Preorders: Sony 20-70mm at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, FotoKoch, Fotoerhardt, Calumet, WexUK.

Today Sony announced two new lenses. The world’s first 20-70mm f/4.0 G lens and the 300mm f/2.8 GM. The 20-70mm is the first of it’s kind with a super wide 20mm starting point. This is a lens that many travelers will gladly buy! There was also a 300mm GM lens development announcement. Te bad news here is that this lens is set to be on the market by early 2024 only :(

The Japanese BCN organization collected the exact sales number from 40% of the Japanese stores. And this is the market share of the camera companies:

･BCN AWARD 2023 Category Camera

• Digital camera integrated lens category (*The share in parentheses is last year’s share)
  1st Sony: 22.1% share (23.1%)
  2nd Canon: 18.0% share (34.01%)
  3rd Fujifilm: 17.1% share (11.6%) 
• Digital camera SLR category
  1st Canon: 76.8% (59.8%)
  share 2nd Nikon: 17.2% (33.9%)
  share 3rd Ricoh Imaging: 5.7% (5.8%) share
• Digital Camera Mirrorless SLR Category
  1st Canon: 31.7% (28.2%)
  share 2nd Sony: 29.4% (32.0%)
  share 3rd OM Digital Solutions: 14.3% (12.7%) share
• Digital video camera category
  1st Panasonic: 42.4% (43.6%)
  share 2nd place Sony: 34.7% (26.3%)
  share 3rd place DJI: 9.4% (11.2%) share
• Action camera category
  No. 1 GoPro: Share 57.7% (70.4%)
  No. 2 DJI: Share 20.5% (5.3%)
  No. 3 Shenzhen Arashi Vision: Share 7.9% (-)

･BCN AWARD 2023 Category Camera Accessories

• Interchangeable lens category (*Last year’s share in parentheses)
  1st Sony: 16.4% share (17.2%)
  2nd Canon: 15.9% share (17.6%)
  3rd Sigma: 14.5% share (12.6%) 
• Tripod/monopod category
  No. 1 Hakuba Photo Industry: Share 30.9% (29.1%)
  No. 2 Videndum Media Solutions: Share 15.1% (15.5%)
  No. 3 Slick: Share 14.4% (12.6%)
• Camera case/bag
  No. 1 Hakuba Photo Industry: Share 41.0% (33.3%)
  No. 2 Elecom: Share 17.5% (18.8%)
  No. 3 Etsumi: Share 5.9% (-)

via Digicameinfo

The Hasselblad XPan is a legendary and very expensive film camera that produces cinematic panoramic images. In this video, we are going to look at digital alternatives to the Hasselblad XPan and you can get some of them for a fraction of the Hasselblad XPan price.

TheLSantedLens:

Panasonic Lumix S5 II vs Sony a7 IV Camera Comparison. We compare 2 cameras that are very much entry level cameras but excellent cameras in their class. We have the new Lumix S5 Mark II which is a new, really exciting release from Panasonic and we have the Sony a7 Mark IV. These have the ideal specs for a beginning level mirrorless camera in the $2000-$2500 dollar range for anyone wanting to do photo and video.

A first look of the two new Nikon Z lenses!

This is the new 60-600mm from Sigma. It’s available for E and L-mount and the announcement will be held on January 12.

S5II at Bhphoto, Adorama, Amazon US&EU&CA, Fotokoch, FotoErhardt, WexUK, Ipln.

DC.watch interviewed a bunch of Panasonic managers. They amide it clear they want to make rapid progress in the Lumix lineup. Maybe we will see many more of the current Lumix cameras updated with the new Phase Detection AF?

About the Lumix future:

We recognize that we are not yet a strong manufacturer in the market. We believe that the S5II this time is a product of a very high dimension, and we believe that this is the next phase of LUMIX. Please look forward to the rapid progress of LUMIX in the future.

On Why Phase Detection AF is only coming now on Panasonic cameras:

This is because we place the highest priority on image quality. When using focal plane phase detection AF, pixel defects will inevitably occur. LUMIX gives top priority to image quality, so we have been developing from the perspective of how far AF can be enhanced while still producing the highest image quality. In such a situation, we have refined contrast AF and DFD (spatial recognition AF) without pixel defects.

About the new IS system:

The main feature is the significant improvement in the image stabilization effect when shooting videos while walking. Conventionally, when shooting movies, the vertical, horizontal, and rotational correction ratios were allotted at a fixed rate, but with Active IS, for example, in scenes where vertical blur is large, the vertical correction ratio is increased. For example, the correction ratio is adjusted according to the state of blurring. As a result, we were able to greatly improve the correction effect for walking shots. In addition, the camera shake correction effect can be fully demonstrated even with fixed shooting.