Five new companies join the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group

By PR admin | Published: January 21, 2013

blackmagicdesign-logo

SVS-Vistek-logo

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ViewPlus logo

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Today Olympus announced that four new companies have joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group:

  • Blackmagic Design – an Australian company established in 1984 that manufactures high quality electronic equipment for broadcast and video production, known for their Cinema camera with MFT mount.
  • JK Imaging Ltd. – an American company established in 2012, that recently announced their first, Kodak branded, MFT camera.
  • Photron Limited – a Japanese company established in 1968 that provides manufacturing, sales and service of professional film and video equipment and photo- instrumentation.
  • SVS-Vistek GmbH – a German company established in 2001 that develops, manufactures and distributes professional machine vision components and systems.
  • ViewPLUS Inc. – A Japanese company established in 1998 that provides video equipment and the solutions which link communication and image processing as well as sensing technology.

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Posted in Blackmagic, Olympus| 3 Comments

What else is new? [weekend digest]

By PR admin | Published: January 20, 2013

LitePanels-logo

Litepanels wins patent case, other companies must pay licensing fees in order to sell LED lights in the US. See also related posts here and here.

Sony-55-300mm-F4-6.3-lens-patent

Sony filed a patent for a 55-300mm f/4-6.3 lens designed for APS-C sensor.

yongnuo-yn500ex yongnuo-yn500exb

Yongnuo released the YN568EX – their first HSS-enabled flash (currently available on eBay).

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Posted in Other| 26 Comments

JK Imaging announced the Kodak Pixpro S1 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera

By PR admin | Published: January 18, 2013

Kodak-S1-mirrorless-Micro-Four-Thirds-camera

Kodak-S1-mirrorless-Micro-Four-Thirds-camera-(3)

After Kodak announced that they will license their brand name, JK Imaging announced in Peking the Kodak Pixpro S1 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera with built-in WiFi and a CMOS sensor probably made by Sony. The official release will be in Q3 of 2013. One of the slides implies that the new camera is “Best designed for smartphone” which suggests some kind of a WiFi or Bluetooth integration:

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Posted in JK Imaging, Kodak| Tagged | 24 Comments

Fujinon XF 14mm f/2.8 R lens to start shipping this weekend, sample images available

By PR admin | Published: January 17, 2013

Fuji XF14mm f2.8 lens shipping

Fujifilm posted on Facebook that their XF14mm f/2.8 lens ($899.95) will start shipping this weekend. The lens was previously delayed till January 19th. There are also some new samples images available online taken with the lens (click on images for larger view):

Fuji XF 14mm f2.8 R lens sample images 7

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Posted in Fuji| 9 Comments

New firmware updates for the Fuji X-Pro1, X-E1 and XF 35mm f/1.4 lens coming tomorrow

By PR admin | Published: January 17, 2013

Fuji XF lenses 2.01 firmware update

Fujifilm is expected to release new firmware updates for the X-Pro1, X-E1 cameras and 35mm f/1.4 lens (see cached page) that should bring faster AF and some additional changes for the X-E1:

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Posted in Fuji| Tagged , | 11 Comments

The latest patents from Ricoh, Tamron and Olympus

By PR admin | Published: January 16, 2013

Ricoh 23mm f2.5 lens patent Ricoh 27mm f1.9 lens patent

Ricoh filed patent (2013-7853) for a new 23mm f/2.5 and 27mm f/1.9 lenses for mirrorless APS-C sensor. Not clear if those lenses will be used for the GXR system or for a new GR compact camera

Tamron f:1.8 50mm lens patent for mirrorless APS-C sensor

Tamron filed a patent (2012-242690) for a 50mm f/1.8 lens designed for an  APS-C mirrorless camera.

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Posted in Olympus, Ricoh, Tamron| Tagged | 6 Comments

Pentax announces Efina compact camera and firmware update 1.01 for K-5 II

By PR admin | Published: January 16, 2013

Pentax Efina

As previously reported, Pentax announced Efina – a new compact camera and firmware update ver. 1.01 for the K-5 II which contains the following fixes (download link):

  • Enabled contrast adjustment on Monitor (added contrast on LCD setting menu)
  • Improved stability for general performance.

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Posted in Pentax| Tagged | 3 Comments

New Pentax Efina camera and K-5 II firmware update to be announced tomorrow

By PR admin | Published: January 16, 2013

Pentax-Efina-camera

Pentax Japan has listed two new announcements for tomorrow, January 17, on their website. The first one is for a new firmware update 1.01 for the Pentax K-5 II, the second is for a new Efina entry level digital compact camera with a “stylish design“. Pentax used to have an Efina film camera model with an unusual design.

Posted in Pentax| 2 Comments

Canon opens their first “Experience Centre” in Canada

By PR admin | Published: January 15, 2013

Canon-Canada-store-Experience-Centre

Smilar to Leica, Canon opens their first “Image Square” center in Canada where visitors can experience the latest Canon products and technology.

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Posted in Canon| 1 Comment

Ricoh’s 360 degree panoramic camera prototype

By PR admin | Published: January 15, 2013

Richo-360-degree-camera

Richo-360-degree-camera prototype

During the 2013 CES show Ricoh had a new 360 degree panoramic camera prototype on display at their booth. Last year I reported the rumor that Pentax is working on a 360 degree camera which was later on display during Photokina. It seems that Pentax/Ricoh have not given up on that idea yet.

Via Gizmag

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