Yongnuo will soon announce a new YN 40mm f/2.8 full frame DSLR pancake lens. The details, including technical specifications, MTF charts and lens design can be found over at NikonRumors:
New: Yongnuo YN 40mm f/2.8N and 100mm f/2N full frame DSLR lenses for Nikon F-mount
Yongnuo lenses are sold at B&H, Adorama and Amazon and come for both Nikon and Canon mounts.
Via NikonRumors
Sony published their 2017 Q1 financial results. A few quotes:
The profit surge mainly reflected recovery in image sensors from earthquake damage sustained a year ago, the company said. Sony’s semiconductor division – which includes sensors – posted profit of 55.4 billion yen, a reverse of last year’s loss. But Sony trimmed its full-year sales outlook for sensors, issued just three months ago, by 2.9 percent as Chinese phone makers steer away from building the high-end handsets that Sony typically targets. (Reuters)
Operating profit in chips was 55.4 billion yen, recovering from a loss a year earlier, as the company recovered from last year’s earthquake and demand from phone makers increased due to the rising popularity of multiple-sensor models. Sony controls about half of the market for image sensors, the chips that convert light particles into digital photos and videos. Chip division revenue rose 41 percent to 204.3 billion yen. (Bloomberg)
Industry leaders Sony and Samsung both plan to expand 12-inch fab production capacity for CIS, Digitimes Research noted. Sony, which took a 45% share of the global CIS market in 2016, has disclosed plans to expand CIS production capacity to 100,000 wafers by March 2018 from the current 85,000 units. (Digitimes)
Here is the reported info for the Imaging Products & Solutions (includes both still and video cameras):
Zeiss is rumored to bring back their Biotar lenses (specifically the Biotar 1.5/75). Recently (April 2017) there was a new trademark registration for the name Biotar:
Update #1: the Biotar name could be trademarked by Meyer Optik Görlitz (Globell Deutschland, subsidiary of the ‘net SE’ group, is the company behind the Meyer-Optik Görlitz venture).
Update #2: I can now confirm that a new Biotar 75mm f/1.5 lens will be announced soon.
Via LeicaRumors
Today Canon Japan issued a statement informing potential buyers that the latest EOS 6D Mark II DSLR camera and the EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM lens kit will be delayed and will not ship as expected on August 4th. New shipment date was not provided and US retailers currently do not any estimation on when the camera will be in stock.
The Light L16 camera is already shipping and the company recently published several full resolution images on their website:
“The images are processed using Light’s proprietary software, Lumen, which is powered by Light’s proprietary Polar Fusion engine. The engine computationally fuse the many images captured by the L16 to create one high-quality image.”
The Fuji GFX 50S medium format digital camera is currently $700 off only at Amazon:
Today Fujifilm USA started a new trade-in program, but it seems that Amazon is giving you the discount directly, without any trade-ins (the GFX price at B&H is still $6,499.95). Here are the details of the new trade-in program:
Many of the current rebates on photo gear are set to expire at the end of July. Check out the rebates center at Adorama and the specials at B&H for more details.
Canon published their financial results for the second quarter of 2017 and they have some good results to show thanks to their latest EOS M6 mirrorless camera:
Within the Imaging System Business Unit, although sales volume of interchangeable-lens digital cameras declined compared with the previous year, owing to the shrinking market, unit sales of compact-system cameras, including the newly launched EOS M6, increased from the same period of previous year, allowing Canon to maintain the top share in major countries in Europe, the U.S. and Japan. As for digital compact cameras, while sales volume declined amid the shrinking market, sales of high-value-added models enjoyed solid demand, supported by healthy demand for the newly launched G9 X Mark II, part of the high-image-quality PowerShot G-series lineup.
For interchangeable-lens digital cameras, although demand continues to decrease primarily in developed countries, the pace of decline is gradually decelerating. Projections for digital compact cameras, despite solid demand for high-value-added models, indicate continued market contraction, centered mainly on low-priced models.
In this quarter as well, sales remained strong, particularly for mirrorless cameras. Within this trend, we grew sales of the EOS M6, a new mirrorless camera that has been highly rated not only for its high image quality, but also for its compact and lightweight form factor. This camera was designed to capture demand from people who, for example, are considering a step up to a camera with more features and better performance. Including this factor, first half unit sales of mirrorless camera grew more than 70% compared to the same period last year, leading to overall sales growth for interchangeable-lens cameras.
Additional information:
