The long expected Sony a77 camera is supposed to be announced on July 7, 2011. The kit price will be $1099 (with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens). Shipments should start in late September / early October. The surprise here of course is the low price, but there were already previous rumors indicating a price range between $900-$1200.
Going back to the picture of Samsung camera prototypes posted here yesterday – a reader reminded me about an old rumor that Samsung, Schneider Kreuznach and Alpa are working together to create the first, fully digital, medium format camera system. Why would Samsung have those large square camera prototypes next to their NX bodies? Can someone identify the silver lens attached to one of the square cameras? There are some similar Schneider Kreuznach lenses on eBay. You can check also schneideroptics.com.
SLR Magic contacted me to clarify the recent reports about them taking over Noktor’s website which happened just few days after Noktor officially closed it down. Obviously the old Noktor company went out of business. SLR Magic will now design Noktor lenses and sell Noktor products under the SLR Magic brand. No specific plans were given for the future of the Noktor 50mm f/0.95 lens for Micro Four Thirds but SLR Magic representative confirmed that they are planing to continue the Noktor line with ultra fast lenses.
Next month SLR Magic will start shipping a new 28mm f/2.8 pancake lens for Sony NEX system:
After the earthquake in Japan, many companies have significantly reduced or completely eliminated their instant rebate programs. Canon currently has three different lens rebates:
See also the latest rebates from
I updated this post with several new Fuji X100 accessories:
Since I got my Fuji X100 two weeks ago, I spent some time online looking for accessories. First, the official accessories from Fujifilm: leather case LC-X100, lens hood + adapter ring LH-X100, adapter ring only AR-X100, flash EF-20 and flash EF-42:
Here is what else you can get:
Similar to a Leica M rangefinder, the release button of the Fuji X100 is pretty low and an optional soft release could be helpful. Various options are available on eBay, or you can just get this one from Adorama for $2.49. Here are three different soft releases on the Fuji X100 – I personally prefer the first one:
In addition to yesterday’s video, Samsung has posted several related Q&A on their website which includes also a picture of several prototype cameras. One of them has three manual dials on top. Samsung is expected to release the NX20 and NCX200 this summer and it will be interesting to see if one of them will have a retro look with manual dials, similar to the Fuji X100.
Thanks gh42!
After the NX lens developer interview, here is another interesting video on how Samsung plans for their future NX lenses:
On June 3rd, 2011 Sony will announce the following new products:
Here is a 38 minutes video on Fuji Finepix X100 frequently asked questions from the Fujiguys – a must watch if you own this camera:
Digicame-info reports that Olympus will release a 12mm f/2 lens for Micro Four Thirds in June. The production has already started last month in the Tatsuno plant in Japan.
