EPSON PLEDGES MORE ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE CANON ADDS TO GROWING RF LENS SYSTEM

HAVING ALREADY WON a number of awards for good corporate citizenship, Epson has announced a range of sweeping measures to help in the fight against climate change. This is being spearheaded in a collaboration with the National Geographic Society to promote the protection of the world’s permafrost via a campaign titled ‘Turn Down The Heat’.

Scientists are predicting that the world’s permafrost will thaw entirely by 2100, drastically changing ecologies, raising global sea levels, and releasing over 950 billion tonnes of methane into the atmosphere. Together, Epson and National Geographic want to raise awareness of how people can reduce their own impact of global warming, from homes to offices and other businesses. Specifically, Epson is increasing its promotion of its inkjet printers with ‘Heat-Free Technology,’ which reduce environmental impact by using low energy and few replacement parts. Epson’s ‘Heat-Free Technology’ does not use heat in the ink ejection process. Instead pressure is applied to a piezo element, thereby greatly reducing the printer’s energy consumption. Epson has also updated its line-up of EcoTank printers that use refillable ink reservoirs rather than disaposable cartridges.

‘Turn Down the Heat’ is fronted by the National Geographic explorer, Dr. Katey Walter Anthony, who oversees arctic observatories in Alaska and Russia to monitor the long-lasting impact of climate change.

“The Arctic is literally melting before our eyes,” she says. “We estimate that up to 10% of the projected global warming this century could come from thawing permafrost, and that affects the entire Earth. What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. Our choices really do matter in work and in life. And when businesses and people make smart decisions about what technology we use, that will also make a positive difference for our environment.”

Epson’s global president Yasunori Ogawa comments, “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Epson, and we are committed to not only lowering our own environmental footprint, but helping customers to do so too. We hope to make a difference in overcoming global environmental issues with our customers and business partners through our technologies”.

For more information on the ‘Turn Down

The Heat’ campaign visit www.epson.com.au/ heat-free-technology.

WITH AN EOS R series sports camera coming, Canon has added the mandatory prime supertelephotos to its RF mount lens line-up. There’s also a second RF macro lens and this trio bring Canon’s RF mount system up to 22 models.

The RF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM and RF 600mm f/4.0L IS USM are essentially the same lenses optically and mechanically as the EF models, but with the mount end re-engineered with an extension tube to ‘correct’ for the shorter flange back distance of the mirrorless bodies. Presumably, given the low volume sales of these supertelephotos, Canon has chosen not to design completely new lenses, so neither have the dedicated multi-function control ring that is a feature of all the other RF models. However, the manual focusing collar can be used as a control ring with some EOS R series bodies. There have also been upgrades to autofocusing systems and the control CPUs to take advantage of the capabilities delivered by the RF mount and the mirrorless camera configuration. In particular, the RF 400mm and 600mm will be able operate at the EOS R3’s promised 30fps shooting speed, which is with continuous AF adjustment. Both have more powerful AF drives. They will also be able to support the upgraded subject detection and tracking functionality. Additionally, both lenses allow for aperture adjustment in one-eighth stop increments. The optical image stabilisation gives up to 5.5 stops of correction for camera shake, but there’s no Co-ordinated Control IS tie-up with the IBIS systems in the R6, R5 and forthcoming R3 to give an extended range. Both the RF 400mm and 600mm share the same optical construction, which comprises 17 elements in 13 groups and includes one Super UD type and two fluorite types. They also have both Canon’s Super Spectra Coating (SSC) and Air Sphere Coating (ASC) anti-reflection multi-coatings.

The new RF 100mm f/2.8 Macro IS USM is an interesting lens for a number of reasons, the first being its maximum magnification ratio of 1.4:1 (or 1.4x) life size, which is a world first. This is made possible by the shorter flange distance of the mirrorless camera configuration and also a ‘floating’ internal focusing system. The minimum focusing distance is 26cm, but this translates into a minimum working distance of just 8.6cm.

The optical image stabilisation gives up to five stops of correction, but this is increased to eight stops in conjunction with in-camera stabilisation. Additionally, there’s a Hybrid IS mode that engages automatically at the closest focusing distances – when the effectiveness of image stabilisation is diminished anyway – and corrects for both horizontal and vertical shifts as well as for the angular movements of tilt and pan. Focusing is performed by Canon’s Dual Nano USM system for speed and quietness, and Canon claims a 50% improvement in the suppression of focus breathing compared to the EF mount 100mm macro, which is particularly important when using focus stacking.

The RF 100mm macro lens also features ‘Spherical Aberration Control’, a dedicated ring to adjust the softness of out-of-focus effects – or bokeh – in the background and/or foreground. The SA control ring operates over a range of plus/minus four steps. There’s also the standard RF lens multi-function control ring that can be set to adjust the aperture, shutter speed, ISO or exposure compensation. Other features of the new macro lens include magnesium alloy barrel tubes with weather sealing, a fluorine coating on the exposed surface of the front element to help repel moisture and grease, and a nine-blade diaphragm (for more rounded outof-focus effects).

The RF 400mm and 600mm supertelphotos and the RF 100mm macro will be available in Australia in July. For more information visit www.canon.com.au.