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The Latest News:
Tamron’s Latest Lens Patent
credits: Tamron
A newly published Tamron patent has put a spotlight on a 28–70mm f/2.0 zoom lens design, and it is already getting a lot of attention because it lives in the same space as Sony’s very pricey 28–70mm f/2 GM. On paper, this kind of lens is pretty exciting. A constant f/2 aperture across the standard zoom range means more light, more background blur, and a bit more breathing room in low light compared to the usual f/2.8 zooms.
Looking a bit closer at the diagram, Tamron seems to be using multiple moving groups for zooming and focusing. That points to a modern floating-element design, which is typically used to keep sharpness and aberration control steady from close focus all the way to infinity. Fast wide-angle zooms are especially hard to get right, since distortion, vignetting, and soft edges can show up quickly at the wide end. Designs like this usually lean heavily on aspherical and special-dispersion glass, even if the patent itself does not list every material in detail.
Of course, a patent is not the same thing as a product launch. Companies file these all the time just to protect ideas, and plenty of them never turn into real lenses. Still, the timing is interesting. Sony has already proven that there is demand for an f/2 standard zoom, even at a very high price. If Tamron ever turns this 28–70mm f/2.0 into a real lens at a lower cost, it could end up being a really tempting option.
Novachips’ New CFexpress Cards
credits: Novachips
Novachips just announced two new CFexpress Type B card families built around the CFexpress 4.0 standard, the Extreme CX4B and the Express CX4B. Both are meant for high-end photo and video workflows that rely on sustained write speed rather than short peak bursts, and both lines have achieved VPG 800 certification, which guarantees a minimum sustained write speed of 800 MB/s on compatible CFexpress 4.0 hardware. The headline detail is capacity, since Novachips is the first company to pair VPG 800 with cards all the way up to 4TB.
The Extreme CX4B series is available in 600GB and 1TB versions and is built using SLC-mode flash memory along with what Novachips calls enhanced internal over-provisioning. In practical terms, this means a portion of the NAND is reserved to keep write speeds stable as the card fills up and during long, continuous recording sessions. These cards are also certified for VPG 400 when used in older CFexpress 2.0 cameras and readers, which is important because CFexpress 4.0 cards fall back to 2.0 speeds in current cameras. Not all CFexpress 4.0 cards maintain a guaranteed sustained write speed in that mode, but Novachips says these do.
The Express CX4B line is offered in 2TB and 4TB capacities and is optimised specifically for VPG 800 operation on CFexpress 4.0 systems. Unlike the Extreme series, it does not promise VPG 400 behaviour in backward-compatibility mode, focusing instead on maximum performance with next-generation cameras. Pricing and availability have not yet been revealed, as the company says that they will vary depending on the region.
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Weekly Photo Technique Exploration
Welcome to a new section of the magazine where every week we will explore a new photography technique from across various photography genres.
This week’s technique: Median Stacking Photography
Median Stacking Photography
Median stacking is basically a way of combining multiple photos of the same scene to remove anything that moves. People, cars, waves, clouds, birds → if it is not in the same place in every frame/shot you take, it fades away (well you will make it go away). What is left is a clean, quiet version of the scene that often never actually existed in real life. It is how photographers get those empty tourist spots for example (that are usually packed and FULL of tourists all day every day).
What “Median” Actually Means
When you stack photos using the median blending method, the software looks at every pixel position across all frames and chooses the value that appears most often.
So, a building that is in every frame stays, a person who walks through only a few frames disappears and of course things like cars, birds etc. just vanish.
What You Need
To do median stacking properly, you only need a few (more or less) basic things:
A camera with manual controls
A tripod (maybe a remote)
The ability to shoot many frames of the same composition
Software that supports median blending (Photoshop, StarStaX, Affinity, and many more.)
Also → the more photos you have, the cleaner the result will be (always take more than you think as a general rule of thumb).
How to Shoot for Median Stacking
(Remember → the stack is only as good as the source photos)
1. Lock Everything Down
Use a tripod. Turn off stabilisation. Do NOT touch the camera between shots (you can use automatic mode (if your camera has that) or a remote) (if you do shake it up a bit, don’t worry too much, photoshop can align the photos later))).
2. Use Manual Exposure
Absolutely make sure to set ISO, aperture, and shutter speed manually so every shot matches.
3. Lock Focus and White Balance
Any change between frames causes artifacts.
4. As Mentioned, Shoot a Lot of Photos
Again, the more the better! If you want a rough little guide, here it is:
20–50 photos for light crowds
50–150 photos for heavy traffic or tourist spots
Shoot them back-to-back with no long gaps.
How to Stack Them (Photoshop Method)
Load all photos as layers in one document
Select all layers
Go to Edit → Auto-Align Layers (choose “Auto”)
Then go to Layer → Smart Objects → Convert to Smart Object
Go to Layer → Smart Objects → Stack Mode → Median
That is it (actually pretty simple). Photoshop will analyse every pixel and keep only what is consistent.
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