AJA has announced the Cion – a production camera featuring a 4K APS-C sized sensor – at NAB in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is AJA Video System’s first camera, the company being known primarily as a manufacturer of video interface and conversion products. The camera accepts lenses with a PL mount and records to a single proprietary SSD drive. Learn more
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Casio Japan has announced the EX-10 – a flagship high-end compact with a 1/1.7″ type sensor and a fast 28-112mm equivalent lens. The model, which will be coming to other markets, features magnesium alloy construction and, like the existing EX-ZR1000, an LCD that flips all the way up, for shooting self-portraits. It also has built-in Wi-Fi and ability to shoot Raw. Learn more
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
The ever-increasing video capability of digital SLRs has seen manufacturers such as Canon, Samyang and Zeiss make video-optimised versions of their conventional lenses, and now Kenko Tokina is getting in on the act. The Tokina 16-28mm T3.0 is a manual focus version of the AT-X 16-28mm f/2.8 Pro FX wideangle zoom, with a redesigned barrel that features the usual refinements for video work, including geared focus, zoom and aperture rings, and scales designed to be read from the side of the camera. It’ll be made in Canon EF and Arri PL mounts, with a suggested retail price of ¥580,000 – almost 5 times that of lens it’s based on.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Britain’s biggest high-street camera retailer, Jessops, has gone into administration, putting 192 stores and 2,000 jobs at risk. The company’s website is not accepting orders and administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers has said vouchers and returns would not be honoured at present. The company, that has been slow to respond to competition from internet retailers, was rescued in 2009 by HSBC, which bought into the company in return for writing off some of its debts. However, increasingly stringent credit terms imposed by suppliers (a common move when there is doubt surrounding the future of a company), and predictions of further falls in camera sales led to the administrators being called.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Pentax has announced the MX-1 – its entry into the enthusiast compact camera sector. The MX-1 features classic styling and construction, with brass top- and base-plates. It’s based around a stabilized 12MP BSI CMOS sensor and a familiar-sounding 28-112mm equivalent F1.8-2.5 lens. In addition the MX-1 features a flip-out 920k dot rear screen. It includes a top-plate exposure compensation dial and rear thumb wheel to control a UI very much like those in the company’s DSLRs. We’ve borrowed a pre-production version of the camera and have prepared a hands-on preview article.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)