Fujifilm X-Pro1 pricing confirmed: $1,699.95 body only; pre-orders now open

News

  • January 31, 2012 at 4:19 pm

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Fujifilm X-series interchangeable lens mirrorless camera system X-Pro1 front

Undoubtedly Fujifilm has created quite a stir in the digital camera world with its retro looking X-series cameras putting image quality and full manual controls as priorities. The Fujifilm X100 was one of our favorite pieces of tech for 2011, and the company recently announced the X-Pro1 interchangeable camera, improving on already amazing X100.

You can find more information on the X-Pro1 in our initial coverage here, check-out over forty minutes of hands-on videos and have a look at a comparison against other high-end mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILCs).
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Panasonic ousts four new Lumix point-and-shoot cameras: two compact superzooms and two rugged

News

  • January 31, 2012 at 4:24 am

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Panasonic ZS20 superzoom point-and-shoot camera - top

Panasonic has just announced four new Lumix point-and-shoot cameras, which, combined with a bunch of lower-specced compacts announced at CES, it has now completely blanketed the market.

The new flagship point-and-shoot camera is the Lumix DMC-ZS20, with a 20x (24-480mm) zoom and at just 1.11-inches (28.2cm) thick, Panasonic is calling it the world’s slimmest 20x zoom camera. The camera has a 14.1-megapixel sensor and is capable of shooting 1080/60p video. You will also be able to take advantage of its geotagging abilities with the included GPS.
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Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera designed by Marc Newson to be announced on February 2nd?

News

  • January 30, 2012 at 5:32 pm

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Pentax Mark Newson designed camera London event invitation

We’ll file this into ironic. We were day-dreaming during the weekend over the old Asahi Pentax, and today we received the above invitation for a new product launch event by Pentax in London on February 2nd. The new camera has been designed in collaboration with Sydney-born industrial designer Marc Newson, famous for combining smooth organic lines and bright vivid colors into his products.

The timing matches previous rumors for a new K-mount camera announcement from Pentax, just in time for the CP+ camera show in Yokohama. All rumors point to a new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) to be named Pentax K-01. Again quoting previous rumors, the K-01 will have the same 16-megapixel sensor as the K-5, it will support K-mount lenses but will come with its own new DA 40mm f2.8 lens that is less than 1cm thick.
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MicroOLED 0.61-inch OLED panel has a 1280×1024 resolution, looking to find it’s way into a lucky camera’s EVF

News

  • January 29, 2012 at 6:22 am

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MicroOLED 0.61-inch 5,400k dot 1280x1024 resolution OLED panel

Last year we were pretty excited with the new Sony OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF), which we tested on the Sony A65 camera, and can also be found in the Sony A77 and NEX-7.

The 0.5-inch ECX331A XGA (1024×768 RGB) 2,400k dot Sony OLED panel found in the above cameras, had at the time the highest resolution and pixel density of any commercial microdisplay. The benefit is that it provides an incredibly clear image, finally challenging optical viewfinders.

We’ve been championing electronic viewfinders as the future replacement to optical viewfinders in cameras, for some time now, because they offer certain clear advantages. First of all you can do away with the typical reflex mirror used to reflect part of the oncoming light from your lens to the pentaprism in optical viewfinders; as a result, you get more light onto your sensor and a more compact camera – see mirrorless cameras.

An EVF can also be more informative and customizable, with overlay information, and because you are effectively always looking at what the camera CMOS sensor is seeing, you have an exact live preview of what you will be shooting when you press the shutter button.

Until recently however, EVFs generally sucked, you had a pixelated image with a lot of lag and usually bad color reproduction and poor contrast.
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Olympus claims title of best-selling mirrorless camera manufacturer for 2011 in Japan

News

  • January 26, 2012 at 6:17 am

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Olympus new PEN cameras: E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1

Embattled Olympus didn’t have such a bad year after all. The Japanese camera manufacturer has just claimed top position for the mirrorless camera category in the 2012 BCN Award.

