News / New Cameras & Lenses

Sigma USA has given the price and introduction date of the 60mm F2.8 DN Art lens for mirrorless systems, originally announced at CP+. The 60mm DN will be available in the US for both Micro Four Thirds and Sony E-mount from mid-May at a cost of around $239. It will offer a 90mm equivalent field-of-view when mounted on Sony NEX bodies or 120mm equivalent on Micro Four Thirds cameras. This third lens for mirrorless cameras from Sigma (joining the affordable 19mm F2.8 DN Art and 30mm F2.8 DN Art), will also be available in a choice of black or silver finishes.

Samsung's latest addition to its line of NX mirrorless cameras, the NX2000, adds Wi-Fi and NFC in a bid to make yet another of its mirrorless cameras compatible with the smartphone world. The 20MP camera's Near Field Communication (NFC) technology allows setup of Wi-Fi connections with compatible smartphones and tablets by simply tapping the devices together. It features a large 3.7-inch 1152k-dot touchscreen LCD, offers 8fps continuous shooting and Full HD video recording. Priced around $649.99, the camera will be available as a kit with the 20-50mm lens and a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, in white, black and pink.

Zeiss has announced more detail on two forthcoming lenses for Sony NEX and Fujifilm X-mount APS-C cameras -  the 12mm F2.8 and 32mm F1.8 lenses it unveiled at Photokina last year. The announcement came via the Zeiss blog, which went into detail on how they came to the name for the new series, 'Touit.' Pronounced like the English 'do it,' the new lenses are named after a Latin American band-tailed parrot, which Zeiss describes as 'small and agile,' much like mirrorless cameras are meant to be. Click for more on the new lenses.

As part of our ongoing collaboration with DxOMark we've added more lenses to our test data comparison widget. These include a range of 70-200mm zooms from Canon, Nikon, Tamron and Sigma, and the Nikon-mount version of the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM tested on both the D7000 and D800. Click through for links to view these lenses in our widget, and for the full data on DxOMark.

LensRentals' Roger Cicala has published an interesting comparison of the Zeiss ZE 135mm F2 APO-Sonnar and the Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM lens, with both optics mounted on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. While you'd expect nothing less than excellent results from the Zeiss optic, just what advantages can the heavier and much more expensive lens offer compared to Canon's well-regarded prime lens? Click through to read Cicala's findings.

Panasonic is now offering its Lumix DMC-XS1 compact camera - which was first introduced at CES in January - with ten custom 'skins'. The themes for these skins include pop art, gift wrapping, floral nature, digital, texture, and Japanese traditional. The XS1 features a 16 megapixel CCD, 5X (24-120 mm) optical zoom with image stabilization, a 2.7" LCD, and 720p video recording. The new 'skinned' XS1s are priced at $149 - a $20 premium over the red, silver, and black models that are currently available. We don't know yet if these designs will be available outside of the US in the future.

Sony has announced the Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V, a 30x compact superzoom camera that includes both Wi-Fi and GPS. It's built around a 20.4MP 1/2.3" BSI CMOS sensor, sitting behind a 24-720mm F3.5-6.3 lens. It includes 3-axis SuperSteady Shot image stabilization and can shoot at up to 10 frames per second for 10 frames. Its battery is rated at around 400 shots-per-charge and the Wi-Fi can be used for both file transfer and remote control. It will be available from May at a recommended price of $450.

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-LF1, the first in a new line of Raw-shooting enthusiast compacts. The LF1 marries the sensor from the LX7 to a longer, slower lens and adds an electronic viewfinder. The camera combines a 12MP 1/1.7" CMOS sensor with a 28-200mm equivalent F2.0-5.9 lens and finds room for a 202k dot-equivalent electronic viewfinder. It becomes the fifth Panasonic model to offer Wi-Fi for remote control and wireless communication that can be set up using NFC.

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-G6 - the latest in its mass market series of DSLR-styled mirrorless cameras. The G6 gains considerably improved movie capabilities, including full exposure control, an external mic socket and the sensor from the GH2. It also adds the NFC-aided Wi-Fi for simple remote control and image download that we first saw in the GF6.

Panasonic has created the Lumix G Vario 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH Power OIS, a second-generation 10x zoom for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The lens offers a smaller, lighter, less-expensive alternative to the original G Vario HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH Mega OIS. The latest version features three aspheric and two ED elements and an internal focus design with linear stepper motors to make the most of the faster focus processing of the latest Micro Four Thirds bodies.

