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› archive for August 31st, 2010

Olympus Releases All Black E-P2 Kit, Jody Grober Is The Likely Audience

If there’s one thing my boss is good at, it’s helping pros get the equipment they need. If there’s a second thing, it’s complaining when cameras don’t come in “professional” black. So, Jody Grober, this kit is for you.

At its heart, it’s the same E-P2 with 17mm f2.8 pancake prime that’s been available for a while. So, you’re talking 13 megapixels, a 3″ LCD, full-time LiveView, Olympus’ dust-reduction system and in-body sensor-shift image stabilization, and those find-them-fun-or-hate-them-passionately art filters (including multiple exposure.) And they’re adding the previously optional FL-14 flashgun to the package. And the lens and flash are now black.

Think you can handle that? Good. Estimated pricing is about the same as the current kit without the flash, so, basically you get the black paint and the flash for free. Can’t beat that, now can you?

Coming, er, sometime?



Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm Reaches 600mm Equivalency

Like zoom? (Zoomy!) You know you do, come on… And that’s why you’re excited by Olympus’ new M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75-300mm f4.8-6.7. Because, for those of you not hip to the game, on the Four-Thirds and Micro Four-Thirds system, there’s a crop factor of 2x, meaning a 300mm lens will appear to have the same zoominess a 600mm did on 35mm film bodies.

For the record, 600mm is a lot.

I mean, 600mm is often the longest lens any manufacturer will make in a 35mm line-up.

So yeah.

As always, the name really tells you most of it, like that this lens is a little slow at 6.7 on the long end. What the specs don’t tell you is it weighs less than a pound and is a little over 4.5″ long as pictured. Yeah, seriously. Not even 5″ traveling size gets you 600mm equivalent. And, it looks pretty nice to boot.

Estimated retail? $900 or so. But you’ll pay it, because you know you love the zoooooooom!



Olympus Announces m.Zuiko 40-150mm f4-5.6

For all you Micro Four-Thirds fans, Olympus has a couple new ones today for you, starting with this new M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm f4.0-5.6 which ways all of 6.3oz and, like in the big-brother Four-Thirds line, compliments the kit 14-42mm to make a fully covered 28-300mm equivalent range in only two compact lenses.

Now, I used the Zuiko 40-150mm that came out back with the E-410, and it was a nice lens. Compact and light, and fairly sharp. A bit slow, sure, but it was like a fifth the size of the 50-200mm I replaced it with (a lens that was so big in comparison I nicknamed it the “Leviathan”). So, I have every faith this newer, more compact model with the same range and f-stops will be a rather similar performer, and will be just fine for general use.

Also, it reportedly uses a silent motor, so it can autofocus during movies with being heard over the din of your memories.

Estimated retail when it starts trickling in? About $300 bucks.



Canon Creates Monster Sensor, Largest CMOS Going

So, see that diagram there? That diagram shows the size differences between common sensor sizes and Canon’s newly announced 202mm x 205mm CMOS beast. Here’s a clue, that whole black area is the new sensor, not a frame. That red area is Phase One’s biggest medium format sensor. Seriously. Click it to see it larger, and all conveniently labeled.

This new CMOS is apparently being made from a 12″ wafer, and the final usable area still measures at about 8″ square. It’s really kind of huge. Canon is also saying it works in situations with 1/100th the light as a DSLR can operate in. Can you say ‘yowza’?

Like Canon’s other bit of silicon bragging recently, no word when or even if this’ll ever see use, more or less in what. For now, we just get to respect their mad-tinkering ways. Go go engineers!

It's The Big One, Obviously.




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