Hasselblad H5D brings the megapixels to Photokina, we go hands-on (video)

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Brian Heater

Oh, and if the Hasselblad Lunar isn't quite rich enough for your blood, why not take a look at the H5D medium format camera? The device looks a good deal like its predecessor, maintaining a similar video camera-esque form factor, with an optical viewfinder that extends from the front of the body to the back, above a larger, brighter, easier-to-read display. You'll also find a smaller, monochrome display on the top of the camera to the right of the optical viewfinder. The H5D's also a bit more ruggedized than its predecessor, with improved waterproofing and larger controls -- and it certainly does feel like a big, sturdy camera.

As with the Lunar, the version we played with is still in prototype stage and wasn't quite functioning perfectly, much to the chagrin of the Hasselblad rep. When the camera hits in December (functioning properly, no doubt), it's going to start at a (perhaps not surprisingly) pricey €13,000 here in Europe, going all the way up to €30,000, depending on whether you opt for the 40-, 50, or 60-megapixel variety -- because hey, what's another €17,000, right?

Gallery: Hasselblad H5D brings the megapixels to Photokina, we go hands-on

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Hasselblad H5D brings the megapixels to Photokina, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s Jony Ive tapped to design one-off Leica M for charity auction

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Ben Gilbert

In case the newly announced Leica M simply isn't astronomically expensive enough -- or charity-minded enough, as it were -- Apple's senior VP of design Jony Ive is working with the German photography company on a one-off version set to be auctioned for charity. Given the M's baseline price of €6,200 (about $8,100), we're guessing the one-of-a-kind version designed by one of the world's most influential designers is going to fetch a pretty penny at auction. Like, "sell off one of your extra homes" kind of money. Leica head Dr. Andreas Kaufmann announced the collaboration last night during a Leica event at Photokina -- an event that Ive himself was reportedly set to appear at -- where he said that the auction will be done with U2 frontman (and longtime friend of Ive) Bono Vox. The latest Leica M debuts in early 2013, though we won't see the fruits of Ive and Leica's collaboration for some time as the camera's design has yet to begin.

Gallery: Leica M

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Apple's Jony Ive tapped to design one-off Leica M for charity auction originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hasselblad Lunar mirrorless camera hands-on

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Brian Heater

The Lunar has landed -- at Photokina, at least. Hasselblad was showing off a slew of different designs for the forthcoming camera -- and while we were told that its still in prototype mode (both from company reps and signage on the device itself), the camera seemed to be in mostly working order. The first thing you'll notice, once you get past the space-age design, is the fact that the camera really does feel like a rebranded Sony NEX device slipped into a new shell, and as such, it takes those Sony e-mount lenses. And on the back, you'll find that similar collapsible display.

That said, it really does feel quite nice in the hand -- the device we played with had a leathery grip -- there are a number of carbon fiber and wood options available, as well. All of this is punctuated by a metal top with large metallic knobs, and inside you'll find an APS-C 24.3 megapixel sensor. The Lunar will start at €5,000 when it launches in Q1 of next year. And in case that's not rich enough for your blood, you can tack a "significant" amount onto that by getting the models decked out in pricier materials.

Gallery: Hasselblad Lunar hands-on

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Hasselblad Lunar mirrorless camera hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lensbaby Spark delivers selective focus for 80 bucks, we go hands-on (sample images)

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Zach Honig

What do you see when you look through a Lensbaby? Well, take a gander for yourself -- that image just above was shot with the company's new Spark. The $80 selective-focus optic is available for Canon and Nikon mounts, and brings f/5.6 shooting with a 50mm focal length, and, of course, that trademark Lensbaby bokeh. We caught up with the new lens at Photokina, and unlike many of the cameras we've seen so far, we were permitted to shoot some sample images.

Snapping with any Lensbaby takes a fair amount of practice and patience, but the Spark is designed to simplify the process somewhat, with an interior barrel that prevents you from venturing too far past the focal plane, along with a more straightforward design -- simply frame your shot, focus and bend the lens towards your subject to blur out any other elements in the scene. Calculating exposure with the Spark can take some work, so we tweaked and cropped our sample images just a bit -- besides that, what you see is what you get, so click through our gallery below to see the Spark, shot by another Spark. So meta.

