Mirrorless News Roundup.

Ricoh GR hands-on at DC.watch.
Leica M test at Luminous Landscape.
PENTAX Q10 + Ana8200 8mm F1.1 at DC.watch.
Nikon Coolpix A test by Der Spiegel.
Leica Monochrome tets bei Der Spiegel.
Nikon J3 review by Der Spiegel.
Pentax MX-1 test by Der Spiegel.
Sony NEX-3n at Der Siegel.
Nikon S1, Olympus E-PM2, Panasonic GF5, Samsung NX1000 y Sony NEX-F3: frente a frente (Quesabesde).
leica m type 240 with canon adapter (Flickr).
firmware 1.02 for the X100S here.
DC.watch (google translation here) Mitakon 35mm f/0.95 lens test. The lens can be bought on .

Ricoh GXR marked as “discontinued”.

A couple of days ago a store manager told me how the Ricoh GXR was a nice concept but at the same time “selling poorly”. And today a huge store like BHphoto marked the GX3 as discontinued (Click here to see it). Let’s hope this may be a sign that a new successor is on the horizon. The worse case scenario would be that Ricoh…no wait I won’t even write that. Go Ricoh, show us the new model!

via Photorumors

Panasonic G6, LF1 and new 14-140mm lens announced!

The new Panasonic G6 MFT camera has been announced along a newly updated 14-140mm lens and the LF1 compact camera with fixed 28-200mm lens. The G6 features the same Gh2 sensor but without multiapsect function. This is bad news! I would have loved to got this feature too. Why remove it? Anyway, the new 14-140mm lens looks great. it’s smaller, lighter, faster and cheaper than it’s predecessor.

Specs and Preorders:
G6 at Amazon (Click here).
LF1 at Amazon (Click here).

Previews and reviews:
G6 Hands-on at Dpreview, Techradar, Trustedreviews, Expertreviews, Photographyblog, Whatdigitalcamera, ePhotozine.
LF1 hands-on photos at Photographyblog.

Image samples:
G6 at Techradar.

Videos:
First Look Preview by Whatdigitalcamera, video sample 1, video sample 2, Italian presentation, Italian unboxing,

What’s hot:
The G6 gains considerably improved movie capabilities, including full exposure control, an external mic socket and the sensor from the GH2. It also adds the NFC-aided Wi-Fi for simple remote control and image download that we first saw in the GF6. it has the same GH2 sensor, albeit without that model’s multi-aspect feature. (Source: Dpreview).
14-140mm lens is smaller, lighter, less-expensive alternative to the original G Vario HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH Mega OIS. The latest version features three aspheric and two ED elements and an internal focus design with linear stepper motors to make the most of the faster focus processing of the latest Micro Four Thirds bodies (Source: Dpreview).
The LF1 marries the sensor from the LX7 to a longer, slower lens (but longer zoom range) and adds an electronic viewfinder (Source: Dpreview).

Official press release:
G6 press text at Dpreview, Pocket Lint, Cnet, Fotopolis (Polish), Imaging Resource,
LF1 press test at Dpreview, Cnet, Dpnow, Whatdigitalcamera, ePhotozine.
14-140mm press text at Dpreview, ePhotozine.

 

Surprise: New Fuji X entry level camera coming in July!

The Fuji X interchangeable lens system is growing! According to Digicaminfo a new entry level X camera is going to be announced in July. I suspect the camera will have no viewfinder, be small and obviously less expensive than the current X-E1. The price is rumored to be around 70.000 Yen which is 540 Euro or 700 Dollars. The camera will ship in autumn.

Editor’s note: Two birds told me the rumor is 100% correct :)

P.S.: The pancake 27mm lens will be announced in June-July too.

Comparison:Ricoh GR versus the rest of the high end compact world!

Ricoh launched a nice camera with the new GR! It’s the most compact and cheap APS-C cameras. And you can already preorder it at Bhphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here). But the most important question is….how good is the image quality?

Click ont he images posted here to see a larger sized version. On top of this post you can find a comaprison against the Fuj X PRO 1, Sony RX100, Canon G1x and the Canon G15. And below a comparison against the Nikon Coolpix A. More Ricoh GR full size samples can be found at http://www.pentax.jp/english/products/gr/ex/index.html.

Let me know if you are impressed by those images! Keep in mind that the Ricoh costs a lot less than the Nikon Coolpix A ($1,100 here at Amazon) while the Ricoh GR is priced at $799 at Bhphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Zeiss primes to be announced soon for Sony and Fuji system.

Sony NEX and Fuji X owners will be happy to know that Zeiss will soon release the first two prime lenses (32mm f/1.8 Planar and the 12mm f/2.8 Distagon). Fuji already included both in their roadmap (May release). According to European dealers the lenses will ship to their stores in June. Price is expected to be a little bit over 1000 Euro/Dollars.

Fuji will also release a new firmware update for the X-E1 and X-PRo1 cameras on may 23rd. The new XF 55-200mm lens can be preordered at BHphoto (Click here) and will ship from May 25th.