Olympus stock down almost 50%, disappearing Cayman Islands offshore accounts, organized crime accusation…

By PR admin | Published: October 18, 2011

From what I’ve read online, it seems that Olympus got themselves in a big mess. Reportedly, Olympus paid over $675 million (that equals to almost two years company’s earnings) to unknown accounts in the Cayman Islands. The company that received the payments disappeared two weeks later. The payments were supposed to be a commission for a recent acquisition, the only problems was that such deals are usually done on a 1-3% commission. In that case the commission was over 35%. There were even some accusations of organized crime involvement… Here is the story in links and videos:

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Posted in Olympus| Tagged | 25 Comments

Canon EOS-1D X officially announced

By PR admin | Published: October 18, 2011

New 61-Point Autofocus, Fast Shooting up to 12 fps, 18-Megapixel Full-Frame CMOS Sensor, 100,000-pixel RGB Metering Sensor, Face Detection technology, Full HD Video Recording – just some of the specs of the new EOS-1D X flagship camera from Canon.

Canon EOS-1D X is now official. You can read a good break down of all the specs at planet5D or just check the attached press release. The actual EOS-1D X release is 6 moths away but JessopS (UK) is already taking pre-orders at £5299.95.

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Posted in Canon| Tagged | 19 Comments

Fujifilm FinePix X100 firmware update Ver.1.11 is out

By PR admin | Published: October 18, 2011

 

After some new X100 were spotted with the new firmware, today Fujifilm released the v1.11 upgrade for the X100. The changes are minor:

  1. Performance of auto focus at near distance has been improved.
  2. When “SHADW TONE” is set to “MEDIUM SOFT” or “SOFT”, live view in LCD may display with abnormal pattern (so-called “solarisation”) just after pressing the shutter halfway. This update improves the phenomena.
  3. When self-timer mode is selected, focus and exposure (AE/AF) are set just after pressing the shutter button and these settings are remained for the final shutter releasing.

The new firmare can be downloaded here. Note that the new Fuji X100 firmware update will erase all of your custom settings.

Posted in Fuji| Tagged | 4 Comments

Canon EOS 1D X press release

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

Here are the Canon EOS-1D X camera specs:

  • Full Frame
  • 18.1MP
  • Dual DIGIC 5 – 17 Times The Processing Power of DIGIC 4
  • ISO 100-51200 Native
  • 100,000 Pixel RGB Metering Sensor
  • EOS iSA (Intelligent Subject Analysis)
  • 61 Point AF
  • 21 f/5.6 Cross Type Sensors
  • 20 f/4 Cross Type Sensors
  • 5 f/2.8 Cross Type Senors
  • EOS iTR AF (Intelligent Tracking & Recognition Auto Focus)
  • 12 Frames Per Second
  • 14 Frames Per Second JPG Only
  • 400,000 Shot Rated Sensor
  • Ethernet Connection
  • March Availability
Posted in Canon| Tagged | 31 Comments

Lo-fi Micro Four Thirds camera lens

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

Photojojo added to their store a new Lo-fi lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras:

  • 25mm lens with an aperture range of f/1.4 to f/16
  • Manual focus
  • Two pieces: lens and C mount adapter
  • Focuses down to 0.3 meters
  • Lens length is 4cm; weighs 300g
  • 37mm diameter
  • 25mm focal length which is like having a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera
  • Works with all Olympus and Panasonic Micro 4/3 Cameras; does not work with the Sony NEX

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Posted in Olympus, Panasonic| 8 Comments

More Adobe “Sneak Peek” videos

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

Today Adobe posted few more “Sneak Peek” videos:

Image Deblurring – removing blurriness from digital photos caused by camera shake while the pictures were being taken:

Local Layer Ordering – a new way for graphic designers to create layered compositions that better reflect the way real world objects act:

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Posted in Adobe| 2 Comments

The Canon Mark III finder app

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

Here is some humor few hours before the rumored Canon announcement tomorrow:

Via Learningdslrvideo

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Canon patent: DSLR with touchscreen (and maybe Wi-Fi)

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

Canon filed a patent application 20110249165 for a DSLR with a touchscreen:

“The present invention provides an image pickup apparatus that reduces the likelihood that when a user operates a display screen with a fingertip while not looking through a viewfinder, the user’s fingertip will be falsely detected, and makes it less likely that erroneous operation resulting from the false detection will occur, a control method for the image pickup apparatus, and a computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to implement the method.”

The screen shows also a Wi-Fi and network icons – maybe Canon will be the first DSLR maker to introduce Wi-Fi in their models?

Via Photographybay

Posted in Canon| 4 Comments

Sony’s compact system camera production in Thailand halted

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

Similar to Nikon, Sony’s compact system camera production in Ayutthaya, Thailand is halted due to the recent flooding:

“The factory has stopped operation since 6 Oct and the company said it will stop operation until 14. Operation may resume on Oct 17 depending on the situation.”

Via PEN

Posted in Sony| 1 Comment

13 crazy camera concepts

By PR admin | Published: October 17, 2011

The Edna camera:

“It brings autofocus capability to these lenses through a shifting image sensor. With its horizontal mirrored design it is equally easy to handle for left- and right-handers. A distinction between the Nikon & Canon camera lenses and the HCI makes the platform accessible to the user.” (designers: Vuk Jakovljevic, Marko Doblanovic, Szilveszter Buzasi & Bernhard Ranner

The Rotor 360 camera offers a new way of navigating through the menu:

“The column consists of several cylinders stacked on top of each other forming a set that in would fit into the camera. To access the features and menus, just drag the thumb on the cylinder are in order to rotate each function. Each cylinder would correspond to a line displayed on the screen.” (designer: Charlie Nghiem)

The Sling Shot camera guarantees your pictures will have unique face expressions (designers: Sung Young Um & Jung Eun Yim):

 

AXIO camera:

“There are no tactile buttons, just a simple on/off switch. The touchscreen lets you navigate the menus but for the most part, the experience is quintessential point & shoot. Questionably, the lens is surrounded by a blue LED meant to indicate when it’s on but one can assume, the lens might pick up unwanted flare.” (designer: Christos Ragias)

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Posted in Future of Photo Equipment| Tagged | 10 Comments