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Sirui releases Saturn 35mm T2.9 1.6x Anamorphic lens

Sirui has officially announced the general availability of its full-frame Saturn 35mm T2.9 1.6x Anamorphic lens. Initially launched in November 2022 as a pre-order, this tiny lens is smaller than a can of coke, yet covers a full-frame sensor with a 35mm anamorphic field of view. It’s intentionally small so it can be more easily used on lightweight gimbal rigs, as well as drones, where balance and lens weight is important.

Available in Canon RF, Sony E and DJI DL mount, the lens measures only 100-103mm with a weight of only 390-415g. Its weight is thanks to its use of carbon fibre on the lens barrel. Carbon fibre is much lighter than aluminium or other metals often used in lens construction while maintaining more than enough strength for a lens barrel. So while it’s still a but of a lump, it’s a lot lighter than it could have been.

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Meike announces 60mm f/2.8 macro lens for E, X, Z, EF-M, RF & M43 mounts

Meike has announced their new 60mm f/2.8 APS-C manual focus macro lens. It’s a very low-budget lens, with a price tag of only $189.99, and as such, it probably won’t be able to compete with higher-end (and autofocus) lenses with a similar field of view. But, if keeping costs as low as possible and having a play to see if you even like macro is important, this lens might be worth having a look at.

Aside from being pretty inexpensive as macro lenses go, it’s available for six different camera mounts. Sony E, Fuji X, Nikon Z, Canon EF-M, Canon RF and Micro Four Thirds. Despite the fact that the lens is available for Nikon Z and Canon RF, it is an APS-C lens. So, if you’re trying to use it on full-frame bodies, you’ll definitely need to do some cropping!

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Godox SLIII series LEDs finally gain app control

The Godox SL series LEDs have been Godox’s entry-level continuous lights for several years now. They’re a fantastic series of lights for when you’re on a low budget but still want good quality. I own a few of them myself and, the one big drawback that I and others have spoken about them is that there’s no remote app control. It’s all manual knobs and dials on the back of the light unit itself.

This makes it difficult when you’re using multiple lights and want to reconfigure several of them. Well, that all changes now, as Godox announces the new Godox SLIII series continuous LEDs. The new SLIII lights offer everything we’ve come to know and love from the SLII series, but also provide remote control through the Godox Light app for iOS and Android. All lights are available in both Daylight and Bi-colour.

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Amaran releases its first ever full-colour Pixel Tube LED lights

Amaran, the entry-level sub-brand of Aputure, has announced the Amaran PT1c, PT2c and PT4c in 1ft, 2ft and 4ft lengths, respectively. These are the first full-colour RGBWW LED pixel tubes released under the Amaran brand, with USB-C charging, smooth diffusion, multiple Pixel FX, as well as remote control abilities through either DMX or the Sidus Link app on your smartphone.

The company has also refreshed its COB 60, 100 and 200 LEDs with a new S series. The new upgraded lights feature a new SSI LED design to bring higher colour accuracy. This results in increased CRI and TLCI scores for more accurate colour rendering. As before, there are both daylight and bi-colour versions available, still sporting the familiar Bowens mount, with Sidus Link remote control.

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INFINIBAR is Aputure’s first addressable RGBWW linear LED lights

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Aputure has announced its new INFINIBAR Pixel Bar series of LED sticks. These are the company’s first RGBWW full-colour LED pixel bars that can be connected to create various shapes. They’re available in 1ft, 2ft and 4ft options, with a number of connectors to configure your shapes. Each of the three INFINIBAR models has a pixel density of 24 pixels per foot (2 per inch or about 1 every 12.7mm).

Aputure says the INFINIBAR’s “infinite blending design” and “ultra-smooth Pixel FX […] unlock new possibilities for lighting design both on and off-camera”. I’m not entirely sure how these should be used on-camera, but that’s what they say. They feature a bunch of connectivity options, including wired and wireless DMX, as well as wireless remote control from the Sidus Link app.

