First image of the new Canon mirrorless camera and pancake lens!

The first image of Canon's entry into the mirrorless market has been revelaed via the digicame-info website! The camera is named the EOS M and features a new EF-M mount with an APS-C sized sensor. Also shown in the photo is a new 22mm f/2 stm pancake lens!

Update: I see a lot of people are already calling for the public execution of this camera before it is even released! Calm down! This is the very first model and is no doubt intended to have a broad appeal. Obviously it is somewhat simplistic in terms of specs but it is almost inevitable that a more advanced model will be released later on, it looks like a decent enough camera to me, I think it looks neat and minimalist and while it may not be oozing with features you can be sure the image quality will be on a decent level.

My Sony NEX-5N doesn't have a built in viewfinder or a command dial or a built in flash but that doesn't stop it from being one of the best mirrorless cameras on the market and that's thanks in no small part to the astonishingly good image quality.

Only time will tell how good the camera is but knowing Canon it won't be anything less than decent and that lens looks very interesting, take note Sony! There is an official Canon event on monday that could well be the official announcement of this camera and the new system!

First full pciture of the new Olympus OM-D

The first complete image of the new Olympus OM-D E-M5 was leaked by Amazon Japan earlier and has since been removed but not before people were able to grab the image!

What do you think? I love the retro styling for the most part, it certainly looks a lot like some of the classic OM cameras if not most slab styled SLRs of the 60's and 70's. The only thing I'm not sure about is the (hopefully removable) hand grip, I'm sure it will be great in terms of function but it seems at odds with the rest of the styling like it's too modern compared to the rest of the camera.  I really like it on the whole though, retro styling can get boring and overly contrived in some peoples eyes but I think that when done well it looks great, there has been a lot of nice looking retro style cameras recently so this seems to be an increasing trend.

I like the fact that there is a battery grip too, that certainly makes the camera seem more of a serious tool.

Olympus OM-D incoming!

Olympus has begun a teaser campaign for it's upcoming OM-D camera that will become the range topper for their mirrorless cameras. There was a time when Olympus themselves hailed the E-400 series of SLRs as the new OM so I think that speaks volumes about the future of that product line!

Details remain somewhat sketchy but it seems the high end camera will have a 16mp sensor, a high resolution EVF and a magnesium body. It's also certain to be weather sealed following the recent release of the new weather sealed zoom lens. I'm sure it will be a beautiful thing and I hope the sensor can do the rest of the body justice, I used to have an E-420 and while the sensor wasn't so great the camera was very well made and a joy to operate, the finish and perception of quality blew away equivalent Nikon and Canon bodies at the time.

There is a leaked image of the camera over at 43 Rumours which doesn't give away too much but you can see the camera will have a large amount of external controls and retro design touches.

Apparently the camera will be announced officially announced on the 8th of febuary.

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!

Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 Di III VC for Sony NEX System Out Now?

 

It's good to see Tamron putting their support behind the Sony NEX system and whilst they have gone for what is obviously the most commercially safe lens they could have released it's still good to see a third party company offer an autofocus lens for the system.

 

Obviously this lens will suffer from optical compromises due to it's design but the new 18-270mm lens Tamron have out is very acceptable considering the huge zoom range so providing this lens is a new design and not a variant of the existing SLR version then there's potential for it to offer surprising image quality, if it can combine some of the technology of the 18-270mm in a slightly less ambitious design there's no reason why it couldn't offer acceptable performance and best the overpriced Sony 18-200mm.

 

There is speculation that the Sony branded 18-200mm is made by Tamron anyway so this lens should offer at least equal IQ and hopefully will be significantly less expensive!

 

It's also a nice touch that the lens is offered in both black and silver finishes, something you could quite easily do too Sony!

 

Apparently the lens is available from this weekend in Japan so I look forward to seeing how it goes down!

 

Pentax Q and C-mount Lenses = A predictable disappointment!

I did have my doubts about using adapted lenses on the new Pentax Q and they have just been confirmed by DC Watch.

Whilst the very small sensor promises full frame coverage with most C and D-mount lenses it's important to remember that the photosites on the sensor are incredibly tiny and most lenses simply cannot resolve enough detail to keep up. One combination in particular that had me salivating was the Q mated with the Pentax 8-48mm F/1.0 which would equate to a 46-267mm F/1.0 (in terms of light gathering) but it just isn't going to deliver any sort of usable image quality.

The camera does better with SLR lenses that tend to be capable of much higher resolutions so there is still some potential for interesting combinations, a 200mm F/2.8 would become an 1100mm which could have some interesting applications although even with SLR lenses I suspect only the very sharpest would be up to the job. If you're not interested in extreme telephoto then you're still best off using SLR lenses with 4/3 or larger sensors with all the associated benefits such as lower noise and shallower depth of field.

I would expect that modern megapixel CCTV lenses would perform somewhat better but they cost as much if not more as native Q lenses so what's the point? It's a shame really but I was expecting it to happen, there's just no way these old video lenses can deliver enough resolution to feed the tiny pixels in the Pentax Q It's still a cute camera and I know that the native lenses are very decent but it terms of using it for all those c and d-mount lenses that won't work on your 4/3 cam I'm afraid it's a no go!

Here's the link to the DC Watch article where they test several lenses all with disappointing results.

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/review/special/20111020_484895.html