same type (for example schlechteri) and calculate the fraction of synonymous substitutions per synonymous site (Ks) The SynMap analysis was run using default parameters (comparison algorithm: Last; window size: 100 genes; minimum number of aligned pairs: 5 genes; maximum distance between two matches: 20 genes) The distribution of Ks values ≤0.3 for each pair of subgenomes was plotted using a bin width of 0.01 SynMap was used to define gene homoeology and collinearity between subgenomes in each tetraploid genome as described above FractBias was used to calculate and plot gene retention by setting a quota align ratio of 1:1 Differences in expression levels in the six gene categories were visualized as log2(TPM + 1) and P values between the nonfractionated and fractionated and between the paired homologous and single-copy homologous categories were obtained using a two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test Expression bias (B) was quantified in homoeologous gene pairs over leaf and root tissue using the log2 fold change: Homoeologous gene pairs showing less than a twofold change (−1 ≤ B ≤ 1) were classified as nondominantly expressed One-sided binomial test and a P value threshold of 0.001 were used to assess differences in numbers of dominantly expressed genes in the subgenomes for each tissue To assess the significance of the correlations between (sub)genome size (Mb) and TE content (Mb) we calculated Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient (R2) with a two-sided t-test two-tailed Fisher’s exact test with a P value threshold of 0.001 was used on the set of GO-annotated genes in each pangenome category (that is core To test for differences in percentages of gene retention between subgenomes in each tetraploid species we used a two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test with a P value threshold of 0.001 (the wilcox.test function in R v.4.3.2 with continuity correction) To test for differences in the expression levels of genes of six categories (four gene categories in O homoeologous gene pairs found in both the KK and LL genomes; and fractionated genes (f) those found in one subgenome with no homoeologous pair in the other subgenome; and two gene categories in O sativa genes that had homology to nonfractionated gene pairs in O coarctata; and single-copy homologous genes (sch) sativa genes that had homology to fractionated genes in O we used a two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test and a P value threshold of 0.001 (the wilcox.test function in R v.4.3.2 with continuity correction) To assess differences in the number of genes dominantly expressed in the subgenomes of O we used a one-sided binomial test and P value threshold of 0.001 Further information on research design is available in the Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article Seed banks and molecular maps: unlocking genetic potential from the wild a unique opportunity to identify the genetic basis of adaptation An evolutionary genomic tale of two rice species Comparative sequence analysis of MONOCULM1-orthologous regions in 14 Oryza genomes Dynamic evolution of Oryza genomes is revealed by comparative genomic analysis of a genus-wide vertical data set Spatio-temporal patterns of genome evolution in allotetraploid species of the genus Oryza The rice genome revolution: from an ancient grain to Green Super Rice Precision genome editing heralds rapid de novo domestication for new crops A receptor kinase-like protein encoded by the rice disease resistance gene Deletion in a gene associated with grain size increased yields during rice domestication Two adjacent nucleotide-binding site–leucine-rich repeat class genes are required to confer Pikm-specific rice blast resistance Identification of trait-improving quantitative trait loci alleles from a wild rice relative An integrated physical and genetic map of the rice genome International Rice Genome Sequencing Project & Sasaki A draft sequence of the rice genome (Oryza sativa L A platinum standard pan-genome resource that represents the population structure of Asian rice A route to de novo domestication of wild allotetraploid rice Khush, G. S. in Oryza: From Molecule to Plant (eds Sasaki, T. & Moore, G.) 25–34 (Springer, 1997); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5794-0_3 The International Oryza Map Alignment Project: development of a genus-wide comparative genomics platform to help solve the 9 billion-people question fractionation and the origin of regulatory novelty Potential of platinum standard reference genomes to exploit natural variation in the wild relatives of rice Scaling up neodomestication for climate-ready crops BUSCO: assessing genome assembly and annotation completeness with single-copy orthologs Genome size reduction through illegitimate recombination counteracts genome expansion in Arabidopsis Analyses of LTR-retrotransposon structures reveal recent and rapid genomic DNA loss in rice Comparative genomic paleontology across plant kingdom reveals the dynamics of TE-driven genome evolution The genomes of Oryza sativa: a history of duplications Chromosomal rearrangements in wheat: their types and distribution Repetitive DNA and chromosomal rearrangements: speciation-related events in plant genomes Association between simple sequence repeat-rich chromosome regions and intergenomic translocation breakpoints in natural populations of allopolyploid wild wheats Evolution of Oryza chloroplast genomes promoted adaptation to diverse ecological habitats Multiple origins of BBCC allopolyploid species in the rice genus (Oryza) Evolution and diversity of the wild rice Oryza officinalis complex J.) 1–25 (Springer International Publishing Fast dating using least-squares criteria and algorithms Multilocus estimation of divergence times and ancestral effective population sizes of Oryza species and implications for the rapid diversification of the genus Phylogeny of rice genomes with emphasis on origins of allotetraploid species Origin and phylogeny of Oryza species with the CD genome based on multiple-gene sequence data based on simple sequence repeats and their flanking nucleotide sequences from the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes fractionation and subgenome differences in polyploid plants Biased gene fractionation and dominant gene expression among the subgenomes of Brassica rapa Subgenome dominance in an interspecific hybrid and a 140-year-old naturally established neo-allopolyploid monkeyflower Differentiation of the maize subgenomes by genome dominance and both ancient and ongoing gene loss Homoeolog expression bias and expression level dominance in allopolyploid cotton Genomic mechanisms of climate adaptation in polyploid bioenergy switchgrass Hybrid origins and the earliest stages of diploidization in the highly successful recent polyploid Capsella bursa-pastoris Unbiased subgenome evolution following a recent whole-genome duplication in pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.) and herbicide resistance of Leptochloa chinensis a devastating tetraploid weedy grass in rice fields Karyotype stability and unbiased fractionation in the paleo-allotetraploid Cucurbita genomes Sun, Y. et al. Biased mutations and gene losses underlying diploidization of the tetraploid broomcorn millet genome. Plant J. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.16085 (2023) Draft genome sequence of first monocot-halophytic species Oryza coarctata reveals stress-specific genes Two evolutionarily distinct classes of paleopolyploidy The Oryza Map Alignment Project: the golden path to unlocking the genetic potential of wild rice species Investigations of Plant Genetic Resources in the Amazon Basin with the Emphasis on the Genus Oryza Report of Study Tour 1992/93 (National Institute of Genetics Morishima, H. Reports of the Study-Tours for Investigation of Wild and Cultivated Rice Species. Part II (NBRP, 2002); https://shigen.nig.ac.jp/rice/oryzabase/ricereport/ The International Oryza Map Alignment Project (IOMAP): the Americas—past achievements and future directions Doubling genome size without polyploidization: dynamics of retrotransposition-driven genomic expansions in Oryza australiensis Evolutionary dynamics of an ancient retrotransposon family provides insights into evolution of genome size in the genus Oryza Genomes of 13 domesticated and wild rice relatives highlight genetic conservation turnover and innovation across the genus Oryza Panacus: fast and exact pangenome growth and core size estimation Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data Minimap2: pairwise alignment for nucleotide sequences Predicting genes in single genomes with AUGUSTUS Genome annotation and curation using MAKER and MAKER-P Ab initio gene finding in Drosophila genomic DNA Blast2GO: a comprehensive suite for functional analysis in plant genomics The paleontology of intergene retrotransposons of maize EMBOSS: the European Molecular Biology Open Software Suite A simple method for estimating evolutionary rates of base substitutions through comparative studies of nucleotide sequences Rapid recent growth and divergence of rice nuclear genomes MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput MEGA X: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis across computing platforms Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics (Oxford Univ GENESPACE tracks regions of interest and gene copy number variation across multiple genomes OrthoFinder: phylogenetic orthology inference for comparative genomics MCScanX: a toolkit for detection and evolutionary analysis of gene synteny and collinearity Network-based microsynteny analysis identifies major differences and genomic outliers in mammalian and angiosperm genomes syntenet: an R/Bioconductor package for the inference and analysis of synteny networks MAFFT: a novel method for rapid multiple sequence alignment based on fast Fourier transform trimAl: a tool for automated alignment trimming in large-scale phylogenetic analyses W-IQ-TREE: a fast online phylogenetic tool for maximum likelihood analysis ModelFinder: fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates scalable and user-friendly tool for maximum likelihood phylogenetic inference QMaker: fast and accurate method to estimate empirical models of protein evolution ASTRAL-Pro 2: ultrafast species tree reconstruction from multi-copy gene family trees Fast coalescent-based computation of local branch support from quartet frequencies IQ-TREE 2: new models and efficient methods for phylogenetic inference in the genomic era Whole-genome microsynteny-based phylogeny of angiosperms SynMap2 and SynMap3D: web-based whole-genome synteny browsers PAML 4: phylogenetic analysis by maximum likelihood FractBias: a graphical tool for assessing fractionation bias following polyploidy Fast and sensitive protein alignment using DIAMOND TopHat2: accurate alignment of transcriptomes in the presence of insertions EAGLE: explicit alternative genome likelihood evaluator TPMCalculator: one-step software to quantify mRNA abundance of genomic features Fornasiero, A. alicefornasiero/IOMAP-3: v1.0.0. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14936239 (2025) Fornasiero, A., Zuccolo, A., Schranz, M. E. & Wing, R. A. Oryza genome evolution through a tetraploid lens. figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28622279 (2025) Download references This publication is based on work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) with Baseline Funding and the Bud Antle Endowed Chair in Excellence in Agriculture (University of Arizona) to R.A.W was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) (grant OCENW.KLEIN.419) and the NWO TTW Project (grant P17-19) was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) (grant OCENW.KLEIN.419) Melino to the experimental design for transcriptome analysis and subgenome dominance in O and support from the Ibex computational scientists and system administrators at KAUST Supercomputing Laboratory Ramaiah) members of IRRI’s International Rice Genebank for their >20 years of continuous support and long-term maintenance of the Oryza voucher specimens used in this study Present address: National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC) Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE) King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Laboratoire Génome et Développement des Plantes Marie-Christine Carpentier & Olivier Panaud EMR MANGO Université de Perpignan/CNRS/IRD International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement prepared the tissue samples for genome and transcriptome sequencing with assistance from D.K. provided computational support for data generation and transfer grew and prepared the tissue samples for subgenome dominance analysis in O generated optical maps for genome assembly validation performed genome assembly and validation and gene and TE annotation of the Oryza species with substantial contributions from Y.Z. performed macro- and micro-synteny analysis performed gene fractionation analysis with substantial contributions from M.E.S performed analysis of subgenome dominance in O maintained and provided the germplasm collection of the Oryza tetraploids contributed valuable suggestions to analyses and interpretation of results wrote the paper with substantial contributions from T.F. The other authors declare no competing interests Nature Genetics thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations a) A growth histogram relative to the cumulative number of (sub)genomes on the x-axis is shown for the AA Sequences shared by all (sub)genomes represent the core pangenome (green) partially shared sequences represent the dispensable pangenome (ochre) b) Pangenome visualization of the translocation on chromosome 1 C in O The red arrow points to the chromosomal region corresponding to an unbalanced translocation of a portion of Chr3 on Chr1 (see also panel c) This chromosomal rearrangement is present in O grandiglumis (red box) and absent from the other CC types used to build the CC pangenome (that is O c) The riparian plot shows the synteny between O The red box highlights the duplication and translocation of a portion of Chr3 on Chr1 in O SRA data accession number and GenBank genome ID for the 11 wild Oryza species Reprints and permissions Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02183-5 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology Every passing moment that your contact is still missing can just make it feel more and more urgent that you locate it and get it out No matter what causes your contact lens to suddenly become MIA here’s how to handle the situation like a pro It might seem like your contact just rolled behind your eye and is now swimming back toward your brain “There's a membrane that covers the eye “This membrane goes across the white of the eye and up and under the eyelid creating a pouch all the way around.” This means your contact is trapped somewhere inside that pouch—there’s no way for it to move beyond it Freaking out about a lost contact in your eye can actually lead to some less-than-helpful behavior she’s come across plenty of people whose frantic drive to uncover a lost contact led them to poke or prod their eye so much they wound up causing an abrasion or scratch—much more damage than would have been done if they’d stayed cool (and tried some less invasive strategies like the below) It’s generally safer to flush out than to fish out a lost contact Brissette suggest lubricating the surface of your eye with saline solution or any drops that are sold OTC for dry eye “The moisture will help loosen up [the lens] and move it around The force of the liquid might even get it to come all the way out there can be [microscopic tears or scratches] and microorganisms can get into your eye,” causing an infection And never squirt a contact-lens solution that contains hydrogen peroxide directly into your eye—again any version of rewetting drops or regular ol’ saline is best here If you’re struggling to get the liquid into your eye without blinking it might help to enlist a trusted friend to carefully drop it into the corner of your eye while you look away You can do a little manipulation with your fingers to access and nudge out the lens—but before you put your hands anywhere near your eyes You don’t want to mistakenly transport bacteria right onto your eyeball do your best to assess where you think it is it’s more likely to be under your upper lid because there’s more area and the stronger muscle is more likely to pull the lens up look away from that direction to locate it—so if you think it’s under your upper lid toward the right lift the lid and look down and toward the left A flashlight or phone light can help you spot it because contacts typically have a slight blue tint that can reflect in the light lightly touch it with the tip of your finger and gently drag down and pinch it out,” she says You always want to grab it when it’s over the white part of your eye—not on your colored iris or pupil which will “hurt like crazy if you scratch it,” Dr never use a sharp object like tweezers near your eye It might seem like a good way to get leverage and pluck out the lens but you risk poking your eye or otherwise causing serious damage If you truly have no idea where the thing is you can also just try some gentle massage over your full eyelid to see if you can get it to come down (Touching your lid is always a safer bet than poking around your actual eyeball while searching for it.) She also recommends continually flushing your eye if you’re having trouble as the additional liquid will help it slip around more easily This means flipping your eyelid inside out and it can admittedly be a little challenging to do on your own and pull the lid down and out slightly,” Dr push on the crease of the eyelid with a cotton swab and flip the lid up.” It can feel really uncomfortable so you may want to enlist that trusted friend or loved one for help at this point—just make sure they wash their hands thoroughly before going anywhere near your eyes Recruiting a fellow contact-wearer is even better it can be especially difficult to find,” Dr It can also just be pretty hard to examine your own eye in the mirror because you might be trying to look in a certain direction with the affected eye while using the other to locate the contact—but your eyes of course move in unison your body naturally wants to get that thing out as much as you do Your eye will recognize there’s a foreign object in it and secrete mucus to help push it out as you blink A little patience can go a long way in the meantime The minutes it takes for the contact to make its way toward the front where you can see it may feel like hours If you’ve been flushing and tugging and inverting to no avail call your eye doctor to have them talk you through it Most optometry and ophthalmology offices have people on call for issues like this there’s also usually a doc who can see you on short notice Your provider can carefully examine your eye under a microscope and flip your lid up to safely fish out any contact lens or piece of a lens that might be lurking therein It’s also a good idea to make an appointment with your eye doctor if you thought you flushed out the missing contact but are still having some lingering discomfort That might just be from all the poking and nudging—after all But it’s also possible that a broken-off bit is still lodged somewhere in your eye perhaps in a spot that’s just causing less direct pain it might act as a place for bacteria to gather So if you feel like a piece may be sticking around And if you find yourself dealing with a lost contact on the reg your provider can also help determine if a different type or size lens