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Fujifilm India announces the new FUJIFILM X-E2 interchangeable lens camera

Fujifilm India has announced the launch of FUJIFILM X-E2, a premium interchangeable lens camera with the latest APS-C X-Trans CMOS II sensor and world’s fastest AF speed.

Rohit Pandit, EVP- Sales & Marketing, Fujifilm India said, “After the success of X-E1 in the Indian market, I am delighted to announce this new X-E2 camera which offers many advance features to become a delight of the professional photographers.”

 Building on the global success of the acclaimed FUJIFILM X-E1, awarded 2013’s Best Expert CSC by the Technical Image Press Association, the X-E2 is intended to take image quality to a dynamic new level that is comparable with full-frame cameras.

Fujifilm informed that the camera has the world’s fastest AF speed of 0.08 seconds. It features 16.3 million pixels APS-C sized X-Trans CMOS II Sensor that incorporates an original colour filter array. The hybrid AF also combines phase detection AF and contrast AF to ensure accuracy when shooting low-contrast subjects and dark scenes.

The X-E2 is available in solid black or two-tone black and silver, and is priced at Rs. 76,999 for body and Rs. 1,09,999 with XF18-55mm kit lens.

Nikon COOLPIX A and Nikon 1 AW1 receive Germany’s iF Product Design Award 2014

Nikon India recently announced that COOLPIX A, the first COOLPIX camera to be equipped with a Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor, and waterproof and shockproof Nikon 1 AW1 advanced camera with interchangeable lenses, are the recipients of iF Product Design Award 2014, globally prestigious industrial product design awards sponsored by International Forum Design.

The COOLPIX A is equipped with a new wide-angle 18.5mm (equivalent to a 28mm angle of view in 35mm [135] format) fixed focal length NIKKOR lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 designed exclusively for the COOLPIX A for the ease and portability of a compact digital camera and the rendering capabilities of a digital-SLR camera.

The Nikon 1 AW1 offers all the characteristics of Nikon 1 advanced cameras with interchangeable lenses, and it is also the world’s first digital camera with interchangeable lenses to be waterproof to a depth of 15m and strong enough to withstand the shock of falls from up to 2m.

The iF Design Awards have been sponsored by iF Industrie Forum Design Hannover e.V. based in Hanover Germany, since 1953. This year, 4,615 products from 55 countries were evaluated in, with the various awards being presented to a total of 1,626 products. 

New camera, smartphone and lenses unveiled at Samsung Forum 2014

At its 2014 Samsung Forum held in Bali, Samsung Electronics announced a number of additions to its range of Digital Imaging devices. 

Samsung NX 30

Samsung introduces the NX30 CSC featuring a 20.3megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with NX AF System II for fast and accurate focusing. The NX 30 has a fastest shutter speed of 1/8000sec. With 9 fps. 3 inch super AMOLED swivel touch display. The nx30 features NFC and WiFi which allows for sharing,  remote viewing.


Samsung 16-50 mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS lens
Samsung’s first premium ‘S’ Series lens has a wide aperture opening (F2.0 at 16mm; F2.8 at 50mm). It features a Ultra-Precise Stepping Motor (UPSM)
With optical image stabilisation. The lens is splash and dust proof.

The forum also featured Samsung 16-50 mm F3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS lens is a light weight lens weighing in at 111g with silent auto focusing.


Samsung Galaxy Camera 2
Samsung revealed their smart camera with a 16 megapixel BSI CMOS Sensor with a 21x optical zoom. The Samsung Galaxy 2 also features a 1.6 GHz Quad- Core processor with a 2GB RAM and 2000mAh battery. Its loaded with a 4.8 inch HD Super Clear Touch LCD.

All products will be launched by feb end or early march.

