Damn, after the Meyer Optik debacle we are going to see another huge disappointment on Kickstarter backed ideas. The Yashica y35 project seems to become another big fail!

Canon EOS-R at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.

Dpreview published their interview with Canon. Some highlights:

1. About designing R lenses: “people who’ve been working on lenses for a really long time have, with this new system, been able to make lenses like the 28-70mm F2 comparably easily, compared to how they had so many challenges in the past.”
2. About the closed shutter when the camera is off: “we wanted to protect the sensor as much as possible from dust and light hitting the sensor,” explains Oshima: “The light coming through the lens affects the sensor in the long term. The color filter array and microlenses and also the photodiodes can all be damaged by light [if the sensor is always exposed].”
3. About making an APS-C R camera: “we’re thinking about it, but we can’t answer in detail“
4. About the future R cameras and lenses: “We want to surprise and astonish you, so please expect big things.“

Maybe a big thing would be to give us 4K in Full Frame with no crop??? :) Sorry, couldn’t resist some trolling. Truth is at least with their R lenses they have really achieved to surprise us. I hope they are working hard to improve their sensor and processing technology too!

Lensvid had a chat with Sigma CEO Yamaki and there are many info about their L-mount and Lens startegy:

• Sigma was working on their own mirrorless full frame camera for several years (with their own mount). However around 2015-2016 Panasonic suggested to Sigma to join forces and create a joint full frame alliance which was joined by Leica (when exactly Leica Joined is unclear) and the Leica L-mount (used on the SL cameras) was chosen for this new partnership.
• Sigma will make both lenses and cameras with this mount (and will develop new FF Foveon sensor) for their camera which will be available sometime in 2019.
• Panasonic, Sigma and Leica do not exchange information about future products but they do work on improve the L-mount and make sure future products will be compatible across the system.
• The new system is currently only for the three companies (this isn’t an open system like micro 4/3 for example), but Mr. Kazuto Yamaki stated that he is not ruling out adding more companies in the future.
• The new 60-600mm lens uses a lot of exotic materials to reduce the weight (which is still quite high – around 2.7kg) including CFRP (which stands for Carbon fiber reinforced polymer), an expensive material that helped Sigma keep the weight at the same level of the 150-600mm Sports (although in terms of absolute performance Mr. Kazuto Yamaki still thinks that the 150-600mm Sports is a better choice).
• Some Sigma users asked the company for tilt-shift lenses for mirrorless cameras but this is not a priority for Sigma at the moment (as this is a niche area and the company has a lot of more urgent things on its plate).
• Sigma always tries to make its lenses smaller and lighter but at least in the art series, it prefers optical performance over size/weight as opposed to the contemporary series which is more balanced.
• Next year Sigma will start making dedicated mirrorless lenses (we are assuming the intention here is full frame lenses since Sigma already has a very nice APS-C dedicated FF mirrorless line).
• These new lenses will be smaller but not by much. Mr. Kazuto Yamaki gives an example of Sony’s 35mm FF lens vs. their own DSLR lens with an adaptor and explains that making the lenses significantly smaller might not always be possible even if they are designed for mirrorless cameras from the ground up.
• Sigma is interested in Phase Fresnel but this doesn’t mean that we will see any lens based on this technology (which Nikon and to some extent Canon) employed.
• Sigma will keep an eye on the new Z-mount and RF mounts and see if it is something it will want to expend its lens line into or keep making Nikon F and Canon EF lenses and relay on Canon and Nikon’s own adaptors.
• Mr. Kazuto Yamaki agrees that we are at the start of a new area in Photography, one that signifies the move from DSLR to mirrorless cameras. He also mentioned that he believes this is part of a process of change that has been going on for a long time and has been happening every 20-30 years. The last time was the move from analog to digital, before that we had the move from manual focus to autofocus and even before that the move from rangefinder to DSLR cameras.
• Mr. Kazuto Yamaki predicts that we will see more mirrorless sales than DSLRs in about 3 years. However, DSLR lens sales will probably still be higher (as there will still be many more DSLRs around compared to mirrorless cameras).

