Focoro beta

Tamron has signed-on as as third-party lens manufacturer for Sony's E-mount, used by its NEX line of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. Their initial lens has a 35mm equivalent range of 27-300mm, making it a very versatile lens for a traveler who wants versatile range without packing a full system of lenses. It may be a little short on the wide range but will suit most tourists walking around cities or sites quite well.

Sony's E-mount flagship in its mirrorless camera armada is the recently announced NEX-7. The camera features an impressively large 24MP APS-C sized sensor in an impressively small NEX-body, complete with a high-resolution OLED electronic viewfinder and tilting rear display. The NEX-7 is best-in-class in many mirrorless categories—e.g. resolution, burst rate, compactness—but many reviewers complain about unnecessary battery drain from the EVF's proximity sensor waking the camera, and worse, accidentally dropping out of photography mode into videographer through accidental application of the non-mappable record button.

What's new in the world of medium format? If you glanced through marketing literature, you might be misled about the current margin of separation between medium format and 35mm. The latest Hasselblad, the H4D-200MS, is claiming 200MP—and it delivers it, but only if your subject stays still. Back in the Olde Days, medium format cameras tended to operate by taking a shot for each of Red Green and Blue, which was fine when most of these were still-life or product shots. For the past half-decade, this sort of multi-shot exposure felt like a distance memory for most medium format users—most certainly for fashion and people-focused studios. The latest Hasselblads use a similar technique, but rather than take one shot per colour, it actually offsets the sensor to get finer-grained resolution, but with the same limitations on movement.

When Panasonic first launched the DMC-GF1, it looked like an enthusiast's compact camera. Subsequent iterations have dumbed down the line, which is why there's a bit of excitement about the DMC-GX1, which is what many DMC-GF1 owners would have liked to see as its successor.

Canon has, since introducing its flagship EOS-1 digital lines, had two distinct flagship models: the APS-H sized EOS-1D targeted for high-speed, action photography, and the full-frame (35mm) EOS-1Ds which has consistently won our musters as an outstanding studio camera, with the highest digital 35mm camera resolution on the market. The EOS-1D X clearly in neither of these lines, but instead forms their joining, a high-resolution, high-speed, full-resolution camera line. Canon is clearly positioning this as the only option any professional photographer will have if they want the best. A singular top-of-the-line lets everyone keep an eye-on-the-prize.

The crop of mirrorless cameras has bloomed, and there are some distinct markets differences which we feel warrants a further refinement to our categories for interchangeable-lens cameras (ILCs). At the same time, we are excited by the the sudden resurgence of enthusiast small-compacts. These camer…

The Leica X1 was unique, both modern and retro, with its APS-C sensor and manual gestalt. Fujifilm, always one for venturing from the market norms—from its Super CCD sensors all the way back to its reduction optics system in its first digital SLRs—Fujifilm has followed Leica with its own APS-C retro shooter, the FinePix X100. The Fujifilm camera has a faster lens as well as integrated viewfinders—both optical and electronic—at the obvious cost of extra bulk. How the two compare against each other appears to have stirred much debate on the Web, with some favouring the X100's cheaper price tag (and in-built viewfinders) while others prefer the seeming simplicity of the X1.

Olympus has created a new variant of its digital PEN line for those looking for a slightly smaller, more compact, and simplified camera than its current PEN E-PL line. While, the E-PM1 lacks an orientation sensor, its simpler body and size may appeal to those looking to update from a compact (and at $500, its a better deal than the Nikon 1 series).

With a sensor size of 1" (diagonal), about four times the area of the Pentax Q but smaller than any other mirrorless system, the Nikon 1 series has opened with the V1 and its down-spec J1. Nikon, even more so than Pentax, appears to be targeting a segment of the market that want something more comp…

Olympus, Pentax, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony all have mirrorless camera systems on the market which have a lot buzz. SLR quality in a small camera excites a lot of people, so much so that Bloomberg reported that Nikon and Canon (who have not announced mirrorless systems) have been taking a hit on the stock market. Two weeks ago, a rumour that Nikon would be releasing a mirrorless camera caused their stock to start climbing, and despite Nikon coyly staying that they had not announced any mirrorless system at the time, it turns out there was: 1. Nikon's new mirrorless 1 system will launch with the J1 and V1, and will have a reduced-size 1" sensor (larger than most compacts, smaller than a Four Thirds/MFT sensor). The expectation is that this will make the system smaller and cheaper than its competitors while still being an upgrade for those who want to try something different from a compact camera.

While adapters between mounts is nothing new, especially for new mirrorless lines that are trying to attract people already invested in another system, mounting large full-frame lenses on a minuscule mirrorless body can look comedic. DPReview mentioned one innovative way of dealing with the mismatched proportions: building a tripod mount directly into the adapter.

"Panasonic Lumix G X Vario PZ 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH Power OIS" Some of those letters stand for "power zoom", "aspherical elements", "opitical image stabilization". This lens is designed to be incredibly small—which it is, even when compared to the barely smaller 20mm f/1.7 pancake. The power zoom will be useful for anyone trying to shoot video, but whether still shooters will put-up with it in exchange for the small size is yet to be seen.

Pentax, who has made some very good small DSLRs lately, has joined the mirrorless fray with their tiny Q. The Q, the first of their Q-mount system, has a small compact-sized 1/2.3" sensor which they successfully translate into a very small camera—the smallest interchangeable lens camera in the ma…

Last year "rugged" was the new buzz, as manufactures added freezeproof and shockproof features. Now, in order to distinguish their devices—or keep-up with the buzz—several manufactures have added global positioning system receivers (GPS) into their cameras, so when you get back home you know ex…

Sigma's Foveon sensor has made its way into an SLR. The Foveon X3 captures all three colours at each photo-site, unlike a traditional sensor which requires a Bayer array in front of it that allows only one colour through, generally reducing the true resolution to 1/3 of the advertised pixel count. This also allows the X3 to forgo the bluring (anti-aliasing) filter that reduces resolution as a artifact of reducing moire. Sigma's price the SD1 to compete with the highest resolution cameras from Canon (EOS 1Ds) and Nikon (D3X), but most prospective users will be unlikely to see it as being in the same ballpark. The X3 sensor is great technology, but Sigma will be looking to get users to either buy directly into an expensive camera amateurs are unlikely to understand, or for pros to switch to a Sigma-only lens ecosystem; both are unlikely.

Nikon's updated the D5000 with the refreshed D5100. $800 for an upper-entry level 16MP 14-bit ASP-C camera with ISO 6400 (boosted to 25600) and 4fps. The D5100 seems to pick-and-choose features from both the D3100 and D7100. If you find the D3100 a little too constricting, or are looking to upgraded your D3000 (or older D40), it might be a reasonable step-up.

It might be gimicky, but it looks smarter than front-facing mirrors for those that feel the need to take a "selfie". The $250 Casio TRYX features a rotating LCD which can swivel to be viewable from either side of the camera.