might be a better fit for you or if it’s worth exploring another kind of vision correction altogether Get more of SELF's great service journalism delivered right to your inbox. Think again—modern zooms are challenging everything we once believed about the best lenses Prime lenses have occupied a revered position for years You might have relied on a fast prime for its crisp rendering and low-light capabilities You might have enjoyed the simplicity of framing with a single focal length or the confidence of knowing your lens was the sharpest thing around Users of 35mm film SLRs held onto the idea that a 50mm prime was a universal standard and many who adopted digital models stayed true to that mindset Camera manufacturers promoted a few legendary primes to cement this idea and influential voices like Adams or Cartier-Bresson preferred fixed focal lengths This gave prime lenses an aura of authenticity as if you were capturing the world with minimal interference from optical trickery These lenses challenge what you think is possible in one package showing that you don’t have to settle for a limited focal range to get good subject isolation or decent low-light results Primes have traditionally been the first stop if you’re seeking stellar image quality You often heard phrases like “a prime will always be sharper than a zoom,” and that was based on real experience from decades back Early zooms had serious trade-offs in sharpness plus they often sported variable apertures that limited their usability in low light and f/2.8 was typically the fastest you could get in a zoom That left primes as the go-to choice for portraits or documentary work while primes often felt much lighter in comparison Another reason for the prime preference was the creative approach that comes with a single focal length You might find that restricting yourself to a 35mm or 85mm lens forces you to move around more and approach subjects with a more disciplined eye There’s also the intangible “prime look,” which often suggests a certain rendering style or bokeh that feels unique to specific lenses Some classic 50mm or 85mm designs became known for signature styles that reinforced the belief primes were the ultimate creative tool Advances in lens design have shifted how we evaluate primes versus zooms Engineers have embraced computer-aided modeling and new manufacturing processes to push zooms into territory once deemed impossible and specialized coatings that reduce flare and ghosting Modern ultrasonic or stepping motors provide quick and advanced stabilization systems allow you to shoot handheld in dim environments Higher-end zooms are sealed against the elements Sigma’s 28-45mm f/1.8 is another example of merging speed and flexibility It’s not as wide-ranging as some competing zooms but it suggests a future in which standard zooms may reach apertures once considered the sole realm of primes Some owners say it matches prime sharpness across its focal range This can be liberating if you’re tired of juggling multiple fixed focal lengths If a zoom matches or exceeds prime-level sharpness you might ask whether the difference in weight or cost is worth it The conversation about sharpness has shifted Certain older prime designs are still legendary but you no longer see as wide a gap in real-world usage Lab tests might show a prime has superior performance but the difference on your screen might not be discernible especially at the sizes we often use images today where a modern zoom can match or even surpass older prime designs Many lens reviewers highlight how well new zooms handle color rendition Aperture speed used to be a major argument for primes If you wanted a bright maximum aperture for creative depth of field or low light That’s changing with f/2 or even f/1.8 zooms You might still find that an f/1.2 prime offers a unique look Sensors handle higher ISOs better than ever and many mirrorless bodies have in-body stabilization You don’t need an ultra-wide aperture to shoot in dim conditions You may have needed multiple bodies with different prime lenses to capture various moments Now it’s more common to see you pick up one zoom that covers multiple focal lengths A single 28-70mm f/2 or 24-105mm f/2.8 can handle group portraits and candid moments without constant lens swaps You reduce your chance of missing a critical shot or exposing your sensor to dust The ability to zoom quickly is essential if you’re capturing fleeting moments Modern cameras let you shoot at higher ISOs so even an f/2.8 lens doesn’t feel like a major compromise Portrait work traditionally relies on prime lenses in the 85mm to 135mm range New zooms with wide apertures and strong optical formulas let you skip carrying separate primes A 50-150mm f/2 can handle close-up and three-quarter shots without switching lenses You can still open up for pleasing subject separation and you can rapidly shift from 50mm to 150mm for different compositions Clean high-ISO performance and improved dynamic range mean you can work at ISO 6,400 or 12,800 with manageable noise Higher resolution sensors can reveal lens flaws so lens designers have stepped up their game You might find that top-tier zooms keep up with these advanced sensors letting you capture fine detail across various focal lengths Mirrorless systems often apply lens-specific optimizations automatically You might see minimal distortion or chromatic aberration in your images even if they exist in the raw optical output This is especially notable in brand-native lenses If you’re using Canon’s RF lenses on a Canon body This means you’re less likely to see the flaws that historically haunted zoom designs Advanced coatings reduce flare and ghosting and other proprietary layers help maintain contrast and color fidelity Older zooms often suffered from veiling glare in bright backlit scenes Modern zooms handle harsh lighting more effectively giving you consistent performance across the entire focal range That’s important if you want to shoot backlit portraits or dramatic sunset scenes Mirrorless systems have spurred a wave of new lens design approaches The shorter flange distance lets manufacturers place rear elements closer to the sensor On-sensor phase detection and improved autofocus algorithms help large-aperture zooms focus quickly Third-party makers like Sigma and Tamron also have stepped up their game We see more frequent lens releases that compete on optical quality Some say primes have a distinct look tied to shallow depth of field or micro-contrast Certain older lenses produced swirl or unique bokeh shapes Modern zooms aim for minimal aberrations and uniform color You can still choose specialized primes if you crave that flair You might prefer a zoom if you’re aiming for clean consistent rendering across different focal lengths Many current zooms can mimic the aesthetic of primes Companies ensure pleasing bokeh along with sharpness and careful mechanical control of vignetting produce images that don’t obviously look like they came from a zoom you might find the differences minor unless you’re pixel-peeping A prime might still have a unique rendering but a zoom’s versatility can outweigh those subtleties Creative constraints once made primes appealing as a training tool Sticking to a single focal length can sharpen your compositional skills because you zoom instead of moving your feet You can still set a zoom to one focal length if you want to practice discipline You can break out of that constraint whenever needed You don’t have to buy a prime solely for skill-building The next five to ten years could bring new lens categories that merge prime and zoom capabilities Materials like carbon fiber or improved plastics could help reduce weight Optical stabilization might advance further letting you shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds Some brands may partner with specialized optics firms to experiment with new element shapes or coatings Improved sensor technology might push designers to create even more advanced zooms Processing might handle distortions in real time so lens makers can focus on sharpness or weight reduction The lines between prime and zoom performance could blur further and optical performance differently than in the past If you seek maximum shallow depth of field or have a particular creative style the modern zoom’s convenience is hard to beat You might ask if prime limitations still enhance your creativity or if that’s more nostalgic than practical You might enjoy a single lens for a street walk but when you’re on a job that demands fast adaptations People now demand efficiency and coverage in fast-paced scenarios That shift is evident in wedding and event spaces  You might still keep primes for certain tasks a wide prime with good coma correction is handy an 85mm f/1.2 might be your signature lens You can then rely on a 24-70mm or 70-200mm for everything else It’s a different mindset than lugging around a bag of primes for every scenario Some people worry that creative disciplines will lose something if primes become less common Iconic photos of the past were made with basic 35mm or 50mm primes shaping how we view certain classic images You might find that limiting yourself fosters a style or you might feel that’s no longer necessary Modern lens engineering has broken old assumptions about zoom compromises you might weigh how many fast zooms are available for weddings A strong zoom lineup is often a deciding factor Autofocus performance is another key factor but now stepping or linear motors deliver quick Large-aperture zooms also have powerful motors to move heavy elements Lens stabilization often pairs with in-body stabilization on many systems letting you handhold at slower shutter speeds If you rely on advanced techniques like pixel shift the consistency of a zoom across its range can simplify your workflow You might not want to swap multiple primes when