Canon launches South Asia’s first commercial inkjet photo printer in Bangalore

Canon India Pvt Ltd. recently announced its entry into the commercial photo printing business in India, introducing the new DreamLabo 5000 commercial inkjet printer equipment targeting the retail photo and album printing industry. 
Delivering a new standard of combined photo and text quality, the DreamLabo aims to offer the production photo printing market a viable alternative to silver halide technology, which will revitalize the photo printing market in the country. In addition, through opportunities possible from premium quality, it aims to offer both the production photo and the small batch premium print-on-demand (POD) markets substantial new revenue opportunities.
This launch makes India the first country in South Asia where the Dreamlabo 5000 machine is being installed.  The press announcement event was attended by Kensaku Konishi, President & CEO, Canon Singapore Pte Ltd.

Present at the launch ceremony in Bangalore, Mr. Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India, said, “Canon has always been at the forefront of bringing innovative products to customers. With this latest business entry, we are hoping to strengthen our ability to meet the printing needs of professional and wedding photographers. With the DreamLabo 5000, we clearly want to establish innovation leadership in India. For us at Canon India, this is not just a new machine, but the technology that can revitalize the entire industry and open up substantial new business opportunities. Canon is setting a new benchmark for the production printing of high quality photos with this launch.”
GK Vale, a Canon India premium partner from Bangalore, who also operate 9 Canon Image Square stores in the city, are the first customer to purchase and install this in India.
Further elaborating on the announcement, Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, Executive Vice President, Canon India, said, “India is a 3000crore photo printing industry with lion share coming from wedding albums& travel vacation photos. While there is tremendous change in photo capturing, the printing art is still dominated with conventional technology. Conventional silver halide technology is just too old and digital alternative is not matching customer expectations. There was enormous scope of value creation in this space. Our partners call the new Dreamlabo 5000 prints as HD (high definition) prints. We plan to start with Rs. 15 crore coming out of this domain in 2014. It has a potential to create 100 crore business stream in 5 years.”
He further added “This launch has put India on a global map of Hi quality digital photo printing. To promote this business and to impact a larger ecosystem, Canon organized a meet comprising of photo labs, wedding photographers, wedding planners and event agencies in Bangalore today”.
Leveraging and extending Canon’s existing inkjet technology, which it has deployed through its PIXMA desktop printers range, the DreamLabo 5000 features a newly developed high-density print head, enabling over 300 mm wide printing output. Incorporating Canon’s FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology, the print head aims to enable the printing of high-quality photos and detailed text to support a variety of high-value-added output, from photo albums, photo books, photo calendars, photo collages and other merchandise to high-quality POD items, such as bespoke brochures.
The wide print head delivers high-speed One-Pass Printing, requiring only a single pass of the printing paper while the print head remains in a fixed position. When used in combination with the automatic Double-sided Printing function, the DreamLabo 5000 is said to be capable of printing the contents of A4 size print approx.1,000 page and 4×6 single print approx. 2,300 page per hour. 

The retail price of DreamLabo 5000 in India is approximately INR 4.5 crore. Canon informed that it will be working with its sales team and channel partners to reach out to the masses with this new area of business.

Fujifilm India to conduct street photography workshop in Chennai

After conducting their workshop series in New Delhi (Chandni Chowk), Mumbai (Colaba), Kolkata (Kumortuli) and Bangalore (Koramangalam), Fujifilm India now plans to expand the series with the next one in Chennai – Marina Beach & Fisherman’s village. The street photography workshop will be conducted on 7th December 2013, Saturday by renowned photographer Mr. K.P Krishnan.

Scouring the streets of India on multiple occasions, he not only photographs the unique, eclectic characters and environment of the city, but also brings his subjects to life, exploring the real street life and personalities that few tourists get to see. His relentless passion for shooting photos has resulted in his deeply personal, striking and unapologetic work being exhibited numerous times, while appearing in a variety of print and online publications.

Through this workshop the participants would get a chance to learn various important techniques involved in street photography, framing and composition, selection of right kind of equipment and also a chance to shoot the Marina beach & Fisherman’s village along with the photographer, other participants and mentors from Fujifilm.

