So, while the Interchangeable Lens Compact market has since exploded, with entries now from Nikon, Fuji, and Sony joining Olympus and Panasonic’s sorta-shared sorta-competitor Micro Four Thirds platform, Micro Four Thirds is still the most established name in the game. And if you had any doubts about that left, the announcement of popular lens makers Tamron and Tokina, as well as specialty lens maker ASTRODESIGN, hopping on board with Sigma, Olympus, Panasonic, and Leica to support the going-on-four-year-old system ought to help remove those. There’s not a lot else to announce at this point, as no one has mentioned any coming lenses, but fans of Tamron’s travel superzooms and Tokina’s incredibly popular wide-angle zooms should rejoice in this move. Press release after the jump.
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Tamron Announces 18-200 For Sony E-Mount / NEX System
And thus adoption for the second mirrorless system to market–Sony’s NEX system and it’s new E mount–has begun. Tamron has announced the upcoming availability of a new 18-200mm superzoom by them for Sony’s NEX system. The full name of the lens tells you most of the story: 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 Di III VC. New here is the Di-III, presumably being their designation for mirrorless systems (Di stands for Digitally integrated, and means that the lens is full-frame but optimized for digital sensors. Di-II means the lens is designed for crop sensors). The VC indicates it’s got in-lens stabilization, which puts it on par with the Sony option. Also, Tamron has stepped up the appearance over their usual fare to match the metal build of the NEX system.
Pricing and availability aren’t known yet, but we’ll go ahead and get this up for preorder for all you NEX users looking for what we can only hope will be a cost-effective alternative to Sony’s own superzoom offering. Press release after the jump.
Spring Expo Starts Tomorrow
So, tomorrow is day 1 (or, for you Carmel shoppers, the only day) for this year’s Spring Expo. For those who’ve never been to one, twice a year we have a whole gaggle of our reps come in to our local brick-and-mortar Indianapolis stores and show off all their stuff, answer your questions, etc… Generally it’s a good time to get to try out some rare equipment you might not get to see on shelves normally (like Leica’s line-up, Olympus’ Top Pro Lenses, Nikon and Canon’s tilt shifts, etc).
And of course there’ll be specials, deals, sales, limited offers, you name it bouncing around, too, and I’ll be posting some of those on our homepage tomorrow. There’ll be buyers on hand to relieve you of old equipment and liberate some funds for shiny new toys, if you’re so inclined. It is spring, after all, out with the old, in with the new.
This time around you’ll be able to chat with reps for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Manfrotto, Gitzo, Elinchrom, Sandisk, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Hoya, Tenba, Lowepro, ThinkTank Photo, Lastolite, Avenger, Mamiya, Leica, Skooba, Induro, Kingston, Westcott, and more.
Expo is at our downtown store Friday and Saturday April 23 and 24 from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm. It’ll be at our Carmel store Friday only 5:00 until 7:30 pm.
Tamron introduces 1-Minute “DSLR Know-How With Tamron” weekly videos
I bought the special edition 2-disc edition of Robert Rodriguez’ cinematic adaption of Frank Miller’s Sin City when it was released in 2005. Among my favorite features (before even watching it all in Green Screen or Bruce Willis and the Accelerators performing “Gypsy Woman”) is Robert Rodriguez’ 10-minute cooking school, a brilliant tutorial in making Sin City Breakfast Burritos complete with his grandmother’s tortilla recipe. Rodriguez does another cooking school on the Once Upon a Time In Mexico DVD, where he shows you how to make the puerco Johnny Depp enjoys with homicidal intensity.
Now Tamron will broadcast 1-minute tips, tricks, and tutorials each week starting on the 18th of January and running for 12 weeks not on a special edition dvd, but on YouTube.
“In just one minute per week you can learn the basics of successful photography at no cost,” ~John VanSteenberg, Tamron’s Senior Education Manager.
Tamron has indicated the “101″ series will be followed by more advanced courses as the project continues. You can find them at http://www.youtube.com/user/TamronVids
or embedded here:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD7ZAzgYDqY
Mother’s Day Lens Promo?
