This week in the news: Micro Four Thirds get new lenses; Nikon releases interesting new lenses; and Apple's massive product updates to their lineup.
This is your B&H Photo Pulse News Roundup for June 15th, 2012.
Nikon's Newest Zoom Lenses
Nikon, after various rumors across the internet, announced two brand new lenses for their DSLRs. First up is their new 18-300mm f3.5-5.6 G DX ED VR lens designed for APS-C camera users who love to travel. The second lens is their 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 ED G VR lens, a lens that sounds eerily familiar to their older 35mm film lens. Here are the basic specs.
| AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Lens | AF-S Nikkor DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Lens | |
| Focal Length | 24 - 85mm | 18 - 300mm |
| 35mm Equivalent | N/A | 27 - 450mm |
| Zoom | 3.5x | 16.7x |
| Mount Type | Nikon F-Bayonet | Nikon F-Bayonet |
| Lens Format | FX | DX |
| Maximum Aperture | f/3.5 | f/3.5 - 5.6 |
| Minimum Aperture | f/22 - 29 | f/22 - 32 |
| Elements/Groups | 16 elements / 11 groups | 19 elements / 14 groups |
| Element Types | 1 ED lens element 3 Aspherical lens elements | 3x Aspherical lens elements 3x ED lens elements |
| Super Integrated Coating | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Focus | AF-S (Silent Wave Motor) | AF-S (Silent Wave Motor) |
| Internal Focus | Yes | Yes |
| Focus Mode | Manual / Auto Focus (M/A) | Manual / Auto Focus (M/A) |
| G-Type | Yes | Yes |
| Angle of View | 28°30' - 84° | 5°20 ' - 76° |
| Focusing | Nikon Internal Focusing (IF) System Autofocus controlled by Silent Wave Motor (SWM) Separate focus ring for manual focus | Nikon Internal Focusing (IF) System Autofocus controlled by Silent Wave Motor (SWM) Separate focus ring for manual focus |
| Minimum Focus Distance | 1.25' (0.38 m) | 1.48' (0.45 m) |
| Magnification | Not Specified by Manufacturer | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Maximum Reproduction Ratio | 0.22x | 0.15x |
| Diaphragm Blades | 7 rounded | 9 rounded |
| Image Stabilization | Yes, VR II (Vibration Reduction, 4-stop compensation) | Yes, VR II (Vibration Reduction, 4-stop compensation) |
| VR Auto Tripod Mode | Yes | No |
| Flash Sync | Not Specified by Manufacturer | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Exposure Control | Not Specified by Manufacturer | Not Specified by Manufacturer |
| Filter Thread | 72mm | 77mm |
| Dimensions (Diameter x Length) | 3.1 x 3.2" (7.8 x 8.2 cm) | 3.3 x 4.7" (8.3 x 12 cm) |
| Weight | 1.25 lb (0.57kg) | 1.8 lb (0.83 kg) |
You can read more over at B&H InDepth.
Apple's Brand New Products
The biggest news of the week, which still has all the blogs talking, is what came from WWDC this year. Apple announced a whole ton of new updates to most of their product line. Here's the quick breakdown:
New MacBook Airs and Pros
Apple updated the MacBook Air and Pro lines of laptops. The Air now fills the need for entry level laptops (or netbooks, in this case), while the Pros still hold their own as being targeted towards professionals who need more power from their device.
Inside of the super-skinny form factor of the MacBook Air is a new Intel Ivy Bridge processor featuring Turbo Boost technology for overclocking, their integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 engine, and flash storage. On the outside are two USB 3.0 ports, and a 720p Facetime camera.
Here's a whole spec sheet for your viewing pleasure. You can read more about the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro at B&H InDepth.
Retina Display MacBook Pro
With the launch of iPad's new Retina display, it was only a matter of time until Apple did it with their MacBook Pro line of computing products. Indeed, the new MacBook Pro Retina fits the bill.
The new Retina Display MacBook Pro features a 15.4” IPS display, with a native resolution of 2880 x 1800. That's capable of 220 pixels per inch (ppi), which comes to a pixel count of over 5 million—that’s 3 million more than a standard 1080p HDTV.
You can read lots more over at B&H InDepth.
Modest Pro Update
Professionals all over were curious as to whether or not Apple would be updating their Mac Pro line, as it has been quite a while since they received a refresh at all. However, the new Mac Pro was announced, with only a modest update. It still features the cheese grater look.
The new computer now comes with two 2.4GHz 6-core Intel Xeon E5645 processors for 12 total cores, instead of 8. If you choose to go that route, it also includes 12GB of 1333MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM, and a 7200 rpm 1TB Serial ATA (3Gb/s) hard drive.
But if you want the 12-core version, you'll get Hyper-Threading and 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor. With Turbo Boost (like overclocking) running, the speed of the E5645 processors is up to 2.67GHz.
Both come with ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5 memory PCI Express 2.0 graphics card.
There is more on the new Mac Pro over at B&H InDepth.
No More Google Maps
With iOS's new update to come, users should see a new version of the Maps app. In fact, Apple is now abandoning Google Maps, and they created their own service. This comes after the news of Apple gobbling up mapping companies.
The maps will even come with full 3D renderings.
You can read more, over at Engadget.
For even more, be sure to check out all of our WWDC 2012 coverage.
Lomography Resurrects 110 Film
Even though film use has slowed down tremendously with the advent of digital photography, the Lomography Company continues to try to innovate and keep the medium alive. In fact, not long ago, all companies discontinued their 110 format film—a format smaller than 35mm.
But just this week, the company announced the resurrection of the 110 film cameras with their brand new Fisheye Baby 110. This follows up on the company's previous announcement of their Orca 110 black-and-white film.
Schneider Announces New Micro Four Thirds Lenses
The Micro Four Thirds camera format is currently the largest and fastest growing mirrorless camera format out there. It just became even bigger, when Schneider decided to hop on board, announcing new lenses designed for the standard.
According to 43rumors, the first lens from the company will be a 14mm f2, coming in at an equivalent of 28mm. The lens will have autofocus, unlike other traditional German lenses for the system, like those from Voigtlander.
No word yet on a price.
And that's your news for June 15th, 2012. Be sure to follow all the consumer electronic news you care about, on B&H Pulse.