In their February 13th update, they removed 86 authorized dealers, nearly 20% of their network. This is one of the largest mass-removals we’ve seen.

Notable removals include military exchanges (Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Coast Guard Exchange, and others) selling at a discount to US military personnel, camera broker KEH (which used to sell new Canon items alongside their used inventory), and eBay dealers Datavision and Profeel. California and New York state saw the largest reduction in dealers, with 15 and 11 removed respectively.

Move is aimed to destroy smaller stores and help Amazon and big guys.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/contactus/where-to-buy/authorized-dealers

Olympus Corporation and Panasonic Corporation jointly announced the Micro Four Thirds System standard in 2008 and have since been working together to promote the standard. We are pleased to announce that three more companies have recently declared their support for the Micro Four Thirds System standard and will be introducing products compliant with the standard.

The following companies are joining the Micro Four Thirds System standard group: YONGNUO which develops, produces and sells digital camera switching lenses, performance lighting, video lighting, etc., MEDIAEDGE Corporation, which has been an advocate of video streaming and display system concepts for over 17 years, aiming to produce products that inspire customers, and Venus Optics, the company behind the development and production of LAOWA brand, which produces incredibly practical, cost-effective, and unique products. The possibilities unique to a joint standard are sure to push the enjoyment of imaging ever further.

As the company responsible for initiating both the Four Thirds System and the Micro Four Thirds System standards, Olympus will continue to develop and enhance the product line-up to meet the diverse needs of our customers.

About YONGNUO

YONGNUO regards "reflecting the beauty of the world and writing into a happy life" as the mission of the company. In the field of image in the information society, YONGNUO is a company that integrates the strength of all employees to develop and produce excellent products and make contributions to the society.

YONGNUO Website: http://www.hkyongnuo.com/e-index.php

About MEDIAEDGE Corporation

MEDIAEDGE Corporation has been involved in developing imaging systems for over 17 years, with a track record of sales to various industries and business categories, the support of many loyal customers, and a long history in Japan and around the world. With collaborative development of both software and hardware, the company continues to produce imaging systems that customers can feel safe and sound using.

MEDIAEDGE Corporation Website: https://www.mediaedge.co.jp/

About Anhui ChangGeng Optics Technology Company Limited (Venus Optics)

Anhui ChangGeng Optics Technology Co., Ltd (Venus Optics) was established in 2013. With headquarters in China, we are a leading manufacturer of premium lenses, formed by a group of photography enthusiasts and industry experts. Our mission is to design and create our own portfolio of photographic lenses that are truly unique, practical and affordable.

Venus Optics Website: https://www.venuslens.net/

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced its parent company, Canon Inc. will launch image.canon in early April 20201, a new cloud platform that connects select Canon cameras with compatible PCs, smartphones and external web services. image.canon will enhance post-production workflow and provide a new way to experience the joy of photography.

Serving as a hub for users' content, image.canon allows the transfer of image files from connected compatible PCs, smartphones and external web services. The service will provide new ways to enjoy photography and will cater to a wide range of photographers seeking to improve their post-production workflows, including professionals who want to enhance their creative process, enthusiasts who want to streamline image editing and entry-level users who want to enjoy casual photography and share their images on social media.

The Functions and Features of image.canon include:

• Direct image uploading via Wi-Fi® connectivity
  Beginning with the currently-in-development EOS R5, future Canon cameras equipped with an automatic image transfer function will be able to automatically upload still image and video files2 in their original quality directly to image.canon via Wi-Fi connectivity and store them for up to 30 days - simply by turning on the device. When uploading an original image file, a thumbnail file (up to 2048 pixels) will be automatically generated and stored on image.canon. These thumbnail files can be viewed and used, even after the 30-day initial storage period.
• Long-term storage up to 10 GB
  Users who want to save still image and video files in their original quality after the initial 30-day period can migrate the data to a 10 GB long-term storage space.
• SNS connectivity
  From the image.canon mobile app, which will be available for free on the App Store® and Google Play®4, users can easily post on select social network sites (SNS) and YouTube as well as share still image and video files.

