Canon, Nikon, and Sony News for Jul 2011

Nikon has posted a new Mac OS compatibily chart.

B&H is accepting Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens preorders.
 
Historically, if you are able to make a B&H preorder, you will get that item in the shipment they imminently expect to receive.

Gigapan Systems has included specs for the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark IV in addition to the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III on their Compatible Digital Cameras page. The two cameras are listed as 156 x 157 x 80mm, 1,385g and 150 x 160 x 80mm, 1,400g respectively.
 
Update: Gigapan Systems has informed me that the 1Ds Mark IV specs were a typo.

I have received confirmation that the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens is now arriving at dealers in the USA.

DxO Labs has added 31 new lens / camera combinations to the DxO Optics Modules library, providing supports for Panasonic, Sigma, Sony, and Tamron lenses, for numerous Canon, Panasonic, and Sony cameras.
 
Visit this page to see the new combinations.
 
DxO Optics Pro is available at B&H.

The Nikon DSLR and Speedlight Compatibility Chart is a good resource recently made available.

Japanese band androp used 250 computer-controlled Canon EOS 60D bodies and 250 flash units for the background effects lighting in their "Bright Siren" music video.
 

 
The only question I keep asking myself is: Why? Here is the BTS video:
 

Nikon has added many additional user manuals to their site.
 
The newly-available manuals include some older Nikon gear including film SLRs and discontinued lenses.

Google Image Search now displays EXIF information for images in search results (if the information exists of course).
 
To see the EXIF information, click on an image and then click on the "More image info" link on the right sidebar.

Canon made some non-Camera announcements yesterday. I'll send you directly to the Canon USA press releases for the details:
 
Canon U.S.A. Enhances Creativity With New PIXMA Printers
Canon U.S.A. Announces New Desktop Accessories For Today's Business Professionals
Canon U.S.A. Expands imageCLASS Laser Multifunction And Printer Lineup With Seven New Products
Canon U.S.A. Commemorates The 20th Anniversary Of Its Jamesburg Location
 
I have a current model Canon X Mark I Premium Black Desktop Calculator - it looks great on my black back-painted glass desktop. The new models would replace my wireless keypad as well. Very nice.
 
Sorry for being a day late on these announcements. I arrived home at 1:00 AM this morning after three days on the road. I'm behind on email replies as well - please be patient - I'll be responding soon.

For your email address, Photoshelter will send you a free guide to Marketing Yourself with Photo Books.

I am hearing reports of the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens being in the wild.
 
Specifically, DigitalRev is indicating that they have the lens in stock and DCFever.com says the 8-15 should be available for sale starting yesterday (thanks David & Thomas).
 
Hit the country-specific eBay link at the bottom of the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L USM Fisheye Lens Review placeholder page to see lenses available right now in your country.

It's baaaaack. Canon Canada has restored the EOS 1Ds Mark III from the archives. (thanks John)

Microsoft Camera Codec Pack (16.0.0652.0621) is now available for download.
 
Overview
 
The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack enables the viewing of a variety of device-specific file formats in Window Live Photo Gallery as well as other software that is based in Windows Imaging Codecs (WIC).
 
Installing this package will allow supported RAW camera files to be viewable in Windows Explorer.
 
This package is available in both the x86 and x64 versions.
 
The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack provides support for the following device formats:
 
Canon:
EOS 1000D (EOS Kiss F in Japan and the EOS Rebel XS in North America), EOS 10D, EOS 1D Mk2, EOS 1D Mk3, EOS 1D Mk4, EOS 1D Mk2 N, EOS 1Ds Mk2, EOS 1Ds Mk3, EOS 20D, EOS 300D (the Kiss Digital in Japan and the Digital Rebel in North America) , EOS 30D, EOS 350D (the Canon EOS Kiss Digital N in Japan and EOS Digital Rebel XT in North America), EOS 400D (the Kiss Digital X in Japan and the Digital Rebel XTi in North America), EOS 40D, EOS 450D (EOS Kiss X2 in Japan and the EOS Rebel XSi in North America), EOS 500D (EOS Kiss X3 in Japan and the EOS Rebel T1i in North America), EOS 550D (EOS Kiss X4 in Japan, and as the EOS Rebel T2i in North America), EOS 50D, EOS 5D, EOS 5D Mk2, EOS 7D, EOS D30, EOS D60, G2, G3, G5, G6, G9, G10, G11, Pro1, S90
 
