Well, it looks like Panasonic might have also had an announcement originally planned for today, too – which was no doubt delayed for the same reason as Sony once somebody realised the significance of the date in Japan and China. The listing shows a pre-order price of $1,799 for the new lens – I told you it wouldn’t be cheap – along with a release date of August 24th. The specs for the lens were also included in the bullet points at the top of the listing as well as the description further down – which I’ve reformatted here slightly for easier reading, rather than just being a large wall of text....

Facebook has relatively recently introduced the so-called “reactions” to posts. But soon, instead of clicking on the heart or a laughing emoji, you will be able to “react” with your profile photo. The researchers at Tel Aviv University and Facebook have come up with a method to bring your selfies to life. All they need to do it is a single photo, and the resulting animation is pretty impressive. It seems like your photo is actually a short video, and it’s incredibly accurate considering that they only use one 2D image for the animation....

Ring wants more users to switch from Protect Basic to Protect Plus Ring wants more users to switch from Protect Basic to Protect Plus Meanwhile, the Protect Plus plan still costs $10/month or $100/year, which is the more appealing option for customers with two or three Ring devices. Part of the reason for bumping the price of the Protect Basic plan is to encourage more customers to use the Protect Plus plan (via The Verge)....

The Rode NTG5 short shotgun broadcast microphone came with a lot of interest and intrigue. The biggest question being “What’s with the holes?”. The NTG5 has an all-new design over Rode’s previous shotgun microphones, which Rode says helps to produce a more natural true-to-life sound. We put the NTG5 to the test to see how that claim holds up. Unboxing and first impressions Unboxing and first impressions The NTG5 comes as a “Location Recording Kit” which includes both the PG2-R pistol grip and the WS10 deadcat....

Today we are comparing over $1,700 worth of shotgun mics: Rode VideoMic NTG vs. Rode VideoMic Pro+ vs. Sennheiser MKE 400 vs. Sennheiser MKH 416. The Rode Videomic NTG is the new top of the line mic form RODE, and it packs quite a few interesting features. It’s part of the VideoMic series which is usually for on-camera use, but it’s also an NTG which is usually used for the company’s high-end mics....