In a detailed technical blog I compare six AI-based noise reduction programs for the demands of astrophotography. Some can work wonders. Others can ruin your image. Over the last two years, we have seen a spate of specialized programs introduced for removing digital noise from photos. The new generation of programs use artificial intelligence (AI), aka machine learning, trained on thousands of images to better distinguish unwanted noise from desirable image content....

It looks like there’s a new player in the world of motion control. The axiiio nano has today launched on Kickstarter with a new modular system that offers a lot of flexibility. Rather than just being a single device, it’s a range of components that allow you to build up only the system you need. And it’s designed for both photographers as well as filmmakers. The goal of axiiio was to have the system be as lightweight and versatile as possible....

AI is here to make our lives easier while getting stronger editing. And it’s improving on a day-to-day basis. So far, we’ve compared AI Upscaling, AI Sharpening, and AI Noise Removal. The results have been quite interesting. AI is driven by Machine Learning (ML), which is in a constant state of flux. The algorithm is constantly evolving as more training data flows in. Usually, it changes for the better, but as with any development, they sometimes just break and have to start all over again....

December is bringing with it two meteor showers. First up there’s the Geminids, which will begin on the evening of Monday, December 13th and peak later on in the evening until early morning on Tuesday. Under perfect conditions, this meteor shower can offer up to 150 meteors per hour, although the bright moon will reduce visibility a little this year dropping the number of ones you’ll actually be able to see down a little....

It’s been leaked about for weeks, along with the EOS M6 Mark II mirrorless camera, but now the Canon EOS 90D is official. It’s a 32.5-megapixel APS-C camera that shoots 4K UHD video without cropping. At least, no cropping beyond the already cropped APS-C sized sensor. It has the “Vari-Angle” (flippy out) Touchscreen LCD like its predecessors, and only costs $1,200. For a while, it was unclear what Canon was planning to do with the EOS 90D....