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Canon Merges EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds Lines Into New EOS-1D X

In case you haven’t heard, Canon finally announced a new pro body this morning (though, for release in March of next year, so, it’s a bit of an advance warning, here). This new body, dubbed the EOS 1D X (seriously, what is up with camera manufacturers and adding an “X” to lines?) merges the long running twins of the sports-oriented EOS-1D and studio-oriented Eos-1Ds lines into one body, which seeks to tackle both markets.

So, what’s to see here? Let’s start with the easy specs: it’s packing an 18 megapixel full-frame sensor (no more APS-H here, sorry everyone who liked the traditional 1.3x crop factor), 3 processors (2 new DIGIC 5+ processors for the imaging pipe, and a dedicated DGIC IV from the last generation for just your AF and metering), ISO  from 100-51,200 (50 – 204,800 expanded), a new 61-point AF system, a roughly 100,000 pixel all-new metering system, 12 fps continous shooting with full-time AF (14 with AF lock at the first frame and JPG), and a new, longer 400,000 cycle shutter life.

There’s all the to-be-expected digital video here, and you’re looking at full 1080 with either intra- or interframe compression, and 24p, 25p, or 30p frame rates. Shooting 720 or SD will be done at your choice of 50p or 60p. You got manual audio correction and a built-in windscreen to help you, as well as mic-in for even better sound.

For you studio folks, there’s now a built-in gigabit ethernet jack for piping those photos out. For you field folk, there’s a new dedicated wireless transmitter dubbed the WFT-E6A, and a dedicated GPS module dubbed the GP-E1 (neither of which are included, obviously, we’re just talking available accessories here.)

Since this camera replaces two bodies, we get a fancy specs table here to help you see how they all stack up:

Specs EOS-1D Mark IV EOS-1Ds Mark III EOS-1D X
Crop Size 1.3x (APS-H) 1x (Full Frame) 1x (Full Frame)
Megapixels 16 21 18
ISO Range (Native) 100-12,800 100-1,600 100-51,200
Processors 2 – Dual DIGIC IV 2 – Dual DIGIC III 3 – Dual DIGIC 5+, 1 DIGIC IV
AF Points 45 (39 cross) 19 (all cross) 61 (up to 41 cross, depending on f-stop)
Frames-Per-Second 10 5 12
HD Video 1080/720 None 1080/720
Shutter Life 300,000 300,000 400,000

The EOS-1D X will be available next March for an estimated price of $6,800. It is available for preorder on our site now here. If you’re interested in reading more on the new features, including the new AF module, hit the jump for more photos and the full press release.

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Sony Finally Replaces A700 with SLT-A77 Translucent-Mirrored Camera

We’re going to continue our announcement party today with the SLT-A77, but first we need to have story time. So, fluff those pillows, grab a juice box, and gather ’round.

The year was 2007, and I’d just begun my tenure as Roberts’ resident web guru. It was an exciting year for the digital world. Canon had announced their EOS-1D Mark III, Nikon had announced the D40, their first true consumer DSLR, Olympus announced the E-410 and E-510 twins and with them the return of live view and the introduction of the interactive rear menu, and Sony finally released its first DSLRs after having acquired the failing Minolta brand: the quirky entry-level A100 and the prosumer A700.

Since then, Sony has announced 20 Alpha models. They have added full-frame cameras, and invented the pellicle-mirrored SLT series. But it took them until today, 4 years, for one of those Alphas to finally replace that A700.

So, was it worth that kind of wait? A lot has changed since the A700 hit the market. Live view is no longer seen as a rare gimmick, but now a de facto gimmick. Full-frame has become a prevalent consumer product. Nikon wowed the world with its 51-point AF 3D matrix that acted more like magic than what we knew of AF at the time. Olympus and Panasonic shook things up by announcing a new breed of camera that had the DSLR sensor–but not its mirror–in a point-and-shoot sized body. The megapixel race died off in favor of the high ISO race. HD video in DSLRs became a thing, and then became the norm.

So, after all that, what’s the A77 bringing to the table?

Well, right off the bat it’s using Sony’s new-fangled fixed mirror technology, which allows for traditional fast phase-detection AF, but since the mirror isn’t flapping around it can keep focusing while shooting and can shoot notably faster. It also means there’s no optical viewfinder, and instead there’s an electronic one piping out the sensor’s full-time live view.

