Image Sensor World reports about a new Samsung paper disclosing the tech for a new “Organic-on-silicon complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor colour image sensors“:

The company proposes superposing an organic photodiode (OPD) onto a CMOS circuit with Si photodiodes, which is said to double the light-input surface area of each pixel.

Samsung is not the only company working on such a tech. Something similar has been developed by Fuji and Panasonic too.. It is yet impossible to say when that kind of sensor will make into a real mass production camera. But Samsung at least shows us the very first image taken with such a 5 Megapixel organic sensor:

Maybe we don’t have to wait to long for it….

Mirrorless shares in Japan during the last 12 months. Source BCN, Graph Dicahub.

On top you can see the mirrorless share graph of the last 12 months in Japan. I am a bit surprised to see Sony loosing shares the last months. But it still remains the number one in Japan closely followed by Olympus.

The original BCN report also states that Canon wants to become the number one in the mirrorless market by end 2017. I guess Canon will have to launch a mirrorless Full Frame system to achieve that…

Samsung finally released that awesome big NX1 firmware update. You can download it here: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/EV-NX1ZZZBZBUS.

Those are the new features and fixes:

Movie mode:
Audio levels adjustable during movie capture
ISO adjustable during movie capture
23.98p and 24p frame rates for 4K UHD and 1080 video
‘Pro’ movie quality setting added for 1080 capture
Wider range of display options, including gridline, center, aspect ratio and action-safe area markers
Output time code over HDMI (for use with external recorders)
C Gamma and D Gamma curves added for movie shooting
Master black level
Luminance level limiting [0-255], [16-235], [16-255] AF speed control for smoother refocusing (3 settings)
AF responsiveness control (dictates camera’s readiness to change AF subject)
Added tools for selecting and grabbing frames from video

Physical interface changes:
Autofocus lock option in movie mode (if set to AEL button)
AF/MF toggling in movie mode (AF ON button option)
Wi-Fi and [REC] buttons’ functions can be swapped
AF On and AEL buttons’ functions can be swapped
Command dials’ direction of operation can be reversed
Add ISO or Exposure Comp. to command dial (customizable per PASM mode)
DoF Preview and Delete buttons customizable
Auto ISO options (ISO, ISO Customizing, Minimum Shutter Speed) arranged together in menus

Wireless features:
Smartphone App can operate as remote release using Bluetooth
‘Quick Transfer’ to automatically send thumbnails to a smartphone as they’re shot
Pair with multiple smart devices
Check for firmware updates over Wi-Fi

Other additions:
Trap Shot feature – fires shutter when a subject crosses a specified guideline
Samsung Remote Studio for thethered shooting from Windows PC
Samsung to release SDK for Windows to allow independent remote control software creation

Flickr shared the members camera owner stats. The graph on tops shows the most popular mirrorless camera brands. Fuji had the most impressive growth while Sony is constantly gaining. The real looser here is Micro Four Thirds and in particular Panasonic.

The single most popular camera is still a MFT camera, the Olympus E-M5:

Oh gosh do I hate selfies :) But that’s me and the market thinks otherwise. So here is the new Panasonic GF7 which is the first selfie-ready MFT camera from Panasonic. Preorders are already up here:
Panasonic GF7 in Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
Panasonic GF7 in Pink at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

A long list of image samples, tests and reviews can be found at 43rumors.com

P.S.: I guess that particularly that Pink version will appeal the Female Asian market:

Specs images and preorders are already available in USA:

X-A2 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
X-Q2 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

Here comes the official press release:

Byungdeok Nam, Senior Vice President of Samsung’s R&D team has been interviewed at Dpreview. I really like what Samsung is doing on the technological front but I have to say their market prediction regarding mirrorless were always wrong in the past. So I wouldn’t trust the latest statement they made in their new interview:

I wouldn’t like to say, but since 2008 when mirrorless systems were announced, mirrorless didn’t grow very rapidly. In the last year, however, market reports are predicting that in 2018/19 mirrorless cameras will outsell DSLRs.

It’s certainly more interesting to read about the NX1 development story. To design and make the NX1 sensor they worked for three years. And the NX1 development goal was:

Full-frame, high-end DSLRs. The ones around the $5000 level. That’s our benchmark. 

They certainly did an extremely good job with the NX1!