Panasonic UK has announced a ‘Try Before You Buy’ service for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 Micro Four Thirds camera allowing customers to borrow it as a kit along with the 12-35mm for 48 hours. This offer is available across a number of UK retailers with no obligation to purchase. The company says the scheme lets customers ‘road test’ the camera before committing to such a big purchase. Click through for the list of 28 participating retailers.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Pentax announces the WG-3 rugged digital camera, available with and without a built-in GPS. Both versions feature an image-stabilized 16MP CMOS sensor, and now an F2.0-4.9 lens with 25-100mm equivalent zoom. Both are also waterproof down to 45 feet, drop-resistant from heights of 6.6 feet, dust-resistant, and can handle temperatures down to 14F. Finally, they’re back-pocket-safe, meaning you can sit on them and they’re still likely to work (they can handle up to 220 pounds of pressure).
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sakar International has formally announced the distinctly Nikon-esque iM1836 – a modular camera system wearing Polaroid branding. Details are scarce – with the company able to give little information (and some of that being improbable), but the first model is said to be an Android-based, Wi-Fi-connected camera with Ricoh GXR-style interchangeable modules with the sensor built into the lens. Further bodies and adapter modules are promised to allow use of Pentax K, Nikon F and Micro Four Thirds lenses.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sigma has announced the DP3 Merrill, the latest iteration of the company’s enthusiast large sensor compact camera. Nearly identical to the earlier DP Merrill models, this camera features the familiar 15x3MP APS-C Foveon X3 sensor, but it is now mated with a 50mm (75mm equiv.) F2.8 lens. The lens lends itself to portraiture and, with a minimum focus distance of 22.6cm, offers respectable 1:3 magnification. Video recording is still limited to VGA resolution but the DP3M can shoot at up to 4 frames per second for 7 frames in Raw.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Nikon US has announced a radio-frequency camera triggering system compatible with all its current DSLRs. The WR-10 system works over a 60m range and, unlike the current infrared system, does not require a line-of-sight between the trigger and the camera. Users of mass-market Nikons (D600 and below) can use the WR-T10 transmitter to focus or fire cameras with WR-R10 receivers attached to them. Owners of pro-grade DSLRs with 10-pin connectors can use the WR-A10 adapter to connect the R10 to their camera. This combination allows the camera to act as a host that can remotely trigger up to 64 other cameras.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Nikon has launched two additional camera and two lenses to the Nikon 1 mirrorless system. The 10MP 1 S1 and 14MP 1 J3 are two small mirrorless camera both featuring hybrid-AF. The 1 J3 looks a lot like the previous 1 Js but sees the mode dial moved it the camera’s top plate. The S1, meanwhile is a smaller, less expensive model aimed squarely at point-and-shoot users. In addition Nikon has announced the 1 Nikkor 6.7-13mm F3.5-5.6 VR 18-35mm equivalent wide-angle zoom and a retractable superzoom lens, the 1 Nikkor 10-100mm F4-5.6 VR.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony has announced five Cyber-Shot compacts, including the Wi-Fi-capable, 16MP CMOS-based DSC-WX80 with its 25-200mm equivalent zoom lens. There are also two CCD-based W-series cameras – the DSC-W730 which shares its lens with the WX80, and the DSC-W710 that has a 5x 28-140mm equiv. zoom. Beyond these are the 16MP CCD-based 5x rugged, waterproof DSC-TF1 and the 26x DSC-H200 superzoom.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Fujifilm has announced the 16MP FinePix HS50EXR, its new flagship superzoom camera. The HS50 features a 42x 24-1000mm (equiv.) optical zoom lens and a new EXR CMOS II sensor. A 3″ articulated rear LCD complements the camera’s built-in 920k dot electronic viewfinder. The HS50 records 1080p60 video alongside stereo audio. An ‘Intelligent’ hybrid autofocus system allows for automatic switching between contrast and phase-detection AF operation. Burst modes as high as 11 fps are possible in full resolution mode. A more affordable HS35EXR has also been announced, which features an earlier version sensor, 30x optical zoom and 1080p30 video recording.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-TS5 (FT5 in Europe) and TS25 (FT25 in Europe) compact waterproof and shock-resistant ‘adventure’ cameras. The higher specified TS5 is waterproof at depths of up to 12m (39 feet) features a 28-128mm equiv 4.6x zoom lens, 1080p60 video and Wi-Fi capability. New on offer is Near Field Communication (NFC), a close-proximity radio connection that the camera can use to initiate a Wi-Fi connection with a compatible device simply by tapping the two together. The cameras will be available at the end of March in a range of colors.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
This morning Google+ launched communities. It will be rolling out to users over the course of today. I don’t have it yet this morning but my Pal Trey Ratcliff does and has written a blog post about it here.
Over the past year, the photographic community has come together on Google+ probably more than any other site on the internet. Many of the most active of these social photographers early on migrated over from Flickr to Google. While there have been some great conversations that have gone on in many Google+ posts by individuals, what Google has lacked is a town square sort of feature where individuals could congregate around a shared idea. Today’s launch of communities addresses that and it also offers photographers a direct competing platform for Flickr groups for the first time.
I haven’t tried communities yet, so I don’t know how robust it is compared to Flickr groups, but one thing Google seems to do really well is quickly innovate and improve new features on G+ after they launch them. I’ll write a follow up post once I get a chance to try them out. I’m sure I’ll be joining Trey’s new community and probably creating one of my own. Stay tuned. 
Thomas Hawk Digital Connection