Samyang have announced a new, wide-angle 12mm lens designed for compact system cameras with APS-C sized (or smaller) sensors. This is a rectilinear, manual-focus lens with a diagonal angle of view of 98.9° (when mounted on a camera with an APS-C sized imager) and an optical formula that comprises a dozen elements arranged in ten groups. These include 1 aspherical, 1 hybrid aspherical and 3 extra-low dispersion lens elements. Nano-crystal anti-reflective coating is applied to the elements to improve contrast, reduce reflections and enhance light transmission. The product comes with a removable lens hood and 67 mm filter mount. Availability and pricing have yet to be confirmed.

Samyang has announced the new Samyang 8mm T3.1 UMC Fish-eye II V-DSLR lens. Also sold under the Rokinon brand name, the Samyang 8mm T3.1 UMC Fish-eye II is an updated, faster version of the Samyang 8mm T3.8 UMC Fish-eye CS II. The new lens features 11 elements in 8 groups (as opposed to 10 in 7 in the older version) courtesy of an extra aspherical lens element; and is available in Canon M, Fujifilm X, Samsung NX and Sony E mounts.

Want to see exactly what the new Kodak S-1 compact system camera looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Kodak S-1 compact system camera, including the black and white versions and the three new lenses (12-45mm, 42.5-160mm and 400mm fieldscope).

In a follow-up to Monday's teaser, Samyang today posted yet another mystery ad on its Facebook fan page. As you can see, this picture shows the outlines of not one but three products, all of which appear to be wide-angle or normal lenses with petal-shaped hoods.

Website: Samyang Optics - Facebook

Digital photography specialist Fujifilm, well known for its affordable yet powerful lenses, is currently offering brilliant deals on a number of products in its popular XF range.

Buyers of one XF lens can claim a cool £100 (or €120) cashback, while those who purchase a pair of lenses will get a bonus £100 cashback, making for a whopping total of £300 (€360) cashback.

By way of its Facebook page, Samyang has launched a teaser campaign for a new lens. Due to arrive on Friday 21st March, the new optic looks like a mystery product but our educated guess is that it might be the Samyang 10mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS CS ultra-wide angle lens that was originally due for a January/February launch.

The 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom is a new powerzoom lens for the Nikon 1 system. Equivalent to a 27-81mm lens on a 35mm camera, the 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom is equipped with a retractable lens mechanism and an electronic lens cover rather than a lens cap. The electric power-drive zoom and power zoom ring enable swift, smooth zooming, which is especially handy when filming. The lens will be available in a kit with the new Nikon 1 V3 compact system camera, or separately for £249.99 / €299.00 / $299.95.

The 1 Nikkor VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 is a new, 189–810mm equivalent super-telephoto zoom lens for the Nikon 1 system. In a first for a 1 Nikkor series lens, the Nikon 1 Nikkor VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 boasts a focus limit switch that lets you reduce focusing time when shooting within a specific distance range. Other features include Vibration Reduction (VR) and a retractable-lens mechanism that ensures easy portability between locations. Nikon’s Voice Coil Motor delivers fast, quiet auto focus, and the focus ring with M/A focus mode lets users make quick and precise manual focus adjustments during auto focus operation. The 1 Nikkor VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lens will be available for £879.99 / €1,029.00 / $999.95.

A district court in Tokyo, Japan, has ruled in Nikon's favour in a patent infringement lawsuit filed in 2011 against Sigma. Nikon claimed that a number of Sigma lenses infringed on some of its patents related to lens-based vibration reduction technology (VR). The court has ordered Sigma to pay 1.5 billion yen (14.5 million dollars) in compensation.

Source: Lexology

Want to see exactly what the new Kowa Prominar lenses look like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the new Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8, 12mm f/1.8 and 25mm f/1.8 Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Want to see exactly what the new Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the exciting new Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art lens for full-frame DSLR cameras.

