lenses

Pentax shows off three future lenses

LAS VEGAS--Lenses are as important as camera bodies in the SLR market, and Pentax is trying to keep its customers' appetites whetted by showing off three new lenses still under development at the Photo Marketing Association trade show here.

First up is the smc Pentax-DA*55mm F1.4 SDM, a model with a 55mm fixed focal length and wide f/1.4 aperture for low-light shooting or pictures with soft, undistracting backgrounds. Availability is undetermined so far.

Next is the smc Pentax-DA*60-250mm F4ED SDM, a wide-range telephoto zoom that should be available in the summer.

Third is the smc … Read more

Sunex starts selling Superfisheye lenses

Update 10:07 p.m. PST: I added some further comment from Sunex.

LAS VEGAS--A California company called Sunex wants to make it even easier to photograph your toes inadvertently.

At the Photo Marketing Association trade show here, Sunex plans to show off its new Superfisheye lens whose 5.6mm focal length provide a view encompassing a 185-degree span.

The Superfisheye lens costs $799 for Nikon and Canon SLRs with smaller sensors. It's got a constant f/5.6 aperture. The price includes software to "dewarp" the peculiar fisheye perspective into the rectilinear view humans are more … Read more

Tamron details four new zoom lenses

LAS VEGAS--Tamron, one of the larger third-party SLR (single-lens reflex) lens makers, on Monday detailed four new lenses and March launch plans, the week that the Photo Marketing Association trade show begins here. However, the company didn't reveal prices.

For telephoto fans, the company announced its SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di. Its close-focus distance of 0.95 meters provides a magnification ratio of 1:3.1 (which means a subject will appear on the image sensor nearly a third the size it does in real life), and it features a constant f/2.8 aperture across its zoom … Read more

New Nikon lenses include 24mm perspective correction model

To accompany the announcement of its new D60 SLR, Nikon has announced three new lenses: the PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, the AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED, and the AF-S DX 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G VR. The most unusual of the three is the PC-E 24mm, which is a perspective correction lens-- a type of lens that Canon has dominated for a while now with three models, though Nikon already offers the PC Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/2.8D. Canon refers to this type of lens as tilt-shift, since it lets you adjust the angle of … Read more

Underexposed blog: Links of the day

Nikon lens rumors: (24mm tilt-shift, 60mm macro, and 16-85mm VR): DPReview forum -- The 16-85mm VR looks closer to reality. The tilt-shift model would be interesting--that was a longtime Canon advantage. Rumored Nikon D60 details: Digital Photography Review -- Some purported details of the now widely rumored Nikon D60 SLR have bubbled up on the DP Review forum. Nikon releases D80 firmware version 1.10 -- Windows Vista compatibility, USB Media Transfer Protocol now supported, and tweaks to longer-exposure noise reduction. iStockphoto rolls back international price increase -- A 2008 price change increased fees for European buyers because of exchange … Read more

Canon makes real on 800mm f/5.6 and 200mm f/2 lenses

While prototypes were on display at the PhotoPlus Expo last fall, Canon has finally made the massive EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM and EF200mm f/2L IS USM lenses a reality. Both lenses carry Canon's L moniker and sport the putty colored finish that demark the cream of Canon's crop. Both lenses include Canon's optical image stabilization, as well as fluorite and UD (ultra low dispersion) lens elements to combat chromatic aberration, and includes moisture and dust resistant seals.

Compared to Canon's old EF200 f/1.8L USM, the new EF200 f/2 sacrifices a … Read more

A Pentax lens quintet

No dSLR launch is complete without a gaggle o' glass to accompany it. Here are the lenses Pentax announced in conjunction with its 2 dSLRs. (All photos courtesy of Pentax Corp.)

 smc Pentax DA* 200mm f/2.8 ED (IF) SDM; March; $1,099.95

  smc Pentax DA* 300mm f/4 ED (IF) SDM; May; $1,299.95

  smc Pentax DA 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED; May; $399.95

  smc Pentax DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited; April; $599.95

  smc Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II; ships with K200D in … Read more

Underexposed blog: Links of the day

Picasa Web Albums Uploader for BlackBerry--Upload to Picasa Web Albums from a BlackBerry smartphone. Bonus: automatic geotagging if your BlackBerry supports it. Jeffrey Friedl offers "Piglets": Plug-ins for Lightroom Plug-ins--This time, Friedl has built Tim Armes' LR/Mogrify export plug-in so it can be used as a subcomponent of Friedl's Flickr/Zenfolio/SmugMug/Picasa export plug-in. First time I've seen the word "fourth-party" used in a while. World's longest dialog box too. ImageReporter: Extract data from Lightroom database--Analysis tool for extracting information from the metadata stored in Lightroom's catalog. … Read more

Zeiss does video glasses with the 'Cinemizer'

There are so many makes and models of video glasses on the market that we lost count of them long ago. But one that was launched at Macworld this week may be worth mentioning, for the famous name associated with it if nothing else.

Expert photographers may debate the quality vs. hype of Carl Zeiss lenses, but the companies that use them in their products clearly think the brand packs plenty of marketing muscle--just ask Sony, which touts them every chance it gets for its cameras. So it makes sense that the German company would want to cash in on … Read more