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Bringing worlds together: Canon adds three RF lenses to its EOS R system, expanding its hybrid range even further for video and stills creators

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2 years ago

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Canon

Agile, practical, and with a zoom range that professionals count on, the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Z is ideal for sport, wildlife, news and hybrid shooting where that extra flexibility and reach is important

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, November 4, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Canon (www.Canon-CNA.com) today announces three important new additions to its RF series of hybrid lenses; which join an ever-growing range of L-series primes and zooms for the EOS R system. The RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Z, RF 50mm F1.4L VCM and RF 24mm F1.4L VCM lenses are part of a new range of hybrid optics that offer essential video features such as a smooth operation iris ring with an 11-bladed circular aperture, fast and effective low light performance as well as advanced optics and minimal focus breathing – features that satisfy the demands of both photographers and videographers. Canon’s pioneering RF lens mount has made this hybrid lens technology possible and reflects the changing needs of the professional as the demand for a lens without compromise drives them to step into both worlds.

Agile, practical, and with a zoom range that professionals count on, the RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Z is ideal for sport, wildlife, news and hybrid shooting where that extra flexibility and reach is important. It offers professionals critical filmmaking features such as electronic parfocal performance and focus breathing suppression, plus servo zoom via optional Power Zoom Adapters, a built-in 5.5-stop Optical Image Stabiliser [1] and dedicated Iris Ring [2] for smooth aperture control. The lens is compatible with Canon’s optional RF extenders, too, and for smooth zooming the optional Power Zoom Adapters – PZ-E2 or PZ-E2B – can be used by hand or remotely via Canon’s Camera Connect / EOS Utility applications, Browser Remote function or over IP using Canon’s XC Protocol with compatible cameras. The PZ-E2B’s 20-pin interface also supports Canon’s Zoom Servo Grip for more comfortable control as well as Zoom/Focus demands for more studio-based applications.

The RF 50mm F1.4L VCM offers a very useful focal length and delivers exceptional sharpness and outstanding image quality, along with a pleasingly natural angle-of-view, close to that of the human eye, making it perfect for low light portraits, reportage or weddings and event videos with a cinematic look. It is also 40 percent lighter than the RF 50mm F1.2L USM, which will satisfy creators looking for a fast aperture prime with lightweight handling.

The RF 24mm F1.4L VCM, which is around 20 percent lighter than its EF predecessor, offers a wide focal length making it great for landscapes, architecture and interiors, plus environmental portraits, filmmaking and video interviews where showing the subject in context is important. The two primes are the same size and shape as the rest of the hybrid prime range, making them more convenient to use for video rigging.

The RF 50mm F1.4L VCM and RF 24mm F1.4L VCM are the same size as the other hybrid prime lens in the range – the RF 35mm F1.4L VCM – and both offer a fast f/1.4 aperture, which is a great advantage in low light, and with a Nano USM and Voice Coil Motor [3] the lenses excel with exceptionally fast autofocus and near-silent operation. They are also capable of working in challenging conditions, too, thanks to an L-series design [4] housing high-quality glass elements and a water-resistant rubber on the mount. A fluorine coating on the lens’ first surface prevents dirt sticking to the front elements while a dedicated Lens Control Ring, Iris Ring and customisable Lens Function Button bring advanced levels of personalised control.

Designed to reflect and satisfy the converging videos and stills market, all three of these new hybrid lenses – with their video features such as Iris Ring [2], minimal focus breathing and smooth focus – deliver new levels of creative control, with stunning image quality.

Key features of the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM Z: https://apo-opa.co/4fgYBj1

• Essential focal length range with a wide f/2.8 aperture throughout, for a wide variety of shooting scenarios

• Excellent image quality and weather sealing provide added durability – alongside sharp high-contrast images thanks to two Super UD lenses, one UD lens, three aspherical lenses plus ASC and Super Spectra coatings

• Professional electronic parfocal focus capability and focus breathing suppression maintains a consistent field-of-view when shooting movies

• Internal zoom operation means the barrel length is constant, which is better for rigging, weather resistance, and has a smoother operation

• Smooth iris ring operation has 32 steps between stops (no clicks) and a lock release switch for the ‘Auto’ position

• 11-blade circular aperture offers great artistic control of bokeh and highlights