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Samyang announces AF 75mm F1.8 X lens for Fuji

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Samyang has officially announced the recently leaked Samyang AF 75mm F1.8 X lens for Fuji X mount cameras. Naturally, as a lens designed specifically for Fuji, it’s an APS-C lens. Interestingly, however, it appears to be very similar in specification to the Samyang AF 75mm f/1.8 FE full-frame lens for Sony E cameras released in 2020. It does have a very different outward appearance, though.

According to the Fuji website, the new AF 75mm f/1.8 X is constructed of 10 elements in 0 groups with a minimum focus distance of 69cm, the same as the Sony one. It has the same maximum and minimum aperture range, although it appears slightly wider and uses a larger filter thread.

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Lensbaby Double Glass II – A familiar old look with a fresh level of sharpness

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Lensbaby has announced their new Double Glass II optic. It builds on the look of the original Lensbaby, released in 2004 – a look which was improved by the first Double Glass optic released in 2008. Now the Double Glass II takes the quality up another level to provide a very sharp point of focus where it counts, with the rest of the frame drifting off into the typical weirdness we expect from Lensbaby.

It’s available in two flavours. There’s the standard Double Glass II optic, for those who already have a Lensbaby optic swap system and also as a Double Glass II Lens bundled with the Lensbaby Composer Pro II. The new Double Glass II is a 50mm optic featuring a 12-blade adjustable f/2.5-22 aperture, while still providing drop-in magnetic aperture abilities.

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Godox Announces KNOWLED RGBWW Pixel LED Tubes & Wireless DMX Tx/Rx

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Godox has announced its new KNOWLED line of RGBWW Pixel Tube LED lights. Coming in three sizes, we’ve got the TP2R, TP4R and TP8R, measuring around 2ft, 4ft and 8ft, respectively. The first two are already available to pre-order. However, no price has yet been announced for the latter of the three, and the Godox website simply says “8′ to be availble” (the typo is theirs).

Also announced is the Godox TimoLink wireless DMX transmitter and receiver system. This essentially converts a wired DMX console to wireless by sending and receivings signals to and from CRMX-compatible fixtures or transmitters/receivers. The system employs frequency hopping to eliminate interference, even in busy location and complex setups, to provide wireless control up to a distance of 300 metres.

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Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro features a Super 35mm sensor, EF mount and live streaming

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Blackmagic Design has announced their newest camera, the Blackmagic Studio Camera 6K Pro. As the name suggests, it features a Super 35mm format 6K sensor, and utilises Canon EF mount lenses. It sports a similar compact design to previous Blackmagic Studio Cameras of the past, in a lightweight carbon fibre reinforced polycarbonate body, with a large 7″ touchscreen HDR display offering 2,000 nits of brightness.

Inside, the new Blackmagic Studio 6K Pro camera offers live streaming over WiFI or HDMI. It’s not just for streaming, though. You can also take advantage of Blackmagic RAW format recording to an SSD over USB. The camera contains a built-in neutral density filter that offers 2, 4 or 6 stops of light reduction and an high ISO capability up to ISO 25,600.

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Leica goes Bond with the new Leica D-Lux 7 007 Edition

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Leica’s famous for their limited edition runs of cameras. This time, it’s to celebrate the exhibition of photographs from James Bond films spanning more than 60 years since the character’s on-screen debut in 1962. The exhibition, titled “Photographs from the James Bond Archive”, is thanks to film producer Michael G Wilson, who has opened up EON’s archive of photographs shot during filming of the movies.

To go along with the exhibition, Leica has released a limited special Leica D-Lux 7 007 Edition camera. It features the familiar bond “gun barrel” design on the lens cap and is emblazoned with the 007 logo on top. The run is limited to only 1,962 units worldwide – matching the year of the first movie release – in a specially designed presentation box.

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