The image.canon service will also allow the automatic transfer of images to users' accounts on services such as Google DriveTM. Starting from June, image.canon will expand both of its partnerships with Google to include original quality backup with Google PhotosTM via Google One TM, a membership plan for expanded storage, as well as Adobe® Creative Cloud® (membership plan). In addition to the automatic transfer of images and the ability to edit images in their original quality on partnered services and applications, image.canon will make it easier for users to store and share their images.

Giving photographers the tools they need to keep up in a 5G and artificial intelligent-enabled world, Canon will continue to propose new ways to capture images and enjoy photography by enabling cameras to communicate in both directions, such as remote, real-time editing of photos and videos captured at outdoor events, cloud-based RAW image data editing and capture assistance tailored to users' preferences.

For more information on image.canon, please visit https://image.canon as well as www.usa.canon.com

All lenses in this roadmap will set new price and margin records.

Goal is to reach around 4x-5x margin compared to Nikon F mount lens with same glass.

Private equity firm Black Dragon Capital will acquire the entirety of Grass Valley, a leading technology supplier of advanced broadcast and media solutions, from Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC). The transaction is expected to close after customary regulatory approvals.

Black Dragon, which makes control investments in growth companies it believes can become market leaders in industries disrupted by digitization, has significant experience in media technology, and plans to accelerate Grass Valley's evolution to being the market leader in digital media and open and inclusive cloud technology, according to Louis Hernandez Jr., Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Black Dragon.

"Grass Valley has an iconic brand, track record of strong performance, superb clients and products that compete in the top tier in every category they're in. We are excited and honored to work with Grass Valley's leadership team, partners and resellers to take the company to the next level with a cloud-enabled, software-based business model, and cement its role as the standard bearer for the future of digital media," Hernandez said.

"We're excited by the opportunity Grass Valley has to lead in an industry where other heritage brands have struggled. Grass Valley's investments in cloud-based and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are promising. We believe the combination of a broad product suite, a great team and the direction of the market will make Grass Valley the partner of choice as the digitization of the space accelerates. While Belden won't retain any ownership or have an impact on operations, we are pleased that they will remain a close, long-term collaborative partner, which will ensure a smooth transition," Hernandez said.

Grass Valley President, Tim Shoulders, and his senior team will continue to lead the company. Hernandez will become Executive Chairman and, along with selected Black Dragon colleagues, will work with Grass Valley leaders on strategy, execution, client relations and the accelerated expansion to a cloud-based subscription model.

"We are excited about this new phase for Grass Valley. Black Dragon's experience and vision will help us accelerate our move to cloud-based and SaaS solution product lines that will please customers seeking the most robust and flexible models for content production and delivery. We are delighted to be embarking on this journey with our customers and Black Dragon," Shoulders said.

Said John Stroup, President, CEO and Chairman of Belden Inc., "We are very pleased to partner with Black Dragon Capital. Their deep media-related expertise, proven track record and relationships in the broadcast community make them the perfect partner to drive Grass Valley to the next level. We are excited to be part of the partnership."

Black Dragon takes an operationally led and thesis-driven approach to making investments and working with portfolio companies. Investments are based on the firm's significant understanding of the impact of digitization on workflow, technology, economics and human factors driving in the digital landscape. Black Dragon principals and advisors are engaged participants in the industries and companies in which they invest, and they work closely with the portfolio companies to create market leaders.

The Black Dragon principals and advisors involved in the Grass Valley acquisition include Hernandez; Mohamed Abuagla, former EVP and CTO of Al Jazeera and Advisor; Dr. Andreas Bereczky, former SVP and CTO of ZDF Germany and Advisor; Peter Neothen, CEO of Quest Media GMBH and Advisor; Gary Bettan, CEO of Broadfield Distributing Inc. and Advisor; Sandy Nassari, Founder and CEO of Melrose Inc. and Advisor; Shengli Han, Vice Chairman of Beijing Jetsen Technology and Advisor; Frank Capria, media product specialist; and Mo Hussein, media finance professional. Several other executives who worked at Avid with Hernandez were involved in the company assessment and strategy. The Black Dragon transaction team was led by Tim Greenfield, Partner, and Dan Consigli, Partner and CFO.

Cowen and Company served as advisor on the transaction, and Greenberg Traurig LLP served as legal counsel.

Can become personal vendetta of sacked former Avid CEO Louis Hernandez Jr. against Avid.

The Nitze PHT01 formfitting cage is designed for the Panasonic GH5 / GH5S and is made of anodized aluminum alloy for lightweight and durability.

The cage prevents damage to the camera plus it gives plenty of 1/4"-20 & 3/8"-16 accessory mounting holes and a HDMI cable clamp. All the ports on the camera are unobstructed by the cage. The NITZE cage is made of anodized aluminum alloy for lightweight and durability. This setup costs $88.

For $149, Nitze includes the PA14 Top Handle with cold shoe and 15mm rod clamp. There are multiple 1/4’’-20 and 3/8’’-16 threaded holes and ARRI locating holes to attach other external accessories.

The handle helps capture dynamic low angle footage with proper balance and maintains comfort during long shooting.

The $239 GH5 Cage Kit includes also the Nitze PB05 Base Plate with Built-in ARCA QR holder witch makes you able to quickly remove or mount the camera cage by putting an included ARCA QR plate on the bottom of the cage.

Also there are 2 x 15mm 100mm aluminum alloy Rods and 2 x 15 mm 200mm aluminum alloy Rods for mounting rod accessories as a matte box or follow focus.

This is a nice cage from Nitze. Has a cold shoe on the cage offset, most cages don't.

A good source tells us that such a camera is in active development at Canon, but likely won’t see the light of day until 2021. More lenses in the RF lineup are a priority over an APS-C body we have been told, but that there definitely would not be “RF-S” lenses developed for a smaller sensor EOS R camera body.

Rumors are that Canon want to make transition instant and fast. So they'll keep silent up until last moment to not scare M Mount buyers.
Things can happen more quickly and in 2021 we can enter without single M mount camera being manufactured and all M lenses will be only old stock left also.

A total of more than 1,700 member companies participate in formulating and using SD standards

Source of whole mess.

Also note that main companies intentionally try NOT to make SD Express cards as it'll cut them big revenue streams from video and photo specific fast cards.

https://www.dynalite.com

Main sensor 108 MP 1/1,33" capable of 8K 30p video and 4K 60p, 48 MP telephoto sensor, 12 MP ultra wide sensor, 10x optical zoom range, 40 MP wide front camera with 4K 60p.

https://fdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/news/20/01/s20-series-full-specs/-727/gsmarena_002.jpg

...meat the entry LV dedicated camera killer, course Japanese camera manufactures love to iterate in microscopic steps until they run out of business. :)

https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/special-offers.html?red=a

Only Tamron's G2 range is available for rental now.

• SP 15-30 mm f / 2.8 Di VC USD G2
• SP 24-70mm f / 2.8 Di VC USD G2
• SP 70-200 mm f / 2.8 Di VC USD G2
• 150-600mm f / 5-6.3 Di VC USD G2

Canon and Nikon mount versions will be available.

Check our local distributor/seller for this (in EU).

We're already live -- but starting proper at 14:00.

See you there!

It is also insightful too see how open these cameras were for 3rd-party software to be installed. Nothing like the barb-wired walled gardens that are consumer electronics today...

2020 will be very fun and productive year for PV team and will change a lot in camera industry also.

I am sure 2020 will be good for you, your family and it'll allow to implement most of your ideas into reality.

