News tagged with "micro-four-thirds"

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.

We've just posted our Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 preview, covering Panasonic's newest Micro Four Thirds mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. The G6 comes barely a year after the G5, and offers several updates, including a 1.44 million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder and the same sensor as the GH2. Its body has also been restyled and the touch-sensitive technology of its fully-articulated screen has been upgraded. Like its little brother the GF6, the G6 also includes built-in Wi-Fi connectivity with Near Field Communication (NFC). Click through for our hands-on preview.

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.

Just Posted: Our Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 review. The GH3 is the latest model in Panasonic's range-topping series of Micro Four Thirds cameras that aims to offer a tool as suited to keen film makers as enthusiast photographers. The GH3 has added a host of video industry-requested features as well as promising the best-yet stills image quality from a GH camera. However, the last year or so has seen other camera makers take an interest in movie shooting, so has Panasonic done enough to stay ahead? Read our review to find out.

Just Posted: Our hands-on Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF6 preview. The GF6 expands the capabilities of Panasonic's GF series away from the point-and-shoot focus that it had increasingly pursued. The latest model adds a more sophisticated touch-screen and additional control points that will benefit a range of users but it's the NFC-mediated Wi-Fi system that we found really interesting. Add this on top of the 16MP sensor from the GX1 and you have a compelling combination of features. Click through to find out more.

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.

Blackmagic Design has announced a pocket-sized 1080p movie camera capable of 422 ProRes capture with promises of lossless CinemaDNG to be added via firmware. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera uses a Super 16 imaging area (around 12.5 x 7.4mm - slightly smaller than a 1" sensor), and an 'active' Micro Four Thirds lens mount, giving full aperture control of native lenses. The camera can capture footage in Apple's 10-bit 4:2:2 ProRes format Blackmagic promising to add the open, lossless CinemaDNG Raw standard later. The company has said this will cost just $995 and be available from July.

SLR Magic has announced its Monster Lens II spotting scope for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The optic mounts directly on the camera body, allowing users to shoot distant images, commonly referred to as 'digiscoping'. The 12-36x50 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 from June 2013 at a suggested retail price of $799. Click through to to read more.

Sigma US has announced the price and availability for its three latest 'Art' series prime lenses - the 19mm f/2.8 DN and 30mm f/2.8 DN for mirrorless cameras, and the 30mm f/1.4 for APS-C DSLRs. The DN lenses will be available for street price of $199 and the redesigned 30mm f/1.4 will be available in Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts for $499. All three will start shipping from the end of this month. No details were given about the 60mm f/2.8 lens also announced during the CP+ tradeshow.

CP+ 2013: Panasonic is considering which cameras it needs to appeal to the different demands for Micro Four Thirds in different countries. We spoke to Michiharu Uematsu, Special Adviser, Imaging Business Group and Yoshiyuki Inoue, Senior Engineering Planner, Marketing Team, Imaging Business Group. They explain the challenges of making and marketing a high image quality compact and suggest the GH3 won't get focus peaking.

The long wait for the next generation of cameras for Four Thirds may soon be over, suggests Olympus' Toshi Terada, Manager, Product Planning SLR products. He also discusses the role the OM-D has played in increasing uptake of mirrorless cameras in the USA and the future of compact cameras now that smartphones have become many users' cameras of choice.

CP+ 2013: Panasonic has added a 42.5mm F1.2 portrait lens and 150mm F2.8 super-telephoto prime to its lens roadmap for Micro Four Thirds, for release in the near future. The lenses, shown in prototype form at Photokina 2012, last September, are shown as being ready for release just after the 14-42mm II ASPH. kit zoom launched this week.

CP+ 2013: Tamron is showing off its newly-announced 14-150mm F3.5-5.8 Di III VC stabilized superzoom lens for Micro Four Thirds, while Olympus has a revised version of its 75-300mm F4.8-6.7. Though Tamron hasn't yet announced the price or availability of the 14-150mm, the prototype it has on display is working and the company gave us a hint about how much it will charge.

CP+ 2013: Sigma has announced four additions to its 'Art' range of prime lenses, including a 60mm F2.8 DN lens for mirrorless cameras and an updated 30mm F1.4 DC for APS-C DSLRs. Alongside these are redesigned versions of its 30mm and 19mm F2.8 DN lenses for mirrorless in metal bodies. Like these lenses, the 60mm F2.8 DN features a metal casing and will be available for the Sony E and Micro Four Thirds mounts. It will offer a 90mm equivalent field of view on Sony NEX cameras or 120mm equivalent coverage of Micro Four Thirds bodies. The Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC is a completely redesigned version of the popular normal lens for APS-C DSLRs - it will be available in Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts. Price and availability details have not been given.

Tamron has announced that it's developing an image stabilised superzoom lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 Di III VC (Model C001) is poised to become the first third-party zoom for the system, and will offer a 28-300mm equivalent focal length range. It uses the company's Vibration Control (VC) system to counteract hand-shake, and a stepper motor for fast and silent autofocus. The lens will also feature a metal barrel and be available in a black or silver finish. Price and availibility are still to be confirmed.

CP+ 2013: Panasonic has announced the Lumix G Vario 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II Asph. Mega O.I.S - its latest affordable kit lens for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras. The 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II is the company's fourth variable aperture standard zoom (following the 14-45mm, original 14-42mm and 14-42mm power zoom), and gains two aspherical elements to help make the lens smaller than the existing version. The 14-42mm II will be available as a kit option with both the DMC-GF5 and DMC-G5 in most markets.

Olympus has issued a press release confirming JK Imaging and four other companies have formally signed-up to the Micro Four Thirds standard. JK Imaging announced last week that it would be offering MFT cameras under the Kodak brand. Australian company Blackmagic Design, which already offers a movie camera with a passive Micro Four Thirds mount and is rumored to be working on a fully compliant version, also joins. The other three signatories are less consumer-facing.

Just a week after announcing it was licensing the Kodak brand name, JK Imaging has been showing a Micro Four Thirds camera at a press conference in China. Details are vague but the camera, reported to be called the S1, does appear to be sporting the official Micro Four Thirds logo. The camera, which will offer Wi-Fi for communication with smartphones, is said to be based around a Sony CMOS sensor. (via PetaPixel)

Olympus USA has announced its M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 for Micro Four Thirds will be available in December for around $500. The lens features the same premium build quality and snap-focus manual focus mode as the company's 12mm f/2.0. The snap-focus mode is engaged by pulling the focus ring on the lens back, which reveals a distance scale and engages end-stops on the focus travel, applies firmer damping and switches the camera to manual focus mode. Olympus UK, meanwhile, has announced a price of £449.99.