Photo Rumors

What else is new?

By PR admin | Published: July 22, 2017

This week’s recap from the rumors and addicts blogs:

Posted in Fuji, Leica, Nikon, Sony| Tagged What else is new?| 2 Comments

Sony has a patent for an astronomical camera with a curved medium format sensor

By PR admin | Published: July 21, 2017

Sony and several other companies (including Nikon) have already filed multiple patents for curved sensors or for lenses designed for curved sensors. Back in June Sony filed a patent (2017-102189 ) for an astronomical camera with a curved medium format sensor.

The first fully functional prototype of a 20MP full frame curved sensor by CEA-LETI was recently awarded pri z es by the European Astronomical Society (EAS):

After ten years of effort to convince the astronomical community about the benefits offered by curved focal planes, the activity is now ongoing around the world, with academic developments at ESO, Stanford, MIT, but also at the industrial level with recent realizations from Sony and Microsoft.”

It is clear that curved sensors are mainly going to be first used for astronomy and it will be a while before (if ever) you see them in your local camera store.

Curved sensors have several advantages and benefits including requiring smaller/faster/simpler lenses and overall better corner to corner IQ (curved sensors provide correction of field curvature):

Posted in Sony| Tagged curved sensor, Patents, Sony curved medium format sensor, Sony medium format camera rumors, Sony patent for astronomical camera with a curved medium format sensor| 34 Comments

Voigtlander APO-Macro Lanthar 65mm f/2 Aspherical E-mount lens officially released, US priced revealed (UPDATED)

By PR admin | Published: July 20, 2017

Update: the US price of the lens is $1,059 and is now available for pre-order at B&H and Adorama.

Back in February at the 2017 CP+ show, Cosina announced the development of three new full frame Voigtlander lenses for Sony E-mount. The new lenses will have:

EXIF transmission to camera body
Support for five-axis image stabilization
Manual focus
1/3 step aperture selection

One of the lenses, the Voigtlander APO-MACRO LANTHAR 65mm f/2 Aspherical E-mount lens is now officially released – shipping will start on August 10th in Japan.

The European price is 999 Euros. The US price is not officially released yet (check here for updates).

Some sample photos from the lens can be found here, here and here. The technical specifications of the lens:

Posted in Voigtlander| Tagged Voigtlander MACRO APO-LANTHAR 65mm f/2 Aspherical Lens for Sony E-mount| 18 Comments

Confirmed: Bowens is going out of business

By PR admin | Published: July 20, 2017

An update on my post from last week – it is now official: the lighting manufacturer Bowens is going out of business. In a statement today the parent company Aurelius Group confirmed the news:

Posted in Other| Tagged bankruptcy, Bowens| 7 Comments

2018 and 2019 Photokina dates announced

By PR admin | Published: July 20, 2017

Until last year, Photokina (the biggest photo show in the world) was taking place every other year in September. Back in May, I reported that Photokina will start taking place annually starting from 2018. We now know the exact dates for the 2018 and 2019 Photokina shows:

Posted in Other| Tagged Photokina 2018, Photokina 2019| 7 Comments

Adobe Lightroom CC 2015.12/6.11, Camera Raw 9.12 now available

By PR admin | Published: July 19, 2017

Adobe released Lightroom CC 2015.12/6.11 and Camera Raw 9.12. Here are the direct download links:

Camera Raw 9.12
Adobe Lightroom CC: Adobe keeps making it more difficult to download the standalone version, see this download info and also this page

In addition to several bug fixes, here is the list of new cameras and lenses that are now supported:

Posted in Adobe| Tagged Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6, Lightroom CC| 3 Comments

New Emil Busch Glaukar 3.1 portrait lens launched on Kickstarter

By PR admin | Published: July 18, 2017

Last week I reported about a new “Petzval-like” portrait from a German company. Today the Emil Busch Glaukar 3.1 is officially launched on Kickstarter:

In 1910, Emil Busch introduced the Glaukar, a fully corrected photographic lens, which besides solving spherical aberration, corrected coma and astigmatism was a “usable” lens. Unlike Rudolph’s Protar, which did not work properly at the time of invention because its construction required glass coatings not available at the time, the Emil Busch Glaukar lens was the first anastigmatic lens for daily portrait photography. By creating his anastigmatic lenses, Busch corrected the above mentioned faults by careful combination of the lens elements. Sharpness and artistic images were possible for the first time.

The modern Glaukar will come in the following mounts:

Nikon
Canon
Sony E
Fuji
Micro Four Thirds
Leica M
Leica T

Lens technical specifications:

Focal length: 97mm
Maximum aperture: 1:3.1
Aperture range: 1:22
Image circle: 43mm
Field of view: 25°
Electronic contacts none
Closest focusing distance: 1.5 m
Filter thread: 37mm
Max diameter: length 73mm/80mm (DSLR), approx. 85mm mirrorless
Weight: 410 g

Sample photos:

Press release:

Posted in Other| Tagged Emil Busch Glaukar 3.1 portrait lens, Kickstarter| 16 Comments

Fujifilm X-T1 and X-T10 cameras officially discontinued

By PR admin | Published: July 17, 2017

Fujifilm Japan now lists the Fujifilm X-T1 and X-T10 mirrorless cameras as discontinued.

The X-T1 was announced in January 2014, the X-T10 camera was announced in May 2015.

Both X-T1 and X-T10 models are still available for sale for $1,299 and $799 (no significants discounts yet).

Here is the full list of discontinued Fuji cameras and lenses (updated from last year):

Posted in Fuji| Tagged Fuji X-T1, Fuji X-T10, To be discontinued...| 2 Comments

Additional information on the 7Artisans / DJ-Optical mirrorless lenses

By PR admin | Published: July 15, 2017

Here is some additional information on the 7Artisans / DJ-Optical mirrorless lenses I mentioned here on the blog two weeks ago:

Posted in 7Artisans| Tagged 7Artisans / DJ-Optical mirrorless lenses, 7artisans 50mm f/1.0 lens, 7Artisans 50mm f/1.1 lens| 12 Comments

What else is new?

By PR admin | Published: July 15, 2017

→ Sigma announced pricing and availability of their new 14mm T2 FF and 135mm T2 FF cine prime lenses: $4,999.00 USD each, shipping will begin late July.

→ New ALPA Macro Switar 5.6/105mm lens announced: this is a high-performance lens for image scales of 1:4 to 4:1 where you can optimize the specific image scale via a ring-operated floating element. The lens can be mounted on the ALPA bellows system or fixed mounts for exact reproduction. See what the lens is capable of in this post.