Photokina lens bonanza
A host of enticing optics were announced at this year’s show
s well as the two 150-600mm lenses and a new 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM (£499) from Sigma, many other lens manufacturers had new optics on display at Photokina. Highlights from the lengthy list include the Canon EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II (£6,999 / $6,890), a compact 400mm lens with four-stop stabilisation; the Fujinon XF50-140mm f/ 2.8 F2.8 R LM OIS WR (£1,250 / $1,599) weatherproof telephoto zoom; the
ALytro’s first Light Field camera resembled a kaleidoscope, but the new Illum uses a more conventional design. Inside, it uses the same micro-lens array technology, which enables the camera to calculate where light has been reflected from, enabling the focus point to be adjusted post-capture.
The Illum’s lens has a focal length range equivalent to 30-250mm and a fixed aperture Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED (£679 / $797) wideangle FX lens; and a 50-150mm f/2.8 S ED OIS (£1,199 / $1,599) lens from Samsung – the company’s first fixed f/2.8 zoom lens, and a good choice of sports optic for the new NX1.
Olympus also announced an M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro (£1,499 / $1,499), which has an equivalent focal length of 80-300mm on a Micro Four Thirds camera. It should prove popular for shooting sport with its OM-D range of f/2.0 – although the Illum is capable of capturing detail in a depth range comparable with using f/16. Naturally there’s no Aperture Priority mode, but Sensitivity Priority (ISO 80-3,200) and Shutter Priority are present.
Although the Illum has a 1/1.2-inch 40MP sensor, the images it produces are only around 4 million pixels in size. Once the images are downloaded and opened in Lytro’s software, the focus point can be adjusted with a tap on an iPad screen or a click of a mouse on your computer. More ergonomic shape.
4MP image size. of compact system cameras. Keeping with the sports theme, Tokina finally unveiled a telephoto lens in the guise of the full-frame AT-X 70-200mm F/4 PRO FX VCM-S (£699 / $1,099), a high-quality optic with internal focusing and a ring-type ultrasonic AF motor.
Zeiss had four new lenses on show including the full-frame Otus 85mm f/1.4 (£3,429 / $4,490) which is designed for taking portraits on full-frame Canon or Nikon cameras.