Gallery: Lensbaby Spark hands-on and sample images

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Lensbaby Spark delivers selective focus for 80 bucks, we go hands-on (sample images) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leica V-Lux 4 superzoom hands-on (video)

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Brian Heater

Yep, one more Leica camera to tell you about from this year's Photokina show floor. It's the V-Lux 4 -- a big new superzoom addition to the company's line. Though its got a similar name to the V-Lux 40, the camera's body is a good deal larger -- closer in size and shape to a small DSLR, but still reasonably lightweight. As with the smaller model, the V-Lux 4 features an all black design, with a bright red Leica logo on the front -- in this case, just next to the curving textured handle. Also on top is a pop-out flash that you trigger with a devoted button.

The V-Lux 4 is capable of continuous f2.8 zoom, accessible via two buttons -- one on top and the other next to the lens. Also on the rear, you get two viewfinders -- optical on top and a swiveling electronic three-inch display. The camera is available now in Europe for a pricey €699.

Gallery: Leica V-Lux 4 hands-on

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Leica V-Lux 4 superzoom hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leica S-System hands-on (video)

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Brian Heater

More fun from Leica here at Photokina in Germany -- and this guy is big in every way. It's the S-System, the company's update to its pro-series medium format offering. The successor to the S2 is quite large (even in SLR terms) and is very, very heavy. In fact, you're going to want to work out that upper body before using this thing for any period of time -- that is, once you're done selling your first born child. Aesthetically, the camera looks a good deal like the S2, maintaining its nice looking design with a couple of key differences -- for one thing, there's an extra bump on the top of the camera -- this is where the integrated GPS lives.

The 3-inch LCD (which is capable of 16 million colors) is also covered with Gorilla Glass, so you're less likely to crack it if you're rough on the thing (though, again, at these prices, we assume you'll be nicer to it than your own offspring). Look inside the optical viewfinder and you'll get a meter that helps you determine how you're oriented respective to the horizon. The sensor, naturally, has been refreshed as well, now measuring 30 by 44mm, with 37.5 megapixels. And the shutter can do its thing as quickly as 1/1,000 of a second.

As for pricing, well -- the Leica rep we spoke with put the camera at (get ready) €19,600. The camera is also launching with four lenses, in case you have a few other kids you're interested in selling.

Gallery: Leica S-System hands-on

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Leica S-System hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hasselblad announces Lunar mirrorless camera, fancies up Sony’s NEX-7 for 5,000 euros

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Brian Heater

The bar's pretty high when your company is behind the first camera in space. Hasselblad's looking to build on that theme with its new Lunar mirrorless, which according to the company "revives the timeless charm" of 1957's 500c -- and if nothing else, the camera's got a curvy, space age body, built out of high grade aluminum with either a carbon fiber (available in black, silver or titanium colors) or wood (beech, olive, pear or mahogany) grip.

Inside, you'll get a Bionz processor and an APS-C 24.3 megapixel sensor. The Lunar has a 10 frames per second burst mode, full HD recording and sports a 100 to 16000 ISO range. On the rear, you'll find a swiveling three-inch display. All of that's packed into a body that weighs roughly a pound.

Update: While we didn't quite realize it at first, the layout of the camera and its specs are clearly that of a rehashed NEX-7. As SonyAlphaRumors points out, the shooter accepts Sony's e-mount lenses and is part of new partnership between the two photography giants -- looks like we're soon to have even more Sony cameras re-purposed as Hasselblad's, similar to Leica and Panasonic. While the NEX-7 itself will run you roughly $1,100 to 1,200k (body-only vs. with a kit lens), SAR has the Lunar pegged at $5,000 Euro (about $6,530, or six NEX-7s). That's almost $1k more than Leica's utilitarian M-E and about as much as an M9 for, those keeping count -- but hey, at least the lunar can shoot video, right?

Joe Pollicino contributed to this post.

