News/Views | Sans Mirror — mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras | Thom Hogan

Nauticam Underwater Housing for the GH3

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:33:28 -0400

Nauticam this week announced the NA-GH3 underwater housing for the Panasonic GH3 camera. As with most Nauticam housings, this one is engineered to withstand 100m depths and pretty much provides access to all the controls of the camera (which on the GH3, is a fairly large selection). …

Will the Floodgates Open?

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:16:09 -0400

Samsung this week released some of the source code that powers their recent NX-300 camera. That makes it probably the most high-level camera open to hackers (in the good, original sense of the word "hacker"). Working with this code is not a trivial task, and you'll need some familiarity with Linux, Tizen, ARM, Debian, and possibly even Webkit if you're really going to make substantive changes or additions to the camera firmware. …

The Financial Season Ends

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:07:05 -0400

Pretty much everyone has reported their fiscal year (or in the case of Canon, first quarter) results now, and it's interesting to look at how the various camera companies positioned those.

Panasonic had their second biggest loss, and such a big one that cameras really didn't come up much in their presentations and discussions, as the camera business isn't all that large compared to the rest of the company and its problems. …

Panasonic 12-35mm Lens Update 1.2

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:20:11 -0400

Panasonic has posted new firmware (version 1.2) for the 12-35mm f/2.8 lens. The update improves the performance of the Optical Image Stabilizer when taking video.

Nikon 1 Fast Telephoto (Almost) Arrives

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:33:35 -0400

We've known about the 32mm f/1.2 for the Nikon 1 system for quite some time, as Nikon first gave us a development announcement on the lens last year. Today, it's been pre-announced. In June, it'll arrive. It's the old tell 'em what we're going to tell 'em, remind them what we're going to tell 'em, tell 'em marketing scenario.

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Site Updates

Sat, 11 May 2013 16:47:50 -0400

You may have noticed a few changes on the site lately.

The most obvious one is that I have replaced the Google Adsense advertisements with B&H advertisements that are highly targeted to this site's readers. Not only is this a better deal for sansmirror, but I think it is for you, too, as the site's ads will be much more relevant to the information you're looking at.

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Fun With Statistics

Sat, 11 May 2013 11:05:27 -0400

As part of their presentations in Japan to launch the new E-P5 camera, Olympus updated their "mirrorless market share" document a bit and offered a new statistic.

First the mirrorless market share graph:

While it's a little difficult to interpret from this quick screen grab, the overall sense is still there: mirrorless' portion of interchangeable lens camera sales has grown over time. …

I'm Not Sure I Get It

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:17:45 -0400

With the product announcement now come and gone, it's time to consider how the new camera fits in.

I get the E-P5 in one sense: take all the OM-D E-M5 goodness and put it into a refreshed E-P# body and you have another new camera to launch, the E-P5. …

Olympus Introduces New m4/3 Products

Fri, 10 May 2013 10:33:59 -0400

Today is the 50th anniversary of the original Pen F, and Olympus has used that occasion to launch several new products and variations: the E-P5 and E-PL6 (Japan only) cameras, the VF-4 electronic viewfinder, and black versions of their prime m4/3 lens set that hasn't had that option before (17mm, 45mm, 75mm).

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In the Bag

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:10:31 -0400

It's said you're not really a serious photographer unless you have a closet full of bags you've decided don't quite work for you. We all strive for the Cinderella bag.

For over a year I've been trying to get the carrying bag for my mirrorless system just right. …