On September 23, 2008, Lensbaby, LLC (formerly known as Lensbabies, LLC) is launching an entire new system of selective focus lenses at the Photokina tradeshow in Cologne, Germany (Hall 5.2 C021).

Three new Lensbaby lenses – The Composer™, The Muse™ and The Control Freak™, – make up the new line of products. Each features the new Lensbaby Optic Swap system. The new Muse and the new Control Freak replace the current Original, Lensbaby 2.0, and Lensbaby 3G lenses, which will be phased out immediately. With the Composer, Lensbaby introduces a completely new lens, based on a ball and socket configuration that delivers smooth selective focus photography with unparalleled ease of use and greater precision.

All Lensbaby lenses provide photographers with a new way to control depth of field by bringing one area of a photo into sharpest focus with that Sweet Spot™ surrounded by graduated blur. By bending the Lensbaby lens, the photographer moves the sharp area around the photo for customized creative effects.

The new Composer retains its position after being bent and is easy to use even with one hand. Photographers do not squeeze the lens to focus, but can simply tilt the lens to a desired angle and then focus with a barrel focusing ring. The Composer stays in the desired bent position without requiring a locking mechanism and features the new Lensbaby Optic Swap System. The Composer’s barrel focusing ring has a unique design that becomes more sensitive (requiring greater rotation to move the optic in and out) as you approach infinity, making it easer to focus on subjects from 10 feet to infinity.

“The Composer introduces a new level of ease and precision to selective focus photography,” said Craig Strong, Lensbaby president and co-founder. “We developed the Composer because our photographers are interested above all in creating powerful, interesting photos. With its greatly enhanced ease of use and more reliable results, the Composer will make it more intuitive for photographers to realize their personal creative visions.”

The Muse replaces the Original Lensbaby and Lensbaby 2.0 lenses while being very similar in appearance and functionality. Photographers will still focus by compressing the lens and move the sweet spot by bending the flexible lens tubing. The key update for the Muse is its new Lensbaby Optic Swap System.

The Control Freak updates the Lensbaby 3G by adding the Lensbaby Optic Swap System. With The Control Freak, photographers compress to focus, bend to move the sweet spot, and then push a button to lock the lens in place. Once locked, photographers can adjust the fine focus with a barrel focusing ring and fine tune the tilt by rotating its three metal posts.

“While we expect the new Composer, with its smooth and precise operation, to be our most popular lens, we continue to offer the Muse and the Control Freak because each photographer has their own shooting style. The Muse is for photographers who shoot fast and loose and The Control Freak is best for shooters who have a step-by-step approach,” said Strong.

All three lenses - the Composer, Muse, and Control Freak – feature the Lensbaby Optic Swap System and will ship with one optic installed. Additional optics are available as optional accessories. When a photographer wants to change the optic in their Lensbaby, they will simply pop the optic out and drop in a different optic using an Optic Swap Tool supplied with the new optic. Each optic has different features and image qualities, allowing photographers to choose the look that fits their creative style.

At launch, the Lensbaby Optic Swap System will include four interchangeable optic options:

1) Double Glass: A 50mm multi-coated optical glass doublet that is the same optic that was in the Lensbaby 2.0 and Lensbaby 3G lenses. Retail price: US$85.00
2) Single Glass: a 50 mm, updated, uncoated optical glass singlet similar to the optic that was used in the Original Lensbaby. At f/2, the Single Glass Optic is one full stop brighter (2x as bright) than the previous Original Lensbaby Optic. Retail price: US$35.00
3) Plastic: a 50 mm f/2 plastic singlet that maximizes blur and diffusion in a dreamy way that Holga™ and Diana™ camera lovers will especially appreciate. Retail price: US$35.00
4) The Pinhole/Zone plate: an optic cup with an f/177 aperture hole to allow for pinhole photography and an f/19 Zone plate opening. Users can slide a toggle inside the optic to change to back and forth between Pinhole and Zone plate mode, allowing further artistic exploration. Retail price: US$35.00

The first three optics listed above are all 50mm fixed focal length. They all feature magnetically levitating interchangeable aperture disks that allow aperture settings from f/2 to f/22.

