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).

Nine new X mount adapter from Rayqual (X PRO 1 at Amazon UK)


Rayqual really didn’t waste any time and is coming out with a great ammount of new adpaters for the Fuji X PRO 1! And they are fast too! Starting from today(!) you can use all these lenses on the Fuji: Leica M, Nikon CY, Yashikon CFD, Canon FD, Pentax K, Olympus OM, M42 screw, Leica R and Exakta-Kodak.

Rayqual adpaters are usually available for purchase on . But I still din’t find any of the new adpaters for the X system.

Source: Rayqual (via Fujirumors).

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).

Sigma for NEX and m43 reviews roundup!

The new Sigma 30mm on the NEX-7. Image courtesy Mike Kobal

A couple of websites almost simultaneously posted their respective Sigma for NEX or for Micro Four Thirds reviews. As you know the lens is basically the same for the two systems with just a different mount.  Even more, the lenses are also used for Sigma’s own DP camera lineup. While their specs and look isn’t particularly exciting the tests are quite favorable and the price of the lenses as cheap as it probably gets. Check this links to make get an idea of the quality:

The Sigma 30mm lens got tested with the E-P3 by Pekka Potka (Click here): “I think Sigma has produced here a lens, which is optically significantly better than I expected. It gives much compared to its price and is definitely worth considering if this focal lenght is otherwise interesting.“

Also TheDigitalStory (Click here) tested the same lens on the same camera: “Overall, I rate the Sigma 30mm a notch below Olympus prime lenses. But if you want a mild telephoto with a reasonably fast aperture for an affordable price, you’ll probably like shooting with this glass. I’m going to keep mine.“

SLRlensreview (Click here) tested the 30mm lens on the Sony NEX camera: “Sigma’s entry level prime indeed bests Sony’s lens in resolution department. Everything else seems to be very comparable. So the recommendation is to choose Sony’s E 30/3.5 if you’re into macro photography, while for everything else just go with Sigma’s 30/2.8 EX DN.“

Another 19mm lens test on the NEX-5n can be seen within a forum post at Fred Miranda (Click here): “I think this little lens holds it own, with a muted contrast/high detail rending all it’s own, excellent ergonomics, and a ridiculously low price.“

The new Sigma 19mm gets tested on the NEX-5n from our reader Eric Brandon (Click here).

Mike Kobal (Click here) reviewed the new Sigma 30mm lens on his NEX-7 camera: “I never expected this little lens to perform at such a high level-reason enough for this quick test.“

Mirrorless news roundup with weird GXR-Chinon combination pictures!

DC.watch (Click here for the translation) posted that cool picture of the Ricoh GXR with the old Chinon AF 50mm f/1.7 lens (released back in 1982).

Let’s keep talking about the GXR. Bjoern Uttpott (Click here) posted a nice set of images taken with the 50mm Sonnar lens.

And now some K-01 news:
Pentax K-01 Mirrorless CSC Full Review (ePhotozine).
Another K-01 review at Photographyblog (Click here): “Therein lies the K-01’s main problem. While it may look refreshingly different, the Pentax K-01 falls unsuccessfully between two stools – ultimately we’d either buy a similarly sized DSLR or a much smaller compact system camera in preference to the K-01.“
K-01 hands-on at DC.watch (Click here).

Sony:
New Sigma lens test by Slrlensreview (Click here).

Panasonic:
First movie entirely shot with the AG-AF100 at Imdb (Click here).