Lenses & Accessories

Ricoh has just announced a new camera unit, or module, for its GXR digital camera system. The Ricoh Lens A16 24-85mm f/3.5-5.5 camera unit 5 provides yet another option in the continuously expanding Ricoh GXR digital camera system. 

Along with fast reflexes and the ability to keep a half step ahead of the action, sports and nature photographers depend heavily on the flexibility and performance of their gear. If you’re a Sony shooter with a penchant for sports and nature photography, you’ll be interested in Sony’s new SAL 500mm f/4.0G, an A-mount super-telephoto that according to the specs and features is quite a hunk of glass.

Ask any serious Nikon, Canon or Sony DSLR owner which of their zooms is their favorite and chances are it will be their 24-70mm f/2.8, a lens that makes easy work out of shooting fast in tight environments. 

Lensbaby, loved by many for its ever-growing line of fun-and-funky, special-effect optics, has introduced the Lensbaby Edge 80 Optic, an 80mm f/2.8 flat field lens that like the Lensbaby Sweet 35 Optic, sports a 12-blade adjustable diaphragm, which for a Lensbaby can be considered a major advance in lens design.

Sometimes technology gets in the way of quality. For example, the finest wristwatches made today are self-winding units with jewels used as pivot points. They’re mechanical works of art assembled by hand, and you won’t find a battery or quartz crystal inside any of them.

Olympus has introduced a new flagship wireless TTL flash to go along with its Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds camera systems, the Olympus FL-600R. The new flash features TTL flash exposures through a choice of four wireless channels, a zoom head that can tilt as much as 90°and swivel up to 180°.

When Olympus introduced its first Digital Pen a few years back, its designers opened the floodgates of a whole new species of camera: the mirrorless camera. Since then, we’ve seen a slew of similar cameras designed around Four Thirds or APS-C format imaging sensors. 

Canon has just introduced three new EF lenses and a couple of new lens hoods. The lenses are compatible with all of the latest Canon DSLRs, so be sure to get out your wish list and a sharp pencil. Here’s what’s new:

Pentax has joined the mirrorless camera system club with the announcement of the Pentax K-01. Unlike a majority of the current crop of mirrorless camera systems, which contain Four Thirds format sensors, the new Pentax K-01 is designed around a larger APS-C CMOS sensor (1.5x) that offers 16MP.

Sigma has announced three new lenses: two for Micro Four Thirds format and Sony NEX mirrorless cameras and the third for full frame and APS-C format DSLRs.

The new AF-S NIKKOR 85 mm f/1.8G from Nikon is a fast f/1.8, compact FX-format prime (fixed focal length) medium telephoto lens. It offers clear, natural image reproduction for stills and HD video. Engineered for use on Nikon’s FX-format D-SLR cameras, the lens features Nikon’s Internal Focus (IF) system, delivering fast and quiet AF.

If you ask most consumer-camera owners why they keep a filter on their lens, a majority will most likely reply, “For protection.” Although filters do, in fact, protect the surface of your lens against dust, moisture and the occasional thumb print, the primary function of lens filters is really to improve the image quality of the pictures you take—depending on the filter you’re using and how you use it—in a variety of obvious and not-so-obvious ways.

Even though the leaves are down and your frost-laden lawn makes crunchy sounds when you cross it in the morning, that doesn’t mean it’s time to pack your cameras away until March or April; if you do, you’re going to miss some fine picture-taking opportunities.

Olympus has announced a new Micro Four Thirds wide-to-telephoto zoom lens. The M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ, which has the equivalent zoom range of a 24-100mm zoom on a full-frame 35mm camera, contains 10 elements in 9 groups.

Tamron has been in the business of manufacturing quality optics for over 60 years now, and in that time they’ve developed a loyal following of dedicated photo enthusiasts. The lenses are available with lens mounts compatible with film and digital cameras from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony/Minolta.

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