Thursday, February 25, 2010
March/April 2010
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SUPER-TELE PRIMEGet close when shooting sports or other action with Nikon’s fast-aperture AF-S NIKKOR 300mm ƒ/2.8G ED VR II. New technologies include optimized autofocus modes for better performance and Vibration Reduction II image stabilization that enables handheld shooting at up to four shutter speeds slower than would be possible otherwise. There are three autofocus modes (A/M, M/A and M) for fast, secure switching between manual and autofocus. The lens focuses down to 7.2 feet in manual focus or 7.5 feet in autofocus. Also new is the TC-20E III teleconverter, which basically doubles the focal length of select lenses. It also features an aspherical element that helps eliminate coma and other aberrations, even at wide apertures. Estimated Street Price: $5,899 (300mm); $499 (TC-20E). Contact: Nikon, (800) NIKON-US, www.nikonusa.com.
FAST DRIVEDownload your large image files quickly to the Western Digital My Book 3.0, an external desktop drive featuring SuperSpeed USB 3.0. With an interface that’s up to 10 times faster than the previous-generation USB 2.0, the high-performance My Book 3.0 drive significantly reduces the time it takes to open up and save big files with transfer rates of up to 5 GB/s. The drive is offered as a stand-alone or as a kit, which includes a USB 3.0 PCIe (Gen 2) adapter card. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1. Estimated Street Price: $199 (1 TB); $279 (2 TB). Contact: Western Digital, (877) 934-6972, www.westerndigital.com.
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Take 14.6-megapixel stills and record 720p video on the compact Samsung NX10. To make the body smaller than that of a typical DSLR, the camera doesn’t have a mirror box but retains an interchangeable lens system, similar to Micro Four Thirds cameras. Unlike those cameras, the NX10 uses a larger APS-C-sized CMOS image sensor (23.6x15.7mm). Additional features include a built-in electronic viewfinder, pop-up flash, three-inch display and proprietary lens mount. The camera will ship with an 18-55mm kit lens with optical image stabilization. A 50-200mm lens and 30mm lens also will be offered. Estimated Street Price: TBA. Contact: Samsung, (800) 726-7864, www.samsung.com.
X FACTORUpgrade your memory cards with Lexar’s Professional 300x CF lineup, which now offers 32 GB of capacity, and the Professional 233x CF lineup, which now comes in 16 GB and 32 GB. The cards deliver minimum sustained write speeds of 45 MB/s (300x) and 35 MB/s (233x). If you shoot with SDHC cards, Lexar’s Professional 133x lineup now has a Class 10 speed rating with 20 MB/s write-speed capability. Such high speeds are ideal for rapid-fire still photography and HD video shooting, but also speed up downloading of images when a UDMA- or SDHC-compatible card reader is used. Estimated Street Price: $249 (300x 32 GB); $169 (233x 32 GB); $89 (133x 8 GB). Contact: Lexar Media, (800) 789-9418, www.lexar.com.
ANTI-SHAKE LENSShoot with the image-stabilized Sigma 17-70mm ƒ/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM. Featuring a large aperture, macro capability and anti-shake technology, the lens allows you to shoot handheld at shutter speeds up to four stops slower than would be possible otherwise. In 35mm format, the focal length is the equivalent of 24-105mm. Other key specs include a minimum focusing distance of 8.7 inches and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2.7; it comes in Sigma, Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax mounts. Estimated Street Price: $680. Contact: Sigma, (800) 896-6858, www.sigmaphoto.com.
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