The Single Glass, Plastic, and Pinhole/Zone plate optics will be sold individually as well as in an Optic Boxed Set to retail for $95.00.

Lensbaby President and Co-Founder, Craig Strong, stated, “Lensbaby photographers tend to be very creative. The new Lensbaby Optic Swap system will give photographers greater freedom to take photos that reflect their unique visions.”

Strong continued, “With the new Composer lens and the Lensbaby Optic Swap System, photographers will be able to choose a lens body that fits their bending style: fast and loose, smooth and precise, or step by step. Then photographers can choose an optic that expresses their individual artistic vision.”

Product Pricing and Specs:

The Composer – Smooth and Precise

* Priced at US$270
* Ships with the Double Glass optic installed (a multi-coated optical glass doublet)
* Features the Lensbaby Optic Swap system
* Focal Length: 50mm
* Focus Type: Manual
* Features a unique barrel focusing ring that becomes more sensitive (requiring greater rotation to move the optic in and out) as you approach infinity, making it easier to focus on subjects from 10 feet to infinity.
* Aperture Type: Interchangeable levitating aperture disks
* Apertures: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22
* Minimum Focus: about 18” (46cm) / Maximum Focus: Infinity
* Size/Weight: 2.5” (6.35cm) high x 2.5” (6.35cm) wide / 5.5 oz (155.9g)

The Muse – Fast and loose

* Priced at US $150 with the Double Glass optic installed; US $100 with the Plastic optic installed
* Ships with either the Double Glass optic installed or the Plastic optic installed.
* Features the Lensbaby Optic Swap system
* Focal Length: right around 50mm
* Focus Type: Manual...Fingertip, actually
* Aperture Type: Interchangeable levitating aperture disks
* Aperture: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8
* Minimum Focus: approximately 12” (30 cm) / Maximum Focus: Infinity and beyond
* Size/Weight: 2" (5.08cm) high x 2.5" (6.35cm) wide / 3.7 oz. (104.9g)

The Control Freak – Step-by-step

* Priced at US$270
* Ships with the Double Glass Optic installed
* Features the Lensbaby Optic Swap system
* Focal Length: 50mm
* Focus Type: Manual/Fingertip, with barrel fine focus
* Aperture Type: Interchangeable levitating aperture disks
* Aperture: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22
* Minimum Focus: approximately 12” (30 cm) / Maximum Focus: Infinity
* Size/Weight: 3" (7.62cm) high x 3" (7.62cm) wide / 5.7 oz. (161.6 grams)

[Lensbaby]

COLOGNE, Germany & TAIPEI, Taiwan —(Business Wire)— Sep 22, 2008 Pretec, creator of the highest capacity and fastest CompactFlash card in the world, will demonstrate even higher capacities including a 64GB CF card, in the Leaf booth (West Hall 4.2, B009) and CFA (Hall 5.1, G-019) at Photokina 2008.

Pretec today releases 64GB and 100GB, 233X CF cards with access speed of up to 35MB/s, overtaking the Pretec 48GB CF card, the previous world's record holder; and super high speed 333X 32GB and 50GB CF cards capable of running up to 50 MB per second of Read/Write speed, the highest speed CF card in the world.

Pretec CF 233X and 333X CF cards use metal housing and ruggedized construction to provide extensive ruggedness. Pretec 64GB CF cards can be configured or reused to make a 256GB SATA, the highest capacity 2.5" SSD, by using Pretec Q-SATA, a patent-pending technology of flexible, scalable and modular SATA/PATA design based on up to 4 CF cards.

