News entries for August, 2012

Fancy picking up a new camera or lens from Pentax, and live in the United States? If so, you're in luck! The company has just announced a series of price cuts and instant rebates that will stretch your buying dollars quite a bit further, whether you're buying pro gear or an entry-level model. All told, there are savings of up to US$2,600 on offer; in the real-world it'd be...

Last month, we told you about Sony's plans to launch a rival to action cameras like Woodman Labs' GoPro. At the time we didn't have a name for the camera--or cameras plural, as it turns out--but it wouldn't have been hard to guess. Today Sony has launched its new cameras under the entirely logical Action Cam brandname. Neither the Sony Action Cam HDR-AS10 and HDR-AS15...

In a long-awaited but curiously timed move, Samsung announced it was finally bringing its Android OS expertise to a digital camera, a 16-megapixel, 21x optical touch zoom that runs on Google's latest and greatest platform. Dubbed the Samsung Galaxy Camera--and thus building on the branding of Samsung's popular smartphones and tablets--the device takes advantage of the speed...

Now in its third iteration, the very popular Sony NEX-5R doesn't get the usual updates people have come to expect. Like the NEX-5N before it, the NEX-5R still has a 16.1-megapixel sensor, a 3-inch tilting LCD, and is about the same shape and size. But there are a few new features that many will find compelling, including a fast hybrid autofocus system with 99...

New firmware for the flagship Canon EOS-1D X digital SLR today corrects several issues related to focus adjustment, as well as a bug that could prevent the pro-oriented camera powering on correctly in some circumstances, among other improvements.

Canon 1D X firmware v1.0.6 is available for download immediately. According to the company, the full list of changes in the...

 

 

The Pentax 50mm f/1.8 DA has recently hit store shelves, offering Pentax shooters an inexpensive portrait lens for their APS-C camera bodies. Made predominantly of plastic, we've put this lightweight lens through its paces in our test lab: click here to read our full review of the Pentax 50mm f/1.8 DA.

It's that time again, fans of the bleeding edge: Adobe has just issued release candidate versions of Camera Raw 7.2, DNG Converter 7.2, and Lightroom 4.2. All three share support for much the same raft of brand-new cameras and camera backs. The release candidates of Lightroom and Camera Raw also fix a variety of bugs found in their previous incarnations, and the latter adds...

 

 

When we last took a look at ACDSee Pro in 2007 we lauded its affordability and capabilities but complained that it had remained a bitmap editor in an age of non-destructive editing. That isn't an issue any more. And the good news doesn't stop there.

We cover the latest advances and report the modest system...

When the Nikon 1 J2 compact system camera ships next month, it will bring with it a change in operation that makes it subtly more intuitive than its predecessors, the J1 and V1. Unlike those models, the J2 can be powered off simply by locking the lens barrel of the attached zoom lens.

By contrast, while the earlier cameras could be powered on with the locking button when...

A few weeks ago, we told readers about an issue with Canon's EF 40mm f/2.8 STM lens, which only recently began shipping. According to the company, pressing on the lens barrel while the lens was mounted to a camera could cause autofocus to stop working.

As a temporary workaround, the issue could be resolved simply by reseating either the lens, or the attached camera body's...

 

 

It really was “a dark and a stormy night” as we drove through the English Midlands, in a cold, autumn rain. It was my first trip to the UK and I was loaded for photographs. However, with the morning, I could only stare at the BBC weather lady talking about at least a week of lousy weather.

My expectations for...

Just a couple of months shy of its second birthday, photo app Instagram has become incredibly popular, incredibly quickly. Last April, we reported that social networking giant Facebook planned to purchase Instagram for a staggering one billion dollars. (The US Federal Trade Commission has now officially given that deal the nod, closing its nonpublic investigation without...

And Now Some Meaningless Speculation...
These are simply my observations and speculations. I have absolutely no real information about any manufacturer’s plans. If I did, I would have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and couldn’t write this stuff. But I like to speculate. It’s sort of like playing Fantasy Football with camera manufacturers.

I’m going to split this up...

 

 

The cloud is not enough, Revel Product Manager Sumner Paine told us in July.

With our photos scattered across our phones, tablets and multiple computers, a lot of companies want you to store your collection in their cloud. But they're missing an essential ingredient, Paine said.

That's a great photo app that...

Ever heard that old maxim "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Well, the design team at Pentax certainly have. The Japanese camera brand--now part of Ricoh Co. Ltd.--has announced its new Pentax X-5 ultrazoom digital camera, and the styling couldn't be much closer to that of the popular Pentax K-5 and K-7 digital SLRs. It's almost as if the company took the existing design,...

 

 

Eastman Kodak announced today that it plans to sell off its film, imaging and retail print businesses as part of its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Instead of imaging, the Rochester, NY-based company will focus on commercial printing and business services. Though details were still sketchy Thursday...

You don't have to be the Mars Rover Curiosity to capture out-of-the-world imagery of outer space. A Danish photographer used an astro-modified Canon 5D Mark II to record an eye-popping photo of Red Sprites, which are a form of cosmic lightning that "dances at the edge of space," according to Spaceweather.com.

The photographer, Jesper Grønne of Silkeborg, Denmark, was...

Leicaphiles rejoice, Le Camera Cie, (Cie is the French version of "Inc.") has created an app that simulates the classic M series Leica viewfinder on your iPhone. The app is called Viewfinder Classic and it's available here.

Yes, the Germans can finally relax as their Euro-allies, the French, are becoming entrepreneurial, just like their Teutonic mentors. (How do you say...

Olympus has long preferred Ultra over Super and Mega to describe its line of compact zoom cameras, and the new Olympus SP-820UZ iHS Ultra Zoom is now the most ultra of the bunch, sporting a 40x super-wide-angle optical zoom lens that lets you get up close and personal at its maximum 896mm equivalent focal length.

Olympus designed the Stylus SP-820UZ to offer all-in-one...