Leica officially announced the new M10-P andit’s available for preorder at Bhphoto.

You can read everything about it at leica-camera.com/Photography/Leica-M/Leica-M10-P.

The now deas Nikon 1 system

I am super happy Nikon is finally launching their new FF mirrorless. But now it’s time to honor all Nikon manager statements of the past that tried to play down the importance of the mirrorless revolution. This is not a anti-Nikon bashing post. All mangers do talk bullshit from time to time. But still, its just funny to read them now :)

April 2011 Nikon interview on Amateur Photographer:

“The success of compact system camera sales is taking away from the compact camera market, not from digital SLRs”

December 2013 Nikon interview on DC:watch:

“Classic Design and Big Sensor trend of mirrorless cameras from other manufacturers are more or less just “hype”.

September 2014 Nikon interview on Amateur Photographer:

“mirrorless is on a very small scale [in relation] to the size of the [overall] market. DSLR offer advantages over CSCs, in terms of AF speed, tracking and ‘reliability of the life cycle’.”

April 2015 Nikon interview on Dpreview:

“We still believe that Nikon 1 has room for further evolution. This is the area we want to put effort in to, rather than making bigger sensor mirrorless cameras.”

January 2016 Nikon press conference video (watch from minute 8) where they explain once more why DSLR are much better than mirrorless.

October 2016 Nikon interview at Dpreview:

“Some manufacturers have tried to enter the DSLR market with their mirrorless camera or something. Our standpoint is different. Because our product mix covers full-frame and APS-C DSLR and the Nikon 1, these three product categories mean we offer to the full lineup and we receive each customer’s good reactions.“

Join our Nikon mirrorless facebook group

Samyang just announced the new 85mm f/1.8 manual focus lens designed purely for mirrorless APS-C cameras. The lens will be available in September for Sony E, Fujifilm X, Canon M, and Micro-Four-Thirds. This is the press text:

Samyang unveils the MF 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS lens for mirrorless cameras with APS-C crop sensors

Samyang Optics launches a new manual-focus lens for mirrorless shooters: The MF 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS is designed for use with APS-C sensor mirrorless cameras in the following mounts: Sony E, Fujifilm X, Canon M, and Micro-Four-Thirds. It is competitively priced and light-weight. This medium telephoto lens inherits the renowned image quality of Samyang’s manual focus series and also boasts beautiful out of focus bokeh and availability for a variety of cameras.

Ideal portrait lens, with a fast, bright maximum aperture…

This manual-focus 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS lens is a medium telephoto lens, with a similar angle of-view to a 135mm lens when compared to full-frame cameras. The Samyang MF 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS is designed with 9 lens elements in 7 groups and it delivers high resolution from the centre to the corners of the image. A high-refractive and an extra-low dispersion element, along with Ultra Multi-Coating (UMC) help minimise chromatic aberrations and deliver clear, vibrant images. This lens is ideal for portraits, with beautiful bokeh from its floating-element system. Its low-light performance and shallow depth-of-field are especially useful features. mirrorlessrumors

Wide range of uses, with crystal-clear resolution…

The compact and light-weight design offers the portability and comfort needed for a long day’s shooting. This lens would be the ideal choice for keen photographers who want to capture everyday moments in high-resolution. The Samyang MF 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS has a host of features including its outstanding optical performance. Its wide range of uses include portraits and other close-ups such as food, as well as landscapes and many other situations.

More fun with Manual Focus lenses…

The MF 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS lens is perfect for shooters who want to have more involvement and express their own characteristics through their images. The Samyang MF 85mm F1.8 ED UMC CS weighs in at just over 300g and measures approximately 8cm long (without the hood and lens caps). Photographers can expect superb, emotional and unique images from this compact companion.

Price: suggested retail price £319.99

Availability: from September 2018

via Photographyblog

Today Nikon launched it’s last teaser video for the new Nikon Z camera. And it’s clear the focus is on FAST lenses. They make it clear this system is made for them and I don’t know if that one image at the end may be the real 58mm f/0,95 lens or not…

Join our Nikon mirrorless facebook group

A chart summarizing Sony’s rapid growth in the Full-frame market

Seems like Sony is eager to counterattack the Nikon FF mirrorless launch press coverage. Today they announced that they are now number one in the USA Full Frame camera market. Based on dollar and unit sales between Jan. – June 2018 they lead ahead of Canon and Nikon.

But will it last? Both Canon and Nikon will answer soon. And as we have seen on the Japanese market even a not so perfect EOS-M50 was able to take over the mirrorless market lead pretty quickly!