Nikon:
D100, D1H, D200, D2H, D2Hs, D2X, D2Xs, D3, D3s, D300, D3000, D300s, D3X, D40, D40x, D50, D5000, D60, D70, D700, D70s, D80, D90, P6000
 
Sony:
A100, A200, A230, A300, A330, A350, A380, A700, A850, A900, DSC-R1
 
Olympus:
C7070, C8080, E1, E10, E20, E3, E30, E300, E330, E400, E410, E420, E450, E500, E510, E520, E620, EP1
 
Pentax (PEF formats only):
K100D, K100D Super, K10D, K110D, K200D, K20D, K7, K-x, *ist D, *ist DL, *ist DS
 
Leica:
Digilux 3, D-LUX4, M8, M9
 
Minolta:
DiMage A1, DiMage A2, Maxxum 7D (Dynax 7D in Europe, a-7 Digital in Japan)
 
Epson:
RD1
 
Panasonic:
G1, GH1, GF1, LX3
 
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista Service Pack 2
 
The Inside Windows Live Blog has a short post regarding Photo Gallery now supporting raw format.
 
(Thanks Matt & Chuck)

Epson has posted a Mac OS X Lion Support page.
 
"Welcome to Mac OS X Lion Support for Epson products. Here you can find out how to get drivers and other Epson software for your Epson product that work with Mac OS X Lion 10.7."

Canon has posted second quarter 2011 financial results.
 
The 26 page presentation material is what most of us will find most interesting.
 
Here are some relevant news articles from Reuters:
 
Canon lifts forecast after rapid quake recovery
UPDATE 2-Canon lifts forecast after rapid quake recovery
Canon posts Q2 earnings fall, lifts forecast
Canon raises 2011 SLR camera shipment forecast
Canon posts 30.9 percent drop in Q2 profit, raises forecast

Canon CA has moved the EOS 1Ds Mark III to the archives (thanks Edward).
 
This seems like an unusual move - unless a replacement model is soon to be announced. I already suspected that a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark IV announcement was coming soon - this occurrence feeds my guess. Perhaps an August announcement?

Canon Europe has posted a nice Wireless File Transmitter overview.

Lensbaby has announced availability of its Portrait Kits and Senior Style Portrait Photo Contest (press release).

That's right - Lensrentals is now shipping a chess set - as in the game.
 
This is definitely the most awesome chess set I have seen to date.

B&H is accepting preorders for the new Apple MacBook Air and 27" Thunderbolt Monitor.

"B&H Photo is happy to announce that we will no longer charge customer's credit cards for pre-orders, backorders or special order items at the time of order. Credit cards will be charged once the item is actually shipped."

The (American Society of Media Photographers) has posted a Social Media Tutorial for photographers.

After a positive 1st half of 2011, Tamron has announced a Revision of Forecast on Earnings and Dividends.

As with any new operating system release, software compatibility must be considered.
 
The first compatibility consideration for Canon DSLR owners is that Canon EOS Utility reportedly does not work under Mac OS X Lion.
 
Update: Canon EOS Utility 2.8.1 is compatible, but the next two versions are not (thanks Vas).
 
Nikon has issued the following statement regarding Mac OS X version 10.7 Lion Compatibility (note that "plan to test" does not mean "currently functions properly"):
 
We plan to test the Macintosh versions of the following software applications for compatibility with Mac OS X version 10.7 (some older applications will not be tested). We will announce our plans regarding full compatibility once testing is complete.
 
- Capture NX 2
- ViewNX 2
- Camera Control Pro 2
- WT-4 Setup Utility/Thumbnail Selector
- nik Color Efex Pro 3.0
- PC-PJ Transfer
 
We do not intend to provide compatibility with the following applications.
 
- Capture NX Ver. 1.x
- Camera Control Pro Ver. 1.x
- Nikon Capture series
- ViewNX Ver. 1.x
- Nikon Transfer Ver. 1.x
- PictureProject
- Nikon View series
- Nikon Scan series
- PictureProject COOLPIX Remote Control
- WT-3 Setup Utility
- Wireless Camera Setup Utility
- Wireless Connecting Utility
- nik Color Efex Pro 2.0
 
In addition, we do not plan to provide compatibility for other software, or SCSI- or serial-connection products. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause
 
Thanks John