10 Dec
Calumet Photographic just announced their shipping cut-off’s for the holiday season –
Each day’s OneShot runs from midnight to midnight (CST) or until the item sells out (whichever comes first), and then it’s over. If you miss purchasing a OneShot special, you’ve missed it. But Calumet tells us, “there will be many more offers in the future.”
6 Oct
If you have been looking for a digital SLR with interchangeable lenses that offers full-time live view, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is for you. With the lens changing versatility of a DSLR, it delivers exceptional image quality and expandable creative possibilities by allowing the adoption of lenses from both the Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds System (the latter requires a mount adapter). The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is offered in three colors — black, red or blue. Price and availability have yet to be determined; the camera is expected to ship in November 2008.
The Panasonic DMC-G1 is 12.1 megapixels. It has a 3″ free-angle LCD display and EVF, and the full time live view has contrast AF. The sensor is self-cleaning and ISO ranges to 3200. It will have HDTV output. The DMC-G1 will be available from Panasonic as a body only or in a kit with a 14-45mm lens.
2 Oct
Photokina, the group hug for photographers and manufacturers held every two years in Cologne, Germany, is when photo industry movers & shakers unveil all of their new toys prior to the holiday season. Here’s a rundown of some of the noteworthy products scheduled to hit store shelves.
| From Canon we have the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which is noticeably improved over the original, outstanding EOS 5D. The resolution of the camera’s full-frame, DIGIC 4-driven CMOS sensor has been bumped up to 21.1-megapixels, and the ISO range can be taken up to an incredible light sensitivity of 25600. The new camera also sports Live View and HD Live View video capture, up to 3.9-fps burst-rates, and a 3″, 920,000 dot/VGA screen for viewing and editing your images |  |
| Also new from Canon is the APSC-format Canon EOS 50D which along with a 15.1-megapixel DIGIC 4-driven CMOS sensor, features an ISO range that goes up to 12800, Live View, up to 6.3-fps burst-rates, and like the 5D Mark II, a 3″, 920,000 dot/VGA screen for viewing and editing your images. BestPhotoGear recommends this camera for entry to mid level consumers looking for outstanding quality, but we are not a fan of the APSC format. |  |
Nikon’s debutante at the ball is the Nikon D90, which features a 12.3-megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor, one-button Live View with 24 fps HD D-Movie mode for video clips up to 5 minutes in length, an EXPEED image processor, burst-rates of up to 4.5-fps, a 4-frequency ultrasonic sensor cleaning system, and a very bright 3”, 920,000-dot LCD.
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| The Nikon D90 | The Sony Alpha A900 |
The Sony Alpha A900 is Sony’s first full-frame DSLR, and ais the highest-resolution DSLR in its class at 24.6 megapixels. Other features found on the A900 include In-Camera image stabilization, a 5-fps burst-rate, 100% coverage optical viewfinder, and a 921,000-dot LCD display.
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| The Pentax K200 |
New from Pentax is the K200, which is an entry-level DSLR kit that includes the new 10.2-megapixel camera body, a new lightweight ‘DA-L’-series lens- the smc PENTAX DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL lens, and the PENTAX AF200FG Auto Flash. Nice to see Pentax making SLR’s again — allow us to wax nostalgic for a moment for that beautifully simple K1000 film camera back in the day…
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If it looks like an ‘M’, feels like an ‘M’, and shoots digital image files, it must be a Leica M8. Leica’s update of the original M8 includes several new features including an ‘S’ mode, which is like a Program mode that also automatically adjusts White Balance and the ISO rating to better ensure clean, well-exposed images. Other upgrades include improved brightlines, a quieter shutter, and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal LCD display. |
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Canon’s PowerShot SX10 IS contains a 10-megapixel CCD, a DIGIC 4 image processor, a 20x (28-560mm equivalent) zoom lens, image viewing via electronic viewfinder (EVF) or 2.5″ LCD, and a MovieSnap mode that allows you to capture high-resolution stills while filming video.