The BCN Ranking pulls in point-of-sale data from a number of major Japanese electronic stores, including online stores like Amazon Japan, and once a year hands-out awards based on the number of actual sales. Olympus has moved ahead of both Sony and Panasonic, capturing more than a third of the market with sales numbering 36.6% of total. Panasonic has the number two spot with 29.3% of sales.
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Canon 5D Mark III or 7D Mark II DSLR spotted shooting animals the good way

News

  • January 24, 2012 at 6:46 am

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Canon 5D Mark III or 7D Mark II DSLR spotted in Africa

Where do you go when you have a still unannounced camera and some shiny big new lenses to try out? Apparently on an African safari. A Japanese Canon employee was spotted by photographer Stephen Oachs testing some new camera gear in Kenya Africa. Thankfully the spotter had his own DSLR with him and snapped a couple of pictures of the yet unidentified Canon camera body.

The spotted DSLR could be the new 5D Mark III or even a 7D Mark II. The captured camera has some of the looks of the 7D, with a more streamlined and modern button layout, however the lack of a pop-up flash points to the former as being more likely.
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First leaked image of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 MFT camera

News

  • January 20, 2012 at 6:45 pm

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Olympus OM-D leaked image - right side

Though not much of image, we’ll get what we can for now. We’ve been slowly getting more information on the latest compact Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus, the OM-D. We know it will probably be announced around the 8th of February, we’ve confirmed the Olympus OM-D name from the company’s trademark fillings, and we got our first specs.

The leaked image above comes form 43rumors and shows the shutter button combined with a dial, an extra dial to its left, a function button and a dedicated video button at the top of the camera. The camera should be all black, and there is also a slightly oddly shaped OM logo as well. Not much more for now, but we hope we can update you soon with more images and info.
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Panasonic GX1 Micro Four Thirds camera and 100-300mm lens getting firmware updates for improved performance

News

  • January 19, 2012 at 6:32 pm

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Panasonic Lumix GX1 MFT camera black and silver side-by-side

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1 will soon be getting a firmware update that is said to improve the camera’s functionality. The GX1 is Panasonic new flagship compact Micro Four Thirds (MFT) digital camera and the proud successor of the venerable GF1.

As a reminder, the Panasonic GX1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) has a 16-megapixel Live MOS sensor, similar to the one in the Panasonic G3 and a 3-inch 460k dot touchscreen LCD with touch-focus. The GX1 uses contrast autofocus, claiming to be as fast as 0.09 seconds. It’s all nicely contained in a compact aluminium body. You might want to check out our comparison of the GX1 against other flagship compact MILCs.
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First rumored specs for the Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera: Micro Four Thirds, EVF and weather sealed body

News

  • January 17, 2012 at 5:06 pm

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Olympus OM-2 camera

We finally had a name for Olympus’s latest compact interchangeable lens camera this week. The Olympus OM-D was confirmed after the Japanese camera maker registered the trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Olympus has also began an ‘Om My Goodness’ teaser campaign. However, we are still mostly in the dark as to what we can expect from the new OM-series digital camera.

A Japanese website, Digicame-info, is now claiming to have received reliable information on some specs for the Olympus OM-D. The camera will be a mirrorless Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system camera with key differentiating factors to Olympus’s PEN MFT cameras being the built-in EVF and weather sealed body:
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Olympus starts teaser campaign for OM camera system, registers Olympus OM-D trademark

News

  • January 15, 2012 at 4:18 pm

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Olympus OM-1 creative

The Olympus OM system was introduced in 1972 based on compact 35mm SLR camera bodies. The system proved a hit and Olympus released a large number of consumer and professional cameras under the OM system until 2002. There has been a lot of speculation that Olympus is staging a comeback (or at least cashing in on the past success) of the OM system with a new digital camera.

We’ve already reported that Olympus is expected to make an announcement in early February, probably coinciding with the big CP+ 2012 Camera & Photo Imaging Show in Yokohama, Japan running on February 9-12. Well, a quick search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office brings up that on January 3rd 2012 Olympus Corporation registered the “Olympus OM-D” trademark, which also mentions interchangeable lenses:
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First preview and hands-on videos of the Fujifilm X-Pro1: 40 minutes of pure camera lust

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  • January 9, 2012 at 4:51 pm

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Fujifilm X-Pro1 hands-on videos preview

Sure specs, pictures and comparisons are great, but we are sure you want to see Fujifilm’s latest marvel in action. We are not sure how else to foreword this, other than grab your pop-corn, sit comfortably and prepare for a total of 40 minutes of manual knob turning, metal body handling, hybrid viewfinder switching, retro camera lust.

