A digest of last week’s news is a selection of some of the news from week 18 from 2016 related to the worlds of photography and video, covering multiple topics, always rounded up with a reading suggestion.

Canon patent for an anamorphic lens

Canon filled an optical patent for a new lens to join their Cinema EOS family. The  new 37.5-100mm f/3.3 lens is an anamorphic lens, a special type of lens that affects how images get projected onto the camera sensor.  Anamorphic lenses were primarily created so that a wider range of aspect ratios could fit within a standard film frame, but since then, cinematographers have become accustomed to their unique look. The patent for the new lens was published by Egami – as usual. To know more about anamorphic lens read the article at Red.

Iridient Developer 3.1 launched

Iridient Digital launched the version 3.1 of Iridient Developer, a powerful RAW image conversion application designed and optimized specifically for Mac OS X. Iridient Developer gives advanced photographers total control over their digital photographs, yet still provides easy drag and drop batch conversion and access to basic adjustments for the casual user. Iridient Developer supports RAW image formats from over 620 digital camera models. If you’re a Mac user – no Windows version… yet – there is a demo version to download.

Samyang goes autofocus

Samyang Optics announced the long-awaited launch of two autofocus lenses: 14mm F2.8 and 50mm F1.4 lenses for Sony E mount Mirrorless cameras with full frame sensor size. According to Samyang press-release, the new 14mm and 50mm are the widest and brightest lenses in their class and offer superb quality images to photographers. This launching expands the boundaries of Samyang Optics photo lens line-up from manual focus only, to now include autofocus lenses.

Canon vs Nikon vs Pentax vs Sony

The Camera Store TV published a new video with a real world test of the 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses from four different brands. The new Sony GM 24-70mm, Pentax 24-70 DFA and Nikkor 24-70 VR, and the old but still outstanding Canon 24-70mm II. Watch the video, shot at Crowsnest Pass, to discover what photographer Jeremy Fokkens thinks of the quartet of lenses. And a little more about the area and the people living there. That’s the real world.

Food for Instagrammers

Or better, Food Photography for Instagrammers, now that we’ve grabbed your attention. It’s a free eBook  from Rocky Nook, with over 20 pages and a lot of tips and tricks for instagrammers, bloggers, and aspiring food photographers. The essential tips to create mouthwatering food photos every time are there: how to frame, using colour, best focusing practices and much more. and if you feel that’s not enough, you can get the whole book, Corinna Gissemann’s Food Photography: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Appetizing Images!