Elon Musk’s tweets often stir conversation and this time is no exception. Musk recently polled his followers asking if he should sell 10% of his shares. The twitter poll was met with over 3.5 million respondents suggesting that he should go ahead with the proposition. The premise was not void of criticism with many speculating Musk’s underlying intentions and why a billionaire would sell parts of his key holding. The immediate consequence of Musk’s tweet saw Tesla share prices drop by over 4% with sales worth over $4 billion. It appears that since Musk is not paid a salary by Tesla and accumulates his wealth through his ownership of approximately $208 billion worth of shares, his only means to fulfil tax bills is by selling some of his stocks. Hence, there is a vital reason for Musk’s idea to sell stock. Not only that, it appears that he was already planning on selling parts of his stock this year and the twitter poll has likely had no influence on what seemed like an impulsive decision on the surface. 

Despite this, yesterday’s twitter exchange with Bernie Sanders saw Tesla shares drop yet again. Is Musk going to sell more shares in a frenzy, or is this a genuine effort to fund his tax bills? Many believe that he is simply selling shares because he can, and is not short of cash to pay his taxes; owing to the fact that Musk is still, well and truly, the world’s richest man alive. Musk is part of the billionaires club currently under scrutiny for not directing their wealth towards meaningfully reducing global social welfare challenges. His tweet on ending world hunger prior to the poll about selling his shares, openly called for suggestions on how his wealth could solve this crisis. Many groups have drawn up plans hoping Musk will stick to his word and extend his ideas to create a sustainable planet for the long term. Whilst many agree that 2% of Musk’s wealth cannot solve world hunger for good, it can surely contribute to innovation in this sector and agricultural and economic investments in less fortunate parts of the world. It is estimated that Musk has accumulated a staggering fortune of $260 billion dollars according to Forbes after his recent transactions.

Figure 1 (Featured Image): Nikon’s new flagship camera, The Z9. Source: Nikon

Nikon recently announced its first real “pro” mirrorless camera, priced at $5,500, the Z9 camera has one key distinguishing feature that sets it apart from all its competitors, the mechanical shutter-less design of its super-fast sensor. No other professional camera has this right now and it shares this trait with smartphone cameras.

It’s Nikon’s first camera that uses a 45.7-megapixel full-frame backside-illuminated stacked CMOS sensor that allows a flash sync of up to 1/200^th of a second which might be the fastest sync speed ever for an electronic shutter. The sensor uses a very similar construction to a smartphone camera as it has a sandwiched architecture of sensor, logic board and RAM. The new image processing Expeed 7 processor and dual CFExpress or XQD card slots give the Z9 a high-speed continuous shooting at 20fps for more than 1,000 frames in both JPEG and RAW file formats. The Z9 does this while offering blackout-free shooting with the electronic viewfinder continuing to display the actual movement of the subject within the scene so that every single moment can be captured with no skipped frame or loss of view. Mirrorless cameras have always had a few advantages that DSLRs cannot offer namely the electronic view-finder that allows the user to see the scene exactly as it would appear in the final image instead of the optical view-finders offered in DSLRs and Z9 enhances that advantage even further.

Figure 2: Z9 Features a 4-axis tilting monitor facilitating shooting from high or low angles. Source: Nikon

This is why it should surpass the high performance that previously only digital SLRs could offer from Nikon like the D6. It is clearly aimed at professional sports and wildlife photographers, a market Nikon hadn’t appeased so far with its mirrorless offerings, where high frame rates and black-out free viewfinder would play a crucial role in allowing the photographer to capture the best image. 

Nikon had been previously criticised for its first mirrorless offerings when the Z6 and Z7 were released back in late 2018, but with the updated versions of those two cameras in the shape of Z6II and Z7II and now the Z9, Nikon have made a big statement and have finally caught up with Canon; whose offerings had a different target audience from the get-go with high performance lenses and cameras in the mirrorless space. For Canon, that proved to be a successful strategy earning them a lot of praise thus far as early adopters tend to be enthusiasts or professionals who demand high performance and specifications for their gear. However, both Nikon and Canon have some way to catch up with Sony when it comes to mirrorless cameras as they have the biggest share of the mirrorless market.

