Unlikely but not impossible: What if OM Digital will join the L-mount alliance by end of 2021?

The Japanese site DC.life is speculating about a possible L-mount move from OM Digital. They name a couple of reasons why they think that might be the case:

  1. First we have fact that the L-mount alliance itself announced that new partners might be coming soon.
  2. OM Digital is now free from Olympus “philosophy” of sticking to MFT only
  3. OM Digital announced a new “WOW” product for end 2021 or early 2022. This wow product may be a FF camera?

I think these speculation are unlikely to be true. Nevertheless…you never know!

Both Canon and Sony might announce the first 100MP cameras in 2022

Let’s start from a fact: Sony already has this IMX555 Full Frame sensor with 102Megapixel. And now to the rumors:

Next year (2022) both Canon and Sony might announce new High Resolution cameras with 100+ Megapixels. And I have no doubt there is some truth behind the rumors because Sony and Canon managers surely want to be the first to break the “clickbait” 100MP Megapixel news barrier.

Sources:
SonyAlphaRumors
CR via CanonWatch

Nikon announced the development of a new 1inch Stacked CMOS Sensor that can shoot 1000 frames per second

Nikon has announced a 1-inch 17.84 million pixel stacked CMOS sensor capable of shooting at 1000 frames per second.

Google translated text:

Nikon Corporation (President: Toshikazu Umatate, Minato-ku, Tokyo) is a stacked CMOS with a total pixel count of approximately 17.84 million pixels that realizes high-resolution imaging with 1000 frames per second, HDR characteristics of 110 dB, and 4K x 4K. We have developed an image sensor.

This result was announced at the ISSCC (International Solid-State Circuits Conference) held in San Francisco, USA from February 15, 2021.

Development background

As an optical equipment manufacturer, Nikon is also engaged in research and development of cutting-edge image sensors, which are the core of video technology, based on optical technology, precision measurement / processing technology, and material technology. Currently, image sensors are used not only in the video field such as digital cameras and smartphones, but also in various industrial fields such as automobiles. In all fields, there is a demand for image sensors that achieve all of compactness, light weight, high frame rate, wide dynamic range, and high resolution.

The technological development of image sensors is indispensable for Nikon, which leads the video industry, and we will continue to research and develop sensors in response to market demands.

Main features

1. The industry’s highest level of HDR characteristics of 110 dB and high-speed shooting of 1000 frames per second are compatible *

This sensor uses a fine-pitch layered connection technology that can handle 2.7 um pixel size, which makes it possible to control the top chip with the image sensor directly from the logic circuit of the bottom chip. It has a high resolution of × 4K pixels, a wide dynamic range of 110 dB, and high-speed video recording of 1000 frames per second. High-speed readout enables super slow motion shooting of up to 1000 frames per second.
It also has a wide dynamic range of 134 dB for shooting 60 frames per second.

  • *At a pitch of 2.7 μ pixel size or less. As of February 15, 2021, according to Nikon research.

2. Exposure can be controlled for each area on the screen

The top chip has 16 x 16 pixels as one block, and 264 x 264 blocks (4224 x 4224 pixels) are divided and arranged on one screen. It is possible to finely control the exposure time of these blocks from the bottom chip for each area on the screen.
With this function, you can express a wide dynamic range, and even for subjects with a large difference in brightness, you can clearly shoot the entire screen without crushing the dark areas or overexposing the bright areas.

 

OM Digital chief says they will announce a “WOW” product in abotu one year from now

Asahi published an interview with Chief Technology Officer of OM Digital Solutions Mr. Kataoka.. The key info here is that he said:

  1. They plan to launch multiple new products in 2021
  2. They will stick to MFT (of course)
  3. It’s possible they will make a PEN-FII
  4. There will be at least one product that will make you “WOW” (launch planed sometimes in 1 year)

I wonder what this WOW product might be: For sure it’s a MFT camera and I think it’s hard now to really “WOW” anyone. We already have super high rez cameras, 8K recording…what feature could really WOW you?

Digitalcameraworld: Nikon High End camera with 8K, 45MP, coming in spring/summer

According to a report on Digitalcameraworld Nikon apparently will launch a Sony A1 Canon EOS-R5 competitor in Spring/Summer. Apparently there will be two cameras from Nikon:

  1. The 45MP 8K model
  2. A new even Higher Resolution camera after that

Both Nikon and Panasonic are struggling to keep up with Sony’s and Canon’s pace. I don’t know if simply matching the competitions performance is enough for those companies…

Sony now has a total of five new camera to be announced soon!

Sony is going full monty in 2021! Nokishita spotted new Sony camera registrations in Asia. This makes a total of five cameras that we will like be announced within the next couple of months:

  1. “WW447485” with 5GHz Wi-Fi (means it’s a Higher End camera)
  2. “WW728473” 5GHz Wi-Fi (means it’s a Higher End camera)
  3. “WW356015” 2.4GHz
  4. “WW186333” 2.4GHz
  5. “WW111327” 2.4GHz

There will be fo sure the nw A7IV and a new RX. Not sure what the other cameras might be….probably some entry level RX and APS-C E-mount cameras?