Is Pentax playing a game? A Kenko-Tokina and mirrorless connection

It’s todays news (Source: DC.watch) that Tokina is going to take over Kenko. At a first glance this is a not so spectacular news. But there are three things you should know:
1) First, at Photokina 2010 Kenko announced the development of a new Mirrorlesscamera with 1/2,33? size sensor (Click here to read the article on MirrorlessRumors).
2) The rumored Pentax NC-1 will feature the same 1/2,33? size sensor (Click here to read that article on MirrorlessRumors).
3) Hoya Corporation is the main glass supplier for Tokina, by manufacturing coated lens units according to Tokina specification and quality control standard. And in recent years, Tokina has become a partner of Pentax-Hoya.

This is one more proof of the close relationship between the Kenko and Pentax mirrorless concepts. And our sources told us that the Kenko camera displayed at the Photokina was just a mockup to see the customers reaction. So did Pentax play a “game” just to see if we like it or not?

EXCLUSIVE: Samsung goes medium format! Canon and Nikon should be worried!


My very good Samsung sources just unveiled a TERRIFIC news! It’s probably the rumor of the year and if it turns out to be true than Nikon and Canon should be worried! Since decades the pro market is in strong hand of the two giants. This could change soon thanks to Samsung. The leaked medium format camera will be announced for real! And I can already share the specs to you:

1) The camera uses a 36mm x 36mm square sensor!
2) Samsung developed three different sensors. One 18 Megapixel sensor and two different 34 Megapixel sensors.
3) The lens you can see on the picture is a manual focusing 24mm lens.
4) It has a shorter lens-sensor distance than other medium format cameras (Editor’s note: Probably because it’s mirrorless)
5) On the road… AF lenses, EVF and optional accessories like grip, flash and screen.
6) The development is under phase two (That means Protocol, Viability and Marketing). Phase three is when the final decision will be taken.

As you can see Samsung is pretty busy in developing a new system for pro Photographers. Square sensors have been pretty popular with medium format cameras like [shoplink 100117]Hassleblad (Click here to see them on eBay)[/shoplink]. A second source told us the Samsung MF camera will be cheaper than the which is priced at $9900 and at the same level of the high end fullframe cameras from Canon and Nikon ($6.000-$8000).

I will keep you updated with all news related to the Samsung MF camera! So keep following MirrorlessRumors.com! Do not miss any of our future rumors and news:
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Ken Rockwell likes the Fuji X100 (wants Fuji to make a fullframe camera)

[shoplink 100018 ebay][/shoplink]The “starblogger” Ken Rockwell felt in love with the [shoplink 100018 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink]. He keeps posting pictures and notes about the camera. I post a short excerpt of his impressions:
“Initial impressions are that it rules. Images are super-sharp, and look great even at ISO 800 and f/2. Except for some odd quirks like hard-crashing just like the LEICA M9 did in 2009, the X100 is a winner. As expected, it’s very Japanese: way too many features, menu BS and sloppy programming getting in the way of just shooting. The X100 has all the crazy film modes and tweaks of Fuji’s DSLRs. I’m hoping that once I select which of the 10,000 display modes suit me that it will be smooth. Since the makes such horrible JPGs and has such horrible auto WB and no blue/amber fine tuning, the JPGs out of the X100 are superior to the M9’s JPGs.“
He liked the camera such a lot that he invited Fuji to make a fullframe camera to rule out the Leica M9 :) Read more at www.kenrockwell.com!

The Fuji X100 is almost impossible to find in Stock. You can find some of them in auction on [shoplink 100018 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. But as usual price is much higher than the official 1200 Euro/Dollars!!!

Pentax NC-1 for $600?


According to a source from Photorumors the Pentax NC-1 mirrorless will cost $600. As I already told you it has a small 1/2,33? size sensor (that’s the size of the sensor in most compacts). It’s a 14 Megapixel 5.6x crop sensor. It can also record HD h.264 movies. Two lenses will be released along the NC-1. There will be a prime 8.5mm f/1.9 (almost 47mm equivalent) and a zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 (28-80mm equivalent).

Everything goes small: Sony NEX-C3, Panasonic GF3 and new Olympus PEN light!

In June there will be a triple announcement from Sony, Panasonic and Olympus. And all three companies are going to compete for the smalles mirrorless cameras race. So fix those dates in your calendar:

On June 3 Sony will announce the Sony NEX-C3. Smaller than the actual Micro Four Thirds cameras. It will have a new 16 Megapixel sensor but with HD recording only. But the biggest issue with Sony is that they don’t have an ultrasmall pancake like the Panasonci 14mm f/2.5 lens. So camera and lens combo will still be bigger than the Olympus and Panasonic smallest cameras.

One mid June Panasonic will announce the GF3. 15% smaller than the current GF2 and with the same G3 16 Megapixel sensor. Very touchscreen oriented, almsot no buttons.

On late June Olympus will announce the PEN light (name still not leaked). I don’t know yet if it will have in body image stabilization or not. If yes the than the camera will be probably thicker than the Sony and Panasonic cameras. And it sounds liek it will use an “upgraded” 12 Megapixel sensor.

That’s going to be abig battle! Who will be the winner? Hmmm, let’s not forget there is still a Samsung NX200 to come in July!