On top of all Photokina announcements this week, Apple also revealed their new iPhone 5. The camera and lens inside the new iPhone remain similar to the previous version, but 25% thinner in order to accommodate the new design.
What’s the same:
8-megapixel iSight camera
Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
Clearly the Sony RX1 compact full frame camera has been the most interesting announcement for the 2012 Photokina show so far. Here is what some websites that got the chance to try out the camera had to say:
This isn’t just Sony’s most serious compact camera, but arguably the most serious compact camera we’ve ever seen (dpreview)
Honey I Shrank the Full-Frame. Yes, it’s freaking crazy. It’s potentially brilliant too (Gizmodo)
If the X100 is the poor man’s Leica, than the RX1 looks like the middle-class man’s Leica. Do I think Sony can achieve great photo quality with it? Yes; all the pieces are there. And it looks especially yummy if you like street shooting. (C|net)
Only a handful of cameras have made me want to utter expletives of happy astonishment. “Holy Moly, they finally did it!” (IR)
Sony RX1 has a 24.3MP CMOS full frame sensor
It will be interesting to see if and how other manufacturers will answer to the Rx1. The big question remains: will the camera sell with a $2,800 price tag? With the lens hood price of $180 and $250 for a leather case, we are almost in Leica price territories. Here is a poll – will you buy the RX1?
Sony announced the development of a new Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 ZA SSM full frame lens (Alpha mount) that is scheduled to be released in Spring of 2013. The filter size will be 72mm as you can see from the picture above. No other information is available at this point.
At Photokina Alpa is expected to announce a new Alpa 12 camera and a shutter module to adapt with the Hasselblad V system lenses. The new camera will be fully integrated into the existing system. Adapters for other MF lenses will follow.
For the past 18 months The Impossible Project worked on a new analog instant camera called FPU (Film Processing Unit) that was developed together with DHW of the former ROLLEI factory, long-time head of R&D at Polaroid Henny Waanders and Prof. Achim Heine, designer of the LEICA Digilux 1 camera. The first concept camera will be presented at Photokina. The new product is expected to be introduced to the market in 2013.
Based on the FPU, The Impossible Project developed The Instant Lab that will basically print images directly from your iPhone. This project is currently on Kickstarter – I could not believe that so many people thought this was a good idea:
