It seems that the digital photography area starts to hit up lately.
Right now we've seen some initial camera announcements from Sony and
Ricoh. The most interesting camera that was announced lately was the Sony NEX-C3,
the World's smallest and lightest APS-C sensor camera. The SLT-A35
didn't excite me that much, but this is just a start. As we are entering
the second half of the 3Q of 2011, we can expect to see many more
camera and lens announcements.
If you haven't notice that, Canon and Nikon haven't come up with their own mirrorless camera lineup yet. No rumors, no news leaks, no predictions, nada. From what I can tell right now, it is a crucial time for Canon and Nikon entering the mirrorless market. Olympus, Panasonic and Sony are enjoying the fruits of their hard labor and the strive for technology innovation.
The mirrorless market will keep expanding on behalf of the DSLR market. I don't know what Canon and Nikon are planning for us, but regarding the mirrorelss cameras, they should come up with something soon, or it will be a bit too late.
I also think that as smartphone cameras are providing better image quality these days, many people will prefer staying with their mobile phone camera instead of buying a simple P&S camera. That will get more stress when Apple will launch the iPhone 5 in 2011. That's another reason why mirrorless cameras will eventually replace all the conventional P&S cameras and will be the default cameras for advanced photographers.
We should also expect to hear new interchangeable lens announcements. I am looking forwards to see what type of lenses would be released for the Micro Four Thirds standard. It really excites me. Sony has just announced the fourth lens for NEX cameras, the E-mount 30mm F3.5 1:1 Macro lens. In order to boost the sells of their M43 cameras, both Panasonic and Olympus should male effort to expedite the launch of new lenses.
When people buy themselves into the Micro Four Thirds system, they expect to have the same flexibility that DSLR photographers have. What's missing in the Micro-43 are some fast prime lenses. M43 photographers want to taste that delicious creamy Bokeh. This is probably one reason why they opted to leave their P&C behind and walk onto the Micro Four Thirds path. I think that in 2011 we will get to see at least one fast prime lens. Let's not forget that the M43 is a system, not just cameras.
Now for Sigma. I really had high expectations when Sigma announced the Sigma SD1 DSLR camera. It seems that this dream was shattered in my face when Sigma announced the official price of the SD1. I was planning to purchase it myself, but have decided to make a smart buying decision and buy more necessary equipment to help me with my stock photography projects. If I could afford it would probably be a different story, but I can't. I really felt a big disappointment, but more than that, I think that Sigma made a big mistake here. In some point in time I thought that 2011 will be Sigma's year, but maybe my expectations were a bit too high. Anyway, I am shooting with my Nikon D3100 and very happy with it. Especially happy with the optical quality of the Nikkor 18-55mm VR and the 70-300mm VR - amazing lenses.
You probably know that I am a fan of Sony when it comes to technology Innovation and speed of operation. I do expect that Sony will be able to conquer a better place in the DSLR market, due to its high income from consumer electronics and their experience in the digital imaging field. I think that Sony must accelerate the rate of innovation in their DSLR cameras. A camera like the Sony SLT-A35 is not acceptable. I guess that Sony has released the A35 due to two reasons: Excessive hit (I've heard something regarding the Image stabilization mechanism), and the inferior battery life compared to other competitive cameras in the same price range.
I think the new camera is more an update than an upgrade, so I will not be angry at Sony in this case, LOL.
I am keeping my expectations low, but I am excited that some camera's life cycle are close to ending, so at least I know that some new products are on their way.
If you haven't notice that, Canon and Nikon haven't come up with their own mirrorless camera lineup yet. No rumors, no news leaks, no predictions, nada. From what I can tell right now, it is a crucial time for Canon and Nikon entering the mirrorless market. Olympus, Panasonic and Sony are enjoying the fruits of their hard labor and the strive for technology innovation.
The mirrorless market will keep expanding on behalf of the DSLR market. I don't know what Canon and Nikon are planning for us, but regarding the mirrorelss cameras, they should come up with something soon, or it will be a bit too late.
I also think that as smartphone cameras are providing better image quality these days, many people will prefer staying with their mobile phone camera instead of buying a simple P&S camera. That will get more stress when Apple will launch the iPhone 5 in 2011. That's another reason why mirrorless cameras will eventually replace all the conventional P&S cameras and will be the default cameras for advanced photographers.
We should also expect to hear new interchangeable lens announcements. I am looking forwards to see what type of lenses would be released for the Micro Four Thirds standard. It really excites me. Sony has just announced the fourth lens for NEX cameras, the E-mount 30mm F3.5 1:1 Macro lens. In order to boost the sells of their M43 cameras, both Panasonic and Olympus should male effort to expedite the launch of new lenses.
When people buy themselves into the Micro Four Thirds system, they expect to have the same flexibility that DSLR photographers have. What's missing in the Micro-43 are some fast prime lenses. M43 photographers want to taste that delicious creamy Bokeh. This is probably one reason why they opted to leave their P&C behind and walk onto the Micro Four Thirds path. I think that in 2011 we will get to see at least one fast prime lens. Let's not forget that the M43 is a system, not just cameras.
Now for Sigma. I really had high expectations when Sigma announced the Sigma SD1 DSLR camera. It seems that this dream was shattered in my face when Sigma announced the official price of the SD1. I was planning to purchase it myself, but have decided to make a smart buying decision and buy more necessary equipment to help me with my stock photography projects. If I could afford it would probably be a different story, but I can't. I really felt a big disappointment, but more than that, I think that Sigma made a big mistake here. In some point in time I thought that 2011 will be Sigma's year, but maybe my expectations were a bit too high. Anyway, I am shooting with my Nikon D3100 and very happy with it. Especially happy with the optical quality of the Nikkor 18-55mm VR and the 70-300mm VR - amazing lenses.
You probably know that I am a fan of Sony when it comes to technology Innovation and speed of operation. I do expect that Sony will be able to conquer a better place in the DSLR market, due to its high income from consumer electronics and their experience in the digital imaging field. I think that Sony must accelerate the rate of innovation in their DSLR cameras. A camera like the Sony SLT-A35 is not acceptable. I guess that Sony has released the A35 due to two reasons: Excessive hit (I've heard something regarding the Image stabilization mechanism), and the inferior battery life compared to other competitive cameras in the same price range.
I think the new camera is more an update than an upgrade, so I will not be angry at Sony in this case, LOL.
I am keeping my expectations low, but I am excited that some camera's life cycle are close to ending, so at least I know that some new products are on their way.