New 14mm F2.8 Lens From Samyang

Lens maker Samyang has announced the release of a new 14mm f/2.8 IF ED MC Aspherical lens designed for full-frame and APS-C sensor DSLR bodies. Optical construction is based on 14 elements in 12 groups. Available in November.

Main features:
- Two ED lenses and two hybrid aspherical lenses
- High quality anti reflecting layers
- Field of view: for 35mm is 114 degrees, for APS-C - 92,5 degrees (Canon-89 degrees)
- Minimal focusing distance: 0,28m
- Provided for main systems like Canon, Nikon,Sony, Pentax with bayonete mounting.

Free Rangefinder Magazine Subscription

Rangefinder Magazine provides a free yearly subscription to qualified photographers. I’ve been getting this subscription for a while now and I can attest to the quality of this periodical. If you haven’t perused a Rangefinder, I highly suggest you try it out. With articles covering individual photographers, techniques and equipment the primary focus is how to capture the image.

One of this month’s artists, Matthew Jordan Smith is an outspoken fan of the recent Sony A900 full-frame DSLR that features a 24.6MP CMOS sensor. According to Smith, “For my work, the Sony A900 is the best camera to use because it’s lightweight and has superb ease of use. The lenses are incredible with the Carl Zeiss optics.”

Other featured photographers this month are Rocky Schenck, Jeffrey Jacobs, and Patrice Gilbert with a article covering portraiture posing, and a look at the latest crop of fast UDMA memory cards. Sign up for a free subscription at http://www.rangefindermag.com/pages/subscribe.aspx.

Also don’t forget to check out Rangefinder Radio on the web.

Adobe Releases Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 Updates

Adobe has released a 2.5 upgrade to Photoshop Lightroom and Camera Raw 5.5 for Photoshop and Elements. This latest upgrades include camera support for several new models including the Nikon D300S and D3000, Panasonic DMC-GF1 and Olympus E-P1. The Lightroom update also includes several corrections for issues that arose within previous releases such as Lightroom 2.4 on Windows continued to display the import dialog when a memory card was detected regardless of the preference setting "Show import dialog when a memory card is detected."

If you have automatic updates configured for Lightroom and Photoshop you will be prompted to download and install them. Manual installations can be downloaded directly from the Adobe website.

AdobeTV Is On The Air...Or At Least The Web

Damn, just when I thought I was already overwhelmed by training materials from the web, (Scott Kelby gets a lot of my free time) Adobe is providing hours and hours and hours and hours…(you get the point) of information covering its products. Calling this new evil incarnation AdobeTV they have set out to expend more of my limited free time with training episodes on everything from Creative Suite 4 to Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. Add to the mix Channels covering Photo Editing, Print Design, Web Development, Photo Management and many more, my family may never see me again. The worst part of this plethora of information is that Adobe is providing it for free…SOB’s.

Like a piece of chocolate cake, how do they expect me to resist free online training and information? The simple answer is…I can’t. They even let you customize the homepage, save your favorite episodes in a personal library and provide RSS feeds to your favorite content. After I post this article I’m off to check out the Photo Management Channel. The kids can tuck themselves in can’t they? Can you be an absentee father while still being in the house? AdobeTV is chock full of tasty photo editing and manipulation goodness. So dig in.

http://tv.adobe.com/

New Flash Modifiers From Aurora

I love tinkering with light modifiers, whether home-made or consumer. The number of easy and affordable modifiers for shoe-mount flash units is expanding as more vendors release their own version(s). Using this type of modifier increases the usefulness of shoe-mount flashes and provides a convenient way to supply mobile light opportunities. Aurora has released their own line of shoe-mount flash modifiers including bounce cards, soft boxes and snoot. Similar to other products of this type, the Aurora units attach via Velcro strip and are collapsible for easy storage.

A while back I picked up a folding softbox from Opteka for my shoe-mount flash which doesn’t look as well constructed as the Aurora, but it does the job well enough. These modifiers do a great job of softening the harsh light from the flash, and at twelve bucks for the Opteka, I can’t complain about the construction. The Aurora softbox units are in the forty dollar range, but they are definitely built better and I like the look of these units, especially the snoot. $23.95 is a reasonable price for such an attachment. Joe Farace has posted an excellent article for Shutterbug covering these new products, including field testing and sample images.

Read the Shutterbug article by Joe Farace.

Images From The New Sony Alpha 850 DSLR

LetsGoDigital has posted some sample shots from the new Sony A850 full-frame DSLR. Full frame 24.6MP DSLR for under two grand is enticing. They have a shot that includes the A850 and Carl Zeiss lens that I must admit made me bite my lip. I’m anxious to read some in-depth reviews on this camera as well as Sony’s other new additions, the A500 and A550, which I would expect will be coming soon as the street release dates draw near.

See the Sony A850 images from LetsGoDigital.com

Carl Zeiss Announces New 18mm Lens For Canon Mount

Canon shooters, Carl Zeiss AG has just announced a new wide angle lens for your full-frame arsenal. The Distagon T* 18mm f3.5 ZE lens has be designed for the EF bayonet mount and will be available soon.

Read the entire Carl Zeiss Press Release.

SanDisk Announces 64GB Compact Flash Cards

If 16GB just isn’t enough memory for your shoots, SanDisk Corporation, the global leader in flash memory cards, today introduced a new line of SanDisk Extreme® Pro™ CompactFlash® memory cards with capacity up to 64GB. According to SanDisk this sets a new standard for fast, reliable, high-capacity memory cards designed for amateur and professional photographers. SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash cards feature a new SanDisk® Power Core Controller™, an advanced memory controller that enables lightning-fast read and write speeds of up to 90MB/s1, doubling the performance from previous SanDisk high-end camera memory cards. The cards are shipping worldwide now with storage capacities ranging from 16GB to 64GB.