Report from “Sentaku.co.jp” suggests Japanese goverment is pressing Fuji to buy a stake into Nikon

This is a bomb news: Fujirumors got word that the Japanese government is pressing Fuji to buy a stake into Nikon (Source Sentaku June magazine issue). The reason is simple: Try to help Nikon to overcome their huge crisis and avoid any possible acquisition from non-japanese makers.

If you think this story is absurd you should remember that the same thing already happened with Sony buying a stake into Olympus. Olympus had a huge financial loss because the big financial scandal and Sony came in to help them out.

The “partnership” would allow Nikon to reduce costs. And on paper Nikon and Fuji are not direct competitors. Nikon is strong in the DSLR segment and PRO market. While Fuji sells mirrorless system cameras only and has no FF camera line up.

But for now that’s all just a “rumor”. We will keep you informed if we find out more!

Source: Sentaku Japan (June magazine issue).

 

Samyang just announced the new ?35mm f/2.8 FE AF lens

ISamyang announces a new 35mm f/2.8 FE autofocus lens. It aims to compete against the exactly same specced and exact same size Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 FE lens. Of course this lens is much cheaper as it will go on sale for $299 only (The Zeiss costs $800).

Press text:

Tiny but Mighty

A tiny lens with a mighty performance, Samyang AF 35mm F2.8 FE is ideal for daily photography as well as travel photography. This new compact and lightweight lens, together with the existing AF 14mm F2.8 FE and AF 50mm F1.4 FE lenses, now expands Samyang’s autofocus lens line-up to three.

The AF 35mm F2.8 FE weighs just 85g and measures 3.3cm in length, without the hood and rear cap. Thanks to Samyang’s exceptional optical technology, its compact size is packed with features for outstanding image quality. Featuring seven elements in six groups, two aspherical lenses and one high refractive lens plus Ultra Multi Coating to minimise aberration and unnecessary light dispersion, the lens delivers high resolution from the centre to the corners of the image.
Perfect Partner for Everyday Photographers

This new lens is specifically designed to work in harmony with full frame mirrorless cameras in Sony E mount. For full frame sensors, the focal length resembles the human eye the most. For APS-C types for Sony alpha 6000 and 5000 series users the lens is equivalent to approximately 52mm, which is also one of the most popular focal lengths among photographers.

Portability with mighty performance and a 35mm focal length makes this lens the best choice for daily photographers who want to capture every memory as a high quality image. The autofocus is fast and accurate and is ideal for the capture of outdoor events such as hiking, sports events and landscape photography. It also has a minimum focusing distance of 0.35m and is ideal for street, portrait and close focus photography.

Image samples at Samyanglensglobal.com/product/detail.do?SQ=59

Sony A9 overheating mystery: Indicator goes one too early?

 

In those days the A9 is getting a lot of attention not because of the cameras features but because of some strange overheating behavior.  It looks like the overheating warning gets triggered way too early while the camera really rarely shuts down. Sony is rumored to work on a fix for this.

Still, I am surprised Sony did not check this before they shipped out the camera. After all the overheating issues they had on previous camera models they really should have triple checked this!

New CIPA April shipment report: System camera sales going up compared to 2016!

CIPA released the April data and the trend is confirmed: The camera market is doing better than the previous year. While the compact camera market is on par with the previous year the system camera market is doing much better than 2016.

And if you look into the details of the data you can spot how the mirrorless market seems to be the real reason for the growth! DSLR shipment went down 10% while mirrorless shipments were nearly twice as much compared to April 2016!!!

Sigma Quattro H Review at Dpreview: Made for the ultimate detail

Dpreview posted the Sigma Quattro H review. The praise the ultimate detail you get at Low ISO but still..this is a “complex” camera to live with:

Overall, then, the SD Quattro H is Sigma’s best ever camera. This makes it easy to wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone already invested in the SA system and, perhaps for the first time, to suggest it’s worth a look for a broader audience than that. If you bear all the drawbacks in mind, it’s worth considering whether it’ll suit your type of photography.