Pentax K-01 hands-on and new lens roadmap. Ricoh takes full control of Pentax camera division.

Engadget (Click here) tested the new K-01 and wrote that it “doesn’t feel as cheap as it looks”.

Ricoh now took full control over the Pentax imaging division. Here is the press release:

“Tokyo, February 9, 2012 – Ricoh Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Shiro Kondo, hereinafter Ricoh) announces an organizational change to its imaging system business including security system business and consumer digital camera business.

Since October 1, 2011 when PENTAX RICOH IMAGING COMPANY (President and CEO?Zenji Miura, hereinafter PRI) was established, Ricoh managed its global imaging system business under two brands, RICOH and PENTAX. Specifically RICOH brand digital cameras were designed, developed and sold by Personal Multimedia Product Company (hereinafter PMMC), an internal organization of Ricoh, while PENTAX brand digital cameras were designed, developed and sold by PRI.

In an effort to strengthen customer relationships and provide innovative products and services, Ricoh will re-organize its structure.

1.Effective date?
?April 1, 2012?plan?

2.Scope?
?Worldwide

3.New functions of each business unit?
?PRI: Consumer businesses such as digital cameras for B2C market
(This includes Ricoh development resources to improve capabilities and support
Ricoh branded cameras )
?Ricoh PMMC: B2B businesses including security system business, and imaging solutions
business for B2B market

February 9, 2012
Ricoh Company, Ltd.“

 

Meanwhile Pentax announced the new 2012 lens roadmap (via Photorumors). There will be a new K-mount pancake,a 50mm f/1.8 standard prime lens, an unspecified tele photo lens, the Pentax DA 560mm f/5.6 SMC lens (what a beast!), a Pentax D-FA 645 90mm f/2.8 SMC lens and the L to Q mount lens adapter. Clcik on pictures to enlarge:

New Fuji X PRo 1 image samples (and preorders in US, UK, Italy, Canada and Japan)

The huge world wide web becomes quite small if you try to find some image samples taken with the new Fuji X PRO 1. But Fujirumors found some samples in Portugal at Fotodigitalonline (Click here). If you hover the pictures you can see a 100% zoom of the images. Yep, that’s all you get :)

The good news is that there are some new preorder options in UK, Italy and Japan:

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).

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And one more thing. According to Amazon US lens rankings (Click here) this are the most preordered Fuji X lenses:
Position 1: The 35mm f/1.4
Position 2:  The 18mm f/2.0
Position 3: The 60mm macro

Canon G1X gets DxOmarked. And image comparison with Nikon/Sony/Olympus

The new Canon G1X got DxOmarked (Click here). On paper the Canon is on par with current Micro Four Thirds cameras but far behind the newest Sony NEX cameras. But you know we love to see REAL world comparisons and Imaging Resource (Click here) fulfilled that duty and posted an ISO comparison between the Canon and other big mirrorless cameras: “Fine detail on the G1 X looks quite good, though it’s bested by the T3i and NEX-5N, an outcome we’d expect. As ISO rises, contrast and saturation tend to decrease in the G1 X, while it stays stronger in the T3i, E-P3, and NEX-5N. The J1 and G12 appear to be out of the running for this contest“.

While the G1X is definitely an interesting product it’s still not enough to seriously compete against the mirrorless and interchangeable systems. But I think Canon is coming with the real BIG thing at Photokina… :)

Preorders are available at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Fuji X PRO price and release announced in Japan (+ one more ISO test!).

Finally Fuji Japan announced the price of the new Fuji X PRo 1 and X lenses (via Fujirumors). It’s in yen, we still don’t know what’s the price in Euro or Dollar for example:
1) The X PRo 1 camera will be released on February 18 and cost 150.000 Yen. By using the current conversion rate this means 1475 Euro or 1930 Dollars. But I am sure the price will be less in USA (probably $1799) and a bit more in Europe (almost 1.600 Euro).
2) The 18mm f/2.0 lens and the 35mm f/1.4 will cost 55.oo0 Yen each (540 Euro or 708 Dollars).
3) The 60mm f/2.4 macro will cost 60.000 Yen (590 Euro or 773 Dollars).

Just my two cent. It’s an expensive camera, so I am going to wait to see real tests before to decide if I buy it or not. Right now no big website posted any preview or test of the camera. Only Romanian photographers are doing that job right now! :)  Look at the latest ISO test by F64 (Click here).They compared the X PRO 1 with the Fuji X100 and Nikon D3. His conclusions in short:
1) At high ISO the X PRO 1 beats both the e X100 and D3 cameras.
2) Shutter noise is similar to that of the .
3) The 18mm lens suffers from some purple fringing (but Fuji could add an automatic lens correction once finalized the firmware).
4) manual focusing has been improved over the X100 but the reviewer is still not completely satisfied with the performance. Also auto-focus isn’t really fast.
5) What matters: Image quality is spectacular.

Fuji X PRO 1 preorders and notification services:
Preorder: Expansys USA (Click here), Expansys Canada (Click here), Henrys Canada (Click here) .
Notification:  Amazon US (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Nikon 1 V1 and J1 tested at DPreview!


Finally DPreview (Click here) posted the much expected Nikon V1 and J1 review. A must read! The cameras are amazing for shoot moving subjects in good light. And image quality is almost on par with the Micro Four Thirds cameras (and that’s also an amazing result considering the smaller sensor). But also Dpreview recognizes that the price is still too high when you compare it with other cheaper and more featured cameras like the Sony NEX-5n.

Nevertheless, at least in USA the Nikon 1 cameras are selling well (Check here the Amazon US ranking). I guess this has also to do with their strong marketing campaign and retailers network. Anyway, I am pretty sure Nikon is already preparing the launch for new Nikon 1 cameras. Can’t wait to see them!

Canon G1 X news roundup!

EosHD (Click here) isn’t impressed by the Canon G1 X video quality: “It seems Canon haven’t progressed video on DSLRs at all since they stumbled upon it 3 years ago, which is somewhat depressing.“

Also Cameralabs (Click here) posted a short preview: “Ultimately for all the pros and the cons, Canon has delivered what many people were asking for: G-series design and features with a DSLR-class sensor under the hood.“

Hands-on at Photographybay (Click here). Image samples at Focus Numerique (Click here) and Dpreview (Click here). Image+video smaples at Lenstip (Click here / via Noisyc).

Preorders are available at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).