Leica M9 camera with Black and White sensor?

Latest rumors from our friend at Leicarumors are suggesting that on May 10th Leica will announce a sort of special camera with black and white sensor. It will have same M9 design but there are also extreme rumors saying that it will not have an LCD screen at all! Damn, how should we check the pictures we take? :)

The sensor has a very clean/noise free high-ISO capabilities and wild rumors say that this is actually a Sony made sensor.

Let’s see what’s coming on May 10th!

TIPA awards…as usual everybody wins :)

I always find these TIPA awards a bit…strange (Click here to see them). As usual every company wins at least one price. They created so many categories that is is almost impossible to not win something :)

Look at the four(!) mirrorless categories:
Best CSC Entry Level (Olympus PEN E-PL3)
Best CSC Advanced (Panasonic LUMIX GX1)
Best CSC Expert (Sony Alpha NEX-7)
Best CSC Professional (Fujifilm X-Pro1)

Didn’t know a camera can be for “advanced” users, or “expert” users or “professional” users. Somebody can lighten me up the difference?

E-M5 versus Fuji X PRO review battle!

If you still haven’t decided if you should go for the new Olympus E-M5 or the Fuji X PRO 1 here is the fully loaded review roundup! Of course instead of spending hours on pixel fighting and ISO charts you can also spend some minutes in your local store to hold both cameras in your hands. That helped me in the past to pickup the right camera! :)

Olympus E-M5: Federico Cabrera, Lesnumeriques (Click here for the translation), Focusmedia (Click here for the translation), DSLRcheck, Cnet US, Digitalrev, Digitalkamera (Click here for the  translation), DC.view (Click here for the translation), Itmedia (Click here for the translation), Photogenicweekend (Click here for the translation), Damian Mc Gillicuddy and Phototravelasia.

Fuji X PRO 1: Cnet, Pfflynn, Nikkei, Lesnumerique, DigitalJournalOfPhotography, Digitalkamera (Click here to read the google translation), Photoscala (Click here for the translation), Brandon Remler, Outbackphoto (Click here), Uniquephoto (Click here), RonMartBlog (Click here), SonyAlphaLab (Click here).

Goof Luck!

P.S.: My next camera should be a Full Frame Mirrorless. let’s see who will be the first to fulfill my dream!

Check price and specs by clicking these search links:
Fuji X PRO 1 at [shopcountry 100018].
Sony NEX-7 at .
Olympus E-M5 at [shopcountry 100170].

Guess who won the RED DOT design award…the K-01 :)

The famous RED DOT design award has been won by Marc Newson designed Pentax K-01!  Even if I don’t like the design I am happy that Pentax won it. It’s nice to see companies trying new ways of thinking a camera. Here is the official motivation:

“This year, the PENTAX K-01 was selected from 4,515 applications submitted from 58 countries as one of the Product Design winners.
The PENTAX K-01 is a lens-interchangeable digital camera with super-high-resolution image quality supported by approximately 16.28 effective megapixels, a top sensitivity of ISO 25600, and full HD video recording capability. Designed by world-famous industrial designer Marc Newson, its clean, geometric body signifies a bold move by PENTAX to create a truly original and innovative design. By incorporating the K mount — a lens mount extremely popular from the days of film cameras — PENTAX allows the user to mount any one of 214 lenses (as of April 2, 2012) onto the K-01 camera body, assuring endless possibilities in visual expression and creativity.“

Source: Photoxels.

NEX-7 vs X PRO vs E-M5 28mm lens battle! Guess who wins?

The picture on top (Click on it to see the full size version!) shows an intriguing test made by DSRLcheck (Click here). It compares the JPEG quality of the very likely three new most famous mirrorless cameras at 28mm focal length. It looks like the Fuji 18mm X lens isn’t as expected. The edge probably goes to the Tamron 18-200 II VC lens for NEX and the Olympus 9-18mm lenses. I am very, very surprised to see that Tamron sharpness!

Here are the full size image samples from DSRLcheck:
? X-Pro1 + XF 18mm F2R ( F4, JPEG )
? NEX7 + E 18-55 OSS ( 18mm, F4, JPEG )
? NEX7 + Tamron B011 ( 18mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + M.ZD 12-50 EZ ( 14mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + M.ZD 14-42 II R ( 14mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + M.ZD 14-150 ( 14mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + M.ZD 9-18 ( 14mm, F4.9 JPEG )
? E-M5 + Lumix G X 14-42 ( 14mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + Lumix G 14mm ( 14mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + Lumix G 14-45 ( 14mm, F4, JPEG )
? E-M5 + Lumix G 7-14 ( 14mm, F4 JPEG )

Check price and specs by clicking these search links:
Fuji X PRO 1 at [shopcountry 100018].
Sony NEX-7 at .
Olympus E-M5 at [shopcountry 100170].

Fuji X camera and lenses get tested by Germans (with DxO Analyzer)

The super serious an sever German reviewers form the DigitalKamera team (Click here to read the not so good google tranlsation) tested the X PRO 1 camera along all his three lenses. On their website you have to pay a couple of Euros to download the full test but I will give you a short translation fo their results:

1) The X PRO 1 camera delivers superb dynamic range and resolution up to ISO 1600. There is almost no lost of quality on that level! From 3.200 ISO the image quality decreases gradually (very harmonic). This is definitely one of the best cameras ever tested by the German team (they say it so!).

2) The best lens to us eon the X PRO 1 is the….drumming….60mm macro lens! Definitely a lens with NO flaws!!!

3) The 35mm f/1.4 is a very good lens that has one single flaw only. At full f/1.4 aperture the borders are not really sharp. But I don’t know if that can be considered as a limit. It will give you a mroe creamy look and may this what you like when you shoot wide open!

4) The 18mm f/2.0 lens is definitely the “less good” lens from the three. It is not as sharp as the 35mm f/1.4 lens. Anyway, still a good lens!

 

At least according to Amazon US lens rankings (Click here) the 35mm lens is the most sold. On second place you find the 18mm lens. Maybe after reading this test more people will buy the 60mm macro lens :)

P:S.: The X PRO 1 is still on the top positions of the Amazon US sales ranking (Click here). And now it is for sale at Amazon UK too (Click here). Let’s see how well it will do there.

In stock status check:
Fuji X PRO 1 body is in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Jessops UK (Click here) and Digitalrev (Click here).
Fuji X 18mm f/2.0 in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and Digitalrev (Click here).
Fuji X 35mm f/1.4 in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Digitalrev (Click here).
Fuji X 60mm macro f/2.0 in not Stock at Amazon (3-4weeks) but is in Stock at Digitalrev (Click here).