by Miserere

  

It’s that time of year again. Winter is in full swing in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere is still rejoicing in Summer, but this goes unnoticed to Photography geeks everywhere as they stay indoors, glued to their computer screens refreshing DPReview’s new PMA product page and reading all the gossip coming from the PMA 2010 (Photo Marketing Association) convention, held in Anaheim, California. This year was a bit lacklustre as some major players decided not to attend (or pulled out at the last moment)—Canon, Pentax and Leica were some of these players (booooo). Still, some good stuff was announced by other manufacturers, and following is my own personal selection of the tastiest from the lot.

  

Sigma

There’s a reason Sigma is the top 3^rd party lens supplier in the business. Actually, there are many reasons, but one of them is their wide selection of lenses, which is some areas surpasses that of the big camera makers. But I always found there was one conspicuous lens gap in Sigma’s line-up: The classic fast 85mm portrait lens. It’s not that Sigma is against primes (they have a fisheye, 3 ultra wides, 2 standards, 4 macros, numerous mega telephotos…), so I never understood why they never issued the most sought after prime for any photographer who likes fast lenses, the holy grail of portrait photography: The 85mm f/1.4. I even wrote them a couple of years ago asking about it and they told me they had no plans for one. But that was then. Some bright executive saw the light and decided it was time, and thus it came to be that at the 2010 PMA Sigma finally announced their 85mm f/1.4, to be available in Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony and Sigma mounts (sorry 4/3!). Sigma Chief Operating Officer, Kazuto Yamaki, said of this lens:

It’s similar in concept to the 50mm f/1.4—it’s bigger, heavier and more expensive than OEM lenses but achieves higher performance. We’ve made this for professional and advance amateur photographers, we’ve tried to achieve better performance [than the OEM equivalents], particularly when using fully open apertures on the latest DSLRs.

Translation: It’s not going to be cheap. My guess is no less than US$700. But, if it’s sharp wide open and as well built as Sigma’s EX lines tends to be, this would be one of those lenses you will use forever, so its cost would be easily justified. I will try to get my hands on one of these when they hit stores and publish a review for you guys.

Sigma also announced an optically reformulated 70-200mm f/2.8 that now includes HSM focusing. Previous incarnations of this lens have been a breadwinner for Sigma as they’ve provided great build and IQ at affordable prices. The current model, the first to incorporate HSM, has received mixed reviews by users, with some bemoaning a lowering of Sigma’s quality control, while others just thought the lens wasn’t quite refined. It would seem Sigma have listened, as redesigning the lens from scratch is no small thing. Another reason for redsigning this lens is the addition to its optical formula of a new type of glass, that deserves its own paragraph.

Sigma announced the introduction of FLD glass into some of their lenses (including the 85mm f/1.4), which they co-developed with Hoya, the #1 optical glass maker in the World. To quote Mr Kazuto Yamaki again, FLD glass is described as having Fluorite equivalent characteristics. It’s the most expensive optical glass but it’s still cheaper and lighter than fluorite. Fluorite is a crystal (not actually a glass) that offers very low dispersion, thus reducing chromatic aberrations, and is used mainly (only?) by Canon in their most expensive lenses.

Another lens that will use the magic FLD glass is the 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 rectilinear zoom lens (with HSM!); it has many people on the forums salivating. This is a cropped sensor lens, and I believe it’s the widest rectilinear lens available for APS-C sensors at the moment (Olympus makes a 7-14mm f/4 zoom, but 8mm is wider on APS-C than 7mm is on 4/3). If this lens is as good as Sigma’s venerable 10-20mm f/4-5.6, they are not going to be able to manufacture them fast enough to meet demand.

On the camera front, it’s noteworthy that the DP1x and DP2s were announced, these being slightly updated versions of the company’s DP1 and DP2 fixed-lens compact cameras, respectively. Sigma also expressed their intention to produce interchangeable lens compact cameras using their 1.7x crop Foveon sensor, as well as making lenses for the μ4/3 format. Being the smart people that they are, they said they’re going to wait to see what lenses people prefer using before deciding which they will manufacture. While this makes sense from a marketing standpoint, it sucks from an advanced amateur’s point of view. We want freakishly small primes for these cameras, and the faster they are, the better. As of now, no mirrorless camera system offers a classic 3-prime line-up, nor do the manufacturers seem to be planning one. What a pity.

  

Samsung

Some brands want to do well, others just want to stay above water and survive the global recesion—Samsung wants to own the mirrorless market. Damn… Their first step towards global mirrorless domination was taken at the PMA where they finally showed the NX10 on American soil (they “announced” it countless times during 2009, parading prototypes around various trade shows). The NX10 is a mirrorless (how many times am I going to use that word today?) camera similar to the μ4/3 design of Olympus and Panasonic. The main difference is Samsung has equipped the NX10 with an APS-C sensor, which is about 60% larger than μ4/3 sensors and could best these in lower light performance. While Samsung’s DSLRs used a Pentax K mount, the NX line of cameras (we’ve been promised more coming later this year) use a new mount developed by Samsung and aptly named NX mount. The lenses available initially will be two kit zoom lenses (18-55mm and 50-200mm) and a small pancake prime lens (30mm f/2) but Samsung have released a lens roadmap in an attempt to prove they are serious about this camera system. And global mirrorless domination.

