Leica says the Q3 is selling like hotcakes and this will be Leica’s best year ever

Photorend had a chat with a Leica manager. Here is the summary by Digicameinfo:

  • (Regarding the L-mount system)
    The L-mount alliance is becoming more and more active. We are very satisfied with the sales of the SL system. Although the SL is not as good as the Leica M and Q in terms of quantity, it is a system that is becoming more popular.
  • (Regarding the recently released Leica Q3)
    All I can say is that it is selling like hotcakes. Q3 demand is really crazy. So far, Q3 sales have taken off like a rocket. There have been many orders and it has been very well received in the market. In addition, Q2, which is now in its fourth year, has recorded the highest sales volume ever in France.
  • (Mr. Kaufmann said that “2023 will be the best year in Leica’s history,” but will that be the case in France as well?) In France, Leica has been experiencing strong double-digit growth every year for five years
    . 2023 is on track to be a great year for Leica. I’m very positive about Leica’s future.
  • (The end of sales of the S series SLR cameras has been announced, but what will happen in the future?)
    Currently, the S3 has been discontinued, but there are plans for the S4 in the future. I don’t think that will happen anytime soon, and I don’t think it will happen until 2024. I don’t know if it will be in 2025, but Leica is planning a medium format hybrid mirrorless camera.
  • (Is there any information about SL3?)
    SL3 will of course appear, but we don’t know exactly when that will happen at this point.
  • (About the Portuguese factory)
    In addition to producing specific spare parts, this factory also produces binoculars, spotting scopes, laser rangefinders, rifle scopes, etc.

New Topaz Video Ai brings new compare UI, 16x upscaling and more!

Topaz officially launched the new Video AI 4.0 (Click here to preorder with a $50 discount and see samples of all new features). I am an avid Topaz Photo Ai and Video AI user. With Video AI I was able to save an old documentary of mine where I only had a 720p file and upscaled it to 4k with impressive results. Also Photo Ai is incredible and I use it often. So definitely jump on it if you want to improve the quality of your photos/videos!

New features:

  • Comparison views: apply different filters to Views 1 & 2 to compare them. Freely switch between reviewing input clips and previews to find the best settings possible for your video.
  • Preview history: previews are tracked based on filter settings and shown grouped together on the video timeline.
  • Zoomable timeline: take advantage of timeline zoom controls to hone in on smaller areas of a large video.
  • In & Out Trim: replaced the “trim” edit mode with an In & Out option comparable to other video editing applications.
  • Refreshed UI and filter icons: tighter more informational display.
  • Nyx v2: improve results and 2x scaling mode.
  • Significant performance improvements for the in-app video player.
  • Crop controls moved to video input panel.

What you can do with Topaz Video Ai 4

 

Video Enhancement

  • Six Enhancement models trained for different types of quality improvement
  • Automatic modes for fast and easy processing, or manual controls for fine-tuning output
  • Intelligently detect and heal visual artifacts created by video compression
  • Stack enhancement filters and process multi-step AI tasks in fewer clicks
  • Options for deinterlacing at single frame rate or double frame rate
  • Specific processing pipelines for interlaced and telecined content
  • 2x scale mode enhances the sharpness and fidelity during the de-noise process
  • Iris MQ for enhanced face recovery
  • Custom mode for processing black-and-white video
  • Custom mode for 3:2 pulldown/inverse telecine footage

Video Stabilization

  • Includes auto-crop & full-frame mode with video outpainting
  • Additional options for rolling shutter correction and jitter compensation

Frame Interpolation

  • Up to 16x slow motion conversion using Apollo model
  • Up to 120FPS interpolation using Chronos

Motion Deblur

  • Reduce the effect of low shutter speeds in fast-moving scenes

Extensive Export Options

  • Create production-grade output using ProRes and Image Sequence export options to integrate Video AI into your existing workflows
  • Preserve the original audio tracks from your footage, or choose between several conversion options to create the optimal output for your work
  • Improved dynamic bitrate controls: The High setting for H264 and H265 exports has been adjusted to target a VMAF score of about 95, and is now the default setting for new installs of Video AI.
  • Optimize visual quality and file size using Dynamic Bitrate Controls on supported codecs
  • The lossless FFV1 codec is now available by default in the export options panel, and can be used at 4:2:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 chroma subsampling levels.

Additional

  • 50% speed gain on TensorRT-compatible GPUs
  • Support for rotating videos 90, 180, and 270 degrees-corrects videos with missing metadata for rotation
  • AV1 encoder for AMD 7000 series GPUs and 700 series integrated graphics