Pretec CF cards will be demonstrated together with high performance digital cameras from Leaf, a business unit of Eastman Kodak. Their new Leaf AFi-II system delivers the fastest shooting speeds of any camera in its class. These speeds are enabled by advanced communication and CF technologies and Leaf Capture software. "We are pleased to have chosen Pretec as our exclusive storage partner at Photokina 2008 and to witness the excitement as Pretec breaks the CF card speed and capacity world records," said Seth Greenberg, Leaf Marketing Director.

Pretec 233X 64GB and 333X 32GB CF cards with suggested retail price of $399 and $630 are slated to start delivery by Photokina 2008.

[Pretec]

The S2 will feature a brand new 30x45mm sensor, which sits comfortably between a full-frame 35mm sensor and true medium format (as found in digital backs like Phase One's crazy 65MP P65+). But unlike other massive quasi-medium format cameras, the S2 will have a more compact DSLR form factor similar to Leica's R-series. Nine new Leica lenses will also round out the system. No price, but you know, crazy expensive as always. [Professional Photographer scan on Flickr]

PHOTOKINA 2008, COLOGNE, GERMANY, September 23, 2008 —FUJIFILM Corporation, on the anniversary of 10 years of FinePix cameras, has developed “Super CCD EXR,” a revolutionary new sensor developed in the rigorous pursuit of high image quality.

There is strong demand in the digital camera market to increase the number of pixels on a sensor, which, all too often, is used as a convenient yardstick for image quality. While introducing excellent 12-megapixel cameras such as the FinePix F50fd and the FinePix F100fd, Fujifilm has had great success in increasing pixel density while at the same time controlling noise and optimizing sensitivity. Fujifilm’s campaign to improve overall image quality, while at the same time increasing sensor resolution, has been
coordinated under the program of ‘Real Photo Technology.’

‘Real Photo Technology’ is underpinned by the belief that experienced photographers, many brought up using famous reversal films like FUJICHROME Velvia or PROVIA, understand that true image quality is about a combination of many factors like tone, hue, color fidelity, dynamic range, sharpness, and resolution. It is well known that increasing the pixel count on a sensor actually makes it more difficult to achieve high sensitivity and wide dynamic range. As the photodiode gets smaller, the problems of increased noise, blooming and clipping increase.

It is widely believed that ‘high resolution’ and ‘high sensitivity’ are irreconcilable opposites, and impossible to optimize on the same sensor, particularly for compact cameras, where sensors are necessarily smaller. High quality pictures are dependent on the subject. Excellent low light pictures need high sensitivity; high contrast pictures need wide dynamic range, while fine details, like the leaves of a tree or strands of a model’s hair, depend on high resolution. Fujifilm engineers set about the task of building a Flexible sensor to match the demands of the photographer. The end-goal is to produce a sensor that works as close to that of the human eye as possible. Whatever nuance of color or sensitivity of tone that makes the scene so special to the photographer should be the continual challenge of the
sensor engineer. The EXR sensor is essentially a switchable sensor; changing its complex electronic behavior to suit the subject, changing its characteristics as the photographer demands, and producing the very best picture without making compromises.

“Super CCD EXR” is the latest new generation of Super CCD to be produced by Fujifilm. Over the years, Fujifilm has excelled in high resolution sensors through ‘HR’ technology (F50fd, F100fd) and high sensitivity/wide dynamic range through ‘SR’ sensors (S3 Pro, S5 Pro). The direction in the future will be to combine HR and SR technology together to produce one universal sensor suitable for all high quality
photography.

The Technology of Super CCD EXR
Super CCD EXR offers three main changes from previous Fujifilm sensors:
1. A new arrangement of the mosaic color filter
2. A new method of pixel binning
3. A complete revision of the electronic charge control

1. EXR: ‘Pixel Fusion Technology’ for High Sensitivity and Low Noise
Boosting sensitivity by increasing gain causes the generation of random increased noise, and conventional efforts to control this noise have resulted in blurred images and loss of resolution. On the other hand, a low-noise signal can be obtained by pixel binning. However, the conventional approach to binning (along the horizontal and vertical axis) generates false colors because of the separation of pixels of the same color. Because it is necessary to suppress this phenomenon, the result is a significant drop in sharpness.

