Oh yes: Sony wants to have their fair share in the Drone world too!

DJI pretty much dominates the Drone business. But now Sony announced they want to have their say in this segment too. They announced they want to launch their first “Airpeak” branded industrial drones in 2021. The first focus will be on high end drones for industrial and professional cinematographers. If successfull they might make some more “affordable” consumer drones too.

Here is the Press text:

Tokyo, Japan – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that it has launched a new project for drones in the field of AI robotics.

The recent proliferation of drones has contributed greatly to the delivery of previously unseen images, as well as to workflow efficiency and energy savings in the industrial sector. Sony has assigned the “Airpeak” brand to reflect its aspiration to contribute to the further evolvement and the creation of the unprecedented value through its imaging and sensing technology as well as 3R technologies (Reality, Real-time and Remote) in the drone area.

Airpeak will support the creativity of video creators to the fullest extent possible, aiming to contribute to the further development of the entertainment industry as well as to improved efficiency and savings in various industries. Airpeak will also promote this project to enable drone-use with the highest level of safety and reliability in the environments where this has been difficult in the past.

Sony will continue to post project-related information and obtain feedback from drone users through co-creation activities to prepare for the launch of the project in the spring of 2021.
The company soon plans to begin seeking for the partners in the professional space who can collaborate on the project.

Information regarding this project will be regularly updated at the following site

Airpeak Website: https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/airpeak/?j-short=airpeak

–

I already spotted in the past a Sony drone patent you can see here:

Leica Q2 Monochrome will be released on November 19 and cost 740,000 yen

A Japanese site named gqjapan published the full info about the new Leica Q2 Monochrome camera. Here is their google translated text:

Beautiful from end to end
Leica Camera Co., Ltd. announced the latest model of the Leica Q series, the “Leica Q2 Monochrome”. This digital camera is equipped with a newly developed 35mm full-size sensor dedicated to monochrome photography. The lens is a fixed single focus “Leica Summilux f1.7 / 28mm ASPH.”. Also, like the Leica Q series announced so far, it is equipped with a high-definition organic EL electronic viewfinder.

The image sensor of the 35mm full-size sensor, which is the biggest feature of this camera, has 47.3 million pixels, and high-sensitivity shooting with ISO sensitivity of 100,000 is also possible. Depict the subject in detail. Looking at the example, you can see that the thin steel frame of the station is expressed sharply. Macro photography is also possible, and you can easily switch by twisting the lens barrel, and you can shoot at the shortest distance of 17 cm. Also, a function called crop shooting is unique. In addition to the normal 28mm lens angle of view, you can shoot up to a 35mm (30 million pixel) lens, a 50mm (14.7 million pixel) lens, and a 75mm (6.6 million pixel) lens-equivalent angle of view with the push of a button. Despite being a compact digital camera with a fixed lens, it can be said to be a high-performance model equipped with macro to medium telephoto lenses. It also supports 4K quality video recording.

Perhaps it was conscious of a monochrome-only machine, the appearance unified with matte black except for the engraving is also attractive. Compared to the high-end model Leica M10 Monochrome, the decoration has been cut off. The price is planned to be 740,000 yen excluding tax, and it can be said that it is a very reasonable price as a Leica “introductory machine” and a sub machine for M users. The release date is November 19th. Check out the gallery for camera details and examples.

Leica Q2 Monochrome
Dimensions: 130 x 80 x 91.9mm
Weight: 734g (including battery)

 

via Nokishita

Panasonic announced the new S 85mm f/1.8 lens

Preorders:
85mm f/18 lens at BHphoto and Adorama.

Press coverage:
Hands-on by Explora. Product page at Panasonic. Image samples at Dpreview.

