Zeiss introduces new
wide-angle lenses
International
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SmartSony unveils palm-sized
RX 1R II
Zeiss unwrapped a new wide-angle
lens for Sony E-mount cameras—the
Loxia 21mm f/2.8. The lens is an
add-on to the Loxia 35mm f/2 and
50mm f/2 that were showcased last
year. Christophe Casenave, Product
Manager at Zeiss camera lenses said,
“Since the Sony α7 series has been
stirring up the photography market,
the calls for a powerful super wide-
angle lens were growing ever louder.
For many photographers such a lens
is the missing tool in their gear. ZEISS
is now meeting that demand with
the Loxia 21mm f/2.8 lens.” The lens
will be made available for purchasestarting December 2015 at a suggested
retail price of US$1499. Zeiss also
announced an addition to its Otus
lineup of lenses—the Otus 28mm f/1.4.
This lens is available in Canon and
Nikon mounts. This particular lens’s
strengths are seen in landscape and
nature photography. The lens consists
of 16 elements in 13 groups. One of
the lens elements has an aspheric
optical surface while one more element
is aspherical on both the sides. The
other eight lens elements are made of a
special glass. The lens will be available
for purchase in Q2 of 2016. The retail
price is yet to be announced.S
ony Corp. announced the latest
addition to its Cyber-shot RX
compact camera line—the RX
1R II. The camera is mounted with
a 42.4MP back-illuminated Exmor R
CMOS sensor coupled with a BIONZ
processing engine to attain optimum
resolution and sensitivity (ISO 100-
25600, expandable to 50-102400). It
is equipped with a �ixed focal length
ZEISS Sonnar T* 35mm f/2 lens. The
camera is also assembled with an
optical variable low pass �ilter that
can be set to ‘off’, ‘standard’ or ‘high’
based on the user’s preference with theavailability of low pass
�ilter bracketing. The RX
1R II is also �itted with
a retractable XGA OLED
view�inder. The camera
is compatible with Wi-Fi
and NFC along with
Sony’s PlayMemories
available for Android
and iOS. The camera
will be made available at
3,500 € from December- Availability in the
domestic market is yet to
be decided.
Manfrotto has made a second addition
to its BeFree tripod lineup with the
BeFree One tripod. Its design allows
it to be folded away into a compact
form and is also lightweight for easy
transportation. This new model utilises
its four legs to be collapsed to just
32 cm/12.6 inches from a maximum
height of 130 cm/ 51.18 inches. The
tripod features an aluminium ball
and socket head and can support up
to 2.5kg. The model weighs only 1.
kg. The tripod comes with a 10-year
warranty and a padded shoulder bag.
It is available in black, grey or red. The
tripod is priced at £124.95 and can be
purchased from select retailers.Manfrotto
announces compact
travel tripod
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Smart PhotographyDecember 2015http://www.smartphotography.in