[Pre-Order] EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake and 18-135mm STM IS Lenses Ready For Pre-Order (Update)

Update: Scott Bourne’s thought about Canon’s pancake (click here). He points out one of the features of the EF 40mm f/2.8 pancake that may get overlooked: the focusing distance of 30cm. techradar had its hands on the little pancake, verdict: Although it’s not an ‘L’ lens, the new 40mm Canon optic feels nicely put together and has a reasonable weight. We found that its focusing motor was much quieter than the 18-55mm kit lens […].

Pre-Order options for the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens:

 

Canon’s Press Release (40mm pancake and 18-135mm STM):

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[Pre-Order] Here It Is: Rebel T4i/EOS 650D Ready For Pre-Order (UPDATE: First Look Video)

Update: the first preview already showed up at DPreview: preview (click here), summary (click here), sample images (click here). Another hands-on at engadget (click here). More previews and hands-on: Rob Galbraith (click here), ephotozine (click here), c|net Australia (click here). A comparison with theRebel T3i/EOS 600D at photozine (click here).
Update: Canon’s Rebel T4i/650D press release

Ok, we are ready. The Rebel T4i/EOS 650D (and the EF 40mm f/2.8 pancake) can be pre-ordered at Adorama and B&H and Amazon US (no pancake so far). See all the links below:

  • Amazon Germany:EOS 650D & EF-S 18-55 IS II for EUR 899,00 (click here)
  • Amazon Germany: EOS 650D & EF-S 18-135mm STM IS for EUR 1.149,00 (click here)
  • Amazon Germany: EOS 650D body only for EUR 799,00 (click here)
  • Amazon Germany: EF-S 18-135mm STM IS for EUR 499,00 (click here)
  • Amazon Japan: X6i/T4i/650D & 18-135mm STM IS for ￥ 129,800 (click here)
  • Amazon Japan: X6i/T4i/650D & EF-S 18-55mm IS II & EF-S 55-250mm for ¥ 129,800 (click here)
  • Amazon Japan: X6i/T4i/650D & EF-S 18-55mm IS II for ￥ 99,800 (click here)
  • Amazon Japan: X6i/T4i/650D body only for ￥ 89,800 (click here)
  • Amazon Japan: EF 40mm STM pancake for ￥ 20,530, click here
  • Amazon Japan: EF-S 18-135mm STM IS for￥ 60,690, click here

Update: A first look video by whatdigitalcamera:

Specifications:

  • STM Lens Support for Quiet AF in Movies
  • 18.0MP APS-C CMOS Sensor
  • DIGIC 5 Image Processor
  • 3.0″ Vari-Angle Touch Screen LCD
  • ISO 100-12800, Expandable to 25600
  • Full HD Movie Mode with Continuous AF
  • 5.0 FPS Continuous Shooting
  • 9-Point All Cross-Type AF System
  • Multi Shot Noise Reduction
  • Compatible with Canon EF and EF-S Lenses

More information:

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Here They Are: Rebel T4i/650D, 18-135mm STM & EF 40mm f/2.8 Pancake Pictures Leaked

First pics of the Rebel T4i/EOS 650D and the 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens, both expected to be announced next Friday, showed up at CPW (click here). The picture above shows also the 18-135mm STM (silent AF motor). Below, the 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens. Nothing new about the T4i/650D specs.

[CPW via CR]

See below for Rebel T3i/EOS 650D deals:

[shariff]

[Review & Pre-Order] Rokinon 8mm T3.8 Cinema Lens

Our friends over at the phoblographer reviewed the Rokinon 8mm T3.8 Cinema fisheye lens (click here). This is a lens made for videography, it has T-stops instead of F-stops. The Rokinon 8mm Fisheye can be ordered at B&H ($349.00 click here) and Amazon US ($399.00 click here) and on eBay (click here). The review is interesting because the lens is reviewed «trying to target the photographer that would also shoot video».

I won’t anticipate too much about the review. Just a few excerpts from the review…:

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[Software] Adobe Finally Releases Security Updates For Photoshop And Illustrator

Adobe released a software update for Photoshop CS5 and CS5.1 (click here), and for Illustrator CS5 and CS5.5 (click here). The patch addresses a security issue that makes it possible to inject malicious code into a computer system. I wrote “finally” in the title because at first Adobe tried to address this issue with an update to Photoshop CS6 (and it is not a free update). After several complains from users, and after a month, Adobe decided to release the patches. When asked by German technology news-ticker heise.de (Google translated) why they did not release a free security update, Adobe answered:

While Adobe did resolve the vulnerabilities [..] in the Adobe Photoshop CS6 major release, no dot release was scheduled or released for Adobe Photoshop CS5 or CS5.5. The team did not believe the real-world risk to customers warranted an out-of-band release to resolve these issues. The security bulletin for Photoshop is rated as a Priority 3 update, indicating that it is a product that has historically not been a target for attackers, and in this case we are not aware of any exploits targeting the issues fixed. 

Adobe Photoshop CS6 price check B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon USA, Amazon Canada, Canon Canada, Canon USA [via heise.de]

[Gear] Canon Thinking About Powered Lenses For Videography

Canon is looking into building power zoom lenses to use for video use. In an interview given to techradar, Mr. David Parry from Canon UK said that «Power zoom would be very good to have for video, we’re looking into it – that would be quite intriguing». “power”, here, doesn’t mean a super zoom lens, but a zoom lens where the zooming movement is powered (by a motor). Not trivial, since in videography manually adjusting the zoom may introduce shaking and noise. Other features a power zoom could have, is to be able to zoom in or out after given time intervals. In other terms: the zooming operations could be programmed to be executed in an automatic fashion. Canon is actually not producing such lenses, nor do other big brands for their DSLRs. Panasonic and Olympus build such lenses for their mirrorless system cameras.

It’s not surprising that Canon has about powered zooms, given the fact that the EOS 5D Mark IIbefore, and the EOS 5D Mark III now, revolutionized/are revolutionizing the way of making films. It’s well known, for instance, that an episodes of House MD was shot using an EOS 5D Mark II.

[via techradar]