Nikon Goes Mirrorless with the ‘1′ System | Gadget Lab. With their tiny sensors and slow lenses, it's hard to see the appeal of Nikon's new '1' range Nikon has at last gotten in on the mirrorless camera game with the launch of the “Nikon 1″ range. Currently consisting of two bodies and three lenses, the system will soon include an adapter to allow the use of Nikon F-mount SLR lenses.
First, the most important part: The sensor. Nikon has put a small 10.1MP one-inch sensor into the cameras. It is half the size of a Micro Four Thirds sensor, and roughly four times the size of a regular compact camera sensor. And this is where things start to go wrong. One of the best features of large sensors is that they allow photos with a shallow depth of field — pictures where the subject is sharp and the background blurred, for example.
There are two bodies, the smaller J1 and the fancier V1. The V1 is a lot more interesting. On to those lenses. Lastly, prices. Who will buy these cameras? Available end of October. Nikon J1 product page [Nikon] See Also: Sony’s NEX Mirrorless Cameras Are the Smallest in the World | Gadget Lab. Sony has at last made good on its promise of mirrorless, interchangeable-lens compact cameras. We saw some mock-ups of the slab-like cameras back in February, and now Sony’s answer to the Micro Four Thirds and Samsung’s NX1 is here. First, the NEX-3 and NEX-5 are small. Sony says that these cameras are the “world’s smallest, lightest interchangeable-lens cameras,” and they might be right: Both measure about 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches and weigh about half a pound (sans lens), making them slightly more trim than the Panasonic GF1 (4.7 x 2.8 x 1.4 inches).
Their diminutive sizes makes the bodies look rather comical when the larger lenses are affixed. Sony is aiming at compact-camera owners who want to upgrade, and the pocket-sized design is ideal for this. The differences between the two models are small. Sony seems to have concentrated on making a solid, fairly gimmick-free offering. Amazingly for such small cameras, the LCDs flip out and twist. And there are some nice, if obvious, lenses. Ricoh Adds Leica Lens-Friendly Sensor to GXR | Gadget Lab. Ricoh’s GXR system is about to get a Leica M lens-mount.
This will let you take pretty much any of the legendary lenses and put them in font of a tailor-made sensor. The GXR system, you may remember, is Ricoh’s rather weird take on cameras. The “body” is just a shell with a screen and some buttons. The “lenses” are where the action is, and each lens unit features its own sensor. These sensors vary in size and sensitivity depending on the lens they are paired with.
The new lens unit is actually lensless, with an M-mount for your legacy lenses. The sensor will be an APS-C sized 12.9MP CMOS model, and have its own focal-plane shutter. While being able to use Leica lenses on any camera is desirable, the non full-frame sensor is less than ideal. Ricoh has yet to announce a price, and the specs you see above are the totality of the sparse press release. See Also: Canon G12: G-Series Regains High-Def Video at Last | Gadget Lab. Canon has a rich and proud history of leaking its own products, with premature camera listings popping up on its own sites anywhere from China to Germany.
Today’s leak is the G12 pro-compact, but the site is CNET Asia – at least nobody on the Canon tech-team will be embarrassed this morning. The G12 brings back the one thing missing from the G-series since the G9: High-definition video. The new tank-like camera will shoot 720p, just like its new little brother the S95, introduced yesterday. As with the G11 and S90 before, the G12 and S95 share a sensor, in this case a low-light-loving 10MP CCD. The lens runs from 28-140mm (35mm equivalent) with the maximum aperture shrinking from ƒ2.8 to ƒ4.5 as it goes. The G12 also gets the fancy new multi-direction image-stabilization of the S95 and keeps its big 2.8-inch tilt-and-swivel LCD. Other “highlights” include in-camera HDR for making hideous, over-colored tone-mapped photos by combining three images.
