Lensbaby Composer Pro announced (GH2 in Stock and Fuji X100 coming soon)

For all Lensbaby lovers there is a new toy for you! Lensbaby announced the Composer Pro. The new lens refines and enhances the classic Lensbaby Composer by upgrading the swivel ball and focus mechanism to provide professional performance. It now delivers an ultra-smooth focus and tilt control and you have a fluid and accurate dampened focus ring comparable to the focus mechanisms of the highest quality professional manual focus lenses. The lens is available for Four Thirds only. We don’t know yet if they will make a Micro Four Thirds version too.

The lens is already in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Reminder: The long awaited Panasonic GH2 with 14-140mm lens kit is in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

UPDATE: J&R just changed the status and now says that the Fuji X100 will be coming soon (Click here to preorder on J&R). And Digitalrev says “Usually ships in 1-2 weeks” (Click here to order on Digitalrev). There are a few X100 on auction on [shoplink 19929 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] but they are all very expensive.

US: Panasonic GH2 supply problems have ended (not a fool days news!).

At least one good news that is not a fool news! We noticed that US shops like Amazon US, Adorama and BHphoto are now getting more and more GH2 cameras in Stock. Today Adorama has all three different kit in Stock:
Black Panasonic + GH2 14-140mm (Click here)
Black Panasonic + GH2 14-42mm (Click here)
Silver Panasonic + GH2 14-42mm (Click here)

I guess we can now safely say that there are no more GH2 supply problems in US stores.

P.S.: You can now preorder the Fuji X100 at J&R (Click here).

A Noktor 50mm f/0.95 o eBay

[shoplink 21210 ebay][/shoplink]

UPDATE: Sorry I had the wrong link. I corrected it.

Last week where questioning what happened with the Noktor lens. You can’t get it on their website nor on any other store I know. And now I found one on [shoplink 21210 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. It’s the first Noktor auction since November! A wonder what the final winning bid will be…
P.S.: I am a happy owner of the Noktor. Where I do use it most is for video productions. For stills the image quality at f/0.95 is insufficient but at least I can take pictures in very dark situations.

Battery grip for Panasonic G cameras now in Stock. (no support for the GH2!)

[shoplink 21130 ebay][/shoplink]

Two weeks ago the Chinese company “Ownuser” announced a battery grip for all Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras except the GF1/GF2.They made 1.500 battery grips you can now buy on [shoplink 21130 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Those are the specs (there are different type of battery grips):

MIG-PG2 overview:
1) tripod 1/4 20 screw thread
2) External Shutter release input
3) External AC power input
4) Camera shutter release output
5) screw of the tripod thread
6) hand grip
7) tripod mount
8 ) Left battery cover
9) Right battery cover
10) battery to camera
11) battery contact
12) cable
13) shutter
14) on/off button
volume: about 12.6cmX6.2cmX3.9cm
weight: 110g

Compact, convenient, good build, comfortable for portrait

3 type of battery input for convenience:
1) two Lithium batteries
2) AA Battery (6A/8A)
3) External AC power input

1500 units produced globally, unique for personal style

MINI-IR 2B overview
1) IR output
2) focus
3) shot
4) Bulb
5) clear
6) 10s self portrait
7) battery

The camera with Mini-RHS 2
1) volume is smaller than the DX-RHS2 by 70%. Lighter and more convenient.
2) channel lock to protect interference from other sources
3) timer alarm for accurate dusk/twilight photography
4) Can used together with DX-51R 2 & Mini IR 2
5) Attached to the hot shoe on the camera, e.g. Minolta, Sony Alpha 100.
6) 360 degree rotation ability: can be used together with on camera flash
7) 2XAAA battery

Mini IR 2B
for amateur, indoor photography
channel can be locked to prevent interference
1) 5 key control, simple and clear, perfect fit
2) Focus and shot seperately
3) Bulb / 10s self portrait

Mini-IR 2B basic function
A. Channel lock (must choose the channel first, then lock the channel to prevent interference) (After the first settings, it is automatically saved for future use)
1) press for 5 seconds, red/green light lights alternatively and a beep three times.
2) press the shot button on MINI IR2B, it is finished after the beep
3) press the channel lock once again to complete

B. 4 main functions (IR function will consume battery life. Please shut down when it is not in use)
Focus is separate from shutter to prevent delay. Focus can be set as AE-L or AF-L.
Tele/macro photography
self portrait
LIVE VIEW shot

Single button control without menu
typical camera need to go into the menu for self-portrait, not so convenient
a physical 10s self portrait button is more convenient
in operation, autofocus green light will lights up first. red light flash once per second, continuous red light in last three seconds
(in the figure: autofocus indicator (green), and red light)
Bulb shutter can be used
bulb shutter has a function to prevent false alarm. only after focus, bulb shutter can be activated. Only can be used to end the bulb.
support longest bulb for 10 hours
dusk/twilight night astro

Rhythmic speaker supporting bulb
bulb has a function of beep per second. After activated bulb, use the control button to set speaker.
(In the figures:) control method: On-> OFF -> ON
press setting button once > ON
twice > OFF
again > ON
You can use one hand to control the remote and another hand to cover the camera at the right time.

This is the website of the company with the battery grip page: http://www.ownuser.com.tw/mig_pg2.html

And here again the current Ownuser battery auctions on [shoplink 21130 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

A new reworked Rodenstock f/0.75 from jjeying

[shoplink 21082 ebay][/shoplink]

The eBay reseller “[shoplink 21082 ebay]jieying-usa[/shoplink]” made the second reworked Rodenstock 50mm f/0.75 for Micro Four Thirds (he already made one lens a few months ago). It fits on your camera without the need of an adapter. The lens focuses from 3ft to infinity. Wide open, images are very soft but unlike C-mount lenses the circle covers the full m43 size. You can see a few image samples on Flickr.

[shoplink 21082 ebay]Click here to get the lens on eBay[/shoplink].