Details are still scarce but Leica today confirmed a fast new medium format digital camera, the S2. What we do know so far:

- 37.5 megapixel

- 30x45mm sensor

- 9 new lenses will start the system, including ultrawide, macro and tilt/shift. These seem to be focal plane shutter lenses (offering up to 1/500 flash sync), and the body will also have a focal plane shutter to allow for faster shutter speeds up to 1/4000.

- they promise the fastest autofocus and frame rate of any medium format camera. We will see.

- small and light

- the software will be provided by Phase One

There’s a new Flickr group about the Leica S.

UPDATE:

The lenses will be:
* Summarit-S 70mm f/2.5 CS ASPH
* Summarit-S 35mm f/2.5 CS ASPH
* APO-Macro-Summarit-S 120mm f/2.5 CS
* APO-Elmar-S 180mm f/3.5 CS
* Elmarit-S 24mm f/2.8 ASPH
* APO-Tele-Elmar-S 350mm f/3.5
* Vario-Elmar-S 30-90mm f/3.5 ASPH
* Elmar-S 30mm f/3.5 Tilt-Shift
* Elmarit-S 100mm f/3.5 ASPH

(where CS designates a lens with central shutter)

Medium format ultra wide has a new king!

Manufacturer Linos/Rodenstock
Product HR Digaron-S 5.6/23 mm (introduction 2008/2009)
Details Shutter: Copal 0
Aperture: f 5.6 – f 32
Image circle at full aperture: 70 mm
Image circle at f 11: 70 mm
Max. angle: 112 °
Distance settings: 0.25 m – infinity

That’s equivalent to about 17mm (in 35mm terms) on my (48x36mm) sensor, but the image circle is large enough to cover a 56mm by 42mm sensor (i.e. full 645 frame) in which case it would be equivalent to about 15mm.

I was recently interviewed by Colours Magazine (UK). You can read the article online here.

Looks very nice indeed! The new 1/10th stop increments and 10 stop range are welcome improvements over the older generators.

2400 Ws recycle time of 0.9 secs (which drops for lower power settings of course)
10 f-stop power range in 1/10th increments (5 W/s – 2400 W/s)
Flash duration of 1/1,600 (full) – 1/12,000 (min)
Color temp varies less than 160 deg K from min to max
Shot-to-shot stability of less than 1/50th of an f-stop
Full asymmetry
Supports up to 1000W modeling bulbs
Built-in Profoto Air transceiver

Read more at the Profoto website

Exciting new back from Sinar. Even though it uses the slightly small sensor size of 33x44mm (same as Phase One P30) which is not so interesting to me, there are some very welcome improvements. A 3″ VGA LCD screen promises to be the best medium format back screen to date. It is joined by a simpler user interface with fewer buttons. The back also processes JPGs internally, giving medium format users access to fast and easy previews for the first time. The internal raw format will be DNG, also eliminating a stage in the normal workflow. And finally the colour scheme seems to match the Hy6 camera body. Great!

Read more at Sinar’s website

I’ve listened to the whole set of studiolighting.net podcasts and many of them are interesting. Mostly the show consists of a brief news section followed by an interview with a photographer who talks about his approach to lighting and some tricks of the trade. Worth a try if you’re interested in hearing how other photographers think.

All the podcasts and show notes can be found at http://www.studiolighting.net