Surprise: Hardware upgraded “Fuji X-T1b” to be announced soon?

That would be really a huge surprise: 5 months after the X-T1 announcement Fuji will deliver a “hardware upgraded” X-T1b!

This is quite a unique thing and hopefully this will not upset the brand new X-T1 owners! I would really like to know why Fuji did hurry to deliver such an update camera. Fujirumors reports that little is known about the new features but one of them could be a higher resolution EVF:

Panasonic LX8 will be the most compact 4K camera yet!

LX7 and RX100 side by side (DSLRmagazine).

Rumors about a 1 inch sensor compact and fixed lens Panasonic LX8 camera are floating around the web for weeks now. And we already know that it will be announced on July 16, have a built-in EVF (just like the new Sony RX100M3) and keep the LX line look and size.

Now DR.Photorumor reports this little camera will also shoot 4K making it the smallest 4K camera of the world (with a larger 1 inch sensor or above).

Sadly this little wonder camera will come at a high price: $799!

Hot rumors: Samsung NX1 rumored to have the best performing APS-C sensor on market!

The new Samsung NX1 will somehow remind us of this old Mamiya 6.

An anonymous source (Thank You!) sent us the following info about the new High End APS-C NX1 camera that will be announced in September at Photokina. This is what we can expect:

Body looks like mamiya 6 (big rangefinder with grip).
New EVF with highest res on market and new technology.
Sensor with 28MP. No isocell, but improved dr. Best performance on the market at high iso.
New user interface based on newer tizen. Big touch screen but plenty of physical controls.
Continuous af up to 10fps with focus tracking enabled, second gen OSPDAF with more af points than a6000.
Presentation around sep 2014, availability nov 2014.
Splash + dust proof.
Price 1300$ body only.
Kit with 1650 zoom 2300$.

In summary: Best sensor, best EVF, best AF. Sounds like a possible game changer!

Interesting worldwide camera market analysis by the German Photokina partner GFK.

The German Photokina partner agency GFK published those graphs and data about the worldwide camera market trend. And there are plenty of interesting info!

Let’s start from the graph on top. It shows:

1) The low end compact camera market is rapidly shrinking
2) The premium camera market (DSLR+Mirrorless+premium fixed lens) are growing
3) Mirrorless is growing more than DSLR
4) The overall revenue is growing.

 

That graph shows that Mirrorless market share is growing in Asia primarily but also in Europe.

And than it’s very interesting to read when people actually prefers to use a proper camera over a smartphone camera:

And these are the top 5 reason why smartphone user decide to buy a digital camera:

In summary. The analysis form GFK debunks a couple of myths:

1) DSLR market is not shrinking. It’s well alive and stable.
2) Mirrorless market is growing (despite some sites claiming the opposite). Although it’s growing less than expected and still has a hard time to get popular in USA.
3) The future for premium digital camera makers is bright because the overall market is expected to growth!
4) Digital camera Companies are making more money than before! They are selling less lower margin compact cameras. But they are also selling more higher margin premium cameras!

 

Well, what’s your thought on this?

 

found via Photoscala.