I think many of you were or still are film camera owners. And you won’t be happy to read the next news:

The first to post this bad news was Thom Hogan (Click here). And ThePhoBlographer (Click here) picked up the news and contacted Kodak to ask them if the news is true. Indeed Kodak discontinued all their slide films (The E100VS, E100G and Elite Chrome Extra Color 100). And things went so fats that you already cannot find them anymore on Kodak’s own store :(

The only major slide film producer now is Fuji. And usually when there is no competition prices will increase. Anyway, I dont’ think the time of film cameras is over. The problems of Kodak are from different nature. So we shouldn’t be to worried for the future. Film will survive!

SLR Magic just announced three new Toy Lenses for three new systems:
1) SLR Magic x Toy Lens 11mm f/1.4 lens for Pentax Q. It’s already available on .
2) SLR Magic x Toy Lens 28mm Bokehmorphic lens for NEX. Available on .
3) SLR Magic x Toy Lens Pinhole Lens for Micro Four Thirds. Available on .

Here is the full press release:
“Hong Kong, China (March 5, 2012)  – SLR Magic introduces three more Toy Lenses.
The SLR Magic x Toy Lens Pinhole lens is the first wide-angle pinhole lens that is compatible with all micro four third mount cameras. The field of view of this Pinhole Lens corresponds to a 24mm pinhole lens in 35mm format. It is the first pinhole lens to offer a protective glass to keep dust and moisture away from the digital sensor.
The SLR Magic x Toy Lens 11mm f/1.4 is a standard focal length lens that is compatible with all Q mount cameras. The field of view corresponds to a 60mm lens in 35mm format. The fast aperture combined with the close minimum focus distance of this lens allows for pleasing shallow depth of field effect and is a joy to use.
The SLR Magic x Toy Lens Bokehmorphic allows for creative bokeh effects. The lens is compatible with all E mount cameras. The field of view corresponds to a 42mm lens in 35mm format. It is great for creative bokeh or light painting for impressionistic photography.
All three Toy Lens models will be available from authorized SLR Magic dealers by April 2012.
Andrew Chan
Product Manager“

The Taiwanese magazine MAG (Click here) made that picture showing an apparently “Fata Morgana” effect. It looks like the girls are holding a Silver X PRO 1 version but some of our readers confirmed that this was just an effect created by the intense light. There cameras are indeed black :(

Don’t know if there will be ever a silver version ( I would like it!). Back from the fantasy world here are two real news sent me by the original reviewers:

1) “Image samples from Fujifilm X-Pro1 (not pre-production!) showing ISO-performance and center/corner sharpness of the 18 mm and 35 mm lenses:
http://www.akam.no/artikler/sjekk-bildekvaliteten-pa-fujifilm-x-pro1/107175
Norwegian words:
Senterskarphet = center sharpness
Hjørneskarphet = corner sharpness“

2) “I am a professional wedding/portrait/travel photographer in Canada who has been recently engaged by Fujifilm Canada to shoot some promotional images with a pre-preproduction X-Pro 1 for their upcoming product launch in Canada. They have also asked me to provide feedback about the camera system to them.
They have asked me not to share any images I shoot (yet) as they want to present them to the press/public at the product launch, however, they gave me permission to discuss my thoughts about the camera.
I have written a “working review” as I have been using the camera for a week in my studio on live client work. Fujifilm really wanted to know how the camera performs on the job, so I approached my review from that “working photographer” perspective.
If you would like to see the review (and maybe show it to your readers), you can find it at:
http://holyfstop.blogspot.com/2012/03/fujifilm-x-pro-1-first-look.html“

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The Fuji X PRO 1 camera can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), Epxansys US (Click here) and Expansys Canada (Click here).
in Europe at Jessops UK (Click here), eBay Italy (Click here) and Expansys UK (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here) and eBay Japan (Click here).

In Japan you can get full details about the exact camera market shares. And those clearly show that almost 50% of all sold system cameras are mirrorless (the rest is DSLR). Finally we got our hands on the mirrorless sales percentage in Germany (via DC.watch). The sales share in 2011 has been 12,7%. That’s a lot less but still…the market is growing. DSLR sales have been constant the last four years but I guess in 2012 mirrorless sales will grow much faster and DSLR sales will slightly fall. That’s just my personal guess, we will see in one year if that will become true.

Mewanwhile the CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association in Japan) announced that from now on they will use the term “non-reflex” for the so-called mirror-less cameras (via DC.watch). This clearly goes against my policy :) I will always prefer the term “mirrrorless” over “compact system cameras (CSC)” or “non-reflex” or “evil” cameras.

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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)

Those of you living in Japan can visit the CP+ Fuji booth in Yokohama. The picture on top shows the new Fuji X PRO 1 with M-mount adapter and attached! A full set of Fuji booth images can be seen at DC.watch (Click here).

And there is are many new Full Size X PRo 1 image samples at http://www.pbase.com/hpicckcy/fujifilm_xpro1 (via Fujirumors.com). They have been posted by Hugo Poon which says: “I’m not a reviewer and this is no review. Have to be frank, I never have the time (nor interest) to do detailed tests and comparison. My only interest in an equipment is how well it can help me capture the moment and document the familiar places that are fast changing and even disappearing… Though I had had only a couple of days to shoot with this new gear, I couldn’t be more convinced that this is Fuji’s one most powerful photo taking machine to date.
PS. Click “original” for best viewing quality. “

Not many websites posted X PRO 1 image smaples. Here is the short list: Fuji (Click here to see), Christian Fletcher (Click here),vladdodan (Click here), F64 (Click here), Focus Numerique (Click here) and Fotodigitalonline (Click here).

The question to you is:

The Fuji X PRO 1 camera can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here), Epxansys US (Click here) and Expansys Canada (Click here).
in Europe at Jessops UK (Click here), eBay Italy (Click here) and Expansys UK (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here) and eBay Japan (Click here).

The Fuji X 18mm f/2.0 can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here).

The Fuji X 35mm f/1.4 can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).
in Asia at Amazon Japan (Click here).

The Fuji X 60mm f/2.4 macro can be preordered:
in USA/Canada at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Bhphoto (Click here).