For the past few weeks there had been rumours of a new Olympus PEN model coming but today Olympus took many by surprise by announcing 3 new cameras in essence refreshing their entire PEN range. All three of the new cameras share the 12.3MP Live MOS sensor and boast improved autofocus. In brief the new cameras are:
The photographic world is a buzz this morning with news from Pentax of a new Q camera system which seems to hail back to their days of the Auto 110. In essence the Pentax Q is an interchangeable lens compact camera. That’s right, the 12,4MP CMOS sensor is the same size found in most compact cameras today. The system will launch with 5 lenses in total, a standard prime lens, standard zoom lens, a fish-eye and then a Toy wide and Toy telephoto lens. Your read that right, toy lenses.
I could go ahead now and give you a full break down of my opinion on the camera but I don’t want to pass any judgement till I play with it. In the mean time check out the what The Online Photographer had to say about it for an interesting read.
I like rangefinder cameras, I really do, but I am not so sure that I get so excited about the announcement of new Leica’s these days like the new M9-P. I mean, sure its slightly smaller than the other M9 (which will continue and is not discontinued) and sure it lack the Leica Red Dot logo and I like that its aimed at being more discreet but I just cannot swallow the price that competes with my car.
In addition to the new M9-P Leica have announced a new Super-Elmar M lens in the form of the 21mm f/3.4. Full press release after the break.
This is some exciting news to share. Our mother company Comment Media, has launched a new website and podcast. Its called Alpha Tutorials and while its designed to teach people more about the Sony Alpha system, the lessons on basic principles of photography are applicable to all cameras. I’ll be hosting the show, I apologize for that up front. Hope you enjoy it despite that 
The last couple of weeks have been terrible since we got samples of both the NEX-C3 and Alpha A35 but were sworn to secrecy as – at the time – there was no official release date for either camera. Now the news is official and we can share our first thoughts and begin our reviews a little more publicly.
Back at Photokina in September last year Hasselblad announced that they were working on the H4D-200MS. Breaking it down, the 200 means 200 megapixels which is achieved by using Multi Shot (hence the MS) technology. According to a recent press release, Hasselblad have done extensive testing and the camera is now available… for 32,000 Euros. Those with the quarter resolution H4D-50MS can upgrade for 7,000 Euros by sending the camera to the factory in Denmark. Full press release after the break.
In 2009 you may have last heard his name when Willard Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for inventing the CCD. Sadly Mr. Boyle passed away earlier this month (7 May 2011) and Engadget have shared a post of his life’s achievements you may want to read at the link below.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/19/willard-boyle-man-who-revolutionized-digital-imaging-dies-at-8/
Having said all this, there are several activities happening to raise awareness of Anton’s situation and you can link up with the group on Facebook for more information.
Tomorrow (21 April 2011) there is a demonstration happening – with a number of photographers – at 12pm meeting corner Jan Smuts and William Nicol in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. Details can be found here.
Let’s Run Through Them Quick
The Sensation has a great screen, 1.2ghz dual core processor, and as a photographer, the 8mp sensor for the camera is amazing. It also applies creative filters like Black and White, Sepia, Negative etc for stile and video. This will launch in South Africa in June with Vodacom having exclusivity at first.
Tablets are coming out from everyone so to make a mark you need to do something different, the HTC Flyer does just that. The Scribe technology allows you to make notes with a Bluetooth Tethered Pen on screen grabs, it’s great. You can also record voice notes while scribbling notes on the digital pad at the same time. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab and I have the iPad but neither appeal to me the way this Flyer does.
Other phones launched are the Wildfire S, Incredible S but nothing is quite as exciting for the socially conscious market as the Salsa and Cha Cha which have a specific Facebook button for quickly updating your status. This little button also flashes and vibrates when you take a picture or listen to music so you can quickly post it to your Facebook stream.
All in all there are some great products out and we cannot wait to get our hands on them.
You see that picture above, its not a Photoshop job, its the Nikon D5100 in the wild. We managed to be in a camera shop the same time the product manager brought it round for the guys to check out. So what are my first impression on it?
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This morning we wake to the news that Nikon have unveiled the new D5100 and ME-1 Mic. The D5100 will obviously replace the old D5000 – which to be honest was not a favourite of mine personally – and sports a 16.2MP CMOS sensor as found in the D7000. Nikon have improved the flip-out and rotating screen by moving its hinge to the side like the Canon EOS 60D and 600D rather than at the bottom of the camera as was the case with the old D5000.
The ME-1 Mic is compatible with all Nikon’s (though it is likely to work on other brands) which accept a Mic through the standard audio jack. Nikon also have announce the production of their 60 millionth Nikkor lens. Full press release after the break.
In light of the recent events in Japan having heard the news yesterday on the radio and not owning a TV, I took to the net to find images and videos of the scenes that are capturing the world at this time. I came across Boston.com’s Big Picture blog. Our heart goes out to those who have been so poorly effected by this catastrophic event. I passed Sony South Africa’s offices in Midrand yesterday on the way home for the KIKI Meet Up and was told of contacts they made with people in Tokyo still working from under their desks as the buildings swayed… does life really go on that quickly?
I was shocked in some ways (though I understand to make the news applicable to one’s readers) as photographic and gadget sites across the net began to report on factories of Nikon, Canon, Sony etc that would be impacted by this disaster and the reports so soon afterwards from these companies – I guess in efforts to alleviate fears of investors – reporting how staff and facilities have been affected. It seems that in this busy world the only thing that seems to stop and acknowledge the effects of the massive earthquake and tsunami are the photographs. Do not forget the impact of a moment frozen in time.
So we have spotted this on a few websites including Crunch Gear and PetaPixel that Sony have indicated that all of their DSLR cameras will become SLT (Single Lens Translucent) like the recent A33 and A55 which where the first in the range to make the big change. It does offer a world of potential but I still have doubts as to whether it is all good news yet. We will have to see how its implemented in the more pro A77 (as rumoured) out in September.
I have been excitedly waiting for the day that this announcement would come. Cape Town based wedding photographer Christine Meintjes has launched KIKI which is an online community for photographers that she has been working on for some time now. I recall the first time we chatted over Skype and the excitement she expressed over the idea, it was tangible.
Now the big day has arrived. I highly recommend signing up and becoming a part of what looks to be a great photographic community.
Its the CP+ Expo in Japan and with that comes a lot of new camera announcements. There is a whole Coolpix range revamp from Nikon, some more cameras from Olympus, lenses from Sigma and all in all too much to try and share it all here. If you want more in depth content I would suggest checking out 1001 Noisy Cameras and their CP+ 2011 Situation Room.
Read on for some of the highlights that have caught our interest the most.
One of the cameras that we saw at Photokina 2010 which had me fascinated, was Fuji’s classical range-finder styled X100. With a 12MP APS-C CMOS sensor and a lens roughly equivalent to a 35mm f/2 this looked like a great alternative to a Leica M9. The problem was in September 2010 it seemed like a lifetime away to wait till 2011. Now its coming in March, thats only next month. Price, about USD$1200.00 but you can check out more in the press release.
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