See Also: Pentax Q. Mirrorless, Interchangeable Lenses, Tiny Sensor | Gadget Lab. Despite its pro looks, the Pentax Q uses a tiny digicam sensor Pentax has gotten into the mirrorless camera game with the Q system. It seems most of the work has gone into designing the new lens mount, as the rest of the specs are competent but fairly ordinary. That said, it looks like Pentax has come up with a solid (literally) entry into the hot mirrorless market, with one exception: the sensor. The first Q-series camera has a 12.4 megapixel sensor, measuring 0.43 -inches on the diagonal. That’s no bigger than what you’d find in a decent point-and-shoot. The LCD is a pedestrian 460,000 dots, and the flash pops up on a rather long, fragile-looking arm. There are also five lenses in the lineup.
But that sensor cripples the system. Pentax Q [Pentax via BJP] See Also: Samsung NX100, Slimline Mirrorless Camera with Smart Lenses | Gadget Lab. Samsung’s new NX100 is a cut-down version of its mirrorless NX10, coming on a like a compact camera to the NX10′s slimline SLR design. Like its older brother, the new camera has an APS-C-sized, 14.6 megapixel sensor and shoots 720p video. What it lacks is the bigger camera’s electronic viewfinder (although Samsung will sell you an add-on which slots into the hotshoe). But that’s not the point. The real news is in the lenses, which use something called “i-Function” to make the camera easier to use. I-Function puts buttons on the lens itself. Hit the switch and you can then cycle through settings like white-balance, ISO, shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation, controlling them by turning the focus ring on the lens.
Yes, it has taken years of research and innovation (the word “innovative” is used six times in the press release) to finally put an aperture ring back on the lens, just where it had sat since time began. Samsung is also changing the descriptions of its lenses. Samsung NX200 Mirrorless Compact Camera | Gadget Lab. Samsung's NX200 is no prettier than the year-old NX100 Samsung has announced an update to its NX100 mirrorless camera. The NX200 improves on the original in almost every way, whilst managing to maintain the boxy, utilitarian looks of its predecessor. First, the numbers: The APS-C sensor jumps from 14.6MP to 20.3MP, the camera now shoots at 7fps in RAW mode compared to 3fps, the maximum ISO is now 12,800 not 6,400, and video is captured at 1080p, up from last year’s 720p.
You can also now shoot video in manual and shutter-priority exposure modes. Finally, the body is now magnesium instead of plastic. Other than that, not much has changed. Samsung hasn’t yet announced price or availability. Samsung NX200 press release [DP Review] See Also: Camera of the Year: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 | Product Reviews. Olympus EP-1 Pen Gaining Fans Daily | Gadget Lab. Until a review unit arrives at Olympus’ Spanish PR Office (amazingly just around the corner from my apartment) I’m slurping up anything and everything I can find on the web about the EP-1, or digital Pen camera. And it’s not just journalistic professionalism, either: As an amateur photographer, I’m excited by a camera that could actually deliver on the promise of a compact digicam which works as well as an old film compact.
Non-DSLR cameras have a few problems which make them a pain for anyone serious about their photos, and this is why I’m scouring the web: to find out if the Pen has solved them. And the answers so far appear to be yes, yes and yes. First up is shutter lag. You’ll know it as the sluggish pause between hitting the button and the camera actually snapping a picture. One of the causes is the non-mechanical shutter. The Pen has a real (if quiet) clunk-click shutter. The second problem with compacts is their tiny sensors. The other problem is focussing. That’s right. Olympus Chief: No More Four Thirds Lenses | Gadget Lab. Miquel Àngel García, head of Olympus Europe, has stated that his company will no longer make new Four Thirds lenses. In Japan, the smaller, mirrorless Micro Four Thirds cameras have already captured 40% of the market, and these cameras and their smaller lenses will be Olympus focus in future.
García spoke to Spanish site Quesabesde at this year’s Photokina show, and the whole interview is worth reading (it’s in Spanish, but Google’s translation is pretty good for once). While you will of course still be able to buy existing Four Thirds lenses, and Olympus hasn’t yet said it is giving up on Four Thirds bodies (like the brand-new E-5), it is clearly moving away from SLRs altogether.
In fact, García thinks that interchangeable-lens compacts will break the Nikon-Canon duumvirate of the global camera market. “But it is very important to have broken the DSLR market status quo” says García, “There are two brands that for years have been allocated 80% of the global market. And this will change.”