time is tight Color consistency across one zoom also helps if you’re stitching or matching images You might consider focus breathing as well while new zooms often minimize it for video In sports or wildlife, zooms have been common for a while. You might see top-tier primes like a 400mm f/2.8 used in combination with a second body, but even those are starting to be threatened by lenses like the Canon RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L IS USM The question often comes down to how much you value versatility over a slight optical edge many can’t tell the difference between a zoom and a prime unless you’re shooting at extreme apertures You might still notice minor differences in bokeh or micro-contrast but the convenience of having multiple focal lengths in one lens can outweigh them Some gear enthusiasts still argue that primes have simpler designs that yield better “character.” You might appreciate how an older prime renders color or flare Others find that modern zooms have their own personality or that the differences are negligible in final output You might see practicality as more important particularly if you share images online or print at moderate sizes Some primes remain iconic. Canon’s 85mm f/1.2L is known for dreamy portraits. Nikon’s 105mm f/1.4E has a reputation for bokeh and detail Leica’s M-mount primes have cultural cachet You might still see them in the hands of those seeking a certain aesthetic and more coverage in unpredictable environments You might notice that manufacturers focus heavily on zooms in their new lineups They still release primes to demonstrate optical prowess and for a certain audience but zooms are now often the most heavily marketed You might use one zoom for an entire event especially if they span different manufacturers or series One lens solution often simplifies your workflow letting you focus on content selection or creative grading rather than matching across multiple pieces of glass Some cling to older manual-focus primes for the tactile experience You might enjoy the smooth focus ring or the simplicity of a bare-bones design Others see modern zooms as tools that reduce downtime it’s striking how the old arguments about zoom weaknesses have faded in the face of better motors You could use a prime for a set of controlled portraits then switch to a zoom for behind-the-scenes coverage It’s a way to get a consistent style for one portion of a shoot and a more flexible approach for the unpredictable parts where you have a concept but also want spontaneous moments Large-aperture zooms raise questions about future limits You might see bigger front elements to let in more light plus internal focusing groups that maintain constant lens length but the performance might rival primes at shared apertures It's reasonable to wonder where classic focal lengths like a 50mm f/1.4 or 35mm f/2 fit in today’s market They’re still available and often more affordable than huge-aperture zooms You might keep one for personal work or specialized sessions But if you need wide and mid-range coverage on a busy assignment The rise of mirrorless video has accelerated this zoom trend Zooming in real time during a take can be vital for interviews or run-and-gun filmmaking You can mount your camera on a gimbal and not have to rebalance every time you change lenses You get in-lens stabilization stacking with your camera’s sensor stabilization for steady footage That makes a zoom at f/2.8 more viable in low light You can shoot at slower shutter speeds without blurring your subject That helps close the gap in low-light scenarios where primes used to have a big advantage It also creates new creative possibilities if you enjoy handheld shooting in dim conditions Some predict primes will evolve into more specialized artistic tools Manufacturers might produce lenses that emphasize character over technical perfection though the current prevailing standard seems to be clinical sharpness That path would let primes stand out for their distinctive rendering zooms would continue as the mainstream option You might own a vintage prime for when you want a unique look and a cutting-edge zoom for day-to-day needs Primes remain for those who crave a certain look or extreme apertures but if you seek a versatile package that covers a wide focal range You can keep a prime or two for special scenarios while relying on a do-it-all zoom for the bulk of your projects I feel we are in one of the most exciting times for optics and this is just a testament to that I don't think primes will be going away or be replaced by zooms but I think we as photographers are headed into an era where there aren't any bad choices which is super exciting but now every lens that comes out is a banger Zoom lenes are getting closer to the speed of primes but wiil never achieve the feeling of having that one Lens every photographer needs to have and use for 100% of there creativity And the 1.4 were super soft anything below F2 So pro 2.8 zooms were already sharing the prime aperture F2.8 and now F2 zooms are excellent and you don't need primes to get corner to corner sharpness anymore primes also evolved and also shifted to high quality corner to corner F1.4 and F1.2 lenses Sometimes stopping down doesn't add significant sharpness And no zoom will come close to the rendering of a modern 35 F1.2 or 105 F1.4 but mostly because it would be totally impractical and too expensive Prime lenses become more relivent as the super high price of new fast zooms make a cheeper big aparure prime very importamt for many photographers I look at the new Sony 50-150mm f/2 GM lens Adding an 85mm or 100mm GM lens would take me above $4000 total to cover the range in primes and the weight of these lenses would exceed that of the zoom but I do see the attraction of having a single zoom with incredible IQ cover such a broad range Honestly i haven't seen any objectively terrible modern lenses from any brand It's crazy how even modern kit lenses are just as sharp and capable as older flagship lenses Nikon's $1000 14-24 F4 z is leagues sharper than my F Mount $2400 14-24mm f2.8 it's crazy how much better images are with the Z mount lens I wish lens makers would at least provide some OIS in their f/1.8 zooms the pro grade zooms are getting better but I love my EF50L The Sigma 35L and 16-35/2.8LIII also standout in their performance the 70-200/2.8 is a bit heavy to carry all day but the EF MarkII was a great lens compared to the original I'm pretty much a 50/50 guy as the situation dictates Making an argument repetitively with too many words is not convincing ultimate rendering will always favor a quality prime and convenience restricted access / framing will always favor a zoom What's become mostly irrelevant in modern optics is sharpness All quality lenses are sharp when used properly I don’t know one portrait photographer who thinks “I need more focal lengths” You can write a book about the clinical perfection of all these zooms and it won’t move the needle a bit People will see a great portrait and say “what lens is that” If you take action pics in dim light you need more than an f2 or 1.8 Even musicians in pubs show lots of motion blur at 1.2 or 1.4 unless you use high ISOs I don't want to use an ISO higher than I need to in dim lighting just to save carrying an extra lens or two But motion blur and F-aperture are not completely related Only that you might mean that you have to set your shutter-speed slower to gain more light and/or turn up the iso might be introduced by shooting with the full-aperture open and the low-depth of field Most lenses are sharper when you stop-down especially when your using your lens at the end of it's ability The article is just citing that with the newer zoom technology you may not have the concerns about stopping down or as high of ISOs The F/2 lenses are meant to be sharp at f/2 where as some of our older lenses were sharpest at f/4 or even f/8 I've been doing this since the early 80s so I think I know the difference between motion blur and lack of depth of field But modern F1.2 primes are tack sharp at F1.2 the difference in rendering and application stays the same it even got more significant: clinical sharpness wide open at F1.2 or F1.2 gives you a pop that will never be possible with a 28-70 F2 or 70-200 F2.8 zoom a F1.2 or even F1.4 had "a nice glow and soft rendering" for portraits People are buying filters to make their images less sharp some Chinese brands took over that domain and people call them "character lenses" But you're not paying premium prices like you did 20 years ago - more like just 10-20% I guess it's all in what you want in your photography back in the day people didn't digitally edit their photos Now if you want to add a vignette you add a vignette I don't really want that in a lens today 'naturally' I know there are still people that still feel they need to live without 'Edits' Everything is just more expensive after the pandemic Generally it's always got too many zeros after it What is a filter that makes your pictures less sharp they are often programmed to over-sharpen their jpeg shots plus you will see a lot post-editing over-sharpened in photography People taking snaps didn't edit their photos but pros spend significant amount of time in the darkroom My point about the premium prices is that the cheap lenses of today offer the quality or maximum aperture of premium lenses of 20-30 years ago And they need to invest in marketing to keep people buying their cameras & lenses even when they already have a $1000 smartphone.. but must admit I have a 24-70 f/2.8 which is fabulous But there's something about a small manual focus metal helicoidal prime I can't resist but the 24-70 2.8 is the lens I grab when I need instant flexibility I believe that we are witnessing the most unexciting period for photography gear No offense to the writer or to the article