Nikon has officially announced the new 70-200mm f/4G ED VR, a lens that we first reported on last week. The specs that leaked a day ago were spot on: the lens features a fancy schmancy new Vibration Reduction (VR) system that offers up to 5 stops of image stabilization, raising the bar from 4.
Read more…
We reported last week the Nikon is set to fill a gap in its lens lineup by introducing a new Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/4G ED VR lens — a lens that should be smaller and cheaper than its f/2.8 counterpart. As we move closer to the lens’ announcement (rumored to be sometime this week), new details about it are starting to emerge.
Read more…
Since it was announced back in 2006, Canon’s 70-200mm f/4L IS lens has been an attractive option for photographers who want a lighter and cheaper alternative to the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS. For the price of one stop, one could get a lens that’s nearly half as heavy (1.7lb vs 3.3lb) and significantly less expensive. Nikon shooters may soon have a similar choice as well: Nikon is planning to fill in this gap in its lens lineup by announcing its own 70-200mm f/4 a week from now.
Read more…
Nikon has a support page for people who wonder why the company hasn’t added sensor-shift image stabilization to its DSLRs. The first point is that stabilizing the image before it enters the camera allows the user to see exactly what the sensor “sees” through the viewfinder, and allows the autofocus and metering sensors to take advantage of this stabilized image as well. Secondly, they state that they can optimize the system for each lens to achieve finely tuned stabilization that gains extra stops of light over sensor-based systems.
Why is ‘in-lens’ VR superior to ‘in-camera’ VR? (via Nikon Rumors)
Things aren’t going very well for Sigma these days — just days after the world balked at the $9,700 price tag it’s attaching to the upcoming SD1 DSLR, Nikon is announcing that it’s suing Sigma for $150 million over the vibration reduction technology found in Sigma DSLR lenses. Furthermore, it’s demanding that Sigma put a halt to the manufacturing and sale of lenses that infringe on the VR patents, which might be a large number of OS (Optical Stabilization) lenses.
(via Nikon Rumors)
Image credit: Fighting Topis by Stuart Barr
Canon might be rolling out a new Image Stabilized lens with a built-in teleconverter, but Tamron and Nikon seem to have image-stabilization/vibration-reduction tricks up their sleeve as well. Apparently in the early 2000s both Nikon and Tamron filed patents for teleconverters with image stabilization baked right in. Tamron’s was for a standard unit that sits between the lens and the camera body, while Nikon’s was for a unit that sits in front of the lens.
Read more…
Man-made technologies are often inspired by things found in nature, right? Well, the big camera corps could learn a thing or two about in-body image-stabilization/vibration-reduction from chickens.
(via Reddit)
