Mysterious Canon Hong Kong Teaser For Announcement On April 24th (updated)

Announcement On April 24th

thanks to the user who sent in the link

update #3: It’s the Powershot G1X Mark II :-)

update #2: the discussion about what the teaser means is going wild on Canon Hong Kong’s Facebook page. Suggestions go from a b&w DSLR to all sort of lenses. Keep in mind that this is a regional announcement and I don’t think Canon will announce something very important. Although, the teaser seems to point to a lens.

update: The teaser text is quoting Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, an important author of modern Japanese literature. Tanizaki wrote an essay about aesthetics titled In Praise of ShadowsThe exact quote, found in the book, is

Beauty lies not in objects, but in the interaction between the shadow and light created by objects.

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[original post:]

Very weird and unintelligible (for me) teaser posted by Canon Hong Kong on their Facebook page.

Something is going to happen on April 24th, but I couldn’t find any hint helpful enough to understand what the teaser is suggesting. I tried the automatic translation of the text coming with the teaser, but couldn’t really understand anything. See for yourself (Bing translated):

The Dhamma (Cantonese tone ngai3, formed by the homonym), to be obscure; representative of praise, adoration praise with a heart of praise; “Yin Dhamma celebration” on behalf of tribute to dark, dark. As author tanizaki’s comment, the beauty does not exist on the object, while in between the object and object of no deep shadow and light and shade

The last phrase about beauty could be interpreted as “the beauty does not exist in the object, but between the object and the shadow of the object, and between light and dark“.

[via Canon Hong Kong on Facebook]

Samyang Set To Announce a 35mm f/1.4 Lens With Auto-Exposure for Canon (and 7.5mm & 12mm Cine Lenses)

I have news about the announcement Samyang Optics will make on April 28th. I sum up DicaHub’s latest findings (translated).

We can safely assume Samyang will officially announce a 35mm f/1.4 lens with auto-exposure support for Canon mounts on April 28th. I think this is Samyang’s first foray into building lenses that electronically communicate with the camera body. You can see the lens in the video above.

To be more precise, in the video above (by aving on YouTube), shot at P&I Show in South Korea, Samyang introduces 3 new lenses. The above mentioned 35mm, a 7.5mm T/3.8 fish-eye lens for m43 systems, and a 12mm cine lens for mirrorless systems. If you listen carefully to the video, you can hear the Samyang rep saying “Canon M” when listing the mount types for the 12mm. Good news: there will soon be a 12mm Cine lens for the EOS M.

update: in the video the 12mm photo lens is shown, the 12mm Cine lens can be seen below (mounted on a Sony A7). However, the 12mm is real, and according to my information some people has already pre-ordered it.

1609831_444700242340857_681977686756629072_n
Image via Samyang on Facebook

There were rumors about a new auto-focusing Samyang lens line-up, and I was among those who were strongly hoping for that. Nope, as for now I have no reason to think there might be an announcement of an AF lens.

[via DicaHub]
35mm f/1.4
35mm f/1.4 lens, electronic contacts (screenshot from the video above)
35mm f/1.4
Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC

 

Interview With Samyang Optics Representative About Their Future Plans (cine lenses to come, not working on AF lenses)

Samyang Optics

Will Samyang announce a 7.5mm fish-lens on April 28th? Image above is courtesy of DicaHub.

update: there was a typo in the title. Correct is: not working on AF lenses.

Dicahub (translated) interviewed a Samyang Optics rep about their plans, and about what Samyang might announce on April 28th. The interview was conducted at the P&I Show 2014.

Here is a summary of the interview:

Q(=DicaHub): are you working on AF lenses?
A(=Samyang Optics rep.): we are not working on AF lenses.
Q: Is it true you wrote the comments on your facebook page? [editors note: there were comments on Facebook by Samyang itself that looked like a leak and were suggesting a 35mm AF lens for Canon was set to come]
A: Yes, but the comments were deleted because it was the result of miscommunication between site administrators. Actually we had discussed with Canon, Nikon and others about AF lenses. There are several issues like licensing.
Q: Is it difficult to work on AF lenses of open mounts like Micro Four-thirds or E mounts?
A: Open mounts like E mount also open only basic informations, so we need more discussion to develop AF lenses. In this case such issues weren’t solved also.
Q: Is same with Micro Four-Thirds?
A: Micro Four-Thirds also open only basic informations like aperture, so we need more discussion.
Q: Don’t you have any plan to support electric contacts like A(perture)?
A: We already have AD AE version for Nikon. We hope to support other brands, and we are working to produce lenses supporting A contact for Canon because the share of Canon is still largest.
Q: What lenses will be announced on April 28th?
A: We are preparing cine lenses and other stuff
Q: I think the teaser image shows a lens that could be a 7.5mm f/3.5 fish-eye lens. If you can confirm, will you announce the cine version of 7.5mm F3.5 Fish-eye also?
A: This is… [no clear answer was given]

I contacted Dicahub to inquiry the issue further. According to DicaHub, Samyang might announce at least 2 cine lenses (one being a 7.5mm fish-eye), and possibly a new lens line-up supporting electronic aperture contact (for Canon).

That’s it. We can assume there will be new Samyang cine lenses announced on April 28th, one of them being a 7.5mm fish-eye lens. Personally, I am still hoping there will also be an AF lens for Canon mounts. And I think Samyang has a 35mm AF lens for Canon mounts on the radar.

[via Dicahub] Samyang

Deal: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (Nifty Fifty) – $102

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

 

Top Rated Plus eBay seller 6ave (99.4% positive ratings) has the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens, also known as the “nifty fifty”, [shoplink 20227 ebay]on sale for $102[/shoplink]. Compare to $125. Free shipping in the US.

Though this is an inexpensive lens, and a lens made entirely out of industrial plastics (except for the optics), it is well-regarded for the bright aperture and the surprising (given the price) optical performance. In other words: That’s a lens every Canon shooter should have in his or hers bag, and at that price it is a no brainer.

You Will Newer Gate-Check Your Gear Again After Having Seen This Video

This is going viral. The video shows how a couple of Air Canada baggage handlers were moving the passenger’s luggage that had to be gate-checked because oversized for the plane cabin’s overhead bin. Filmed last Thursday by a passenger on the plane.

The advice is: take your gear out if you have to handle your luggage over for gate-checking! Air Canada is investigating the incident, and most probably will find who is responsible. But still: gate-checked luggage is not where you should keep your precious gear, so is not checked-in luggage in general.

When I travel by plane my gear is always with me in the cabin. It helps to be among the first in the boarding queue, as sometimes they discover at the end that there is not enough space left over in the overhead bins, and you are asked to gate-check your luggage even if it is not oversized. In this case I would politely tell them that I have some $$$ of photographic equipment that has to board with me.

Happy Easter! :-)

[CBC News via PetaPixel]