Ball-And-Socket Lensbaby Composer Adds to Distorting Bendy-Lens Line

Lensbaby has just revamped its line of creative bendable "distorting" lenses at Photokina, and added a new type. This new Composer disposes with the bellows bend/focus system of earlier Lensbabies and has ball-and socket twisting with a focusing ring at the front to let you select the in-focus sweet-spot in your photos. It's also got a new Optic Swap system which lets you swap out the lenses inside for different options: these include standard lenses and a Holga-alike plastic lens. The Lensbaby original is replaced by the similar Muse, with the new swap system, the Control Freak which replaces the Lensbaby3G has it too. Both Composer and Control Freak will cost $270, while the Muse is $150. Check out the press release below. More »

Leica Leaks Out New High-End S System With 37MP, Almost-Medium-Format S2 DSLR

Leica's been busy lately, on the fetishistic high-end as always; their ultra-fast f/0.95 Noctilux lens wowed us a few weeks back, the new M8.2 digital rangefinder and C-Lux and D-Lux compacts also hit, and now they've expanded their digital range to include the S-series ultra high-res DSLR. Aimed at studio pros who would have been medium-format shooters in the film world (advertising, fashion, etc), the S2's specs as leaked in this page from Professional Photographer magazine are characteristically audacious for Leica. More »

Olympus Signals Micro-Four Thirds Camera On The Way, Plus 'Creative' DSLR Cam

Since Olympus and Panasonic together developed the micro four thirds camera format, and Panasonic's Lumix G1 is already on the way, it shouldn't be a surprise to hear Olympus is working on one too. Olympus is currently making noises about the camera, saying it'll "bring dramatic reductions in size and weight to the Olympus E-System" and be easier and lighter to use than a conventional DSLR. But there's no word on the specs or even an image of the beast: a mock-up is due for unveiling at Photokina this week, and it'll show off the format's small size by being 4.7 x 2.5 x 1.2-inches. Update: the camera's been revealed, and Digitalcamerareview's got pictures. Though there's still no specs, and it's still a mock-up, it's certainly a very rangefinder-looking device. More »