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Posts Tagged ‘officially’

Sharp announces it’s officially joining Micro Four Thirds system

04 Apr

Electronics giant Sharp has officially joined the Micro Four Thirds system according to a press release on the Olympus global website. In the statement Sharp is identified as a ‘driving force’ behind 8K imaging, suggesting that the company will use the MFT system for its future camera systems.

Sharp has already shown a Micro Four Thirds prototype 8K camera at this year’s CES show back in January, so this announcement just confirms the company’s direction for the future, saying ‘Sharp will add Micro Four Thirds products to their line-up.’

For more information see the Micro Four Thirds organisation and the Sharp websites.

Press release:

Sharp Joins in the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group

Olympus Corporation and Panasonic Corporation jointly announced the Micro Four Thirds System standard in 2008 and have since been working together to promote the standard. We are pleased to announce that Sharp Corporation has recently declared their support for the Micro Four Thirds System standard and will be introducing products compliant with the standard.

As the driving force behind 8K imaging technology and a product developer, Sharp Corporation now supports the Micro Four Thirds standard. In the future, Sharp will add Micro Four Thirds products to their line-up. The possibilities unique to a joint standard will expand the enjoyment of imaging further.

As the company responsible for initiating both the Four Thirds System and the Micro Four Thirds System standards, Olympus will continue to develop and enhance the product line-up to meet the diverse needs of our customers.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon Japan officially lists the D5500 and D7200 as discontinued

20 Dec

The Nikon D5500 and D7200 DSLRs have officially been discontinued, according to the Nikon Japan website.

It’s been rumored for some time now, but as reported by Nikon Rumors, Nikon Japan has confirmed both APS-C cameras are discontinued on its website.

The D5500 and D7200 were launched in January and March 2015 and were superseded by the D5600 and D7500, respectively. Another fun bit of trivia is the D5500 was the first Nikon DSLR to feature a touchscreen when launched.

As Nikon’s APS-C lineup dwindles, it’ll be interesting to see how much Nikon invests into its crop sensor DSLRs going forward. Nikon Rumors also notes there hasn’t been much hearsay in the rumor mill regarding any potential APS-C mirrorless systems.

It’s also worth noting that while listed as discontinued by Nikon Japan, the D5500 is still available for purchase at Adorama and currently listed as back-ordered on B&H, while the D7200 is still in stock at both Adorama and B&H.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Nikon Inc confirms the Nikon 1 system is officially discontinued

12 Jul

Almost a year after we first heard whispers of its demise, Nikon has quietly killed off its Nikon 1 series cameras, lenses and accessories.

First noted on Nikon Japan’s http://www.nikon-image.com/products/acil/discontinue_lineup/, Nikon Inc. has since confirmed in an email to DPReview that ‘The Nikon 1 series cameras, lenses and accessories are no longer in production.’

Nikon Inc. also confirmed via email that ‘The Nikon 1 J5 and other Nikon 1 products are [still] available at select retailers in some regions.’ As of publication of this article, Nikon still has the Nikon 1 J5, Nikon 1 V3 and Nikon 1 AW1 listed on its website and available for purchase. As for other retailers, B&H has all Nikon 1 J5 listings ‘currently unavailable’ and Adorama has both the Nikon 1 J5 and Nikon 1 V3 available for purchase, with the former being listed as a ‘closeout.’

The move to kill off the Nikon 1 line shouldn’t come as a surprise. The newest camera in the lineup was launched more than three years ago

The Nikon 1 series came to life on September 21, 2011, with the release of the Nikon 1 J1 and Nikon 1 V1 cameras. Since then, there have been 11 different cameras and 12 different lenses released for the Nikon 1 system, as well as a collection of accessories including flashes, cases, GPS units and more.

The move to kill off the Nikon 1 line shouldn’t come as a surprise. In addition to the rumors flying around, the newest camera in the lineup was launched more than three years ago on April 2, 2015.

Add to that last year’s statement from Tetsuro Goto, Director of Laboratory Research and Development at Nikon Japan, who told Chinese website Xitek, ‘full frame is the trend […] if Nikon will go mirrorless it must be full frame,’ the writing has been on the wall for some time.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samyang officially announces 24mm F2.8 AF lens, available in July for $400

12 Jun

Just a week after we came across leaked images of the lens, Samyang has unveiled its latest Sony autofocus lens, the AF 24mm F2.8 FE.

Samyang calls the lens ‘tiny but wide’—and rightly so. This lens weighs just 93g and measures 37mm from front to back without the hood or rear lens cap. The FE mount means it works with full-frame Sony cameras, including but not limited to the A9 and A7 IIII.