I am expecting to receive one within the next few weeks and will be publishing a review of it, so stay tuned.

But that’s not all! They also announced a seriously attractive P&S called the TL500 (or EX1 if you’re in Europe). It features a 10MP 1/1.7″ CCD sensor, just like the Canon S90, as well as a lens ring control wheel, but adds a hotshoe and a swivelling LCD that are missing on the S90. Click on the photo above to see it in a gloriously huge size. No pricing is available, but I would guess around the US$400 mark. Samsung are clearly wanting to eat into the high-end P&S market currently dominated by Canon (G11 and S90) and the Panasonic LX3. Again, Samsung want us to know they’re serious: The TL500 features an impressive 24-72mm-equiv f/1.8-2.4 lens that is optically stabilised. I can’t wait to see image samples from this beauty.

  

Sony

Continuing our tour of the S’s, we arrive at Sony’s booth, where (under glass, away from prying hands) they were showing their mock-ups of up-coming alpha mirrorless cameras. Another brand who gets on the mirrorless bandwagon. Until I see working models, I’m not going to have any opinions; all I can say right now is that the sensor on these cameras (Sony has also promised more than one model) will be APS-C sized. Release date? Sometime in 2010.

A successor to the A700 that would feature video was promised, as well as two new lenses under development: A Carl Zeiss 24mm f/2, likely to cost an arm and a leg, and a 500mm f/4, likely to cost the arms and legs of your whole camera club. Check out the cgi pics here.

  

Nikon

Nikon presented two new lenses: the 24mm f/1.4G and the 16-35mm f/4G. I believe there was much rejoicing over the first (until the price was unveiled…US$2,200), and some bewilderment over the second. You see, Nikonians have been clamouring for a long time over an f/4 zoom line like Canon has—these lenses are smaller, lighter…and cheaper. Because they’re f/4, not f/2.8. So Nikon finally concedes that they’re sucking and release an f/4 zoom, except it’s large, heavy…and expensive. I’m glad I am not a Nikon shooter having been waiting for these lenses for years. At least it’s weather-proofed. But worry not, Nikon has assured its acolytes this is but the first in a new line of zooms; let’s hope the next one isn’t a 24-50mm f/4.

  

Olympus

They didn’t show anything new, but they did lift their right hand, left hand on Ansel Adams’s The Camera, and swore they would not abandon the DSLR market despite the huge success of their μ4/3 mirrorless cameras. Then to prove it, they showed a prototype for a μ4/3 lens: the 14-150mm f/4-5.6. Wait, shouldn’t they have shown something for standard 4/3? Oh well! Looking at the photo of this lens (which is bigger than the PEN E-PL1 it’s attached to) I can’t help but think it is simply a standard 4/3 design with a longer mount added to assure proper focusing distance. Or maybe not. In any case, I think it’s too big for the camera and defeats the purpose of mirrorless cameras: Small size.

  

Tokina

The humble 3^rd party lens supplier presented their first full-frame lens in a very long time, a 16-28mm f/2.8. This lens covers a similar range on full-frame as their much-liked and popular 11-16mm f/2.8 does on APS-C, and given the number of “cheap” full-frame cameras on the market right now, it makes sense for Tokina to try to grab some sales from those who can’t afford the OEM wide angle options.

  

Ricoh

Remember this? We haven’t heard much about the Ricoh GXR since then, but these guys have kept working on the system because they announced the development of two new lens/sensor modules: a small-sensor image-stabilised 28-300mm-equiv f/3.5-5.6, and an APS-C 28mm-equiv. f/2.5. I’m still waiting to see a full review of this camera somewhere—I think DPR are working on one.

  

Conclusion

These were the items that interested me, and this article is by no means a thorough look at what the PMA had to offer. Search online and you will find descriptions and photos from people who were actually there; many of them talk about the straps, tripods, bags, lights, hats, potato peelers and other photography-related items on display, but they just didn’t get my attention. OK, so there probably weren’t any potato peelers.

I’ll admit I wasn’t blown away by anything, but I am very interested in the Sigma 85mm f/1.4 as a possible future purchase; I’m also looking forward to reviewing the Samsung NX10, the first APS-C mirrorless camera. Let’s hope I don’t have to wait too long because the most exciting think for me at PMA 2009 was…the Samsung NX10!

In case you’re wondering, I used the word “mirrorless” a total of 11 times in this article.

  

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Related posts:

1. PMA 2009 Round Up
2. FotoWeek DC 2010
3. 2010 Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk Date Set
4. Happy New Year 2010!
5. Images of the year 2010 NatureScapes