itself but this discussion just resumes my problems with lens manufacturing in 2025: Lens designers are busy making zooms to compete with a prime's rendering all while making primes to compete with zooms in precision and functionality An aperture of F2 or F1.8 does not imply a boost in rendering A zoom lens may as well be F1 yet render flat images There was a time when zooms did what they were expected to do: focus fast fulfill a certain zoom range all while delivering sharp yet usually clinical images were just a few lens elements strong and produced natural vibrant images that came out magical right out of the box most primes have been overengineered to the point that they've been sterilized of any attribute All primes are basically razor-sharp yet flat It's great that we are getting these fast zooms but I figure most people have no need for them nor the budget to afford them So much effort is being put into producing these lenses that cost almost as much as a used car it seems everyone is focused on what they can do rather than what they should do And while these lenses are great for the 5% of photographers who will need or buy them most of us would be happier with a good 200$ 35mm f2 with great rendering attributes The only companies that seem to still care about that are Voigtländer Leica (my kidney just cried) and possibly Nikon (thinking of their recent F1.4 primes) there has never been more need than today for good and magical primes that would create a breach within the oversaturated market of clinical To say that Adams and Cartier-Bresson didn’t use zoom lenses is almost as dumb as saying that Washington never ate at McDonalds I’m guessing that this writer’s favorite subject in school was recess that was my time of day to explore the local woodland on school grounds Wow a 22 second zoom and pan in a 2 hour plus movie or is there more Gee then why did the movie industry develop the dolly zoom technique Sorry Mark I was trying to reply to Tony Cerbino's comment he made to you Photographic zoom lenses go back to 1902 (google "Clile C And how did I already know you were going to bring up "Vertigo" and yes I am not going to refute what you are saying about it But a simpler version of a dolly zoom can be done on a tripod tipping the tripod to of fro while using the pan head fix on the main subject The attached screen capture illustrates the comment string I was commenting to here Which has all but disappeared / been deleted or lost in cyber space what ever is a bunch of crap If you don't need blazing-fast auto-focus and you use µ4/3rds Olympus had a couple incredible ƒ/2 zooms well over a dozen years ago They are outstanding in low-light situations And they work great with the EC-14 and EC-20 tele-extenders f/2 on MFT is basically f/4 on full frame if you take the worse ISO performance of MFT into account Light transmission is not defined by the sensor size (it does multiple it though An f2 lens is an f2 lens on any format (yes DoF changes but not because of the sensor size but perspective) If you don't know/understand this then Google is your friend Totally agree that the versatility and speed of modern zooms can reduce or eliminate the need for primes - particularly if you're considering moving from APS-C where a full-frame f/2 equivalent is effectively the limit of APS-C primes most pros will still carry a second camera body - and with a well defined workflow you can cover necessary focal ranges with greater speed and less weight with a pair of primes I imagine most users of the 35-150 still pair with a 24mm 1.4 I thing you are real close to hitting the nail on the head Maybe the problem with zoom lenses is they are attempting to exceed the physics of what light is capable of passing through modern designed optics Simple optics of 100 year achieve perfectly fine primes Look at a view camera yah yah the old fashion type or should that be hype These consist of a lens board (yes with lens "prime") a film holder and a light proof flexible bellows Simple perfection and the best cameras ever and still it's the way the are focused in the simplest explanation through moving the distance between the lens and the film without obstructions or impedance of light flowing through a lens to the film Generally speaking primes have always been good how do you know the zoom is so good when the image/light that hits the camera/virtual computer is [ed] ultra processed before it's written to the memory card The article is correct if you are rich and wanna carry around HUGE amounts of weight Primes will ALWAYS be lighter / smaller /cheaper / faster - and - with "high" megapixel cameras (plus better and better software) cropping to zoom has never been better Especially as more and more people look at images on small displays So the exact OPPOSITE article could easily be written I think the evolution of lens selection is not primarily users switching from primes to zooms but the push of some of the major lens makers moving to sell power zoom lenses The video/hybrid market is booming where everyone seems want to shoot their video with a power zoom lens To those users (which are growing in number) do not want the limitation of a single focal length when capturing video and not want the clumsiness of manually adjusting focal length with a standard zoom while shooting video I'm wondering if the quality of the glass of many of the power zooms will be compromised to keep prices under control I mean - these top of the range zooms are great I can have a whole setup of a camera and decent set of small third party primes built for a price of one great lens You do you - but for me primes are relevant as ever And as a final word - primes always made my vision work better and really had to shoot primes for good quality Now I can get simply excellent quality from many different zooms most of which are better than yesterday's primes And what used to take *hours,* like processing Cibachrome to get a color print The quality of modern zooms is really excellent In general at this point I don’t think there is any real danger of zooms replacing high end primes While they have definitely narrowed the gap significantly I think the only primes they have truely encroached on are the f1.8-2.8 area With that said thou I don't think for the most part that range is really competing with them since those tend to be mostly the "budget" primes and that significant difference in the price point doesn't really put them in same market most of the time So when we get to the area of f1.2-1.4 primes it doesn't really change anything it instead just allows for better versatility If you needed the capabilities of a f1.2-1.4 whether that be for DoF or low light you are still going to buy those The change is when you are in the edge cases where you need the strengths of both types of lens Now you have better options for that and less often have to choose between trading versatility for low light capability while it is possible for zooms to push into the area of f1.2-1.4 primes it's currently impractical for size That could change in the future with advancements But in all likelyhood even if they over come those challenges there will be significant enough size weight and price differences that will keep primes preferable for a sizable market On a sidenote I think we are approaching a point where the companies may decide that closing the gap between high-end primes and zooms more isn't in their best interests from a buisness point of view and instead will more likely look to improve the current designs and maybe expand lineups All 5 Releases We are delighted to introduce the new AWS Well-Architected Generative AI Lens. The AWS Well-Architected Framework provides architectural best practices for designing and operating generative AI workloads on AWS The Generative AI Lens uses the Well-Architected Framework to outline the steps for performing a Well-Architected Framework Review for your generative AI workloads The Generative AI Lens provides a consistent approach for customers to evaluate architectures that use large language models (LLMs) to achieve their business goals This lens addresses common considerations relevant to model selection Specifically excluded from this lens are best practices associated with model training and advanced model customization techniques We identify best practices that help you architect your cloud-based applications and workloads according to AWS Well-Architected design principles gathered from supporting thousands of customer implementations The Generative AI Lens joins a collection of Well-Architected lenses published under AWS Well-Architected Lenses The Well-Architected Generative AI Lens focuses on the six pillars of the Well-Architected Framework across six phases of the generative AI lifecycle an iterative approach is required to achieve a working prototype based on the six phases of the generative AI lifecycle The lens provides you with a set of established cloud-agnostic best practices in the form of Well-Architected Framework pillars for each generative AI lifecycle phase You can also use the Well-Architected Generative AI Lens wherever you are on your cloud journey You can choose to apply this guidance either during the design of your generative AI workloads or after your workloads have entered production as a part of the continuous improvement process The Generative AI Lens also discusses the following key topics: The Generative AI Lens is of use to many roles Business leaders can use this lens to acquire a broader appreciation of the end-to-end implementation and benefits of generative AI Data scientists and engineers can read this lens to understand how to use and gain insights from their data at scale Risk and compliance leaders can understand how generative AI is implemented responsibly by providing compliance with regulatory and governance requirements The new Well-Architected