In this case, that electronic viewfinder is a 0.5″ OLED one (not LCD) with 2 million friggin’ dots of resolution. And that continuous shooting rate is a very commendable 14 frames per second (which was unheard of when the EOS-1D Mark III claimed to reach it back in 2007, and hasn’t been seen since). It’s got 24 megapixels, 19 AF points, a 3″ 921,000 dot tilt/swivel LCD, ISO 50-25,600 expanded (100-16,000 native), 1080 video with a built-in mic over the pop-up flash, a shutter life of 150,000 actuations, and a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 second. There’s a weather-sealed magnesium body wrapped around it all, with a top-deck LCD and available grip for a second battery. It also includes Sony’s now-typical sweep panorama and 3D shooting modes, as well as all the face-detection bells-and-whistles you could want. And, there’s GPS built in to geotag your photos, no accessory or dongle required.

Interested parties should look into stashing away $1400 for the body only, or $2000 if they’d like to buy it with the newly announced 16-50mm f2.8 DT standard zoom (DT means it’s crop sensor only, and with Sony’s 1.5x crop that’s give it the same field-of-view as a 24-75mm). But, since you’ve had four years to save up, that shouldn’t be so hard, right?

More images and a press release after the jump.

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Sony Announces SLT-A65 Translucent Mirror Non-DSLR Camera

We’ve got a lot of announcements to swim through this morning, with six point-and-shoots from Nikon and four cameras, a camcorder, 4 lenses, and a lens adapter from Sony. That’s a lot to field, so bare with us as we look it all over ehre and let you know whats what.

I’m going to kick things off with the Sony SLT-A65. The “SLT” designation denotes that this is the new generation of Alpha cameras, and it seems at this point that the old generation is now over with. These new breed of Alpha cameras aren’t technically DSLRs anymore. The “SLR” stood for “Single Lens Reflex,” and referenced the fact that a mirror sitting in from of the imager directed light up through a viewfinder, andthen had to flip out of the way forthe exposure. The new SLT cameras use a semi-translucent fixed mirror (technically a pellicle mirror) over the sensor to direct a tiny amount of light to the phase-detect autofocus sensor, and the rest straight through to the sensor. This allows full time live view a la compacts and EVILs, but keeps the phase detect AF of DSLRs. Your viewfinder is powered by the live view pumped through a smaller display.

So, the A65 is the newest body in the line up to use this technology, slotting in above the A35 and A55, but below the A77 (which we’ll get to next). There are two immediate things of note:

  1. The resolution has jumped up to a ludicrous 24 megapixels (the A55 stops at a merely insane 16 of them)
  2. The electronic viewfinder is no longer LCD, it’s now OLED, and it’s now got over 2 million dots of resolution. Yes, 2 million. The very well-regarded LCDs on most high end cameras have a meager 921,000 dots in comparison. And are 3″ diagonal instead of 0.5″ diagonal. Try to imagine 2 million dots of resolution in a mere .5″ diagonal. That thing is going to be sexy.

So, those are the big points. There are other ones to make, though. The AF points are down to 15 from 19 on the A55, but three of them are cross type. It has a continuous shooting rate of 10 frames per second, and since the mirror doesn’t flap around it can keep on focusing while shooting those. It’s got a tilting 3″ 921,000 dot LCD on the back. It also has GPS built in, no dongles and accessories needed here. The ISO can go from 50-25,600 when expanded, and tops out at a paltry ISO 16,000 native. There are three zeroes there, by the way. In my sleep-deprived, bleary-eyed spec reading I thought it said “1,600″ and was quite unimpressed until Nick smacked me for being a dolt.

Also, Sony’s using a new electronic first curtain for all their always-exposed sensors, which solves the problems of needing to cover the sensor before they could make an exposure and dropping the shutter lag from 100ms to a rather competitive 20ms.
Pricing for the A65 will be around $900 body only, or a cool grand with an 18-55mm lens.

More pictures and press release after the jump.

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Leica Refreshes M9 Rangefinder with M9-P

Leica has today announced a small refresh to its M9 rangefinder in the form of the M9-P (P for Professional, kiddies.) Not much is new, it’s mostly the same M9 you know and love, but they’ve added that sapphire crystal coating that was optional on the S2 to the LCD, and the top plate is now free of that infamous red badge, leaving the engraved name on top the only visible branding. Unless you count the trademark body design that’s mostly unchanged after several decades. But I digress.

Like the M9 before it, the M9-P will be available in matte black or silver (chrome, actually), and you can preorder yours now.



