Africa

Canon Launches Revolutionary Products EOS R3, EOS R5 C Through its R-Tour in Kenya

Published

1 year ago

June 3, 2022

By Shadrack Nyakoe

Canon Central and North Africa has unveiled two of its revolutionary products EOS R3 and EOS R5 C alongside showcasing its newly introduced Powershot Zoom, the EOS R7 and EOS R10.

The event for R-tour entailed a live practical demonstration of EOS R3 by travel photographer, Peter Ndungu and renowned musician, King Kaka will also presented content showcasing the use of EOS R5C.

Canon revealed its pioneering products EOS R3 that offers all the familiarity and speed of Canon’s renowned EOS-1 series, with the innovation and versatility of the pioneering EOS R System.

With a brand new, innovative 24.1megapixel sensor, the EOS R3 gives an optimal balance of performance, resolution, and speed to offer news and sports photographers a camera to outperform and outpace the competition.

Likewise, The EOS R5 C is a powerful, hybrid cinema camera which combines the professional filmmaking features of the Cinema EOS range with the EOS R System’s photo capabilities. A high-resolution, full frame CMOS sensor, DIGIC X processor and the RF Mount, are the crucial three elements that enable high fidelity 8K capture, and 45 megapixels still photo capture at burst speeds up to 20 frames per second, all in a single body of the EOS R5 C.

To amplify the experience up a notch, Canon has created different experiential booths each with a specific purpose or need catering to a particular audience, thereby ensuring focused attention is delivered to all incoming requests from attendees.

There were different booth set-ups installed at the event showcasing different genres, production booth, Check and Clean booth and R system and lens line up.

The booth for production set up provided cinematographers as well as enthusiasts a complete line-up of extraordinary products that can dramatically upscale the quality of the video content.

The Check and Clean booth acted as a guidance point in cleaning, checking and maintaining Canon camera and accessories whereas the R booth showcase an entire line-up of the Full frame mirrorless series along with an experiential set up to allow customers to touch and try the product.

Canon’s Generation R community brings EOS R System users together with other creative photographers and experts to pursue and share their passion while exchanging knowledge.

The Generation R booth will embody the spirit of this community taking it a notch higher and making the entire experience more personal with the on-ground presence. Furthermore, a ‘Lens Bar’ will also be set up to facilitate experiential learning on the spot for attendees thus maximizing interaction and engagement.

Building on its ethos of putting people first, the company aspires to fortify its presence in Kenya by engaging directly with consumers and partners through the means of R-tour, thus opening doors for direct conversations and feedback.

The R Tour in Kenya will bring together channel partners, selected professional Photographers, social media influencers and media, among others to create a truly inspirational platform for its consumers to engage and interact.

The dealer’s conference will invite channel partners from across Kenya to participate in Canon’s vision of building a strong and sustainable market for the country.

“We are thrilled to launch R-tour in Kenya that serves as a very significant market to us. We have seen some exceptionally brilliant photographers come out of Kenya and some equally breath-taking and nerve-wracking photographs take birth from the WRC Safari Rally. Kenya is swiftly making its mark in sports and wildlife photography with the market evolving at a rapid pace. The R-tour gives us an opportunity to get closer to our customers, photographers, partners, fans and enthusiast who want to deep-dive into the world of photography but either lack resources or opportunities. Through the R-tour, we want to ensure that we create these micro-opportunities for all those interested in learning about Canon, its products or even photography in general that they can leverage on. For me, R-tour stands for building relations and that’s what we are here for in Kenya,” commented Amine Djouahra, Director of Sales and Marketing, Canon Central and North Africa.

Canon envisions to continue engaging with end-users through a series of events including Photo walks, Masterclasses, Competitions, and Generation R Community events among others.

R-tour witness Canon’s first of its kind Coffee Table Book that puts a spotlight on sports photography, Canon Professional Services (CPS) and some of the leading sports photographers of the country.

Africa

Kenyans stranded as diplomatic mission in Sudan closes

Published

4 days ago

June 5, 2023

KSN Reporter

By Wanja Waweru

The Kenyan diplomatic office was closed on Sunday, leaving Kenyan residents left in the civil war-torn Sudan with an unknown future.

The return of warfare in Sudan, which has been specifically targeting diplomatic posts, was blamed for the closure, which was announced by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei.

“The safety of our diplomatic officials is paramount, and we have been receiving disturbing reports of armed groups targeting diplomatic personnel in Khartoum, Sudan. As a result, the Kenya Mission in Khartoum, which had previously remained open to facilitate the evacuation of Kenyans, is now closed,” stated Sing’Oei

Alfred Mutua, the cabinet secretary for foreign affairs, had already told the country in April that plans were in place to evacuate Kenyans if the situation in Sudan worsened. At the time, it was thought that there were around 3,000 Kenyans living in Sudan.

