Case in point: the new G2 Contax camera which is the new flagship camera in the Contax G System. It may look like the original G1 and feel just as good in the hand, but the G2 is a much faster focusing camera that relies on a combination of passive and active auto focus to achieve its speed. I use the G1 on the road and can tell you there is quite a difference in not only how quickly it focuses, but how fast the motor advances the film - which is now up to 4fps - and in how much brighter the viewfinder is. The manual focusing is also easier with the addition of a wheel control on the front of the camera.

There are new lenses as well.

A 21mm f/2.8 AF Zeiss Biogon, which requires the use of a shoe mounted viewer with which to compose, like the 16mm. A fast 35mm f/2 AF viewfinder viewing lens. And more powerful flash and data back rounds out this major upgrading of the G System.

In regards to "wider," the question is "How much wider?"

Bronica ETR and SQ camera users will be happy to hear that they can now push their images out to 108 degrees of diagonal view with a new semi-fisheye, the Zenzanon PE-30mm f/3.5 for the 6x4.5cm shooters and a 35mm version with the same specs for 6x6cm users.

Tamron-Bronica also showed a new zoom - the first for any Bronica cameras - a highly corrected, 100-220mm f/4.8 Aspherical (IF) for ETR users.

Speaking of zooms, Nikon users can now purchase an 80-200mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor zoom with a built-in tripod collar! Nikon also showed their new 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6D IF AF zoom.

Also among the medium format offerings is the "world's second medium format auto focus camera" from the people who gave us the first one: Fuji. It is basically a wider version of the original GA645, and is called the GA645W, and has a 45mm f/4 lens instead of the 60mm focal length of the GA645.

There is an old name in 35mm photography reappearing as a new name and new format. It's the Alpa of Switzerland and the camera is a very handholdable ALPA 12 Prototype. This uncoupled rangefinder, 6x4.5cm format camera take 120/220 roll film and is said to be capable of taking "nearly every Zeiss/Hasselblad CF lens" between 40-180mm. This is not a mass produced camera, hence the name Prototype, and the film is manually advanced via a side crank.

Coming tomorrow: Leica's new R8!