Sony Announces Alpha A35 SLT Translucent Mirrored Camera

This predictably handsome compact consumer camera is Sony’s newly announced SLT-A33. While part of the Alpha series, you’ll do well to note that I can’t actually call this a DSLR. It’s missing the single-lens reflex that makes up 75% of that name. Instead, it has a fixed semi-opaque mirror that diverts a small portion on the light from the lens to an AF sensor, while letting most of it pump straight through to the sensor, which then pumps it out to either the LCD or an electronic viewfinder for you. This gives it the flexibility of interchangeable lens compacts with the AF speeds and performance of DSLRs. And all of that is designated by the SLT up front.

So, this is the SLT-A35, the upgrade to the SLT-A33. The A33 was one of the launch cameras for this translucent tech. And, instead of throwing numbers at you, I’m going to conveniently remember I spent a lot of time formatting comparison tables for this here blog, so, allow me to show you the key highlights of the two cameras in comparison:

SPEC SLT-A33 SLT-A35
Sensor 14.2MP APS-C Exmor CMOS 16.2MP Exmor CMOS
Frames-Per-Second 7 5.5
Digital Telephoto Crop No 1.4x, increasing FPS to 7
AF Points 15 15
LCD 3″ 921k Dot Tilt/Swivel 3″ 921k Dot Fixed
ISO Range 100-12,800 (expanded 25,600) 100-12,800 (expanded 25,600)
IS In-Body In-Body
Size 4-7/8 x 3-5/8 x 3-1/3″ 4.8 x 3.6 x 3.3″
HD Video 1080p 1080p
Mic Input Jack Yes Yes
Retro, High Key, Toy Camera, and Posterization Effects No (coming via firmware update) Yes
Records To SD/SDHC/SDXC, Memory Stick Pro Duo SD/SDHC, Memory Stick Pro Duo

So, for those of you keeping score in the home audience, other than the dubious advantage of the digital telephoto (which records at 8.2mp. A useful size, but still a decrease in resolution as digital crop will always be), the only real advantage this A35 has over its predecessor is resolution. Otherwise, it almost seems a step back, looking at that table. Still, it’ll be available, while supplies of the A33 have since dried up. So, if you missed the A33 boat but think this translucent mirror tech is just your ticket, well, the A35 is here for you. If you got an A33 I don’t imagine you’ll be chomping at the bit to swap out. So it goes, I suppose.

Availability is August-ish for $600ish for a body or $700ish with an 18-55mm kit lens.



Nikon Upgrades D5000, Logically Calls It D5100

So, just because the D3000 got updated waaaaaaay back in August, we’re not going to say the D5100 has been due for a little while now. No sir. We’re above that here at Roberts. But, the high-end entry level D5000 has now officially seen an update, called, yes, the D5100.

So, what’s on offer here? Well, the megapixels are from 12.3 to 16.2, for starters. which puts another Nikon camera playing around up there at that resolution, a move they’ve been slow to make. And to go with it, the native ISO range is now 100-6,400, a 2-stop increase (one up, one down). Push ISO will carry you all the way out to 25,600, a number so big I have to double-check it every time I use it. All of which is probably due to the Expeed 2 processor, instead of the older Expeed of the D5000.

The video mode is now up to full 1080 HD finally, and it’ll be a bit better (I feel) for being pumped through a proper, side-swinging tilt-swivel LCD (instead of the D5000′s oft-criticized bottom hinged one.) The resolution on the LCD is up to 921,000 dots, which should pretty much guarantee that your pictures never look as good on your monitor as they did on the camera. Oh, and they added contrast-detect AF in live view mode. Nifty.

Otherwise, 11 points of autofocus, 4 frames per second, a 3-shot HDR mode, and a foray into Olympus’ world with a new “Effects” position on the mode dial, for such fun options as selective color, color sketch, miniature, and night vision. I hear these work in both still and video, for all your artistic vision needs. For you shooters without a bag full of AF-S lenses, the body still doesn’t have an internal focus motor, so your older glass will work, but focusing will be the old-fashioned way (with your hand).

It’ll be available body only ($799), or as a kit with 18-55mm ($899). Press release and images after the jump.

