According to 43rumors.com, tomorrow will be an exciting day for fans of Olympus’ Micro Four Thirds lineup. For one thing, two new lenses will be announced. One will be the long-awaited Micro version of the Zuiko Digital 40-150mm f/4-5.6 tele zoom, the other will be a new super tele zoom with 75-300mm focal range (150-600mm in full-frame terms), surpassing Panasonic’s announced 100-300mm super tele zoom by 25mm on the “wide” side.
Also exciting will be a new black E-P2 kit, featuring an all-black M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens and an all-black external flash – probably a black version of the FL-14. All products are rumored to be announced to tomorrow, so stay tuned!
 The Olympus E-P2 "Special Black Flash Edition" | Image courtesy of Olympus Corp. UPDATE: Now it’s official! You can find the announcements for both tele zooms as well as the two new black E-P2 kits on dpreview now:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10083110oly75300lens.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10083109oly40150mmlens.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10083105olyep2kits.asp
This has to be the most exciting news this year so far, and I’m not certain if it can be surpassed by anything else! Last night, it was rumored on 43rumors.com that an exciting Micro Four Thirds announcement would be made soon, and that it wouldn’t be any of the major players. Later is was also mentioned that it would be a rangefinder company, leaving only a hand full of possibilities. Today the bomb exploded, and now it’s official: Cosina not only announced to join the Micro Four Thirds consortium, they also announced production of a dedicated 25mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens – although completely manual, as with all Cosina made lenses.
 The just-announced Voigtländer Nokton 25/0.95 MFT. Picture via 43rumors.com. Click for larger version. The news is all over the web already, so here’s a collection of links leading to the most important information.
http://www.43rumors.com/cosina-co-ltd-joins-the-micro-four-thirds-system-standard-group/
http://www.43rumors.com/the-new-voigtlander-25mm-f0-95-for-microfourthirds-has-been-announced/
http://www.digitalkamera.de/Meldung/Voigtlaender_Nokton_25mm_F0_95_MFT_und_Heliar_Classic_75mm_F1_8_VM/6691.aspx
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1008/10082619cosinamicrofourthirds.asp
EDIT: According to this translation of Cosina’s original Japanese announcement, they’re going to produce even more Micro Four Thirds products (not necessarily only lenses!) in the future. Thanks to the OP on dpreview forums.
Via Amateur Photographer.
These two cameras’ specs had already been rumoured for some time, but now they seem to be official. Sony is going to introduce to new DSLRs with a radically new concept (which is technically neither new nor radical, but new and radical for both DSLRs and Sony).
The new models, called α33 and α55 (official designations: SLT A33 and SLT A55, where SLT = “Single Lens Translucent”), no longer feature the classical, moving SLR mirror, but rather a translucent, fixed mirror, through which both imaging sensor and AF sensor are simultaneously provided with information. This means Sony were able to 1) introduce HD video featuring phase-detection AF (instead of the more conventional contast-detection AF) and 2) introduce continuous shooting rates of up to 10 frames per second, due to the fact that the mirror does no longer need to be moved during single captures.
A minor drawback of this new design is that due to the translucent mirror, there is no more optical viewfinder (contrary to the design of the Canon EOS RT), but instead a high-resolution electronic viewfinder. On the bright side (literally), an EVF will provide not only a consitently bright image – independent of what lens you are using -, but can also show additional information like gridlines, a live histogram etc., which is all not possible in traditional DSLRs.
The new α33 and α55 seem to be the first of a new generation of hybrid DSLRs, combining the best features of both DSLRs as well as mirrorless system cameras.
While there are no full review available as of yet, The Luminous Landscape have already gotten hold of an α55 + lenses, and have just published a first field report on the camera.
Revision: DPReview seem to have had and α55 for quite some time already, as they have just published their in-depth review. Wow, you guys were pretty fast this time!
Revision 2: Imaging Resource also have a review up already!
UPDATE: PhotographyBLOG has a hands-on report with body images from all angles!
UPDATE 2: The Phoblographer also has a hans-on report, featuring pictures taken with the α55 and the new Zeiss Distagon T* 2/24 ZA!
When I opened up my Firefox this morning, it looked like all the major and minor camera manufacturers had decided to announce some new product at the same day, in an attempt to make website editors’ lives either harder or easier, I’m not sure about which …
Anyways, here’s some cool new gear to check out!
Ricoh CX4
Ricoh have just announced the CX4 compact superzoom camera, successor to the almost identically equipped CX3. The CX4 sports the same 10.7x 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens, 10 mp backlit CMOS sensor, 920k dot 3″ display and 720p HD video. Additionally, the CX4 has a new image stabilization, subject-tracking AF and some extra “creative shooting modes” which look suspiciously similar to Olympus’ Art Filters …
 Picture courtesy of Ricoh Co., Ltd. You can find the full press-release here at dpreview.com.
Full-size sample shots are available at Ricoh’s japanese website.
Canon PowerShot S95
Exactly one year ago, Canon introduced the PowerShot S90, an enthusiast’s compact sporting many features that should guarantee top-level image quality and great usability and versatility of the camera. The S90 sported a so-called “high-sensitivity” 10 mp sensor (allegedly the same as in the G11) combined with a bright f/2 lens in a sleek and small body, peppered with many versatile and intuitively operateable controls to appeal to professionals as well as advanced amateurs who wanted to be able to carry optimal iq in their vest pocket. The S95 is the successor to the S90, featuring – much like the Ricoh CX4 – pretty much the same specs as its predecessor. The only obvious changes seem to be a new image stabilization and SDXC media support.
The PowerShot S95 is already listed at B&H Photo, although not yet available.
 Picture courtesy of Canon Inc. Canon PowerShot G12
Contrary to the two beforementioned models, the successor to the PowerShot G11 that was announced last year together with the S90, the PowerShot G12 has not been officially announced yet. Rather, according to CanonRumors.com, it has accidentally been leaked by CNET Asia. According to the leaked info, the G12 now suppords HD video and features a new HDR mode that automatically combines three differently exposed frames to one picture with increased dynamic range. From the leaked picture it is also obvious that an adjustment wheel has been added above the hand grip, which is a very useful addition in my opinion.
 In other news, Nikon announced the D3100 digital SLR as a successor to their popular D3000 entry-level model, as well as a revised version of the 85mm f/1.4 portrait lens. You can pre-order the D3100 at B&H Photo.
Via ePHOTOzine.
After presenting two monchrome instant films for Polaroid 600 and SX-70 instant cameras earlier this year, The Impossible Project now announced two more instant films, the PZ 600 Silver Shade for Polaroid Image, 1200 and Spectra instant cameras, as well as the PX 70 Color Shade for Polaroid SX 70 instant cameras.
According to the press release, PZ 600 is already available, while PX 70 will be available by July 29th. For more information, visit The Impossible Project.
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August 31st, 2010, 1:14 pm | 
