The future of Micro Four Thirds told by Olympus and Panasonic managers…

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Mr. Uematsu explaining the limits of displacement sensor for stabilization in the body

The spanish site DSLRmagazine interviewed both Panasonic and Olympus managers. And they gave us some hint of what to expect from them in future:

Panasonic:
They are considering to make a more “classic” MFT camera similar to the Olympus PEN-F
Panasonic will keep focusing on the Dual IS technology and add in lens stabilization on all lenses above 25mm focal length

Olympus:
Olympus has no plan to release proper “video-oriented” cameras
Olympus also said they have no plan to make any Tilt Shift lens

Rumors: Olympus is rumored to launch a new series of f/1.2 primes in early Summer. There is also a new camera launch event planned within the next 4-6 weeks. Panasonic will launch a 6K GH camera around Photokina

Fuji Rumors: X-T2 will have 4K (says Fuji). First 2.0x Teleconverter images. And 1-2 “unexpected” XF lenses to come.

We got a bunch of new Fuji rumors via Fujirumors (LOL). Here they are:

  1. The German video above shows for the very first time the new 2.0x Teleconverter (min 3:40)
  2. In that video the journalist says Fujilm told him that there will be still 1 or 2 lenses in 2016 that are non listed on the official roadmap
  3. Fuji managers Shugo Kiryu and Shusuke Kozaki got interviewed by Focus Numerique. They confirm that the X-Pro2 is actually 4K capable, but they do not plan to add this feature via Firmware. But the X-T2 will definitely have 4K!
  4. They also say there will be no monochrome Fuji camera and probably also no X30 successor camera

New info about the SD Quattro cameras: 39MP version to ship before summer. 51Mp before end of the year.

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Image via DSLRmagazine

At a CP+ speech Sigma CEO Yamaki shared some more info about the new SD Quattro mirrorless system cameras:

1) Compactness was not a goal when designing those cameras
2) The real benefits of mirrorless cameras are AF accuracy, AE accuracy, lack of mechanical shock
3) The new Foveon sensor has 1 stop ISO imrpovement over the sensor used in [shoplink 301816 ebay]their DP cameras[/shoplink] 4) 40% faster EVF than the EVF used by DP cameras
5) The DP Quattro is likely to ship before summer. The SD Quattro H will launch before the end of the year

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via Digicameinfo

The weirdest Cp+ announcement so far: New transparent E-mount and MFT adapter!

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Guys, I am sure you didn’t see that coming :)

The guys from Technical farm announced the world’s first transparent adapter for E-mount and MFT cameras! And guess why it’s transparent….

….well Techfarms says the adapter allows light to deliberately “leak” into the camera to create a sort of “Old Lens” effect. Which means you get a lot of flare and non contrasted images like the one shown below:

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And here is the adapter fittedt on MFT-Sony cameras:

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And I bet they will still seell quite a few of those :)

Leica will enter the smartphone market!

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Time is changing indeed if a classic camera manufacturer like Leica is now going to enter the smartphone market! Andreas from leica Forum reports:

According to a report by German Manager-Magazin Leica is planning to offer smartphones with the Leica brand. Joint venture partner is the Chinese telco equipment supplier Huawei. The report says that the first product will have the name P 9 (Leica P9?) which was introduced to telco companies this week during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Besides the Huawei logo the Leica P9 will have the iconical red Leica logo. Release is planned this spring, price is rumored to be about 600 €, similar to an iPhone 6.
We keep you informed as soon as we receive official information from Wetzlar!

But really, is there a market for luxury camera-smartphones?

Panasonic announced the new 12-60mm lens. And will announce a 6K GH5 soon too.

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Panasonic released a new 12-60mm lens today. Full specs and preorder at BHphoto. It’s a nice lens but I would have loved to get a constant f/4.0 aperture on this one.

Much more exciting is the info coming via the Japanese site Nikkan. They say Panasonic will launch a new mirrorless camera with 6K recording within fiscal year 2016. This is almost certainly going to be the new GH5. Each 6K recorded frame has a 18Megapixel resolution. So you no longer will have to take single pictures…you just shoot videos all time! :)