Olympus has unveiled a high-end standard zoom to match the E-M1: the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO. It offers a 24-80mm equivalent range and is dust, splash and, freezeproof, and uses a manual focus clutch design similar to the 12mm F2 and 17mm F2.8 primes. Olympus has also announced the development of a matching 40-150mm F2.8 telezoom, which is scheduled for release next year. Click through for more details.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
What starts as a scientific study takes on a life of its own, guided only by the imagination of artist Rogan Brown as he transforms a sheet of paper into a masterful sculpture with thousands of tiny incisions. Rogan takes his inspiration from natural organic forms, mineral and vegetal, ranging from microscopic individual cells to large-scale geological formations.
Each of these sculptures is incredibly time-consuming, with a single work sometimes taking more than five months to complete. Rogan starts with a pattern that catches his eye, carefully observing his chosen inspiration and creating ‘scientific’ preparatory drawings. But then, as he states, “everything has to be refracted through the prism of the imagination, estranged and in some way transformed.”
The artist sees the very long, arduous process of not only allowing his imagination to take over the work in a natural way but actually making those precision cuts in paper as an essential element of the work. “The finished artifact is really only the ghostly fossilized vestige of this slow, long process of realization.”
The complexity of Rogan’s work calls to mind the papercut art of Tomoko Shioyasu, whose own nature-inspired paper tapestries based on the structure of cells can measure as large as twelve feet high and eight feed wide.
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Rokinon has made available a video version of the Samyang 16mm f/2.0 prime. The 16mm T2.2 Cine lens is available for pre-order in Nikon F, Canon EF, Micro Four Thirds, Sony A, and Sony E mounts. Like other video primes, it offers focus and aperture racks for use with cinema rigs, stepless aperture control, and calibration in T-stops rather than F-stops. Rokinon’s website lists compatible mounts for Pentax, Samsung NX and Fujifilm X though they aren’t yet available for pre-order, and lists the lens at an MSRP of $ 499.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Metabones has introduced Nikon G-type versions of its Speed Booster lens adapter for Micro Four Thirds and Sony NEX cameras, which include a control ring for aperture setting with lenses that don’t have aperture rings of their own. The Speed Booster itself is a lens adapter that that reduces the focal length by a factor of 0.71x, and increases the maximum aperture by 1 stop, effectively allowing lenses to give very similar angle of view and depth of field control on APS-C mirrorless cameras as they do on full frame. The Nikon G-type adapters are available to buy now for $ 429 from Metabones’ website.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Olympus has announced the PEN E-P5, the fourth in its range of enthusiast-targeted, rangefinder-style Micro Four Thirds cameras. The E-P5 takes the 16MP sensor that has appeared in the company’s other models and adds a five-axis image stabilization system and shutter capable of shooting at 1/8000th of a second amongst a host of tweaks and feature improvements. The camera will available from May at around $ 1,000/€1000. The company has also announced black versions of its 17mm, 45mm and 75mm F1.8 prime lenses, priced the same as their silver counterparts. There is also a 2.4M dot LCD electronic viewfinder, the VF-4.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
A smartphone is typically the one camera you always carry with you but its tiny sensors often struggle in low light which makes a tripod a useful accessory. The Joby Grip Tight Micro Stand is a combined mini-tripod and phone holder that is foldable and so small that it fits in any pocket or can even be used as a key fob which makes it an ideal companion for your smartphone. We’ve tried it out for you.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Metabones has announced the schedule for the Micro Four Thirds version of its innovative ‘Speed Booster’ lens adapter has slipped to the second half of 2013. Like the existing version for mounting Canon EF lenses on Sony NEX cameras, the forthcoming version will allow the use of full-frame lenses, reducing the focal length by a factor of 0.71x and increases the maximum aperture by 1 stop. The Micro Four Thirds version will give a 1.4x overall ‘crop’ – giving a similar field of view to APS-C stills cameras and the Super35mm video format.(via 43rumors)
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
SLR Magic has announced its Monster Lens II spotting scope for Micro Four Third cameras. The optic mounts directly on the camera body, allowing users to shoot distant images, commonly referred to as ‘digiscoping’. The 12-36×50 ED lens gives an equivalent optical zoom range of 840-2,520mm and aims to keep image quality high with extra-low dispersion optics and multi-coated glass elements. It will be available in June 2013 at a suggested retail price of $ 799. Click through to to read more.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Nikon D300s FULL HD video test mit NIKON 105mm 2.8G VR II MICRO Nikon D300s, Live View, HD video, NIKON 105mm AF-S IF-ED f/2.8G VR II MICRO NIKKOR MACRO
Panasonic has devised a method to increase the sensitivity of image sensors, by replacing the near-universal colour filter array with prism-like ‘Micro Color Splitters’ to generate colour information. The key advantage is that all of the incoming light is directed to the sensor, instead of half or more being absorbed by the color filter dyes. This promises to deliver images with less noise in low light. The development is published in the journal Nature Photonics, and outlined in a press release on Panasonic’s website.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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