• Choice of white heat-resistant coating or standard black

• Weight 1115g (white), 1110g (black) excluding tripod mount

• Measurements 88.5mm (w) x 199mm (L)

Key features of the Canon RF 50mm F1.4L VCM  https://apo-opa.co/3YRep6u

• Natural 50mm focal length with a fast f/1.4 aperture is ideal for shooting portraits and videos in low light and video with creative depth-of-field control

• Superb image quality thanks to two aspheric lens elements and a UD lens, plus Super Spectra and ASC coatings for excellent sharpness and contrast. L-series weather-sealing for professional durability in challenging conditions

• Smooth iris ring operation has 32 steps between stops (no clicks) and a lock release switch for the ‘Auto’ position

• 11-blade circular aperture offers great artistic control of bokeh and highlights

• VCM and Nano USM motors provide smooth, fast and quiet autofocus

• Custom button and control ring make it easy for customisation and control over camera settings

• Weight 580g

•  Measurements: Approx. 76.5x 99.3 mm

Key features of the Canon RF 24mm F1.4L VCM  https://apo-opa.co/3YPVXLh

• Wide 24mm focal length with a fast f/1.4 aperture is ideal for shooting interiors and landscapes in low light and video with creative depth-of-field control

• Excellent image quality is assured thanks to two UD lenses and one aspheric lens, plus Super Spectra, SWC and ASC coatings for superb sharpness and contrast. L-series weather-sealing offers professional durability in challenging conditions

• Smooth iris ring operation has 32 steps between stops (no clicks) and a lock release switch for the ‘Auto’ position

• 11-blade circular aperture offers strong artistic control of bokeh and highlights

• VCM and Nano USM motors deliver smooth, fast and quiet autofocus

• Custom button and control ring make it easy for customisation and control over camera settings

• Rear filter holder on back of the lens brings even greater creative control

• Weight 515 g

•  Measurements: Approx. 76.5x 99.3 mm

For more information about the new hybrid lenses, please visit:

https://apo-opa.co/4fgYBj1
https://apo-opa.co/3YRep6u
https://apo-opa.co/3YPVXLh

[1]  CIPA-2024 standard: At lens centre 5.5-stops, in the yaw/pitch directions at a focal length of 200 mm using an EOS R8.

[2]  Iris ring is inactive for controlling aperture in still photo shooting when using the lens with EOS R system cameras released before May 2024.

[3]  Important: the Voice Coil Motor (VCM) emits a low-level magnetic field. While generally safe to use, we advise consulting your doctor if you have a pacemaker or any other medical device to address any concerns.

[4] Although the lens features dust- and water-resistant construction, this cannot completely prevent dust or water droplets from entering the lens.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA).

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AFRICLOUD Opens Lagos Region and Local-Currency Payments in African Markets

Published

9 hours ago

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September 23, 2026

By

AFRICLOUD

The company’s third African region keeps Nigerian workloads in Nigeria, and customers from Abidjan to Nairobi can now pay in the currency they earn, without an international card

MIAMI BEACH, United States of America, September 23, 2026/APO Group/ –AFRICLOUD (https://AFRICLOUD.com), a cloud infrastructure company, has opened its third African region in Lagos and now accepts payment in local currency across West, Central, East and Southern Africa. Businesses across the continent can run servers in Nigeria, South Africa or Portugal from one account, and pay for them the way they already pay for everything else.

 




  

Download document (1): https://apo-opa.co/4Ardfz9

Download document (2): https://apo-opa.co/46FWH8Y

Buying cloud infrastructure in Africa has meant living with three compromises: traffic that leaves the continent and comes back, payment in dollars behind a card many businesses do not hold, and data sitting under somebody else’s law.

Lagos answers the first. Compute and storage for Nigerian customers stay in Nigeria, and the region also serves Accra, Abidjan, Lome, Douala and Ouagadougou. Traffic from landlocked West Africa that once reached comparable infrastructure by way of Europe now stays on terrestrial West African fibre. Johannesburg serves Southern and East Africa. Lisbon serves North Africa and Europe, and reaches Brazil over a direct subsea route. Across the three regions, AFRICLOUD’s own continent-wide measurements place 42 of the 53 African countries measured within a best-case round trip of 70 milliseconds, countries home to about 1.28 billion people.

