Sunday, November 04, 2012

"X" is the new "D"

This review of the new Panasonic 38-100mm 2.8 lens has a good one:

For the purists who are going to point out the real name is the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 XOIS, I think we’ve reached the point where we can assume any product remotely connected with photography has an X in its name somewhere. Maybe if we all quit mentioning that letter, they’ll stop using it. Twenty years from now, young photographers will make fun of us old-timers by saying things like “you’re still shooting with X equipment, aren’t you?” A century from now they’ll describe the timeline of photography as the wet plate era, the film era, the digital era, and the X era.

LOL. No kidding, it's totally ridic how every new camera this year, especially the ones which are actually interesting, has an X in the name. And who can remember the difference between Canon's X-Pro 1 and Fuji's Pro-X1, or GXpro, or XG-1, or what the heck it was.     :-)

Thank god at least one of the very most interesting cameras was not infected with the X-Men syndrome: Olympus OM-D E-M5. They just settled for giving it two bland names instead. D for digital, E for electronic. Woa, mind-blowing. Great camera though. 


I remember many years ago Canon had an experimental camera, named "Canon Frog". Well, there's a memorable name, that wasn't so hard was it? 

7 comments:

ttl said...

I think I'm going to sit this one out, and wait for the Y-equipment to hit the store shelves.

Still naming things with Xs is better than Apple calling their old iPad The New iPad.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah, I won't argue with that.
(And the iPad 4, a minor update, is called "iPad with Retina Display". Does this mean the Mini will never have a R display? I doubt it. Wonder what they'll call the big iPad then?)

I hear the Y cameras will have two lenses, pointed in slightly different directions, hence the "Y".

emptyspaces said...


I wish camera manufacturers would give all the cameras in their line a name, like car manufacturers. The alphabet soup thing is confusing, especially (as you point out) if they're all using the same part of the alphabet.

I guess Canon has the Rebel line, but even that is called Kiss elsewhere in the world.

TC [Girl] said...

Wonder what they'll call the big iPad then?

'The MAXI...Pad,' of COURSE! :-D (sorry...couldn't help myself! :-)

--

I guess Canon has the Rebel line, but even that is called Kiss elsewhere in the world.

Interesting. Kind of funny. Wonder why it's called that, elsewhere. I wonder if it stands for [a variation of] K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple (in this case), Stupid :-)

Timo Lehtinen said...

I guess Canon has the Rebel line, but even that is called Kiss elsewhere in the world.

But car manufacturers also operate like this. Vauxhall in the UK; Opel elsewhere in the world.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Wow, I never knew a Vauxhall was an Opel.

(My dad had an Opel Record for many years with storage in the back. He drove the heck out of it because he was a house painter. I guess it was a good solid car!)

I guess the name differences is to avoid unauthorized import between continents. But it is confusing in the modern world. In europe the Rebel/Kiss is just "D300" or "D400".
With the omnipresent IOS in front. I don't know why they keep this, I doubt many knows which difference there is between an IOS camera and a non-IOS camera, if any.

It's even more confusing when they change whatever they had signalled. For example, Nikon cameras for many years had two digits if they were mid-range, and three if they were entry-range. But now some mid-level Nikons has three or four digits.

And the Panasonic GF3 is not really a continuation of the GF2 and 1, the GX1 is closer to that. Why oh why.

ttl said...

'The MAXI...Pad,' of COURSE! :-D (sorry...couldn't help myself! :-)

Apparently, Steve didn't like the Maxi Pad joke. But feel free to help yourself.

Wow, I never knew a Vauxhall was an Opel.

Venture out of the your apartment sometime, and you'll see. ;-) There should be a parking lot nearby. No need to go to Uttoxeter or anything.