Leica will launch a high quality system camera based on their own mount.

A fake mirrorless Leica render by leicarumors.

 

It’s really not a surprise but at least we can confirm it via our own very trusted sources. Leica’s new mirrorless system will not be part of any current mount. Leica has chosen to go their own route and will offer their very own mount. The cameras will be built by Panasonic and what remains to be answered yet is if Panasonic will join the system with their own branded cameras too. I think it would be good for Leica to have them onboard. it could be a remake of the Oly-Pana partnership that made MFT that successful. But I still think the chances stay very low for this. Probably Leica want to give away their “exclusive” character?  

Canon EOS-M2 quietly announced in Japan only.

Canon decided to announce the EOS-M2 in Japan only (for now). The real new big feature is the 2.3 times faster AF thanks to the Hybrid CMOS AF II system. It also solves the black out screen issue from the previous model. It will cost 64,800 yen which is around $620 and ship this month already (in Japan). Here is a size comparison between the EOS-M (left) and the new EOS-M2 (right):

More pictures here (Click on them to enlarge): Images via Engadget Japan.    

X-PRO1s coming first half of 2014?

If the rumor posted by Fujirumors is correct than we will get two new X-mount cameras soon. The Fujica styled camera and the Fuji X-PRO1s. Easy to guess that the XPRo1 will use the same X100s tech (speak EVF, AF and so on). There is still no info about that Full Frame and fixed lens Fuji that will be announced in 2014. But this could be the big Fuji camera surprise at Photokina in September. And maybe it will be the first camera with organic sensor too?

Rumor/news roundup: Five Zeiss FE manual lenses. Olympus PRO lens delay. E-M1 and Fuji fw updates.

 

Image ont op shows some general Zeiss lenses.

Have to catch up with some bigger news:

Rumors:
Really amazing. Zeiss will launch five manual focusing E-mount Full Frame lenses at Photokina 2014 (Source: SonyAlphaRumors).
Olympus 40-150mm PRO zoom coming second half of 2014 (Source: 43rumors).

Firmware:
Fuji is going to release a massive firmware upgrade (Source: Fujirumors).
New Olympus E-M1 firmware update (Source: 43urmors).

 

 

Leica CEO says: Not sure DSLR will still be alive in 10 years. No way we go MFT.

Hoppyman from Leica Camera Forum found an interesting interview with Leica CEO Alfred Schopf (made at www.zinio.com/camera). These are some of the key info unveiled by the CEO:

DSLR vs Mirrorless: …”to be honest, I’m not 100 percent sure where the D-SLR market is going to be in the future. The mirrorless cameras are coming on and on and on and I’m not entirely convinced that in ten years time we will have a D-SLR market“

About a future Leica mirrorless (non rangefinder):  “We will have one, definitely. And it will, of course, be quite different to M system. We want to have autofocus with such a system and we may well have an APSC size sensor rather than a bigger one…….It will be a German built camera, however I’m not sure we can make all of the lenses made in Germany because we are talking about a different price range to M system so I could imagine that we do some fixed focal length lenses in Germany and maybe with the zooms we will co-operate with a partner” He stresses that Leica won’t be building on Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds format!

About the Film Camera future: “We are now the world’s biggest manufacturer of film cameras on the planet- because we are the only one, more or less. As long as we get orders we will continue. At the moment we get between 600 and 700 orders per year…………“

Yep, their new mirrorless camera is coming, and if the CEO isn’t fooling us it will be definitely not a Micro Four Thirds mount camera!

Fuji XF 10-24mm lens to be released in February.

Let’s start the week with a small bad news. A couple of months ago Fujifilm, said the new XF10-24mm f/4.0 OIS lens would be available in winter 2013. We were hoping to get this lens right for Christmas but instead we will have to wait til February to get it :(

By the way, in February we expect Fuji to launch that OMD alike X-mount camera too! It’s going to be a nice month for X-mount fans. Save your money :)