Maxon, the developers of professional 3D software solutions and Red Giant creators of unique tools for editors, VFX artists, and motion designers, today cooperatively announced that the two companies have reached a definitive agreement to merge under the media and entertainment division of Nemetschek Group to better serve the post production and content creation industries. The transaction is expected to close in January 2020, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

Maxon and Red Giant are already well known and established in the digital content creation (DCC) industries, and share synergies in philosophy and long-term goals. Both companies have earned a peerless reputation for the quality and accessibility of products, and uncompromising commitment to service and support of the artistic community. Each company's workforce features the industry expertise, organizational maturity, and executive experience needed to fully leverage this unique opportunity.

Maxon, best known for its flagship 3D product Cinema 4D, was formed in 1986 with a passion for providing extremely powerful, though exceptionally accessible 3D software solutions. Artists across the globe rely on Maxon products to create cutting-edge visuals. In April of this year, Maxon acquired Redshift, developer of the GPU-accelerated Redshift render engine.

Since 2002, Red Giant has built its brand through award-winning products such as Trapcode, Magic Bullet, Universe, PluralEyes and its line of innovative visual effects software. Their unique, industry-standard tools are staples in the fields of film, broadcast, and advertising. Red Giant has differentiated itself in the industry through its artist-driven approach to software creation and its popular training and award-winning short films.

The two companies provide tools for a who's who of production companies including ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, BBC, Sky, Fox Networks, Turner Broadcasting, NFL Network, WWE, Viacom, Netflix, ITV Creative, Discovery Channel, MPC (Moving Picture Company), Digital Domain, VDO, Sony, Universal, The Walt Disney Company, Blizzard Entertainment, BMW, Facebook, Apple, Google, Vitra, Nike and many more.

"This merger is a major milestone, not only for Maxon and Red Giant but also for the design industry as a whole," said David McGavran, CEO of Maxon. "Our combined technology and knowhow have the potential to progressively reshape the content creation landscape for years to come."

"The combination of our companies is an exceptional fit of people, culture and technology," said Chad Bechert, CEO of Red Giant. "We look forward to working together under a shared vision of how to design powerful and approachable software to serve creative artists around the world."

HTC is planning to cut jobs yet again. This information comes from Taiwanese media outlets, which claim that the information has been confirmed by the company.

This will mark the second year in a row as HTC is cutting jobs, the company did something similar last year. According to the Taiwan News website, HTC will cut jobs "as part of its realignment strategy aimed at retaining an innovative edge".

For now only it is free money flow from big investors that keep company afloat (same is true for Sony department that makes smartphones).
In 2020 we can see few of former top brands leaving the market - this will include HTC and Sony for certain.

CMOS Image Sensor(CIS) products need higher voltage device and better analog characteristics than conventional SOC & Logic products. This work presents newly developed 14nm FinFET process with 2.xV high voltage FinFET device characteristics showing excellent analog and low power digital characteristics comparing to 28nm planar process. Gm is improved by 30% and 67% in FinFET process for NMOS and PMOS, respectively. Rout characteristics increased by 40 times and 6 times over 28nm planar process. Interface state density(Nit) improved by more than 40% and flicker noise characteristics also improved by 64% and 42% for NMOS and PMOS, respectively. Digital logic Transistor ion-ioff performance improved by by 32% and by 211% for NMOS and PMOS, respectively compared to 28nm planar device and the chip power consumption of digital logic functional block reduced by 34% in real Si of 12M pixel product. 14nm FinFET process expected to improve power consumption by 42% in 144M pixel density.

Google has told its Turkish business partners it will not be able to work with them on new Android phones to be released in Turkey, after the Turkish competition board ruled that changes Google made to its contracts were not acceptable.

Turkey’s competition authority had fined Google 93 million lira ($17.4 million) in September 2018 for violating competition law with its mobile software sales. The company was given six months to make changes to restore competition.