Over 900 Kenyans were flown out of Sudan by the government in coordination with national airlines.

But now that the diplomatic post has been shut down, it’s unclear what will happen to the remaining Kenyans who are still in Sudan. The number of Kenyans still living in the war-torn nation and the arrangements for their departure have not yet been disclosed by the government in a statement.

There are no indicators that the violence in Sudan will end. Only a few days earlier, rockets in Khartoum struck a market, killing 18 people and injuring hundreds more leaving more than 100 injured.

The continued fighting between military troops has prevented the US and Saudi Arabia from mediating peace talks and humanitarian assistance.

Africa

I did not raise him – Facebook Rapist’s mother speaks

Published

2 months ago

April 12, 2023

KSN Reporter

Thabo Bester’s mother, Maria Mabaso, recently admitted that she didn’t spend much time with her son while he was growing up. Thabo Bester is also referred to as the “Facebook rapist” and is the most sought criminal in South Africa.

Mabaso claimed in an interview with South Africa’s Eye Witness News that she had to leave her son in the care of his grandmother when he was just a year old since she was a single parent who worked nonstop.

Over time, this caused the bond between Mabaso and her mother to deteriorate.

“He was entrusted into the care of his grandmother at the age of one due to her being a single parent and having to constantly work,” Ms Mabaso told South Africa’s Eye Witness News.

She said this resulted in the relationship between her and her mother worsening over the years.

“At the end of the day, my mother shouted at me every day. She pushed me away. When she pushed me away, I said ‘No, I will sit by my place and I am not going there ever again,” she was quoted as saying.

Ms. Mabaso disclosed that the mother’s illness and subsequent death occurred when the son was in his teen years, at which point she made fruitless attempts to move and establish contact with her son.

Speaking to reporters about the arrest of the couple, who have been on the run since it was discovered that Mr. Bester had escaped from a privately run prison in Bloemfontein in March 2023, Mr. Cele said they had also been detained along with a Mozambican man named Mr. Zakaria Alberto.

“They were arrested with multiple passports in their possession. None of the passports were stamped,” he said in the press conference.

Mr Bester was found with documents that identified him as Mr Tommy William Kelly, an American citizen while Dr Magudumana had documentation that identified her as Martha Patience Mmerika Nitshini.

The passports, according to the South African government, which had received details from Tanzania, where the trio was nabbed, also showed that Mr Bester had more pseudonyms, further adding to the case’s complexity.

Africa

Kenya’s Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua loses Twitter’s Blue tick

Published

2 months ago

April 9, 2023

KSN Reporter

United States (US) social networking giant, Twitter, has removed the blue verification badge from Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s account.

Gachagua who has over 500,000 followers on Twitter lost his blue tick on Sunday.

The blue verification badge is notably found on senior government officials, journalists or public figures.

He is the first high-ranking government official in Kenya to lose his verification badge in the wake of changes on the Social media platform.

The badge usually indicates that an account holder is a notable person in society, for instance, a senior government official, a journalist or a public figure. It was immediately established why the second in command lost the badge, but it is suspected due to the ongoing policy update, which among others, requires a monthly subscription.

Twitter announced that it will start facing out its legacy blue badges on April 1, 2023.

This follows the platform’s announcement last year, that users will now pay a monthly fee under Twitter Blue to have the badge (blue checkmark).

“On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks,” Twitter said on Friday.

Going forward, Twitter users who want the verification mark will now have to reapply under Twitter Blue.

The changes came about after Elon Musk bought the company.

Under Twitter Blue, subscribers will enjoy priorities in replies, mentions and searches, which Musk said was essential to defeat spam/scams.

They will also be able to post long videos and audio and get half as many adverts.

“There will also be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians,” Musk said.

Twitter’s verification which is denoted by a blue check next to the name of the user’s handle, was launched in 2009. This was three years after the launch of the site.

According to the Independent, it was first introduced after baseball legend Tony La Russa filed a lawsuit against Twitter in 2009 over an impersonator.

The idea of verification was that it could prove the identity of a user.

Musk announced a subscription fee of Sh972 ($8) per month for one to get the verification.

The announcement came after the world’s second wealthiest man took sole control of the social media giant in a contentious $44 billion deal (KSh 5.8 trillion). Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” he tweeted, in reference to the platform’s famous blue checkmark that signals a verified, authentic account.

The new plan’s pricing would be adjusted by country “proportionate to purchasing power parity,” Musk added in the replies to his original tweet, and would also include “priority” in replying to and searching posts, which he called “essential to defeat spam/scam.”