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by E.J. Peiker on Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:48 am
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Canon - In addition to the new EOS R, Canon introduced 7 new lenses.  The most unique and interesting is a 28-70 f/2 for the EOS R system.  It is the fastest standard range full frame zoom on the market.  Other EOS R lenses include a 24-105mm f/4, 50mm f/1.2, and what I consider to be a useless focal length for Macro, a 35mm f/1.8 macro.  The APS-C EOS M series gets a new 32mm f/1.4 fast standard lens.  The traditional EOS EF mount gets new variations of the 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4 lenses.  Both use a completely redesigned optical formula that moves primary lens elements closer to the camera mount making these lenses approximately 2lb lighter and resulting in better balance. 
 
Fujifilm - Fuji has arguably been the busiest company in this Photokina season.  While they don't generate the almost crazed fanfare that Canon, Nikon and Sony do, they introduced a lot of new and exciting products.  First, a few weeks before Photokina, Fuji introduced the X-T3, an update to the highly regarded and well handling X-Trans line of APS-C cameras.  A new 26 megapixel sensor that is apparently sourced from Samsung as well as enhanced video features are added but the camera still lacks in-body stabilization.  Fuji's lens line is by far the most complete and optically excellent among all APS-C cameras.  At Photokina, Fujifilm introduced two new medium format cameras, first the GFX-50R which is a smaller lighter rangefinder style version of the GFX-50s designed primarily for street photography.  At the very high end, they announced the development of the first cropped medium format 100 megapixel camera.  The body is a full sized body with built in vertical grip that houses the latest technology 100 megapixel sensor from Sony.  It will be the first medium format camera with in-body image stabilization (IBIS), 4K video and on-sensor phase detect autofocus.  Fuji also added significantly to their lens lineup for the GFX system with the introduction of a 50mm f/3.5 (approx 40mm f/2.8 full frame equivalent), a 100-200mm f/4 (approx 80-160mm f/3.2 FF equivalent) and a 45-100mm f/5.6 compact zoom designed primarily as a light zoom for the GFX-50R.  Once shipping, the Fuji medium format system will have all focal lengths from a full frame equivalent of 18mm to 277m available which is a very complete range in a very short time for medium format.  Finally, Fuji and Phase One announced jointly that CaptureOne will now support Fuji GFX cameras.  This is the first time that CaptureOne has supported medium format cameras other than their own.

Hasselblad - Three new lenses were announced for the X1D cropped medium format system.  These include 65mm f/2.8, 80mm, f/1.9 and 135mm f/2.8 as well as a 1.7x teleconverter for the 135mm lens.  Similar to the Fuji medium format offer, you ahve to multiply the focal length by about 0.8 to get approximate 135 format full frame focal length equivalents and drop the aperture by about 2/3 of a stop to get the equivalent depth of field.

Irix - Specialty lens manufacturer Irix has announced a 150mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro lens to be available in Nikon F, Canon EF, and Pentax K mounts.  I have previously used the Irix 11mm and 15mm lenses and own the 11mm lens and have found them to be credible performers.
 
Leica - after the last few years of offering a laughable resolution in the medium format world of only 37 megapixels, Leica finally steps up it's game with the S3, a new 64 megapixel version of this unique 2:3 aspect ratio medium format camera.  Most other medium format cameras offer a 3:4 aspect ratio.

Nikon - The Z cameras are the headline but there are also 3 new lenses for the Z-mount, all a bit lackluster.  There is a 24-70 f/4, 50mm f/1.8 and 35mm f/1.8.  Development of a manual focus 58mm f/0.95 was also announced.  Nikon also introduced what is essentially nothing more than a rebadging of the D3400 into the D3500 at the lowest end of the DSLR market.  The most exciting Nikon announcement of the Photokina season is the announcement of a 500mm f/5.6 prime that weighs only 3.2lb and is only 237mm long and has exceptional super high end MTF curves.
 
