Product Reviews

BY RUSSELL HART

New products for photographers seem to be coming out every day and the recent Photo Plus Expo in New York showed them all. Most are digital and hybrid products, but a surprising number are film-based. Here are several of the most interesting in three categories: 35mm SLRs, lenses, and color films.

35mm Film Cameras

Canon EOS Rebel K2

The latest model in Canon's best-selling SLR line, the Rebel K2 stakes out a place above the rock bottom Rebel GII and just below the titanium-sheathed Rebel Ti. Trickling down from the Ti are the K2's 35-zone, AF-linked evaluative metering, shutter speeds to 1/2000 second, and a seven-point AF system. Like the Ti (and unlike the Rebel 2000, which, to confuse matters, is still selling), the Rebel K2's focus points are superimposed on the viewfinder screen and can be selected manually if you don't trust the camera to do it. And like the Ti, the K2 has a built-in flash that covers your subject with focal lengths as wide as 28mm and pops up to an unusually high position, the better to lessen both red eye and shadows cast by longer lenses. At 1.5 frames per second (fps), the Rebel K2's drive speed is closer to the GII's 1 fps than the Ti's 2.5 fps-but given its price, that's splitting hairs. About $190.

Canon EOS Elan 7N AND 7NE

Affordable 35mm

SLRs have been getting more powerful in their specs. Canon's update of the EOS Elan 7 and 7E, 4 years in coming, brings these mid-range models close to par with the professional EOS-1v and EOS-1D in terms of autofocus performance. The aluminum-paneled Elan 7N and Elan 7NE inherit a seven-point, wide-area AF array, with viewfinder focus points selected by the camera, by the photographer (with a finger wheel) or, in the case of the 7NE, with Canon's unique eye-control system. It's curious that this ingenious technology, which lets you choose a focus point simply by glancing at it through the viewfinder, has yet to appear in any Canon D-SLR. The new Elans offer the fastest drive speed for the money-4 frames per second (fps) in one-shot mode and 3.5 fps in AI Servo, with predictive AF-but are still much quieter than any other 35mm EOS, including the clangy EOS-3 and EOS-1v. Next-generation E-TTL flash metering does a better job, says Canon, of adjusting output for unusually dark, light, or reflective subjects-and provided you're using Canon EX Speedlites and EF lenses with built-in distance encoding, it can make the needed changes on the fly, even if you feel compelled to lock focus and recompose. About $330 (Elan 7N) and $380 (Elan 7NE).

Konica Minolta Maxxum 70

Having gone from 7000 to 700 to 7, Minolta had no place else to go but 70 when it named this new SLR. And though it doesn't replace the Maxxum 7, this is a remarkable camera for the money. It has a metal-clad body; 3 frames-per-second drive speed; three metering modes, including Minolta's 14-zone multisegment; and the nine-point AF array, with predictive autofocus, found in the Maxxum 7. (You can sharpen focus points with its built-in diopter adjustment.) Its depth of field preview, a rarity these days, lets you gauge front-to-back sharpness through the viewfinder. And its high-speed sync lets you use flash with shutter speeds up to 1/2000 second, useful when you need fill flash outdoors, but want to set wide apertures to soften the background. About $170 (body).

Hasselblad XPan II

No, it's not an SLR, nor is it a rangefinder. But this one-of-a-kind camera does amazing things with 35mm film, producing an undistorted 24 x 65mm panoramic image with any of three tack-sharp interchangeable lenses. This is because the latter-a 30mm f/5.6, a 45mm f/4, and a 90mm f/4-are essentially medium-format optics in the size of their image circle. (The XPan's panoramas are equal to the long dimension of the 6 x 7cm format.) Twist a knob and you can also shoot standard 35mm-size 24 x 36mm frames with the XPan, and the two formats can be mixed in any order on the same roll of film. (The viewfinder adjusts framing automatically according to your choice of format and lens.) The camera loads film automatically and advances it from frame to frame in either single-shot or continuous modes. Focal-plane shutter speeds range from 8 seconds to 1/1000 second, with a 1/125 second sync speed. XPan II enhancements include a viewfinder LCD that displays exposure information; flash that can be synced to the rear curtain, if desired, for ambient-light "trailing" effects; and improved performance with infrared film. About $1,840.