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The optical design of the lens is made up of 7 elements in 7 groups. Three of the optical elements are aspherical lenses and two are high-refractive lenses. The lens also features ‘ultra multi coating’, which helps minimize chromatic aberration and undesired light dispersion.

As the leaked images suggested, the lens features a minimum focusing distance of just 0.24m/0.79ft and has a rubberized focus ring for when you want to take things manual.

The Samyang AF 24mm F2.8, which retails under the brand name Rokinon in the United States, will be available in July for $ 400.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lytro is officially shutting down

28 Mar
Photo: Lytro

Last week, industry sources told TechCrunch that Google would soon acquire light field camera maker Lytro for somewhere between $ 25 million and $ 40 million. And while Google’s part in all this hasn’t been confirmed, Lytro has now formally announce that it will be shutting down, and an anonymous source has shed more light on how Google is involved.

The official Lytro announcement was published earlier on the company’s blog, where Team Lytro bid a bittersweet farewell to the “Cinematic and VR Community.”

The statement—which you can see in full at the bottom of this post—reads in part:

It has been an honor and a pleasure to contribute to the cinema and Virtual Reality communities, but starting today we will not be taking on new productions or providing professional services as we prepare to wind down the company. We’re excited to see what new opportunities the future brings for the Lytro team as we go our separate ways.

According to The Verge, for many of the Lytro employees “separate ways” actually means “to Google.”

A person familiar with the matter confirmed the original TechCrunch report to The Verge, explaining that “a large fraction” of the employees at Lytro would take jobs at Google. However, those jobs won’t necessarily have anything to do with developing light field technology. The Verge’s source said the deal was more “hiring deal” than “company acquisition,” and that Google wasn’t so much buying Lytro as acquiring its talent and some of its assets, without any specific plans to integrate those assets into current light field projects.

Google has yet to (and may never) comment on this information, and Lytro didn’t specify how long it would take to “wind down,” but it seems we’ve seen the end of the Lytro brand—either as a consumer camera maker, or in the professional VR filmmaking market.

Full Lytro Statement

To the Cinematic and VR Community, Live Long and Prosper

At Lytro, we believe that Light Field will continue to shape the course of Virtual and Augmented Reality, and we’re incredibly proud of the role we’ve been able to play in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. We’ve uncovered challenges we never dreamed of and made breakthroughs at a seemingly impossible pace. We’ve had some spectacular successes, and built entire systems that no one thought possible. More importantly, we built a team that was singularly unified in its focus and unrivaled in its dedication. It has been an honor and a pleasure to contribute to the cinema and Virtual Reality communities, but starting today we will not be taking on new productions or providing professional services as we prepare to wind down the company. We’re excited to see what new opportunities the future brings for the Lytro team as we go our separate ways. We would like to thank the various communities that have supported us and hope that our paths will cross in the future.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Venus Optics officially launches the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5X Ultra Macro

10 Mar

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About a week ago, Venus Optics’ Japanese distributor Sightron announced two new lenses: the Laowa 9mm F2.8 Zero-D and 25mm F2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro. And while the 9mm F2.8 Zero-D still hasn’t made its way onto the English language Venus Optics site yet, today did see the official announcement of the strange Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro.

Nothing has changed about the lens’ design since last week’s debut: the 25mm F2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro is still made from 8 elements in 6 groups—including an ultra low dispersion lens and multilayer coating on each element—which allow for a max working distance of 40 mm (5x) to 45 mm (2.5x). Ultimately, this lens was designed to be as portable as possible, as this comparison between it and the Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 1-5x Macro demonstrates:

Size comparison: Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro vs Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 1-5x

The Venus Optics Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5-5x Ultra Macro will be available starting in March for the price of $ 400 USD. You can also purchase an optional tripod collar ($ 30), Micro Four Thirds adapter ($ 30), or Fuji X mount adapter ($ 30).

For more information, if you’d like to pre-order your own, or if you want to scroll through a series of official sample images, head over to the Venus Optics website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lomography’s 3-in-1 Neptune lens system is officially on sale

14 Dec

After raising $ 585,085 through Kickstarter earlier this year, Lomography is finally ready to release its Neptune three-in-one lens system for sale to the general public. This odd system uses a single lens base that accepts three different front element groups to can create three individual focal lengths.

The Neptune system provides 35mm f/3.5, 50mm f/2.8 and 80mm f/4 optical configurations via the interchangeable front groups, and two switchable iris units. The kits are available in Nikon, Canon and Pentax mounts and cost £840/$ 990.

The kits come with all three front element groups—called Despina, Thalassa and Proteus—as well as a set of cut-out stops that influence the shape of out-of-focus highlights to create stars, discs and crosses, among others. A set of adapters is also available for MFT, Fujifilm X and Sony NX cameras that work with the Nikon F and Canon EF mount versions.

