According to our sources Sony is currently very close to the decision to stop their DSLR Fullframe development (lenses and cameras). There are many reasons why this could/will happen:

1) Sony wants to focus on the development of the NEX system. For the first time they see the chance to increase their market share!
2) Sony wasn’t able to earn money from their FF cameras and it is expensive to keep and develop three different lens-systems (APS-C and FF DSLR and NEX).

The next FF was expected to be announced in 2011, but everything is uncertain now. Maybe the A850 was the last Sony FF camera! Some thoughts about that decision have been posted on bythom (by Thom Hogan).

So after Olympus also Sony could drop their classic “DSLR” camera development. But keep in mind, those are long-term decisions. You will still see new DSLR from Olympus and Sony at Photokina. But in 2011…

Sony will now force the development of NEX cameras and lenses. More news about that soon on mirrorlessrumors!

DDaily said that Samsung plans to unveil a new NX camera and three new lenses on September 14.

According to our sources those till be the NX100 (very compact camera like the $loc = $_SESSION[‘geoip’];

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{?>Panasonic GF1 } ?>). The three lenses could be the 20mm, 20-50mm and the 60mm macro.

But there will be more coming from Samsung! Stay tuned on mirrorlessrumors.com!

Few weeks ago Nikon announced that they are working on a new mirrorless system. Today Reuters published the statement made by Mr Maeda from Canon. He said the company was working on a smaller version of its upmarket single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras in a bid to compete with the new breed of mid-range so-called “mirrorless” cameras. Maeda did not give further details of the new camera, including whether the internal structure would include a mirror.

Competitors have made high-quality cameras more compact by removing the mirror that enables the user to look at the actual scene through a viewfinder, creating a new market segment that is popular in Japan and which analysts say may grow rapidly.

“It’s not a question of whether or not you have a mirror. There is a consumer need for good-quality cameras to be made smaller,” Maeda said. “We will meet this need.”

He denied this would be difficult without removing the internal mirror, adding that Canon had produced very small SLR cameras in the past.

Source: Reuters

(Olympus M43 lens roadmap from November 2009) Click on picture to enlarge.

Now that the LX5 has been leaked we have to go back to our usual 43 and M43 rumors :)

We are trying to filter the rumors we do receive and day by day we feel that we are getting closer to the final correct lens and camera roadmap. We learned that Olympus will announce a minimum of four new MicrFourThirds lenses at Photokina. We have been told that there should be two new primes and two new zooms. One of our source told us the 50mm and the 70-300mm would come at Photokina (but we still have to confirm the rumor with a second source). The Olympus roadmap itself shows also the 12mm(?) wide angle lens and the 8mm(?) fisheye (Panasonic just announced the 8mm f/3.5 ED Fisheye Lens)

Reminder: We are almost certain that Panasonic is working on very fast new primes (faster than f/1.4). The first prime is expected to be on market by end 2010 early 2011.