Multiple new compact digital cameras have been leaked via Amazon and the Panasonic RSS feed. Included are new additions to the LZ, TZ, and FX series Panasonics. Learn more about them at the excellent 1001 Noisy Cameras blog.

Missing amongst the leaks is any news of an update to the DMC-LX series, which I personally find the most interesting amongst current Panasonic offerings. For "serious" use, the LX series is distinguished from other Panasonic compact lines by inclusion of RAW capability and fully manual controls. Sadly, a search for "LX4" on Amazon is unrevealing. Hopefully we'll see an update to the LX3 before PMA is through.

When the Rebel XT was released with 10MP, there was an immediate reaction in the DPReview 10D/20D/30D forum. How could Canon put a 10MP in the entry level body and leave the 30D stranded with just 8MP? In time, it became clear that the extra 2MP adds very little to resolution while the decreased pixel size, or rather sensel size, adds a touch more noise at high ISOs. Needless to say Canon puts a number of capabilities in the X0D series that don't make it into the Rebel series. Higher frames per second in burst, better autofocus, more metering modes, larger, brighter viewfinders, and more robust shutter mechnisms to name just a few. Yet with each generation, the feature gap between these classes shrinks. With the original Digital Rebel, Canon literally handcapped the camera in software in order to preserve 10D sales. The latest Rebel gets spot metering, a sophisticated AF system, larger OVF than before (though still mirror rather than prism), and even highlight tone priority! All this plus 12MP (the 40D has 10MP) and contrast detection AF in live view! Thus the 40D user outcry at having been jipped in the megapixel race was expected and even somewhat understandable. What's interesting is that just as multiple threads are popping up in the 40D forum, with one new 40D user actually crying about it, prospective Rebel XSi buyers are complaining about the pixel packing in the Rebel forums. If we assume that the Rebel Xsi and 40D have similar sensor technologies and equal quality low pass (AA) filters - and neither of those is truly a safe bet at this point - then a couple conclusions follow. In good light, with a good lens, the Xsi should be capable of capturing a touch more detail than the 40D. In low light at high ISO, the 40D ought to fare a bit better. Neither of those advantages will be very significant, and the difference in dynamic range corresponding to such a small change in sensel size is negligible.

Assuming Canon hasn't put a crappy AA filter in the Rebel XSi, it should be pretty sweet for focal length-limited shots of distant birds in flight. If light is good, an XSi user should be able to get significantly more pixels on a distant bird than a 1D III user with the same lens. The particular lens that springs to mind for this application is the 400mm f/5.6L, which should pack enough resolution to take advantage of each one of those little pixels. Click here for a great illustration of the "crop factor" at work, and keep in mind that the advantage shown for the 20D compared with the 1D II on that site should be even greater with the XSi compared with the 1D III. Highlight tone priority is another welcome addition that should come in handy with bird photography, where white feathers often present an exposure challenge. I think the XSi is exactly what I've been waiting for in a wildlife camera.

Now that is a camera. Taken in 1911, this is one of 3,115 Library of Congress (LOC) photos now available on Flickr. From the LOC blog:

That’s why it is so exciting to let people know about the launch of a brand-new pilot project the Library of Congress is undertaking with Flickr, the enormously popular photo-sharing site that has been a Web 2.0 innovator. If all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity. In many senses, we are looking to enhance our metadata (one of those Web 2.0 buzzwords that 90 percent of our readers could probably explain better than me).

The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.

The real magic comes when the power of the Flickr community takes over. We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images.

We’re also very excited that, as part of this pilot, Flickr has created a new publication model for publicly held photographic collections called “The Commons.” Flickr hopes—as do we—that the project will eventually capture the imagination and involvement of other public institutions, as well.

Offering historical photograph collections through Flickr gives the Library of Congress a welcome opportunity to share some of our most popular images with a new visual community.

We invite you to tag and comment on the photos, and we also welcome identifying information—many of these old photos came to us with scanty descriptions!

To view the photos on Flickr, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/Library_of_Congress. You do not need a Flickr account to view the images; you would need to sign up for a free account to add comments or tags.

We are offering two sets of digitized photos: the 1,600 color images from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information and about 1,500 images from the George Grantham Bain News Service. Why these photos? They have long been popular with visitors to the Library; they have no known restrictions on publication or distribution, and they have high resolution scans. We look forward to learning what kinds of tags and comments these images inspire.

Leica is working hard to develop a full-frame digital M9, an autofocus R10 (SLR), and a compact digital M. So says Die Welt, a reputable German newspaper. Click here for the original article in German or here for an unusually good Google translation. Many, citing technical obstacles and lack of need, have expressed doubt that Leica would ever create a full-frame (35mm) digital M. Ever since the release of the 1.3x crop M8, I've considered the development of a full frame digital M to be inevitable, dependent only on two things - Leica's survival as a company and time.

I learned of the article via this thread at RangefinderForum.com.

The Canon 50mm f/1.2L is a remarkable lens. I won't go on and on about it since I'm not a lens expert. However, in my unqualified opinion, the 50/1.2L has to be one of the all-time great 50mm lenses in 35mm photography. The knock on the Canon 50L (besides it being somewhat "uncool" to be a Canon in a Canon-dominated world) is that it suffers a noticeable degree of focus shift. That is to say that at close focus distances, the focal plane at higher f-numbers (smaller apertures) is closer than the focal plane at f/1.2. Since the camera focuses each lens at full aperture, the result is that close range images at higher f-numbers end up out of focus (back focused). Apparently this degree of focus shift is the result of uncorrected spherical aberration. I assume the same uncorrected spherical aberration helps explain the excellent job this lens does with rendering out-of-focus background elements. With its modern C-Sonnar T* 1,5/50 ZM (the early version of which HCB used on his Leica M bodies), Zeiss describes focus shift more as a feature than a shortcoming. Click here to see a good demonstration of focus shift from the Sonnar. However, those who complain about the Canon 50mm f/1.2L suggest that Canon ought to have used a floating lens element to correct for near focus performance, just as they did with the 35mm f/1.4L and 85mm f/1.2L.

An alternate solution for the 50L focus shift - that Canon address it with a firmware update - was proposed some time ago by Joe Mama in the DPReview forums. At the time, I thought it was an excellent idea; but I wasn't convinced that it could be done. Lately I've been reading more about older film cameras and came across some interesting information about a relatively inexpensive autofocus film camera, the Konica Hexar AF (http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Konica_Hexar). The Hexar had a built-in 35mm f/2 lens that is said by some to have equalled or surpassed the best Leica had to offer at this focal length. Konica decided to leave a fair amount of uncorrected spherical aberration in this lens, which apparently contributed both to sharpness wide open and extremely good handling of bokeh at the expense of significant focus shift (http://wiki.silvergrain.org/wiki/index.php/Konica_Hexar). Their solution for the focus shift was to simply have the on-board computer adjust the AF in an aperture-specific manner.

Adding a floating lens element to correct for near focus would likely add to the cost, and potentially also the size, of the 50L. Seems to me that in this era of autofocus, the software route is even more elegant than the optical fix. Konica did this in 1993. Fifteen years later, I think Joe had it right. Canon should be able to manage this with a firmware update.