Fujifilm India is driving the registrations for the workshop from their Facebook page – http://on.fb.me/1c4ruLk and is inviting all the amateur photographers to attend  this workshop who are interested to learn more about tips and tricks of photography at a cost of Rs. 250 (for Fujifilm X & S Series owners) and Rs. 500 for other camera owners.

Fujifilm India launches the FUJINON XF23mmF1.4 R

Fujifilm India has announced the launch of the FUJINON XF23mmF1.4 R lens for Fujifilm Interchangeable lens cameras.

With a focal length equivalent to 35mm in the 35mm format, the FUJINON XF23mmF1.4 R is suitable for a wide range of applications including portraits and landscapes, as well as more general photography. The maximum aperture of f/1.4 allows one to shoot hand-held in low-light conditions, and it said to create beautiful bokeh for artistic images. These advanced optical engineering techniques combine to deliver full-frame sensor resolution and noise level performance in the detailed APS-C sized X-Trans CMOS sensor in Fujifilm X-mount cameras.

Rohit Pandit, EVP, Sales & Marketing said, “With an appropriate mix of wide, telephoto – block and zoom lenses, I am happy that our range is expanding to meet the demands of discerning X Series professionals.”
The new lens design is said to provide enhanced resolving power with high contrast to draw the maximum performance out of the highly descriptive X-Trans CMOS sensor. Lens distortion has been reduced to the absolute minimum using only optical rather than digital correction, thereby delivering the highest possible picture quality.

The versatile focal length equivalent to 35mm in the 35mm format is meant to enable users to enjoy both a wide-angle and telephoto approach by using one’s own feet to adjust the distance or angle with the subject matter.
The FUJINON XF23mmF1.4 R features a camera-to-subject distance indicator and a depth-of-field scale on the barrel. Both are useful when manually pre-focusing to capture a fast moving subject, or minimize the shutter lag to capture a fleeting moment.The minimum working distance of around 28cm also makes this lens ideal for close-up shots.

The lens uses an internal focusing system for high speed autofocus. The focusing lens group consists of three cemented lens elements and one aspheric lens element to keep weight down while the built-in high-torque DC coreless motor delivers ultra-fast AF performance.

Nikon India launches the new Nikon Df

Nikon India, the 100% subsidiary of Nikon Corporation Tokyo recently announced the release of the Nikon Df, a light and smaller-size full frame D-SLR equipped with mechanical dials for setting shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, exposure compensation, exposure mode and release mode independently to bring users flexibility and control.

The Df features Nikon imaging technology, including a 16.2-megapixel full frame CMOS sensor and the EXPEED 3 image processing engine, with an ISO range of 100-12800 (expandable from 50 to 204800). Speaking on the announcement, Hiroshi Takashina, managing director, Nikon India said, “The New Nikon Df leads Nikon’s innovation of providing advanced imaging capabilities, without having to compromise on the form factor. The Df is made for Photo enthusiasts who want to expand their creative horizon with a camera that offers high image quality of an FX-Format and superb portability. We at Nikon continue to set new benchmarks in the world of photography.  The new Nikon Df impeccably combines remarkable features of Nikon’s milestone cameras and highlights exceptional imaging technology in a compact form factor.”

“Nikon will continue to provide product and services that surpasses the demands of the consumer and in return give them an edge over the others” said Sajjan Kumar, vice president-Imaging, Nikon India. “The Nikon Df is power packed with iconic design and great attention has been put to details for ultimate usability in order place the camera at the forefront of Nikon’s innovation,” he added.

The camera features a shutter release mode that claims to enable users to capture a high-speed continuous stream of images at approximately 5.5 frames per second. In addition, as the first Nikon digital SLR camera equipped with a collapsible metering coupling lever, the Df allows photographers to make use of the full range of Nikon lenses, including non-AI lenses. The camera is also compatible with the SDXC and UHS-I standard memory cards1, as well as the Eye-Fi cards.