For more information, read the full release below or visit the Lomography website.

Press Release

The Neptune Convertible Art Lens System

One Story, Unlimited Endings – Now Available in the Lomography Online Shop and Gallery Stores Worldwide

  • One System, Three Prime Lenses, Two Aperture Mechanisms: The Neptune Convertible Art Lens System packs countless creative options into one compact package. Mix and match focal lengths, f/stops, and special aperture plates to adapt the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System to your style, mood or subject.
  • Three Fixed Focal Lengths for Flawless Images in Every Situation: This handcrafted lens system delivers superb optical quality at a fixed focal length of 3.5/35mm, 2.8/50mm or 4/80mm. The Neptune Convertible Art Lens System offers clean and crisp shots, dense colors and unlimited freedom of choice.
  • A Dual Aperture System for Extended Creative Options: Rely on the seamless iris diaphragm aperture mechanism for stunningly sharp photos and videos, or use the special drop-in aperture plates to create rich bokeh.
  • An Expandable System to Grow With Your Creativity: Inspired by Charles Chevalier’s innovative concept, the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System looks to the future — Lomography is already designing a brand new front lens with an ultra-wide- angle focal length of 15mm.

One System, Three Prime Lenses, Two Aperture Mechanisms:

The Neptune Convertible Art Lens System offers unlimited stylistic possibilities to a whole new generation of photographers. It’s a single lens system that consists of three interchangeable lenses, each of which can be attached to the lens base to shoot at a fixed focal length of 3.5/35mm, 2.8/50mm or 4/80mm. What’s more, you can switch through a range of apertures and use special drop-in aperture plates to achieve countless shooting styles.

Ideal for photography and perfect for videography because of its seamless aperture, the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System offers you the ideal tools and much more for complete creative freedom — whether you’re capturing street, fashion, nature, portraiture or just the beautiful simplicity of everyday life. After months of hard work and incredible support from Kickstarter backers around the world, Lomography is excited to announce the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System is now available in the Lomography Online Shop and Gallery Stores worldwide.

Three Fixed Focal Lengths for Flawless Images in Every Situation:

Each Neptune Convertible Art Lens System has been carefully assembled by hand using the finest multi- coated glass optics. Your shots will be clean, crisp and filled with strong, saturated colors even at the unrivalled closest focusing distances of 0.25m (35mm), 0.38m (50mm), 0.8m (80mm). With three elements in three groups in the lens base, and four elements in four groups in each of the interchangeable front lenses, the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System delivers prime-lens optical quality whilst offering a choice of three different fixed focal lengths.

Use the Thalassa 3.5/35 Art Lens to frame architecture, street and urban scenes at 35mm; rely on the versatile 50mm focal length of the Despina 2.8/50 Art Lens for fashion, editorial and everyday; or change to the Proteus 4/80 Art Lens and shoot perfect portraits and beautiful nature photography at 80mm. Inspired by Neptune’s moons, each focal length is determined by the proximity of their lens’ namesake to that distant, blue planet. Handcrafted to be lightweight and portable, the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System is small, compact and the only thing you need in your bag — no matter where your creativity takes you.

A Dual Aperture System for Extended Creative Options

Each of the interchangeable lens elements of the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System works with a seamless iris diaphragm aperture mechanism to produce meticulously sharp images at smaller apertures, and beautiful smooth bokeh at larger apertures. Each prime lens has its own optimal maximum aperture — f/3.5 for Thalassa, f/2.8 for Despina and f/4.0 for Proteus; but you can also push beyond these to experiment and produce unique effects with the Thalassa and Proteus lens elements. And that’s not all — the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System also includes special aperture plates that you can insert in front of the iris diaphragm to edge your frame with delicate bokeh.

An Expandable System to Grow With Your Creativity

The potential of the Neptune Convertible Art Lens System is unlimited. Inspired by Charles Chevalier’s first convertible lens from the 19th century, Lomography is redefining this classic yet ground-breaking concept as an expandable lens system.

Thanks to the support of Kickstarter backers worldwide, Lomography has already been able to release a Neptune Convertible Art Lens System macro adapter. And that’s not all — having asked backers to vote for their preferred focal length, Lomography is also designing Naiad, a brand new front lens with an ultra-wide-angle focal length of 15mm.

No matter where your creativity takes you, with this Art Lens System in your bag, you’ll be ready for everything. Available in Canon EF, Nikon F or Pentax K mount and compatible with a wide range of other cameras using adapters available from Lomography, it’s the ideal solution for photographers and videographers everywhere.

