Some more good news: Mirrorless market is growing compared to last year!

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CIPA mirrorless shipment data from Japanese companies. Image courtesy Personal View.

The Japanese CIPA and the German GFK agency shared some interesting new data about the worldwide digital camera market. And finally we see some slow but continuous growth in the mirrorless market:

1) CIPA
CIPA (data can be seen here) shared the Japanese camera shipment numbers. And as usual Personal View did a great job summing them in graphs (can be seen here).
The interesting data here is that in the period January-April 2014 mirrorless system camera shipments growth by 16% while DSLR shipments did fell by 11%

Mirrorless camera sales are increasing almost everywhere (Source GFK at MirrorlessRumors).

2) GFK
The German agency that works in partnership with the Photokina organizers shared plenty of surprisingly positive data (more about it at Mirrorlessrumors). While it’s true that the budget compact camera is shrinking the premium market increased. And with premium we mean, premium DSLR, premium mirrorless and premium fixed lens compact cameras. And there is where companies have higher profit margins. See graph below:

Camera unit sales dropped by 25% but revenue is increasing.

Well, this could be a good news for Panasonic and Olympus. Both companies are now focusing their efforts on mirrorless cameras. And and as we heard many times now their goal is to create more “premium” mirrorless cameras and premium “compact fixed lens cameras”. As you know Panasonic latest financial reports shows they are recovering very well from the losses they had the previous year while Olympus is expected to have a break even during the current fiscal year.

Let’s see what kind of “premium” stuff will be announced by both companies at Photokina…

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Crazy fast Handevision 40mm f/0.85 lens now in Stock in German eBay store.

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[shoplink 46482 ebay][/shoplink]

You are crazy for speed? Than grab this Handevision f/0.85 native(!) MFT mount lens which is in Stock on a [shoplink 46482 ebay]German eBay Store (Click here)[/shoplink]. But it’s quite pricey! Handevsion also announced on their website that worldwide shipment will start soon and some image samples can be seen too: http://www.handevision.de/en/impressions/

And now what’s next…a f/.07 lens?

found via MirrorlessRumors.

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(UPDATED): Panasonic decides to NOT release a planned telephoto zoom

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UPDATE: There was some confusion on the translation. Sorry about it. Here is the correct news: Panasonic manager Inoue announced in an interview at Imaging Resource that a planned telephoto zoom lens will NOT be released this year and it has been removed from the roadmap. The 150mm f/2.8 is still (!) on roadmap although it sounds like it could be delayed a bit. Inoue says:

“Yes, we had been considering, but looking at the overall situation, what it would take for development and what sales there would be, we decided to cancel the long telephoto zoom. We had already released 150mm, but for the zoom, we are very sorry, but this was our decision.”

And he also confessed that:

We are still considering the lens roadmap here [in Japan]

For now Panasonic decided to focus on shorter focal lengths and on lenses designed for the GM line. I am not sure if this is a smart decision. What do you think?

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Rumor roundup reminder: E-PL7, LX8 and 7-14mm PRO lens and maybe a Trip-D?

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The soon to be announced LX8 will have a built-in evf like the current LF1 you see on the picture above.

Before the big event at Photokina we will likely see some new stuff soon. This is what you can expect to see the next 30 days:

1) Olympus E-PL7 (FT5)
It’s basically an Olympus E-M10 without the viewfinder :)

2) Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO Zuiko MFT lens (FT4)
Save money: It’s a $1,799 lens.

3) Panasonic LX8 large sensor compact camera (FT5)
Has a built-in EVF, similar LX7 size and look and large sensor. Announcement on July 13.

4) More Panasonic and Olympus compact cameras (FT4)
It’s likely we will get a bunch of more (small sensor) compact cameras.

5) Olympus Trip (FT3)
I am really not sure yet about that rumor but we could see a digital “Trip-D” based on the [shoplink 35471 ebay]Olympus Trip 35 filmcameras (here on eBay)[/shoplink].


