A digest of last week’s news is a selection of some of the news from week 12 from 2016 related to the worlds of photography and video, covering multiple topics, always rounded up with a reading suggestion.

A transportable NAS

Although a NAS is not exactly the kind of equipment you carry around, the new DS416slim from Synology was designed to be a transportable storage solution for professionals in need of a compact and energy-saving unit.

Offering a 4-bays NAS server which can receive 2.5” hard drives, for a total of 8TB of data, the DS416slim is ideal for users that do not have much space in their office. With the longest side measuring less than 15cm and a weight under 700 grams, the DS416slim will fit everywhere or be easily transported to serve as local file and backpup server during off-site assignments.

EOS 80D: greatly improved RAW dynamic range

According to DPReview, the Canon EOS 80D “features a sensor with greatly improved Raw dynamic range”. The information suggests that Canon has moved to a new sensor design – shared between EOS 80D and EOS-1D Mark X – with on-chip ADC design that, by conducting the conversion within the sensor, reduces noise. Still acording to DPReview, the sensor continues to offer excellent high ISO performance.

Although the results of the 80D don’t appear to quite match up to the best of its peers, says DPReview, this is good news for Canon users. Also, the introduction on the ADC architecture means future generations of sensors will show further improvements, as the design is optimized.

AIRTime: the world from a drone

Set in the desert of Dubai, the urban spaces of Hongkong or the stunning landscapes of Hawaii, “AIRTime” is a 4K drone film, which chronicles a mix of travel experiences filmed across 12 countries over 7 months. The film contains several different trips, one around the world, one to South Asia and some short trips around Europe.

Reaching those moments took me 80.000 km of journey, says author, Christian Grewe, adding that “all flights were produced as noncommercial filmmaterial and operated with an international insurance. Further on I abided by security agreements.”  Now sit back and enjoy watching six minutes of what a drone can do for your vision of the world!

Canon hybrid viewfinder

While a patent does not mean a product will be released, its curious to see Canon filling a patent for a hybrid optical viewfinder that will offer the advantages of optical view while also offering all the info many relate to electronic viewfinders. Consider it a kind of a HUD for a DSLR, offering a viewfinder that shows information from the display LCD at the same time it offers an optical view of the subject. What’s interesting, if the translation from Japanese is correct, is that with the mirror up the DSLR will be able to offer a live view image. That would mean the end of the “viewfinder blackout” so many talk about… but that is not a problem to DSLR users.

Capture One Pro 9 book

From the RAW converter it was in its early days, Capture One evolved to a powerful image-processing application, discovered by many users moving from Aperture or Lightroom to new options. Rocky Nook offered recently a free eBook explaining the basics of the program, but until the end of March 2016 they have a new deal, for the complete book by Sascha Erni.

Capture One Pro 9 – Mastering Raw Development, Image Processing, and Asset Management is a 296 pages guide for Capture One Pro 9 just launched, which can be yours at a special price, whether you choose the eBook, print or bundle version. Just use the code EBOOKCAP to have $15 off the eBook version, PAPERCAP to have $20 off on the print version or BUNDLECAP to save $35 on the bundle with the eBook and printed version.