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The Latest News:

DZOFilm’s New Cine Primes

DZOFilm just dropped a fresh set of full-frame cinema primes for filmmakers and photographers. There are ten lenses in the lineup, ranging from 14mm to 180mm, and most of them open up to a fast T1.6. Instead of chasing optical perfection, DZOFilm leaned into the character of older lenses, soft flares, amber halation etc. The name “Lustre” says it all: they’re made to bring a bit of cinematic nostalgia back into the frame.

The company worked with over 20 cinematographers and fine art photographers and went through more than 50 rounds of tuning the coatings, design, and rendering. The result? A lens set that’s sharp when you need it, but with a soft glow and flaring that actually looks good. They’ve also taken care of the technical aspect: consistent colour across the set, low focus breathing, smooth bokeh, and edge-to-edge sharpness wide open. The lenses are built tough with unified gear ring placement, 95mm fronts (except for the ultra-wide), and they support PL, EF, and LPL mounts.

Pricing is what you’d expect for high-end cinema glass: $2,999 per lens, or you can grab bundles — a 4-lens kit for $10,799, a 5-lens kit for $13,999, or the full 10-lens set in hard cases for $26,999.

You can see full details and sample shots on DZOFilm’s website here

Sony’s Latest Teaser

Yesterday Sony Center Cyprus released a teaser that has got the photo world scratching its head. The video, which promised that “something big is coming” on June 2nd, was meant to build hype for a new lens launch. Instead, it left people mostly confused. The short clip features a dark silhouette of a camera and the kind of cryptic language you’d expect from a major product reveal: “Are you ready to see the future through a new lens?” Sounds exciting until you actually watch it.

Photographers who took a closer look noticed something wasn’t quite right. The silhouette in the video doesn’t look like any Sony camera. In fact, it looks suspiciously like a Canon 5D Mark IV. That led to a wave of sarcastic reactions online, with one commenter joking, “My soon-to-be favourite Sony camera: the Canon 5D Mark V!” Cue the memes and speculation. Was this some clever marketing stunt? A crossover no one asked for? Turns out, it was neither.

Sony Center Cyprus eventually pulled the teaser and clarified that it was all just a mistake. The teaser, they said, was created by an “external advertising partner” and wasn’t meant to go live in that state. Whether it was AI-generated, poorly researched, or both, we may never know. But one thing’s clear: this wasn’t the “big” reveal anyone was expecting.

You can see a copy of the teaser here

Something Worth Checking Out

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Photo Analysis

Welcome to a new addition to the magazine: the photo analysis, where I will analyse a photo and talk about the composition, lighting what’s positive, what’s negative etc. so that you can learn and better your own photography from it ;)

This week’s photo by: Peter Kalnbach

You can find him on Instagram as: @street.nomad_

Let’s Analyse this Image:

Composition

What works well:

• The curves in the cobblestone street, the slightly ‘‘leaning in’’ buildings on each side all gently lead your eye straight into and through the scene. It’s subtle, but it works beautifully.

• The person with the umbrella is perfectly placed, they are not dead centre, not too far off. Just enough to keep things balanced without feeling ‘‘‘unnatural’’.

• Framing the shot from the shadows of the alley gives it a natural vignette. It pulls you straight into the photo and adds some quiet tension.

What could be better:

• There’s a lot of visual texture, which is great, but maybe just a bit too much going on in the darker left edge. Cropping or lightening that side a bit could clean things up.

Lighting

What works well:

• The diffused, misty light is doing all the heavy lifting here. It’s soft, moody, and just enough to reveal the details without flattening the scene.

• The soft glow/haze at the end of the street adds depth and a kind of dreamlike quality.

• The shadows help guide the eye and give the photo some quiet drama.

What could be better:

• It might benefit from a slight lift in the midtones, some parts get a little muddy and could use more separation.

• A tiny highlight on the umbrella or cobblestones could anchor the subject a bit more and give the viewer somewhere solid to land on (for example bring out more of the blue of the umbrella).

Framing & Perspective

What works well:

• Shooting from this slightly tucked-in angle really works here. It makes you feel like you're peeking into the scene and not just observing it.

• The perspective distortion (slightly leaning buildings) adds to the mood. Everything feels a bit off-kilter, in a good way, it’s like the scene is slightly haunted by time.

• Again the curve of the road leads the story forward, it makes you wonder what’s beyond.

What could be better:

• Including just a touch more of the street in the bottom foreground might’ve helped anchor the composition even more.

• A little more sky or open space above could’ve given the whole scene some breathing room, though that might’ve cost some of the intimacy (it really works for this particular image, so I personally would keep the intimacy).

Storytelling

What works well:

• Capturing this moment with another person walking towards us opens up a lot storytelling possibilities for us, the viewers, to think of. Are these two people meeting? Are they strangers? Where are they going? etc. Storytelling in photography works both ways, either you as the photographer tell the story clearly through the shot, or you capture the moment so that it is up to the viewer to imagine/invent their own story.

• The umbrella is the only real sign of weather (well except for the wet cobble stones and one could say the fog of course), but it suggests so much—rain, chill, quiet. It tells you exactly what kind of day this is without saying a word.

• There’s a timelessness to it. The fog, the lovely cobblestones, the narrow alley, it could be 2025 or 1925. That ambiguity gives it power.

What could be better:

• If the nearest person were slightly turning their head, it might add a whisper of personality, making the story feel more alive. However some people would say that the mystery and moodiness is what makes this shot.

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