Tamron means business with its first high-speed tele zoom in more than 10 years. This full-framer ($700, street) scales up, approximately, to a 109-310mm on most DSLRs, and as a member of Tamron's SP (Super Performance) family, was designed as a pro-quality lens. It boasts two costly LD glass elements that control color fringing and coatings to suppress flare off digital sensors. The lens makes a logical mate to Tamron's 28-75mm f/2.8 SP pro zoom.

HANDS ON: At 2 pounds, 14.6 ounces (including magnesium-alloy tripod collar and reverse-stowing lenshood), the lens might seem heavy, but it's actually lighter than most in its class. (Sigma's comparable 70-200mm f/2.8, for example, weighs more than 3 pounds, including hood.) With the petal-type lenshood in place, it's almost 11 inches long. Internal-zooming (and -focusing), at least it doesn't extend past that.

Its AF action is moderately fast, moderately quiet, and sure. Both manual-focus and zoom rings are very well-damped and even-turning. Each is textured with both knurled and ribbed patterns of rubber. Nearly 2 inches wide, the manual-focusing ring is unusually large, and well-designed for quick focusing touch-ups.

While the lens doesn't allow manual focus in the AF mode, it flips between the two with unusual ease thanks to this manual-focus ring that doubles as an easy-to-use, push/pull-type AF on/off switch. Its barrel markings are a bit unusual, though. When the switch is in the MF position, the markings that show the lens' AF/MF status are concealed under the ring....

The Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens delivers sharp images from a great focal length range and a wide/fast aperture. It is a light and economical package. The autofocus system is the clear downside to this lens.

Overall, and especially for the price, I'm very pleased with the image quality of the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens. On the wide end (70mm), this lens is sharp wide open (f/2.8) across the entire 35mm frame. Stopping down only makes a small improvement in sharpness - reduced vignetting is the primary difference seen. By 100mm, the center is still sharp wide open, but corner softness is setting in due to a slightly curved focus plane. Stopping down to f/5.6 results in excellent image quality across the frame.

The weak spot for this lens is 135mm - especially in my first purchased-retail-new copy of the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di Macro Lens which exhibited a very soft right side. This was due mostly to a curved focus plane but the left side was far sharper than the right side (examples showing the right side of this lens are shown in the ISO 12233 test results for lens sample #2). Here is a closer look at the problem that was most apparent at 135mm f/2.8.

more : the-digital-picture

Should you buy the Leica M8? That all depends on who you are, what you are trying to shoot, and how much money you have in your pocket. For the person who has $10,000 in Leica lenses at home, doesn't see the price of an M8 as an obstacle, and just wants to have a digital camera to use them on, the M8 is the best of your two choices (the other being to buy a used Epson R-D1) and your only choice if you want a new factory-warranty camera. If you are a less wealthy photographer who is dedicated to digital, but longs to have a digital RF, I would probably suggest the used R-D1 route. If you are the kind of person who cannot imageine spending $5400 on a camera that was not perfect in every way, you should probably keep walking. I'm not sure where you will end up (Canon and Nikon have their own issues even at that price point), but it sure won't be here in M8-land

Since the SLR revolution of the 1970's, the Leica M series has always been about something other than cramming the most gadgets and features in a camera. Buying a Leica M is a lot like buying a car such as a Lotus Elise. The Elise and a Lexus GS both start at around $45,000. With the Lexus, you get a fine performing car with all of the best creature comforts and reliability of a Japanese made...

The 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM II is one of Sigma's latest lenses, which was first announced in December 2007 for Canon, Nikon and Sigma, with a slew of follow-on releases adding compatibility for the remaining SLR mounts (i.e. Four Thirds, Sony and Pentax; however none of these versions are yet shipping). It's a successor to the 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM of February 2006, with a refined optical layout offering improved optical performance, and becomes the fourth iteration of the same basic EX design first unveiled in 1999 (which was itself preceded by a well-respected 70-210mm F2.8 for 35mm). The HyperSonic Motor (HSM) focusing system promises fast, silent and accurate autofocus for users of all brands of DSLR, although Pentax users should be aware that this lens is effectively of 'KAF-3' mount specification, and therefore won't focus on bodies which don't support SDM lenses. Aside from that specific incompatibility, this is a design which will work on almost every DSLR ever made, and is therefore of unusually broad buyer appeal.

