| Images: Logitech, Apple, SmallRig |
Hello everyone! It’s been a busy week here at DPReview, and the same has apparently been true for accessory makers. Today we’ll be looking at some stylish accessories for Fujifilm’s new entry-level camera, some computer accessories that may make editing easier, another digital photo frame, and more. First, though, let’s see what’s on sale.
A Couple of Canons
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The Canon EOS R7, which won our Silver award last year, is currently $200 off. It’s also worth noting that the main thing that kept it from getting Gold was the lack of RF-mount lenses that made sense for an APS-C camera, but that situation has been somewhat improved now that Sigma has released several of its F2.8 ‘Contemporary’ zoom lenses for the system.
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| Photo: Dale Baskin |
If you’re looking for a full-frame option, the gold-winning EOS R6 Mark II is also currently on sale at $500 off MSRP.
Vintage-looking clothes for a brand-new camera
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The case looks especially good with the black X-M5, though unfortunately, that model isn’t shipping until April. Image: SmallRig |
Fujifilm’s new X-M5 hasn’t even hit store shelves yet, but SmallRig has already announced new accessories for it. There are the usual suspects, like an L-shaped handle that adds more grip and a thumb grip accessory, but there are also some more stylish options meant to match the camera’s retro aesthetic. Perhaps the most classic is the half leather case that’s meant to evoke classic rangefinders and which comes with a new braided wrist strap. The latter can, of course, be used with pretty much any camera and SmallRig is selling it standalone as well.
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There’s probably a bit of irony in using such retro-styled accessories on a vlogging-focused camera with no viewfinder, but it’s hard to deny how stylish they are. Image: SmallRig |
There’s also a ‘Retro Cage,’ which is made to look like aged bronze and features gold-colored accents. It also includes a wooden hand grip section. Outside of the looks, it’s a pretty standard cage, adding several mounting points to the camera for those who are serious about rigging it up for video use. The cage and the L-mount kits also include a fuzzy windscreen that clips onto the hot shoe mount, which should help cut down on the amount of wind noise picked up by the X-M5’s three microphones.
An ultra-portable editing tool
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| Image: Apple |
It’s no secret that a lot of photographers love editing photos on an iPad using an Apple Pencil, especially now that it’s super easy to connect a camera to it via the near-universal USB-C. And for those looking for the utmost in portability, there’s good news: Apple just updated the iPad Mini, adding the A17 Pro processor from the iPhone 15 Pro and making it compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, which has haptic feedback and squeeze control.
From a technical perspective, the Mini is less capable than the latest iPad Air, which packs an M2 chip, which is itself slower than the M4 powering iPad Pro. The latter also has a much better screen than the Mini; the Pro’s 120Hz ‘tandem OLED’ display can reach brightnesses of up to 1,600 nits when viewing or editing HDR content, while the Mini’s 60Hz LCD screen caps out at 500 nits.
None of that is to say that the Mini isn’t capable, just that there are trade-offs to its smaller size and lower price – the A17 Pro is still a plenty-powerful chip for most editing tasks.* But if portability is your number one priority, it’s hard to beat the iPad Mini.
* All the image editing for this article was done using Photoshop on an iPad with a much older A14 chip.
A desktop editing tool
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We got to try out the MX Creative Console at Adobe Max, and found that it could be very useful in Lightroom and Photoshop. Photo: Mitchell Clark |
If you prefer to do your photo editing on a computer, it may be worth checking out Logitech’s new MX Creative Console accessory. There are two parts to it: a bank of buttons that are actually tiny displays, and a jog wheel surrounded by a scroll wheel and four programmable buttons. On the software side, the console connects to programs like Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop and Capture One.
You can fill the bank of buttons with various functions, like selecting certain parameters or tools, which you can then control with the wheel. You can also use the wheel to zoom in or scroll through your library. All of it is customizable, too, and you can have several pages of buttons for each application, which you move through using two arrow keys on the console.
The bank of buttons connects to your computer via USB-C, while the wheel uses Bluetooth. The company says it can run for up to six months off two AA batteries.
App support for the Creative Console is currently relatively limited: it doesn’t natively tie in to the Affinity creative apps, or Apple’s Final Cut Pro. There are ways around that – you can bind keyboard shortcuts to the console’s keys – but the experience won’t be as smooth as it is in the natively-supported Photoshop, Lightroom, or Capture One. Logitech says companies are absolutely welcome to create integrations, but it’s always worth buying hardware for what it can do now rather than what it may be able to do in the future.
Another new digital photo frame
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| Image: Skylight |
Earlier this month we covered Lexar’s new digital photo frame brand, and this week we’re hearing about another new digital photo frame. This one is from the brand Skylight, which has upgraded its Frame display to up the resolution, add swappable face plates, and provide more storage.
The Frame 2 has a 25.4cm (10″) 1920 x 1200 anti-glare display with auto-adjusting brightness. It comes with 16GB of storage, which the company says can hold up to 16,000 photos. The Frame’s frame is held on by magnets, making it easy to remove if you want to change up how it looks. The company says there’s eight colors available across four styles.
The Frame 2 costs $169 with the ‘Classic’ or ‘Cover’ frame, or $199 for the variant with the ‘Wood’ or ‘Shadow Box’ frame. Of course, you can always swap the frame out later; the Classic and Cover frames are available for $15 each, and the Wood and Shadow Box ones are $30 each.
A new action cam cometh
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Image: Insta360 |
Action cams, like drones, are often used as an accessory supplementing a main camera; after all, nobody wants to strap their EOS R7 to the front of a bike or a surfboard. Insta360 is teasing what appears to be a new generation of its flagship Ace Pro action camera, with an announcement set to come on October 22nd.
If you were considering the new GoPro Hero13 Black or DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro, it may be worth waiting until then to see what Insta360 is bringing to the market – the company certainly seems to think it has the leg up, with its marketing tagline of ‘the real pro’ seeming to act as a not-so-subtle dig at both cameras.
