New Olympus PEN cameras coming in May-June.

There is one big deal on the Olympus E-Pm2 double kit which now sells for $399 at Amazon. And the reason for such a great deal is simple: The successor will be announced sometimes between May and June!

A couple of store managers told us Olympus discontinued the E-PM2 and E-P5 cameras and they are now discounting these products to clear their stocks.

There is no info about the specs of the E-PM3 and E-P6 cameras but as usual with Olympus we can expect incremental changes only. Recently Olympus manager Watanabe also made it clear that the bets position for the EVF is in the middle of the camera in line with the optical axis. This rules out the possibility of a sort of “rangefinder styled” Pen camera.

Possible Nikon 1 V3 specs.

The possible Nikon 1 V3 design found in a Nikon patent (Source: Digifotopro).

Nikonrumors shared some possible specs about the soon to be announced new Nikon 1 V3 camera:

Completely new camera design
Very fast everything
18MP sensor
External (probably optional) 2.4MP electronic viewfinder (EVF)
Eye sensor and a button to switch between LCD and EVF
180° swivel LCD screen
New grip (also probably optional, not sure if it will have batteries)
New Nikkor 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD VR zoom lens
The official announcement will be in the next 1-2 months

 

First pictures of the Samsung NX mini!

NXrumors (translation here) posted the first pictures of the Samsung NX mini (ah NXF1). The specs also got leaked on a presentation PDF:

20 million pixels a “back-illuminated CMOS which appears to be the same used by the Sony RX100II.
Has a new sort of mini NX mount and comes with two lenses: 9mm and a 9-27mm lens
DRIMe 4 processor
1/16000s maximum shutter speed
3 “LCD IPS Screen swiveling Like MV800
Built-in flash
22fps continuous shooting
ISO 160-12800
1080p/30p video capabilities
Micro SD
Slim
Super continuous shooting capability

NXF1 thickness is less than 35mm, and the 9mm lens is only 12mm thick.

Announcement in less than one month! Price yet not unveiled.

Samsung to launch the NX mini, the world smallest interchangeable system camera?

An anonymous source just sent us this:

Yesterday I had my hands on Samsung NX mini. It will be definitely the smallest interchangeable lens camera currently on the market. It will feature:
– 1 inch BSI CMOS sensor 20.2MPx (probably the same as Sony RX10 / RX100M2)
– no build in flash
– menu doesn’t look like android at all
– now mount and 3 lenses (2 wide angle primes + kit)
– 180 degrees tilt screen (touch screen)
– electronic shutter 1/6000s
– will be available in: pink, mint, white, leather like brown and black color

From what i heard it will be launched within a month

 

Well if the rumor is correct this could become a nice system! A real compact system camera that fits in your pocket, with RX100 image quality and the unique advantage of having a lens mount.

What do you think, will Samsung succeed?

P.S.: The image on top shows the leaked name of the new camera: Samsung NXF1?

 

Olympus will likely not make a “rangefinder” designed EVF camera. Focus on f/1.0 lens instead.

Olympus manager Terada made it clear in that video interview that the EVF best position is on the lens axis. And this basically rules out the possibility for Olympus to make a PEN camera with an EVF in the corner just like the Panasonic GX7 or Fuji X-E2 cameras.

Olympus focus will be on the OMD development which basically saved Olympus financial results last year. And after the two next PRO lenses Olympus could focus on super fast primes. A very new patent published on February 20 shows an amazing 12 and 14mm f/1.0 prime lens (Source: Egami).

But what is the long term plan for Olympus? Fuji and Sony are releasing very strong competitors and Olympus needs to create something exciting to gain some market shares!