Samsung announces the new NX30 with baby monitor feature (no joke!) and two 16-50mm lenses (yes two!).

Scroll the images on top to see the cameras and lenses.

Samsung is the first manufacturer of the year announcing a new mirrorless camera with the NX30. And there are also two new 16-50mm lenses. One is a big and lens with an amazing f/2.0-2.8 aperture lens. The other one is a 16-50mm pancake with f/3.5-5.6 aperture and Power Zoom ED OIS.

The Samsung NX30:

It has exactly the same sensor and autofocusing ot the NX300. The real highlight is that new super moveable EVF which can be pulled and tilted. Quite cool!

And as a Killer feature you will get a baby monitor function too…and yes, this is not one of my bad jokes. It really has it!

Anyway, other improvements are minor and can be read at the bottom of this post inside the official press text. By the way, there is neither a pricing nor an availability info :(

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Fashion Photography With the Sony RX1. It’s One Little Beast of a Camera.

A little Background…
I am a 23 year old photographer who moved to Chicago from Nigeria 6 years ago. I started photography about 3 years ago. After playing around with a DSLR in Target, I was hooked. I shoot mostly fashion photography, and female models. I have shot full frame since late 2011 with the 5D mk2, then the D800 since November 2012.

Why the RX1?
I honestly just had some extra money 2 months ago, and wanted a new toy. It was either the camera or a new road bike. Boy am I glad I went with the RX1. I was lucky enough to get a used one in excellent condition for $1900 with a very nice leather case. 

First Impressions
It’s really small, but substantial. There is a solid heft to it, even though it’s not heavy by any means. The compactness makes me marvel at how far technology has come. Everything on the camera feels solidly built and very premium. 

Using the Camera
It’s such a joy to use. It gets out of your way, and just lets you shoot. The controls are very intuitive, and the feedback from the buttons are very good too. Before getting this camera, my preferred lens was the Nikon 50mm 1.4. I don’t like zooms, so a fixed lens that gave me more room to add the environment was perfect. It took me a little while to get used to the 35mm focal length, but now it just feels natural. I have only shot with the camera in available light. I tried using my generic Calumet flash triggers, but they didn’t fit completely into the hotshoe. The strobe syncing worked fine, but the contact was finicky, so it wouldn’t flash when it secured tightly. I prefer to shoot with available light when I shoot outdoors anyways, so strobing with the RX1 wasn’t a priority for me. That just takes the simplicity of using this camera out of the equation. The auto white balance on the RX1 is wonderful. It always metered much better than my D800 in every situation. 

One big advantage with shooting outside on location with the RX1 is how little attention you gather. It’s unbelievable. Cops just walked on by when I was shooting a model in a vest and panties in the middle of the street, in the middle of the day without saying a word. Contrary to my experiences with my D800, we would have been asked to present permits, and all sorts of documentation. People don’t crowd around to watch, because it just looks like I’m with my hot friends taking pics for Instagram.

The autofocus is good. It’s not going to win any awards for speed and accuracy, but it’s good enough to capture what I want quickly enough. Especially in sufficient light. It does struggle in low light, but I rarely ever shoot in low light, so that hasn’t been a problem. Speaking of low light performance, the RX1 is really good at high ISO’s. Better than my D800 from 3200 and up.

The dynamic range and sharpness from that 35mm f2 lens are just wonderful. I don’t even add sharpening in post, because the photos come out nice and sharp. With tons of shadow and highlight detail which makes post-processing a joy.


I didn’t get the EVF, because it adds bulk to the camera, is quite expensive, and makes it feel like a very formal/professional affair which goes against the philosophy behind the RX1 in my opinion. The LCD works just fine even in direct sunlight. I do not have a single complaint with it.


Battery life is quite bad, but the batteries are really cheap, and I have five of them with two chargers. I usually use 2 batteries for a full 2-3 hour fashion shoot. It’s also disconcerting to models who are used to using loud shutter clicks as cues to switch poses, but they get used to it after a while.

I shoot weddings occasionally, and I use the RX1 for all the pre-ceremony and reception shots where I have more time to be creative. 


My only gripe with using it is that I still haven’t had a bride, groom, or client freak out that I was shooting with this tiny camera. It’s a little disappointing because I expected to get that reaction every time I whipped out the RX1 instead of my big DSLR. My D800 now sits at home collecting dust, and it takes me a while to re-adjust when I have to shoot with it because it really is cumbersome working with DSLR cameras. They’re heavy, bulky, and I hate not being able to see what my photo will look like before I click the shutter. Optical viewfinders are so old-fashioned.


I LOVE my RX1. It has been a revelation shooting with this little beast of a camera. I can’t stress how easy it makes shooting become. It makes something as serious as a high-end fashion shoot feel like a leisure time activity. It makes it easier for me to interact with my models, because everyone is more relaxed and having a blast during the shoot, and it shows in the images. I can’t speak for others, but for my purposes it is the perfect camera for my uses. I recently went on a trip to LA, and I left my DSLR at home. I didn’t miss having it for one moment. That was when I realized that small mirrorless Full-frame cameras are the future. I’ve only done a handful of shoots with the RX1, but it will be my main camera for the foreseeable future. 


You can ask me any question you like, and I will be glad to answer in the comments section.
You can see more of my work on www.isispiks.com
Thanks for reading!

Isi Aakahome

 

Full 2013 Japanese camera sales data. Olympus and Sony rule.

BCNranking posted the full exact single camera sales numbers for 2013. Mirrorless conquered 40% of all interchangeable camera sales. And the most sold mirrorless camera was the Sony NEX-5r.

If you sum all camera sales than you will get these market shares within the mirrorless world:

Olympus 29.1%

Sony 26.4%,

Panasonic 14.2%,

Ricoh imaging 9.8%, 

Nikon 9.34%

Canon 9.25%.

 

Surprised to see that Canon still has 10% share, not so far behind Panasonic!

Panasonic new GF camera pictures leaked in patent.

Hover and scroll the images on top to see more pictures!

Just like every year Panasonic will soon introduce a new GF camera. And first pictures have been “leaked” through an official Panasonic patent. These are the pictures (there are no specs).

Doesn’t look bad but I think the GM1 is way more sexy :)

 

New Fuji X camera specs (AF faster than X-E2). And new XF lens roadmap.

Digicameinfo and Fujirumors are spoiling all Fuji secrets and this is what Fuji is going to announce soon:

In January will announce a new high end and weather sealed X camera with Fujica ST classic alike design. Rumored features are:

– bigger and better EVF
– APS-C X-Trans sensor (16MP)
– double SD-card slot
– weather sealed body
– price range between X-E and X-PRO line
– FujicaST-like design
– faster AF than the X-E2

And this should be the new XF lens roadmap:

– XF 16-55mm F2.8
– XF 50-140mm F2.8
– XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6
– Large-diameter wide-angle lens
– Super-telephoto lens (200mm or more?)

P.S.: The X30 will come in February/March.

Credit Suisse: “Smartphones Shatter Mirrorless Hopes”

Yu Yoshida is analyst at Credit Suisse and he debunked the mirrorless hype in his latest Interview with Reuters. The main reason why mirrorless isn’t really growing anymore is that “buyers put connectivity above picture quality” and:

Consumers don’t want to connect cameras to phones, analysts say; they want a single interface that can instantly upload photographs to social networking sites such as Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc.

Mirrorless isn’t catching up in USA and Europe because “consumers tend to equate image quality with size and heft“

And in the long term only Canon-Nikon and Sony are likely to stay in the digital camera business.

Mirrorlessrumors opinion:

I am neither a well paid analyst nor a marketing expert. But all I can say is that it’s years now that I hear that small manufacturers like Pentax, Olympus and so on will die. And it never happens. Probably because analyst tend to focus on numbers and do not see the full picture. Olympus for example keeps the digital camera business alive also because the profitable medical business can take advantage of the sensor and imaging technology coming from the camera division. And than there is that Japanese culture that doesn’t fit with the western idea that what’s unprofitable has to be sold or closed.

My guess, the Reuters analyst is plain wrong with his forecast :)

Why Mirrorless?

Why Mirrorless ?

What is a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (MILC)

and

How does it differ from a Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera (DSLR) ?

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