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).

New “cheap” APS-C mirrorless from Pentax coming as next?

I admire Pentax for trying to imagine new kind of products like it is with the Pentax Q and K-o1 cameras. But is it really paying off? Digicaminfo (Click here) found an article at Nikkei (you have to pay to read it) where Ricoh confirms that they will release a cheaper than the K-01 mirrorless camera. The K-01 sells (body only) for $700 at Amazon. The new camera will have use “cheaper” material to cut costs. It has to be seen if the design will change or not.

Panasonic says Canon mirrorless is coming this year.


Canon concept mirrorless camera by David Riesenberg (Click here)

In an interview with Amateur Photographer Panasonic UK’s Lumix G product manager Barnaby Sykes said that “Panasonic expects Canon to launch its first CSC in 2012.” There is one more interesting analysis made by Mr. Sykes: “the continued loyalty of many photographers to major camera brands such as Canon, owing to their long photographic heritage, continues to pose a ‘massive challenge’ to Panasonic, despite the firm’s success in the CSC arena.“. In simple words, the Canon user prefers to wait for Canon to launch their own mirrorless system instead of jumping the ship by using one of the current mirrorless systems.

I think that could be one of the main reasons why the mirrorless market still didn’t boom in some regions like USA and Europe.

Sharpness battle: Fuji $600 lens beats Leica $5,000 lens?

The much discussed blogger and “guru” Ken Rockwell (Click here) posted a short Fuji 35mm f/1.4 X lens preview: “This is as sharp, maybe sharper than the equivalent LEICA 50mm f/1.4 ASPH, and has the same superb bokeh, focuses faster and closer and has the same near zero distortion. Not bad for $600!” The Leica lens costs just a tiny bit more…$5,000 on eBay (Click here)!!! The only thing Ken is not happy with is the sensor size. He would have preferred a Full Frame sensor on the X PRO 1 instead of the current APS-C. In his opinion this would have killed Leica instantly!

More X PRO 1 news: X PRO 1 test at Photoscala (Click here for the translation). New set of pictures by Brandon Remler (Click here). Field Session with the Fujifilm X-Pro1 at Outbackphoto (Click here).

Also the lenses are in Stock! Time to make a short in status check:
Fuji X PRO 1 body is in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (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).

Ken Rockwell and Focus Numerique Fuji X PRO 1 testing and first sniff test :)

Go on minute 2,45 to see the first Fuji X PRO 1 sniff test ever made :)

So, now that you have seen that weird sniff test you can focus your attention on the “serious” ISO testing made by these websites:
1) The famous blogger Ken Rockwell (Click here) compared the X100 and X PRO 1 with all recent FF cameras: “The Fuji X-Pro1 looks great, as clean as the D4 and usually sharper.”
2) Focus Numerique (Click here) also posted an ISO test comparison with the Sony NEX-7 and Olympus E-M5. They say that you can up to 6.400 ISO “without any hesitation“!

More bits: DC.watch (Click here) tested the X PRO 1. First image samples from Mike Kobal (Click here). The X PRO now gets beaten by the NEX-7 at Amazon (Click here to see the full ranking).

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).

Samsung NX20, NX210 and NX1000 will be announced next week.


The well informed Korean iNews24 (Click here) revealed that Samsung will announce all three new NX cameras next week. After months of leakages we can finally see what the cameras can do for real! Samsung worked hard to match the sensor and electronic viewfinder performance with the best Sony mirrorless cameras. Will that be enough to convince customers to buy into the NX system? Don’t think so. Something more revolutionary is necessary to create a buzz around Samsung. Why not introduce some of the nice concepts leaked last year? Here is the pic:

Now that is something that is catching my attention! Don’t you think so?