Sigma are fond of using a plethora of letters in their lens names (presumably on the principle that when faced with a choice, potential buyers will purchase the one with the most initials) and the 70-200mm declares its credentials accordingly. 'EX' stands for 'Excellence' and designates Sigma's premium lens line, with superior build and optical quality, while 'DG' means that the lens coatings are optimized for use on digital SLRs, and the image circle covers...

Digital Foci, Inc. http://www.digitalfoci.com announced today Photo Safe II, the ultimate photo companion for travelers. Photo Safe II provides portable on-the-road digital photo storage with 80GB and 160GB hard drives and built-in memory card readers, so you can quickly and securely save your digital photos wherever you go. Photo Safe II lets you keep snapping away without worrying about losing important photos or running out of memory card space while on the road.

Essential Digital Camera Companion

Perfect for business travelers and summer vacations, Photo Safe II lets you go away without the need of a laptop to download your photos for safe-keeping. Based on the previous version of Photo Safe (winner of American Photo 2007 Editor’s Choice Award), Photo Safe II brings together its award-winning portable storage technology with a new compact design and additional features, such as support for MS Duo and miniSD; a safer card slot with rubber covers for more protection from dust; and a battery slot that makes it easier to insert/remove the rechargeable battery.

No cumbersome cabling or computer is ever needed to save photos in Photo Safe II. Just insert the digital camera’s memory card directly into Photo Safe II to free up expensive memory card space and reuse your card. When you get home, simply connect Photo Safe II to your computer to retrieve your saved pictures.

Photo Safe II easily copies the entire content of your memory card with its convenient...

Finding a genuinely lightweight tripod with high stability and an efficient and easy-to-use camera platform is a difficult task. There's almost nothing in the under-one-kilogram category that combines light weight with features that provide easy usability and reliability plus an affordable price tag. While carbon fibre tripods combine light weight with high rigidity, you may need to put up with a tripod head that offers limited adjustability and lacks a quick-release plate just to keep the overall weight under a kilogram.

If you read the round-up of compact tripods published in Issue 37 of Photo Review Australia magazine, you will conclude (as we did) that Velbon's Ultra Maxi M represents the best compromise in the current market. Its build quality is a cut above competing budget-priced models while its head, although not perfect, provides adjustments that are genuinely useful. If you can tolerate these imperfections, the Ultra Maxi M is worth a look.

Margaret Brown

more : photoreview

I think that we're going to see two responses from photographers to the P65+. The first will be from armchair quarterbacks who will find the resolution too high for their tastes or needs, not to mention the price. The second will be from professional photographers who are being asked to pony-up some considerable coin for what might at first seem to be only an incremental increase in resolution and image quality. Also, 360MB 16 bit files are non-trivial to work with, to be sure. Workflow will definitely be affected.

I would agree with some of these concerns if it weren't for the variable resolution capabilities. If things end up working along the lines that I have conjectured, variable resolution could be the feature that makes the P65+ a compelling buy for those that need its multiple capabilities. Those that don't – don't. It's as simple as that. And, if the camera's claimed improvement in dynamic range also pans out, there will be few that won't find this another potential reason to consider robbing the piggy bank or mugging the bank manager.

Beyond what's been stated here, we don't know much more as of today (July 14, '08). It's my guess that Hasselblad's announcement of the H3DII-50 a week before is what catalyzed Phase One to make this announcement when it did. Otherwise, allowed to run its normal course, the P65+ development process would likely not have lead to an announcement until late September at Photokina, and at...

Starting on October 1, 2008, Leica USA will begin its previously announced Leica M8 Upgrade Service. To insure the quickest possible turnaround time, we encourage all Leica M8 owners to schedule their upgrade in advance, beginning on August 1, 2008. As an added incentive, all Leica upgrades for the silent shutter and/or sapphire LCD cover glass scheduled from August 1, to October 15, 2008 and completed by January 31, 2009 will receive a free $150 Leica voucher that can be used toward the purchase of any new serialized Leica product from an authorized North American Leica dealer. Additional upgrade options include a personal or signature engraving on the top plate and installing a Vulcanite leatherette body covering.

For full details and to schedule an upgrade, please contact your authorized Leica dealer or call Leica USA at 1-201-995-0051.

M8 upgrade option	MSP
Shutter & Sapphire Glass	$ 1,450.00
Shutter Only	$ 1,025.00
Sapphire Glass Only	$ 950.00
Personal engraving on top plate

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