The Fuji Guys, Fujifilm’s Canadian duo, take you on a video tour of every minute detail around the new X-Pro1 interchangeable lens camera. Head over after the break for the three hands-on videos and be sure to check out the rest of our coverage as well.
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Fujifilm X-Pro1 interchangeable lens camera is official with 16MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor, February release date

FeaturedNews

  • January 9, 2012 at 3:57 pm

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Fujifilm X-Pro1 digital camera

Fujifilm didn’t exactly keep the lid on its X-series mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) system. We’ve seen pictures and specs of the Fujifilm X-Pro1 in a number of leaks last week, but now we have the official announcement by Fujifilm with all the minor details we are sure you’re anxious to hear.

The X-Pro1 is a retro beauty following in the footsteps of the X100 and the X10. The camera has a new 16-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS sensor that was developed in-house by Fujifilm together this its proprietary EXR technology. Fujifilm claims that the new X-Trans CMOS sensor is able to deliver image resolution that bests other APS-C sensors. This is achieved by a new color filter array that does not require an optical low-pass filter, which degrades resolution. The new EXR Processor Pro is capable of processing the increased signal data coming from the new sensor.
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Canon PowerShot G1 X announced: 14.3-megapixel sensor, larger than Micro Four Thirds, and 4x optical zoom lens for $800

News

  • January 9, 2012 at 12:05 pm

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Canon Powershot G1 X digital camera articulating LCD

Canon will not enter the mirrorless interchangeable lens camera space, instead the camera maker has announced a new large sensor bridge camera in its PowerShot G series. The PowerShot G1 X will become the flagship model in the series ahead of the G12. What’s special about the G1 X is the new 1.5-inch 14.3 megapixel CMOS sensor which is slightly larger than a Micro Four Thirds sensor. The new sensor measures 18.7 x 14 mm compared to a Micro Four Thirds sensor which is 17.3 x 13mm. In fact the G1 X’s sensor is 6.3 times larger than the sensor inside the PowerShot G12.

We would imagine that such a large sensor will allow the G1 X some pretty respectable low-light performance, while the camera can shoot up to ISO 12,800. The lens offers an 4x optical zoom from 28-112m with aperture ranging from f/2.8 to f/16. Combined with the large sensor it should offer some pretty nice shallow depth of field. The G1 X has EOS-like features, like 14bit RAW shooting and is compatible with various accessories including Speedlite hot-shoe flash units. The camera comes with a 3-inch 922,000 dot articulating LCD screen and it’s capable of 1080p HD video shooting.
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Fujifilm X-Pro1 vs. Panasonic GX1 vs. Sony NEX-7 vs. Olympus E-P3 comparison

The Lab

  • January 8, 2012 at 6:31 pm

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Fujifilm X-Pro 1 camera with 18mm lens

Digital mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras (MILCs) have gone a long way since Panasonic released the first Micro Four Thirds camera over 3 years ago. During this time, we’ve seen practically all major camera manufacturers (except Canon) entering the space that was once the privilege of multi-thousand dollar Leica Rangefinders. Fujifilm showed us what they can do with a high-end compact camera in their excellent fixed-lens FinePix X100 shooter last year. Now, Fujifilm plans to release a new X-series MILC system led by their X-Pro1 camera.

Despite coming late to the party, Fujifilm intends to enter with a bang. The X-Pro1 has Leica-like controls with individual shutter speed and exposure compensation dials, while each lens has a manual aperture ring. Fujifilm has also improved on the X100’s hybrid electronic/optical viewfinder, and the second generation has found its way in the X-Pro1.

In our comparison below we have pitted the Fujifilm X-Pro1 against the best of the competition, the Panasonic GX1, the Sony NEX-7 and the Olympus E-P3. All four share the same rangefinder-style body, though not all come with a built-in viewfinder. It’s interesting to note that the X-Pro1 includes a number of technologies which are unique, including the new X-Trans CMOS sensor and hybrid viewfinder.
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