Focoro beta

Of all the new mirrorless interchangeable systems, the Micro Four Thirds system has the perhaps the least problem with lens variety. It is the oldest system, and already has Panasonic/Leica and Olympus making lenses as well as cameras. Still, it never hurts for more variety, and Tamron, Kenko Tokina, and Astrodesign have all joined the consortium. The first two companies are likely well known to our audience, and Astrodesign is a video manufacturer, using the mount in a 4K video system.

Samsung's third NX camera, and the follow-up to the NX100, looks remarkably more stylish. The NX100, while neither a wold beater nor a laggard, was small and functional. The partially magnesium-alloy body of the NX200 both looks and feels like an enthusiast's tool but it's the addition of shutter-…

Barney Britton at DPReview published an interview from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with Sigma's COO, Kazuto Yamaki. Sigma may be most well know for their quality third-party lenses as well as for their usage of the Foveon X3 sensor. They talk about the Sigma SD1, future high-end cameras, and an intention of creating more moderately priced cameras by reducing manufacturing costs.

Physical mount adapters are nothing new, but the amount of information that now connects a camera and its lenses makes creating a fully functional 'smart' adapter difficult. Nevertheless, Metabones and Conurus have created a functional adapter for Canon EF lenses to work on Sony E-mount (NEX) cameras. The mount relays EXIF information from the lens to the camera, and allows function of image stabilization in lenses where it is available, but as a nod to just how complex modern lens systems are, autofocus is not supported.

Trey Ratcliff of Stuck In Customs writes a bit about how mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras—the "third generation" of digital cameras in his article—will replace SLRs at the top of the digital food chain. He makes many good points, and is not the first to do so, but some of his the hurdles they need to overcome to unambiguously replace SLRs still appear a bit away, such as truly matching an optical viewfinder for resolution and refresh rate.