While the big two (Canon & Nikon) successfully pursue the image of boring traditional companies, others like Sigma try to be inventive and gain a piece of market for themselves. Today, Sigma announced a new extraordinary lens: the 18-35mm F/1.8 DC HSM for APS-C sized sensors. Yes, this is not a typo; this zoom lens has constant F/1.8 aperture. As far as I know, no other photography lens has such aperture, the closest being Olympus with the two of their F/2 zoom lenses.
A surprise out of clear blue sky: Sigma announces 18-35mm F/1.8 lens!
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Canon has announced two new DLSR models – the 100D (Rebel SL1) and 700D (Rebel T5i). Both have 18 MP APS-C sensors, 9 focus points, Full HD video recording and all the usual Canon bells and whistles. So what’s new…? In one word – nothing. Specifications of the 700D are almost identical with the previous model (the 650D), and 100D differs from 700D with smaller body size and the lack of articulated LCD.
Nikon has announced the D7100 – the new mid-range DSLR with APS-C sized sensor. Main advantages over the now more than two years old D7000 revolve around the new 24 megapixel sensor without anti aliasing filter, 51-opint auto focus system and the ability to shoot up to 7 frames per second in crop (2x) mode. The recommended Nikon D7100 price is around 
and $ 1,600 with 18-105 F/3.5-5.6 VR lens. The shipping will start in about a month.
Canon office in Croatia organized a press event yesterday, covering all the latest news and digital cameras from recent Photokina fair. Besides new G15 and S110, we had a chance to try the new Canon EOS 6D digital SLR camera. 6D uses new 20 megapixel sensor and will compete with Nikon D600 camera as a budget full frame camera.
Those of you who regularly follow rumor blogs knew all about this camera days ago… Nikon did a bad job at keeping its latest camera a secret. Now it’s finally official – the affordable 
is announced. It sports 24 megapixel sensor inside a body very similar to that of D7000. Starting retail price is $ 2100 for body only and $ 2700 for 24-58 f3.5-4.5 VR kit lens bundle.
Pentax has just announced two new cameras, the K-5 II and K-5 IIs without the AA filter. They both closely resemble much appraised K-5 and earlier K-7 models; all the changes are under the hood. Just like Nikon did with D800E, Pentax decided to release a version of the camera without anti aliasing filter. In theory, pictures will become shaper with more details recorded, but with the downside of possible moiré artifacts. In real life testing, Nikon D800E delivered sharper photographs only when paired to high end lenses and at certain aperture settings, so it is yet to be shown to what extent the new Pentax will be able to utilize its lack of low pass filter.
Photokina is the world’s biggest and most anticipated imaging fair that takes place every two years in a German town of Cologne (Köln). Industry leaders, traders, professionals and amateur photographers will all gather at September 18 to view and try the latest photographic equipment on the market. I have prepared a short list of expected announcements and rumors. Some cameras or lenses might be announced before the show, but the public will be able to see them for the first time at the fair.