Generative AI Lens is available now Use the lens to make sure that your generative AI workloads are architected with operational excellence If you require support on the implementation or assessment of your generative AI workloads please contact your AWS Solutions Architect or Account Representative Special thanks to everyone across the AWS Solution Architecture and Machine Learning communities who contributed to the Generative AI Lens These contributions encompassed diverse perspectives and experiences in developing the new AWS Well-Architected Generative AI Lens Dan Ferguson is a Solutions Architect at AWS Dan works to support customers on their journey to integrating ML workflows efficiently Steven is a Principal Solution Architect supporting AWS Automotive and Manufacturing customers he enjoys inventing new solutions with the latest technology Haleh is a Senior Solutions Architecture Manager She has over 20 years of experience in applying scientific techniques to challenging industrial problems while sharing technology best practices enabling customers with architecting and implementing solutions at scale and can be frequently found ranting about the irrationality of markets and humans In his spare time he puts together pretty slides to help bring a little more excitement to the drably decorated business world and help them move faster and more intelligently as part of the second annual LENS Wild Child Triathlon—a celebration of fitness fun and community spirit hosted by the Isle of Palms Law Enforcement Neighborhood Support (LENS) Foundation Set against a backdrop of sunshine and sea breeze the triathlon featured age-appropriate swimming biking and running segments throughout the resort’s scenic core Wild Dunes Resort and generous community members the event highlighted the power of collaboration and the island’s commitment to youth wellness and safety and the smiles on the kids’ faces made it worth getting up early on a Sunday!” said Isle of Palms Mayor Phillip Pounds “This is a great community event where almost 100 kids participated—which means at least another 100-plus parents bringing their children—and countless organizers and volunteers that made this second annual Wild Child event another success!” the Wild Child Triathlon is one of several LENS-led initiatives designed to promote education Other programs hosted throughout the year include water and boating safety days and hands-on crabbing and fishing events—all with the goal of strengthening the bond between residents and local first responders “This event is about more than just the finish line,” said Carolyn Foti empowering moments for kids and reminding us all how special our community is when we come together.” While some participants pushed for a personal best every child was met with applause and encouragement overheard a group of girls pedaling side by side during the biking leg one boy who missed a turn and detoured into a driveway laughed it off by announcing “I’m not that great at turns!” From training wheels to finish-line sprints every moment underscored the day’s playful A special thank-you goes to the Isle of Palms Police Department which helped keep the course secure and the kids safe as they swam Brought to you by MyLo Agency Update: A community vigil planned for Thursday to remember Lens Arthur Joseph, the 5-year-old who died on Washington Street on Monday, has been postponed. However, there is now a GoFundMe page to help the family Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution By necturus Wed but the headline makes it seem as though the bus killed the vigil By Username Unknown Wed By Friartuck Wed By BPlusPlayer Wed I don’t believe the vigil is happening anymore https://gofund.me/b0d7cab2 By adamg Wed I don’t know how this could be allowed to happen If you like what we're up to and want to help out please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution Copyright by Adam Gaffin and by content posters.Advertise | About Universal Hub | Contact | Privacy It was a weekend of records at the Kentucky Horse Park as Germany's Michael Jung won his fifth Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L aboard fischerChipmunk FRH We were on site to capture all of the action Check out some of our favorite photos below A pre-purchase examination (PPE) is big part of investing in a new eventing partner but there are so many options and add-ons that can be done in a PPE that the process can feel a bit daunting USEA Podcast Host Nicole Brown sat down with equine veterinarian and USEA Board of Governors member Dr and more in this week's episode of the USEA Podcast This episode is a great one if you anticipate you will be in the market for a new horse soon Amidst the unbridled enthusiasm of the USEA Intercollegiate teams competing in this weekend’s USEA Intercollegiate & Interscholastic Eventing Championships at Stable View (Aiken the Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) riders have held their own with displays of teamwork and horsemanship all weekend long While all teams put their best foot forward The Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club came into the weekend with one goal in mind—to win They achieved that goal by such a large margin that they were able to claim the title of champions before their last rider The University of Kentucky has claimed top honors at the 2025 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship they not only secured the title of “School with the Largest Presence” once again but also rode away with their second national championship title the Kentucky Wildcats (made up of Callia Englund,Sarah Ertl and Emerson Padgett) dominated the championship finishing 11 points ahead of second place with a total score of 77.76 and Olive Dumais have been riding together for more than two years through their membership in the Iron Bridge Hounds Pony Club the teenagers have tackled Pony Club rallies the intimidating Pony Club tradition of Quiz they’re tackling one of their biggest obstacles yet—the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) Championship Official Joint Therapy Treatment of the USEA Official Competition & Training Apparel of the USEA was the epitome of how Doc Watson described the festival he and his wife Rosa Lee founded in 1988 to honor their son Merle — “traditional plus.” To make it even more inviting as the predicted rain was replaced by cool mornings As noted in this column’s preview it seemed like there were more performers on the “plus” side of the equation than usual there was plenty of the traditional to satisfy even the most discerning of MerleFest veteran fans Also of note is during my previous 25 years of attending this fest I have always heard some grumbling about this or that as festival goers seemed to listen even more intently It was most gratifying that three of the most talked about performers were the three “do not miss” acts highlighted in that preview — Tami Neilson to be packed so closely in time before Friday night’s headliners made it a night to savor for a very long time Neilson told me that MerleFest was on her bucket list and this was her last show before heading back to New Zealand her set began immediately after the dinner break and before the crowd filtered back in But that did not dampen Neilson and her band’s spirit; they came out of the gate full of fire As MerleFest’s top notch sound system spread her passionate fervor all the way back to the food tent fans returned at a record pace to see what the fuss was all about when she did “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray” (which she had performed at a Patsy Cline tribute at the Ryman) the evening crowd had pretty much returned in full and gave her a roaring ovation Neilson’s second and final set was at the Dance Tent where I found folks were not doing that much dancing; they were transfixed by an even more energetic During both sets Neilson featured Clover-Lynn She’s been described as hillbilly-gothic and is the banjoist in Clover-Lynn and The Hellfires Right before The War & Treaty appeared on the Watson Stage (the fest’s main stage) one audience member confided to me that she did not care all that much for soul music I countered with a plea to try to listen to the music of the soul the Trotters’ music is rooted in this style In what seems to a sea of cynical media voices whose aim is to divide us they are the personification of the commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”  But one need not be a subscriber of any specific religion to be moved by The War & Treaty’s emotional messages in their music that audience member made point to tell me her initial thoughts were misguided the most ferocious act I have ever seen at MerleFest: Stephen Wilson Jr who just the day before had performed the “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay menacingly defied any expectations they might have had This singular performance capped off a three-set night for the ages None of the above is to take away from the marvelous sets I heard from Alison Brown the young Irish blues phenom Mulreann Bradley and others whose sets I most thoroughly enjoyed Editor’s Note: Photos of Bonnie Raitt and The War & Treaty are not included in the gallery as those images had not received clearance by press time Click on any photo to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow FRESH TRACK: Steve Bardwil Band – “Send ‘Em Love”Check it outSPONSORED BY Steve Bardwil Band VFX artist Rob Dickinson (Decoded) has released Lens Cap for Blender a handy free add-on that adds new features to the open-source 3D app’s camera system It makes it possible to properly playblast scenes in which objects are keyframed to appear or disappear rather than having to do a final render to test the effect for quickly adding depth of field effects to shots Users can set the focal point to the 3D Cursor making it possible to position