PMA 2008: Tamron has announced a new ultra wide angle zoom which is currently under development. The SP AF 10-24MM F/3.5-4.5 DI II LD Aspherical (IF), to give its full designation, is designed for APS-C sensors and Tamron claim the performance will exceed its current 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 whilst offering greater speed and range of focal length. The design incorporates both exotic glass materials and aspherical elements to minimize aberrations, whilst the optical layout itself is intended to approach telecentricity.

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PMA 2008: Tamron has announced it is to offer its 17-50mm f/2.8 midrange zoom for Pentax mount. Previously available only for Canon, Nikon and Sony systems the Tamron offers yet more choice for Pentax users looking for a fast walkaround lens.

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Pre-PMA 2008: Panasonic has today further expanded its brand new Lumix FS series of digital compact cameras by announcing the DMC-FS5 and DMC-FS20. Both cameras feature a 10.1 MP sensor and a 4x Leica branded zoom lens (30 - 120mm equiv.) with the main distinction between the two models being the size of the 230K pixels screen (3.0″ on the FS20, 2.5″ on the FS5).

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Fujifilm has released firmware v.1.01 for its Z10fd and Z100fd digital compacts. The updates speed up the power on cycle of both cameras when using xD-Picture Cards, enables camera to computer transfer when using 4 GB media in the Z10fd and tweaks the underwater whitebalance of the Z100fd. Click through for the links.

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Pre-PMA 2008: Sony has announced two new zoom lenses to accompany its latest DSLR releases. One is a premium-grade long tele-zoom of ‘G’ designation, the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6. The other is the Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA. Both feature Sony’s Super Sonic wave motor (SSM) and further boost the range of alpha-mount lenses available for Sony DSLR owners.

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Pre-PMA 2008: The Lumix DMC-FX35 packs a rather handy 25-100mm equiv. 4x zoom to squeeze expansive scenes onto its 10.1 megapixel sensor. 720p HD video is here as is Intelligent Exposure Function which is said to help avoid blown highlights and blocked shadows. Also making its debut in 2008 is the Venus Engine IV image processor - Panasonic says that the noise reduction is handled in a more sophisticated fashion than in previous incarnations.

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Tamron announced yet another lens at this year’s PMA show, the SP AF70-200mm F/2.8 Di LD (IF) MACRO. This fast telezoom gets in close thanks to its 0.95m minimum focus distance, realizing a magnification ratio of 1:3.1 at 200mm. Plenty of coatings keep stray light to a minimum whilst a removable tripod mount and clutched focus ring (Canon and Nikon only) help speed up operations. Canon users will see the lens first with release scheduled for March. Nikon, Sony and Pentax fittings will follow.

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Pre-PMA 2008: Sony has announced another two DSLRs to join its Alpha range. In between the recently announced A200 and flagship A700 come the A300 and A350 live view-enabled DLSRs. Here are the specifications of the cameras that show just how seriously Sony is taking the camera market.

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Pre-PMA 2008: Two new compact superzooms from Panasonic - The Lumix DMC-TZ4 and TZ5 - were announced today. Both feature the now-familiar 28-280mm equiv. 10x zoom with the TZ4 recording 8.1 megapixels and the TZ5 9.1. The TZ5 also adds 720p HD video recording and component HD output as well as a 3.0" 460k dot LCD for high resolution in-camera playback. More after the click…

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Kodak has announced a new sensor which promises to improve the efficiency of CMOS designs with extremely small photosites. The new technology is to be offered initially in 1/4" format suitable for mobile phone cameras but should be scalable to larger formats should the concept prove successful. Conventional designs count electrons which are generated when light hits the silicon from which they are constructed but this new chip works in roughly the opposite fashion, reversing the ‘polarity’ of the silicon in order to measure the ‘holes’ which remain when electrons are generated. The Kodak KAC-05020 also incorporates Kodak’s TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern which adds panchromatic (transparent) filters to the usual Red Green and Blue, further improving luminance sensitivity. Click through for the lowdown. Updated with further details.

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