Hasta La Gadget!

Heads up, Sony NEX owners: There’s a firmware update for your camera and it’s actually something to get excited about. An exciting firmware update? Yes. With a simple download, you now have full access to 14 new lenses.

The update, for the NEX-3 and NEX-5, brings autofocus to these A-mount lenses. These lenses, which include both Sony’s own and third-party models from Carl Zeiss, are designed for the bigger Alpha SLRs and previously only worked in manual mode on the smaller mirrorless NEXs.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that, by Sony’s measurements, focussing these lenses will take from two to seven seconds, or longer than doing it by hand. Still, it’s free, so what are you gonna do?

There are a few more upgrades: two of the three soft-keys on the back of the cameras can now be programmed with your choice of function, you can choose which menu pops up when you hit the “menu” button, and when you choose manual focus, you can have a section of the picture enlarged on-screen to make things easier, just like Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds cameras.

The updates are available now, and can be installed from Windows or Mac OS2 (!?).

More enhancements for NEX-5/NEX-3 cameras [Sony]

See Also:

• Sony's NEX Mirrorless Cameras Are the Smallest in the World …
• Firmware Update Adds 3D Panoramas to Sony NEX Cameras
• Lens Adapters Put Leica, Nikon, Canon Lenses on Sony NEX

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Yes, you read that correctly. The fevered dreams of crime scene investigators up and down the country are being brought to reality by Adobe, with just a single extra lens and some crafty software knowhow. Basically, a plenoptic lens is composed of a litany of tiny “sub-lenses,” which allow those precious photons you’re capturing to be recorded from multiple perspectives. The result is that you get a bunch more data in your image and an “infinite” depth of field, meaning you can toggle at what distance you want your image to be focused after the act of taking it. These plenoptic lenses are inserted between your shooter’s usual lens and its sensor, though commercialization is sadly said to still be a fair distance away. Never fear, you can get hold of a video demo much sooner than that — you know where it’s at.

Continue reading Adobe shows off plenoptic lenses that let you refocus an image after it’s taken (video)

Adobe shows off plenoptic lenses that let you refocus an image after it’s taken (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olympus has revealed two new lenses today, both for the Micro Four Thirds format. One is a 40-150mm ƒ4.0-5.6 which will sell for just €330 when it is launched in October. This has a silent AF-motor for movie-shooting but is otherwise rather pedestrian thanks to those mediocre maximum apertures.

The other lens is way more interesting. It too has rather poor light-gathering abilities when wide-open (ƒ4.8-6.7), but that is excusable as it runs from 75-300mm. In 35mm terms, that’s a 150-600mm monster. Still not impressed? The lens weighs just 430-grams (15-ounces) and is only 116mm (4.6-inches) long.

For comparison, look at some SLR lenses. Nikon’s longest reaching zoom is the 200-400mm ƒ4, which weighs 3360-grams or a wrist-breaking 7.4-pounds and measures 365mm or 14.4-inches. That, though, is still short of the Olympus’ 600mm far-end. To get to that number, you need to choose a prime lens from Nikon.

The Nikkor 600mm ƒ4 weighs five kilos (11-pounds) and is a John Holmesian 166mm (17.5-inches) in length. To put that in perspective, the diameter of the Nikon is almost four times the length of the Olympus. Also, the Nikon will cost you $10,300.

This astonishing difference is due only to the lack of a mirror in the Micro Four Thirds cameras, and the smaller sensor (half the size of a 35mm-frame and around two-thirds the size of a typical DSLR). These lenses would have been possible on Leica rangefinders, too, but were impractical as there was no way to see through the lens and frame your shot. Digital live-view has changed that.

The 75-300mm Olympus will cost just €900 ($1,140, but certainly less when sold in the US) and will be in stores in December.

Olympus releases M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm lens [DP Review]

Olympus introduces M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm lens [DP Review]

See Also:

• Sony Fights Micro Four-Thirds With Lens-Changing Compact
• Panasonic Announces 3D Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Olympus Collapsible Wide-Angle Zoom for Micro Four Thirds
• Cosina Joins Micro Four Thirds Team, Announces ƒ0.95 Lens
• Noktor ƒ0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Cosina, the camera giant responsible for many rebranded cameras and lenses, along with its own Voigtländer brand, has joined the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) team. That means it will begin making lenses for the cameras from Panasonic and Olympus.

This is pretty big news. While the lens line-up for the large-sensor mirrorless cameras is growing, with even a Leica-branded lens on sale, it is doing so rather slowly. Adding Cosina to the team means that we should soon see a whole lot of interesting glass which will work fully with the cameras, and without adapters.

Not convinced? The first MFT lens from Cosina is its amazing Nokton 25mm ƒ0.95 prime, a 50mm equivalent lens which can see better in the dark than you can. It will be on sale in October for Around $1,100.

And it’s not just lenses. It’s possible that we could see a Voigtländer camera-body in the near future, too. Given that Voigtländer is a name closely associated with rangefinder cameras, which are the spiritual ancestor of the Micro Four Thirds cameras, this is pretty exciting stuff. An MFT camera with chunky metal body and all-manual knobs and dials? Yes please. Welcome aboard, Cosina!

Cosina Joins the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group [Olympus via DP Review]

Micro Four Thirds Nokton [Cosina]

See Also:

• Noktor ƒ0.95 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Adapter Puts Nikon and Pentax Lenses on Micro Four Thirds Cameras …
• Voigtländer Adapter Puts Leica Lenses on Micro Four Thirds Cameras …

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

In addition to the brand-new, HD-video shooting D3100 announced today Nikon also has a clutch of new lenses. Here’s the list of names so you lens-lovers can quickly see the lineup:

AF-S NIKKOR DX 55-300mm ƒ4.5-5.6 VR – $400

AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm ƒ4 G ED VR – $1,050

The AF-S NIKKOR 28-300mm ƒ3.5-5.6G ED VR -$1,300

AF-S NIKKOR 85mm ƒ1.4G – $1,700

The first one, the 55-300mm, comes out at a 35mm-equivalent of 83-450mm, a very long and very odd zoom range. The price and the maximum apertures put it clearly in the budget range.

The next two zooms on the list look like they’re just there to pad the range. 24-120mm is a handy range, but that ƒ4 aperture makes it hard to stomach dropping a grand on it.

The last lens is possibly the oddest. Nikon already has an ƒ1.4 85mm lens, and it costs $1,360. The new model loses the aperture ring on its barrel, and comes with the autofocus motors inside, meaning faster focussing.It also gains a focus-mode switch on its side and gets Nikon’s latest fancy glass coatings. Both the new and the old 85mm lenses have 9-blade diaphragms for nice, circular out-of-focus highlights.

My guess would be that this new lens will replace the old one in time. But it’s just a guess: the existing ƒ1.4 85mm is a classic, and a very well loved chunk of glass.

Lens store [Nikon]