Pre-Orders Being Taken For New Canon Primes – 24mm and 28mm with IS

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Launched some months ago, we are now nearing delivery of the new Canon 24mm and 28mm primes with IS. I had a chance to try out both of these lenses at a Canon event in Vancouver earlier in the year. Read this write up for my first impressions and some sample images. I think when these lenses were fist announced the whole community let out a collective huh? Non-L primes with IS and f2.8 ? Well that is the way I certainly felt until I got my hands on them. They are built very nicely, not quite L-quality but close. …

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B&H & Adorama Now Taking Pre-Orders For Canon’s Latest Super Telephoto Lenses – 500mm and 600mm

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Following this mornings announcement from Canon that the new 500mm and 600mm lenses were now beginning to ship to dealers in Europe, B&H has updated their site to allow pre-orders of these two exciting new lenses. This usually only happens when items are expected to arrive in stock relatively soon. There’s a lot of buzz around what look likely to be Canon’s sharpest ever lenses and with people having to have waited more than a year for these to finally come to market I would expect demand to be relatively high initially for such a high priced item. If you …

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Canon Announces That New 500mm and 600mm Lenses Are Now Shipping

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UPDATE: B&H is now offering both of these lenses for pre-order. They typically only do this when things get relatively close to arriving. Finally!! After many delays, the lenses that were announced more than a year ago are now “shipping to selected dealers in Europe” according to Canon CPN. No word yet on N.American dealers but I would expect to hear any time soon. This comes just one day after hearing that the first of the Canon 1D X cameras are also starting to ship to select photographers covering Euro 2012 and the London Olympics. Is Canon finally getting back …

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Panasonic Announces Their High End Lumix G X 12-35 f2.8

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We’ve seen this lens behind glass at many a trade show in the last 12 months, the first of a pair of high end weather sealed Panasonic zoom lenses for the Micro Four Thirds System. Today Panasonic finally confirmed the last piece of the puzzle, that the maximum f-stop is f2.8 and they officially announced the lens. No word yet on the second of the two but it could possibly come fairly shortly with the expected GH-3 which should also be a weather sealed body to match the lenses. Being a higher end product, and having seen this lens myself …

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Sonnet Echo Expresscard Thunderbolt Adapter Review

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I’m sure by now that you are aware of the Thunderbolt standard and how it has a theoretical throughput that is much faster than Firewire 800, USB 2 or 3 and eSATA. Like many people I excitedly bought one of the newer Macbooks last year when they first featured Thunderbolt ports but sadly Thunderbolt accessories have been relatively thin on the ground. Some blame high licensing fees imposed by Apple and Intel whilst some blame technical difficulties and incompatibilities with the implementation of the technology. I’ve had my Macbook Air for nearly a year now and until the Sonnet Echo …

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Fuji Announces Wide Angle Lens Adapter For The X100

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Interesting to see today that Fuji have unexpectedly launched both a 28mm wide angle lens adapter for the X100 and also firmware version 1.3 . I think it’s pretty safe to say in that case that we can expect to see this camera current for at least another 6 months. Now would be as good a time to buy one as any. I still have my own X100 and yes I still love it! I’ll definitely be taking a look at this adapter when it comes out. Valhalla, N.Y., May 15, 2012 – FUJIFILM North America Corporation today announced an …

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Canon Issues Service Notice for 200mm and 800mm Lenses

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To Users of the EF200mm f/2L IS USM and EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lenses with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera. Thank you for using Canon products. We have confirmed that when the EF200mm f/2L IS USM and some units of the EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM lenses are used with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera, the Lenses may emit an abnormal noise. The Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera does not need to be repaired as a result of this phenomenon. The support measures for this phenomenon have been decided and …

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Leica Launches The M-Monochrom – Black & White Only M9-P

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Leica have released another variation of camera based on the old M9 platform. Last year we saw the M9-P and for Spring 2012 we now have the M-Monochrom, an M9-P that only allows shooting in black and white. It forgoes the usual anti-aliasing filters and color array filters found on nearly every digital camera and as a result, no demosaicing is required at all on the final image. This is not simply a color camera that has B&W mode permanently turned on! It should be able to resolve much higher detail and be much more accurate in terms of subtle …

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Leica Unveils The X2 – 16MP APS-C Fixed Lens Compact

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Today Leica has unveiled their new X2 compact, fixed lens camera. On the outside there appears to be very little different apart from a socket to attach an optional EVF. Very sadly this camera has the same 230,000 dot LCD screen as it’s predecessor. The problem that I have with this screen is that it was a bad screen two and a half years ago. Nearly every single review complained about it at the time and Leica has simply ignored this fact. Two and a half years is eons in today’s world, which sees many technological advancements ever couple of …

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Aquatech Launches Canon 5D Mark 3 Water Housing

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Aquatcech have unveiled their new housing for the Canon 5D Mark 3 today, the DCV-V3. Essentially the design remains unchanged from previous versions but of course updated to account for the new button layout of the 5DMK3. You can also purchase an upgrade kit to convert both your previous DCV-v2 5D MK2 housing, or your 7D housing. Price looks to be $1895

Canon’s Spring/Summer Rebate Programs Goes Live

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Now is the perfect time to pick up that new camera or lens that you have always wanted for your summer adventures and vacations! Canon’s Double Rebate program is live at B&H which means that regular lens rebates get doubled if you purchase them with a new camera! Head on over to B&H where they have a dedicated page to help you figure out how much you can save.

Think Tank Launches New Airport Backpack Series

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Santa Rosa, Calif. – Think Tank Photo announced today that in May it will release the Airport™ series, a new line of travel-specific, high-capacity camera backpacks designed with maneuvering through airports quickly in mind. The three backpacks – the Airport Accelerator, Airport Commuter, and Airport Essentials — integrate quick access pockets for both laptops and iPad, a top pocket for boarding passes, and three robust handles to ensure easy placement and retrieval from overhead bins.The Airport™ series makes life easier for the traveling photographer. All meet international carry on size requirements. The two smaller bags, the Airport Commuter and the …

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