Leica CM

At first glance, this point-and-shoot has the austere good looks of an M7. (It's the first Leica point-and-shoot actually made in Germany.) Unlike steel-bodied M rangefinders, the autofocusing CM is crafted from tougher-than-nails titanium. Another departure from rangefinder style is the large illuminated LCD panel on the camera's back; it displays flash ready signals, exposure mode, and AE compensation, among other things. Meanwhile, the viewfinder shows you your focused distance, lens aperture, and shutter speed-useful information given that the CM can be used in program (with program shift) or aperture-priority autoexposure modes. F-stops are set with a cool retro dial. The 40mm f/2.4 Summarit lens autofocuses with a passive AF system, but can be manually focused by turning the top dial. Decidedly non-point-and-shoot features include shutter speeds from 99 seconds to a fast 1/1000 second and a flash hotshoe that takes the Leica SF 24D accessory flash or other SCA 3000-compatible units. About $1,000.

Lenses

Schneider 400mm f/5.6 Apo-TeleXenar Compact MRC

Despite its unusually small size and light weight, this new view camera lens has an image circle large enough to cover the 5 x 7 format. And with 4 x 5, for which the lens is equivalent to 135mm in the 35mm format, that gives you ample room for camera movements. To be specific, it delivers +/- 31mm of rise and fall and shifts of +/- 27.5mm. As its APO designation indicates, the lens is highly corrected for chromatic aberration. But perhaps most valuable, especially for field camera users, is the short extension (short even by telephoto standards) needed for infinity focus, just 11.4". That, plus the lens's size, makes it well-suited to working in the field or on the road. About $1,570, including Copal #3 shutter.

Hasselblad HC 50mm f/3.5

A recent addition to the lens system for the Hasselblad H1 autofocus SLR, this wide-angle (built to spec by Fuji) is about the equivalent of a 28mm lens in the 35mm format. Its electronic leaf shutter features speeds from 1/800 second to 18 hours, with flash sync possible all the way through. Closest focusing distance is less than 2'. Also new for the H1 is the Hasselblad HC 210mm f/4 telephoto, which is equal to 128mm in the 35mm format. Its closest focusing distance is less than 6', and it lets you focus manually at any time, even in AF mode. About $2,625 (50mm) and $3,000 (210mm).

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM

Telephoto zooms can be awkwardly large, so it's sensible that Canon's second lens to feature its diffractive optics (DO) is a 70-300mm. DO technology makes this 35mm zoom much smaller than a comparable zoom of conventional design; in fact, it's about the size of Canon's new EF28-135mm f3.5-5.6L USM. But as with Canon's first DO lens, the remarkable EF400mm f/4 DO IS USM, diffractive optics also improve image quality, making this a better-performing zoom than the previous 75-300mm. About $1,300.

Konica Minolta AF 300mm f/2.8 SSM

This Supersonic-Wave Motor telephoto will be an even more powerful lens on Minolta's new Maxxum digital SLR. In terms of frame-filling ability, the new camera's smaller-than-35mm sensor will turn the lens into the equivalent of 450mm on a 35mm SLR. But whatever body you use it on you'll get the advantages of a built-in AF motor, making the 13-element lens's autofocus more responsive-a plus when you're shooting sports and wildlife subjects. And it incorporates four aspheric elements (Minolta designates them AD, for anomalous dispersion), a circular lens aperture for rounder, out-of-focus highlights, and short close focusing of 6.6'. About $4,000.

Tokina AF19-35mm f/3.5-4.5

This affordable lens, available in versions to fit most popular SLRs, covers the standard wide-angle zoom range, give or take a millimeter or two, but comes in at half the price of its nearest variable-aperture competition. And it's a fraction of the price of a brand-name f/2.8 version. Yet it features Hoya's high-refraction, low dispersion (HLD) glass plus internal zooming and focusing. About $180 (after rebate).

Leica 90mm f/4 Macro-Elmar-M 90mm f/4 with Macro Adapter-M

Macro photography is best done with an SLR, but if you must use your Leica rangefinder for close-ups, this is an ingenious solution. The 90mm lens itself is a super-sharp moderate telephoto that's well suited to portraits and street photography. It features a clever retractable design that shortens the barrel by about an inch for transport and storage. Remove the lens and place the Leica Macro Adapter-M between it and the camera body, though, and you get two things you need for close-ups: more extension (14mm, to be precise) and correction of the viewfinder for parallax error, which becomes more pronounced with close-focused subjects. (When you mount the adapter, it rotates the close-focusing scale on the bottom of the lens barrel around to the top, for easier viewing.) The adapter lets you get reproduction ratios as good as 1:3, focusing on an area as small as 2.83" x 4.25". About $1,300 (lens) and $845 (adapter).

Film and Papers

Kodak Professional Portra 100T

Daylight-balanced color negative films have gotten much better at capturing decent color in tungsten light, but results still run warm. Tungsten-balanced color negative films still offer a more neutral, faithful rendition. The problem is these films have only been available in medium-format and sheet sizes, never 35mm. Photographers wanting to shoot 35mm color in tungsten light had to resort to using either tungsten-balanced slide film (a printing headache) or daylight-balanced color negative film with a blue color conversion filter (which can cause an unwanted coolness in highlights, and never looks that good anyway). Portra 100T changes things, finally. With a palette much like that of its daylight-balanced siblings, it opens up the possibility of shooting 35mm color negatives with inexpensive flood lamps, rather than costly (and hard-to-previsualize) strobe, and without speed-cramping filters. The new film's ISO 100 speed is ideal for studio portraits, and it delivers excellent skin tones. But if you use it to shoot interiors by existing tungsten light, the good news is it needs no exposure compensation with times up to 5 seconds, and no color correction up to 2 minutes. (The film also comes in larger formats.) Now can we have it in an ISO 400 version?

Kodak Professional Ultra Color Films

Portra 400UC color negative film (the UC stands for ultra color) has been so successful that Kodak has given it a family. Having both Ultra Color 100 and Ultra Color 400 means you can switch speeds when the subject requires it (ISO 100 for smoother-grained portraits, ISO 400 for lower-light shooting), but still get the same intense color palette. With either film, skin tones are suprisingly good, showing none of the ruddiness you'd expect from a high-saturation emulsion. In our experience the Ultra Color films work as well for scanning as conventional printing.

Polaroid Type 80 film

When you use Polaroid 3 1/4 x 4 1/4-inch pack film with a medium-format camera, you waste a lot of the film's available image area. This all-new peel-apart format has an image area that measures just 3 1/4" x 3 3/8", so Polaroids shot with 6 x 6 cm, 6 x 7 cm, and 6 x 8 cm models and their dedicated backs fill up more of the film's available space. For the same reason the new film costs less per shot. Backs will be available from NPC (npcphoto.com) for the new series, which includes five emulsions: Polapan Type 84 (ISO 400 black-and-white), Polapan Type 85 (ISO 80 black-and-white positive/negative), Polapan Type 87 (ISO 3000 black-and-white for technical purposes), Polacolor Type 88 (ISO 80 extended-range), and Polacolor Type 89 (ISO 100 color). But you'll be able to use Type 80 film in current medium-format pro backs, and NPC can convert older backs to accept the new format. It's also tailor-made for the Polaroid-enabled Holga (see Instant Art, above).

Fujicolor Portrait NPH 400

Though marketed heavily to the wedding and portrait trade, this improved film is really the color equivalent of Tri-X-forgiving not just in its exposure latitude (which is even greater than Tri-X on the overexposure side), but also in its color rendition. Its fourth, cyan-sensitive layer makes it better able to reproduce faithful color in mixed and fluorescent light, while grays seem unfailingly neutral.

Kodak Professional Portra Endura and Supra Endura

Kodak's new color papers, Kodak Professional Portra Endura and Supra Endura, bring a choice of moderate contrast (Portra) and elevated contrast (Supra) to Kodak's RA-4-process line. Their color saturation is proportional to their contrast, but flesh tones are faithful with both. More important, the Endura papers bring an unprecedented level of image stability to conventional color prints-100 years on typical home display, 200 years in dark storage-before noticeable fading occurs. And they work as well with digital printers using silver-halide papers as they do when exposed with an enlarger and processed separately.

Kodak Professional Polycontrast IV RC

The big black-and-white news is an upgrade to a classic black-and-white paper that we grew up with-one that hasn't changed since before the digital revolution in photography. Kodak Professional Polycontrast IV RC offers an improvement over Polycontrast III RC in its ability to reproduce subtle highlight detail. You may in fact need to tone contrast down a bit to match the range of the existing version. But this valuable fourth-generation paper, which will also replace Polymax II RC, isn't really all that different. And that's good news.