The Nikon Df will be available in two colors, black and silver at an MRP of Rs. 183,950 (only body), Rs. 199,950, with AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G (Special Edition) kit, and only the AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G (Special Edition) will cost Rs.  17,950. The product shall be available from December 2013 onwards across pan India.

Kingston completes 26 years in the industry

Kingston announced that it had completed 26 years in the industry and in order to celebrate this occasion the company unveiled REX, the superhero from Kingston. The renowned symbol of the memory leader was the highlight of the manufacturers participation at a recently held exhibition where the company showcased four of his upgraded superpowers – HyperX Nitro boosters, USB 3.0, Branded RAM and Solid State Drives (SSDs).


Speaking at the event, Mr. Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston India said, “We are the leaders in Memory and are elated to complete 26 fruitful years in the industry. Taking cues from the fantastic response received from the markets, we will continue to build a better experience for our network and end users.” He added, “REX is now equipped with newer and secure technologies that will win us more positive feedback.”

Nikon launches D5300, first DSLR with built-in LAN and GPS functions

Nikon India announced the launch of its first DSLR camera that offers built-in wireless LAN (Wi-Fi®) and GPS functions for the consumers. The D5300 (follow up on the D5200 DSLR camera) isa compact and lightweight entry-level model that will allow the users to share their images captured using the D5300.

The camera possesses significantly enhanced optical technologies, including an optimized EXPEED 4 image-processing engine with no optical low-pass filter. The absence of a low-pass filter maximizes the resolution of the high pixel count and rendering capabilities of NIKKOR lenses. Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Hiroshi Takashina, Managing Director, Nikon India said, “Today’s announcement strengthens Nikon’s leadership in the D-SLR category. The D5300 features Nikon’s latest innovative technologies, allowing users to instantly shoot, store and share images. The new entrant is specifically designed to give an edge to the users to unleash their creativity, and truly test the boundaries of a photographer’s imagination” 

Nikon D5300 Primary Features
– A 24.2 megapixel Nikon DX-format CMOS sensor with no optical low-pass filter
– Nikon’s latest image-processing engine, EXPEED 4
– Built-in Wi-Fi for transmitting images to a smart device for simple sharing and Remote Shooting
– A built-in GPS function that records location data and tracks movement
– A monocoque structure made of a new material for a smaller and lighter body that is strong and durable
– A 3.2-in., 1037k-dot vari-angle LCD monitor with wide viewing angle for simple shooting from any angle
– Toy Camera Effect and HDR Painting added to Special Effects mode (total of 9 effects) for more creative expression with still images and movies

The product shall be available from November mid onwards across pan India in black, Red and Grey colour at an MRP of:
– Nikon D5300 with 18-140mm VR: Rs. 75,950
– Nikon D5300 with 18-55mm VR: Rs. 59,950
– Nikon D5300 body only: Rs. 54,450


Nikon announces its smallest full-frame yet; the D610

Nikon India recently announced the launch of it’s a smallest and lightest FX-format camera till date, the D610. The camera is designed to meet the everyday demands of professional photographers and enthusiasts alike. With this release, Nikon has aimed at providing its customers with intuitive features to meet the image quality as well as practical demands of all photography lovers.
 
Made for for users who are new to the FX-format, the D610 is equipped with exclusive first-rate Nikon technology, including a 24.3-megapixel FX-format CMOS sensor and the EXPEED 3 image processing engine, along with an ISO range of 100 to 6400 (expandable from 50 to 25,600), to deliver the required image quality. It also features a new shutter release that’s aimed at allowing uninterrupted stream of images at approximately 6 frames per second.
 
Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Hiroshi Takashina, Managing Director, Nikon India said, “With our latest offering, we strive to showcase Nikon’s commitment to set new benchmarks in the world of photography. There is a constant demand of new and enhanced product in the market today, and to cater this demand we are all geared to provide exceptional choices to our valuable consumers making photography a wonderful experience. We believe that with the latest Nikon D610, the consumers will now have easy access to a remarkable camera that is capable of providing advanced imaging capabilities that only the FX-format can offer, without having to compromise on the form factor”