Digital Accessories

Olympus pulled back the curtain on a pair of new Micro Four Thirds lenses today. The M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 with a 35 mm equivalent of 150-600mm is being dubbed the world’s smallest and lightest 600mm super telephoto lens. It weighs in at15.17 ounces and 2.76 by 4.57 inches. Yours for just $899 (shipping in December).

The other lens is the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm (80-300mm, 35mm equivalent). This $299 lens weighs in at 6.7 ounces and features an aperture range of f4.0-5.6.

The company also introduced a new "black on black" kit for its E-P2 PEN camera. It bundles the E-P2 in a "retro black" body style alongside a 17mm lens. Look for it in October for $999.

Hauppauge, NY—Long Island-based manufacturer of photographic accessories and brand-name products in the consumer, video, motion picture and television imaging markets, Tiffen introduced its Image Maker Professional Filter Kit series.

The kits were designed using Tiffen’s proprietary ColorCore technology that controls the color and density for optimum consistency. “Image Maker Filter series was created for the emerging and professional videographers,” aid Russ Abelein, vice president, Product Marketing, Tiffen.

The series consists of five kits, each geared for DSLRs with HD video capability and including three 4x4 filters selected for the most common shooting situations. They also offer optical filters used to control light, generally in exterior situations, and aesthetic filters to create a mood that can’t be achieved by lighting alone.

The Image Maker Filter series includes the: Fundamental Kit, Contrast Control Kit, People Kit, Grad Kit and Diffusion Kit. All kits come in a padded carry pouch with belt loop.

The Fundamental Kit, which contains an UltraPol circular polarizer, neutral density 0.9 and pro-mist¼, is geared for outdoor applications. The Contrast Kit includes a soft contrast 2, ultra contrast 1 and low contrast ½, for controlling contrast in bright sunlit exteriors, while capturing lost detail in shadow areas.

    The People Kit contains the nude FX 1, nude FX 3 and 812 warming filter, for portrait photography. The Grad Kit has a clear/cool blue 2 soft edge, clear/straw 2 soft edge and color-grad ND0.9 soft edge (for outdoor applications, these half-color half-clear filters add color selectively with a graduated density transition for smooth blending into the scene. The Diffusion Kit contains a black pro-mist ¼, gold diffusion fx ½ and glimmer glass 1, also for portraits to create diffused images that don’t look like they’ve been shot through a filter. tiffen.com

Rochester, NY—Kodak newest All-in-One (AiO) inkjet printer is engineered to produce Kodak “lab-quality photos, documents that last a lifetime and low total running costs.” The AiO uses Kodak’s proprietary pigmented inks and offers Wi-Fi connectivity.
 “From low running costs to no-compromise, high-quality output and one-touch simplicity, the ESP 9250 printer is a high-caliber printing machine designed to improve every aspect of the printing experience,” said Susan Tousi, general manager, Inkjet Systems, and vice president, Eastman Kodak.

When using Kodak ink and photo papers, prints are said to dry instantly, don’t smear or smudge and are water resistant. Kodak’s ink system has achieved Wilhelm Imaging Research Display Permanence and album/dart storage ratings of greater than 120 years and WIR Unprotected Ozone Resistance ratings of more than 100 years.

Like others in Kodak’s line of home inkjet printers, the ESP 9250 features a bar code system that selects settings for optimal performance, automatically detecting and adjusting for printing documents or photos and customizing ink output to produce the ideal result for the selected paper. The printer also displays how much ink and paper are available both on its LCD screen and remotely on the computer screen.

Other features include: an auto-engaging photo tray that holds three sizes of paper; Wi-Fi and networking capability to print from anywhere in their home or from an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad; an intuitive control panel; and built-in templates to print a variety of forms, including graph paper, line paper, wide-ruled paper, tic-tac-toe, to-do lists, grocery lists and sheet music. To reduce paper use, the ESP 9250 handles double-sided, duplex printing.

According to Kodak, the printer offers print costs of $9.99 for 425 black text pages using Kodak black ink cartridge 10B; $16.99 for 770 black text pages using Kodak black ink cartridge 10XL; and $17.99 for up to 420 color pages using Kodak color ink cartridge 10C. The ESP 9250 retails for $249.99.

Kodak also announced enhancements to Kodak All-in-One Printer Home Center software (v5.4), including social media photo printing from Facebook, Picasa, Photobucket, Flickr and Kodak Gallery sites, to enable consumers to manage these photos from one place. The software also features Perfect Page Image Processing technology to maximize image quality at the scanner, and Kodak Perfect Touch technology, which lets consumers reduce the appearance of skin blemishes and enhance facial features.

In addition, Kodak Gallery will launch about 30 products and designs for back-to-school, end-of-summer and Grandparents Day. “We’re providing users with an easy transition from summer to fall with our unique photo gifts, cards and prints,” said Rachel Heit, senior product marketing manager, Kodak Gallery, “with new save-the-date cards and magnets, a calendar collage and 30 new frames and contact cards.” kodak.com

Elmsford, NY—Profoto, a manufacturer of professional-quality electronic flash lighting systems and light shapers, offers the BatPac—a portable “power-in-a-bag” unit that combines a dedicated inverter and a high-capacity battery.

