New NEX lens roadmap. And three new NEX cameras coming within 2012!!!

Sony unveiled the new NEX lens roadmap. As you see four lenses will be announced within 2012. A high magnification zoom lens, a standard zoom, a wide zoom and a fast aperture prime lens. The other four new lenses will arrive in 2013: The high quality G standard zoom lens, the Mid-magnification zoom, the mid-telephoto lens and finally a pancake lens!

But this is not enough. I have been  told by TOP-sources that Sony will launch three new NEX cameras within 2012 only! Yeah, I also think that’s a it of a madness. The Sony NEX-5n and NEX-7 are already top cameras and I don’t see any reason to announce three(!) new NEX cameras. But maybe Sony has some secret reason to do so?

P.S.: The first of the three new NEX cameras will arrive in April!!!

Pentax K-01 hands-on and new lens roadmap. Ricoh takes full control of Pentax camera division.

Engadget (Click here) tested the new K-01 and wrote that it “doesn’t feel as cheap as it looks”.

Ricoh now took full control over the Pentax imaging division. Here is the press release:

“Tokyo, February 9, 2012 – Ricoh Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Shiro Kondo, hereinafter Ricoh) announces an organizational change to its imaging system business including security system business and consumer digital camera business.

Since October 1, 2011 when PENTAX RICOH IMAGING COMPANY (President and CEO?Zenji Miura, hereinafter PRI) was established, Ricoh managed its global imaging system business under two brands, RICOH and PENTAX. Specifically RICOH brand digital cameras were designed, developed and sold by Personal Multimedia Product Company (hereinafter PMMC), an internal organization of Ricoh, while PENTAX brand digital cameras were designed, developed and sold by PRI.

In an effort to strengthen customer relationships and provide innovative products and services, Ricoh will re-organize its structure.

1.Effective date?
?April 1, 2012?plan?

2.Scope?
?Worldwide

3.New functions of each business unit?
?PRI: Consumer businesses such as digital cameras for B2C market
(This includes Ricoh development resources to improve capabilities and support
Ricoh branded cameras )
?Ricoh PMMC: B2B businesses including security system business, and imaging solutions
business for B2B market

February 9, 2012
Ricoh Company, Ltd.“

 

Meanwhile Pentax announced the new 2012 lens roadmap (via Photorumors). There will be a new K-mount pancake,a 50mm f/1.8 standard prime lens, an unspecified tele photo lens, the Pentax DA 560mm f/5.6 SMC lens (what a beast!), a Pentax D-FA 645 90mm f/2.8 SMC lens and the L to Q mount lens adapter. Clcik on pictures to enlarge:

A look on the new SIgma DP1M and DP2M cameras


Sigma has announced the DP1 Merrill and DP2 Merrill. Those cameras are mirrorless but not interchangeable system cameras and I thought it would be interesting to talk about one of the very few companies that is actually “trying” to develop a complete different sensor technology. Both cameras use the Foveon 15×3 Megapixel APS-C sensor. The DP1M has a fixed 19mm f/2.8 lens and the DP2M incorporates the 30mm f/2.8 lens. I found many “foveon-like” patents from Fuji, Panasonic and only but Sigma is currently the only camera manufacturer offering the technology on mass production cameras.

I really like the Foveon concept but the price of Sigma cameras are still too high. They didn’t unveil the DP1M and DP2M price yet but I expect it to be over $1000? Image samples and availability aren’t available too. So it’s quite a poor announcement with no other things to read that the press release :)

News roundup:
Photographyblog
Techradar
Electronista
Focus Numerique (french)

 

New Olympus EM-5 announced (comparison with the Fuji X PRO 1).


