36exp is a "group of professional photographers who actively work in our fields of expertise". Few hours ago the owner of that website went to several online forums and posted this:
"Last night I attended a market research session on a new camera design, they showed a mock up and spec of a new camera with a dSLR like spec and 24MP APS C size sensor, in a small retro body, with interchangeable lenses"
There was also a link to a post on 36exp that was removed shortly after it went viral. Here is the original text:
"Last night I attended a feedback session run by a research company on behalf of a major camera company. They were looking for ‘advanced camera users’ to give feedback on a new camera design.
They showed what looked like a very well progressed mock up and spec of a camera, which was about the size of a Canon G12, or mirrorless camera, but had styling very similar to the Fuji X100.
The spec of the camera that we were asked to give feedback on was given as:- APS C size sensor
– 24.3 mega pixels
– Interchangeable lenses
– Mirrorless system
– Magnesium alloy body
– Retro Styling (their words) i.e. direct access buttons and dials for controls, similar look to Fuji x100, black and chrome
– 10 fps
– Max shutter speed 1/8000 sec
– Phase autofocus
– Swivel LCD screen (although this didn’t get good feedback)
– Price £616 including kit lensThey didn’t reveal it as Samsung initially, but the discussion got onto which brands we trusted and everyone mentioned Nikon, Canon, Leica etc as brands with heritage that they would trust if buying into what seemed to be a premium camera. When someone mentioned that they would be less likely to buy it if it was from Samsung a guy appeared (who been observing the session from behind one way glass) and announced that it was a Samsung camera, and asked our thoughts on this….
Couldn’t get any pictures or bring anything out unfortunately. It may be called the Retro R1 or similar as the mock up had Retro etched on it, but tape over the rest of the name.
I really liked it, seemed to have SLR spec in a smaller body, hopefully it comes to fruition."
Few months ago several Samsung camera prototypes appeared on a promotional video and one of them indeed had a retro design. In addition, I recently received some rumors that Samsung may show a second NX camera at CES 2012 in addition to the NX20.
