Category: Equipment

Photokina is nearly three weeks away, and as the conference draws nearer we can’t help but notice various blogs and gadget Web sites claiming to have reliable sources on new full-frame cameras from Canon, Leica, Nikon, Pentax and Sony.

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The new a900 has arrived. A new height in the “a” revolution is now within reach. Engineered with the exclusive 24.6 Mega Pixel Full Frame Exmor CMOS sensor, an industry breakthrough from Sony, this powerhouse integrates only the best imaging technologies from the world’s leading image sensor manufacturer. A work of art for the truly discerning individual.

24.6 Mega Pixel Full Frame Exmor CMOS Sensor – Dual BIONZ Image Processing Engine – Intelligent Preview – 100% Viewfinder, 0.74x Magnification – 3.0”, 921K-out Hybrid LCD – 9-point Centre Dual-cross AF (with f2.8 sensor and wide-area 10-point assist) – 5 fps Continuous Shooting – SteadyShot INSIDE

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Sony is to announce a new digital SLR in its Alpha series next week

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RED Camera’s Jim Jannard has hinted at a new still camera that could do to the DSLR market what the RED ONE movie camera is doing to the movie industry. At RED, Jannard has shown that he can pretty much ignore the industry paradigm and start from scratch: The RED cameras use sensors and file formats developed in house, and they are widely regarded to be better than those of bigger companies.

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D-D-D-Digic IV? HD Video mode? 19 Point AF? Full Weather Sealing… I just got chills. Looking mighty fine to me. I of course will bring you more info as I see it.

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Nikon’s new D90 digital SLR packs a 12.21 million image pixel CMOS sensor, 4.5 fps still photo shooting rate, LiveView and 720p video capture into a lightweight body with the same dimensions as the D80 it replaces. The new model is slated to ship in September 2008 at an expected street price of US$999.95 in the U.S.

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Nikon has posted a sixteen page brochure on the D90, as well as sample photos and sample video shot with the new camera.

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The large files don’t hinder the burst rate, either. Try 6.3 frames per second at up to 90 Large Fine JPEGs or 16 RAW files if you slip today’s fastest UDMA card into the CF slot. As faster cards come, expect this number to rise.

Shoot RAW? You’ll like new settings that let you choose from a large, medium, or small RAW file, expanding on the sRAW concept available in some current Canon models. And never fear, you can still set any of these for simultaeous RAW+JPEG capture.

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Canon has announced a new digital SLR that puts a 15.06 million image pixel CMOS sensor, DIGIC IV processor and 3 inch (diagonal), 920,000 dot rear LCD into the body of an EOS 40D, then mixes in a variety of image enhancement and minor functionality changes. Called the EOS 50D, the main attraction of the evolutionary model will be its new sensor, which is promised to offer noticeably better quality at upper ISO settings alongside its 50% bump in the number of pixels. The EOS 50D is to ship in early October 2008 at an expected street price of US$1399 in the U.S.

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it seems Canon’s Chinese website has leaked specs for a new prosumer camera, the 50D

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An introduction to the strip camera, how Tom Dahlin made his, and how you can too.

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At this year’s Olympics the number of Nikons in use by pros seems to equal if not surpass the number of Canons. A definite sign of the times.

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Lenovo today has unveiled the ThinkPad W700, a widescreen 17 inch Windows laptop that has been developed expressly for the working digital photographer

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What doesn’t thrill us, particularly, is the camera’s RAW capability, which uses a new Nikon format called NRW — not the familiar NEF format used by Nikon’s DSLRs — which can only be processed in-camera at this point. You will be able to open NRW files in Nikon’s ViewNX Software but that won’t be released until October as a Windows-only application. Bummer.

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Our analysis of Canon EOS-1D Mark III AF with firmware v1.2.3 installed is now live. After more than a year, three firmware updates and a hardware fix, does the camera now offer reliable autofocus? Here, in over 17,000 words, is our answer.

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Leaf has taken the wraps off its new AFi 10 which uses a 56x36mm, 56MP imaging sensor. Leaf was apparently set to make this announcement this coming Tuesday but word got out in the blogs yesterday and they’ve now posted info on their website and issued a press release (see it after the jump).

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Nikon has announced a service modification for the D3 that more than doubles the number of frames that can be shot in a single burst. The number of FX Format 14-bit Lossless Compressed NEFs, for example, jumps from 16 to 36, and most other file format options see a similar increase.

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