Brightin Star 24mm F6.3 Tiny Lens

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I don’t know if we should get tired of all of these cheap but small aperture lens or happy to have so many affordable, small options.  I lean towards the latter.

We don’t have a price or release date for this lens yet, but it is full-frame, it would be reasonable to expect it to be available for the Sony E, Nikon Z, and L mounts.  We should also expect reasonable performance in the center and questionable edges.  F6.3 requires so much light that this lens is really limited.  Think of it as an expensive lens cap, maybe.  But we will be happy to be surprised.

For a little bit more money, you could buy a vintage 24mm F2.8 lens, but it obviously would not be as small.  And for more money yet you could a third-party autofocus 24mm F2.8 lens.

This leak comes courtesy a Weibo post.

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New OM-3 Camera

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We don’t want the micro-four-thirds format to die but we worry that it will.  Creating new, innovative cameras, especially in the video domain, could be a viable path forward for the format.  Instead, what we often see if a recycling of parts and producing a camera that really isn’t compelling or competitive with its peers.

Unfortunately, these early, unconfirmed rumors about the new OM-3 Camera sound as if it’s using the same sensor as a previous OM camera has some minor iterative improvements.  Let us hope that’s not the case.

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New APS-C Camera from Canon in 2025

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We’re getting rumors that we have low confidence presently about a new ASP-C body coming from Canon in 2025 with the following rumored specifications:

  • 24.1MP Stacked APS-C Sensor
  • 6K RAW
  • 4K 120FPS, 1080 240FPS
  • 1080P up to 240FPS
  • DIGIC X + DIGIC Accelerator
  • C-Log2/C-Log3
  • Fullsize HDMI Port
  • Targeted at the Sony FX30 market
  • No mention of viewfinder or mechanical shutter?
  • Estimated $1500 USD price point

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ASUS ROG Flow Z13 Windows Tablet

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The 2025 ASUS ROG Flow Z13 features AMD’s Strix Halo processor, which is truly a great mobile processor with excellent integrated graphics.  This device is a bit chunky for a tablet, but if you like the form factor, this is certainly a great option.  This device also has integrated memory so both the CPU and GPU parts of the APU can share the same RAM.

Starting at $2000, these are not budget or value devices.  These are targeted at gamers who want top notch mobile specs in a portable form factor.  These should also be usable for mobile video editing and other intensive applications.  You probably won’t miss having a discrete graphic cards and if you need something more powerful a desktop or large laptop would likely suit you better.

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Voigtlander NOKTON 28mm F1.5 for Nikon Z Only

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Strange decision for Cosina Voigtlander to release this lens for Nikon only but it may have to do with the unique Nikon mount with its large flange diameter.  Although they do have a 28mm F1.5 lens for Leica M mount.

Cosina has posted sample photos from this lens on their website.  They look good but it’s always hard to trust photos from the manufacturer.  The bokeh does feel vintage which may be a plus or minus depending on your preference.

Key specifications includes:

  • Electronic contacts to communicate information to the Nikon Z body
  • 12-Blade iris diaphragm
  • Minimum shooting distance of 0.28m
  • All metal
  • 10 elements in 8 groups featuring aspherical lenses
  • Current estimate of price is $750 USD

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7artisan’s $90 18mm F5.6 Full-frame Lens

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Small wide-angle lenses used to be a very desirable thing.  Back in the film days there were many esteemed photographers who loved the manual focus 20mm F4 lens.  And F4 is a lot more versatile than F5.6, but for many landscape photographers they could probably get buy with this aperture.  It might also be useful as a gimbal lens.  The lens is basically a cheap, wide-angle pancake lens that weighs only 146grams.  It’s available for the Nikon Z, Sony E, and L mount systems.  Close focus is 0.3 meters / 0.98 feet.

The real question is how does it perform optically.  Early reports indicate a sharp center, weaker edges, reasonable distortion, and significant vignetting.  This is kind of what you would expect from a small wide-angle lens.  The vignetting may or may not work for your use case.

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Rokinon Remaster Slim Wide-Angle 3-Lens Kit

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Rokinon, aka Samyang, has released an interesting lens kit.  There is a base module and then 3 different sets of optics you can swap out inside of it:

  • 21mm f/3.5
  • 28mm f/3.5
  • 32mm f/2.8

These lenses are tiny and full-frame.  Check on the weight on the optical blocks:

The set is available for the Sony FE mount and comes at a price of $399 USD.

To make lenses this small there has to be sacrifices in the optical formula.  Sometimes these sacrifices can create an interesting look, and at other times they add offensive elements.  So how did Rokinon do? It looks like they came up short, unfortunately.

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ZOTAC Zone Handheld Gaming Device

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This handheld gaming system, the ZOTAC Zone, is a bit larger than some might want, but that’s the price to pay for great screen and powerful system.  If you look at FPS comparisons, this device is doing pretty good.  ZOTAC has certainly gained praise over the years for some of their products, especially in the video card sector, so let’s wish them success here.  Unfortunately for ZOTAC their software lags behind their peers but at least that is an area they can approve.

Key specifications:

  • AMD Ryzen 7 8840U
  • AMD Radeon 780M GPU
  • 16GB LPDDR5X RAM
  • 512B NVMe SSD
  • 7in, 1920×1080, 120Hz AMOLED
  • 2x USB-C ports, 1x 3.5mm, 1x microSD
  • 285x115x35mm
  • $799

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Lenovo Thinkbook Plus: What Is This???

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I normally don’t put three question marks in a title, but you have to admit this new screen is kind of funky.  Good for Lenovo for innovating.  Time will tell how useful this is, but we’re always happy to see companies actually doing something new or different.  Now the market will decide if this feature is useful.

About this crazy new feature, from Lenovo’s website:

By vertically expanding from a compact 14-inch display to a generous 16.7 inches by simple press of a dedicated key or through hand gestures to the camera, users gain nearly 50% additional screen space in a portable form factor, making it ideal for business users who need flexibility and efficiency on the go. This rollable feature allows professionals to adapt the screen size based on task demands, from document editing to data analysis and presentations, all while maintaining an ultra-slim 14-inch laptop footprint with a 19.9mm profile and weighing just 1.7kg.

Coming in June of 2025 and for $3500, this is not a cheap laptop.  Key specifications include:

  • 14-16.7 inch OLED display (120 Hz)
  • Up toIntel Core Ultra 7 processor (Series 2)
  • Intel Arc Xe2 GPU
  • Up to 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
  • Up to 32GB LPDDR5x-8533, dual channel
  • 66 WH battery
  • 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 3.5 mm jack

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