Press text:

A New F1.8 Large-Aperture Fixed Focal Length Lens for the LUMIX S Series

Compact, Lightweight Medium-Telephoto LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 (S-S85)

Newark, NJ (November 4, 2020) – Panasonic is pleased to introduce a new large-aperture medium-telephoto fixed focal length lens, the LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 (S-S85) that enhances portrait photography with its beautiful bokeh effect. Based on the L-Mount system for the LUMIX S Series full-frame mirrorless camera, Panasonic is going to release four F1.8 large-aperture lenses as previously announced, and this 85mm F1.8 is the first one. These four F1.8 lenses feature common size and position of control parts to provide practical advantage in use, for example, when the camera is on a gimbal, it is easy to exchange lenses quickly with minimum adjustment of connected gears. Filters can also be used in common thanks to the same diameter. Boasting high mobility realized by its compact size and light weight, the LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 is also suitable for stills.

Comprising 9 elements in 8 groups, the use of 2 ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lenses effectively suppresses both axial chromatic aberration and chromatic aberration of magnification. Panasonic S series lenses even pursue the beauty of bokeh and the LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 provides smooth defocus gradation from the focus peak to the neighboring area of the image as well as smooth, round bokeh of point light source without vignetting. The LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 also excels in video recording performance with a mechanism that suppresses focus breathing, which was a critical problem of all interchangeable lenses designed for still image photography.

With its compact size and approximately 355g weight, the LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 features stunning mobility. The rugged dust/splash-resistant* design withstands use under harsh conditions even at 10 degrees below zero for high mobility. The filter diameter is 67 mm, with a 9-blade circular aperture diaphragm.

In addition to the four F1.8 large-aperture lenses, A 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens is also under development to further enhance LUMIX S Series lens lineup. Panasonic and L-Mount system alliance are committed to the development of L-Mount lenses for the further expansion of its lineup to fulfill the needs of customers.

* Dust and Splash Resistant does not guarantee that damage will not occur if this lens is subjected to direct contact with dust and water.

Megadap unveiled the world’s first autofocus adapter for Leica M manual lenses on Nikon Z cameras

Press text:

Hong Kong, 29 Oct 2020 – Megadap, a new manufacturer of electronic adapters, has unveiled the new Megadap Leica M – Nikon Z Autofocus Adapter. It is the World’s First adapter to be used on Nikon Z cameras which can turn manual focus lenses into autofocus.

The new Megadap adapter replaces the focusing mechanism of the lens by incorporating a extendable bayonet structure. The adapter is built with electronic contacts to communicate with the Nikon Z cameras and utilizes the camera phase-detection autofocus algorithm to determine the focus spot. The motor in the adapter will then drive the bayonet to extend or retract. The distance between the lens and the camera sensor will hereby be adjusted until the focus is reached.
The focusing experience of Megadap is fast and precise. It currently supports Single shot AF (AF-S), Continuous AF (AF-C) and servo AF (AF-F) mode. For AF-area, Single-point AF, Wide-area AF (S/L) and Auto-area AF can all be used. It is compatible with Nikon Z6, Z7, Z50, Z6 (ii) and Z7 (ii).

Unlike similar products being made for other camera systems, the new Megadap adapter is built with a new patented circular extension structure so that it is able to support heavier lenses and eradicate any potential wobbling bayonet issues after prolonged use. It also incorporates a much longer extension (maximum 6.5mm bayonet extension). This is longer than the focus throw of most manual lenses in the market and is gives the lens a much wider focusing range. A micro USB port is equipped for future firmware updates.
In addition to the Leica M-mount lenses, users can also stack additional adapters to turn lenses with other mounts (E.g. EF, F, FD, PK, MD, OM, M42, LR, CY, etc) into autofocus. Owners of legacy manual lenses will now have an entirely new experience with the modern autofocus technology.
More product information and focusing videos can be found from Megadap official website (http://www.megadap.net/)

Pricing
The suggested retail price of Megadap Leica M – Nikon Z autofocus adapter is $349/pc and it can currently be purchased via their official webstore (https://megadap.net/product/mtz11/). 2 years warranty and Fedex international shipping is provided for all direct purchase from the store.