New products seen at the CP+ Tokina booth

At the Tokina booth following interesting products have been displayed:

Tokina SZ Mount Converter EF-FE adapter:
The release date is March 24th. The suggested retail price is 41,800 yen (tax included). What’s unique is the presence of a “mode switch”. Mode 1 for still image AF and mode 2 for movie AF.

Tokina SZ Super Telefinder Lens:
It is a so-called dot sight that makes it easier to follow the subject when shooting with a super telephoto lens. The release date is March 24th. The suggested retail price is 65,780 yen (tax included). It is made of metal, and solid structure is impressive. It also has water resistance. 10 levels of laser brightness adjustment. The power supply is CR2032.

They also displayed the new Tokina SZ 300mm F7.1 Reflex MF CF, SZ 600mm F8 Reflex MF CF and SZ 900mm F11 Reflex MF CF:

via DC.wtach

Sigma at CP+ 2023: “we want to launch more unique lenses”

Photorend talked to Sigma manager Yamaki and here are some takeaways:

  • Just like Sony, Sigma wants to develop Multi-group AF which helps increase focusing speed as well as image quality.
  • Full Frame lens demand is strong, APS-C lens demand is in decline and MFT lens demand in sharp decline.

And here now to the very interesting part:

We intend to release more innovative and one-of-a-kind lenses. We have in our portfolio all the “basic” optics; also, we will be able to advance towards different objectives. They will be remarkable for their focal length, their aperture value, their size, or even for their ability to meet specific needs. Because the demands of photographers are diversifying. In the past, people were content with a 24-70mm lens and a 70-200mm telephoto lens. And eventually, they acquired a 16-35 mm or a 12-24 mm. Today’s photographers also like to use very bright primes, long-range telephoto lenses, or ultra-wide-angle lenses. These are the types of lenses we want to launch for today’s photographers.

it really sounds like Sigma want to make primes with f/1.2 or faster, and I hope they will consider making fast f/2.0 zooms too!

First images of the new Laowa 28mm f/1.2 FE lens!

At the Cp+ show Laowa displayed the new Laowa 28mm f/1.2 FE lens! Dc.watch posted those images and some specs. I also got additional info from my source which I included here:

Specs summary:

  • Laowa 28mm f/1.2
  • Full Frame E-mount
  • manual focus
  • lens construction is 13 elements in 7 groups.
  • number of aperture blades is 13
  • shortest shooting distance is 500mm
  • maximum shooting magnification is 0.073x
  • Supports click ON/OFF switching of the aperture ring
  • 562g
  • $599
  • 600g
  • good sharpness even at f/1.2
  • High CA wide open
  • Canon RF, Sony E, Nikon Z, L mount
  • Release on March 28