focus simply by clicking in the 3D Viewport: in the video above you can see it in use to create a quick focus pull displays all of the cameras in a scene in one place in the interface It mimics the auto-focus system of a camera or a manual focus pull automatically refocusing the viewport render on the object at the center of the view Users can control how quickly focus changes and can bake the focus keyframes for final-quality rendering New version of the veteran graphics benchmark for testing workstations reflects recent changes to CG software and industry pipelines Free set of Photoshop scripts convert high-res planetary textures to UDIMs for use in VFX and animation Decoded's frustration-saving add-on adds new features to Blender's camera system now including a new auto-focus system for renders Big update to the effects plugins for video editing and compositing apps adds AI matte generation and GPU acceleration on AMD hardware Check out the new features in the lightweight 3D modeling software and its Unreal Engine-based real-time renderer Free VR sketching and concept art tool now lets you create designs collaboratively with other artists CG Channel is part of the Gnomon group of companies We use cookies to improve your site visit. Find out more Racial inequality exacerbates the contemporary effects of climate change The climate crisis is a racial justice issue Haitian migrants are disproportionately being targeted for deportation back to Haiti despite the dire situation in the country and even the more expansive definition offered by the Cartagena Declaration fails to adequately protect migrants who are dispossessed or displaced by the global ecological crisis or citizens of the Global South who have been forced to flee their countries of origin due to global economic inequality The communities most impacted by climate harms should be playing a central role in defining what climate and racial justice entail and how international and regional migration governance regimes can better respond to our climate reality Given the urgency of the global ecological crisis and its disproportionate impacts on racialized groups S. Priya Morley is the director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights and the project advisor of the Global Justice Clinic at NYU School of Law. She recently co-authored Bay Kou Bliye, Pote Mak Sonje: Climate Injustice in Haiti and the Case for Reparations published by the Global Justice Clinic at NYU School of Law and The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law Canon today announced the lightweight and affordable RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 telephoto lens the new RF zoom lens shares much in common with the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III lens released way back in April 1999 Looking at the RF 75-300mm’s specs unveils a lot of familiar numbers Like the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III released in 1999 the new zoom features 13 lens elements arranged across nine groups and a seven-bladed aperture diaphragm The new lens also features the same 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) minimum focusing distance resulting in a max magnification of 0.25 times And like the standard EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III released in 1999 the new RF lens also uses a DC motor to drive its focus The EF lens was also released in an accompanying USM version in 1999 The four-times zoom lens is designed for beginner photographers looking to increase their telephoto reach beyond a standard kit lens, like the RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 lens that ships in a kit with the Canon EOS R100 APS-C mirrorless camera Canon positions its new RF 75-300mm lens as a companion for an APS-C camera as the telephoto zoom lens does offer full-frame coverage the 75-300mm delivers a roughly 120-480mm focal length thanks to the crop factor The new zoom may also appeal to full-frame photographers on a budget, as Canon’s current full-frame zoom lenses for RF mount are designed more for enthusiasts and pros. Canon’s other affordable telephoto zoom lens, the RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM is only for APS-C cameras and a slower maximum aperture at both ends of the lens Canon’s RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM lens is also a potential competitor although the $650 lens is fairly long (165 millimeters / 6.5 inches) and heavy (635 grams / 1.4 pounds) The RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens is 146 millimeters (5.8 inches) at its shortest — it extends when zooming — and weighs 507 grams (17.9 ounces) The RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 accepts 58mm filters Although Canon has given existing EF lenses RF versions through a mount swap before, including the RF 400mm f/2.8 L and RF 600mm f/4 L telephoto prime lenses in 2021 those were still relatively new optical designs at the time — the EF versions were released in 2018 as much has changed in terms of optical technology in the past 26 years The primary goal here is for Canon to fill a void in its RF lineup by utilizing an existing lens design while simultaneously offering photographers a very affordable telephoto zoom lens to use with their entry-level Canon mirrorless cameras the RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 may very well succeed The news today arrives via Canon’s global operations, not Canon USA. While the lens will come to the U.S. market at some point, pricing and availability are not yet available. Wex Photo and Video in the United Kingdom has the new RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens listed for £289 this currency conversion should not be given much weight The Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III for DSLR cameras retails for $199 Professional telephoto lenses made specifically for wildlife and sports tend to be the most expensive money can buy What if I told you that Sigma made a lens that delivers the same f/4 aperture combined with a more versatile zoom range but is also only $6,000 substantially less money than the competition Yet this is exactly what Sigma has done with its new 300-600mm f/4 DG OS Sports this lens must have some serious compromises The Sigma 300-600mm f/4 certainly looks and feels like a serious professional telephoto lens It sports (no pun intended) an all-white paint job to reduce unnecessary heating of the internal elements and the chassis is fully weather-sealed There is a focus limiter and a tripod collar that can be set for click-stop 90-degree detents or smooth rotation if desired The carbon fiber hood does a great job of protecting the front of the lens and there is a 40.5mm drop-in filter option if you need it I would easily put the build quality of this new Sigma up against any 600mm f/4 telephoto from the likes of Sony A wildlife and sports lens also has to focus quickly and the 300-600mm has no issues thanks to its powerful HLA linear motors The subject detection modes on the Sony a7R V that I used had zero issues but Sony will limit you to a maximum of 15 frames per second in burst mode and that is the overall weight of the Sigma 300-600mm lens the Sigma is substantially heavier than any of the 600mm f/4 lenses from the other major manufacturers Holding the lens by hand is incredibly taxing and a monopod is more necessary for this lens than for any of the other brands let’s not forget that the Sigma 300-600mm is a zoom and therefore acts as multiple lenses in one Having a zoom lens for photographing animals is extremely useful when a quick composition change is needed or if you find yourself slightly out of position to photograph your target I think the overall weight is a reasonable compromise given the extra versatility Can the Sigma 300-600mm f/4 compete when it comes to overall image quality The first thing I tested was the lens’s resistance to flare Contrast seems well maintained when shooting toward the sun without the hood on but I did notice some minor ghosting in the opposite corner and the ghosting gets fairly serious with a large green washed-out area prevalent across the frame I would make sure to always use the lens hood anytime I have this lens out and about which is important given how often the background will be reduced to a soft blur on this lens Specular highlights have a touch of soap-bubble effect but are otherwise quite clean There is a little harshness to the out-of-focus areas although this is really only noticeable compared to the fixed 600mm lenses that the Sigma competes against the prime 600mm lenses have absolutely sublime-looking bokeh but this is largely thanks to the exorbitant pricing they come with What certainly impressed me was the level of detail and sharpness that the Sigma could deliver Regardless of whether you shoot at f/4 or stopped down the 300-600mm has the resolving power it needs This makes the entire lens useful because there is no point in its range that you would want to avoid using for any reason I think most professional wildlife and sports shooters would be impressed with the wide-open performance of the Sigma 300-600mm versus any of the available prime alternatives The only thing that might give prospective buyers pause is related to which lens mount you buy the lens for Sony E-mount users will find the lens limited to 15 FPS (frames per second) burst rates You can still have full continuous tracking autofocus and 15 FPS is enough for most photographers there is also no option available to use the Sigma 300-600mm with E-mount teleconverters and this might be the biggest downside to owning this lens When it comes to L-mount, you can use teleconverters and there is no fps limitation, but I would argue that the Leica and Panasonic cameras that you would use with the Sigma aren’t the most ideal tool for sports and wildlife photography Cameras