GoPro Launches HERO4 Session

Hero4 Session

In less than a year since Hero 4 has been out in the market, GoPro launches its smallest and lightest camera yet – Hero 4 Session. New model is about 40% lighter and staggering 50% lighter than the original Hero 4 system, all while keeping pretty much the same specs you would find on the larger body Hero 4. Continue Reading

Sigma’s New 24-35mm F2 DG HSM Art Lens with Constant F2 Aperture Across the Entire Zoom Range.

Sigma 24-35mm F2 DG HSM Art Lens

Yesterday, Sigma Corporation announced brand new 24-35mm F2 DG HSM Art lens, the world-first full-frame DSLR lens with constant F2 aperture throughout its zoom range. As the basis for this project Sigma’s engineers used one of company’s previous model built for APS-C sized sensors, the 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art lens, a well-reviewed lens, which at the time of its release was also the first-ever zoom lens to use constant aperture. Continue Reading

Sony’s Impressive New a7R II

On June 10, 2015 Sony announced brand new a7R II, 42.4 MP mirrorless camera with the first ever back-illuminated full-frame Exmor R (BSI) CMOS sensor. It is by far the largest back-illuminated chip released allowing you to shoot at ISO range of 100 to 25600 that is expandable to ISO 50 to 102400.

If you’re thinking that this is just a minor update for the original a7R, consider the following. Sony’s a7R II new image sensor uses 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF points that work together with 25 contrast AF points giving you the widest coverage available on any full-frame DSLR and fastest response (about 40% faster than the original a7R). It’s important to mention that this new on-sensor phase-detection AF should also work just as well with Sony’s A-mount lenses and other third party lenses via the electronic adopter.

Additionally Sony incorporated a brand new highly durable reduced-vibration shutter mechanism rated to 500,000 actuations that provides about 50% less vibration from shutter operation then the original a7R model.

Also improved (from the original) on the Sony’s new flagship mirrorless camera is the new 5-point axis stabilization. Similar to previously released a7 II, this type of image stabilization simultaneously corrects for angular shake, shift shake and roll shake and allows you to shoot handheld at shutter speeds 4.5 steps faster than you would normally.

Of course the key selling point of the entire Sony’s mirrorless a7 line up, the ability to shoot glorious 4k video did not get overlooked as well. With the new a7R II you are able to shoot 4k videos in either super 35mm format or full-frame format. When using super 35mm format the camera collects approximately 1.8x more information oversampling the image and producing footage that is visibly more clear and has less artifacts.

Looks like Sony has really listened to photographers’ wishes and has produced a real gem of a mirrorless camera, a7R II will be available in stores this August for approximately $3200 retail.

ZEISS Introduces New Batis Lens Line with Slick OLED Screen

ZEISS Batis

April 22, 2015 ZEISS announced two new lenses exclusively designed for Sony’s full-frame E-mount cameras like the A7ii we reviewed not too long ago (as well as 6 other cameras in the Sony’s E-mount lineup). ZEISS Batis 2/25 and Batis 1.8/85 as the first 2 lenses in this particular family that have a very unique feature which, as you already guessed from the pictures, is the OLED display for depth of field/focal distance information. Besides the pretty display and the slick design, both lenses feature super-fast and quiet linear motor AF drive, as well as “floating elements” design to combat aberration and other optical issues at all focal lengths. Continue Reading

Sony FE 28mm, 35mm, 90mm and 24-240mm Lenses Announced

If you read our mirrorless Sony a7II Review, you will remember that one of our biggest gripes with it and the company in general was a lack of choice when it came to lenses. Sony, of course, know this very well, and in 2013 released a roadmap for the next couple of years that would bring up the total number of FE lenses to at least 20. So far they seem to be sticking to this roadmap with March 4th announcement of 4 new lenses: FE 28mm f/2, Zeiss Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA, FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS and FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS. Continue Reading

Nikon Introduces New DX-Format D7200 DSLR

D7200

This week Nikon introduced a new lightweight DX-Format (Crop Sensor) D7200 DSLR, an update for its 2013 D7100 model, which was extremely popular with both amateur and pro photographers. Major updates include significantly increased buffer size, better autofocusing, built-in Wi-Fi, NFC and the ability to shoot 1080p video at 60fps in 1.3x crop mode. Continue Reading

Introducing Reviews Category

Introducing Reviews Category

I am happy to announce that we are officially adding Reviews category to MyPhotoCentral. As most photographers out there, we are never fully satisfied with our equipment, even though we all know that it’s mostly our knowledge, skill and talent that makes our photos stand out. So we are always on the lookout for new and improved gear. Personally I am still satisfied with my aging Canon 5D mark II, but I also cheat on it a bit and occasionally try out new camera systems. Continue Reading

Fujifilm X-Q2, FinePix S9900W and S9800

Fujifilm XQ2 Finepix S9900W S9800

Today, on January 15th Fujifilm announced launch of its smallest camera in the premium X series lineup: XQ2. Despite its miniature scale the camera features 12 megapixel 2/3inch X-Trans CMOS II sensor with EXR Processor II, F1.8-F4.9 4x optical zoom lens and built-in Wi-Fi for transferring media between your devices via Fujifilm Camera Application (available on both Android and iOS marketplaces for free). Fujifilm had also launched two new bridge cameras: FinePix S9900W and S9800 (updates to S9400W and S9200 released in 2014). Both cameras will feature powerful F2.9-F6.5 Fujinon 50x optical zoom lenses (24-1200mm optical range) as well as the 5-axis stabilization that combines 2 optical and 3 electronic functions for more advanced stabilization during video shooting. Continue Reading