February 26, 2015 Articles
Gray Getting More Visible. Gray market products just keep pushing pricing boundaries and catching the attention of possible DSLR buyers. I’m seeing deals that are in the 30-40% off Nikon’s MAP pricing on a lot of products now. Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 24, 2015 Articles
Panasonic announced (mostly) two news to ship in May for m4/3 cameras, the 30mm Macro and 42.5mm f/1.7. Both are available for pre-ordering.
Olympus officially released the 3.0 firmware update for the E-M1 camera, which adds AF tracking in continuous high shooting modes.
February 23, 2015 Articles
The Big Problem You Didn’t Have. I’m closing in on a thousand fairly long email responses to the what’s your big problem article. You know what absolutely none of you said was your biggest problem? Article on dslrbodies.com.
Understanding Numbers, Japan Edition. Updated: added Pentax and Fujifilm, fixed market share numbers. Each year, BCN in Japan reports year-end market shares for various categories of computer, consumer electronics, and camera retail sales in Japan. Article on sansmirror.com.
Samsung NX1 Review. The NX1 is Samsung’s top-of-the-line camera. In a large DSLR-style package, Samsung has put together quite a few bits and pieces that immediately spark interest to anyone looking at a spec sheet. Article on sansmirror.com.
February 20, 2015 Articles
Your Homework Assignment Reviewed and Graded. Recently I asked all of you to send me the biggest problem you needed solving. I stopped counting after a couple hundred responses. And there are so many responses it would take me awhile to carefully group and tally them correctly. Instead, I’m going to tackle what you wrote a bit more informally. Caution: very long article, several rants, some tongues in cheeks: Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 16, 2015 Articles
Nikon February Lens Rebates. As usual, before I present an affiliate link you can use to help this site, I'm going to tell you what you should think of each of the deals. Article on dslrbodies.com.
Homework Assignment. What’s the biggest problem you face with your photography and what would solve it? Article on dslrbodies.com.
Engineer/Management Interviews Tell me Nothing. Every trade show and most camera introductions provoke a series of “interviews” with various high-level executives and engineers. Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 12, 2015 Articles
The Market for Interchangeable Lens Cameras. I liked Damien Demolder’s article today on dpreview about whether Canon is taking the mirrorless market seriously or not. Very good piece. But I don’t think it goes far enough. Article on dslrbodies.com.
Tokina Introduces 24-70mm f/2.8 FX Lens. Tokina today officially introduced the SD 24-70mm f/2.8 IF FX AT-X Pro lens, a fast mid-range zoom for Nikon FX cameras (also Canon EF). Article on dslrbodies.com. Lens Data Page.
February 10, 2015 Articles
Sigma 24mm f/1.4 Art Lens Announced. Sigma today announced the latest in their Art series of lenses, a 24mm f/1.4 prime. Article on dslrbodies.com. Lens Data page.
Nikon Shows Up Empty-Handed. Just prior to the key CP+ trade show in Japan, Nikon made their early 2015 product announcements: D810a, D750 filmmaker’s kit, and a raft of iterated Coolpix. Essentially nothing for their primary customers. Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 9, 2015 Articles
Need Versus Want 2015 Edition. Here we go again. Do you need a 50mp sensor? No. Do you want a 50mp sensor? For some of you, yes. Article on dslrbodies.com.
2015 Cameras in a Nutshell. Everything we’ve seen so far and everything I know about what’s coming later this year all fits within just five parameters. Is that enough to make you buy? Article on dslrbodies.com.
The Downside to More Pixels. We had two missiles fired in the “massive pixel” realm this week, the 50mp Canon 5DS and the 63mp Olympus E-M5II. Boy those are missiles with big numbers, but what’s behind the covers? Article on dslrbodies.com.
First Warning on “Splash Proof." Olympus published a PDF on O-MD E-M1 weather resistance. I take this as an indication that Olympus has seen enough damage on products coming back for warranty work that they’re trying to establish guidelines they can point to in order to decline repairs. Article on sansmirror.com.
February 6, 2015 Articles
Canon Plays to the Base. Canon today introduced the long-rumored 50mp followup to the 5DIII in two forms (the 5DS with AA filter, the 5DSR without). Article on dslrbodies.com.
Canon Introduces EOS M3. Canon continues to work at polishing their mirrorless camera option, with the EOS M3 being the latest version. Article on sansmirror.com. Camera data page.
Olympus Mirrorless Sales. Olympus published their quarterly unit sales numbers for digital cameras and broke it out by model type in their official financial publications. Article on sansmirror.com.
February 5, 2015 Articles
Olympus E-M5II Announced. Olympus today announced the OM-D E-M5II camera, a curious update of the E-M5 that in some ways leapfrogs the E-M1, in other ways doesn’t. Article on sansmirror.com. Camera data page. 14-150mm lens data page.
Samsung Introduces the NX500. Take all the sensor/imaging goodness from the recent NX1 flagship and stick it into the rangefinder body (e.g. NX3000 type) and you have the Samsung NX500, introduced today. Article on sansmirror.com. Camera data page.
Nikon Third Quarter Financials. The third quarter of the fiscal year for Nikon is where most of the Christmas selling shows up. It’s also traditionally the Imaging group’s largest quarter of the year. The first two quarters of this year weren’t so hot, so what happened at the end of 2014? Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 4, 2015 Articles
The Numbers are In. CIPA released the final numbers for 2014. Article on dslrbodies.com.
This Changes Things. What you see here is the new 300mm f/4 (left) versus the 14-24mm f/2.8 (right) sitting on my light table next to one another. Yeah, interesting. Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 3, 2015 Articles
Service Advisory for 10-30mm Nikon 1 Lens. Nikon today issued a service advisory for the original 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 lens (the one with the button you have to press to extend the lens for shooting). Article on sansmirror.com.
Ilford Film User Survey. Ilford issued a press release last week concerning a survey they performed of thousands of film users. Article on filmbodies.com.
What Would I Design? Quite a few readers posed the same question to me in recent months as I’ve written about the woes of the camera industry and just a few of the reasons why I think we’re experiencing a decline in camera sales. That question was basically: what would you design? Article on dslrbodies.com.
February 2, 2015 Articles
Interpreting Data Reveals Biases. BCN published their 2014 summary of mirrorless camera sales in Japan by month (numbers are market share). Article on sansmirror.com.
Big Deals Versus Small Deals. If we were to believe every marketing claim, every fan boy proclamation, every overenthusiastic post on the Internet, every new camera has some new Big Deal in it that “changes everything.” Article on dslrbodies.com.
I’m an Optimist ;~). Last week’s article on the panic starting to form in the offices of the Japanese camera companies certainly sparked a lot of discussion across the net and via my In Box. Article on dslrbodies.com.
January 29, 2015 Articles
Panic is Setting In. Just heard from two different sources deep in the camera companies in Japan. They had the same thing to say: panic seems to be setting in. Everywhere—even though Canon is publicly making the bold claim that their ILC sales will be roughly the same next year. Article on dslrbodies.com.
What’s Going to Happen With Rebates? A few people have been asking me about whether current body/lens rebates are going to expire and prices go back up at the end of the month. Article on dslrbodies.com.