Photo Rumors

Sony NEX 30mm f/3.5 Macro lens (E-mount) specs

By PR admin | Published: May 15, 2011

Here are are the detailed specs of the upcoming Sony 30mm f/3.5 Macro lens for NEX cameras (E-mount):

7 elements, 6 groups
3 aspherical elements, 1 ED element
minimum focusing distance: 10 cm
1:1 magnification
49mm filter size
weight: 138g

Posted in Sony| 3 Comments

Sony a35 and NEX C3 detailed specs

By PR admin | Published: May 15, 2011

Sony NEX C3 specs (see all NEX C3 related news):

Brand new 16.2 MP Exmor sensor
HD video recording (1280×720)
ISO range: 200-12800
New menu interface
New picture effects
25 AF points
1/4000 top shutter speed
3″ LCD screen (921k dots)
Built-in HDR functionality
Face detection
Improved battery life
Expected US price: around $600

Posted in Sony| Tagged Sony a35, Sony NEX C3 camera| 4 Comments

Sony NEX roadmap: 7 new E-mout lenses to be launched by 2012

By PR admin | Published: May 15, 2011

Sony NEX lens (E-mount) roadmap

In addition to the already existing E-mount lenses, Sony is planning to release 7 more for their mirrorless NEX system by the end of 2012:

30mm f/3.5 Macro lens
new portrait lens 50mm f/1.8
new Carl Zeiss wide angle lens 24mm f/1.7
new telephoto zoom lens 55-200mm f/4-5.6
new medium telephoto lens
new high performance standard zoom
new wide angle zoom

Click on the above image for larger view of each of the lenses listed.

Posted in Sony, Zeiss| Tagged Roadmaps, Sony NEX C3 camera| 10 Comments

Hoya & Kodak updates

By PR admin | Published: May 14, 2011

Hoya announced their results for the financial year ending on March 31, 2011

“Revenues from continuing operations grew 2.7% over the previous fiscal year, to 413,349 million yen and profit before tax was up 26.2% to 63,758 million yen, mainly due to an increase in orders with the recovery in the market.”
“Optics business did well this year despite temporary shutdown of the production lines due to rolling blackout after the Tohoku Great Earthquakes in March and thanks to an increasing demand for digital cameras. There are still some impacts of the disaster on our company, but except digital camera business that has difficulties in procurement of parts, our business will return toward normal by the end of May.” (according to Hoya CEO Hiroshi Suzuki)

Posted in Hoya, Kodak| 6 Comments

The latest lens patents from Sony, Sigma, Panasonic, Pentax and Canon

By PR admin | Published: May 13, 2011

1. The first patent (2011-064919, permalink not possible to Japanese patent database) is from Sony for the upcoming 30mm f/2.8 NEX lens:

Here are some excerpts from the patent: “In an imaging lens system which consists of a lens system of 4 group… It is a macro lens inner focus type”.

2. Sigma filed a patent in Japan (2011-059293) for what appears to be a 18-48mm lens for NEX cameras:

Back in February Sigma announced that they will start producing E-mount lenses and showed a prototype of a 30mm f/2.8 lens for NEX cameras.

Posted in Canon, Panasonic, Pentax, Sigma, Sony| Tagged Patents| Leave a comment

Teaser

By PR admin | Published: May 13, 2011

Posted in Other| Tagged Photo Rumors giveaway| 9 Comments

Nauticam NA-XZ1 underwater housing for Olympus XZ-1

By PR admin | Published: May 13, 2011

Nauticam announced a new underwater housing NA-XZ1 for Olympus XZ-1. The housing is rated up to 100 meters and it will cost $950. Expected shipping date is May 16th, 2011.

More images and full press release:

Read More »

Posted in Nauticam, Olympus| Tagged underwater camera housings| 1 Comment

Is Noktor back in business?

By PR admin | Published: May 13, 2011

Noktor’s website went back online today, few days after the news that Noktor is closign down their business. On their Twitter account they mentioned something about “SLR Magic x Noktor”:

Posted in Noktor| 16 Comments

Panasonic working on a new Leica branded 25mm f/1.4 lens for MFT

By PR admin | Published: May 12, 2011

I was busy with my Fuji X100 vs. Leica X1 review today and still have some catching up to do: in an interview today, Panasonic UK confirmed that they are working on a new, Leica branded, 25mm f/1.4 lens for Micro Four Thirds:

“Q: And there’s a new lens to go with the G3 isn’t there?
A: Yes, here’s the first working sample of the 25mm f/1.4; really eagerly anticipated and not planned for launch until the second half of this year. It will be Leica approved and branded.”

In addition to the Lumix G3 camera, Panasonic also announced another point and shoot model and a new 14MP MOS sensor for compact cameras (1/2.33 in.). The new MOS image sensor has the following features:

Posted in Leica, Panasonic| 1 Comment