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Hasselblad announces Lunar mirrorless camera, fancies up Sony's NEX-7 for 5,000 euros originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Colors! Samsung’s Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Zach Honig

Another Photokina star is Samsung's Galaxy Camera, which launched to much fanfare several weeks ago at IFA, but dominates the company's photo-themed booth at the biennial photography show in Cologne, Germany. There's not much more to report on the hardware side, apart from confirmation that certain versions of the Android snapper will pack LTE, but there are indeed some very shiny new finishes to gawk at. First up is a bright orange flavor -- if you feared that the Galaxy point-and-shoot's rather large footprint wouldn't attract enough attention on its own in the field, you shouldn't have any such concerns with an orange model. Also of the neon persuasion is a flashy pink version, which like the aforementioned color, should draw many an eye. We were quite pleased with the black and white models we saw at IFA, and while Samsung clearly has a few colorful prototypes in circulation, the company says they're only being considered at this point, with your feedback determining the final options. So, what do you think? Would you buy an orange or pink Galaxy Camera? Let us know in the comments after the break.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Camera in orange and pink

Continue reading Colors! Samsung's Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs

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Colors! Samsung's Galaxy Camera pops at Photokina with vibrant orange and magenta paint jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leica D-Lux 6 and V-Lux 40 hands-on (video)

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Brian Heater

The Leica deluge continues here at Photokina in Cologne. We played around with two new point-and-shoots from the company, starting with the D-Lux 6, the larger and pricier of the pair. The camera features an all black body, with a red Leica logo on the front. It's got a 1.7-inch CMOS image sensor, a processor capable of ISO 80 to 12800 and adjustable aperture on the lens that can be changed with a twist. It's also got a large three-inch display on the rear and is capable of full HD video.

The cheaper V-Lux 40 features a similar all-black build with red logo in a smaller form, with a 1/2.33-inch CMOS sensor. On the rear of the camera, you'll find a three-inch touch display with the same bright resolution as the D-Lux 6. The camera, which bears a striking resemblance to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20, can also do 1080p video. The V-Lux is available now here in Europe for €590 and the D-Lux is coming soon, priced at €699.

Gallery: Leica D-Lux 6 and V-Lux 40 hands-on

Continue reading Leica D-Lux 6 and V-Lux 40 hands-on (video)

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Leica D-Lux 6 and V-Lux 40 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leica M-E is a $5,450 M9 with new color scheme, minor feature exclusions (hands-on video)

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Zach Honig

Don't have the $6,500 to spare to pick up a Leica M9? You might consider the freshly announced M-E, which carries a similar feature set and a slightly more palatable $5,450 price tag. The camera includes the same 18-megapixel sensor as the M9, but drops relatively minor features like a built-in USB port (you'll need to pop out your SD card to download pics). It's nearly identical to the pricier model, with a low-res (230k-dot) 2.5-inch LCD and an ISO range of 160-2500. Unlike the "new M," announced alongside the M-E, the latter model does not offer live-view functionality, so you'll only be using the LCD to make settings adjustments and for reviewing images, anyway. Shot framing will be handled with the 0.68x viewfinder, positioned at the top left of the camera.

Aesthetically, you might find the M-E to be a bit more pleasing, with a muted gray/black color scheme -- we found it to be quite nice during out hands-on at Photokina. The camera itself looks like an M9 with a hint of Michael Graves-esque simplicity -- there's a silver shutter speed dial up top, with soft numbering and positions that range from bulb to 1/4000 second. There's also a matching power toggle/shutter release, along with the standard suite of playback and ISO controls on the rear. As we mentioned, the 2.5-inch display offers a bit lower resolution than what we'd like to see, making it less than ideal for verifying image sharpness, for example, so if the LCD marks high on your list of priorities, you'll probably do best to wait for the "new M" (M10) to hit early next year. Otherwise, the M-E appears to be a capable camera, but M9 owners should hang tight -- there's not much to see here. The M-E is available for purchase now, for about $5,450 (or €4,800 in Europe), and you can sneak a peek in our gallery below, and the hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: Leica M-E hands-on