Digital Camera News: Carl Zeiss ZF Lenses, Olympus Teaser, Fujifilm Finepix S3 Pro Hardware Upgrade

[Ben Stafford]

Carl Zeiss ZF Lenses for the Nikon F-mount

Carl Zeiss has announced a new line of interchangeable lenses that fit the Nikon F-mount cameras. The new line is appropriately named: "ZF". The ZF lenses will "feature unusually high mechanical quality, fixed focal length, very precise manual focussing, reliability, and exceptional durability".

Starting in the spring of 2006, we'll first see the Planar T* 1.4/50 ZF, followed by the Planar T* 1.4/85 ZF.  Pricing will be competitive with current products for the Nikon F system.  In order to get these to consumers, Zeiss will be forming a new international distribution network.

New Olympus Teaser

Olympus has sent another teaser out to us.  On January 26, they are going to introduce "the solution".  These teasers would make great subjects for a caption contest.  We'll let you know, as soon as we can, what this solution is going to be.  Does anyone have any good guesses or theories?  If so, let us know on the forums.  I'm interested to see what people are thinking.

Internal Buffer Upgrade for Fujifilm Finepix S3 Pro

Fuji Photo Film USA is offering a internal buffer upgrade for their Finepix S3 Pro.  You can ship your camera off to a service center and they will upgrade the internal memory from 128MB to 256MB.  The most significant advantage is that you'll be able to shoot more images in continuous mode.  For example, while shooting in RAW mode, you'll be able to catch 8 images at once after the upgrade.  With the existing 128MB, you can only get 3 images.  Also the upgrade includes a "wake-up" feature for the vertical shutter release button.

For a healthy $379.95 + tax, Fuji will upgrade your memory and return the old memory board to you in 5-10 business days.  If you let them keep the old memory board, they knock $30 off the price.  For more details and an order form, see: www.Fujifilm.com/FinePixS3Pro.

[pt9386]

Hmmmm...Olympus is going to have something durable, maybe. My guess is from their slight success with their water-proof cameras. But it's up in the air what they would be doing. I hope it's something to push the envelope in the digital camera world and not some add-on to something already existing.