Let’s take a short break from rumors and let’s do a little bit of mirrorless Chrystal ball chat:)

Thom Hogan wrote an article about the future of mirrorless: “I’ve pretty much always had a mirrorless camera with me, as I did go from sampler to adapter. But again, as a compact camera replacement, not a DSLR replacement.“…”Yet they don’t yet really make it to DSLR replacement in my mind“…”So we’ll see Nikon, Canon, and Pentax all come into the mirrorless market, too, while Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, and Olympus redouble their efforts. These camera companies aren’t sure why mirrorless cameras are selling, but that won’t stop them from entering the market or further pushing their efforts. “…”To me, the camera companies are chasing the wrong rabbit. What users want is smaller and lighter, not ->remove the mirror box, optical viewfinder, and sophisticated focus system<-.”

Please read the full article at bythom.com (Once clicked scroll down to find the article). I know Thom Hogan is reading us so feel free to add your comments! And let us know how you see the future of mirrorless cameras:

The japanese website Dc.watch.impress posted a set of Fuji X100 images including some size comparisons with current mirrorless cameras. You might want to check out those pictures!

The X100 should be available in March for $1.200. You can sign up ot be notified when it is available at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Amazon (Click here).

Kenko’ announced their mirrorless C-mount digital camera with 14 megapixel sensor. It’s a very “basic” camera, it can’t take videos and it doesn’t have a built-in flash. It will be on market in Summer for about $300. If you look on the image above you will see many awesome fast C-mount lenses which you usually can find on . Those lenses are usually made for video use only so don’t expect them to be good. But on the other hand they are very cheap. . It will certainly not be a Micro Four Thirds or NEX competitor but I bet it could become a very popular camera!

More images at DC.watch.

Kodak is loosing his value on Wall Street (Source: Yahoo)

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A few days ago we posted a rumor we received from sources saying that Leica will drop Kodak sensors in favour of the new Sony fullframe sensors. And it’s today news that Kodak fourth-quarter profit dropped by 95%!!! Source: Marketwatch.

Is that news another good reason why Leica should rely on Sony sensors for the development of their new mirrorless system? I certainly hope Kodak will keep staying in the snesor business!

Finally trhere is a bunch of new mirrorless cameras we can talk about! Samsung just announced the new NX11 which is basically a NX10 with iFunction and new handgrip (More at X-rumors). Than there is the new Olympus E-PL2 which should be announced early January. Also in that case the difference between the older E-Pl1 and E-Pl2 are almost negligible. New updated kit-lens, new ISO 6.200 feature and a new design which is the only major change (More at 43rumors).

Meanwhile for the X time there are new Nikon mirrorless patents floating around the web. At least there is a new interesting concept. A mirrorless camera with interchangeable sensor! (More at Egami).

Nothing really worldshaking for now but I guess the next bunch of REAL new cameras will be announced soon (February?).

Source: Megapixel

In this interview Canon minimizes the success of mirrorless cameras saying that their are not really gaining a lot of market share (at least not in Europe and US). But you should take a look on that:
MichaelKJ collected all japanese mirrorless sales data from January to September 2010. It gives you a clear idea about the growing market share!

Single Mirrorless camera share:
Jan: MFT= 13.2%: GF1=8.0%, G1=5.2%
Feb: MFT= 13.9%: GF1=9.1%, G1=4.8%
March: MFT= 16.7%: GF1=7.8%, E-PL1=6.9%
April: MFT= 13.6%: GF1=5.0%, G1=2.2%, E-PL1=6.4%
May: MFT= 13.7%: GF1=3.6%, G2=3.5%, E-PL1=6.5%
June: MFT= 10.0%: GF1=4.1%, E-PL1=5.9% (NEX-5=11.1%, NEX-3=5.3%)
July: MFT= 12.6%: GF1=5.4%, E-PL1=7.2% (NEX-5= 9.0%, NEX-3=5.9%)
August: MFT= 10.6%: GF1=3.6%, E-PL1=7.0% (NEX-5= 9.7%, NEX-3=4.3%)
Sept: MFT= 8.3%: GF1=3.6%, E-PL1=4.7% (NEX-5= 8.9%, NEX-3=4.1%)

Company share:
Jan: Panny=13.2%; Oly=0%; Canon=29.1%; Nikon=27.5%; Sony=0%; Pentax=11.3%
Feb: Panny=13.9%; Oly=0%; Canon=26.3%; Nikon=30.3%; Sony=2.3%;Pentax=8.0%
March: Panny=7.8%; Oly=6.9%; Canon=31.9%; Nikon=28.6%; Sony=0%;Pentax=6.5%
April: Panny=7.2%; Oly=6.4%; Canon=27.4%; Nikon=34.4%; Sony=0%;Pentax=5.9%
May: Panny=7.1%; Oly=6.5%; Canon=25.2%; Nikon=36.5%; Sony=0%;Pentax=5.8%
June: Panny=4.1%; Oly=5.9%; Canon=19.0%; Nikon=29.0%; Sony=16.4%;Pentax=4.4%
July: Pany=5.4%; Oly=7.2%; Canon=24.8%; Nikon=23.3%; Sony=14.9%;Pentax=4.9%
August: Pany=3.6%; Oly=7.0%; Canon=25.3%; Nikon=26.0%; Sony=14.0%;Pentax=4.4%
Sept: Pany=3.6%; Oly=4.7%; Canon=29.3%; Nikon=17.9%; Sony=17.9%;Pentax=4.0%

DSLR vs Mirrorless
Jan: Mirrorless=13.2%; DSLR=67.9%
Feb: Mirrorless=13.9%; DSLR=66.9%
March: Mirrorless=16.7%; DSLR=67.0%
April: Mirrorless=13.6%; DSLR=67.5%
May: Mirrorless=13.7%; DSLR=67.5%
June: Mirrorless=26.4%; DSLR=52.4%
July: Mirrorless=27.5%; DSLR=53.0%
Aug: Mirrorless=24.6%; DSLR=55.7%
Sept: Mirrorless=26.2%; DSLR=51.2%