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The new Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f/1.2 II lens seems to be available in some parts of the world already, and a user at rangefinderforum.com has posted some first thoughts and sample pictures taken with a Leica M9. He claims the lens has better contrast wide open than its predecessor, is still sharp at f/1.2 and still exhibits pleasing bokeh. But judge for yourselves: http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=110011 I just stumbled upon an article on 1001noisycameras, linking to high-ISO comparison by Focus Numérique, comparing the output of the new Sigma SD1 to that of the Nikon D7000. Of course, the Sigma SD1 looses big time in this pixel-peeping contest, and the editors and commentators on 1001nc go on to bash Sigma and rave about Nikon. Phrases such as “being horribly out of touch with the realities of the market” are uttered. Now, I wonder who it is that’s “being horribly out of touch with the realities of the market” here. Sigma, or the people that compare a $6k, 15 megapixel Foveon sensored high-end specialty camera to a $1k prosumer model? The reality of the market is that
One can argue whether the admittedly rather high price tag of the Sigma SD1 is “being horribly out of touch with the realities of the market”. Yes, I believe that’s actually up to debate, but I also believe Sigma are having their reasons for pricing the SD1 the way they did (development costs being one point). But the truth, uncomfortable as it may be for the noise kids out there, is that the SD1 delivers outstanding image quality if pixel-level sharpness and accurate colour reproduction is what you’re looking for. In that sense, the SD1 is indeed competing more with the medium format market than with the APS-C prosumer market. Last but not least, here are a couple of links where you can learn a bit about the Sigma SD1 and the technology behind its Foveon sensor. This is some actual information, and not pixel-peepers’ pseudo-knowledge.  Sony NEX-7 It had been rumored for months, and from the start the photographic community was going crazy about it. Why? Well, this could finally be the ultimate tool for all those who love to adapt legacy manual lenses to mirrorless camera bodies. First, with its 1.5x crop APS-C sensor, the final angle-of-view is not as restricted as with Micro Four Thirds, which has a 2x crop. For example, a 28mm wide angle becomes a convenient and universal 42mm, a 50mm lens becomes a useful 75mm short-tele, ideal for portraiture, and a 35mm lens acts roughly as a 50mm lens (52.5mm, to be exact). Second, it has full manual controls on the body, meaning you can change most settings without having to dig deep into the menus as with previous NEX models. Third, recent Sony sensor have been known for their excellent image quality, and this one ups the ante with 24 megapixels, leaving much leeway for crops, downsizing and other kinds of processing. Fourth, and this is what everybody is so hyper about, it features an integrated 3 million dot (!) OLED viewfinder, positioned at the top left like a classic rangefinder camera. This, coupled with Sony’s brilliant Focus Peaking technology, makes the NEX-7 the ultimate tool for adapting manual lenses of all kind. Here’s a first preview on dpreview, and here’s a list of media coverage from sonyalpharumors. P.S.: Personally, I am absolutely crazy about this camera, and if there won’t be any highly negative reviews once production models are being sent out, I will buy it, compare it to the Leica M8 and keep the one I like better. Yes, I am willing to sacrifice my Leica for this … P.P.S.: Oh, and yes, it keeps the tilting rear LCD from its predecessors. I mean, c’mon, how much cooler can it possibly get?  "Bel Air" | Olympus E-P1 + Lumix 20/1.7 @ f/3.5, 1/320 sec, ISO 200 A few weeks ago, I realised that my Yashica Electro 35 GT’s meter wasn’t giving me any readings anymore. The battery chek light was working, but the meter wasn’t and the shutter operated at its 1/500 sec default speed. So I put it aside, planning to take a look at the electronics once I’d have the spare time to do so. In the meantime, I was gathering information about possible repairs or replacements, and it was clear that I would have to spend at least 100 € to get a camera that is working and will continue working for some time. This morning, I had a little time, so I decided to try and take the camera apart. I was hoping that maybe I could find a loose cable somewhere, and I wanted to clean the viewfinder and have a look at the light seals. The latter are gone, which is why I sometimes get traces of light leaks in my images. So I’m going to ask my local camera repair man if he can take a look at that. Getting to the viewfinder involved disassembling the rewind crank, the ISO dial and the advance lever, which I was able to do using a small screwdriver and pliers. I also took off the baseplate to see if maybe something in or around the battery compartment was loose. But all cables looked ok, and all contacts seemed to be tight. Apart from a little dust and dirt, all seemed ok at first glance. So, after cleaning the viewfinder I put everything together again and decided to also insert the battery, for no particular reason. As before, the battery check light lit up upon pressing the button. But to my amazement, when I pressed the shutter button, the overexposure warning lamp lit up! How could that be? I stopped the lens down to f/16, and the underexposure warning lamp also lit up. I fired a few shots at different apertures pointing the camera to differently lit parts of our living room, and indeed the shutter times changed according to how much light there was. Miraculously, after taking it apart, my camera was working again! I’m curious how long it’s going to last, and if it can be repaired again by just taking the camera apart … UPDATE: It seems the miracle powers wore off pretty quickly. Yesterday, halfway through a roll of film, upon pressing the shutter button I heard a long squealing noise of rising frequency. After that, I couldn’t advance the film nor focus the lens. Something must’ve fused inside. I guess it’s now officially dead … |
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August 31st, 2011, 1:07 pm | 
