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The Latest News:

7Artisans New Wide Angle Lens

7Artisans has officially launched its 10mm f/3.5 APS-C ultra wide-angle lens, available for Sony E, Fujifilm X, Nikon Z, and Micro Four Thirds mounts. It offers a 108° field of view while keeping lines straight thanks to its non-fisheye optical design. That means verticals and horizontals (like walls, doors, or windows) stay accurate in-camera without needing to fix distortion later. Inside, the lens has 9 elements in 7 groups, with a close focusing distance of 0.2 meters, which helps with dramatic wide-angle shots that play with depth and scale.

The aperture is fully manual, clicked from f/3.5 to f/22, and built with five blades that produce 10-point sunstars when stopped down. While it’s sharpest at smaller apertures like f/8 or f/11, the wide-open setting still allows for creative low-light shooting. The rectilinear rendering makes it a solid choice for architecture, tight interiors, or street photography where straight lines matter. There’s no autofocus or electronic contacts, so you’ll be working full manual, and camera bodies won’t record EXIF data for the lens.

Physically, it’s compact and lightweight, just 125.5g on the E-mount version and measures 59mm wide and 34mm long. The all-metal housing gives it a solid, retro feel, and it takes 37mm screw-in filters on the front. Pricing sits at $99. A closer look at the new lens will follow this Sunday inside the SNAPSHOT magazine issue ;)

You can see full details and sample shots on 7Artisans website here

DigiKam Photo Manager Gets New Update

The team behind digiKam, a powerful open-source digital photo management software designed for photographers providing a suite of tools for organising, editing, and sharing photos, has just rolled out version 8.7.0. The software now includes smarter face recognition, GPU acceleration, and a new AI-powered auto-rotation tool. That last one is especially handy for batch-processing tilted photos without needing to go through them one by one. All of this builds on digiKam’s aim to be a no-cost alternative to big-name photo software, minus the monthly fees and subscription traps.

The face recognition feature got a solid upgrade: it now kicks in automatically when new faces are confirmed, and tagging has become smoother and more accurate. The software also runs faster on machines with OpenCL or CUDA-compatible GPUs, speeding up tasks like color conversions and resizing. DigiKam now also supports over 1,260 camera models thanks to an updated RAW decoder, and metadata handling is sharper with the latest ExifTool. This version also brings better stability across the board, fixing more than 240 bugs.

Looking forward, the developers are already working on new features for the next release due in October. They're experimenting with deep neural networks for things like noise reduction and color tuning, and they’re even considering a language-based search tool using LLMs, which could let users search their photo libraries by typing something like “sunset on a mountain.” DigiKam 8.7.0 is available for free on Linux, Windows and macOS.

You can see full details on digiKam’s website here

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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 Cabral

You can find him on Instagram as: @jccabral_color

Let’s Analyse this Image:

Light & Atmosphere

What works well:

• The light is dramatic and cinematic, almost painterly. It slices across the station (through the opening) at a sharp diagonal angle. The light catches the tops of the train and faintly brushes the silhouette of our subject (the man).

• The shadow areas are (very) deep and rich. The darkness creates a tunnel effect, pushing everything towards the brighter end of the frame and really emphasising the geometry of the roof and station.

• There’s a misty softness to the light that feels nostalgic, like dust caught in sunlight. It gives the photo an interesting texture, almost like a still from a 1970s European film, I like it very much.

What could be better:

• The transition between shadow and light is so strong that the details in the darker areas (especially the left third) are almost completely lost. A touch of lifted shadow could reveal a bit more context without ruining the mood.

• The station’s ceiling structure is interesting, but it gets a bit visually lost in the middle. Slight dodging in those beams could bring back some architectural clarity.

• The man is on the edge of being too underexposed. A subtle highlight just to separate them from the train would strengthen the focal point (I literally had to turn up my phones brightness all the way up to really notice him).

• Because of our underexposed main subject (the man), the much brighter train invites itself as an additional (main) subject. The viewer can find difficulty in this (what should he/she focus on?). Luckily the framing/leading lines of the shot sort of ‘‘save’’ the man from getting overlooked and they make it clearer that he, in fact, is the main subject.

Architecture & Design Language

What works well:

• The station’s iron and glass structure is beautifully captured. Those classic arches and the lattice of the roof scream old-European train travel in the best way (pic was taking in Porto, Portugal).

• The repetitive geometry of the windows on the train mirror the structure above (both horizontal, both rhythmic) creating visual harmony.

• The diagonal leading line of the platform canopy gives the photo its energy and interest.

• The sort of vintage style of the train (both in colour and design) adds historical charm. It helps the scene feel rooted in time, but not necessarily now. The whole photo has a very timeless look about it.

What could be better:

• The far left edge, with its heavy shadows, lacks architectural payoff. If there were more visible structure or detail there, the photo could feel even more balanced (if you really turn up your brightness and look closely you will actually notice that there is person cleaning the station in the shadows).

• The right side of the frame feels slightly cramped, the front of the locomotive is cut off just a bit harshly. A tiny shift right would let that visual weight breathe.

• There’s some mild distortion in the verticals of the station’s support beams, especially on the right. Straightening those could improve the sense of scale and structure.

Framing & Perspective

What works well:

• The low angle is great. It makes the train and the man feel larger than life, while emphasizing the vastness of the station.

• The symmetry is off just enough to feel real, this isn’t a perfectly centred shot, and that works in its favour.

• ‘‘Placing’’ the man just left of centre anchors the frame and gives it emotional weight, without that man, the scene would feel much emptier.

What could be better:

• The man feels a tiny bit distant, largely because of the darkness. Increasing brightness or if he were just a step or two closer, the connection between viewer and subject could be stronger. Now, technically you could also think into the opposite direction (the one I almost prefer): ‘‘placing’’ the man a few steps behind (so shooting the shot earlier), and thus increasing the effectiveness of the leading lines and really ‘‘tunnel’’ the viewers eyes along the split and then to our subject at the end./

• The image leans heavily to the right due to the weight of the train and the dark shadow, a touch more visual interest on the left (or lifting the shadows) would help balance it out.

Emotion & Storytelling

What works well:

• The photo tells a story without trying too hard. A man walks down a quiet platform, carrying his bag, lit by soft morning (or late afternoon) light.

• It definitely evokes nostalgia, this could be Porto in 2024 or Porto in 1975. It feels timeless and filled with personal memory.

• There’s a nice sense of departure or arrival here, not just physically, but metaphorically. The photo captures transition.

What could be better:

• The story could be deepened with just a hint more context, a visible station sign, clock, or distant silhouette. Something subtle to hint more at the where or when.

• The man’s ‘‘gesture’’ is quiet and subtle. A small motion, fixing his suit, adjusting his bag, reading some newspaper on the go, might create more emotional access. But as always that is not really up to the photographer, the only thing he/she can do is be observant of such small details and be ready to catch the shot.

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