Hasta La Gadget!

Hasselblad announced today that it will be introducing a new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) called the Lunar early in 2013, something which you can be pretty sure will appeal to a very limited pool of potential buyers. Hasselblad is basically saying as much, calling the Italian-designed camera the “ultimate luxury” in MILC systems, and describing a device made of top-end materials including carbon fiber, titanium, wood, leather and even gold. The final price will be somewhere around €5,000 (US$6,530), so start saving those pennies.

The Lunar will be looking to strike a balance between professional features common to advanced DSLRs, including full manual controls, as well as ease of use for less experienced photographers. The camera is designed to work with both E-mount and A-mount lenses from Sony, and also employs a 24-megapixel full-frame APS-C. It also has an electronic viewfinder with 100 percent coverage, 1080p HD video recording, and an ISO range of 100 to 16,000, with a battery life of up to 430 minutes and Memory Stick or SDXC for storage.

The Lunar is actually the first result of a partnership between Hasselblad and Sony also announced today, that should see the release of several more products, including additional MILC bodies and new products for both the DSLR and compact camera markets. The Swedish company is clearly looking to get in to more of the consumer end of the photography market, after having operated as a highly specialized manufacturer of most medium-format film and digital cameras aimed at professionals.

As for the Lunar, it’s a lot pricier than most other MILCs, but it’s also pretty gorgeous judging by the renders Hasselblad sent over, something consumers in its target bracket should appreciate. Check out its good looks in the gallery below.

Another Photokina star is Samsung’s Galaxy Camera, which launched to much fanfare several weeks ago at IFA, but dominates the company’s photo-themed booth at the biennial photography show in Cologne, Germany. There’s not much more to report on the hardware side, apart from confirmation that certain versions of the Android snapper will pack LTE, but there are indeed some very shiny new finishes to gawk at. First up is a bright orange flavor — if you feared that the Galaxy point-and-shoot’s rather large footprint wouldn’t attract enough attention on its own in the field, you shouldn’t have any such concerns with an orange model. Also of the neon persuasion is a flashy pink version, which like the aforementioned color, should draw many an eye. We were quite pleased with the black and white models we saw at IFA, and while Samsung clearly has a few colorful prototypes in circulation, the company says they’re only being considered at this point, with your feedback determining the final options. So, what do you think? Would you buy an orange or pink Galaxy Camera? Let us know in the comments after the break.

Continue reading Colors! Samsung’s Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs

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Colors! Samsung’s Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t have the $6,500 to spare to pick up a Leica M9? You might consider the freshly announced M-E, which carries a similar feature set and a slightly more palatable $5,450 price tag. The camera includes the same 18-megapixel sensor as the M9, but drops relatively minor features like a built-in USB port (you’ll need to pop out your SD card to download pics). It’s nearly identical to the pricier model, with a low-res (230k-dot) 2.5-inch LCD and an ISO range of 160-2500. Unlike the “new M,” announced alongside the M-E, the latter model does not offer live-view functionality, so you’ll only be using the LCD to make settings adjustments and for reviewing images, anyway. Shot framing will be handled with the 0.68x viewfinder, positioned at the top left of the camera.

Aesthetically, you might find the M-E to be a bit more pleasing, with a muted gray/black color scheme — we found it to be quite nice during out hands-on at Photokina. The camera itself looks like an M9 with a hint of Michael Graves-esque simplicity — there’s a silver shutter speed dial up top, with soft numbering and positions that range from bulb to 1/4000 second. There’s also a matching power toggle/shutter release, along with the standard suite of playback and ISO controls on the rear. As we mentioned, the 2.5-inch display offers a bit lower resolution than what we’d like to see, making it less than ideal for verifying image sharpness, for example, so if the LCD marks high on your list of priorities, you’ll probably do best to wait for the “new M” (M10) to hit early next year. Otherwise, the M-E appears to be a capable camera, but M9 owners should hang tight — there’s not much to see here. The M-E is available for purchase now, for about $5,450 (or €4,800 in Europe), and you can sneak a peek in our gallery below, and the hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Leica M-E is a $5,450 M9 with new color scheme, minor feature exclusions (hands-on video)

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Leica M-E is a $5,450 M9 with new color scheme, minor feature exclusions (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure the XF1’s nice to look at, but the real star of Fujifilm’s 2012 Photokina lineup has to be the X-E1. The X-Pro1’s little sibling offers up most of the functionality of its bigger, pricier brother — save for its inclusion just an electronic viewfinder — into a body that’s roughly a third smaller. That said, this is hardly a compact mirrorless — the X-E1’s still got a bit of girth and weight to it, compared to some of the smaller entries in the field. Still, it feels nice in the hand and isn’t likely to weigh down your shooting — particularly for those accustom to using a larger DSLR. It’s also worth pointing out, right off the bat, that the retro-styled interchangeable lens camera is significantly cheaper, running you $700 less than the X-Pro-1.

Flip the camera over and you get a 2.8-inch 460k-dot LCD. Just above the display is a devoted button that will pop up the retractable flash directly above. The X-E1 will be hitting stores in April, carrying a $1,000 price tag. Buy a kit with a lens and you’ll still come in $300 under the X-Pro1’s $1,700 price tag, making for a full-featured and great looking little mirrorless for a lot less money.

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Fujifilm X-E1 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lensbaby has a pretty good track record in making lenses which allow you to take photos with all manner of wacky focus effects. Now, it’s targeting the budget end of the market by launching the Spark, an $80 lens that turns your DSLR into a selective-focus shooter. More »