new Fringer Contax 645 – GFX smart adapter has full aperture and autofocus support

Fringer announced a new Contax 645 to GFX adapter with full electronic aperture and autofocus support:

Will be available soon. Support Contax 645 lenses on GFX50s with electronic aperture control and auto focus (AF is for 35, 45, 80, 140 only).
A GF63/2.8 is needed for activating the adapter. Or the adapter will not work. Please make sure you own it or can borrow one.
There are limitations! Please download and read the user’s manual before placing an order.

Samyang just announced the new ?35mm f/2.8 FE AF lens

ISamyang announces a new 35mm f/2.8 FE autofocus lens. It aims to compete against the exactly same specced and exact same size Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 FE lens. Of course this lens is much cheaper as it will go on sale for $299 only (The Zeiss costs $800).

Press text:

Tiny but Mighty

A tiny lens with a mighty performance, Samyang AF 35mm F2.8 FE is ideal for daily photography as well as travel photography. This new compact and lightweight lens, together with the existing AF 14mm F2.8 FE and AF 50mm F1.4 FE lenses, now expands Samyang’s autofocus lens line-up to three.

The AF 35mm F2.8 FE weighs just 85g and measures 3.3cm in length, without the hood and rear cap. Thanks to Samyang’s exceptional optical technology, its compact size is packed with features for outstanding image quality. Featuring seven elements in six groups, two aspherical lenses and one high refractive lens plus Ultra Multi Coating to minimise aberration and unnecessary light dispersion, the lens delivers high resolution from the centre to the corners of the image.
Perfect Partner for Everyday Photographers

This new lens is specifically designed to work in harmony with full frame mirrorless cameras in Sony E mount. For full frame sensors, the focal length resembles the human eye the most. For APS-C types for Sony alpha 6000 and 5000 series users the lens is equivalent to approximately 52mm, which is also one of the most popular focal lengths among photographers.

Portability with mighty performance and a 35mm focal length makes this lens the best choice for daily photographers who want to capture every memory as a high quality image. The autofocus is fast and accurate and is ideal for the capture of outdoor events such as hiking, sports events and landscape photography. It also has a minimum focusing distance of 0.35m and is ideal for street, portrait and close focus photography.

Image samples at Samyanglensglobal.com/product/detail.do?SQ=59

New CIPA April shipment report: System camera sales going up compared to 2016!

CIPA released the April data and the trend is confirmed: The camera market is doing better than the previous year. While the compact camera market is on par with the previous year the system camera market is doing much better than 2016.

And if you look into the details of the data you can spot how the mirrorless market seems to be the real reason for the growth! DSLR shipment went down 10% while mirrorless shipments were nearly twice as much compared to April 2016!!!

Sankei reports that there is a risk of a Nikon camera sales ban in USA

The Japanese news site Sankeibiz.jp reports that Nikon could risk a sales ban of their cameras on the USA if the patent infringement gets certified by the US authority. As you know there is an ongoing “patent war” between Nikon and Zeiss (Source: Dpreview).

If the ban is really going to happen it will be a devastating news for Nikon finance…which is already suffering because of the declining camera market.

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via Digicameinfo