A digest of last week’s news is a selection of some of the news from week 14 from 2016 related to the worlds of photography and video, covering multiple topics, always rounded up with a reading suggestion.

Three SmallHD monitors at NAB 2016

New 17″, 24″ and 32″ HDR ready production monitors from SmallHD will be at NAB2016. These new monitors HDR represent SmallHD’s answer to the need for on set HDR preview, which is on the horizon. With 10-bit, 1000 NIT+ displays, SmallHDR monitors are, according to the company, “the first production monitors worthy of the challenge”. Milled from billet aluminum, built to last, the SmallHDR monitors allow rapid deployment, saving hours of setup and tear down time with a revolutionary accessory rail system and convenient table stand with built-in C-stand mount.

Lytro moves to Virtual Reality

The Lytro light-field cameras that some touted as the future of photography, are dead. In a post at tech blog Backchannel Lytro’s CEO Jason Rosenthal states that manufacture of the cameras has ended, and points to the consumer camera market declining by almost 35% per year as one of the reasons. Many people, though, will suggest that the market did not need or want refocusable low-res cameras. Now Lytro is moving to the professional Virtual Reality market, it is said. I though they were already there…

Lumix GX85 boosts detail

Panasonic launched a new mirrorless compact camera, the Lumix GX85, again a camera capable to record high-resolution 4K video in 3840 x 2160 at 30p or 24p in addition to the full-HD 1,920 x 1,080 60p (60 Hz) videos with practical full-time AF. While still using a 16MP sensor, the camera offers better detail, thanks to the elimination of the low pass filter. According to Panasonic, “its fine detail resolving power is boosted nearly 10% over previous 16-Megapixel sensors.”

Canon: lens stabilization is the way to go

Canon has a new patent for image stabilization, now using two groups of lenses to reduce vibrations. The continuous research in the area suggests one thing: Canon believes that IS in the lens is the way to go. The introduction of a second IS group of lenses, which would activate according to the focal length and magnification in use, together with vibration felt, makes, at least on paper, complete sense. It will be interesting to see if the idea becomes reality in future lenses launched by Canon.

Different angles on Lightroom

This week Rocky Nook has to suggestions when it comes to Adobe Lightroom: The Indispensable Guide to Lightroom CC, on print and the eBook How Do I Do That In Lightroom?. Pick your choice or buy the two.

Written by Sean McCormack, The Indispensable Guide to Lightroom CC – Managing, Editing, and Sharing Your Photos is a 496 pages soft cover book which you can buy for onbly $15.99 using coupon LRCCDEAL. The eBook, How Do I Do That In Lightroom? – The Quickest Ways to Do the Things You Want to Do, Right Now!, by Scott Kelby, is a 272 pages guide in digital format which can be yours for $9.99 using the coupon KELBYDEAL. The promotion ends April, 17.