Thalassa 3.5/35mm Despina 2.8/50mm Proteus 4/80mm

Tech Specs

Focal Length: 35mm, 50mm, 80mm, front element group convertible
Aperture: Dual aperture system

  • Multi-scaled diaphragm aperture: 35mm: extended, f/3.5 – f/22 , 50mm: f/2.8 – f/22, 80mm: extended, f/4 – f/22
  • Drop-in aperture plates

Field of View: 35mm: 63°, 50mm: 46°, 80mm: 30°
Lens Mounting Profile: Canon EF, Nikon F or Pentax K
Closest Focusing Distance: 35mm: 0.25m , 50mm: 0.4m, 80mm: 0.8m
Lens Construction:

  • Lens Base: 3 elements in 3 groups
  • Front Lens: 4 elements in 4 groups for each focal length

Filter Thread: 52mm
Lens Coating: Multi-coated Electronic Contacts: No Focusing Mechanism: Helicoid

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lytro has officially killed off its online sharing platform for light-field images

06 Dec

Lytro, the pioneers in the area of light field photography, decided to abandon the consumer market and focus on Light Field video solutions more than two years ago. But it wasn’t until this month that Lytro took the inevitable step early adopters of the company’s cameras had been fearing: the company has now discontinued the pictures.lytro.com platform, which allowed Lytro users to share their refocusable ‘living’ light-field images with others online and through Facebook.

This means the Lytro desktop application is now the only remaining tool for users of the original Lytro and the Lytro ILLUM cameras to view their image results off-camera. In fact, if you visit our original Lytro 16GB Review, you’ll see the living pictures no longer appear because it is now impossible to share native light field images online.

The app only allows you to adjust and animate light field images and export them in .jpg, .mov, .gif and other conventional formats for viewing without their trademark ‘living picture’ ability to refocus.

Unfortunately, the closure of pictures.lytro.com likely represents the final chapter in Lytro’s failure in the consumer photography market. Though Lytro cameras are no doubt a part of imaging history, and we hope the company does better in its new ventures.

You can still read our review of the original Lytro (minus the embedded light field images) and I’ll always fondly remember the Lytro photo walk at CES 2012. You’ll find Lytro’s full announcement on its website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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GoPro’s 5.2K 360-degree Fusion camera officially launched, costs $700

01 Oct

The GoPro Hero6 was the big news to come out of GoPro’s launch event yesterday, but it’s not the only thing the company revealed. CEO Nick Woodman also officially launched the previously-announced and still somewhat-mysterious GoPro Fusion—the company’s 360° 5.2K action camera.

The GoPro Fusion was first teased at CES in 2016 and revealed in April of this year, but other than its ability to shoot 5.2K spherical video at 30fps, we really didn’t know much about it. Official release date was set for “Fall” and people mostly forgot about it… until yesterday, that is. We found out a lot more about Fusion the launch event.

In addition to that video spec, the Fusion uses its two lenses to shoot 18MP spherical photos, captures 360° sound, is waterproof to 16feet (5 meters) without any external case, and features ‘gimbal-like stabilization’ that is achieved using the built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass. Additional features include time lapse video and photo modes, night lapse and burst modes, voice control in 10 languages, and built-in GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth.

Here are a few video breakdowns of the different features built into the camera, like that gimbal-like stabilization and something called ‘OverCapture’:

The GoPro Fusion is already up for pre-order on the GoPro website. It will cost you $ 700 and GoPro plans to ship the Fusion later this month. Click here to find out more or pre-order yours now.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Feature-boosting Panasonic GH5 Firmware 2.0 is officially live

28 Sep

The long-awaited ‘Firmware Update Version 2.0’ for Panasonic’s GH5 is officially live today. The update was teased when the camera was first unveiled, and more details about the update were released in August. But even then, the official release date was a mystery. We only knew that it would drop at ‘the end of September.’

Well, it turns out ‘the end of September’ meant today: September 27th, 2017.

If you own a GH5 you’ll want to head to Panasonic’s support website and download this firmware update ASAP. You can get a full breakdown of the features this update adds or improves upon here, but here’s a quick list of the most prominent boosts:

  • 400Mbps All-I compression options in 4K (200Mbps in 1080)
  • Higher resolution 4:3 video capture for shooting with anamorphic lenses
  • Hybrid Log Gamma shooting mode (HDR TV-ready Log shooting)
  • More responsive autofocus, especially in 24p video shooting
  • USB-based tethered shooting option with free Mac/Win software
  • Additional Stabilization mode steadier hand-held video
  • Improvements to 6K and 4K Photo modes

Grab the free update for yourself at this link, and be sure to check out our full Firmware Version 2.0 feature breakdown while your camera updates:

GH5 Firmware 2.0 Feature Breakdown

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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