Meyer Optik announces the devleopment of a new Primagon 24mm f/2.8 lens for mirrorles systems

Meyer-Optik announced that it’s developing its first very high-end lens for mirrorless system cameras. it’s a Pirmagon 24mm f/2.8 and will be priced at 4.999€ / $5,499 when it will go on sale in 2018.

Press text:

Meyer-Optik Takes Quantum Leap with New High-End Primagon 24mm
Lens Maker Seeking Photographers to ‘Test’ Lens

With its latest Kickstarter campaign for the historic Trioplan 35+ successfully underway, Meyer-Optik is moving boldly into the world of high-end, high-performance photography with the newest addition to its lineup of hand-crafted lenses. Today, Meyer-Optik announced the new Primagon 24 mm f 2.8, which will have 7 individual lenses, including one aspheric lens. It will have an 84 degree angle of view and will impress with its image quality, compact size and weight of less than 9 ounces (about 250g). It will be available for practically all mirrorless cameras.

Even though the Primagon takes its name from a famous line of historic Meyer-Optik lenses, the new Primagon 24 is a totally new development. With this lens, the young Meyer-Optik brand strives for the highest image quality achievable, sticking to its guiding principles and guarantees that practically all mechanical and optical parts are made in Germany and the lenses will also be hand assembled as individual pieces of craftsmanship in Germany.  With the help of world famous development engineers, the Meyer-Optik team has been working on the Primagon 24 for more than a year. The team is also working on several more lenses for this new series to cover the full range of the most needed and popular focal lengths. These lenses are all developed under the premise that they will provide the best in class high-performance tools for the ambitious photographer.

Even though photographers will have to wait until early 2018 to get a look at this lens, as one of the rewards for backing its Kickstarter for the Trioplan 35+, Meyer-Optik is allowing 30 photographers to receive the Primagon 24 for about half of its expected retail cost. The photographers will get a chance to use the lens months before it heads into serial production, allowing them to give Meyer-Optik feedback that the company could use to make final refinements. The “testing” promotion is a unique way to reward a select group of Kickstarter backers, while giving the company a chance to receive some feedback on how the lens performs in the “real world.”

“Even though the new lenses are already high performers, we want to listen and learn from the feedback of our users,” said Dr. Stefan Immes, founder of the revived Meyer-Optik brand.

“The opinion of the Kickstarter community and the direct feedback is very important to us. We are striving for technical perfection with this lens – but we will not make any compromises when it comes to the creative part of photography. Personality and character are the most important features of all our lenses. This starts right at the beginning of the development process and we are proud that some of the best engineers nationally and internationally are supporting our team in Goerlitz,” Immes said.

The new lens will be available at the beginning of 2018. It will be available for all mirrorless mounts. The suggested retail price will be 4.999,–€/5,499 US $.

Sony officially shows the new Medium Format Sensor roadmap at CEBit

Sony officially announced their new sensor roadmap. And you can watch the full details on that PDF file: sony-semicon.co.jp/products_en/news/detail/170301.pdf

As unveiled two days ago the new roadmap shows:

1) New 100MP 44x33mm Medium format Back Illuminated sensor would be announced in 2018 (for the kind of cameras like the Fuji GFX and X1D)
2) New 150MP 55x41mm Medium format Back Illuminated sensor would be announced in 2018 (for the kind of cameras like the Phase One 100XF).
3) New 150MP 55x41mm Medium format Back Illuminated monochrome sensor would be announced in 2018

The Megapixel war isn’t over folks! And it will never be over :)

Canon says they are working on a new kind of Lens Technology

In an interview with Focus Numerique Canon teased something special: They are working on a very new Lens Technology that will bring some real new added value. They didn’t disclose anything further.

Ee have to see if that’s just a marketing statement for something that will turn out to be nothing special or if it’s a real deal. I am guessing now: Maybe they will launch the first Liquid Lens for DSLR? Those kind of lenses uses liquids instead of glass and would allow to have super fast AF and Zoom and much more compact lens designs.

Canon Celebrates its 14th Consecutive Year of No. 1 Marketshare in Global Interchangeable-Lens Digital Cameras

No matter how much Buzz Sony and Fuji created the past years. The King still has not be de throned. Canon announced that it is celebrating its 14th consecutive year as Number 1. And I don’t see how this will chnage the next couple of years. Or maybe I am wrong?

Press text:

Canon Celebrates its 14th Consecutive Year of No. 1 Marketshare in Global Interchangeable-Lens Digital Cameras

MELVILLE, N.Y., March 29, 2017 – Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announced today that its parent company, Canon Inc., announced that the Company’s interchangeable-lens digital cameras have maintained the No. 1 share of the global market for 14 consecutive years from 2003 to 20161.

Canon Inc., which develops the key components featured in its interchangeable-lens cameras—CMOS image sensors, image processors and interchangeable lenses — employs these cutting-edge technologies across its entire product lineup, from entry-level models that achieve high-image quality with easy operation to professional-use flagship cameras, effectively responding to the needs of a wide range of users.

In 2003, the dawn of digital SLR cameras, Canon introduced its breakthrough EOS Digital Rebel. This groundbreaking camera, which was competitively priced and featured a compact, lightweight design, captured the top share of the global market and set the stage for growth in the digital SLR market. Since that time, Canon has continued to launch a range of epoch-making products, including the professional-model EOS-1D series and the EOS 5D series which paved the way for digital SLR video recording.

During 2016, Canon introduced an impressive lineup of interchangeable-lens camera products that supported the Company’s achievement of a 14th consecutive year at the top of the global market. In March, the Company released the EOS 80D for advanced-amateur users, which features excellent still image quality and superb operability when shooting video. Then in April, the Company released its flagship model, the EOS-1D X Mark II, ideal for sport photography thanks to its 14 frame-per-second continuous shooting capability. The EOS 5D Mark IV, capable of 4K video, was then released in September. Additionally, the Company’s interchangeable-lens camera lineup expanded with the introduction of the high-end EOS M5 compact-system camera in November.

Canon will continue to respond to the needs of its wide range of customers by further bolstering its lineup in 2017. Already this year, the Company launched three new interchangeable-lens cameras equipped with the highly accurate autofocus technology, Dual Pixel CMOS AF – the EOS M6 compact-system camera, the EOS 77D and EOS Rebel T7i.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean markets. With approximately $29 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2016.† Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes in the United States. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED® Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company’s RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact pr@cusa.canon.com.

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†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.

1Based on a Canon survey