Panasonic - Panasonic announced the development of two full frame cameras that utilize the Leica L-mount - the S1 and S1R at 24 and 47 megapixels respectively.  Along with this they also announced a partnership with Sigma to develop L-mount lenses.  In a shift from recent high end Panasonic offerings (all in the micro 4/3 mount), these cameras are targeted more at photographers than videographers.  The smart thing for Panasonic is that even though this is their first foray into full frame imaging, the cameras will have a full line of lenses available the day they ship albeit hyper expensive Leica S lenses.
 
Phase One - Phase One significantly upgraded it's digital backs to the new IQ4 "Infinity" platform.  These add a number of modern features such as focus peaking, dual card slots including XQD, better touch capabilities on the screen and much faster and more efficient processing.  The megapixel count has been increased to 151 megapixels.

Sigma - Sigma always comes to Photokina with a slew of announcements.  This year they introduced a 28mm f/1.4 Art to round out their full line of fast primes, a 40mm f/1.4 Art which is very close to the magnification that the human eye sees, a much needed update of their 70-200mm f/2.8 lens now in the Sport line, and a 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 Sport 10x zoom which I feel, unless Sigma figured out new optical physics, should probably be in the Contemporary line.  Additionally an APS-C E-mount 56mm f/1.4 lens was introduced.
 
Sony – A 24mm f/1.4 GM lens was added to the top of the line Sody GM lens line.  It is relatively compact for such a lens and if the astigmatism is good wil probably make it into the bags of many low light and astro photographers.
 
Tamron - An update to the highly regarded 15-30 f/2.8 wide angle zoom was introduced with upgraded lens elements and coatings.  The first generation was outstanding and I expect this to be even better, especially on high megapixel sensors cameras like the D800.  Additionally, Tamron released an economical 17-35 f/2.84 variable aperture stabilized lens.
 
Voigtlander – The niche lens maker, Cosina, has added another FE mount specialty lens to their premium lens line - a 21mm f/3.5.  Voigtlander lenses are manual focus, very small, and built like a tank!  Most, not, all are very good optically.  This rounds out the Voigtlander ultra wide lens line for Sony FE with 10mm, 12mm, 15mm, and 21mm models. 

Zeiss – Zeiss has introduced a new entry in their Batis line of Sony FE lenses, a 40mm f/2.  This line has proven to be an outstanding line of lightweight modern autofocus primes for Sony users.  I would not be surprised to see announcemnts of all of the Batis and Loxia lenses for Nikon Z and Canon EOS R in the near future as it is a relatively simple redesign to account for the slightly different flange distances once the new mounts have been reverse engineered.  In a late announcement, Zeiss introduced a full frame fixed-lens compact camera called the ZX-1.  This 37 megapixel camera, similar in function to a Sony RX-1 II sports a Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/2 lens and sports the biggest touchscreen to date at 4.7 inches.  Interestingly it does not have a memory card slot but has 512GB of internal storage and it includes an internal version of Lightroom
 

by Scott Fairbairn on Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:50 am
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I'm not sure what to think of Panasonic entering the full frame market. Unless their cameras bring something compelling to the table, I'm not sure who they think their customer will be at this stage of the game. Do you think it signals the beginning of the end of m43? I noticed Olympus is quiet this year.
The full-frame mirrorless market will be filled with players trying to dine on the same pie shortly! It's a far cry from 6 months ago.
 

by Mike in O on Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:38 am
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I think that eye focus with animals will be a game changer for Sony...I sure hope it can be a FW update for older cameras.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:06 am
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Mike in O wrote:I think that eye focus with animals will be a game changer for Sony...I sure hope it can be a FW update for older cameras.
Where did you see the eye focus for animals - that would be a game changer, especially if it works on birds?
 

by Mike in O on Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:11 am
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E.J. Peiker wrote:
Mike in O wrote:I think that eye focus with animals will be a game changer for Sony...I sure hope it can be a FW update for older cameras.
Where did you see the eye focus for animals - that would be a game changer, especially if it works on birds?
SAR had the sony conference streamed 

