We all know making precision pieces of glass for camera lenses must be a difficult task. Today Nikon Japan released a beautiful video showing exactly what goes into making their ED Nano Crystal coated lens elements. I really do not know what I’m looking at but it’s still pretty amazing to see how much effort and care goes into the gear we use everyday. It’s hard to take those who complain about quality control when you watch something like this. [more]
Have you ever wanted to film yourself while doing a photoshoot for some behind the scenes action, but not one of your videographer buddies wanted to get away from whatever indie marathon was running that weekend and help you film it? Well, now with SOLOSHOT you don’t have to worry about picking up the phone and degrading yourself by begging to your cinephile friends, you can do it yourself. [more]
I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about the Sony RX1, a true, compact beast with a full-frame sensor. But I was less than impressed with its price, thinking there’s no way this can really be as great as a high-end DSLR. Put up against the D800, the RX1 does surprisingly well in DxoMark’s tests, however… [more]
On December 17th, Fstoppers briefly introduced you to Polaroid’s upcoming IM1836 (dumb name for such an innovative product). But what we didnt know at the time was that this camera is not only the first camera to feature interchangeable lenses and Android Jellybean, but also the first camera to have the sensor built right into the lens instead of the camera’s body. Polaroid is hoping to eliminate sensor dust that is caused by changing your lenses by putting the sensor in the lens itself. [more]
In an interesting development, four months ago, Sigma announced a dock that allows you to connect your Sigma lens to your computer and adjust custom settings, but we have today we have more information, expanding on what we already posted then. You can adjust setting like a new minimum focus distance, autofocus speed, optical stabilization parameters and more. It’ll even let you update the lens firmware. This is pretty neat, I think, and the first such product of its kind to my knowledge. [more]
Until now, Sony has been the only XQD card manufacturer (you know, for those crazy fast, kind of small, and weird format cards that go into your Nikon D4). Finally, Lexar has announced their own 32GB ($299.99) and 64GB ($579.99) versions along with a USB 3.0 XQD card reader. The cards feature read speeds of up to 168MB/s (1100x) and slower write speeds that aren’t yet stated. A 256GB SDXC 600x card was also announced, holding the high-end for both capacity and speed of Lexar’s SD card lineup. [more]
The 14-megapixel Nikon 1 J3 mirrorless camera and 24-megapixel Nikon D5200
Sigma has unveiled the latest iteration of their extremely powerful compact camera series in the DP3 Merrill, a 46 megapixel monster with a 50mm f/2.8 macro lens (a focal range equivalent to 75mm on a 35mm SLR camera) and Sigma’s signature Foveon X3 sensor. It includes an advanced user interface and the capability of seven-frame continuous shooting. It is designed to be paired with its DP Merrill predecessors, the DP1 and DP2, as a complete compact camera tool set. [more]
CES started today in Las Vegas, and with it comes the announcement of pricing and availability of the two lenses we announced last year. The 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC MACRO OS HSM will be available this month and the 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM will be available in February. The 17-70mm will retail for $499 and the 120-300 will retail for $3,599. [more]
Olympus blew the doors off the camera announcing train with six cameras released at CES this week: the STYLUS SH-50 IHS, two new STYLUS TOUGH IHS cameras, the TOUGH TG-2,the STYLUS SZ-16 iHS and the STYLUS SZ-15. There is kind of a lot to take in, so let’s go one by one and so we can cover what these are all about. [more]
The new Fujifilm X100S
Well, the teaser ad from Canon France that we showed you last week was confirmed today. The PowerShot N is the compact camera that Canon is pushing of their four released cameras today. Here is a promo video they put on Youtube. [more]
There have been a few really great lenses released in the past couple months hogging the spotlight, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the newly released upgraded Tamron 90mm f/2.8 VC Macro passed under your radar. I’ve had a few weeks with it and have mixed feelings on Tamron’s latest prime. [more]
In addition to the PowerShot N, Canon also announced three other PowerShot cameras today: the ELPH 130 IS, the A2600, and the A1400. These cameras supposedly give consumers a simple, yet enhanced image sharing experience with Canon’s built-in wireless functionality, which has evolved with new options that help make posting on social networking sites easy. It’s obvious Canon is trying to mimic the ease of mobile phone cameras while maintaining higher image quality. [more]
Canon today announced the the PowerShot N, a tiny portable camera designed to capture “life’s every day moments.” The 12.1- megapixel High-Sensitivity CMOS sensor and DIGIC 5 Image Processor is packed in an insanely small body which includes a tilt screen for tough angles. The tiny camera will retail for $300 and is expected in April. [more]
