Panasonic has just pulled the wraps off the Lumix DMC-GF2, the company’s smallest and lightest Micro Four Thirds camera. The cameras has a built in flash, employs a 3 inch touchscreen on the back, shoots stills at 12.1MP, captures 1920 x 1080 HD video, and has an ISO range of 100 to 6400. It’ll start shipping in January 2011, with the price secret until about a month before then.
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TDK has unveiled a monstrous 1 terabyte (1000 gigabyte) optical disc at CEATEC 2010 (the Japanese equivalent of CES), which wrapped up a couple days ago. The disc has 16 layers on both sides that each store 32GB of data, and is the equivalent to about 213 of the recordable DVD discs that you might be using to back up your image files. As someone who uses multiple external hard drives and countless DVD-Rs to backup my photos, I’d love to use these massive discs for backups and redundancy.

However, unlike improvements in hard drives, optical discs technologies can take forever to find their way to consumers — just look at how long it took Blu-ray to become the de-facto successor to the DVD. We can dream though, can’t we?

(via Engadget)

Pentax has announced its new K-5 DSLR camera as Photokina is getting underway in Cologne, Germany. The new 16.2 megapixel CMOS sensor camera has nice but pretty standard specs and features: 11 autofocus points, an HDR mode, 7fps burst shooting, a 3-inch LCD screen, an ISO range of 100 to 12800 (expandable to 80 to 51200 via custom functions), 100% viewfinder coverage, 1080p video recording at 25fps, and a magnesium alloy body. The K-5 will be available starting in mid-October at around £1200 (~$1875) with a kit lens.
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Nintendo just unveiled the 3DS yesterday, an upcoming portable game console that has a 3D screen built in. The screen does not require special glasses, and has an slider on the side to adjust the 3D effect. What’s neat is that there’s also two forward-facing cameras spaced a couple inches apart that allow you to take 3D photographs and video. The combination lets you snap a 3D photo or record a video and see it in 3D on the screen moments later. While 3D cameras have already been available for a while now (i.e. the Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W1), the fact that the DS line has sold nearly 130 million units means that the 3DS will be introducing 3D photography to millions of people.

The cameras are reportedly only VGA resolution (640×480 or 0.3 megapixels), but this is a big first step in 3D photography becoming mainstream.

(via Engadget)

Looks like the leaked photos of the Sony A290 we published last month were of the real thing. Sony has just announced the A290 and A390, two entry level DSLR cameras that replace the A230 and A380. The new cameras are nearly identical, with both boasting 14.2 megapixel sensors, but the A390 offers an extra “Quick AF Live View” and tilt-LCD for more flexible shooting. Aside from increasing the megapixel count from 10 to 14, redesigning the grip and button layout, and adding the “Quick AF Live View” to the A390, there does not seem to be too much of a difference between these cameras and their predecessors.

The cameras will be priced at $500 and $600 respectively (which includes a 18-55mm kit lens), and will be available starting in July.

Gosh, and we though having HD video on a cell phone was enough. Sharp has just announced the world’s first 3D HD camera designed for cell phones and point-and-shoot cameras. This thing is capable of filming 3D footage at 720p, and will see mass production starting in 2010.

Before long we’ll be picture and video messaging one another in 3D. Hopefully it won’t require special glasses.

Pentax has unveiled a new “Rainbow” version of the K-x DSLR camera. The limited edition camera will only be available in Japan through Tower Records starting on July 23, 2010.

Only 1,000 of these units will be made, and each one will set you back ¥74,800 (~$800). Aside from the funky colors, the technical specifications of this camera are exactly the same as other K-x DSLRs:

The camera is part of a 2010 campaign with a “Rainbow” theme by Tower Records that also includes footwear, t-shirts, and backpacks.

Selling strange looking cameras is nothing new to Pentax — they already allow you to customize your colors, and last year they released a limited edition “robotic” themed camera.

In his recent Twitter Q&A session regarding House being filmed with a 5D Mark II, director Greg Yaitanes answered a question about differences of the new setup by saying, “focus was hard with these lenses but more “cine-style” lenses are being made as we speak.” Lo and behold, new cine lenses are being announced!

Carl Zeiss has just announced the first set of prime and zoom lenses designed specifically for HDSLR cameras. The new Compact Prime CP.2 and Lightweight Zoom LWZ.2 lenses have interchangeable mounts and can be used on F (Nikon), EF (Canon), and PL (traditional cine camera) systems.

The primes range in focal length from 18mm to 85mm and can be used on full frame cameras, while the zooms are limited to crop sensor bodies. Here’s an interesting quote from the press release:

The trend of filming in high definition using a digital SLR camera is unstoppable. Moviemaking today is unthinkable without this technique, whether for independent filmmakers, television producers or professional still photographers who wish to expand their services.

Pricing was not unannounced, but the lenses will be available starting June 2010.

At the beginning of the week, Hasselblad announced the H4D-40 medium format DSLR, and stated the camera would be unveiled next week at the February 10th worldwide launch. Well, details of the camera were leaked onto the Internet, leading Hasselblad to lift the February 9th embargo it had request. Today Hasselblad officially released photos and features of the new camera.

The 40 megapixel camera will cost $19,995, includes a lens and viewfinder, and is meant to compete with the Leica S2 (a 37.5MP medium format camera in a 35mm style body). In their press release today, Hasselblad CEO Larry Hansen states,

Most high-end photographers understand the advantages that a medium format system has over smaller formats, but many younger photographers have never been exposed to larger format photography.

Hmmm… Many younger photographers have never been exposed to $19,995 cameras either.

(via Amateur Photographer)