EXR changes the color filter arrangement. Two side-by-side, same-colored pixels are taken together as a single pixel. With this design, the area of imaging elements is doubled, the sensitivity is twice the normal level, and ‘dark noise’ is extremely small. Therefore it is possible to create a high sensitivity image with little noise, instead of increasing the gain from a single pixel and increasing the noise.

Another problem with traditional pixel binning is the distance between same-colored pixels. Since the pixels are combined vertically or horizontally, the distance between combined same-color pixels is large, resulting in the generation of false colors. Boasting a new technology called Close Incline Pixel Coupling, the new Super CCD EXR can prevent the generation of false colors by mixing two adjoining pixels as one, and managing to achieve both low noise and excellent sharpness.

2. EXR: ‘Dual Capture Technology’ for Wide Dynamic Range
Super CCD EXR uses flexible and high-precision exposure control to simultaneously capture two images of the same scene: one taken at high sensitivity and the other at low sensitivity. It then merges the two images to generate a photo that has excellent depth and range.

Previously, Fujifilm used two different methods to improve dynamic range. The first was Super CCD SR. Through the adoption of a “double pixel structure” based on silver halide film, which comprises an “S pixel” with a large area and high sensitivity and an “R pixel” with a small area, a dynamic range four times that of conventional sensors was achieved. The second was based on Super CCD HR, where the gradation of shadows was gradually adjusted while raising the sensitivity of signal processing, and where highlights were softened to delineate an optimal curve. Similar to Super CCD SR, the new EXR sensor uses Dual Exposure Control to impart two differing sensitivities by controlling the light exposure time (the time in which charge accumulates). Unlike SR, the imaging elements are the same (large) size, which means the potential for widened dynamic range is even greater, and facilitates a greater spectrum of graduated
expression.

3. EXR: ‘Fine Capture Technology’ for High Resolution
The distinctive structure of the new Super CCD EXR fully exploits all the pixels in the layer beneath the new color filter matrix and takes advantage of the optimized signal processing of the new RP processor to create an image with the highest possible resolution quality. Even though the sensor has been designed for ‘Dual Capture’ for Wide Dynamic Range and ‘Pixel Fusion’ for Low Noise, it actually performs as well as previous 12-megapixel Super CCD sensors due to the new filter and photodiode design.

When light is full and even, and when fine detail is required, EXR can deliver exquisite detailed expression for landscape or architectural photography, and render the finest details of clothes, hair or jewelry in portrait photography.

EXR: The Future
Fujifilm is determined to use decades of imaging know-how gained through the development of film to push the boundaries of what is possible to achieve with an imaging sensor. The market for digital cameras is only around a decade old, and Fujifilm believes that it is possible to follow the holy grail of ‘absolute image quality’ in the domain of electronic imaging, just as it did with conventional imaging.
With EXR, Fujifilm can choose one engineering direction, rather than developing separate sensors for high sensitivity and high resolution. Fujifilm looks forward with excitement to introducing this sensor into its range of high quality cameras, and expects enthusiasts to see a quantum leap in image quality from anything they have seen before.

This is the "under glass" mock-up of Olympus' other camera: a proper four thirds DSLR. Olympus is saying the cam, also set for a concept "reveal" now revealed at Photokina, is going to be positioned between the E-520 and flagship E-3 models, borrowing funky E3 tech such as the high-speed autofocus system and 11-point "full twin-cross" AE/AF sensor. It'll also have a 1/8000th-second max shutter speed, image stabilization, face detection, and an articulated LCD. Olympus is aiming it at "creative" photographers, with an incorporated "creative photo expression function," whatever that may be. The camera, as yet unnamed and un-priced, is due in the first quarter of 2009. [Olympus and Digitalcamerareview]