such as the Lumix S1R II can certainly be used for some work but I find that the E-Mount options are far more reliable when it comes to the precise autofocus required for this kind of photography I wish you could get the Sigma 300-600mm for Nikon and Canon mounts this is not an option as neither company allows Sigma to make lenses for its full-frame cameras For similar performance without the same versatility the Sony 600mm f/4 G Master is an excellent but vastly more expensive alternative This incredible value is the true beauty of the Sigma 300-600mm lens You could also look at the slower but more affordable Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 but you sacrifice the constant and brighter aperture Sigma brings to the table There are no real alternatives in L-mount making it pretty much a no-brainer there All the performance with very little compromise for way less money Any serious wildlife or action photographer should take a hard look at the Sigma 300-600mm before deciding on their next telephoto purchase I’ve had this thing in my hands for more than a month and have used it on multiple sessions now and—spoiler alert—this is one of the best and most affordable 35mm lenses for Sony please keep in mind that all my findings and opinions of this lens are based on a pre-production model Physically, the lens feels really solid—way more premium than I expected. It’s not tiny by any means, but considering it's an f/1.2, it’s manageable and well-balanced on my camera. Compared to my Sony 35mm f/1.4 CZ, the 35mm f/1.2 heavier this lens offers everything you've come to expect from a modern mirrorless camera The only thing really missing is the locking switch for the aperture ring And then one thing it has that most lenses don't have is the little LCD screen that displays focus distances and the aperture setting And you need this little screen to tell you the aperture setting because the lens itself doesn't have any aperture markings That's because the aperture ring infinitely rotates in both directions So you have to either look at the LCD screen or the screen on your camera to know what setting you are at and how that setting is changing And this is actually one of my only—and biggest—things I don't like about the lens Not only does this setup not allow you to make changes while the camera is turned off but this ring also is not very precise in the way it functions just a slight pressure with no click could potentially change the aperture to f/1.3 the lens sometimes takes one click to make an aperture adjustment And I can't decipher any rhyme or reason why one click wouldn’t always equate to one aperture adjustment you can throw the ring into A in order to have the lens give up control to the camera you could easily bump the ring back into manual control on the lens Another drawback here is that any time you turn the camera off and back on Not only does this mean you have to reset your aperture setting every time you turn the camera on or off but you also have to make a huge ring adjustment to get the lens back into the A setting every single time The last thing I want to talk about in terms of build elements is the two Fn buttons These buttons come with some cool added functionality but also don't give you some functionality you might expect through a simple setup process on the lens let you set an Fn button to cycle through preset focus distances you can continue to move from one focus point to another and back and forth you can focus on the stars and then quickly change to a foreground element without moving your camera or focus points around Or you can focus on the bride and then move to the groom—all with the simple press of a button on the lens my Sony cameras only recognize one of the buttons for programming custom functions And while you may be able to set up other functionality with the Viltrox app the lens was not supported by the app just yet The Viltrox 35mm f/1.2 is part of the LAB series of lenses which places it in the highest quality category for the company it's as good as or better than some Sony native glass this sharpness is at the center and goes all the way to the corners I’d be more than willing to place a subject up into the top corner and remain confident that the subject will be sharp with plenty of contrast But if you are someone who doesn't like a good vignette you may need to stop down for the best image quality I found that the distortion was handled very well Even looking at an untouched raw file (there is no in-camera correction and no Lightroom lens correction at the time of the article) I feel like manufacturers are beginning to rely too heavily on post-production lens corrections So it’s nice to see that this lens handles things pretty well out of the gate and you only see a little bit of cat’s-eye bokeh along the corners and edges at f/1.2 But this cleans up pretty quickly around f/2 And this lens delivers while also maintaining a good amount of contrast when it's there and it cleans up fast going to f/1.4 and then even more at around f/2 More affordable than other f/1.2 offerings and even more affordable than f/1.4 offerings Size and weight for an f/1.2 lens is very nice and manageable I wish I could program both custom buttons in the camera While there are some quirks and things I don't really love about this lens, it is still the best and most affordable 35mm f/1.2 lens available for Sony E-mount The size and weight are more than acceptable and the optical performance goes from good to amazing Jason Vinson is a wedding and portrait photographer for Vinson Images based out of Bentonville Ranked one of the Top 100 Wedding photographers in the World he has a passion for educating and sharing his craft There are significantly cheaper 35mm f1.4 lenses Lyon’s hopes of securing a top-four finish suffered a setback as they were defeated 2-1 at home by Lens on Sunday Paulo Fonseca’s side remain in seventh place outside the European spots but just three points behind fourth-placed Nice who is serving a nine-month ban for confronting a referee “We’ll try to win our next two matches to see where we can get to knowing that we have the possibility of getting to where we want to be but depending on others.” Lens took the lead in the 25th minute through Goduine Koyalipou capitalising on Lyon’s failure to clear a corner Lyon struggled to break down the visitors’ defence until Georges Mikautadze found the net with a powerful header from Clinton Mata’s cross with 11 minutes to go Mikautadze now has 17 goals and 11 assists in all competitions this season despite not always being in the starting lineup However, Lyon’s hopes of salvaging a point were dashed when Lens substitute Anass Zaroury unleashed a stunning long-range shot into the top corner in the 85th minute Le Havre boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 victory over Auxerre Gabonese forward Jim Allevinah scored the only goal to give Angers a vital 1-0 win over Nantes a former close associate of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and a notable… Belgian startup is developing an intelligent vision platform that combines contact lenses with adaptive optics and sensors Smart vision correctionAzalea Vision a spin-out from imec and Ghent University in Belgium says it has raised €9 million in a first tranche of funding aimed at further developing what it calls an “intelligent connected vision platform” which is hoping to raise a further €6 million in its series A effort wants to integrate adaptive optics and advanced sensing technology within contact lenses making it possible to combine vision correction with communication to smart phones or watches The financial backing comes a few months after Azalea completed the first on-eye test of its “ALMA” lens which was worn by company CTO and co-founder Andrés Vásquez Quintero (see video below) ALMA is designed to offer a non-surgical solution for patients suffering from keratoconus (thinning of the cornea) and presbyopia (age-related long-sightedness) The design includes an embedded diaphragm whose aperture can be modulated to filter the amount of light which enters the eye According to earlier work published by the imec-Ghent team in 2020 the lens features a guest-host liquid crystal display architecture that actively modifies both the transmittance of the contact lens and the effective pupil size - leading to both light adaptation and expanded depth-of-focus capabilities Last month Azalea revealed that it had won a European Innovation Council (EIC) grant worth €2.5 million that would see the firm collaborate with researchers in Spain to integrate graphene-based electrodes within the smart lens He noted that prior investors SPRIM Global Investments and Afrimobility had provided more support alongside an undisclosed “strategic investor” Azalea has also appointed veteran ophthalmology executive Robert J with Vega remarking on the deep sector expertise and strong industry relationships that Dempsey will bring to the firm The startup will be using its new funding to support the execution of a so-called “first-in-human” pilot clinical trial a key milestone required to establish the safety and performance of the smart lenses “The goal is to receive Investigational Device Exemption approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and further advance commercialization efforts,” announced Azalea “The company’s platform integrates stretchable electronics all engineered into a lens-embedded system “This foundation enables Azalea to deliver medical-grade smart lenses that sense and connect in real time - scaling from vision correction to biosensing Azalea’s scientific advisory board includes Susana Marcos director of the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester in New York as well as a professor of ophthalmology at the Flaum Eye Institute and the Nicholas Professor of Optics at the same institute.