A round-up of professionally-enticing new releases from Photokina: Lexar’s  microSDXC UHS, JumpDrive products… Leica announces 50mm SL Summilux lens… SanDisk shows off 1TB SDXC card prototype… Three new Olympus lenses… Elinchrom expands EL-Skyport to Olympus

Lexar launches 256GB microSDXC, JumpDrive products
Lexar has unveiled a 256GB microSDXC UHS-I (U3) memory card and two new JumpDrive products with micro-USB and USB Type-C connectors.

The new 256GB capacity card is capable of recording up to 36 hours of HD video, ideal for aerial camera enthusiasts who too often have to carry multiple memory cards for extended use. It also offers UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) video recording speeds, ideal for capturing extended lengths of 4K video. The microSDXC card comes with a USB 3.0 reader, which allows for quick and easy file transfer from the card to a PC or Mac computer.

Lexar also announced two high-performance storage solutions to easily transfer and share content between devices with USB Type-C or micro-USB port. The Lexar JumpDrive C20c USB Type-C flash drive (USB-C) and JumpDrive C20m micro-USB flash drive are the newest products to join the premium suite of C-series mobile products, including the Lexar JumpDrive C20i flash drive.

Both drives utilise USB 3.1 (Gen 1) performance for fast file transfer, with speeds up to 150MB/s read and 60MB/s write. They are compatible with PC and Mac systems and backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and 2.0 devices, and will be available in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB.
Available ‘soon’.

Leica 50mm SL Summilux lens
The Leica Summilux-SL 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH is the first prime lens for the Leica SL-System. Its large maximum aperture makes the high performance lens the ideal partner in situations with challenging lighting conditions and enables the use of shallow depth of focus as a creative tool.

Fast, precise and reliable autofocusing allow photographers to concentrate fully on composition and creativity rather than on the search for optimum sharpness. When shooting at maximum aperture, the combination of its resolving power and soft bokeh in unsharp areas clearly isolates subjects from their surroundings. Uniform contrast rendition throughout the focusing range applies at all distance settings.
Click here for press release

Sandisk 1TB SDXC prototype
It won’t be available soon, but Western Digital (WD) – which has acquired SanDisk – is using Photokina to show off a the first 1TB SD card.

Since the introduction of the 512GB SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I Memory Card at Photokina 2014, WD has nearly doubled the capacity in the same SD card form factor using proprietary technology.

With increasing demand for high resolution content, such as 4K and 8K, the company has anticipated that 1TB cards will be sought after in the future.

Three new Olympus lenses
Three new lenses have been announced by Olympus at Photokina, a 30mm f3.5 Macro, a super-fast 25mm f/1.2 Pro prime, and a 12-100mm f4.0 Pro zoom.

The M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm f/1.2 Pro is a fast standard prime lens (equivalent to 50mm in 35mm format). It comprises 19 elements and includes eight special elements (among them Super ED lens and ED lenses plus E-HR and HR elements) that suppress all types of aberrations.
It will be available in October for a cool $1999.
Click here for full press release

The M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f4 IS Pro lens is a professional zoom lens with dustproof, splashproof and freezeproof construction, and constant f4 maximum aperture. The optical design include special lenses such as DSA (Dual Super Aspherical) lenses, ED lenses, and Super HR lenses to minimise aberrations. Something called Z Coating Nano technology suppresses ghosting and flare. In-lens image stabilisation and the Olympus 5-axis sync IS, working with the camera’s in-body stabilisation, provides a claimed 6.5 EV compensation performance.

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-100mm f4.0 PRO Lens will be on sale from October 2016 at an RRP of $1799.
Click here for full press release.

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 30mm f/3.5 Macro can focus as close as 9mm and has a top magnification of 1.25x (2.5x in 35mm). It has a circular aperture diaphragm for pleasing bokeh, and a high-speed focus system. It has a working distance of 14 mm for true 1:1 macro shooting, but can also be used as a general-purpose lens. It supports the 5-axis Image Stabilisation of the OM-D and Pen cameras.  Inner focusing ensures the physical lens length does not change. The new 30mm f3.5 Macro will be available in October for an RRP of $399.
Click here for full press release.

…And Elinchrom expands EL-Skyport to Olympus
Olympus shooters using Elinchrom lighting can now control power settings from a EL-Skyport transmitter.

The Large LCD display of the EL-Skyport HS features two-way control that lets photographers see the exact power of up to 10 compatible Elinchrom lights in a setup on the transmitter. Users can control the modelling lamp and power of each flash unit directly from the EL-Skyport transmitter, which instantly shows the updated settings. This provides a system for every light in your setup, right from the camera.
Click here for the press release.