Finally the over-leaked Olympus E-M5 camera has been announced (Click here to read all you need to know on 43rumors). Its time for a short comparison with the other top quality mirorrless camera, the Fuji X PRO 1:
Sensor – Image quality
The Olympus E-M5 uses the same GX1 16 Megapixel sensor with some sort of tweaks like faster readout system and improved TruePic VI engine. It also uses a weak AA filter. Anyway, the X PRO 1 can deliver a slightly higher resolution because of the no Anti Aliasing filter.
Fuji wins!
Video quality:
Easy,Fuji didn’t care a lot about the video :)
Olympus wins!
Viewfinder:
The Olympus E-M5 has a 1.44 million dot pure electronic viewfinder. Due the fast sensor readout (240fps) this will reduce lagging and rolling shutter. The Fuji has that amazing hybrid viewfinder.
Fuji wins!
Autofocus:
Easy game for Olympus. They claim to have the fastest AF system of all current interchangeable camera systems. And Fuji is known for not having a super fast AF.
Olympus wins!
Body quality:
Olympus and Fuji both deliver an excellent body quality. But Olympus camera is weather sealed.
Olympus wins!
Price:
Yep the Olympus is $600 cheaper but the Fuji has a terrific image quality. So it’s difficult to find a winner here!

That is just a very basic first impression and there are many other factors to consider before to judge the new products. But let me know…

New Fuji X PRo 1 image samples (and preorders in US, UK, Italy, Canada and Japan)

The huge world wide web becomes quite small if you try to find some image samples taken with the new Fuji X PRO 1. But Fujirumors found some samples in Portugal at Fotodigitalonline (Click here). If you hover the pictures you can see a 100% zoom of the images. Yep, that’s all you get :)

The good news is that there are some new preorder options in UK, Italy and Japan:

The Fuji X PRO 1 camera can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), Epxansys US (Click here) and Expansys Canada (Click here).
in Europe at Jessops UK (Click here), eBay Italy (Click here) and Expansys UK (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here) and eBay Japan (Click here).

The Fuji X 18mm f/2.0 can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here).

The Fuji X 35mm f/1.4 can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here).

The Fuji X 60mm f/2.4 macro can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).

—-

And one more thing. According to Amazon US lens rankings (Click here) this are the most preordered Fuji X lenses:
Position 1: The 35mm f/1.4
Position 2:  The 18mm f/2.0
Position 3: The 60mm macro

Naked Samsung NX20 spotted!

The first picture of the Samsung NX20 has been spotted (via Photorumors) and it actually shows it…naked :) Click on the image on top to enlarge. The camera should be announced within days and than be available in April. As we already told you weeks ago one of our sources told us that it has a retro design with 1.8M EVF, manual control and swivel amoled display. It has the same NX-200 sensor but a better processor and buffer. The retail stores price is $950 only body for NX-20. There will be two new lenses, the 16-80mm and 12-24mm and a new Flash.

Nikon says “Canon G1X is for fanboys”. And Canon says “Mirrorless is great” (via techradar)

Amy from Techradar (Click here) first interviewed MR. James Loader, product manager for the Nikon Coolpix range. And here are his thoughts about the Canon G1X: “I was a little bit surprised. I thought we’d see the compact system camera first. A lot of people seem to think that the sensor inside that is what they will eventually use in a possible future CSC camera. The G1 X, at that price point, is a super kind of niche market, just for Canon fanboys if I’m completely honest. It’s not something that I anticipated from them.” But he also thinks a real interchangeable mirrorless system from Canon is coming: “I don’t think they would be happy to let Nikon and Panasonic and all the other competitors take the lead on this.“

And than she interviewed Mr. David Parry from Canon UK (Click here), “I think they (mirrorless) are a great idea. What I like about them so much is that it’s brought more people into photography and the more people shooting, the better, as far an imaging company is concerned – that’s what we’re all about. Obviously, people were expecting to see CSC (mirrorless) having an effect on DSLR sales, but actually they’re still growing.” And talking about the G1X: “It’s a similar kind of price to compact system cameras with a similar size sensor inside them, and once they’ve purchased that they might look at our DSLRs.“

P.S.: There is a Canon G1x full test at Focus Numerique (Click here). Preorders are available at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).