The Olympus SP-565UZ contains a 10-megapixel CCD, a 20x (26-520mm equivalent) zoom lens, a choice of viewing through the camera’s EVF or off a 2.5″ 230,000-dot LCD, dual image stabilization, a Pre-Capture mode that is Olympus’ answer to shutter lag — it archives 10 images before you press the shutter button to better ensure you capture killer photographs, and up to 13.5-fps burst-rates.
| Casio’s Exilim EX-FH20 is a ‘simmered-down’, yet still ‘excitable’ version of the Exilim EX-F1, and with a top speed burst-rate of 40-fps, the FH20 is certainly no slouch. The camera contains a 9.1-megapixel CCD, a 20x (26-520mm equivalent) zoom lens, sensor-shift image stabilization, and a built-in flash that can knock out up to 5-fps. |  |
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Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G1, which is available in Black, Red, and Blue, is a first-generation Micro 4/3-format ‘Tweener’. The new 12.1-megapixel camera is compatible with all Micro 4/3-format optics as well as standard 4/3-format optics. The new camera sports full-time Live Video, a 3″ 420,000-dot LCD, and a host of image enhancing features.
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Fast glass seems to be the order of the day according to all the press releases we’ve been seeing. From Canon we have the 24/1.4 L II USM, which is a greatly improved – optically and mechanically – update of their popular low-light, wide-angle heavyweight. One word — incredible. |
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| Summilux-M
21/1.4 ASPH |
Summilux-M
24/1.4 ASPH |
Noctilux-M
50/0.95 ASPH |
Elmar-M
24/3.8 ASPH |
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Leica unveiled two new wide-angle speed-queens in the form of a Summilux-M 21/1.4 ASPH and a Summilux-M 24/1.4 ASPH. For opening up the darkest of shadows Leica has also introduced the world’s fastest aspherical lens, the Noctilux-M 50/0.95 ASPH, which in case you’re curious, is over a full stop faster than the Summilux-M 50/1.4 ASPH, and noticeably heavier. Reminds us of Nikon’s 50mm/1.0 which yes, we owned and used along with our F and F2 elegant boat anchors / door crushers of yesteryear. 
Less exotic, but far less brutal on your wallet is the Elmar-M 24/3.8 ASPH, a compact wide-angle optic that will surely find its place in the hearts, minds, and camera bags of ‘M’ enthusiasts.
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If you shoot with a Canon, Nikon, or Pentax, you’ll soon be able to reap the joys of shooting with a Carl Zeiss 21/2.8 Distagon T*. The new lens, like comparable optics in the Zeiss ‘Z’-series, should prove to be a sharp, full-toned, manual-focus image-maker. |
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Sony is introducing a duet of new lenses to compliment their growing Alpha line of DSLRs, a Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar 16-35/2.8 ZA for the wide angle crowd and a 70-400/4~5.6 G-Series for those who wish to get a closer look at distant subject matter.
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Owners of Canon EF-S format digicams seeking a lightweight all-in-one lens will be delighted to hear about the EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, which is a 35mm equivalent of a 29 to 320mm lens. |
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On a similar note, the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, the official kit lens for the new Nikon D90, has a 35mm equivalency of a 27 to 157.5mm lens, and is also available separately for owners of other Nikon DX-format DSLRs.
From Pentax we have a second DA-L-series lens, the 50-200/4~5.6 DA-L, along with two new DA-Star-series optics: the smc PENTAX-DA 60-250/4 ED IF SDM and smc PENTAX-DA 55/1.4 SDM, both of which feature ED glass and water and dust resistant construction. Also new from Pentax is the smc PENTAX DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited and a smc Pentax-DA 1.4X Rear Converter SDM teleconverter.
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Those of you shooting with medium-format cameras might want to take a look at the Mamiya ZDb Digital Back, which is an update of the capture back introduced last year. Improvements include twice the buffer (up to 22 RAW files) and support for SDHC memory cards. There’s also a beta version of a remote capture software available for those who wish to shoot tethered to a computer.
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Ever-growing – and ever faster – imaging sensors require ever-more-powerful memory cards, like (for example) the SanDisk 32GB Extreme III CompactFlash, which can process data at the rate of 30 MB/s. |
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Owners of Eye-Fi memory cards will now be able to upload images from their cameras to their computers at twice the current speed. Other service enhancements recently announced include Web Sharing for sending images to printing, blogging, and other web sharing outlets, HotSpot Access to over 10,000 Wayport hotspots, as well as geotagging. Each of these new services is available for an annual fee.
There’s also a plethora of new point-and-shoot cameras which we’ll be reviewing in upcoming days.
If you’re interested in additional information or purchasing any of these items, please use the content links on this page which point o B&H Photo, or feel free to click on the banners for Calumet Photo or RitzCamera. BestPhotoGear has personally used and evaluated numerous vendors for photographic equipment, and we highly recommend our trusted partners featured throughout this site. — Editor
