Tokina AT-X 17-35mm f/4 Pro FX Release Date Delayed

Kenko-Tokina has decided to postpone the release of the Tokina AT-X 17-35mm f/4 Pro FX wide zoom lens. The delay is due to defect found in mass-produced component parts. Kenko-Tokina has pushed back its market launch to the end of August 2011 for the EF-mount version and September 2011 for the F-mount variant. We will keep you posted.

USB Flash Drive Spy Camera DVR

Here comes another unique spy gadget from Chinavasion, the USB Flash Drive Spy Camera DVR. Shaped just like an ordinary USB flash drive, this thumb-sized device is able to capture both 720 x 480p video at 30fps as well as up to 1600 x 1200p digital still images. In terms of specs, it has a microSD card slot (4GB card included), motion detection video recording function, a voice recorder, a USB interface and a 260mAh battery (up to 80 minutes of working time). The USB Flash Drive Spy Camera DVR retails for just $27.69.

Coleman Xtreme 12MP Waterproof Yellow Digital Camera

Here’s another budget-friendly waterproof digital camera for you to grab, the Coleman Xtreme 12MP Waterproof Yellow Digital Camera. This waterproof camera (up to 33 feet) packs a 12-megapixel image sensor, an 8x digital zoom, a 2.7-inch LCD display, a 16MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, a USB port, a rechargeable lithium battery and has the ability to capture video at 30fps. The Coleman Xtreme 12MP Waterproof Yellow Digital Camera can be yours for just $74.99.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II Lens Now Available Stateside

Canon USA has finally released the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II lens. This telephoto zoom lens is designed with Canon’s Optical Image Stabilizer technology. It is equivalent to a focal length of 88-400mm in the 35mm format (when used on Canon EOS cameras compatible with EF-S lenses), and the image stabilizer effect equivalent to a shutter speed about 4 stops faster than the same size lens without Image Stabilizer. The EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II lens also uses a UD-glass lens element to correct chromatic aberration for excellent image quality throughout the zoom range. No word yet on pricing.

Off to Photostock 2011

Every year for the past few years (except last year) a bunch of film photographers meet up N of Traverse City MI in late June to attend what has become Photostock (you know, like photography Woodstock). Bill Schwab hosts the event in Harbor Springs, and it's a very laid-back time. It's great to reconnect with other photographers with similar interests, and spend time talking about photography, doing lots of shooting, and basically recharging the creative batteries. Usually I team up with my buddy Marc Akemann, and we go find photos where we can. It's a lot of driving, of course, but we have a great time, and some of my most memorable photographs have been made during the long Photostock weekend.

I try to bring a different camera system or format for each time I have participated. This year, I am leaving the DSLR and lenses home, and am shooting mostly medium format. I'll have my Mamiya 645E system, a Great wall 6x6 SLR, a Halina AI TLR (crappiness abounds!) and an Argus Argoflex 40 to shoot some expired Verichrome Pan film. I'll also have my Penatx ME with the 40mm pancake lens and the pocketable Chinon Bellami (see previous post) for the 35mm end. An Olympus C5050 will be with me for snapshots of events. I'm also bringing a backdrop, lightstands and umbrellas in case I decide to shoot portraits with the Great Wall.


Hopefully, we won't have rain, but whatever happens, I know it will be good to get away!

See you next week.

A little love for the Pentax ZX-5

Before I left for Photostock last week, I picked up a used Pentax ZX-5 at Huron Camera for a bargain price. I decided to bring it along at the last minute and shoot with it (which obviously violates the common-sense of never bring an untested or new camera on a trip). The ZX-5, unlike some of the later models of AF K-mount cameras, has a real dial on the top for Aperture priority and shutter speed selection, not some twiddly LCD screen. I didn't have an AF lens for it, but it worked fine with manual lenses and center-weighted metering. It's lightweight, has a dial for exposure compensation, and is a nice alternative, in my opinion, to the metal-bodies of the Pentax ME, ME Super, etc. With the 40mm pancake lens on the front, it becomes a wonderful street camera with a quiet shutter and auto film advance. 



I carried the ZX-5 along during my trip and throughout Photostock (more about that in another post) and shot color film with it. The ZX-5 also has a "Panoramic" setting that masks the 35mm frame to a pseudo panorama. While not really panoramic in size, it nevertheless creates an opportunity for creative framing. 



Overall, the ZX-5 is a good addition to my stable of cameras. It offers the simplicity that one expects in a film camera, but yet offers some nice advancements over the earlier Pentax models - auto film advance, pop-up flash, matrix, center-weighted, and spot metering, auto ISO or user selectable settings, panorama mask, +/- expsoure compensation in 1/2 stop increments, AF if you use an AF lens, and the ability to use all manual K-mount lenses. 


Hessel, MI

Hessel, MI

The Ansco No.2 Folding Buster Brown

I have only put one roll of film through this camera so far, and having bought it a few years ago for $10, it's about time that I showcased it here. Produced by Ansco in Binghamton, N.Y. the camera differs from the typical "Buster Browns" in that the front drops down and the bellows travels along a rail and the lensboard locks into a fixed position. The typical Buster Brown cameras are box-camera style. The tiny reflex viewfinder is missing, but they are hard to use, anyway. I just mount this on a tripod and estimate the field of view and fire away. The shutter actually is in front of the lens, so if you have never seen one, don't think that the lens is missing. The camera dates from between 1918 and 1925 or so. 
The camera takes 120 film, making it quite useable. Shutter speeds are T,B, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100th sec. Apertures are from f8 to f64! No doubt that a tripod is required for anything below f/16 @ 1/100 sec, using ISO 100 film. It's a fixed focus camera, meaning that it focuses from about 10 feet to infinity. I am including one shot I took back in May,along the flooded area of Fleming Creek by Parker Mill. I think it was probably at f/64 for 10 to 15 seconds.