This is the Sony press text:

Sony Celebrates No.1 Overall Position in U.S. Full-frame Cameras with Launch of Historic “Be Alpha” Campaign
— The Leader in Full-frame Empowers Creators of all Types to Continue to Innovate, to Lead, to Push the Limits, to “Be Alpha” —

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 15, 2018 – Sony Electronics, Inc. – a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer – today announced that it has overtaken and held the No. 1 overall position in the United States full-frame interchangeable lens camera market in the first half of 2018, in both dollars and units (1). In fact, four out of every 10 full-frame cameras sold during this time period have come from the Sony brand (1).

Additionally, Sony has announced that within the overall mirrorless market, it has held the No. 1 position in both dollars and units for more than six years (2). These strong results can be attributed to the company’s leadership in transitioning the market from older DSLR technology to next-generation mirrorless cameras.

Much of Sony’s recent success has been driven by sales of the acclaimed ?7R III and ?7 III models, as well as the rapid adoption of the ?9 camera amongst professional sports photographers and photojournalists. The brand’s extremely active community has played a major part as well, as evidenced by the strong engagement on key social platforms like Instagram, where the official @SonyAlpha page has just surpassed the coveted one million followers count.

As a celebration of these historic achievements, Sony has announced the launch of its extensive “Be Alpha” campaign that will connect creators of all types with the brand and its ever-growing roster of talented photographers and videographers.

“We’re extremely proud of achieving No. 1 overall share in Full-frame cameras in the US market, as well as holding a strong No. 1 share in the mirrorless market for six years running” said Neal Manowitz, vice president of Digital Imaging at Sony Electronics. “More than anything, we owe this to our community. It is our pleasure to create for you, the true creators. You pushed us to innovate, to change, to continually adapt, and your voice remains core to everything we do.”

Manowitz added, “To ‘Be Alpha’ is to be a leader, to be an innovator, to stand out amongst the crowd. It represents everything we stand for as a brand. Our campaign will celebrate the extended Sony community, while also shining a light on the topics that that we are most passionate about – diversity, conservation, equality and much more.”

Sony’s “Be Alpha” movement will be headlined by a series of community events in major markets throughout North America in 2018 and beyond, beginning with the official launch event on August 19, World Photography Day, in New York City. The campaign will encourage all creators to get involved by sharing their own “Be Alpha” content on all relevant social platforms while tagging #BeAlpha.

The “Be Alpha” campaign will also feature programs that are designed to foster growth in both the current and next generations of imaging professionals, the most notable of which being the flagship “Alpha Female” program. This multi-tiered, female exclusive program is Sony’s thoughtful response to the imaging industry’s well-documented diversity challenges. It will include a variety of grants and mentorship opportunities for female photographers and videographers, as well as the production of several large-scale industry events. Additional details to be released soon.

All key information regarding Sony’s “Be Alpha” movement, including the campaign launch video, will be hosted at www.alphauniverse.com/BeAlpha. This page will be continually updated with information on new events, content pieces and more.

A variety of additional stories and exciting new content shot with Sony products can be found at www.alphauniverse.com, Sony’s community site built to educate, inspire and showcase all fans and customers of the Sony ? brand.

–

1, Source: The NPD Group, Inc., U.S. Retail Tracking Service, Detachable Lens Camera, Sensor Size: Full Frame, Based on dollar and unit sales, Jan. – June 2018.

2, Source: Sony internal historical data sources.

3, Source: The NPD Group, Inc., U.S. Retail Tracking Service, Detachable Lens Camera, Sensor Size: Full Frame, Based on dollar sales, Jan.- Dec. 2017 vs. Jan.- Dec. 2016.

4, Source: The NPD Group, Inc., U.S. Retail Tracking Service, Detachable Lens Camera, Sensor Size: Full Frame, Based on adjusted dollar sales, Jan.- June 2018 vs. Jan.- June 2017. Sales are adjusted for 5wk Jan. 2018 vs. 4wk Jan. 2017.

So let’s make a resumme of the latest Nikon projects:

– The Nikon 1 failed on the market
– The Nikon DL born dead
– Nikon Keymission failed miserably

I wonder if the Nikon managers who worked hard to convince nikon to make these projects are still working for Nikon. Nikon really tried hard to NO make a FF mirrorless for a long time :)

But I am sure their new Nikon FF mirrorless cameras will be good. After all they have to just copy the good from Sony (autofocus and sensor performance) and avoid the bad from Sony (no real weather sealing, horrible menu and stupid ergonomics).

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via Dpreview