Canon EOS M2 Available Starting December 20 (in Japan)

The recently announced Canon EOS M2 will be available in Japan starting starting December 20th. The body only option and all kits will be released. As you probably know the EOS M2 will not be available everywhere. Indeed, it appears the EOS M2 won’t even be available in all Asian countries. The EOS M2 is available for pre-order at Amazon JP, but will not ship out of Japan. The EOS M, on the other hand, can be had for a bargain: $279 at newegg with the 18-55mm IS STM lens.

[dc.watch.impress – translated]

Adobe Lightroom 5.3 and Camera Raw 8.3 Released

Adobe Lightroom 5.3

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5
B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Adobe released Photoshop Lightroom 5.3 and Camera Raw 8.3 to the public (download here). The news:

  • Tethering support for Canon EOS Rebel T4i/EOS 650D
  • Support forCanon EOS M2 andCanon PowerShot S120
  • Lens support for Canon EF-M 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM and TAMRON SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC
  • Various bug fixes

You still can have Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5 via Creative Cloud for $9.99/month. This is your opportunity to step into Adobe’s Photoshop Photography Program for 9.99 a month (12-month commitment).

  • Photoshop CC
  • Lightroom 5
  • 20GB of online storage
  • Behance ProSite
  • Access to training resources on Creative Cloud Learn
  • Ongoing updates and upgrades

The offer expires December 31.

Zeiss Will Launch New Otus 85mm f/1.4 Lens

Otus 85mm f/1.4

The Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4

Source: mirrorlessrumors

Hot news! After having launched what possibly is the best prime lens on this planet of ours, the Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4, Zeiss will launch a new Otus 85mm f/1.4 lens in 2014. The 55mm f/1.4 was just the first lens in a new family of lenses. Price should be around $4000. When asked, Zeiss answered:

Otus 85mm f/1.4

According to DxOMark, the Otus 55mm f/1.4 is a “peerless prime”.

Otus 85mm f/1.4

Canon EOS M2 Set To Be Released Just In Few Asian Countries

EOS M2

The announcement of the Canon EOS M2 generated some confusion. Only Canon Japan and Canon China made the announcement. No word came from Canon USA or one of the Canon’s EU branches. As for now a lot suggests that Canon may introduce the EOS M2 for Asia only, or at least wait for CES 2014 to make it available for the rest of the world.

But it appears that Canon doesn’t have plans to release the EOS M2 in all of Asia either. According to exposure-magazine Canon will not introduce the EOS M2 in Indonesia and in the rest of South and South-East Asia. Quoting Sintra Wong, Canon Division Manager, PT Datascrip Indonesia, “there is no plan until today for EOS M2 to be distributed in South and Southeast Asia region, inclunding Indonesia“. Mr. Sintra Wong says: “Not every Canon products are distributed globally. It is based on product strategy and market demand”. If it depends by the demand there is a possibility to see the EOS M2 in EU and USA too.

The EOS M2 is available for pre-order at Amazon JP, but will not ship out of Japan. The EOS M, on the other hand, can be had for a bargain: $279 at newegg with the 18-55mm IS STM lens.

Yongnuo YN-E3-RT In Stock (first ever third party trigger for Canon RT technology)

Yongnuo YN-E3-RTYongnuo YN-E3-RT

Back in October Yongnuo announced the first ever third party trigger (and a SpeedLite) that is fully compatible with Canon’s 2.4ghz TTL radio triggering “RT” technology. The trigger is the YN-E3-RT and it is now in stock at the YongNuoStore for $145.99.

The YN-E3-RT trigger attaches to your Canon via the flash hotshoe, it allows to control and set all compatible devices (for the time being the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT and the upcoming Yongnuo YN600EX-RT). The YN-E3-RT has a pretty cool feature: you can upload firmware updates via an USB port. At least potentially that could mean the Youngnuo can get new features via update.

Canon EOS 7D Firmware Update Released (ver. 2.0.5)

EOS 7D Firmware Update

Canon EOS 7D
B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA

Canon released a firmware update for the EOS 7D, it’s available for download here.

Canon’s press release:

Firmware Version 2.0.5 incorporates the following fix:

  1. Fixes a phenomenon in which the image files cannot be transferred using the FTP protocol via USB cable after the Canon EOS 7D camera has established a wireless connection to the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E5A.
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