A few small announcements for Nikon fans:
- Samyang 14mm f/2.8, announced early. Won't appear until November, I think, but here's another wide prime option that covers both DX and FX frames about to arrive. No front filter ring.
- The Hartblei Cam. This is a hybrid: you mount DSLR lenses (Canon, Nikon, others) on the front and a MF back (most) on the back. The Hartblie site and literature is still quite confusing on what you can do with this unit. It does not convert a regular DSLR lens to tilt and shift, for instance (but you can use the Hartblei DSLR, Canon, or Nikon tilt/shift lenses on it). Hartblei touts it as a way to get very wide angle onto MF backs, but unless the lens covers more than the FX frame (e.g., the Canon 17mm TSE or Nikon 24mm PC-E), you end up cropped on most MF backs. Hartblie hasn't published clear information about what you do get with various combinations (hint: they should), which leaves things up in the air for now. Still, it's an intriguing option for someone with any of the DSLR tilt-shift lenses.
- ACR 5.5 and Lightroom 2.5 have been released, so run the update check in these programs to get the latest version. Supports D3000, D300s, and E-P1, plus the Lightroom version fixes a couple of minor issues.