[Photokina] Zeiss Announced New Distagon 55mm f/1.4 Lens, And Will Make Lenses For Mirrorless Systems

First Photokina news rolling in. Zeiss (Click here) announced a new Distagon 55mm f/1.4 lens for full-frame cameras.

[…] a high-performance, full-format SLR camera lens with manual focus. With a focal length of 55 mm and aperture of f/1.4, this lens is the first model of a new product family designed for demanding users. Thanks to a newly developed optical design, this lens is superior to conventional full-frame lenses, and it achieves with powerful full-frame, full-format cameras an image performance that until now has only been seen with medium-format systems. The first prototype of this new range will celebrate its world debut at photokina. The family of lenses is expected to be on the market in the second half of 2013 for EF bayonet (ZE) […]

But the hot news is another. Zeiss announced its plans for the production of auto-focus lenses for mirrorless systems. And that is great!

Another highlight will be the presentation of a design study, with which Carl Zeiss will offer a sneak preview of a new family of autofocus lenses for mirrorless system cameras (CSC) that will most likely be available in mid-2013. Due to their performance and high speed, these new lenses will be ideal for deliberate photo composition, making them perfect for more sophisticated photographers as well. Carl Zeiss plans to initially offer fixed focal lengths in the wide angle and standard range as well as a macro.

There is no info about which systems will be supported. So let your speculations go wild. It would be great if Zeiss would make lenses for Canon’s EOS M system. Moreover, more high quality Zeiss lenses for Canon mounts are totally welcome. Click here to see Zeiss lenses for Canon on Amazon, and click here to see what’s on offer on eBay US, and here for eBay Germany, and here for eBay UK, eBay IT, eBay Canada, eBay France.

[Deal] Canon PowerShot G12 and PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Printer For Insane $298

Great and insane deal going on on B&H. You can have the Canon PowerShot G12 together with a PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Printer for a ridiculous price: $298, after a mail-in rebate of $400. Proceed as follows:

  1. Click here and add the PowerShot G12 to cart
  2. Click here and add the PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Printer to cart
  3. Proceed through checkout
  4. Total should be $698.00$400 rebate = $298 with free shipping

Enjoy! :-)

[Video] How To Shot Events: A Photography And Video Lighting Tutorial

A quick video lesson about shooting events by Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens:

Shooting events can be very hard and in this lesson I will share some insights that will make it a bit easer. I learn every time I shoot and this was no exception. One clarification I want to make about camera settings that was not as clear as I would have liked it in the video. I shoot in aperture priority when I shoot stills and in shutter priority when I shoot video. When shooting video in shutter priority I set the shutter at 1/50th of a second and allow the aperture to fluctuate.

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[Video] 5D Mark III Video Color Correction Using Adobe Lightroom

Cool little video by user RooiMus on Vimeo showing how to colour correct video footage (made with an EOS 5D Mark III) using Adobe Lightroom 4:

An experiment in using the power of Adobe Lightroom in colour correcting Canon 5D Mark III video: Exported original footage from Adobe After Effects as a .tiff sequence, which enables all Lightroom development tools. After colour correction, exported .tiff files as a slideshow video from Lightroom, with a user defined preset for 25 fps full HD.

EOS 5D Mark III price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA Adobe Lightroom 4 price check: B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

[Tip] How Concepts Taken From Cognitive Science Can Make Your Photography Better

“Whisper”, image credit: Eric Kim

Interesting article by street photographer Eric Kim about how concepts and ideas taken from the domain of cognitive sciences can help you shot better (read: more interesting) pictures. The article is well made, has a comprehensive introduction and still manages to be not too long. The article tries to tackle the following issues:

What makes a photograph memorable? What makes a photograph so powerful and so magical that it burns itself into our memories? Why do certain photographs withstand the history of time? Why do certain shots that are perfectly composed and framed are easily forgotten or dismissed? What makes a great photograph? How much of it is subjective vs objective? Is there a “science” behind making a memorable photograph?

These are important questions every photographer thought about at least once during his or her (photographic) life. The article is well-researched (though the author says it is not enough) and I think it is easily understandable also for those who don’t have a background in psychology or cognitive science. I won’t anticipate too much since I think this article is absolutely worth to be read. Let me just say that it goes over three main concepts that may be precious aids for your (street-) photography:

  1. We communicate with stories
  2. We seek patterns
  3. We look into the future

Each concept is analyzed and discussed with regard to photography. Sample images are provided. If you are into street photography (I am) then this article is a real must.

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