The French company Pixxii officially announced their new M-mount true rangefinder camera. Below you can find the full specs of this camera. What’s not mentioned is the actual sensor size and the price of the camera:

Viewfinder
Optical viewfinder with coinciding rangefinder (magnification 0,67X)
LED backlit framelines with exposure indicators
Automatic parallax correction
Automatic led intensity adjustment
Framelines for standard prime lenses: 40/50mm, 28/35mm

Sensor
CMOS sensor with 5.5um pixels
12-bits sampling rate, and high dynamic range (60-90dB)
Global electronic shutter
Native gain: ISO 200, programmable from 100 to 6400 ISO
RGB color matrix, optimized with micro-lenses
IR filter, no low-pass < 1.0mm

Lens
Interchangeable lens system
Manual focus and aperture control
M compatible lens mount, also compatible with M39/LTM lenses (with adapter)
Dark chamber designed to fit collapsible lenses

BODY
Machined aluminium body
Finition: silver anodized, gray, matte black lacquer, carbon titane (special order)
ISO accessory shoe, tripod socket A ¼, lugs for carrying strap
Dimensions : 138x79x33mm
Weight: approx. 460g (incl. battery)

CONTROLS
Manual shutter speed selector
Automatic speed mode
2 stage shutter button: exposure metering/lock, shutter release
Quick ISO selection, white-balance and supplementary settings via integrated menu
OLED control screen

SYSTEM
ARM processors (2) with integrated FPGA accelerator
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth LE 4.2 (upgradeable to 5.0)
8Go or 32Go internal storage

POWER
Li-ion 7.4V battery, 1000mAh capacity, model NP-FW50
Integrated USB charger
Programmable suspend and power off timer

Full press text:

PIXII unveils the first camera designed to reveal
photographs on a smartphone display

PIXII innovates by moving the software of the camera into a mobile app for boosting
its extensibility. The camera features an original rangefinder viewfinder and uses
Leica M compatible lenses.

Besançon, FRANCE. PIXII SAS unveils the first camera designed to reveal its
images on a smartphone display.
“The digital camera hasn’t changed much since the 90s. But now the new generation is
learning photography with a smartphone : who understands why a camera still needs to
bother with a screen or an SD card?” starts David Barth, the creator of Pixii.
Pixii is a genuine standalone camera. It records raw images and gives full manual control
over the capture settings to the photographer. At the same time it communicates with a
mobile application which develops and reveals images on the smartphone screen. The photo
can be edited or shared as soon as it is taken.
“Photographers know that lenses are generally safe values. However, the software and the
screen of a camera quickly get outdated, sometimes even before getting out of the factory.
Virtualizing the camera software and using the performance of smartphones and their
display: this is how we can offer exceptional extensibility and durability” adds the founder.

PIXII 1/2 Contact : press@pixii.fr

PIXII

Press Release 18 octobre 2018

Designed for the new generation, Pixii also draws the attention of more experienced
photographers looking for the unique experience of a rangefinder camera.
“There are pictures you cannot take with a smartphone: the sensor is too small, the lens is
fixed and most of all: there is no viewfinder.” says Melric Artus, Principal Engineer.
Pixii is an interchangeable-lens camera with an M-compatible mount. It gives access to very
high quality lenses from renowned manufacturers such as Leica, Zeiss or Voigtlander. Its
other essential feature is the rangefinder system integrated into its optical viewfinder: the
focus is selected by matching two shifted images of the photographed scene.
“Having manual control and an optical rangefinder is part of the quest for the Grail for
enthusiasts” says David Barth. “This is the path I followed to go beyond the technique and
discover the pleasure of photography.”
Pixii was unveiled around Photokina in September and attracted the interest of many
observers. It is still in the testing phase with photographers from different backgrounds.
The price and date of commercial availability will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

About PIXII
PIXII SAS is a startup developing a new radical, contemporary, rangefinder camera.
The company was created by David Barth and a team of specialists in optics,
micro-mechanics and electronics. David brings 20 years of experience in the Linux and
embedded software industry.
Our ambition is to offer innovative and inspiring tools to all image enthusiasts.

Mitakon just confirmed at Fujirumors that they will ship out the new Speedmaster 65mm F1.4 GF lens in early 2019. This is a much-needed lens as one of the weaknesses of the GFX system is the lack of fast lenses.

The new Mitakon will give you a Full Frame equivalent of a 51mm f/1.1 lens (Source MMcalc).

And don’t dare to think this will be a shitty quality lens. Just look at the image samples posted by Jonas Rask (image 1 and image 2) and this one by Haseo:

Serious lens performance!

But I need the deep dark dreams of my readers and you want even faster lenses right? Don’t worry… Mitakon already ships this 85mm f/1.2 GF lens (here on BHphoto):

And this works like a 67mm f/0,95 in Full Frame:

Now we are talking! :)

Now dear Fuji, can you please make some f/1.4 autofocus lenses too? Thanks!