Sigma was unimpressive
The number 1 reason I went to Sigma was to the see the 85mm f/1.4. I think a lot of people are chomping at the bit to get their hands on it. The lens appears in the catalogue they were handing out, however it was nowhere to be found. The lens is apparently shipping in November.
The new stuff they announced yesterday morning was also behind glass and could not be touched.
It's rare I hear good things within the industry about Sigma. The booth wasn't impressive, the two people that I spoke to that were demoing the lenses couldn't actually answer anything about them. One of the folks didn't even know Sigma HAD an 85 f/1.4.
I don't want to sound too harsh about Sigma, some of their product is very good. There's just a missing element in their service.
Attack of the Novoflex Man at ThinkTank Photo
I went over to ThinkTank Photo to talk to Deanne about some bags for the lens rental business. As always, they were more than helpful and we had a good talk.
While we were chatting, a gentleman from NovoFlex was filming the demonstration. Some kind of focusing steadycam contraption (That's the technical term).
I'm a big fan of ThinkTank products and the people.
http://www.novoflex.com/en/home/
Lensbaby introduces the Tilt Transformer
It's not a Canon related announcement, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. Lensbaby introduced the Tilt Transformer. The product is for the M 4/3 and Sony A NEX mount.
You crave creative freedom, so enjoy it in abundance with Lensbaby’s new Composer with Tilt Transformer. Use the Composer with Tilt Transformer to access the Lensbaby Optic Swap™ System. Remove the Composer Focus Front™ and you have the Tilt Transformer, which lets you tilt any Nikon mount lens on Micro 4/3rds or Sony α NEX cameras to create the sweetest slice of focus in photography.
There was no official word on added compatibility with other systems.
Unfortunately, Lensbaby will not be bringing any of their products to the Leica M mount.
The New Schneider Tilt Shift Lenses
If Canon's Tilt-Shift lenses weren't big enough or expensive enough for you. Schneider-Kreuznach has you covered. The lenses were huge. The demo of the tilt-shift macro was very cool.
It's good to see a third party manufacturer that introduces stuff for Canon that isn't just an overlap of existing Canon products.
http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/
More to come in a few hours.
cr