Hasta La Gadget!

Nikon is going bigger with its product line, most notably marked by the announcement of its new 800mm f5.6 super-telephoto which should look quite impressive once it’s available. The move comes as a response to compete with Canon, and it will be interesting to see how this one stacks up against Canon’s EF 800mm f/5.6 L IS USM.

For professional photographers, Nikon’s new 800mm telephoto lens may be worth the big investment for photographing birds or any type of wildlife. Nikon hasn’t specified when they lenses will start to ship or how much it will cost, but you can bet that it will be pretty expensive. Canon’s EF 800mm f/5.6 L IS USM costs photographers a whopping $13,000.

The new 800mm telephoto lens will be shown off by Nikon at the Photokina show scheduled to take place this September in Cologne, Germany. Nikon currently offers super-telephoto models at 400mm, 500mm and 600mm with a 200-400mm zoom.

[via CNET]

Nikon announces 800mm super-telephoto lens is written by Elise Moreau & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Marking the release of pink colored NX1000, Samsung Electronics treats the purchasing customers of its latest NX1000 Pink with a Bobbi Brown pink lip gloss, a premium camera bag, a guide handbook, and a bean pole camera wrist strap from the 11th to the 31st of July. Samsung smart camera NX1000 now comes in pink targeting young ladies in their 20’s and 30’s for the imminent summer vacation season in the joint marketing event with Bobbi Brown.

There are plenty of insanely fast ways to acquire images, but in a lab in UCLA, engineers have created the world’s fastest 2D camera. It’s so fast, it can image 36.7 million fully-2D frames every second—and it could revolutionize the way screen for cancer. More »

We’ve been generally unimpressed with the latest round of basic point-and-shoots, including those from Samsung’s mid-range Smart series, but we do tend to take heed whenever a manufacturer opts to focus on optics rather than bumping up the megapixel count to boost sticker appeal. Compared to sub-$200 shooters, there’s a fairly limited market for $549 pocketable models — a price point that often prompts would-be owners to dig beyond superficial specs in search of full manual control, solid high-ISO performance, fast focusing and a lens that enables both low-light shooting and shallow depth of field. Samsung’s EX2F appears to fit the bill, offering a 12.4-megapixel 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor, a top extended ISO setting of 12,800, a 3-inch VGA-res AMOLED display and — the crown jewel — an f/1.4-2.7, 24-79mm lens. That optic delivers an additional one 2/3 stop of sensitivity over the EX2F’s predecessor, the two-year-old TL500. Other advantages include a lighter magnesium alloy body, an NX power pin-enabled hot shoe for adding an external mic or flash, and a new micro-USB trigger cable.

Though the EX2F was noticeably lighter than the 2010 model during our hands-on, it retains much of the TL500’s heft — at least from a size perspective. The camera’s footprint makes it too bulky to slip in a pocket, as we were able to do with the Sony RX100, though the flip-out AMOLED display is certainly a welcome addition. An NX-like smart UI mode enables instant access to key settings, as do the dual control dials, which let you adjust shooting modes (on the right) and capture speed (on the left). There’s also a new in-camera HDR mode which merges two back-to-back shots (one underexposed and the other overexposed) in order to retain additional shadow and highlight detail. The camera was quite responsive during a quick shoot earlier today, powering on, focusing and capturing an image quickly. We’ll need to spend much more time snapping outside of an office environment before passing any formal judgement, but it’s easy to see the appeal of such of device — and the advantage over less-abled point-and-shoots. For now, you can take a closer look in the gallery below, and in our hands-on demonstration after the break.

Continue reading Samsung EX2F point-and-shoot with f/1.4 lens hands-on (video)

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Samsung EX2F point-and-shoot with f/1.4 lens hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A ripple went through Face.com’s developer community three weeks ago when the company was acquired by Facebook. After all, what earthly reason would the social network have for continuing third-party developer support of the product? None, as it turns out — API support for the firm’s mug recognition software will be dropped in early August, and its iPhone app, Klik, is now gone from the App Store. Despite recent assurances to the contrary (pictured above) Face.com pulled the plug in order to devote its resources to Zuckerberg and Co., according to an email it sent to developers. Naturally, the sudden reversal has inflamed that group, with prominent members tweeting language like “boycotting” and “months of work wasted.” There’s a sliver of hope, however, for forlorn developers — at least one member of the community says he’s been granted an API extension through October. In the meantime, developers will likely be venting — and won’t even be able to track that rollercoaster of emotions anymore.

Face.com kills developer APIs and Klik app three weeks after Facebook acquisition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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