Turkey’s competition board ruled on Nov. 7 that changes which Google made in its contracts with its business partners in line with the board’s demands were inadequate as they still did not allow changes to the default search engine.

The regulator had asked Google to change all its software distribution agreements to allow consumers to choose different search engines in its Android mobile operating system. The probe was triggered by a filing by Russian competitor Yandex.

Google hope to keep being total search monopoly on Android phones, but it is slowly coming to an end.

Actual reason for such move is that Alphabet investors are also Apple investors and they want to hurt Android sales as much as possible in areas where Apple is feeling bad especially, as it is more important and brings more profits.

The South Korean company on Wednesday announced a 437 billion won ($372 million) operating loss for the July-September period. Sales shrank 4.6% from a year earlier to 5.82 trillion won.

A week earlier, new CEO Jeong Ho-young warned in his first message to employees that the "company's survival is at risk."

Ramped-up Chinese production of liquid crystal display panels for TVs has put downward pressure on LCD prices, driving Taiwanese and Japanese suppliers out of the race to add capacity. The average price per TV panel has fallen by 20% to 30% from a year ago.

Demand for LCDs is expected to rise 5% this year, but supplies are expected to grow 10%

BOE Technology Group, China Star Optoelectronics Technology and other Chinese panel makers have built new factories with government backing. In about four years, China has outstripped Japan, Taiwan and South Korea in terms of LCD production capacity.

Japan Display, the world's largest smartphone LCD maker (it is mix of factories of ALL major Japanese brands merged together to survive) that is struggling to secure a bailout, and Taiwan's AU Optronics, a major supplier of TV panels, have already bowed out of the race to increase production.

Based on LG Display's cash flow, it is unclear whether the company can keep up with Samsung and Chinese competitors in terms of investment.

LG Display makes LCD and OLED displays for both smartphones and TVs. The multipronged approach has stretched research and development funding and capital spending thin.

The company "should suspend domestic LCD plants" now that it is losing money, said an analyst in South Korea.

New (in reality old in development and just updated) lenses

• 12-45mm f/4.0 PRO
• 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS

We are pleased to announce three lens model updates to the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital Lens roadmap, including the addition of the ultra-compact M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO and super-telephoto M.Zuiko Digital ED 100-400mm F5.0-6.3 IS lenses. We have also added a PRO series telephoto zoom lens. All lens models are compatible with the Micro Four Thirds® System standard.

These lenses are in addition to the previously-announced M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO super telephoto zoom lens. It features a 1.25x built-in teleconverter and covers a focal length range of 300 – 1000mm (35mm equivalent). The combination of this lens with the MC-20 2.0x teleconverter makes handheld super telephoto shooting possible at 2000mm (35mm equivalent).

With these new products Olympus will further expand its telephoto lens lineup, maximizing the advantages of the Micro Four Thirds® System, including excellent image quality, compact lightweight systems, and superior image stabilization performance.

Development is under way for the M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO, a super telephoto zoom lens in the M.Zuiko PRO series, designed for exceptional optical performance in a compact, lightweight form, along with dustproof, splashproof, and freezeproof (-10°C) performance and superb mobility. This is the first Olympus interchangeable lens with a built-in 1.25x teleconverter, which easily extends the lens to the maximum focal length of 1000mm1 (35mm equivalent). It also offers in-lens image stabilization (IS), supporting 5-axis Sync IS[1] when operating in concert with the image stabilization of Olympus OM-D cameras. The compact system delivers remarkable portability, and the built-in teleconverter provides convenience, making it the optimal super telephoto zoom lens for sports and bird photography. This lens has an expected availability of 2020.

WACP II wide angle conversion wet lens for full frame 140° on a Nikon Z7 housing WWL-II wide angle conversion wet lens for M43 and its adapter for Olympus most popular uw housing UW Housing for Sony A7-IV UW housing for Atomos Ninja V UW housing for new Z Cam (really a technical jewel) UW housing for BMPCC 6K