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.
› posts tagged ‘tokina’
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.
Did We Mention We’re Having an Expo?
Spring Expo 2009
So, I somehow miraculously keep not mentioning this, but the 24th and 25th this month at or two Indianapolis (area) stores is our annual Spring Expo. We’re going to have most anybody who’s anybody (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Mamiya, Leica, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Profoto, Induro, PocketWizard, FJ Westcott, RPS Studio, Manfrotto, Gitzo, Lastolite, and on and on and on…) out in our store, showing you the merch. If you’re within traveling distance, it’s really a good time to swing by and give us a visit, because there’re just too many toys to play with. It’s one of the two times a year I get to try one of the f2 constant zooms for my E-3, for instance. (Although, dyed-in-the-wool Oly shooter I am, I think I’ll step down and play some with the A900 and some Zeiss lenses and with Nikon’s under-rated D700, both of which are systems I’d have in a giant rolling case if my pay-grade allowed for it.)
I’m sure specials will abound as well, and for those of you who unfortunately can’t come out and see us I’ll be mirroring as much of them as humanly possible on our website as well, so remember to swing by the site that weekend and check on that equipment you’ve been scrounging for (and maybe some you didn’t know you needed, occupational hazzard).
Lenses are expensive
So, here’s one of the more common sentiments among those unfamiliar with the camera industry: man, those lenses are ridiculously expensive. Heck, I can remember a time when I couldn’t conceive paying more than a couple hundred for a lens (and now my favorite one is valued at around 800-1000 bucks.)
So, to help put things in perspective, I stumbled across this video which I’ve encountered a couple times in my stint here, and thought I’d share it with everyone. It’s a short segment on how lenses are made (in the general, so it applies no matter if we’re talking Canon lenses, Nikon lenses, Sony lenses, Oly lenses, Sigma lenses, Tamron, Tokina, blah-de-blah-de-blah). Seriously, basically any camera lens going these days is a flat-out marvel of engineering. Just check this cut-out version of Olympus’ revised “standard” zoom, the 14-54:
Impressed? I sure am. I certainly couldn’t have engineered something like that, and yet hundreds of people take that lens for granted every day. And it doesn’t even have any fancy tricks like ED glass.
And, if that’s not enough, here’s that video to show us just what it takes to make each of those actual glass lenses inside that sucker:
Roberts Raw Footage: Tokina 12-24
Another chill, grey day here in Indianapolis, another Raw Footage video for me to post. This is the next in the series with our THK rep, and this time we’re showing the Tokina 12-24mm lens. Like the 11-16 this lens can sit amongst your Nikon lenses or Canon lenses, since it’s available for either system. It’s got a durable, rugged metal build, as well. For the rest, I’ll turn you over to the video. Embedded below, available as always on our Podcasts page as well.
Roberts Raw Footage: Tokina
This week we have a few special Raw Footage videos for you, we were fortunate enough to have one of our reps visiting us and he agreed to talk about a few products on our video blog, so we’ll be posting them throughout the next week.
To start off with we have the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, which’ll be right at home alongside your Canon lenses (lest we forget that it’s Canon Days this week), or itll also sit amongst your Nikon lenses if you happen to be of that camp. It’s made for APS-C sensors, so it’ll be closer to a 17-24 (depending on if you use Canon or Nikon it’ll be a bit different), which is still really rather wide, and 2.8 is fast for a lens of this class.
I’ll leave the rest for the video, embedded below or viewable on our Podcasts page.
New Canon Cameras Announced today!!
It’s that time of year again, folks! Canon made a Pre-Photokina 2008 announcement. They introduced the long awaited Canon EOS 5D MK II, a Canon digital SLR camera to replace the Canon 5D body. It offers 21 MP and 1080p movie mode! They also announced the Canon 24mm f/1.4 L II USM, another addition to other Canon Lenses that are being redesigned for the new Canon digital SLR cameras.
Canon also announced at least five new Powershot cameras. The one that stands out is the new Canon Powershot G10, offering 15 MP and a 28mm -140mm lens.
It is getting interesting! Photokina 2008 should bring a lot of new digital camera accessories to the industry. Stay tuned!
Coming Attractions
Tamron, long a leader in lens design and technologies announced an astounding 15x range zoom 18-270mm lens in development on July 30th. Yesterday our Tamron lens rep was here at Roberts Imaging with a little more news. The first 18-270 lenses shipping will be for the Nikon DSLR bodies, including the D40 and D60 series bodies. That’s right the AF 18-270mm Di II VC lens will also carry the BIM designation, so it will mount on all Nikon Digital Cameras. (Note: the full frame sensor cameras will not reduce the file size and coverage area as they do Nikon’s DX lenses, and Tamron does not recommend their use. If used the resulting image will have to be cropped to eliminate vignetting).Tamron’s Canon EF mount lenses will follow shortly after the Nikon’s and don’t be surprised to see the Sony/Minolta mount soon too.
If you are unfamiliar with the vernacular of the lens world I will give you a brief jargon translation.
DSLR: Digital Single Lens Reflex. A camera with a mirror box and prism for viewing the image through an eyepiece (or now on live view); the mirror pivots (reflexes) out of the way allowing the light path to reach the sensor. AF: Auto Focus; just like it sounds the lens and camera can focus automatically (there is always the option to manually override if desired).
Di II: This is Tamron’s designation for a lens designed to work with the smaller APS-C sized digital sensors, some higher end DSLR’s will have a full size sensor the same dimensions as a 35mm frame of film (you remember film, right?).
VC: Vibration Compensation; built in stabilization features that help reduce user shake,allowing sharper photos in challenging conditions. Nikon Lenses and Canon lenses offer their own version on some of their lenses VR (Vibration Reduction) is Nikon’s terminology, and IS (Image Stabilizaition) is Canon’s. Remember: vibration reduction, compensation, control or stabilization reduces but does not always eliminate the need for a camera tripod.
BIM: (Built-In Motor) a motor on-board the lens instead of a mechanical connection to the camera body. Built-In motors are nothing new, Canon Lenses have been equipped with internal motors since the first EOS lenses. Nikon came on board several years ago as well with their AF-S series of lenses. Now Third party lens manufacturers like Tamron, Sigma and Tokina to name just a few are building the more efficient internal motors in some of their offerings too.
With new longer range lenses cropping up all the time the options for the casual photographer are much greater. A lens with a 15x zoom would be an all-in-one solution for a lot of users. We don’t know the delivery dates yet but you can pre-order this lens on-line or you can contact me at 800-726-5544 or cpace@robertsimaging.com.
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