Edit click to 17:18 of this stream for demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjkc4JkthSE
 

by Gary Irwin on Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:54 am
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^^^ That's neat, but most birds eyes are much, much smaller.
Gary Likes Nature.
 

by Mike in O on Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:12 pm
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Gary Irwin wrote:^^^ That's neat, but most birds eyes are much, much smaller.
Doesn't Nikon have eye AF for people?
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:06 pm
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Leica also announced a new medium format camera:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/359017261 ... -announced

Joe
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Sep 25, 2018 2:26 pm
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Mike in O wrote:
Gary Irwin wrote:^^^ That's neat, but most birds eyes are much, much smaller.
Doesn't Nikon have eye AF for people?
No it does not.  The Canon EOS-R has a very rudimentary one.  Sony's is quite a bit advanced from what's in the EOS-R
 

by Primus on Tue Sep 25, 2018 3:32 pm
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I do hope Sony will come out with its version of the 200-400 f4 with built-in TC. That is such an amazing lens for wildlife.

Eye-AF for animals/birds would be a real game changer for me. For BIF, the 'wide' setting is really very good, but for static or slowly moving animals that are really close to you, having the camera lock-on to the eye(s) would be a great way to avoid shuffling the focus point.

Pradeep
 

by DChan on Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:08 pm
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I think eye AF is only good for close-up portrait shots, human beings or other animals. Unless you take a lot of head-shots, face-recognition is more useful I'd say.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:59 pm
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Sigma announces new lenses:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/303887421 ... -6-3-sport

https://www.dpreview.com/news/145753079 ... our-thirds

No longer rumors!

And a bit more on the Pannys:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/3187253376/panasonic-s1-and-s1r-what-we-know-so-far?utm_source=self-desktop&utm_medium=marquee&utm_campaign=traffic_source

Joe
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by Mike in O on Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:19 pm
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DChan wrote:I think eye AF is only good for close-up portrait shots, human beings or other animals. Unless you take a lot of head-shots, face-recognition is more useful I'd say.
Sonys also have face detection and can register individuals...eye detection is a separate item in the menu.
 

by MND on Tue Sep 25, 2018 5:30 pm
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As I'm buying a Nikon Z7 to ditch my A7RIII and the rest of my Sony gear I'm interested in why the 3 Z series lens are so "lackluster".
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:07 pm
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DChan wrote:I think eye AF is only good for close-up portrait shots, human beings or other animals. Unless you take a lot of head-shots, face-recognition is more useful I'd say.
Have you used Sony's latest generation of Eye AF?  It is very capable of action even - it is miles ahead of any other manufacturer's Eye AF
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:07 pm
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The 56mm is an APS-C lens - FYI!
 

by DChan on Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:09 pm
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Mike in O wrote:
DChan wrote:I think eye AF is only good for close-up portrait shots, human beings or other animals. Unless you take a lot of head-shots, face-recognition is more useful I'd say.
Sonys also have face detection and can register individuals...eye detection is a separate item in the menu.
Thanks for the info, but, I was simply saying face detection is more versatile than eye detection.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:11 pm
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By the way - I am updating the original post in this thread as additional stuff gets introduced although we should be pretty much done although I think Zeiss may still have something up its sleeve.
 

by DChan on Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:15 pm
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E.J. Peiker wrote:
DChan wrote:I think eye AF is only good for close-up portrait shots, human beings or other animals. Unless you take a lot of head-shots, face-recognition is more useful I'd say.
Have you used Sony's latest generation of Eye AF?  It is very capable of action even - it is miles ahead of any other manufacturer's Eye AF
Have to say no because I don't shoot Canon :wink:

I wasn't commenting on Sony's eye detection capability if I had not made it clear enough in my previous comment.
 

by DChan on Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:34 pm
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I wonder how many self-respected Leica users would use Panny lenses on their cameras.
 

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