Photokina came and went… a while ago at this point. I wanted to comment on what was interesting but have been too busy to get around to it… until now.
There were a few interesting things that happened, most importantly (to me at least) was the long awaited announcement of the 5D Mark II, finally bringing a close to the mid range full frame announcement insanity. With Canon, Nikon and Sony now in play it’s just a waiting game to see how the 5D Mark II and A900 really stack up with the D700. Not to be outdone, Leica introduced a bigger-than-full-frame camera, the S2. This actually has a 30 x 45mm sensor in a surprisingly compact body and Leica boasts a whole new range of lenses to go with it.
In fact, Leica has been pretty busy as the S2 isn’t the only thing they’ve announced. They’re having another go at the M8 with the M8.2. Hopefully that gets received better than the original. They also announced an assortment of other lenses and a couple P&S cameras as well.
Nikon had already spilled the beans on the D90 early and nothing else that they announced was particularly interesting, just some P&S cameras. From Canon we saw a few new things to go along with the 5D Mark II, like a megapixel stuffed G10, a gaggle of new P&S cameras and a new 24mm 1.4L II lens. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 24mm lens, with its new SWC coating, will be ushering in a long term update plan for a number of Canon’s older lenses much like what Nikon has been doing.
Sigma wasn’t staying quiet either, they kicked out a new SLR (SD15) with the same old sensor, and a DP2 which adds a longer and faster lens to the same basic camera as the DP1. I’m still not excited about it, unfortunately. Too little too late.
Pentax called on a famous camera name from their past with the K2000, which will be known as the K-m as well. This looks to be the new entry level camera and I expect it to have the usual upgrades in feel & ergonomics compared to the Canon and Nikon models it will likely compete against.
Finally, as mentioned Panasonic and Olympus were showing off some new Micro 4/3 products and ideas. I’m not convinced yet but it looks like Olympus might be getting the right idea on this one.
There was plenty more that happened, but these are just a few things that caught my attention.
I hope you all enjoyed the typos in this. It was written in pieces over the past few weeks and I finally decided to post it without really remembering the fact that I had not proofread it as I was writing it.
