Photo News Roundup, 9/17/11

Milk, bread, eggs, paper towels…

We’ve got your photo news right here. As usual, the links go to the sources’ websites, and the original articles.

Ricoh unveils the GR Digital IV compact, with image stabilization and a 28mm f/1.9 lens. The company says the AF performance has been improved over the previous model. Kodak, meantime, has introduced two new cameras, the Easyshare Touch M5370 — which records on Micro SD cards — and the Z5010, a bridge camera with 21x zoom. As with everything else Kodak, they’ll probably be perfectly competent, and will probably do very little to help the company’s sagging fortunes. (Adorama)

Canon replaces one respected camera (the SX30) with a new model, the Powershot SX40 HS, and replaces a beloved camera (the S95 is many serious photographers’ “go-to” compact) with the S100. The coming weeks should also be interesting, including an “Historic” (their words, not mine) announcement in Hollywood on November 3. It should be noted that the last time Canon hyped something like this, it turned out to be a printer, so a bit of caution may be in order before getting your hopes up. The same caveat should probably be applied to the product announcement that’s coming on September 22 (right on the heels of Nikon’s upcoming announcement) that promises a “pro product launch.” (Canon Rumors)

According to a Panasonic press release found on the dpreview website, a recent firmware update effectively upgrades several Micro 4/3 lenses to HD standards.

In case you thought fake and pirated gear was limited to “Rollex,” “Thommy Hillfiger” and other “fashion” knockoffs, FStoppers has a story about a fake MB-D11 battery grip that one particularly shady online seller was passing off as the genuine article. To be clear, the grip wasn’t just a piece of non-functioning plastic; it’s actually an aftermarket grip for the D7000 made by Neewer, but this d-bag individual was passing them off as the real thing. Let me say it again: BUY LOCAL.

 Leica news: Panasonic announces FZ-150 camera (which replaces the FZ-100). In case you’re wondering what one has to do with the other, the two companies have traded technologies in the past. Lenses built to Leica specs appear on Pentax cameras, and Pentax bodies have been rebadged as Leicas, including the V-Lux 2 (a re-badged FZ-100). The appearance of an FZ-150 makes a V-Lux 3 extremely likely. (Leica Rumors)

PetaPixel tells of a German television program’s social experiment that shows the state of photographers’ rights in Germany, by sending a photographer to photograph “sensitive” locations. The catch? The first time, he was dressed like a local, and the second time as a Middle Eastern-looking individual. Wanna guess which time he got stopped?

 Slow news week, eh? Stay tuned, though; by this time next week, there should be some interesting tidbits to report on Nikon’s mirrorless system, and perhaps some hints about whatever cat Canon’s got in the bag.

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