A company in Accra or Abidjan now reaches West African infrastructure without leaving the region, and pays for it in the currency it earns

Payment answers the second. Customers across West, Central, East and Southern Africa pay in their own currency, including the naira, the cedi, the shilling and the CFA francs, by local card, bank transfer, USSD or mobile money, with no international card needed. Mobile money is live in twelve African countries, and cards, PayPal and more than 300 cryptocurrencies are accepted everywhere. The GSMA reports that 74 per cent of the world’s mobile money activity by transaction count took place in Africa in 2024.

Residency answers the third. Nigerian data runs under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, South African data under POPIA and European workloads under EU law, chosen server by server from the same dashboard.

“African businesses have been asked to choose between infrastructure that is close, infrastructure they can actually pay for, and infrastructure that keeps their data under their own law,” said Oluniyi Ajao, Founder of AFRICLOUD. “Removing that choice is the reason we built this.”

“Lagos is the piece that completes the map,” he said. “A company in Accra or Abidjan now reaches West African infrastructure without leaving the region, and pays for it in the currency it earns.”

All three regions run the same platform: AMD EPYC processors with all-NVMe storage, IPv4 and IPv6 on every server, and a new server online in about two minutes. Dedicated Servers are built to order in all three regions. Support is available around the clock by chat and email.

Cloud Servers are available now at https://AFRICLOUD.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of AFRICLOUD LLC.

 

 




 

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Hong Kong outlines strategies for deepening development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and enhancing green transformation

Published

13 hours ago

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September 23, 2026

By

Hong Kong

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 22 September 2026 – Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee announced the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) (2026-2030) and his fifth Policy Address on September 16, rolling out measures to further sharpen Hong Kong’s edge amid global competition, consolidate development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and promote green transformation.

Initiatives aim to support high-quality development of the GBA, align rules and mechanisms within the region, and promote cross-boundary collaboration.

 




 
 

“The HKSAR Government will continue its efforts in fostering synergistic development of the GBA,” said Mr Lee. “We will strengthen co‑operation in technological innovation, promote ‘hard connectivity’ in infrastructure, foster ‘soft connectivity’ by deepening the alignment of rules and mechanisms, and achieve ‘connectivity of hearts’ among residents of the three places.”

The HKSAR Government will continue to actively participate in the development of the various major co-operation platforms, including Qianhai of Shenzhen, Nansha of Guangzhou, Hengqin of Zhuhai and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Co-operation Zone, to promote mutual benefits.

In terms of “hard connectivity” the HKSAR Government will support Nansha in its role as a high‑standard gateway for opening up, including encouraging the trade to participate in Nansha’s infrastructure development.

“To promote the co‑ordinated development of rail transit in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, we are pressing ahead with the Northern Link Project and the Hong Kong‑Shenzhen Western Rail Link (Hung Shui Kiu‑Qianhai), with target commissioning in 2034 and 2035 respectively, to fully connect the rail transit networks of Hong Kong and Shenzhen,” Mr Lee said.

Regarding “soft connectivity”, Mr Lee said the HKSAR Government will set up a Task Force to explore ways to advance the alignment of rules and mechanisms within the GBA.

To achieve “Connectivity of Hearts” among residents across the GBA, Hong Kong will strengthen co-operation between its higher education institutions and those in other GBA cities by establishing cross‑disciplinary partnerships, facilitating scientific research, knowledge transfer, and commercialisation, with a view to promoting high‑level research.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Janice Tse, noted that the First Five-Year Plan clearly states that Hong Kong will participate in the development of the GBA into an international first‑class bay area and a world‑class city cluster with global influence.

“Hong Kong will forge closer alignment and synergy with the nine GBA cities in Guangdong Province and Macao, making full use of our respective advantages to jointly promote the high-quality development of the GBA,” Miss Tse said.

To foster financial development in the GBA, Hong Kong will continue to capitalise on institutional innovation, financial infrastructure upgrading and enhanced regulatory alignment to encourage the orderly flow of financial elements among GBA cities.

The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s Core Climate, in collaboration with the Guangzhou Power Exchange Centre, is working towards the pilot trading of national renewable‑energy, green electricity certificates in Hong Kong in 2026.

