Canon just rocked the prime world again. Not only have they announced two new prime lenses, a 17mm TSE and a 24mm TSE mk2, …but they have also re-designed the lens construction to allow tilting and shifting to be rotated independently of each other.

Meaning, unlike any other lens for 35mm use, you can now tilt / shift in “opposite” directions.

The sad thing is- Nikon JUST RECENTLY announced an entire new line of TS lenses, 24mm, 45mm and 85mm, and on ALL of these lenses if you want to switch the directions of tilting and shifting (with respect to each other) you literally have to take the lens apart with a screwdriver and rotate the lens mecahnics / elements yourself.

Did I mention that one of the new Canons is a SEVENTEEN MILLIMETER???

Sorry Nikon. You just got owned… I’m not even going to bother mentioning the new 35mm AFS f/1.8 DX now. Not until you come out with a REAL lens for PMA…

=Matt=

[EDIT] Wow. These lenses look nuts. Here’s a forum post showing the 17 and 24 TSE lenses’ MTF charts ROCKING the 17-40 L and 24-70 L’s MTF charts. Now keep in mind that MTF charts are made wide open, and the TSE charts are probably not made with any movements involved. But either way, that is SHAAAAARRRRRRPPPPPP!!!!

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1029&message=31040134

Well, I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s beginning to happen in earnest.

Cameras are starting to look like iPhones / TV remotes… Generic, shiny, mass-produced electronic devices…

Check out a couple of Fuji’s new P&S cameras just announced… Notice the visual design, the new style of buttons, etc…

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/09021703fujifilmz30.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/09021705fujifilmz33.asp

Like I said, I dunno if this is good or bad. They sure look cool. And in reality, you can’t complain about trends, because they will ALWAYS change, that’s the nature of a trend.

But as a die-hard camera geek, there is a soft spot in me for THIS…

Maybe this means I’m officially over the hill as a camera geek, but I love me my switches, dials, and strong defining lines of design…

I look at all the electronic devices that are out on the market today and they just look so generic. Mass-produced. I much prefer the terms “distinct” and “hand-crafted”…

I guess I can’t complain. Nobody’s going to come and confiscate my FM2. And the Nikon D300, D700 and hopeful D700X are solid, “dials-and-switches” enough for me to be happy…

And it seems like we’re leveling off with P&S cameras at about 10 megapixels. Even though that’s still at least 5 megapixels too many, at least we’ve shown signs of slowing. And more and more P&S cameras are coming out with lenses that go wider than the equivalent of 35mm. There are quite a few 28mm and 24mm P&S cameras on the market now; that’s what I complained about last year. And of course, we now have the Panasonic LX3, the first P&S camera to ever include the words “24mm” “f/2.0″ and “useable ISO 1600″ in it’s description…

Alright I’m done. WPPI is here, PMA is coming soon, so big things could be announced any day now. I’ve got a couple other things to blog about, including a new Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX. (Huh? What the…? Yeah, stay tuned!)

=Matt=