A large sensor Panasonic LX coming in two weeks?

An imaginary fixed lens Panasonic large sensor compact.

Rumors are getting stronger around a new surprising camera from Panasonic. A fixed lens compact with Four Thirds sensor, fixed prime lens and 4K video recording. A cameras smaller than the GM1 and therefore pockeatable!

The camera would be of higher quality of the Sony RX100M3. It will be announced on July 16 already! Sounds great!

Firmware madness from Fuji: Updates for all X cameras! :)

Well, Fuji really wanted to give all X camera owners a glorious day :)

There is a software update available for everyone:

X-T1 firmware ver. 1.10

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Improvement of “Exposure compensation/exposure indicator” in EVF – Values are added to the scales of the indicator for better visibility.
  • 3. Improvement of Movie-record button operability – To avoid an accidental movie shooting, the delayed time will become longer between the moment you press the button and a movie shooting starts or ends.
  • 4. The phenomenon is fixed that images are not recorded with the set interval when “INTERVAL” in “INTERVAL TIMER SHOOTING” is set to 5 sec or less. In this case, the setting of “IMAGE DISP.” in “SCREEN SET-UP” will change to “OFF” automatically.

X-E2 firmware ver. 2.10

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.

X-PRO1 firmware ver. 3.30

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.

X-E1 firmware ver.2.30

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 2. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.

_ _ _ Some fixes and improvements also for the X-M1, X-A1 and XQ1. And if you own the Instax Share SP-1 printer, you can now send images directly via WiFi to this little printer without having to send it first to your iPhone. If you own the best sellers in the X-lineup, X-T1 and the X-E2, then you still have to continue to upload your images to your smartphone first and from there send it to the printer. X-M1 ver. 1.20 / X-A1 ver. 1.20

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “instax SHARE SP-1? – Images can be directly transferred to the “SP-1? from a camera and then printed.
  • 2. Addition of compatibility with “XF18-135mmF3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR” – To ensure that autofocus performs as expected, upgrade the firmware for the camera.
  • 3. Change of aperture display for zoom lenses – Display of aperture value when zooming with the shutter button pressed halfway will become same as the display when zooming without the shutter button pressed.
  • 4. Improvement of recorded sound – Sound quality of a movie shooting is improved.
  • 5. The phenomenon is fixed that in rare cases, gray stripes could appear in highlight portion of images with a standard viewer of a smartphone (only Android).

XQ1 ver. 1.20

  • 1. Addition of compatibility with “instax SHARE SP-1? – Images can be directly transferred to the “SP-1? from a camera and then printed.
  • 2. The phenomenon is fixed that in rare cases, a camera could stop working during image transfer when starting “PC AutoSave” function by pressing the Wi-Fi button.

WSJ blames Nikon for missing to enter “seriously” the mirrorless market.

The Wall Street Journal wrote a very negative article against Nikon’s strategy:

The market shows growth in just one category: “mirrorless” cameras. Nikon was among the last of major Japanese makers to release a mirrorless camera, and still offers only a handful of models. The company likely fears cannibalization of its high-end DSLRs, but its strategy seems not to be working. Nikon’s camera division, more than two-thirds of the company, posted a 9% revenue decline for the year through March

What do you think about the Nikon’s strategy?

Confirmed via trusted source: Sony 1 inch sensor used by Panasonic (and likely by other companies too).

The recently announced Panasonic FZ-1000 did shake up the industry by offering a tremendous zoom range and 4K recording in a sub $1,000 package.

And according to our sources the Panasonic is the first non-Sony camera using the Sony RX100m3 1 inch sensor. The source also said the sensor will be sold to other companies too (likely Fuji and Samsung coming as next).

It’s likely that Sony cares more about selling sensors (and leading the industry in that segment) than protecting their own RX camera range. And actually that’s a good news :)