Rayqual adapters bring Leica, Nikon, and Canon lenses to Sony’s NEX cameras

Sony’s new NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras may have a few limitations when it comes to their UI, but it looks like they won’t be hurting for lens options — Japan’s Rayqual has announced that it’ll be offering a series of lens adapters for the cameras starting next month. Those will let you attach any number of Leica, Nikon or Canon lenses to the compact shooter, although you’ll expectedly have to make do without autofocus if you decide to venture beyond Sony’s own lenses for the cameras. They also won’t come cheap, with the adapters set to run ¥19,950 to ¥25,200, or roughly $220 to $275 — although that could be a small price to pay if you’ve already invested in some serious glass.

Rebel T2i/550D Jackie Chan Edition!

Canon China introduces the EOS 550D Jackie Chan Eye of Dragon special edition. The camera body comes with gold Dragon logo of Jackie Chan, who is Canon’s spokesperson in China. The Jackie Chan kit includes a Canon EF-S 180145MM lens, a camera case, a strap and an album book, all with Jackie’s logo (except the lens) Ninjas shoot Canon.Only 2010 units will be available and each is priced at 10,000 Chinese Yuan (US$1465). You can find more details of the EOS 550D DSLR (aka Rebel T2i in the US) here.

Canon 70-200 Is II

Picking up this lens, you know that it is a professional lens. The construction is solid, with all of the rings tight and rotating smoothly and predictably. Important for outdoor photographers is that this lens is fully weather sealed (when used with a 1D camera body). The lens is based around a metal lens barrel and all of the buttons are nicely recessed to prevent snagging (however throughout the wedding I did find several times when some of the lens buttons have been accidentally pushed into another position, just as with the original). The front filter tread is 77mm, which makes for expensive filters, but it is also a common size amongst L lenses so you can swap some filters between lenses if needed.Probably the biggest downside to this lens is its size (about 8 inches long without the lens hood) and weight ( about 1.5 kg). Aside from the fact that this big white lens with the red ring has been known to provoke at least entry-level lens-envy, with this lens mated to a 1D body, the weight is not insignificant for a 12 hour wedding. Compared to the original, the new version is 20 grams heavier.As you can see in the top picture with the old version in the middle and the new version to the right, the new version can be distinguished by a slightly larger front focusing ring, but otherwise the lenses themselves are almost visually identical. However, the new version of the lens comes with a newly improved lenshood. It includes a push-button lock and release mechanism so it won’t accidentally fall off, and the finish on the lenshood has a different finish that resists small marks much better than that of the original. To read more about this lens click here and to buy it click here

Bruce Davidson Featured In Time Magazine.

Time magazine featured legendary photographer Bruce Davidson work. Davidson was drafted into the US Army, where he served in the Signal Corps at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, attached to the post’s photo pool. Initially, he was given routine photo assignments. Undaunted, Davidson created out of seemingly mundane material unique photo studies. An editor of the post’s newspaper, recognizing his unique talents, asked that he be permanently assigned to the post newspaper. There, given a certain degree of autonomy, he was allowed to further hone his talents. Later, stationed in Paris, he met Henri Cartier-Bresson, a later colleague with the Magnum photo agency, sharing his portfolio and receiving advice from Cartier-Bresson. While in France, Davidson produced a photo essay on the Widow of Montmartre, an old Parisian woman.After his military service, in 1957, Bruce Davidson worked briefly as a freelance photographer, before joining Magnum the following year. During the following few years, he photographed extensively, most notably producing Brooklyn Gang and The Dwarf. From 1961 to 1965, Davidson produced one of his most famous bodies of work as he chronicled the events and effects of the Civil Rights Movement around the country, in both the North and the South. In support of his project, Davidson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962, and his finished project was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Upon the completion of his documentation of the Civil Rights Movement, Davidson received the first ever photography grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.