Shutterbug Staff

Leica Camera Incorporated will introduce a new collection of lenses for analog
and digital Leica rangefinder cameras: the Leica Summarit-M class. The four lenses
LEICA SUMMARIT-M 35mm f2.5, LEICA SUMMARIT-M 50mm f2.5, LEICA SUMMARIT-M 75mm
f2.5 and LEICA SUMMARIT-M 90mm f2.5 cover the most popular focal lengths in the
Leica M system. All Summarit-M lenses were designed and are manufactured in Germany
and will bear the "Made in Germany" quality stamp.



All letter and number engravings are made with the traditional "Leitz-Norm"
font as originally used by Leitz Wetzlar during the 1960s, and the red button
on the lens mount is consistent with the original color used on Leitz lenses produced
since the introduction of the M mount through the 1960s. Each Leica Summarit-M
lens is supplied with a metal lens front cap, a lens hood cap and a velours pouch
for storage. High-quality all-metal lens hoods are available as accessories.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. has announced it has posted the latest installment
of Ask the Icon, an interactive feature that is part of Kingston's `Icons
of Photography' microsite. Questions submitted by photographers from France,
Denmark, Romania, the United States and other parts of the world are being addressed
by one of Kingston's four Icon photographers participating in the program:
Harry Benson, Colin Finlay, Gerd Ludwig and Peter Read Miller. Site visitors
are encouraged to ask questions relating to photo tips, techniques and equipment
as well as general questions about the Icon's career and how they got
started in photography.

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The new 21.1-megapixel, full-frame Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III Digital SLR is said
by the company to be capable of entering the realm of high-fashion and commercial
photo studios where bulkier, medium-format cameras previously reigned. It is
scheduled to begin shipping in November and will have an estimated selling price
of $7,999 (the same price as its predecessor, the 16.7 megapixel EOS-1Ds Mark
II).

Developed and manufactured by Canon specifically for the EOS-1Ds
Mark III Digital SLR, the camera's new full-size 36 x 24 mm CMOS image
sensor offers the highest resolution in its class, and is comprised of approximately
21.1 million effective pixels (5632 x 3750) set at a pitch of 6.4 microns. The
user can select any one of six recording formats ranging from 21.0 megapixels
in Large JPEG or RAW format, 16.6 or 11.0 megapixels in the two medium JPEG
sizes, or 5.2 megapixels in the small JPEG or "sRAW" formats. In
any JPEG format, the user can set one of ten compression rates for each image
size. In sRAW mode, the number of pixels is reduced to one-fourth that of a
standard RAW image and the file size is cut in half, while retaining all of
the flexibility and creative possibilities associated with full-size, traditional
RAW images.

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Samsung Camera has introduced three new models to its NV series of advanced
point & shoot digital cameras -- the eight mega pixel NV8, 10 mega
pixel NV15 and 12 mega pixel NV20. All three new cameras feature the Smart Touch
interface and feature Schneider optics with a 3x optical zoom. On the back of
the cameras' brushed black, stainless steel bodies, lies Samsung's
Smart Touch user interface. Smart Touch enables easy navigation of the cameras'
feature sets by simply sliding a finger across the control buttons positioned
around the cameras' 2.5" LCD screens.

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