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Olympus goes so very long Olympus’s incredible telezoomwith an integral converter enables handheld shooting at the equivalent of 1000mm
Buy Tamron now and save
Minimise the risk of dirty sensors with CameraCal’s Dust Catchers Dust is a serious issue for digital cameras. CameraCal has designed its Dust Catchers to catch any loose debris and minimise any potential problems. These sticky pads attach to the inside of your lens and body caps and it is advised that they are changed every two months. A pack of ten pads costs £3.99. CameraCal offers a free sensor contamination detection service. Send over an image and it can instantly diagnose if there is a problem. There's a similar service for potential front/back focus issues as well, which is unique in the industry. Call or web chat on the website for more details. There’s also a review of CameraCal’s calibration service in this issue. cameracal.co.uk 01798 306599
Sony owners looking to buy a Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD, 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD or 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VXD can get up to £100 cashback if making their purchase from a participating dealer before 15 January 2021. These three Sony E-mount lenses suit full-frame and APS-C format cameras and offer excellent performance and outstanding value for money. For details of the promotion, please visit the website below. • transcontinenta.co.uk/ promotions
The much-anticipated Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC 1.25x IS PRO is on sale in early 2021. This remarkable lens is sure to appeal to wildlife and sports photographers alike, and has a guide price of £6499.99. The lens’ maximum aperture is a constant f/4.5 and the built-in 1.25x converter means you have coverage to 500mmwithout needing any extra accessories. That’s the 35mm equivalent of a 1000mm focal length – add the Olympus 2x teleconverter and you have a 2000mm lens.
The lens construction features 28 elements (and that includes four super extra-low dispersion lenses and a new large diameter, extra-low dispersion aspherical lens) in 18 groups. Despite its coverage and fast constant maximum aperture, the lens weighs 1875g. To assist sharp handheld picture-taking, it also features a powerful five-axis stabiliser with up to 8EV benefit. It is also dust, splash and freeze proof, and the front element has a scratch-resistant fluorine coating.
For OM-D E-M1X owners keen on photographing birds, this lens adds another dimension, because a firmware v2.0 update due on 2 December 2020 sees birds added to the camera’s intelligent Subject Detection AF system. Developed with deep learning technology, the updated camera is able to automatically prioritise the bird’s eye for focus and tracking, leaving the photographer to concentrate on catching the moment and composition. olympus.co.uk/site/en/c/lenses
Panasonic’s prime time The Panasonic S series gains a new short telephoto prime
Fujifilm’s wide view Fujifilm has taken an old favourite and given it a new lease of life
The Lumix S 85mm f/1.8 is the first of four fast aperture f/1.8 lenses to come from Panasonic; the others coming soon are a 24mm, 35mm and 50mm, and all feature common design points, including filter thread size and physical controls. A 70-300mm zoom is also in development. The 85mm itself consists of nine elements in eight groups, with two special extra-low dispersion lenses. The lens also promises smooth bokeh and extremely minimal vignetting. Users making the most of the S series’ impressive video specs will be pleased to hear that features like suppressed focus breathing are present on the 85mm, with its fairly light 355g body making
handheld shooting and
The original Fujifilm XF10-24mm f/4 R OIS was a popular choice among X-Series owners and rightly so, because it was a fine, very capable lens. However, while this new XF10- 24mm f/4 R OIS WR has the same focal length range, covering the 35mm format equivalent of 15-36mm, there have been important and worthwhile improvements. On its build, the addition of the initials WR to the lens name tells you that the lens is now weather and dust resistant, and the lens’ aperture ring now has f/stops marked. The lens optical image stabiliser has been enhanced by 1EV, too, and the benefit has been increased to 3.5EV. The lens’s optical construction has been refreshed as well, now with 14 elements,
including four aspherical lenses and extra-low dispersion elements to minimise
gimbal balancing all the easier. The lens is dust and splash resistant, and capable of functioning down to -10°C. When it hits shelves, the Lumix S 85mm f/1.8 will cost £599.99. In other Lumix news, a free firmware update for S1H, S1R, S1, S5 as well as G100 bodies is being released on 24 November, with another following in 2021. The older S models will inherit the improved autofocus capabilities of the newer S5 (tested in this issue), with improvements in AF-C tracking performance, among other areas. panasonic.co.uk
aberrations and deliver an even better edge-to-edge performance.
The autofocus is near-silent and very accurate, with the lightweight focusing elements reacting very rapidly to the situation, even when the subject is moving around the frame. The XF10-24mm f/4 R OIS WR is available from late November for £899. fujifilm.eu/uk
Issue 83 | Photography News 5
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