Olympus, Sony and Sigma do show new lens mockups/roadmap


We knew there would be no real new mirrorless product at the CP+ show that starts today in Yokohama. But instead we have lot of mockups and a new Sony roadmap!

Olympus shows pictures of a new pro Zuiko lens (no details given). Sigma shows a prototype of a 30mm f/2.8 (macro?) lens for NEX. And Sony unveiled the E-mount lens roadmap:
Carl Zeiss lenses (scheduled for release in 2011, focal length: 24mm)
Telephoto zoom lens (available in 2011, focal length :55-200mm)
Macro lens (scheduled for release in 2011, focal length: 30mm)
Lens – Portrait (scheduled for release in 2011, focal length: 50mm)
G – High-performance standard zoom lens (available 2012)
Zoom wide (scheduled for release in 2012)
Medium Telephoto Lens (available 2012)

The Sigma lens for NEX

Zeiss, Cosina-Voigtländer, Sigma and Tamron. All do join the Sony NEX system!

Micro Four Thirds gained a lot of attention with the latest entry of Zeiss and Schneider. That’s why the Sony “counter attack” is certainly not casual! With an official press release (Source: Sony.net) Sony announced that “it will disclose the basic specifications of its “E-mount” for interchangeable single lens cameras, without fee, to manufacturers of lenses and mount adaptors, starting April 1st, 2011“. But that alone wouldn’t be enough to gain the headlines that’s why Sony also announced a nice list of manufactures that will join the E-mount system! That includes Zeiss, Cosina-Voigtländer, Sigma and Tamron!

My guess is that we will see some of those companies showing their new lenses at the CP+ show that starts tomorrow in Yokohama. And according to rumors floating around the web Zeiss should be the first…

Stay tuned!

Zeiss joins m43. New Voigtländer M-mount lenses.

At Photokina 2010 Zeiss announced that they would release CP+ lenses with m43 mount. And today Zeiss officially announced that they will join the m43 group. But their press release lead us to believe are going to make “ZEISS HD Video lenses” only.Read the full press release at 43rumors.com.

Meanwhile Photorumors says that Voigtländer could soon announce two new m-mount lenses. The 35mm f/1.1 and the 50mm f/1.4.

And to finish a no-news. Canon didn’t announce any new mirrorless system. We will have some warmed up Rebels instead!

Fake rumor: Canon QL-D1 mirrorless camera

Image above: The “mirrorless”

We didn’t hear a lot about future Canon mirrorless cameras. Canon itself said that they are selling more Rebels than the whole sum of mirrorless cameras that are sold by Pana-Oly-Sony-Samsung. Today Canonrumors posted a rumor about a possible Canon QL-D1 mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that should be announced next week. What can we say? This is a complete FAKE rumor! Our sources didn’t receive any single info about that. They said we will see new Rebel cameras this month and that’s it. So keep dreaming Canon friends. You will be the last company (after Pentax and Nikon) to join the mirrorless world :)

Schneider turns the back at Samsung and joins Micro Four Thirds!

Oh Samsung…that hurts! The lens partner Schneider Kreuznach just joined the Micro Four Thirds group and announced they will soon release new lenses for the system. Confess, we all thought they would sooner or later join the NX system. Of course the chance still remains SK will also make NX lenses but the fact that they announced to go with m43 is a bad joke for the koreans!

Source: Photoscala (Click here to read the google english translation)

Is Mirrorless Really Hot or Not? (Thom Hogan)

Let’s take a short break from rumors and let’s do a little bit of mirrorless Chrystal ball chat:)

Thom Hogan wrote an article about the future of mirrorless: “I’ve pretty much always had a mirrorless camera with me, as I did go from sampler to adapter. But again, as a compact camera replacement, not a DSLR replacement.“…”Yet they don’t yet really make it to DSLR replacement in my mind“…”So we’ll see Nikon, Canon, and Pentax all come into the mirrorless market, too, while Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, and Olympus redouble their efforts. These camera companies aren’t sure why mirrorless cameras are selling, but that won’t stop them from entering the market or further pushing their efforts. “…”To me, the camera companies are chasing the wrong rabbit. What users want is smaller and lighter, not ->remove the mirror box, optical viewfinder, and sophisticated focus system<-.”

Please read the full article at bythom.com (Once clicked scroll down to find the article). I know Thom Hogan is reading us so feel free to add your comments! And let us know how you see the future of mirrorless cameras:

(UPDATED with lens specs) Pentax mirrorless system with ultratiny sensor (5.6x crop)!

Pictured above. The old analogue Auto 110.

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It’s not a secret anymore that Pentax will announce their new mirrorless system in March (Updated, it’s May!) And as Mr. Hamada from Hoya-Pentax said a while ago: “we would like to release products with an individuality that shines through“.

The biggest challenge for all mirrorless system is to find the right balance between size (as tiny as possible) and image quality (sensor size). So what is Pentax going to do?

According to our sources Pentax wanted to create a sort of digital version of the popular and very tiny . That’s why the new system will use a 5.6x crop sensor! By comparison: Micro Four Thirds uses a 2x crop sensor and Sony/Samsung are using 1.5x crop sensors. Note that there are rumors saying that Nikon will also use a very small sensor for their mirrorless system. Pentax made a very risky but also intriguing choice! We have been reported that the camera is much smaller than the current smallest mirrorless body (which is the ).

The sensor itself has 14 Megapixel which can record HD h.264 movies. May this is a coincidence only but the new Kenko mirrorless system uses a 14 Megapixel 1/2,33? (crop factor 5,6). Will Kenko and Pentax share the same sensor?

What about lenses? For now we only know that two lenses will be announced along the camera and that three more will be launched by end of the year.
UPDATE: We just got the lens specs! There will be a prime 8.5mm f/1.9 (almost 50mm equivalent) and a zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 (28-80mm equivalent)!

In Summary:
– One camera (Pentax NC-1?) and two lenses will be announced in May.
– 8.5mm f/1.9 (almost 50mm equivalent) and a zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 (28-80mm equivalent)
– New mount
– 5.6x crop 14 Megapixel sensor (Sensor size around 1/2.33?)
– HD h.264 recording
– smaller than NEX body
– hot shoe
– Three more lenses to be announced later (very likely in September 2011)

As soon as we have more info we will post them here on mirrorlessrumors. Also Nikon,Panasonic, Olympus and Sony will release new products within the next three months! So stay tuned! Do not miss any of our future rumors and news:
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See you!
The Mirrorlessrumors guys!

P.S.: We published the rumor one hour earlier before of the end of the countdown. We didn’t want to make you suffer to much! :)