Olympus, Panasonic and Sigma have collaborated to launch an online firmware update service for Four Thirds compliant DSLR lenses. The system will allow owners of Four Thirds lenses to update their optics even when using cameras made by another manufacturer; in the past, a DSLR camera body and Four Thirds lens had to be from the same company in order for firmware updates to work.
Nikon rolls out an AF-S prime lens F1.4G 50 mm in celebrating the company’s 75th anniversary of Nikkor Optics. You would think they came out with at least one stop faster Nikkor at its third quarter century milestone. Perhaps there are more to come later. It does feature a silent Wave Motor for faster and quite focusing; the built-in focus motor will support its entry-level Digital SLR D60/D40x/D40 that built without an in-body AF motor. $435.95 will secure you the new Nikkor when it hits the shops in December.
The latest L glass to get Mark-II update is the 1997 wide angle 24mm 1.4L USM. Canon has announced a new mark II version for professional or enthusiastic looking for finest image quality. Like most mark II L lenses, it features better built quality with aspherical and UD lens elements to correct chromatic aberration. The new version also gets redesigned optics with a 13-element, 10-group lens and anti-reflection lens coating treatment to minimize glare and ghosting. It will be selling for $1699; serious photojournalists or landscape photographers can get their hands on this puppy in December.
The Canon Professional and enthusiast photographers got their wishes; Carl Zeiss has officially revealed the mystery ZE teaser today as promised – ZE lenses with EF bayonet for film and digital EOS cameras. The lenses will cover full-frame digital models, and are fully compatible via its electronics contacts to support features such as programmed auto exposure, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual setting, AF confirmation, EXIF information, and even E-TTL flash metering.
Take about fast lenses and paper thin Depth Of Field! An ad leak from a French photography magazine-Chasseur d’images has revealed three ultra fast lenses from Leica. The German finest glass maker is more likely to update the legendary Leica 50mm F1.0 M Noctilux at the upcoming Photokina with a new 50mm F0.95 Noctilux ASPH. An F-stop on a par with the Canon 60s’s vintage 50mm F0.95. If the DOF gets any narrower, you will not be able to pin down the focusing point.
Canon kicked off the pre-Photokina’s teaser with an indication of 5D replacement last week. Zeiss starts the week off with a hint of new ZE mount SLR lenses to be revealed on the 15th, next week. If the new ZE mount stands for EOS or EF mount for Canon lens, then this is the first and fully EF complaint mount in Zeiss lenses.
Make no mistake, it wouldn’t be the consumer-grade Zeiss lens as featured in Sony’s Mount(ZA-mount) lenses or your P&S digital cameras. The Pro, enthusiast or pixel-peeper looks for exception corner to corner sharpness ultra wide angle lens could finally say goodbye to EF adapter.
Tamron Japan announced its latest ultra-wide angle zoom lens designed for reduced frame APC-Sized sensor Digital SLR. The SP AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) lens will replace the 3-year old SP AF 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 Di II LD wide-angle lens featuring an unprecedented 2.4x zoom ratio for APC-Sized sensor Digital SLR.
Olympus appears to be updating their 18x SP-560 UZ by introducing the SP-565 UZ, which possesses a f2.8-4.5 26-520mm-equivalent lens that was formally a part of the SP-570 UZ–their top-of-the-line product.
And at the moment, that appears to be the only difference between the old and new models. The only real benefit of the SP-565 UZ is the lack of the zoom ring. However, it also lacks a hot shoe.
Panasonic is announcing a new addition to their Lumix line of digital cameras. This particular one has a touchscreen on the back, 5x optical zoom, a 10.1MP shot and a mega wide-angel Leica DC lens measuring at 25mm wide.
This projector has an XGA LCD inside, a new, smaller bulb and a nice light and compact size. Its 10.4×2.17×7.4 inches in size and weighs a mere 3.6 pounds, meaning your laptop likely outweighs this projector.
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