First pictures of the Pentax K-01 Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera and 40mm Pancake!!

The first images of the new Pentax mirrorless camera have emerged and it's a very interesting looking piece of gear!

Some people had said the camera was ugly but I think it looks pretty cool, it manages to combine both traditional and modern elements and has an overall masculine and functional air about it.

Some have criticised Pentax for sticking with the K mount which means the body is relatively deep compared to other mirrorless systems but just look at the size of the new 40mm pancake lens, it's a slither! The body is deeper but that can be compensated by very thin lenses that actually give decent quality unlike some such as the Sony 16mm

It's also important to remember that with Pentax cameras most lenses are driven by a motor built into the camera body. When you try to use contrast detect with Canon EOS lenses or with Olympus 4/3 lenses on a micro 4/3 body (or Sony A mount lenses on NEX with the cheaper adapter) that the very poor speed is dictated by focusing motors that are optimised for phase detect focus, with the K-01 the motor is part of the body so I see no reason why all compatible lenses (Nearly all of the FA lenses will work) wouldn't focus at full speed, this means the camera will launch with a huge range of fully compatible lenses!

It's still early days at the moment but this camera looks very interesting and appears to be based around the highly regarded 16mp Sony APS-C sensor so the potential for great IQ is there!

Fuji X PRO 1 Leaked!

 

Fuji's new interchangeable lens camera has been leaked by a French magazine ahead of it's official announcement next Monday and it looks very nice!

It very much appears to be the "X100 with interchangeable lenses" that people wanted exhibiting the same high build quality and retro design. There's a hybrid viewfinder again too which changes according to the lens fitted, I have no idea if it will work with zoom lenses or not.

The sensor is supposedly some kind of new technology that utilizes organic materials and will offer image quality that will rival or surpass full frame sensors, I wont hold my breath but if it's true then it's very impressive! One glimmer of hope is that there will be no anti aliasing filter because the sensor design makes one redundant, this is at least proof that the sensor is using interesting technology, whether or not it will deliver in the real world is another matter!

There will be three lenses initially, an 18mm f/2.0, 35mm f/1.4 and 60mm f/2.4 all of which feature the same hi9gh quality metal construction as the camera body.

We'll have to wait for the reviews to see how it performs but it certainly looks fantastic!