Alongside the 24-70mm f/4 IS and 35mm f/2 IS lenses Canon announced today was an interesting tidbit that hasn’t gotten that much press: Canon is refreshing its lens cap design. Canon’s ‘Mark II’ lens caps feature a pinch-style design that’s pretty standard in the industry.
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In addition to two new entry-level DSLRs, Canon is also releasing two new entry-level flash units, the 320EX and 270EX II. The 320EX includes a built-in LED light designed to provide illumination for video recording DSLRs, can be assigned to one of four channels, and can be wirelessly controlled with the newly announced T3i/600D. The 270EX II is a compact, lightweight flash that swivels in four positions ranging from 0 to 90 degrees, and can be wirelessly triggered but does not have channel capabilities.
Both units will be available in April, with the 320EX priced at $250 and the 270EX II priced at $170.
Sony has just announced two new 16.2-megapixel cameras that pack a lot of zoom into compact bodies. The DSC-HX100V (on left) includes a 27mm Carl Zeiss lens with 30x optical zoom, or the equivalent of a 27-810mm lens on 35mm film. The DSC-HX9V packs a smaller 24mm Sony lens with 16x optical zoom, but is still the equivalent of a 24-384mm lens.
Aside from the monstrous reach, these cameras also shoot 1080p HD video, focus at DSLR speeds, have 3-inch LCD screens, and include many of the features standard on sony CyberShots now (e.g. 3D Sweep Panorama, GPS, and Dual Recording for shooting video and stills at the same time). The cameras will be available starting in April, with the HX100V priced at $450 and the HX9V at $350.
Sure Lexar just launched a 128GB SDXC card, but that only transfers at a meager 20MB/s. SanDisk’s new Extreme Pro Compact Flash card announced today boasts the same 128GB capacity but has a write speed of up to 100MB/s. That extra 80MB/s is quite costly — unlike the $700 it costs to buy the Lexar SDXC card, this SanDisk one costs $1,500. But as they say, time is money… right?
In his recent Twitter Q&A session regarding House being filmed with a 5D Mark II, director Greg Yaitanes answered a question about differences of the new setup by saying, “focus was hard with these lenses but more “cine-style” lenses are being made as we speak.” Lo and behold, new cine lenses are being announced!
Carl Zeiss has just announced the first set of prime and zoom lenses designed specifically for HDSLR cameras. The new Compact Prime CP.2 and Lightweight Zoom LWZ.2 lenses have interchangeable mounts and can be used on F (Nikon), EF (Canon), and PL (traditional cine camera) systems.
The primes range in focal length from 18mm to 85mm and can be used on full frame cameras, while the zooms are limited to crop sensor bodies. Here’s an interesting quote from the press release:
The trend of filming in high definition using a digital SLR camera is unstoppable. Moviemaking today is unthinkable without this technique, whether for independent filmmakers, television producers or professional still photographers who wish to expand their services.
Pricing was not unannounced, but the lenses will be available starting June 2010.
At the beginning of the week, Hasselblad announced the H4D-40 medium format DSLR, and stated the camera would be unveiled next week at the February 10th worldwide launch. Well, details of the camera were leaked onto the Internet, leading Hasselblad to lift the February 9th embargo it had request. Today Hasselblad officially released photos and features of the new camera.
The 40 megapixel camera will cost $19,995, includes a lens and viewfinder, and is meant to compete with the Leica S2 (a 37.5MP medium format camera in a 35mm style body). In their press release today, Hasselblad CEO Larry Hansen states,
Most high-end photographers understand the advantages that a medium format system has over smaller formats, but many younger photographers have never been exposed to larger format photography.
Hmmm… Many younger photographers have never been exposed to $19,995 cameras either.
(via Amateur Photographer)
