The latest patents from Sigma, Sony, Canon, Apple and Ricoh

Sigma 400mm f : 2.8 DG OS HSM lens patent
→ Sigma filed a patent for a 400mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM lens.

Sigma 24-105mm f:2.8-4 DG OS HSM Art lens patent
Another Sigma patent: 24-105mm f/2.8-4 DG OS HSM Art lens.

Sony tiltable attachment for lens style cameras patent 2  Sony tiltable attachment for lens style cameras patent
Sony tiltable attachment for lens style cameras patent 3
→ Sony patented a tiltable attachment for lens style cameras.

Sony curved sensor patent
→ Another curved sensor patent from Sony.

Sony patented a curved surface multi-layer sensor
Sony patented a curved surface multi-layer sensor 2
→ Sony patented a curved surface (multi-layer sensor) that corrects the angle in which light falls on the sensor.

Sony filed patent 2012-182194 for a curved image sensor that will improve the sharpness in the corners of the image. Nikon filed similar patent two years ago.

Sony LCD OLPF filter
→ Sony has a patent for a LCD OLPF that can change a low pass filter by applying different voltages to the liquid crystal.

Sony 28-75mm f:3.5-5.6 lens patent
→ Sony filed a patent for a 28-75mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

Konica Minolta 18-56mm f : 3.5-4.5 ASPH lens patent
Konica Minoltan 11-23mm f:3.5-4.5 lens patent
Konica Minolta 55-135mm f:3.5-5.6 lens patent
→ Konica Minolta filed a patents for a 18-56mm f/3.5-4.5 ASPH, 11-23mm f/3.5-4.5 and 55-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lenses designed for mirrorless APS-C camera.

Ricoh 16.4-500mm f:4-6.7 lens patent
→ Ricoh field a patent for a 16.4-500mm f/4-6.7 lens designed for a 1/2.3″ sensor.

Canon patent for correcting vignetting
→ Canon’s latest patent is for correcting vignetting by changing the exposure in different parts of the image based on the image height.

Canon-Patent-for-24-600mm-f2-3-Lens-for-1-inch-Sensor
Another Canon lens patent: 24-600mm f/2-3 designed for 1″ sensor.

Apple field a patent for a 3-sensors iPhone camera
Apple field a patent for a 3-sensors iPhone camera with light splitting cube for accurate colors, improved low-light performance.

Posted in Apple, Canon, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Sigma, Sony| Tagged , | 7 Comments

Adobe Lightroom CC to be announced tomorrow

Adobe-Lightroom-logo
Update: the Lightroom is now officially announced.

A quick update: the new version of LR will be called Lightroom CC and I am now 100% that it will be announced tomorrow morning (EST). Some of the new features are HDR, fusion panoramas, face recognition and CC integration.

Posted in Adobe| Tagged , | 46 Comments

Adobe Lightroom 6 coming next week?

Adobe-Lightroom-6
Update: the Lightroom is now officially announced.

There have been multiple reports in the past about a potential/rumored release date for the upcoming Adobe Lightroom 6. Here is another one, this time from Scott Kelby who is promoting a big double secret event on Tuesday, April 21st:

KelbyOne-Adobe-Lightroom-6
Adobe-Lightroom-6-rumors
For an overview of Adobe Lightroom 6, see this post.

Posted in Adobe| Tagged , | 6 Comments

Wikileaks leaks Sony’s plans: 3 new cameras coming in the next 2 months

Sony-make.believe
Wikileaks published many leaked/hacked Sony documents online. There are some interesting finds that relate to the company’s camera division. The product roadmap for Q1 of 2015 for example lists new A7, A6000 and RX models (announcement expected between now and June):

Wikileaks leaks Sony's cameras plans

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Posted in Sony| 19 Comments

Olympus E-PL6 Micro Four Thirds camera finally released in the US

Olympus PEN Lite E-PL6 camera 3
Olympus PEN Lite E-PL6 camera 2
Olympus PEN Lite E-PL6 camera 1
Olympus PEN Lite E-PL6 camera 4
Olympus-E-PL6-camera
The Olympus E-PL6 was already announced in Japan (2013) and Europe (2014) and after a two years delay the camera is also finally introduced in the US. The US price is $299 and B&H is currently taking pre-orders. Here are the basic specs:

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Posted in Olympus| Tagged | 6 Comments

Canon EOS M3 mirrorless camera now shipping in Europe and Asia

Canon EOS M3 mirrorless camera 3
Canon EOS M3 mirrorless camera 2
Canon EOS M3 mirrorless camera
The Canon EOS M3 mirrorless camera is now shipping in Europe and Asia. For now Canon has no plans to bring the camera to the US market.

Check pricing and availability at Jessops, WEXAmazon UKAmazon Germany and Amazon Japan. US readers can purchase the Canon M3 from DigitalRev (they ship internationally) or on eBay.

A quick M3 hands-on is available at d-pixx.de. The manual can be downloaded here.

Posted in Canon| Tagged | 7 Comments

Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 85mm f/1.2 lens officially announced

Mitakon-Speedmaster-85mm-f1.2-full-frame-lens
Update: the lens is now available for pre-order at B&H.

The Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 85mm f/1.2 lens is now officially announced. The price is $799. Shipping will start in May, 2015. Here are the details:

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Posted in Mitakon| Tagged | 53 Comments

The latest firmware updates from Olympus, Pentax, Sony and Nikon

fuji-x100-firmware-update-v1.11
Those are the latest firmware updates:

Posted in Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Ricoh, Sony| Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fuji launches the Fujinon XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR lens

Fujifilm-Fujinon-XF-16mm-f1.4-R-WR-lens
Fuji-Fujinon-XF-16mm-f1.4-R-WR-lens
The Fujifilm Fujinon XF 16mm f/1.4 R WR lens is now officially announced. The price is $999.95 (pre-order at B&H, Amazon and Adorama), shipping will start in May 2015. Additional information:

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Posted in Fuji| Tagged | 1 Comment

New Pentax K-3 II DSLR camera coming soon

Pentax K-3 II DSLR camera
A new Pentax K-3 II DSLR camera leaked on the Japanese website digicame-info. No other information is available, but the official announcement should be in the next few days and replace the current K-3 model.

Posted in Pentax| Tagged | 20 Comments