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The Lumix S 100-500mm f/5-7.1 Lens

Panasonic just announced its first ultra-telephoto zoom for the full-frame L-mount system: the Lumix S 100-500mm f/5-7.1 OIS. At its longest, you get 500mm of reach, and if you throw on a 2x teleconverter, it stretches all the way to 1000mm. Even with that range, the lens keeps things fairly manageable at about 1.3 kilograms (2.8 pounds) before you add the hood, caps, and tripod collar.

Inside, the lens is built from 19 elements in 12 groups, with a mix of UED, ED, and UHR glass to keep sharpness up and aberrations under control. Aperture runs from f/5 to f/29 on the short end, and f/7.1 to f/40 when zoomed all the way out. It also has an 11-blade diaphragm for smoother background blur, plus a big 82mm filter thread up front. For close work, it focuses down to 0.8 meters at 100mm and 1.5 meters at 500mm, giving you up to 0.36x magnification at the long end.

Autofocus is powered by a Dual Phase Linear Motor that Panasonic says is quick, accurate, and basically silent. Stabilisation is handled by Dual I.S. 2, which promises up to seven stops of correction when paired with the right Lumix body. For video, there’s focus breathing suppression and micro-step aperture control to smooth out exposure changes. Panasonic also added some handy extras, like a customisable focus ring and assignable function button. The lens if available for preorder at $2,099.99.

You can see full details on B&H’s website here

Nikon’s C2PA Signature Problems

Nikon has had to pull the plug on one of the Z6 III’s headline features after a serious problem came up. The big firmware update in late August introduced C2PA support, a system meant to verify whether a photo is authentic or altered. But photographer Adam Horshack found a way around it almost immediately. Nikon has now suspended the service, revoked all existing certificates, and emailed users to say the feature won’t come back until the vulnerability is properly fixed.

Horshack’s discovery showed just how shaky things were. At first, he proved the Z6 III could sign files that weren’t even taken with a certified camera. Then he went a step further, creating a fully AI-generated photo (in this case, a pug flying an airplane (seen above)) and managed to get it signed and validated by Nikon’s system. He pulled it off by embedding the AI image into a Nikon NEF file and using the camera’s multiple exposure function, essentially tricking the system into treating it as a real shot. The scary part is that most validation tools showed the fake as legitimate.

For now, suspending the service only stops new users from adding certificates. Those who already have them can still sign images if they avoid syncing their cameras with Nikon’s cloud. The bigger issue is that most of the current validation tools don’t check whether a certificate has been revoked, so fakes can still slip through unless you dig deeper. Nikon is expected to release another firmware update to patch the hole soon.

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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: Joao Bernardino

You can find him on Instagram as: @joao.bernardino

Let’s Analyse this Image:

Composition & Framing

What works well:

• The centered perspective works really nicely. The lines of the street and tram tracks pull you straight into the middle.

• Leading lines are pretty solid here —> the cobblestone lines, the tram tracks, even the lamps all guide you down the street and into the distance. It all adds depth and keeps the eye moving.

• Having our subject dead centre works, they feel like the natural anchor in the frame.

• And the way the lamps converge right where the person is walking is a really nice touch. They frame them in a subtle way/lead your eyes directly toward them.

• The cobblestone foreground also adds a good textured entry point into the shot, kind of grounding the whole shot.

What could be better:

• The top framing cuts the buildings a little. A bit more space would have helped them breathe.

• The very bottom of the frame feels slightly too heavy, meaning too much empty cobblestone before you actually get to the subject. Cropping a little tighter could keep the focus stronger.

Light & Atmosphere

What works well:

• The atmosphere is definitely strong, the fog diffuses the light and gives the scene a super moody and cinematic feel.

• The way the light falls on the cobblestones in the foreground gives some really nice texture as well.

• The warm orange tones of the lamps balance nicely against the dark sky/background, which makes the scene feel moody but not flat.

• Again, the depth is also helped by all those bulbs leading into the distance → they not only add a ton of atmosphere but also guide your eye deeper in.

What could be better:

• Some of the lamps are a bit overexposed, the glow swallows their shape. Pulling them back slightly would help.

• The fog, while undoubtedly adding mood, also reduces detail in the background and you lose a bit of that layered depth.

• The top half of the frame is very dark and feels kind of empty compared to the bottom. Lifting the shadows a little could have given more balance (or alternatively darkening the foreground a bit).

• The bright windows on the left stand out a little much. They do not really fit the rest of the light mood and draw the eye away from our subject.

Colour & Tone

What works well:

• The orange glow of the lamps sets the whole tone of the photo and gives it this special character/vibe.

• The warmth of the lights on the ground ties the palette together and makes the cobblestones feel ‘‘alive’’.

What could be better:

• The image leans heavily into just two tones → orange and black. It works, but feels a little limited (the green of the window on the left does not complement the scene, so this does not ‘‘save’’ it, if you know what I mean).

• The mid-tones in the background get lost in the fog, making the tonal range feel just a bit compressed.

Emotion & Story

What works well:

• The person walking through the street gives the image a sense of solitude and calm and the slightly hunched posture fits the late-night vibe perfectly.

• The quiet, empty street adds a feeling of isolation, it is almost like you are catching a private moment.

• The heavy atmosphere makes you curious about the person: who they are, where they are going etc.

What could be better:

• Because the subject is small and dark, we can’t read any more details besides the ones the silhouette reveals (so for example, I am asking myself: what bag are they carrying? what specific clothes are they wearing? etc. these questions answered could tell the story more clearly)

• The story leans hard on mood. It is powerful in terms of atmosphere, but there is not much narrative beyond the classic “lone person in the fog.”

Balance

(just a quick note)

• The photo overall feels very centered and stable. The road, lamps, and subject all line up, which makes it feel neat and deliberate.

• Even the tram tracks on the right get balanced by the white crosswalk lines on the left (in my opinion at least).

• The one imbalance is in the lighting —> the brighter windows on the left side throw the balance slightly, since they pull more attention than anything on the right (so there is more light on the left side in total) + as noted before, there is a vertical imbalance between the light on the ground and the dark sky above.

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