Samyang 24mm f/1.4 D AS UMC price announced, Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 fisheye lens for Sony NEX introduced

Samyang announced the European price of their 24mm f/1.4 D AS UMC lens:

Samyang 24mm 1:1.4 ED AS UMC will be available in sale in the first week of February this year. The estimated retail price in Europe will be:

  • 599 EUR gross- Samyang 24mm 1:1.4 ED AS UMC (Canon, Four-thirds, Pentax, Samsung NX, Sony)
  • 625 EUR gross – Samyang AE 24mm 1:1.4 ED AS UMC (Nikon)

Same sample images taken with the Samyang 24mm f/1.4 D AS UMC can be found here.

In the US you can purchase the same lens under the Rokinon brand at B&H.

Rokinon (same manufacturer as Samyang) posted on Facebook the first images of their new 8mm f/2.8 fisheye lens for Sony NEX cameras:

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Posted in Rokinon, Samyang| Tagged | 12 Comments

Fuji X-Pro1 will start shipping on February 18th in Japan, price still not confirmed

Fujifilm Japan officially announced the release date of the X-Pro1 mirrorless camera for the Japanese market: February 18th, 2012. New sample images taken with all three lenses have been uploaded to the X-Pro1 microsite.

Several online stores around the world have listed various prices for the new X-Pro1 products, but Fuji has not yet made an official statement. I already mentioned that the US MSRP will be very close (if not identical) to the already leaked prices on Amazon:

Price for other countries will be slightly higher.

Two new X-Pro1 videos from the Fuji guys:
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Posted in Fuji| Tagged | 13 Comments

Astrodesign, Kenko Tokina and Tamron join the Micro Four Thirds System standard

Full list of companies supporting the m4/3 standard

After Komamura joined the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group last year, today Olympus announced that Astrodesign, Kenko Tokina and Tamron have also joint the group:

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Posted in Olympus, Tamron, Tokina| Tagged | 5 Comments

Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX Ⅱ lens announced

Tokina just announced a sxecond version of their popular 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. The new lens will have a better performance (ASPH element), new coating and AF motor. No wonder the old Tokina 11mm-16mm f/2.8 lens is currently $40 off (mail-in rebate).

Specs:

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Posted in Tokina| 7 Comments

The new Pentax Optio VS20 compact camera has two shutter release buttons

 

The new Optio VS20 point and shoot camera from Pentax has a second vertical shutter-release button with zoom lever for portrait oriented shooting. The rest of the specs: 3in. LCD display, triple shake reduction, sensor-shift-type shake reduction (SR) mechanism, 20x optical zoom, 16MP sensor, HD video.

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Posted in Pentax| 5 Comments

Will Lytro’s light field technology move to cell phone cameras?

Lytro light field camera received Best of Innovations Award

Lytro’s executives chairman Charles Chi discussed with PCWorld the possibility of licensing heir light field camera tech to phone manufacturers:

“PCW: Do you see your company licensing the imaging technology out to other camera and camera-phone manufacturers?

Chi: We feel that there’s a lot of technology that we can apply to some very differentiated, very interesting, and very exciting products. We feel that we have the capital to do that, the capability in the company to do that, and also the vision to execute on the program. So we’re very focused on building our own branded cameras and product line to sell in the marketplace.

If we were to apply the technology in smartphones, that ecosystem is, of course, very complex, with some very large players there. It’s an industry that’s very different and driven based on operational excellence. For us to compete in there, we’d have to be a very different kind of company. So if we were to enter that space, it would definitely be through a partnership and a codevelopment of the technology, and ultimately some kind of licensing with the appropriate partner.”

This is interesting timing because just few days MacRumors posted a quote from the upcoming book Inside Apple which described a meeting between Steve Jobs and Ren Ng (CEO of Lytro):

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Posted in Lytro| 4 Comments

Adobe Photoshop CS6 first look videos

The preview I posted here last week got removed, but YouTube has several other Adobe Photoshop CS6 first look videos. The above clip demonstrates the new blur and perspective crop tool features.

Here are few more CS6 demo videos:

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Posted in Adobe| Tagged | 14 Comments

Some more Pentax rumors (full frame DSLR, mirrorless camera)

The Pentax full frame DSLR and mAPS-C mirrorless camera rumors are back. I received several new tips on those products.

After it got acquired by Ricoh, Pentax is reportedly determined to provide a full range of cameras, including a new full frame DSLR and the upcoming K-01 APS-C mirrorless camera. A Ricoh representative  recently said that they “will plug a gap in the market” in 2012. The full frame Pentax camera is rumored to be announced later in 2012 (either in May or for Photokina in September).

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Posted in Pentax, Ricoh| Tagged , | 17 Comments

Now, this is a lens!

From the NikonRumors comment section – this is the Perkin Elmer 36″ f/4.0 aerial camera lens. It’s diameter is over 12″ and it was once attached to the famous SR-71 Blackbird spy plane which supposedly took part in various CIA missions:

“These lenses were also used in the Samos satellite program and a modified version of these optics were later used in the lunar mapping programs. Designed by Dr. James Gilbert Baker, very few were made and they are one of the best optical systems ever manufactured. This one is #8. The lens overall dimensions: :21″ x 21″ x 35″ the weight over 200 pounds.”

Focus type is listed as manual 🙂 Yours for $5,000.

Posted in Other| 44 Comments

A better picture of the Olympus OM-D camera

The guys at e-p1.net combined the two leaked OM-D pictures into one image – you can get a better idea of how the new camera will look like.

Posted in Olympus| Tagged | 15 Comments