[bjp_ad_slot]After a brief post-Photokina pause to catch our breath, we’re back with a round-up of recently announced technology and product news. One of the biggest announcements this week (beginning 29 September 2014) comes from GoPro, which has announced a new range of Hero cameras – the Hero4 Black and Hero4 Silver. The former, (“the highest performance GoPro yet”, according to the company), offers twice the performance of the previous Black Edition GoPro, claims the brand, and features 4K video capture at 30fps, 2.7K video at 50 fps, and 1080p at 120fps. It also has a redesigned audio system that can capture sound at twice the dynamic range of previous models. Its US retail price is $500. The Hero4 Silver, which has built-in touch display, costs a hundred dollars less.
CineStill has announced it will produce tungsten-balanced film for medium format cameras. The company, which recently launched a Kickstarter campaign, says the 800Tungsten film (already available in 35mm) is “a high speed colour film created for still photography in low light.”
Swiss lighting manufacturer Elinchrom has announced it is to launch a number of new products. First up is the new Litemotiv softbox with 16 sides, allowing users to produce “close to perfect circular catch-lights”, says the company. It will also release a new Fresnal spot – the FS-30 – targeting photographers who shoot fashion and beauty, and an updated mount adaptor – the Quadra Reflector Adapter MK-II. A ProTec Trolley Bag will also be available.
Adobe recently unveiled updates to Photoshop Elements 13 and Premiere Elements 13. Offering an improved range of ways to customise images, both are available for Mac and Windows, priced £81, with an upgrade price of £63. The Photoshop Elements 13 & Premiere Elements 13 bundle costs £122, with an upgrade price of £100. See the Adobe website for more.
G-Technology has announced it will extend its studio line of external hard drives. The new 8-bay 64TB G-SPEED Studio XL joins the two–bay G-RAID Studio and four-bay G-SPEED Studio Thunderbolt 2 storage solutions, which launched earlier this year. The G-SPEED Studio XL Thunderbolt 2 is designed to support multi-stream HD, 2K and compressed 4K workflows, and has integrated cooling technology. It will be available from November with prices ranging from £2700 for 24TB to £5250 for 64TB.
For Pentax 645Z users there is a firmware update, as reported by DPReview this week. Firmware Version 1.10 is compatible with the latest version of IMAGE Transmitter 2 software, which is available to buy directly from Ricoh. 645Z users can download the firmware update here.
Stay up to date with stories such as this, delivered to your inbox every Friday.