For sources: Sources can send me anonymous info at 43rumors@gmail.com (create a fake gmail account) or via contact form you see on the right sidebar. Thanks!
For readers: Don’t miss any news. Join our group on facebook and follow our tweets.

Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct

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a little bit of everything…

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Honoring My Father – Keith Kadoyama – Lantern Floating 2014 from Orlando Benedicto on Vimeo.

Orlando sent me the video above and writes: “This is a mini documentary I made about my good friend Keith Kadoyama and why he attends the Lantern Floating Ceremony every year. Shot with the new Panasonic GH4 + Lumix 12-35mm X Lens + SLR Magic Anamorphot.

New GM1 & Panasonic Leica 15mm Photo Set on Flickr.
Is the Panasonic GM1 a ‘better’ camera than the Sony A7r?? (Soundimagesplus).
Olympus SH-50 Review at Photographyblog.
Sony Misses Targets as Panasonic Beats: Chart of the Day (Bloomberg).
Panasonic Lumix GM1 4K ~ Red Rock on Youtube.
Review: Panasonic Lumix GX7 (ThePhoBlographer).
Rode Reel Entry For 2014 (Photothisandthat).
BBC filming with Panasonic GH2 ” Brazil Seen from Above” (BBC).
GH4 review at Darktidemediaco.
New GH4 shooters looking for lenses might find this useful: 9 Awesome Primes for the Panasonic GH4 (Suggestionofmotion).

Beautemps:Did you know this GH4 96 FPS Sports Video? Stunning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh57PaA_ylo

Ben:short Anamorphic test with a GH3. I’d love for you to share this. http://www.dailystaley.com/2014/06/02/trust/

Heather & Mat: I just wanted to share our most recent article featuring guest poster Samuel Gauthier, a Canadian photographer who switched over to MFT (OM-D E-M5) when he moved to Brazil. I think you’ll agree that his work is stunning! Bestmirrorlesscamerareviews.com.

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Sigma ART lenses for MFT get a discount in US.

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Sigma discounted the 19 and 30mm ART lenses for Micro Four Thirds:

$30 of on the 19mm f/2.8 ART at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
$30 of on the 30mm f/2.8 ART at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Olympus US deal reminder:
Save Up to $200 on Lenses for PEN & OM-D at GetOlympus (Click here) and Amazon (Click here).
Save up to $100 on Select Olympus Lenses at Amazon (Click here).
Up to $900 Off Lenses with OM-D or PEN E-P5 Purchase at GetOlympus (Click here).
Award-Winning OM-D Cameras: Up to $300 Off! at GetOlympus (Click here), Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
PEN E-PL5: $100 Off + FREE Wi-Fi Card at GetOlympus (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
PEN E-P5: Over $479 in Savings! at GetOlympus (Click here).
VF-4: Only $99.99 with E-P5 Body Purchase at GetOlympus (Click here) and Amazon (Click here).
Get an the Olympus ECG-1 Camera Grip Free with E-M10 Purchase at Amazon (Click here).
Save $20 on the FL-300R Wireless Flash at GetOlympus (Click here).
Save $20 on Tough Lens Converters at GetOlympus (Click here).

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Glimpse into the future: Olympus Glass patent.

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What matters for the younger generation of photographers is to be constantly connected in your virtual social world. They care less about sensor size, High ISO and Megapixels than we “older” people do. Portable devices like [shoplink 46152 ebay]Google Glass (they are to buy here on eBay)[/shoplink] could completely change the photographic industry. And it looks like not only Google but also Olympus is aware of that. The image on top comes from the newly published Olympus patent (JP2013/075623) describing a Google Glass alike device having actually two transparent screens on each eye.

Why should we “old generation” photographers using MFT camera care about it? Well according to previous Olympus patents you will be able to display live view images from your MFT camera directly on the head mount display on the Glass. You will no longer have to use the EVF or LCD screen to take pictures and review them. This is how you could take your pictures in a couple of years from now!

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