Canon says they will not make a High-Resolution Version of the Canon R1

PetaPixel had a short chat with Canon manager Go Tokura. He made it clear that there is no high resolution version of the Canon R1 on their roadmap:

“We consider the flagship to basically be at the pinnacle of our lineup, which means we’re not going to have two flagship models because we’ve basically put everything that we have — the best performance and the best trust — into the EOS R1. So I would say that we would probably never consider developing another model using the same body as the EOS R1.

For example, if we have higher resolution, then we know that that will skew the balance and the sensitivity will be lower. That is a physical mechanism. So in a flagship, we would never focus on just one aspect of the performance that would destroy the balance. I believe our current strategy is to have the 5-series be responsible for the high resolution quality

Nikon patented the design of a never seen before 85-135mm f/1.8-2.8 Full Frame lens!

Nikon patented the design of a never seen before 85-135mm f/1.8-2.8 Full Frame lens. Nikon Japan writes:

Conventionally, variable magnification optical systems suitable for photo cameras, electronic still cameras, video cameras, etc. have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such variable magnification optical systems, it is difficult to obtain bright and good optical performance while making them compact.

So basically Nikon’s goal here is to offer an ultimate portrait zoom lens that still has reasonable size. In this design the lens of the length is 119.454mm up to 149.236mm when fully extended. That’s truly compact if you consider the 135mm f/1.8 S Plena Lens is 139.5mm long!

Of course, this is a patent and there is no guarantee that they will ever make this lens. But damn… I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this beast will be made!

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via Asobinet

Bad news: Sigma’s Full-Frame Foveon Camera is Still at Least ‘a Few Years Away’

PetaPixel had a quick chat with Sigma CEO Yamaki. And we have some bad news regarding the Foveon sensor development:

When asked about a timeline, Yamaki responded: “at least a few years, minimum.”
However, as disheartening as it might be to hear that, Yamaki promises that he and his team are not giving up.

The main problem they have is that the sensor requires a new manufacturing method. And Sigma still has not found a manufacturer that can do this. This is sad news because potentially the Foveon tech can you give you a true advantage in terms of resolution, and color rendering compared to the Bayer sensors. I am afraid it might get close to 2030 before we see such a sensor inside a new Sigma L-mount camera.