Germano-Ukrainian specialist lens maker Hartblei creates a medium format camera designed with a 35mm lens mount. The Hartblei CAM, as it’s called, can mount any digital or film medium format back up to 4.5×6cm and will be available in Canon EF, Nikon F or Sony Alpha mounts.

Thanks to this camera many lenses with unavailable MF, such as large aperture super-teles, Fisheyes or other specialty lenses (Canon’s new 17+24mm TS-E for example) can now be used with high quality professional backs.

The company also plans to introduce other lens boards, with medium format mounts, allowing adapters for Mamiya 645, Contax or Hasselblad lenses. The system is particularly useful for wide-angle shooting and with Hartblei’s own medium-format-derived tilt-shift lenses.

The Hartblei CAM is designed to offer an inexpensive studio system that can be used with a vast range of lenses as many lenses, including the Zeiss 100mm F/2 Macro, Nikkor 17-35mm ED and 14-24mm G-ED produce large enough image circles to illuminate larger format sensors.

The camera extends the range of short focal length lenses down to 14mm giving an angle-of-view of about 135° with a Phase One p65+ back. Mounting the Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8, for instance, either on the native Nikon version on the EF mount version with an adapter gives a viewing angle of 135°.

Focusing can be conducted via live view, the built-in TTL prism finder, using a focusing screen or by fitting an optional external viewfinder. The built-in Blade shutter offers shutter speeds from 30sec to 1/2000sec.

The camera-back is moved back and forth by a motor slider with electronic position-sensor, a Spot TTL Prism Finder is included in the package.

Hartblei CAM – Features:

• Medium Format camera
• Built-in TTL Prism Finder
• Mounts Digital/film Medium Format Back up to 4.5×6cm
• Extends Focal Length down to 14mm
• Give135° Angle-of-View
• Shutter Speed: 30sec to 1/2000 sec
• 35mm Lens Mount
• Available Mounts: Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Alpha

According to PhotographyBLOG.

Alongside with the GE J1250 camera model General Imaging launch the GE J1050 digital camera. It spots a 10.1-megapixel resolution and 5X optical zoom lens along with Image Stabilization.

The new camera also incorporates a clear 230K 2.7-inch LCD equipped with the Auto Adjust Brightness technology so that it can be easily seen even in bright conditions.

The J1050 features point-and-shoot operation and offers you a lot of scene modes to choose from: Sport, Children, Indoor, Leaf, Snow, Sunset, Fireworks, Glass, Museum, Landscape, Night Landscape, Night Portrait, and Portrait. For even greater ease of use, you can shoot your photos with the help of the Auto Scene Detection technology that automatically determines the appropriate scene type and optimizes exposure.

Image Stabilization will help the camera overcome camera shake but note that it’s digital one and you photos have a risk to become noisy.

The latest Pan-Capture Panorama feature allows for seamless wide-view photos capture right in the camera without the need for stitching. You should only pan the camera across to create a panoramic picture.

The J1050 contains a bunch of advanced features including Face Detection for sharp portraits, Blink &Smile Detection to ensure that the right moment is captured and In-Camera Red-Eye Removal to get rid of those terribly red eyes.

GE J1050 – Specifications:

• 10.1 Megapixels
• 24MB Internal Memory
• SD/SDHC Card
• 5X Optical Zoom
• Focal Length: 35mm - 175mm
• Aperture Range: f/3.0 (Wide) –f/4.7 (Tele)
• AF Method: Single AF, Multi-AF (TTL 9-point), AF Assist Light (On/Off)
• 2.7 inch TFT color LCD Monitor with 230,400 pixels
• Sensitivity: ISO 80-1600
• Pan-Capture Panorama
• Auto Scene Detection
• Blink Detection
• Smile Detection
• Face Detection
• Digital Image Stabilization
• Scene Modes: Sport, Children, Indoor, Leaf, Snow, Sunset, Fireworks, Glass, Museum, Landscape, Night Landscape, Night Portrait, Portrait
• Macro Focus: 5cm
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery 35mm
• Weight: 4.6 oz. (Approx. 130g)

Official Information: general-imaging.com.

Soon after the release of the Distagon T* 3.5/18 lens for the EF mount, Carl Zeiss announced the new Distagon T* 2.8/21 ZE, an ultra wide lens for all analogue and digital cameras belonging to Canon EOS system. It is now the second Carl Zeiss wide-angle lens with EF bayonet on the market.

This 21 mm wide angle lens features f/2.8 maximum aperture.

The lens is designed specifically for tricky shooting moments to properly render the transition between bright and dark light, which is ideal for architectural and landscape photography. Now capturing scenes with tough lighting conditions is possible even with wide aperture settings.

The Distagon T* 2,8 /21 ZE is supposed to be ideal for contrast-rich scenes and intense lighting angles. It offers you the ability to flawlessly correct color errors to prevent color fringing and unwanted lack of focus that can result from chromatic aberrations.

The lens’s optical construction includes 16 elements in 13 groups. Its floating elements design also guarantees high imaging performance, from close-ups to infinity.

The 2.8 /21 ZE’s anti-reflex coating and meticulously-crafted lenses ensure that it is not affected by reflections or stray light.

The lens will be available in autumn 2009 for a suggested retail price of EUR 1.549.

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2.8/21 ZE - Specifications:

• Focal Length: 21mm
• Minimum Aperture: f/22
• Maximum Aperture: f/2.8
• Lens Construction: 16 Elements/13 Groups
• Focusing range: 0.22 m - Infinity
• Angular Field (in 35 mm format): 90° diag. /81° horiz./59° vert.
• Coverage at Close Range: 19 x 12.4 cm (close-up)
• Image Ratio at Close Range: 1:5 (close-up)
• Filter Thread: M 82 x 0,75
• Mounts: ZF (F bayonet), ZK (K bayonet), ZE (EF bayonet)
• Accessories: Lens Hood

According to PhotographyBLOG.