CIPA reports an astonishing minus 35% in system camera shipments for February 2019

Buckle up dear readers: In February 2019 Japanese camera companies did ship 35% less cameras compared to February 2018. This is much worse than I would have expected. If that trend continues expect some companies to complete drop out of the camera business!

This is worrisome if you consider Nikon and Canon just launched their new systems and you would have expected to see some meaningful sales. Sony on the other hand did only launch one single system camera in the past 13 months. Maybe they are slowing everything down because of the horror market?

Source CIPA.

Rumors roundup: Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8 FE, Fuji 33mm, Sony A7sIII, New Olympus MFT cameras…

New rumors and news recap:

1) (Image on top) Yongnuo will announce a new 50mm f/1.8 FE autofocus lens in mid April and price at $100 (SonyAlphaRumors).
2) Sony interview at DPreview: Sony A7s alike APS-C camera is a possibility…and yes A7sIII will exceed expectations! (SonyAlphaRumors).
3) (Image below) Fujifilm X Photographer Shares Fujinon XF 33mm f/1.0 Image on Instagram. Beta Testing Started? (Fujirumors).
4) TowerJazz Announces Signing Three-Year Agreement Extension with Panasonic Semiconductor Solutions (L-rumors).
5) Olympus interview at Phototrend: More MFT cameras will be announced in 2019! (43rumors).

Panasonic announced the G90…no wait G95…no sorry G99!

Panasonic has that weird ritual to name a camera in different ways for some mysterious dark marketing reasons. So, if you live in Asia this new camera is named G99, in Europe G90 and in the USA G95.

Anyhow, the new G Whatever has been announced along the new 14-140mm II lens. More info below:

Preorders:
G95 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama
14-140mm II lens at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama

Reviews:
Preview at DPreview. Image samples at Dpreview. Hands-on at ePhotozine. Review at CameraJabber. First look at CameraLabs. First impression at Photographyblog.

All leaked images and specs of the new Panasonic G90 and 14-140mm II lens

Panasonic finally focused back on the MFT system and will soon announce a new G90 and a new 14-140mm II lens. Here are all leaked images and specs with courtesy of Nokishita

G90 specs:

20.3M pixel Live MOS sensor with no low pass filter
5-axis Dual I.S. 2, 5 steps of image stabilization
Unlimited 4K30p / Full HD Movies
V-log L is pre-installed
2.36 million dots organic EL LVF, finder magnification 0.74x
3.0 type vari-angle touch panel monitor
Dust and drip proof
Equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Size: 130.4 x 93.5 x 77.4 mm
Weight: about 536 g
Japan release date: May 23, 2019
Kit: Body, high magnification zoom lens kit (overseas standard zoom kit is also available)

 

Exciting scientific news: First ever picture of a Black Hole Horizon to be shown on April 10

The image on top shows you the Black Hole as seen in the movie Interstellar. But nobody yet has ever photographed a real Black Hole. While it would be impossible to see the black hole itself due to the fact that light simply cannot escape their gravitational pull and reach observers on Earth, scientists focused their efforts on procuring an image of its event horizon. And the Event Horizon Telescope is humanity first attempt to take a  close up picture of this phenomena.

They will publish this image on April 10. You can watch the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/c/VideosatNSF/live