A digest of last week’s news is a selection of some of the news from week 01 from 2016 related to the worlds of photography and video, covering multiple topics, always rounded up with a reading suggestion.

Asus Designo MX27UQ for video editing

Asus announced a new monitor, the Designo MX27UQ, offering 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) visuals, wide 100% sRGB color gamut, and IPS technology. With a frameless design the monitor integrates audio co-developed with ICEpower | Bang & Olufsen for truly immersive sound, and built-in 3-watt Bluetooth stereo speakers for wireless music streaming.

The high-performance IPS panel used in Designo MX27UQ has 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio and wide 178-degree wide viewing angles. MX27UQ also has a wide color gamut of 100% sRGB — ensuring extremely accurate color reproduction for professional-grade photo and video editing.

Olympus 300mm for Micro Four Thirds

Olympus Corporation officially announced the M. Zuiko Digital ED 300mm f4.0 IS PRO, scheduled to go on sale at the end of February, 2016. The new lens, when compared with a 35mm full-frame 600mm f4.0 lens, offers one third of the weight at 1,270g (excluding tripod base plate), is compact, with half the length at 227mm (φ92.5mm). and has a price of $2,499.00.

When attached to the OM-D E-M1 firmware Version 4.0 or the E-M5 Mark II firmware Version 2.0, the new 5-axis sync IS provides, according to Olympus, the world’s most powerful 6 shutter speed steps of compensation performance, making hand-held shooting possible with this super-telephoto lens.

Synology Introduces DiskStation DS416j

The new DiskStation from Synology is a powerful 4-bay NAS at an affordable price, a viable solution not only to home and personal use but also to an independent photographer or videographer looking for ways to effectively manage data as well as enjoy multimedia on any of their screens.

Coming with a dual-core CPU, DS416j delivers high performance, exceeding 112 MB/sec reading and 101 MB/sec writing under RAID 5 configuration in a Windows environment — providing users a 37% increase in writing speed when compared with its predecessor. The built-in floating-point unit (FPU) further enhances the overall capability of the main CPU and allows for a speedier photo thumbnail generation. Equipped with a USB 3.0 port, DS416j can connect to external hard drives and a variety of other devices for high speed transmission of media content or personal files.

Phase One XF 100MP for photographers

With a CMOS sensor from Sony onboard, the new Phase One XF 100MP is, as the name suggests, a 100 MP full-frame medium format camera, offering 16-bit color, 15 stops of dynamic range and ISO from 50 to 12800. No video options, I am afraid, but the system can probably be used for unique time-lapses, at the resolution of 11608 x 8708 pixels.

In terms of exposure, the new XF 100MP System delivers extreme long exposures of up to 60 minutes in full 100MP resolution. The IQ3 100MP is yet again the first of its kind to offer such flexibility in a creative tool. With no compromise in ISO flexibility and exposure limitation, all available on a full frame CMOS sensor, the possibilities for top photographers are endless.

Wildlife in one eBook

Photographer and environmentalist Uwe Skrzypczak wrote Wildlife Photography with several goals in mind—to teach the technical aspects and the workflow of digital wildlife photography; to show the beauty of East Africa and his beloved Serengeti National Park and to educate about its habitat; and to provide a guide for the photographer who is planning to go on an African photo safari and wants to be prepared to capture the finest possible images.

Loaded with hundreds of breathtaking images, this book is perfect for the beginning wildlife photographer as well as the seasoned pro. Wildlife Photography will teach the fundamental concepts and techniques needed for great wildlife photography!

Download your eBook copy today! To get the special price of $9.99, use coupon WILDLIFE. The offer is valid until January 17, 2016, so act fast!