First image of the back of the Pentax Q

The first image of the back of the new Pentax mirrorless camera has been leaked on Xitek (Click here). The source also said that there is a 8.5mm (equivalent to 47mm) f/1.9 lens and a 5mm-15mm (equivalent to 27.5mm-83.0mm) f/2.8 – F4.5 lens zoom. The first surprise is that the final production camera will use a1/2.3 inch 12 million Sony back-illuminated CMOS sensor! It records video in 1080P H.264. It will have a new Q-bayonet. And it sounds like the final camera name will be “Q”.

Pentax NC mirrorless system to be announced tomorrow. And one more “K-mirrorless” system coming in autumn!


April Fool’s joke idea 2003: a small digital Pentax system camera (Soruce: Reality Scanner on Flickr).

It’s not a secret anymore that tomorrow Pentax will announce the new NC mirrorless system. Amateur Photographer reports that “‘The new mid-range mirrorless camera, under the Pentax brand, is expected to sell for about 70,000 to 80,000 yen ($864 to 988), including a lens.”. Honestly, I wouldn’t call a mirrorless system with 1/2.33 inch sensor a “midrange system”! Anyway, those of you looking for a more professional Pentax mirrorless system will be happy to know that Pentax will announce a new “K-mirrorless” system in autumn. That new system will use the Sony APS-C sensor.

You can follow tomorrow’s Pentax announcement on MirrorlessRumors! I will continually update you with all news, reviews and image samples!

Leica will launch a new mirrorless system (APS-C or Fullframe) at Photokina 2012!

According to Amateur Photographer “Leica bosses have revealed plans to announce a compact system camera at Photokina 2012 in a bid to compete with the likes of Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and Olympus. ” Leica CEO Alfred Schopf told AP that “We are looking into that… You will see something at the next Photokina” and “Asked whether Leica would include an EVF, Schopf said it would largely depend on the sensor used, hinting that it would prefer the built-in EVF option. “

No more details were unveiled but our sources already told us that Leica is very likely going to use Sony sensors. And now let’s see if Nikon and Canon will finally move into the mirrorless world. They won’t miss the party or not?

Leica M9-P and new Elmarit 21mm lens announced (Ken Rockwell blames Leica)

Leica found a way to aks even more money for the fullframe Leica M9 ;) The new Leica M9-P comes wthout that red Leica logo, a new cover glass made of Sapphire, a new Vulcanite leatherette cover and old style Leica engraving on top of the camera. For that you wil have to spend $500 more than the current “normal” M9.

And than we have a new expensive Leica Super Elmar M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH lens you can already preorder on Adorama (Click here) for $2,995.00.

UPDATE: Ken Rockwell is pretty upset with that anouncement: “Same as the M9, with the sapphire screen Leica removed from the M8 when it introduced the M9 in order to give themselves this upgrade path as we predicted them to do back in 2009 when they cheated us out of the sapphire that the M8 had. Leica is getting like the Japanese: two steps forward (full-frame and no IR filters needed), and one step back for future upgrades (remove the sapphire cover in 2009 so they can add it in 2011 and claim something new).“

The improvements list of the new Fuji X100 firmware!


The Fuji guys are tweeting the info about the upcoming Fuji X100 firmware.

  • 1/3 stop adjustments now available in all modes on FinePix X100

  • Red Eye removal can be disabled when shooting RAW on FinePix X100

  • You can get into the “FN” assignment menu by holding down the “FN” button for 3 secs on FinePix X100

  • Exiting sleep mode now by pressing the shutter button on the X100. No longer required to hold halfway for a few sec.

  • Size of AF Area is maintained even after switching between OVF/EVF/LCD

    • The new firmware should be announced within the next days!

    Reminder: Check the Fuji X100 in Stock status by clicking those direct search links: [shopcountry 100018].

    Pentax NC-1 to be announced on June 23th?

    According to our friends from DigicamInfo Pentax will announce the new Pentax NC-1 mirrorless system on June 23 (Update: old date June 26 was wrong)! Pentax claims that this it the “world’s smallest interchangeable lens camera“. As you know the camera should cost around $600 with kit lens. It has a small 1/2,33? size sensor (that’s the size of the sensor in most compacts). It’s a 14 Megapixel 5.6x crop sensor. It can also record HD h.264 movies. Two lenses will be released along the NC-1. There will be a prime 8.5mm f/1.9 (almost 47mm equivalent) and a zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 (28-80mm equivalent).