So, not sure what marketing guru decided your average mom (please, don’t misunderstand me, I know there are quite a few of you mothers who are photographers, this isn’t about you but rather odd marketing choices) wants a Tamron 18-270mm for Mother’s Day (my mom would personally and resoundly smack me if I got her a 15x ultra zoom for Mother’s Day). Whoever it was, though, and misguided as the decision seems, it’s a boon to every photographer, mother or not, because the aforemention 15x zoom is currently $50 less. Through next Tuesday, I think. Odd day to end a promo, that.
Anyway, we have it in stock, in flavors for Nikon lenses and Canon lenses. And, it’s something I’ve talked about the usefulness of before. It’s really win-win here, people.
Spring Expo 2009: Tamron 18-270
More from the floor, this time Tamron’s rather popular 18-270mm ultra-zoom lens. Seriously, 15x zoom. Now, I’ve talked in the past about the compromises inherent in a zoom lens that goes from wide to super-tele, but this doesn’t purport to be a pro lens that delivers the absolute best image quality ever in every condition. What it does do is save you a whole lot of swapping–covering about 27-405mm equivalent, and image stabilized too–which for some shooters is worth more. I applaud its ambition, and from the charts I’ve seen it performs just as well as any lens in its quality grade. And that’s really kinda boffo.
Spring Expo: Tamron, 30 Years in the USA
Tamron USA, the American distributor for Tamron lenses, is celebrating 30 years with us downstairs at our Spring Expo. That’s 30 years of quality lenses, with mounts to make them Canon lenses, Nikon lenses, Sony Alpha lenses, and Pentax lenses.
On highlight is the 18-270mm VC (for Vibration Compensated, the Tamron equiv of Canon’s IS and Nikon’s VR). With a 15x zoom range it’s currently the biggest ultra-zoom for a DSLR on the market.
Tomorrow’s another day, and it’s another day to talk to reps from dozens of the best names in imaging at our Indianapolis downtown store, from 10-3. Make it out, if you can.
Spring Expo In Full Swing
The Spring Demo at Roberts is officially on! Come on down for great deals on all brands of digital cameras and compact camcorders. Need some digital camera accessories. We’ve got ‘em. Great deals abound this weekend! Reps are here from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Tamron, Leica, and many more. COME ON DOWN!!!!!!!!!!
Down With The Tyranny of Snap Caps
The 50-200mm is my favorite Olympus camera lens, Indianapolis, you know that. But, what you don’t know is that it came with a standard OEM-style “snap cap” that ticks me the heck off. I’m sure you’ve seen the type. Flat surface, adorned only with a lens manufacturer’s name, and two squeezey bits on the very edges so it can “snap” into place.
That sucks.
I, personally, prefer the “pinch” style caps, such as this one (from Promaster, but these handy-dandy digital camera accessories are also available from Tamron in the after-market sphere). I prefer these for one simple reason: it’s possible to take them on and off without removing or reversing the lens hood. Since I can reach in and pinch it by the middle, instead of having to squeeze the sides, I can get the cap on and off more quickly in the field.
Effeciency, it’s what all the cool kids are doing.
(Third party lens caps are available in all the standard sizes, accomodating your needs be they for Nikon lenses, Canon lenses, or 30 year old Vivitar lenses. Rock on.)
Nikon 10-24: Interesting Lens
This right here is, of course, the newst member in the familyof Nikon lenses, the AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED. And i gotta say, it’s an interesting lens. Not because of the specs, those are good but fairly mundane in their way. It’s DX, so it’s for your Nikon digital cameras with the DX crop sensor, so you’re looking at a very solid 15-36mm ultra wide-angle zoom, which pretty much covers the entire usable and useful wide angle spectrum. f3.5 to 4.5 is a nice decision to bring weight and cost down. So nothing too interesting there.
What is interesting is its place in the current market. It’s very similar in view to the older 12-24 G, although weighing in at 200 bucks less is a pretty decisive factor in differentiating those twos roles. And, it’s all made further complicated by the fact that Tamron makes lenses with identical spec to both of the Nikons (in the case of this 10-24, the Tamron was even out first). So, at this point I’m waiting for some reviews of real-world performance to see how this newest Nikkor is going to fend for itself in an increasingly expansive line of options for Nikonians.
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