Hasta La Gadget!

Panasonic is really into 3D. Not only will it sell you a big 3D television with which to watch the latest Hollywood head-spinners, it will soon sell you a lens which can be popped onto a G-series camera and shoot your own stereoscopic pics.

The lens is actually two lenses in a single, compact housing. When you shoot an photo or video, two pictures are captured simultaneously onto your sensor. Obviously this reduces the overall resolution of the resulting images, but with video this shouldn’t matter as the footage is down-sampled from the giant photo-sensor. This double-image (or video) is then turned into a 3D one in software, to be viewed on one of Panny’s TVs.

The lens has not yet been given a launch date or a price (other than a vague “end of the year”), so plenty of questions remain unanswered. Will cameras need a firmware update to use the lens? That seems almost certain. Also, how good will the stereoscopic effect be with the two lenses so close together? And I’m assuming here that the cameras will actually shoot 3D video: the press release only mentions still images, but who wants to view their photos on a TV screen?

Still, we love that Panasonic is making 3D an optional extra for its Micro Four Thirds system. It’s this kind of innovation that is currently leaving the likes of Nikon and Canon behind, and we’re all for it. And it shouldn’t be long before somebody hacks their way around the 3D format and lets us do something useful with the images instead of looking at them on a TV.

Panasonic developing world’s first interchangable 3D lens for Micro Four Thirds (Press release) [DP Review]

See Also:

• Firmware Update Adds 3D Panoramas to Sony NEX Cameras
• Stereo Lens-in-a-Cap for 3D Digital Photography
• Panasonic Details Micro Four Thirds Camcorder
• Micro Four Thirds

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

Accessory maker Novoflex has a new lens adapter that will let you use Nikon F-mount lenses on Canon EOS bodies. It adds one big extra over previous versions: you get a ring to control aperture on Nikon G-lenses (those without an aperture ring.)

One of the great things about the little mirrorless cameras like the Panasonic G-series, the Olympus Pens and the Sony NEXes is that their currently meager lens line-up can be supplemented by other lenses old and new, just by using an adapter. SLRs, on the other hand, are pretty much stuck with the glass that was made for them.

An adapter has a thickness, and when you put one on a lens, you move that lens away from the film (or sensor). This stops the lens focusing at infinity (and will also allow it to focus a little closer). Thus, mounting a Canon lens on a Nikon body doesn’t work so well. The mirrorless cameras already have a lot of extra space to spare, so the adapters have room to fit. Novoflex has managed to get this ring thin enough not to cause focus problems.

The new EOS/NIK-NT adapter has an integrated aperture ring so that you can still set the hole-size. As G-series lenses are controlled entirely by electronics in the camera body, they need this extra to work on a Canon camera. Thus, auto-exposure (aperture priority) will work by actually stopping down the lens. Focus will still be manual, although infinity focus is maintained. If you have lenses with aperture rings, another adapter is available.

The problem is that there are plenty of great lenses for both Canon and Nikon, so we wonder why you’d need this adapter. For quick, fun experiments it will be great, but otherwise its hard to see the point. Especially when you consider the price, a rather odd $292.99.

Novoflex Adapter Finder [Novoflex via Photography Bay]

See Also:

• Lens Adapters Put Leica, Nikon, Canon Lenses on Sony NEX
• Digi-Diana: Lomo Lens Adapter for Canon, Nikon DSLRs
• Hands-On With the Diana F Lens Adapter and Fisheye: As Bad As You …

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

The lens is the most important part of your camera. It controls everything about the light that hits the sensor short of the length of the shutter speed. It is much better to put a great lens on a cheap camera than the other way around, something which goes frustratingly unheeded: just check a few photo forums to see people sticking crappy kit lenses onto Nikon D700s and Canon 5D MkIIs.

That’s not to say that Samyang’s range of lenses for Samsung’s mirrorless NX-series are bad. Without testing we won’t know for sure, but experience says that own-brand lenses are best, followed by those from top-tier third party makers like Sigma.

Three lenses are being ported to the Samsung mount. An 8mm ƒ3.5, a 14mm ƒ2.8 and an 85mm ƒ1.4. Of these, the 8mm would seem to be the most interesting. It will come in at around 12mm (35mm equivalent) on the NX APS-C sensor, and usually the main point with a fisheye is impact rather than absolute quality. The price has not yet been announced but the lens can be had for as little as $350 in other mounts.

The 85mm, on the other hand, is a flat-out portrait lens and goes for around $400. In this case, quality needs to be high. If Samyang manages this, then the ƒ1.4 lens will be an absolute bargain.

Tempted? Think twice. There is one huge drawback when using the lenses on a modern camera: No autofocus. This will probably be fine for the fisheye, but try that with the insanely shallow depth-of-field that an 85mm ƒ1.4 will give you and you’ll learn a thing or two about manual focussing and just how wobbly your hands really are.

Product page [Samyang via BJP]

See Also:

• Zero to Hero: Five New NX Lenses Put Samsung in the Game
• Do Mirrorless Cameras Spell the Death of DSLRs?
• Sony's NEX Mirrorless Cameras Are the Smallest in the World …

Rayqual adapters bring Leica, Nikon, and Canon lenses to Sony’s NEX cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wired Gadget Lab  |  Rayqual  | Email this | Comments

For this week’s Shooting Challenge, you were asked to reignite our interest in lens flare. And, at least for me, you did. More »