“On connecting the Chinese Mainland and the world, the HKSAR Government will continue to support green technology development through the HK$400 million (aboutUS$51 million) Green Tech Fund, leveraging Hong Kong’s function as a springboard for green technology and assisting national green technologies and products in going global,” said Hong Kong’sSecretary for Environment and Ecology, Tse Chin-wan. “On the development of hydrogen energy, we have participated in drafting national hydrogen energy standards with a view to helping these standards align with international practice.”

To meet the country’s “dual carbon” targets and fulfil Hong Kong’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality before 2050, the HKSAR Government steered the establishment of a production base for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Dongguan, leveraging the leading position of Hong Kong enterprises in the international SAF industry.

“By combining technology strengths with industrial foundation, Hong Kong and Guangdong will jointly develop a globally influential green industry,” Mr Lee said.

The HKSAR Government will take forward the construction of an SAF blending facility in Hong Kong to build an end‑to‑end SAF value chain and reduce logistics costs to make SAF prices more competitive. The target is to achieve an SAF consumption ratio of 1% to 3% for flights departing from Hong Kong International Airport in 2030.

Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan promotes the integrated development of culture, sports, and tourism, to develop the GBA into a cultured bay area.

Under the strategic framework of the Agreement on Strengthening of Sports Cooperation and Promotion of Integrated Development, Hong Kong will deepen co-operation, and strive to co‑organise important regional and international single‑sport events. It will also strengthen cultural exchanges, pass on Cantonese opera and the characteristics of Lingnan culture, and promote the sales and cross‑boundary exhibition of Hong Kong publications.
 




 

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Alamein Africa Forum to bring together key political and business leaders

Published

14 hours ago

on

September 23, 2026

By

Alamein

The forum is to become the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future

CAIRO, Egypt, September 22, 2026/APO Group/ –The inaugural Alamein Africa Forum (https://AlameinForum.com/) will take place from October 2-4 in the historic city of Alamein on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in parallel with the 2026 African Union mid-year summit.

Established in response to a mandate from the African Union, which called for a permanent African Business Forum to convene biennially in Egypt, the inaugural edition will bring together Heads of State and official delegations as well as some key actors in business and finance.
 




 

The forum is to become the continent’s premier gathering where political power meets entrepreneurial prowess, bridging the established engines of African growth with the new sectors defining its future.

The Alamein Africa Forum will serve as a pan-African platform bringing together the private sector, investment and financial institutions

The Presidents of Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Libya, Senegal, Somalia, and South Africa are expected in Alamein as well as President Al Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt who is the host of this year’s AU Mid-Year Summit. Business leaders from across the continent have confirmed their participation including Ralph Mupita, MTN; Idrissa Nassa, Coris Bank; Mohamed El Ketani, Attijariwafa Bank; Hichem Eloumi, Groupe Shakira; Wale Tinubu, Oando; and many more. Aliko Dangote, Africa’s biggest industrialist is also expected to attend, with the organisers hoping to set up a Business Advisory Council to help advance private sector priorities and investment throughout the continent.

Bringing together leaders in politics, business and policy from across the continent, the Alamein Africa Forum will provide a unique opportunity to shape Africa’s growth agenda by aligning policy and investment priorities, mobilising partnerships for implementation and strengthening financing and investment pathways. The private sector must become an integral part of Agenda 2063, the AU’s strategic 50 year masterplan to transform the continent.

Co-organised by the Government of Egypt, Afreximbank, the African Union and AUDA-NEPAD, the Forum brings together Africa’s most influential decision-makers in an unprecedented alliance of public and private sector leadership.

Speaking on the imperative of the summit at a joint press conference by the government of Egypt and Afreximbank on Thursday, September 17 2026, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Expatriates Abroad said (https://apo-opa.co/4ygiQag): “The Alamein Africa Forum will serve as a pan-African platform bringing together the private sector, investment and financial institutions, and representatives of various productive and service sectors, to strengthen direct links between companies and markets and decision making at the highest level.”

Continuing, he noted that the Alamein Africa Forum is part of a series of high-level African events that Egypt will host in early October, stressing that holding the forum reflects Egypt’s commitment to advancing continental economic cooperation

In his own comments, Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank described (https://apo-opa.co/4ygiQag) the Alamein Africa Forum as a pan-African platform for promoting intra-African trade and investment and connecting the business community and financial institutions with priority projects and investment opportunities in the continent.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Alamein Africa Forum.

 




 

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