Figure 3: Images are displayed on EVF and LCD monitor and image date can be processed simultaneously to offer blackout-free shooting. Source: Nikon

Z9 with its shutter-free design now puts Nikon at the forefront of the mirrorless market, not even Sony can compete in this regard. Z9 sports a claimed world’s fastest CMOS sensor scanning speed and world’s most minimal rolling-shutter distortion. By getting rid of the mechanical shutter, pros who use this camera don’t have to worry about any shutter wear or breakdown. Nikon has also added a VR safety lock on the sensor that protects it from any risk of damage caused by unintentional movement when the power is off, for example by swaying during bumpy off-road travel. 

The Z 9 provides the 3D-tracking feature as an AF-area mode option for the first time in a Nikon mirrorless camera. It can continue tracking a subject even in a scene where subjects move drastically. The Z9 also brings new advances by offering three dynamic-area AF modes with different focus-area sizes (Small/Medium/Large) which is useful when shooting with a fixed composition. It also employs a deep-learning algorithm to detect the nine different subject types. All this means that the Z9 like many other newer mirrorless professional cameras is less of a camera with a computer in it and more like a computer with a lens attached to it. 

This shift towards computational photography has been happening for quite some time now in the professional cameras. For now, issues like processing power, memory and use of AI are holding the professional cameras back. It seems inevitable, however, that one day a lot of post-processing smarts of today will be built in features in these cameras that allow professionals and amateurs alike to spend a lot less time editing on their computer and more time shooting out in the field, doing what they love!

Nikon Z9 key specifications:

• 20% smaller body than the D6 camera
• 45.7MP Stacked CMOS sensor
• 30 fps JPEG shooting
• 20 fps Raw shooting (for over 1000 compressed RAWs)
• 120 fps JPEG shooting at 11MP resolution
• 8K/30fps capture and 4K-from-8K, with ProRes 422 HQ option
• 8K/60fps, 12-bit 8K N-Raw and 4K ProRes RAW 
• Native ISO range of 64 – 25600 (expandable to 32 – 102400)
• Internal 10-bit N-Log and HLG capture
• 3.69M dot OLED electronic viewfinder with reduced lag and greater brightness
• Four-axis 3.2 touchscreen LCD tilts horizontally and vertically
• Built-in GPS, GLONASS and QZSS
• Dual CFexpress Type B / XQD card slots

These days, you’re lucky if a device lasts you 3 years. Gone are the days when things lasted decades and device manufacturers often don’t even allow repairs outside their own network of authorised service providers. But Right to Repair laws are coming, providing some hope of a longer lasting future…

This week, Tesla’s stock rose over 14% and joined the trillion-dollar market cap club as The Hertz Corporation placed an order for 100,000 Model 3 sedans. This comes as Hertz is betting big on the future of electric vehicles. Tesla has continued to cement itself as the leader in innovation in the automotive industry with their self-driving technology along with their stellar vehicle design that has left the competition scratching their heads. 

In the nine years since the release of the Tesla Model S, the car company has continued to make great leaps in technology with their all-electric vehicle fleet and self-driving capabilities that other automakers are just now starting to invest in. Toyota for example, announced their plans for their electric future, with a showcase of the bZ4x electric crossover that has an eerily similar design to the newly released Tesla Model S Plaid. With both vehicles featuring the yoke steering wheel and the horizontal touch screen infotainment system. 

Toyota is an example of a company trying to bring their vehicles into the new age of innovation just as Ford has done with their release of the Ford Model E. With Toyota investing 13.7 billion dollars and Ford investing 30 billion dollars over the coming years on battery technology, vehicle supply, and development, it is clear the future of consumer vehicles is heading in this electrifying direction.

However, this research and development by the legacy car makers may prove to be too little too late as Tesla continues to produce vehicles at an exponential rate and plans to produce over 20 million vehicles by 2030. This comes at the same time that the US wants 40% of all vehicles produced to be electric by 2030. 

What sets Tesla apart from the competition is a mix of their stellar over-the-cloud software updates which allows for vehicle improvements to be made to customer vehicles without them ever having to leave the comfort of their homes, along with their comprehensive supercharger network, and the best battery range in the industry. Furthermore, their proprietary self-driving technology has the potential to be a gamechanger in the industry once fully released. Tesla’s ability to use consumer vehicle data has allowed them access to real time information on driving habits and conditions that can further refine the technology.

If Tesla can keep up with demand amidst supply chain issues and can continue to remain ahead of the legacy auto makers through innovation and capability, there is no doubt that they will become the world’s largest automaker.