Canon, Nikon, Samsung and Pentax mirrorless rumors

According to Nikonrumors “Nikon’s Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera could be announced at CES 2011” and they also found more mirrorless patents.

Meanwhile Canonrumors says that we will not see any new mirrorless system from Canon before 2012.

K-rumors said that Pentax will announce a new APS-C mirrorless system in February.

According to X-rumors Samsung will announce a new NX camcorder within a few months.

Japanese mirrorless sales data Jan-Sep 2010

Source: Megapixel

In this interview Canon minimizes the success of mirrorless cameras saying that their are not really gaining a lot of market share (at least not in Europe and US). But you should take a look on that:
MichaelKJ collected all japanese mirrorless sales data from January to September 2010. It gives you a clear idea about the growing market share!

Single Mirrorless camera share:
Jan: MFT= 13.2%: GF1=8.0%, G1=5.2%
Feb: MFT= 13.9%: GF1=9.1%, G1=4.8%
March: MFT= 16.7%: GF1=7.8%, E-PL1=6.9%
April: MFT= 13.6%: GF1=5.0%, G1=2.2%, E-PL1=6.4%
May: MFT= 13.7%: GF1=3.6%, G2=3.5%, E-PL1=6.5%
June: MFT= 10.0%: GF1=4.1%, E-PL1=5.9% (NEX-5=11.1%, NEX-3=5.3%)
July: MFT= 12.6%: GF1=5.4%, E-PL1=7.2% (NEX-5= 9.0%, NEX-3=5.9%)
August: MFT= 10.6%: GF1=3.6%, E-PL1=7.0% (NEX-5= 9.7%, NEX-3=4.3%)
Sept: MFT= 8.3%: GF1=3.6%, E-PL1=4.7% (NEX-5= 8.9%, NEX-3=4.1%)

Company share:
Jan: Panny=13.2%; Oly=0%; Canon=29.1%; Nikon=27.5%; Sony=0%; Pentax=11.3%
Feb: Panny=13.9%; Oly=0%; Canon=26.3%; Nikon=30.3%; Sony=2.3%;Pentax=8.0%
March: Panny=7.8%; Oly=6.9%; Canon=31.9%; Nikon=28.6%; Sony=0%;Pentax=6.5%
April: Panny=7.2%; Oly=6.4%; Canon=27.4%; Nikon=34.4%; Sony=0%;Pentax=5.9%
May: Panny=7.1%; Oly=6.5%; Canon=25.2%; Nikon=36.5%; Sony=0%;Pentax=5.8%
June: Panny=4.1%; Oly=5.9%; Canon=19.0%; Nikon=29.0%; Sony=16.4%;Pentax=4.4%
July: Pany=5.4%; Oly=7.2%; Canon=24.8%; Nikon=23.3%; Sony=14.9%;Pentax=4.9%
August: Pany=3.6%; Oly=7.0%; Canon=25.3%; Nikon=26.0%; Sony=14.0%;Pentax=4.4%
Sept: Pany=3.6%; Oly=4.7%; Canon=29.3%; Nikon=17.9%; Sony=17.9%;Pentax=4.0%

DSLR vs Mirrorless
Jan: Mirrorless=13.2%; DSLR=67.9%
Feb: Mirrorless=13.9%; DSLR=66.9%
March: Mirrorless=16.7%; DSLR=67.0%
April: Mirrorless=13.6%; DSLR=67.5%
May: Mirrorless=13.7%; DSLR=67.5%
June: Mirrorless=26.4%; DSLR=52.4%
July: Mirrorless=27.5%; DSLR=53.0%
Aug: Mirrorless=24.6%; DSLR=55.7%
Sept: Mirrorless=26.2%; DSLR=51.2%

New Ricoh and Samsungs firmware update


Ricoh firmware update for the GXR system (Ricoh.com). The firmware adds Spot and Macro AF area selection options, faster AF, auto noise reduction, Exif 2.3 support and 3 magnification ratios to check focus.
And Samsung posted the new firmware upgrade (version 1.01) for the new NX100. This update improves the accuracy of autofocus in the Night mode. You can download the firmware at samsungimaging.com. There is also a pdf file with a How-to at downloadcenter.samsung.com.

Google trend: The mirrorless success analyzed

The top cameras comparison (we choosed the most sold camera for every brand)

We used google trends to see which is the most searched mirrorless camera. The winner is the Sony NEX-5. But if we compare any mirrorless camera with a DSLR oyu easily see that Canon and Nikon still dominate the world (look the graph below).

Photokina: Latest cameras. DSLR still rules

New worldwide Amazon mirrorless rankings!

Amazon recently added a new bestseller category for mirrrorless cameras! That’s one more proof for the success of such cameras. But there is one BIG mistake. Amazon US names the category “Micro Four Thirds cameras” unlike other Amazon Europe stores where they call it “Compact System Cameras”. Is that a mistake or a Panasonic/Olympus marketing action?

Check out the current rankings:
– Mirrorless camera ranking at Amazon US (Click here)
– Mirrorless camera ranking at Amazon Deutschland (Click here)
– Mirrorless camera ranking at Amazon UK (Click here)
– Mirrorless camera ranking at Amazon France (Click here)

Amazon Canada and Amazon Japan do not offer the new ranking system.

What can we learn from those rankings? Generally spoken Micro Four Thirds is winning the game against Sony and Samsung. In UK and Germany, Samsung is doing surprisingly well and in France the NEX cameras are on top of the list. And the most popular camera is (as usual) the .