Want to see exactly what the new Carl Zeiss Touit 50mm f/2.8 lens looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Carl Zeiss Touit 50mm f/2.8 lens mounted on a Sony A7R.

Want to see exactly what the new Panasonic GH4 compact system camera looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Panasonic GH4 compact system camera, including the YAGH interface grip,the metal chassis and an exploded view of the inside of the camera.

Panasonic were also exhibiting early samples of the Leica DG Summilux 15mm f/1.7 ASPH lens and a non-working protototype of an intriguing super-compact 35-100mm lens.

Want to see exactly what the new Tamron 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 VC PZD and 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lenses look like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of these new lenses, which are apparently the only ones in the world...

Canon UK has launched its Spring 2014 cashback promotion. Customers can claim up to £210 cashback on a range of Canon products including DSLRs, lenses, compact cameras, camcorders and Pixma PRO printers. The offer runs from 1 March 2014 to 7 May 2014 for eligible products purchased from UK or Republic of Ireland retailers

Nikon UK today launched its spring consumer promotion offering up to £120 cashback. Eligible products include selected digital SLR cameras, selected DX lenses, plus the SB-300 Speedlight. The offer is valid through 28 May 2014 and all claims must be received by 30 June 2014. For more details, visit the website below.

Japanese camera and imaging blog Egami has spotted Olympus patent applications for two 12mm  f/1 and two 14mm f/1 AF lenses. The Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system already offers an assortment of f/0.95 lenses, courtesy of Cosina and SLRmagic - but these are all manual-focus lenses, whereas the patent-pending Olympus designs would allow for the incorporation of auto focus. Filed on 19 August 2012 and published on 20 February 2014, these patent applications include elaborate technical drawings that reveal some extremely complex optical designs, prompting Egami to speculate that software correction might be necessary to elminate chromatic aberrations and geometric distortions. In addition to the two 12mm and two 14mm MFT lens designs, Olympus has also filed patent applications for similarly fast lenses intended for smaller-sensor cameras - a 9mm f/1 lens covering an 1" sensor and a 5.46mm f/0.95 lens matching a 1/1.7" imager.

Via IR

Fujifilm has posted firmware updates for three Fujinon lenses. Version 1.11 for the Fujinon XF55-200mm f3.5-48 R LM OIS, version 1.12 for the Fujinon XC16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OIS (pictured) and version 3.11 for the Fujinon XF18-55mm f2.8-4 R LM OIS improve the effectiveness of the optical image stabiliser when shooting stills or movies. Additionally, the upgrades for the 18-55mm and 55-200mm improve auto focus response when the lenses are used in combination with the Fujifilm X-T1 and X-E2 compact system cameras.

Website: Fujinon XF55-200mm f3.5-4.8 Firmware Version 1.11
Website: Fujinon XC16-50mm f3.5-5.6 Firmware Version 1.12
Website: Fujinon XF18-55mm f2.8-4 Firmware Version 3.11

Japanese optics manufacturer Kowa has unveiled three new 'Prominar' lenses for the Micro Four Thirds system. The Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8 MFT is a 17mm equivalent rectilinear lens with a surprisingly low amount of geometric distortion (0.12% barrelling). The Kowa Prominar 12mm f/1.8 MFT is a fast 24mm equivalent wide-angle lens, whilst the Kowa Prominar 25mm f/1.8 MFT is a 50mm equivalent "normal" prime. All three lenses have proper distance scales and aperture rings. Availability is slated for Summer 2014.

Cosina is set to release an updated version of the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0l95 Micro Four Thirds lens. This revised edition benefits from a new aperture control mechanism which allows the user to switch between "clicked" and stepless operation as required, just like the Voigtländer Nokton 42.5mm f/0.95 and Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95. Otherwise unchanged from the previous version, the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95 II is a manual-focus lens with an optical formula comprising 11 elements in 8 groups and a 10-bladed iris diaphragm. The new lens will go on sale in March 2014, priced at 105,000 yen.