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Specs leak for OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO ahead of announcement

Development of the OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm f3.5 Macro ISO Pro (wow, what a mouthful!) was announced back in September 2022 in a road map update. The spot was actually allocated a year earlier, in September 2021, in a previous road map update. Until very recently, though, there was no real news on when we might hear an announcement. Then, a couple of weeks ago, that changed.

OM System released a firmware update on January 20th for the E-M1 Mark II, E-M1 Mark III, E-M5 Mark III, E-M1X and OM-5 cameras. This firmware was specifically (and only) to ensure compatibility with the M.Zuiko 90mm f/35 Macro lens. No announcement date was available then, but now OM System has announced an event on February 8, and specs for the new lens have leaked ahead of that announcement.

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7Artisans’ new 18mm f/6.3 II UFO is a $59 APS-C pancake lens for unobtrusive street photography

7Artisans has announced their new 18mm pancake lens, the 7artisans 18mm F6.3 II UFO. As the name suggests, it has a wide 18mm focal length with a fixed f/6.3 aperture. It’s designed specifically for APS-C mirrorless cameras and is available in Sony E, Nikon Z and Fuji X mount options. This tiny lens has a diameter of 56mm and a depth of a mere 15mm, including the mount.

It’s designed to be a bit of a walkabout lens for street photography, with a fixed f/6.3 aperture that should still give you some nice fast shutter speeds during the day. That 18mm focal length on APS-C offers a field of view equivalent to that of about 27mm on a full-frame body, ideal for street photography shots that show some environmental context. And the new version II of this lens also has variable focus from 0.3m to infinity.

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Canon EOS R8 will not have IBIS says specs leaked ahead of next week’s announcement

Well, yesterday’s rumours of an upcoming Canon EOS R8 and EOS R50 announcement seem a little more real today. And there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Asobinet is reporting a leaked spec sheet for the Canon EOS R8, telling us pretty much all of the main vital information on the camera. The bad news, though, is that it appears the Canon EOS R8 will not contain an in-body image stabilisation system.

It is, however, expected to contain a 24-megapixel sensor with 4K resolution footage at up 60 fps with 6K oversampling. It’ll shoot HD at up to 180ps and you’ll be able to shoot (presumably raw) stills at up to 40 frames per second. One has to assume that 40fps stills are with the electronic shutter, but still, it’s pretty impressive.

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Canon reported to announce EOS R8, EOS R50 bodies and two new lenses in the next week

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It looks like Canon’s getting ready to expand their EOS R camera collection. And they’re not just refreshing old models but introducing two new product lines. According to a post on Asobinet, Canon is set to announce two new cameras on February 8th. The first is the (full -frame?) Canon EOS R8 and the APS-C Canon EOS R50 (possibly the first true successor model to the EOS M system).

As well as two new cameras, we’re also expected to see two new lenses coming, the full-frame RF 24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM and an APS-C lens, the Canon RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM. There aren’t any specs on the new lenses yet, but there are prices for one of them, along with the two cameras.

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First photo leaks of Sigma’s 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens ahead of next week’s Sigma Stage announcements

There have been rumours about Sigma releasing a 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for mirrorless cameras for a little while. A couple of weeks ago, we saw some of the specs leak and now, thanks to Sony Alpha Rumors, we have our first photo of the lens showing what it’ll actually look like. It’s a significant design change from the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art for DSLRs, showing quite a different exterior.

The interior is also different, with a new optical formula with more elements in more groups. Sigma has also announced a Sigma Stage Online event for February 7th, with a description talking about discovering new products. So an announcement for something is definitely imminent. Could it be the new 50mm f/1.4 DG DN Art lens?

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Rode’s NTH-100 headphones are now a headset with the new NTH-Mic microphone

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A few months ago, Rode, a company more popularly known for its microphones, decided to get on the other end of the audio gear process with their first pair of headphones, the Rode NTH-100. They quickly became very popular headphones – and for good reason. They’ve been the main headphones I use on my desktop computer for editing, as well as general use, since they were first launched.

Now, Rode’s expanding the capability of the NTH-100 headphones with the new NTH-Mic. It exploits a feature of the headphones in that it has two audio sockets – one underneath each earpad. When you’re just using them as regular headphones, this means you can plug the cable into either side of them for ease of use. With the NTH-Mic attached, one is still used for the audio cable, but the other is used for the mic.

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Sony A7C II announcement rumoured for some time during 2023

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The Sony A7C has proven to be quite popular. As a full-frame camera designed primarily for vlogging, it’s not much of a surprise. Even though there are many full-frame cameras out there now with which you can vlog, the A7C kind of stands alone in its design that’s especially well suited to the task. And despite being smaller, when it comes to video, it largely keeps up with the Sony A7 III.

Well, it appears that we’ve got an A7C II on the way at some point in 2023, according to new rumours over on Sony Alpha Rumors. It’s expected to have the same body and overall form factor as the original Sony A7C but with specs closer to that of the Sony A7 IV. This should mean improved video (perhaps including 10-Bit 4:2:2 and 4K 60p) and better autofocus.

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The Benro Theta is the world’s first tripod that automatically levels itself

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Benro is preparing to release two new tripods via Kickstarter. They’re called the Benro Theta and Theta Max, and they’re sort of “smart” tripods. One of the biggest features they boast is that they’re auto-levelling tripods – the world’s first, they say. I have to admit, when I saw the video of one in action, it didn’t do it the way I thought it would. When we think of “auto-levelling” cameras, we typically think of gimbals. I assumed the head would move, but no, it’s the legs!

As well as automatic leg levelling, the tripods feature the ability through optional modules to control the camera, with remote live view, file syncing and more. You can also instantly live stream from wherever you are (assuming you have a signal), or there’s even an optical sensor module that automatically detects the ambient light levels and adjusts your shooting settings accordingly for those day-to-night holy grail timelapses.

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The Matte Box IQ is Irix’s take on a lightweight matte box that uses their magnetic filters

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Irix has expanded its product base from just lenses once again. After having already branched out into filters, they’ve now announced the new Irix Matte Box IQ. It’s a small, lightweight matte box designed for filmmakers and video shooters to help control light spill on their lenses. It does have one slight drawback for many filmmakers, though, which might be a deal breaker. It’s only designed to work with Irix’s magnetic filters.

If you’re already an Irix shooter and already own a bunch of Irix’s magnetic filters, then this won’t be a problem. But if you’ve been using industry-standard 4×5.65″ glass filters for video work with other matte boxes, then this one probably won’t be for you. At least, not all the time. It still has some great applications as a secondary matte box for a smaller, portable, lightweight camera rig.

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The pros and cons of shooting with Fujifilm mirrorless cameras

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No camera out there is perfect. No camera can ever be perfect. There are just too many different needs out there to be able to pack them all into a single camera, as a lot of those needs are mutually exclusive. Every brand, and even different camera models within a single brand, all have their pros and cons that make them more or less effective for whatever it is that you want to shoot.

In this video, Manny Ortiz takes a look at Fujifilm, looking at the pros and cons of the brand as well as different models of camera within the Fuji lineup. It’s an interesting take on the brand and its cameras. It illustrates why Fuji, but also pretty much all of the camera companies, have a range of devices that are wildly different from each other in order to satisfy as many needs as possible.

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