The BatPac provides power for Profoto D1 monolights, even when shooting far away from any main socket. The bag is specially designed for handling high-power units like Profoto’s D1 flashes, but it can be used with previous Profoto ComPact units and Acute2 flash generators as well.

 When powering D1 monolights—250, 500 or 1000W units—specs say it will supply: 
300 full power flashes at 1000W; 
600 full power flashes at 500W; and 
1,200 full power flashes at 250W.

Profoto says the BatPac “has advanced safety functions and is very easy to use. Its innovative design delivers power with exceptional stability. It controls over-voltage, over-temperature, low power, low battery voltage, etc., preventing damage to the BatPac and connected flash units.”

The device complies with CE and IEC safety requirements, and provides up to 600W continuous power from two integrated separate main outlets. It can also supply power for charging laptops and camera batteries, and it can run constant light sources, wind machines, refrigerator boxes and many other electrical units that are frequently used while shooting on location.

The unit is housed in a black nylon bag with shoulder strap and harness. It weighs 24.7 pounds and measures 9.8x10.2x13.8 inches. Deliveries of the Profoto BatPac begin June 2010. Estimated street price: $1,700. profoto-usa.com

Elmsford, NY—Benro’s A-150EXU digital tripod kit is designed as a compact and lightweight solution that weighs 2.2 pounds but can support cameras up to 4.4 pounds. 

The tripod travels well at 20.4 inches folded, while extending to a full height of 62.7 inches.

Three position leg angles allow height adjustment and low-level photography—especially in combination with a reversible center column that splits to permit shooting at 7.5 inches. 

A standard wing-nut-style center column locking collar provides ease of use and extra strength, and quick-lock four-section aluminum legs help make setup and packing fast.

Thick layer closed-cell nitrile butadiene rubber provides the leg grip, and rubber feet retract to expose steel spikes to help ensure the tripod sits solid on difficult terrains.

 Also featured is a “precision-matched” ball head with a bubble level that provides single action control of camera placement and includes an oversize camera plate with a dual-lock quick release system. $99. benro.com

Ronkonkoma, NY—Sigma Corporation released its new 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM lens—a large-aperture standard-zoom lens that was first introduced at PMA 2010 and is designed for small chip APS-C digital cameras. The lens incorporates Sigma’s optical stabilization (OS) functionality and new FLD glass.

The ultra-compact lens has an overall length of 3.6 inches and provides a focal length from a 17mm wide angle, a minimum focusing distance of 11 inches throughout the entire zoom range, and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:5.

Its OS function offers the use of shutter speeds approximately four stops slower than would otherwise be possible, and with it, Sigma has made it possible for Pentax and Sony shooters to utilize an anti-shake system in either the lens or the camera body. The compensation for camera shake is visible in the viewfinder for all mounts.

“This lens is a must-have for any photo opportunity,” said Mark Amir-Hamzeh, general manager, Sigma Corporation of America. “The fast aperture allows for shooting in low, existing light or at maximum range with a flash. This is an ideal, all-purpose lens for everyday shooting.”

Sigma also notes that its FLD glass has an “extremely high light transmission and anomalous dispersion, making it the top level of low dispersion glass available.” With a performance equal to fluorite glass, this optical glass has a low refractive index and low dispersion compared to current optical glass, for correction of residual chromatic aberration (secondary spectrum), which cannot be corrected by ordinary optical glass. In addition, the new lens employs a hybrid aspherical lens and two glass-mold elements for correction of distortion and astigmatism.

Other features include: a super-multilayer coating to reduce flare and ghosting; a Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) to help provide quiet high-speed autofocus, as well as full-time manual focus capability; a rounded, seven-blade diaphragm to create an attractive blur to out-of-focus areas; and an inner focusing system to eliminate front lens rotation and make the lens suitable for use with the supplied petal-type lens hood and circular polarizing filters.

Sigma’s 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM lens is currently available in Canon mounts for an MSRP of $980, and it will be available in Nikon, Sigma, Sony and Pentax mounts in the coming weeks. sigmaphoto.com

New York, NY—Gary Fong launched its GearGuard line of camera and equipment security devices to provide photographers with a theft prevention system for their gear.

The flagship products are the GearGuard Camera Body Lock and the GearGuard Bag Lock, both of which are designed to safeguard a camera from the snatch-and-grab threat faced by photographers.

“For years, photographers have had serious concerns about the vulnerability of their equipment to theft while they’re busy shooting an event or working with customers, and we all have horror stories about expensive gear turning up missing. Whether you measure the value of your camera and gear in hundreds or thousands, our compact GearGuard products will ensure safe travel and storage at an affordable price,” said Gary Fong, renowned photographer and CEO of Gary Fong, Inc. “With the launch of our GearGuard line, photographers can safely devote their full attention to their craft rather than continually worrying about their costly equipment.”

