Today Sony issued an official press text which is going to worry the two companies that still are more or less ignoring the professional mirrorless market:

Here is the Press text:

SAN DIEGO, April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Electronics – a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer, has announced today that their continued growth has vaulted them into the #2 overall position in the U.S. full-frame interchangeable lens camera market. ¹

Sony’s interchangeable lens cameras and lenses have seen record sales in 2017, in particular within the U.S. full-frame camera market, where they have experienced double-digit growth (+23%) ² compared to the same period last year.  The popularity of key models including ?7RII and ?7SII has been paramount to this success.

Additionally, Sony’s rapid growth has helped to drive growth of the overall full-frame interchangeable lens camera market compared to the same period last year.  Without Sony’s contributions, the full-frame market would be facing a slight decline. ³

“Our commitment to the industry is stronger than ever,” said Neal Manowitz, VP of Digital Imaging at Sony North America. “We are always listening to our customers, combining their feedback with our intense passion for innovation to deliver products, services and support like no other.”

A variety of exclusive stories and exciting content shot 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.

Notes to Editors

¹The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service, U.S., Detachable Lens Camera, Full Frame, Based on Dollars, Jan- Feb 2017
²The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service, U.S., Detachable Lens Camera, Full Frame, Based on Dollars, Jan/Feb 2016- Jan/Feb 2017
³The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service, U.S., Detachable Lens Camera, Full Frame, Based on Dollars, Jan/Feb 2016- Jan/Feb 2017

The Japanese organization CIPA published the new February camera shipment data. And the good news continues. After January also February is showing a higher system camera unit shipment compared to the previous year. Let’s see in one month if the trend will continue in March where last year shipments had a major jump upwards.

My name is Daria, I’m with Depositphotos. I wanted to share an infographic that may be useful for your stories.

We’ve analyzed 44 million commercial photos and created an infographic dedicated to the most popular cameras, settings and seasons for taking photographs:
Top 15 cameras for the commercial photography
Top 10 countries where most of the stock photos are being created
Most popular camera settings ( focal length, aperture, flash settings, and exposure time)
We used the EXIF data of our library to extract this data. Please see the detailed description in these images:

You can preorder the new compact super zoom camera at Adorama and BHphoto.

Nikon Japan announced that it has discontinued the Nikon 1 V3 production. Come on Nikon, time to make a FF mirrorless ok?

Meyer-Optik announced that it’s developing its first very high-end lens for mirrorless system cameras. it’s a Pirmagon 24mm f/2.8 and will be priced at 4.999€ / $5,499 when it will go on sale in 2018.

Press text:

Meyer-Optik Takes Quantum Leap with New High-End Primagon 24mm
Lens Maker Seeking Photographers to ‘Test’ Lens

With its latest Kickstarter campaign for the historic Trioplan 35+ successfully underway, Meyer-Optik is moving boldly into the world of high-end, high-performance photography with the newest addition to its lineup of hand-crafted lenses. Today, Meyer-Optik announced the new Primagon 24 mm f 2.8, which will have 7 individual lenses, including one aspheric lens. It will have an 84 degree angle of view and will impress with its image quality, compact size and weight of less than 9 ounces (about 250g). It will be available for practically all mirrorless cameras.

Even though the Primagon takes its name from a famous line of historic Meyer-Optik lenses, the new Primagon 24 is a totally new development. With this lens, the young Meyer-Optik brand strives for the highest image quality achievable, sticking to its guiding principles and guarantees that practically all mechanical and optical parts are made in Germany and the lenses will also be hand assembled as individual pieces of craftsmanship in Germany.  With the help of world famous development engineers, the Meyer-Optik team has been working on the Primagon 24 for more than a year. The team is also working on several more lenses for this new series to cover the full range of the most needed and popular focal lengths. These lenses are all developed under the premise that they will provide the best in class high-performance tools for the ambitious photographer.

Even though photographers will have to wait until early 2018 to get a look at this lens, as one of the rewards for backing its Kickstarter for the Trioplan 35+, Meyer-Optik is allowing 30 photographers to receive the Primagon 24 for about half of its expected retail cost. The photographers will get a chance to use the lens months before it heads into serial production, allowing them to give Meyer-Optik feedback that the company could use to make final refinements. The “testing” promotion is a unique way to reward a select group of Kickstarter backers, while giving the company a chance to receive some feedback on how the lens performs in the “real world.”

“Even though the new lenses are already high performers, we want to listen and learn from the feedback of our users,” said Dr. Stefan Immes, founder of the revived Meyer-Optik brand.

“The opinion of the Kickstarter community and the direct feedback is very important to us. We are striving for technical perfection with this lens – but we will not make any compromises when it comes to the creative part of photography. Personality and character are the most important features of all our lenses. This starts right at the beginning of the development process and we are proud that some of the best engineers nationally and internationally are supporting our team in Goerlitz,” Immes said.

The new lens will be available at the beginning of 2018. It will be available for all mirrorless mounts. The suggested retail price will be 4.999,–€/5,499 US $.