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Sony Showing New Concept Camera to Finally Replace Aging A700

Man, 2007 was a younger, wilder time, and Sony had just added a new camera to it’s very fledgling Alpha series: The A700. It was, at the time, a really impressive offering for anyone willing to throw in with the newest kid on the block. The year’s have come and gone, and the low-end has seen multiple revisions, and a new full-frame high end duo was added, and then the new translucent mirror bodies were added as the future of the low end, and still the A700 went without an update. But, finally, no longer. Sony Japan is showing a prototype model of it’s new middle grade shooter, using the same semi-translucent SLT system as the A33 and A55, presumably to be released as the A77. They’re promising a release for the real deal yet this year, and if you can read Japanese you can hit the link below to learn more. When you do, report back to us, yeah?



Canon Also Announces EOS Rebel T3i (EOS 600D)

OK, continuing the odd naming scheme the poor Rebel line has to suffer through, this is the EOS T3i, which sits above the EOS T3. This makes less sense in Europe where these’ll be called the EOS 600D and EOS 1100D respectively, but whatever. The T3i will be the new flagship of the Rebel line, and come with an 18 megapixel sensor and DIGIC IV processor same as its immediate predecessor. It’ll have 9 autofocus points and 63 zone metering just like it’s cheaper stablemate. Things get more exciting once you get to where it has wireless commander support for Canon flashes finally, and a 3″ tilt/swivel LCD with a whopping 1.04 million pixels. It’ll shoot 1080 HD, instead of just 720. Also, it has a new A+ auto mode that’ll select your scene, style, and dynamic shadow lightening for you, in case you’re just wanting to point at things and have pictures appear from the ether. Not that we’re judging, mind, sometimes that’s really all you want from a DSLR is the picture to happen.

You’ll have three purchasing options with the T3i: body only, body with 18-55mm IS Mk II, or body with 18-135mm. The prices will be around $800, $900, or $1100 respectively.



Nikon Upgrades D90 Quite A Lot: New D7000

Nikon this morning has finally updated it’s D90, apparently cleaning up the line name so that it fits in with the rest of their consumer line. They’ve also apparently pushed the quality of the camera even further, with it blurring the line for now between itself and the higher level D300s. So, let’s get into things, shall we?

The D7000 remains a DX shooter, so it’ll have the crop factor of 1.5x and work with both full-frame and DX lenses. It’s 16.2 megapixels pushing through a new EXPEED2 processor, and has an ISO range (once expanded) of 100-25,600. Weirdly enough, the native ISO rage purports to be 100-6,400, and it’s a bit odd to see Nikon starting it’s native range at 100, I have to admit. It’s got a brand-new 39 point autofocus system, nine of which are cross-type. The HD video is 1080 and records to h.264, with full-time autofocus. The 3″ 921,600 dot LCD remains, but the viewfinder has been upgraded to 100% coverage. The body has an port of an external mic, dual SD/SDHC/SDXC recording slots, and the top and rear plates are now magnesium. Nikon’s also claiming the body is dust and moisture sealed, and features in-body dust-reduction systems.

It uses a new EN-EL15 li-ion battery, and can work with the MB-D11 grip. Pricing is around $1,200 body only and we should start seeing some leak out next month. As always, you can get your name for one on our preorder list as of now.

More pics and press release after the jump.

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Olympus Finally Updates Pro Four-Thirds with New E-5 DSLR

Olympus–who obviously have a thing against even numbers–have announced the E-5, the upgrade to my E-3 (in turn the upgrade to the E-1, see what I mean?) And, I have to say, the body design sure looks familiar. The front is virtually identical to the E-3, as is the top deck. The back sees a few changes, with the menu, info, playback, and erase buttons all being booted out from under the screen.

But you’re probably waiting to hear the more substantial differences. Fair enough. The resolution is up to 12.3 megapixels, it’s packing 720p HD video capable of 7 minute clips, the LCD resolution is up to a now-standard 921,000 dots, and gone is the vestigial xD slot, replaced with an SD/SDHC/SDXC slot. The TruePic engine is up to V now, so we expect to see some improvement in image quality, and the maximum ISO is now 6400.

Art filters and digital level have of course become standards in the Olympus line, and they make an appearence here. Including, apparently, one new filter.

The Dramatic Tone art filter represents real space in a more imaginary way by applying unrealistic tones of light and darkness based on local changes in contrast. This new filter is a welcome addition to the Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Color, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama, Cross Process and Gentle Sepia filters previously available on the E-30, E-620 and PEN® series cameras.

Art filters are now available in any shooting mode, and in video mode.

As you might expect, in-body IS, the magnesium weather-sealed body, and the dust-reduction system of the E-3 are still present here, as well as wireless flash master via the pop-up flash unit.

Full press release and two additional shots after the jump.

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