Voigtländer Bessa R3A review.

This is a Mirrorless website but who said I would post digital stuff only? I am glad to finally link to a film camera review :)  My friend Carl Garrard (Click here) tested the [shoplink ‘Voigtländer Bessa R3A’ ebay]Voigtländer Bessa R3A (here ot find on eBay)[/shoplink]: “The Bessa R3A is comfortable well built, feature packed (for a film camera) and has the competition beat in some of its specifications for a much lower price. There’s nothing chincy on the Bessa R3a for near $700.00, and when you compare this camera to a Leica or Zeiss rangefinder you might wonder why you’d want to spend more money on those cameras with the Leica M mount.“

Nice camera and unlike Digital Cameras this will last for your long life time!

New Mirrorless reviews and news

Here is a short recap of some mirrorless related news of the week:

Canon G1X versus Panasonic GX1 test at DCfever (Click here).
Canon G1 X exhibits light leak / internal reflection (Imaging Resource).
Samsung NX200 review at Imaging Resource (Click here).
Canon G1X review at DCresource (Click here).
Canon G1X image samples at Photographyreview (Click here).
Samsung considering Android based camera (Engadget).
Olympus E-M5 video at Quesabesde (Click here).
Ricoh will release the A16 24-85mm f/3.5-5.5 on March 23th (DSRLcamera)
Samsung NX200 review at DigitalPhotographySchool (Click here).

New Canon mirrorless renderings from David Riesenberg

David Riesenberg (Click here) used his skills to create a wonderful Canon mirrorless camera concept: “Like many others, I too have been waiting for quite a while for Canon to release its mirrorless system. There are speculations and indications that they may very well do so this year, but I personally grew a bit restless. Because of this, I decided to put to paper, or rather to CAD and rendering software, my vision of such camera. After about a month of learning, debating, modeling and rendering, the Canon AE-D came to life.“

His images are now spreading all over the web! The first image you see on top of this post goes in the same direction of the Olympus E-M5. The second rendering gets rid of the viewfinder.

Great work David! Now let’s hope Canon isn’t that far away with the real thing that will be shown at Photokina!

Fuji X PRO 1 versus Olympus E-M5 test.

It’s easy to guess that the new Fuji X PRO 1 has a better image quality than the new Olympus E-M5. Now the chinese testers at DCfever (Click here) are showing us for the first time how great the difference is. Just click on the image below to enlarge the ISO test:

Suprised? The X PRO 1 is way better. But this deoesn’t mean it is a better camera than the E-M5. The E-M5 is a lot cheaper and has many “mature” features like the super fast AF and 5 axis stabilization. You cna rpeorder the X PRO 1 (Click here) and the E-M5 (Click here) at Amazon.

Fuji in Stock at Jessops, shipping at Amazon and reviewed by LL.

For the first time the X PRO 1 is in Stock in UK at Jessops (Click here). And it is now temporarily out of Stock at Amazon US (Click here). This means the first stocks are shipping :)

Nick Devlin posted the second part of his X PRO 1 review at Luminous Landscape (Click here): “This camera can see in the dark. Its performance up to ISO 6400 is nothing short of remarkable, in particular for an APS-C sensor. This is the first camera I have used where ISO is just not an issue.” He really fell in love with the image quality and hybrid viewfinder but also found some flaws like the not so top performer 18mm lens and the usual slow autofocus.

Leica M10 with Sony B&W sensor and Ricoh collaboration?

People is going wild about that new M10 camera! It will very likely have a Full Frame Black and White sensor with no Anti Aliasing filter, super sharpness and resolution and what matters more a much greater dynamic range which is even more fundamental for Black and White photography. Under the very unreliable rumors that are floating around the web the most interesting two are:

1) The new M10 will use a new Sony Black and White sensor. Kodak is out of the business and Sony is known for making FF cameras for third party companies.

2) Ricoh will be somehow involved in the production of parts of the new cameras. Apparently Leica production capability is that much limited that they made an agreement with Ricoh for the production of the new Leica M10 product.

Don’t know yet if those rumors are correct or not but this is going to be an exciting camera. I was dreaming of a Black and White sensor for a very long time now….and you?

 

All new Fuji X lenses tested by ePhotozine.

We already know almost everything about the new X PRO 1. But how good are the X lenses? That question has been now answered by the reviewer team from ePhotozine:

1) Fujifilm Fujinon XF 18mm f/2 R Lens Review (Click here to read it): “Optically this lens is capable of delivering superb clarity in the central portion of the frame when stopped down a little. It is a shame that sharpness levels drop off towards the edges of the frame, and doubly so that this optic suffers from noticeable chromatic fringing towards the edges of the frame. Even with this lens’ imperfections, it is a pleasure to use, so long as its weaknesses are taken into consideration.“

2) Fujifilm Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R Lens Review (Click here to read it): “With this lenses ability to deliver extremely sharp images, it should win many fans amongst users of this new camera system.“

3) Fujifilm Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro Lens Review (Click here to read it): “Sharpness is excellent from corner to corner, CA is pretty much non-existent, and other optical problems like distortion and falloff are also very well controlled. Unfortunately those wishing to use this lens primarily for macro work may find the issue with internal reflections a little too frustrating. The price is about right for the excellent build quality and features, but this lens will really sell itself on its near-perfect optical performance.“

In Summary the “weakest” lens is the 18mm f/2.0. The other two are very close to perfection. Now let’s hope Fuji will announce the other lenses soon! I am particularly interested in that rumored 14mm f/1.4 lens that could arrive this year :)

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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).