With the GearGuard camera body lock in place, the camera can be secured to any fixed object to grant photographers the freedom to focus on the moment at hand, rather than worry about equipment disappearing. Constructed of an impervious plastic compound, the twin-plate design provides an anchoring point through which the GearGuard security cable is threaded and affixed to any anchor point using the GearGuard combination lock. The camera body lock attaches to the camera’s tripod mount and can remain attached during shooting without interfering with the photographer’s process. The screw, which attaches the lock to the camera body, has a threaded port, enabling the camera to maintain full compatibility with a tripod, ball head or quick-release plate.

The GearGuard Bag Lock also helps prevent roaming hands from stealing by breaching a camera bag and restricting access to the bag’s quick-release buckles. This two-piece clip slides together over the buckle and is fitted with a combination lock, much like the camera body lock, enabling a photographer to pass through congested areas without concern for theft. Alternatively, users can leave their bags tethered to a permanent anchor using the security cable.

The GearGuard camera body lock and bag lock (sold as a set of two units) are available for $9.95 MAP. The combination lock and 36-inch steel security cable are sold separately and are also available for $9.95 MAP. garyfong.com

Novato, CA—Roxio, a division of Sonic Solutions, unveiled Roxio VideoLab 3D, a personal video-editing suite for capturing, editing and sharing personal 3D content.

Designed to be bundled with and add value to 3D-enabled cameras, camcorders, PCs, laptops and accessories, Roxio VideoLab 3D enables users to import a range of 3D video formats, including stereoscopic content directly from 3D cameras. The software also automatically converts standard 2D content into 3D, so users can include existing home movies in their 3D video creations.

“Roxio VideoLab 3D is a groundbreaking application and another example of how Roxio is helping drive the market for home 3D,” said Matt DiMaria, executive vice president and general manager, Roxio. “The rich suite of editing and sharing features in VideoLab 3D serves as an ideal complement to 3D-enabled systems, peripherals and accessories, and provides a richer out-of-box experience that empowers consumers to create their own personal 3D home video.”

With Roxio VideoLab 3D, consumers can use familiar video-editing tools to turn raw 3D footage and converted 2D content into immersive 3D home movies, complete with titles, transitions and effects. The finished results can be exported in various formats, including the RealD format for a cinematic-quality 3D viewing experience on 3D-enabled home PCs and HDTVs. In addition, projects may be uploaded and shared via YouTube in 3D.

Key features include: 3D capture from stereoscopic cameras, such as Fujifilm’s FinePix W1; the ability to import 3D files in common 3D formats, including side-by-side, over-under, anaglyph and dual stream (Roxio 3D also supports standard 2D photo and video file formats); simplified Storyline, as well as advanced 32-track timeline editing views; an array editing options, including trimming, title creation, narration, music tracks and video correction features; 3D transitions and special effects; 2D to 3D real-time conversion; authoring of DVDs and Blu-ray discs; the ability to save 3D video in a range of file formats; and direct upload of 3D video to YouTube.

Roxio VideoLab 3D is compatible with a broad range of PC hardware, including all major graphics cards and 3D display technologies. To do this, Sonic has teamed with ATI, Intel and NVIDIA to deliver support for PC monitors and upcoming 3D HDTVs.

Part of Sonic’s Total 3D initiative aimed at furthering the 3D home market, Roxio VideoLab 3D is one of the 3D-enabled products and services the company will introduce this year for PC OEMs, consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers. roxio.com

New York, NY—Gary Fong, Inc., provider of creative photography equipment, expanded its lineup of Puffer pop-up flash diffusers: now available for all Sony and Konica Minolta cameras equipped with a pop-up flash, the Puffer pop-up flash diffuser softens the harsh light of an on-camera flash to eliminate shadows and create pro-style diffused lighting for portraits, close-ups or eBay product shots.

The Puffer’s compact size also makes it travel friendly; it stores flat when not in use to stow in a camera bag or a photographer’s pocket.

Affixing directly to a camera’s hot shoe, the variable-position Puffer is adjustable for center positioning on all Sony or Konica Minolta cameras equipped with a pop-up flash, regardless of size. It works with the in-camera system to ensure the full capabilities of the camera are maintained and that it will not interfere with flash operation or camera modes.

“As photographers, we want our images to have the most natural-looking light possible, yet too often find ourselves in situations where using a flash is necessary. With this new Puffer, Sony and Konica Minolta DSLR users will find more flexibility from their basic kit, and users will be able to explore new shooting styles that their basic pop-up flash would never permit,” said Gary Fong, internationally renowned photographer and CEO of Gary Fong, Inc.

The Konica Minolta and Sony Puffer pop-up flash diffuser is available for $19.95 MAP. garyfong.com

Lexar gives you a sneak peak of the non-stop excitement that is testing flash memory cards:

Personally, I wish they had just sent the memory cards to these guys: