pop photo flash

FROM OUR EDITORS AT PHOTOKINA: Olympus confirmed that it will be launching a new flagship compact camera that incorporates a Zuiko lens, although no name has been given yet for this new camera. Stay tuned as more information comes in from our editors at Photokina in Cologne Germany on this new compact.

The digital revolution has breathed new life into the neutral-density (ND) filter. Smaller-than-full-frame sensors give you extra depth of field—fine when you want it, but not when you want to throw the background out of focus with a large aperture. On a bright day, you may not be able to do it at all. Enter Hoya’s new PRO1 Digital ND16 filter, which, at 4 stops of light loss, is the densest in the PRO1 line to date. This will let you use, say, f/2 instead of f/8 without changing shutter speed. Or, to blur moving water, you can set 1/4 sec instead of 1/60 sec at the same aperture.

Adding to its long list of newly released products, Nikon introduced a replacement to its mid-level flash unit, the appropriately-follow up to the SB-600, the SB-700. While it