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Canon Surpasses 100 Million EF Lenses Produced

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Canon 100 Million Lenses

Canon has crossed the 100 million unit mark on EF lens produced since it first launched the Canon EOS-series of SLR cameras in 1987. The milestone was reached with production on April 22, 2014 of the Company’s 100-millionth EF-series interchangeable lens for EOS cameras*-an EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender 1.4X.

This comes less than a year after Canon announced production totals of 90 million EF lenses in May 2013. The company has been producing lenses at a pace of a little more than 10 million lenses per year since 2008. [Read more…]

New Canon TS-E Tilt-Shift “L” Series Lenses in September?

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Canon-TS-E-45mm-451x500

Recent rumors suggest that we will see a pair of new Canon TS-E tilt-shift lenses added to Canon’s lineup in September for Photokina 2014.

The  current TS-E 45mm f/2.8 and TS-E 90mm F/2.8 are well-overdue replacement; however, rumors point to only the 45mm lens getting a direct replacement while the other TS-E lens in the pipeline with be a “longer focal length” but not a 90mm lens. [Read more…]

Canon Passes 70 Million EOS Cameras Produced, Confirms Vast Majority of Lenses Sold are Kit Lenses

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Canon 70 Million Cameras

Canon introduced the EOS 650 35mm camera in 1987. Since then, the company has produced over 70 million cameras (as of February 5, 2014).

That’s an astounding number of interchangeable lens cameras. Perhaps even more astounding is the fact that Canon has sold roughly 100 million lenses for those cameras over the same time period. While Canon hasn’t officially declared it produced that many lenses yet, I expect that announcement to come in the next few weeks. Canon reached the 90 million lens mark in May 2013 and it seems that Canon is cranking out 10 million lenses every 8-9 months.

The ratio of cameras to lenses is something I’m sure Canon wishes it could improve upon. [Read more…]

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 II ASPH. Lens Released

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Panasonic 17mm Version II Lens

Last week, Panasonic quietly introduced an updated 20mm f/1.7 lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The original version of this lens was well-regarded throughout its lifespan and served as a solid walkaround lens with its 40mm equivalent field of view.

The new 20mm f/1.7 II APSH. lens should be available in black or silver finishes next month for $399. It is currently available for pre-order here at B&H Photo.

Best Lenses for Nikon D600

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Nikon D600

DxO Labs has rated the best lenses for the Nikon D600 according to their overall scores based on tests in DxOMark. 72 different lenses were tested with the highest score going to the Nikon AF-S 85mm f/1.4G and the AF-S 85mm f/1.8G lenses both getting a DxOMark score of 40.

It’s interesting to see the dropoff in scores from prime to zoom lenses. The highest rated zoom lens was the Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED with a DxOMark score of 28.

Below are the top 10 primes, followed by the top 10 zoom lenses. [Read more…]

Olympus to Supply Sony with Lens Parts; Olympus 400mm f/4 Lens Coming for Sony Alpha?

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Olympus Lenses for Sony NEX

Sony became the largest shareholder of Olympus in September 2012. Since then, we’ve waited for the relationship to lead to more collaboration between the companies.

Olympus recently revealed that it will soon being supplying lens parts to Sony. According to an Olympus spokesperson,

The imaging sensor has already started to source from Sony to Olympus. And the lens [parts] and lens units will start to source from Olympus to Sony.

While Olympus refused to specify the extent of the lens parts supplies to Sony, rumors suggest that Olympus will develop a 400mm f/4 lens for Sony Alpha A-mount cameras to be unveiled in early 2014.

[via AP and SAR]