Korean website lcap.tistory.com has published what it claims are sample images from the new Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM lens, purporting to show its performance in a range of different shooting situations, on both a Canon EOS 600D and 5D Mark III. We doubt very much that the site had Sigma's permission to publish the images from a pre-production lens, but if you're curious, you can click through for a link to the original 'preview' at lcap.tistory.com.

Sigma has announced the 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art lens for APS-C DSLRs - the world's first constant F1.8 zoom. The lens covers a 27-52.5mm equivalent range, and will be available in Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts. As yet there is no announcement of a recommended price. The lens will offer the depth-of-field equivalent of a constant F2.7 on full-frame, and allow the use of lower ISO settings in low light, which may under-cut the need for some photographers to change formats.

Pentax-Ricoh has announced the much rumored and leaked Ricoh GR, a 16.2MP APS-C sensor enthusiast compact camera. The GR continues on from Ricoh's GR Digital series of high-end, fixed-lens models, gaining a much larger sensor but continuing to offer a 28mm equivalent field of view, now with an F2.8 maximum aperture. It also retains the GRD IV's high-res 1.2m dot LCD and a range of photographer friendly functions. Despite a sensor nearly nine times as big, the recommend price increase by just $200 over the GRD IV, to $799.

Fujifilm has officially announced the Fujinon XF 55-200mm F3.5-F4.8 R LM OIS telephoto zoom for its X system of mirrorless cameras. Headline features include optical image stabilisation with a claimed 4.5 stops benefit, dual linear stepper motors for focusing, all-metal barrel construction, and premium optics. The lens also features an aperture ring like that on the company's XF 18-55mm zoom. Fujifilm has also updated its roadmap of upcoming lenses to include the XF 56mm F1.2 R, which is scheduled for release in January 2014. Finally the company is promising firmware updates to improve the autofocus speed of both the X-Pro1 and X-E1, which will be available to download in July.

Nikon has filed a patent covering the idea of a password-based security system for lenses. The patent lists the high value of lenses as a reason for the innovation - the camera would refuse to shoot with a lens unless the correct password was entered. This is an attempt by the the company to prevent resale of stolen gear. (via Nikon Rumors)

Sigma UK has announced its new USB dock for lenses will be available from May 2013 at a retail price of £39.99 (including VAT). The company has also announced the 120-300mm F2.8 DG OS HSM lens will start shipping in Canon and Sigma mounts around the same time but has not confirmed the price. Launched at Photokina 2012, the USB dock enables users to easily update lens firmware and fine-tune focus parameters, while the 120-300mm F2.8 lens comes with a button to adjust the focus speed and the focus limiter.

Samsung has announced the broader US availability of its 20MP NX1100 Wi-Fi mirrorless camera, which was initially announced by B&H. Priced at $599.99, the camera is available now in black or white and comes with a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. In common with its predecessor, the NX1000, it includes 8fps continuous shooting, a 3-inch/921k-dot rear display and Full HD video recording. The only significant change is the Autoshare feature that automatically sends full resolution images and videos to mobile devices over Wi-Fi. There is currently no information about a European release.

Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-GF6 - a 16MP entry-level mirrorless camera with Wi-Fi. Like many of its competitors it has a capacitive touchscreen, that can tilt both downwards and upwards to face forwards for self-portraits. It gains a compact-camera style zoom lever around the shutter release that can alternatively be used to set exposure compensation, and an exposure mode dial on the top plate. It's also the first interchangeable lens camera with Near Field Communication (NFC) that allows setup of Wi-Fi connections with compatible smartphones and tablets, simply by tapping the devices together. Movie recording is available at 1080p30 in either MP4 or AVCHD format.

Accessory maker LockCircle has announced Prime Circle XE lenses in a Canon EF mount with a wireless controller that can can change aperture remotely at distances of up to 300 feet. Ranging between focal lengths of 15mm to 135mm, the lenses feature Carl Zeiss optics in a housing designed specifically for cinematographers with large focus scales and a common 95mm front mount across the range of lenses. There is currently no information about the XE series' price and availability.

Samsung US has announced the Wi-Fi version of its Galaxy Camera will be available from the end of this month at a retail price $449.99 - $50 less than the version with both 3G/4G and Wi-Fi. Announced in February 2013, the Wi-Fi model shares the same feature-set as the 3G and 4G versions, including a 21x, 23-481mmm equivalent zoom lens on the front with a 4.8" touchscreen on the back. It runs Android 4.1 (known as Jelly Bean), the latest version of the operating system. Click through to read more at connect.dpreview.com