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Olympus won wide acclaim when it released its mirror-less OM-D E-M5 for itself, and serious attention to the burgeoning mirrorless camera systems from serious photographers. Olympus followed its E-M5 with the more SLR-like E-M1, improving the autofocus system at the same time. While Olympus has be…

Fujifilm already has a X-E and X-M letter lines to go with their high-end X-Pro camera; they've now introduced the X-T line with the weather-sealed X-T1. The internals are quite similar to the not-quite-old X-E2 released late last year, but is able to squeeze out slightly faster bursts with slightly better high-ISO performance according to the reviews coming out (although most we've seen just talk about the body and dials). The camera is a beauty of magnesium and dials, although it is larger than its X-mount alternatives with similarities to SLR form not out of place. Fujifilm has been one of the more innovative companies in the mirrorless market, introducing the hybrid optical-electric viewfinder with the X100 and X-Pro1 and continuing to refine their X-mount camera usability, which shows with such distinguished flares as rotating the heads-up display (such as metering information) in the EVF making the optional vertical grip feel like a natural part of the camera. Finally, the EVF itself, which Fujifilm claims has a remarkable 0.005s lag for its 2.36 million odd pixels.

Hasselblad made news recently when they announced their H5D-50c which will be available in March. The unique aspect of the camera was that its imaging back had a CMOS sensor at its heart, a first for mainstream medium format cameras. Later that week, Phase One introduced their IQ250 back, also wit…

Panasonic announced its Leica Nocticron-branded 42.5mm f/1.2 Micro Four Thirds lens at CES, as well as its price tag of about $1,600. This is more than twice expensive as Panasonic's other Leica branded Micro Four Thirds lens, the 25mm f/1.4 Summilux. With the initial technical reviews of the lens starting to come-out, we can see why with its exception sharpness and wide-aperture it provides better edge-to-edge sharpness than its shorter model. It is the most expensive mainstream lens for the Micro Four Thirds system to date—ahead of Panasonic's excellent F2.8 Lumix G Vario zooms and the impressive Voigtländer primes and backs it up with its build quality (complete with an on-lens aperture ring).

When Nikon announced their ruggedized AW1, they announced a fast (f2.8) 10mm prime (27mm in 35mm talk) and a 11-27.5mm (30-74mm) zoom. Both of these rugged lenses for the 1"-sensor camera are comparatively cheap against other systems, and as far as submersible alternatives, there simply aren't any. Nikon's target market will find the zoom variant more useful, which is good, since it's the AW1 kit lens (much as the standard 1 series has a 10-30mm lens with a similar speed). Given the common range offered offered by the zoom, and the inexpensive (around $150) price, it allows the AW1 a unique degree of flexibility for the vacationer snorkeling in the tropics. If used primarily on land, users are more prone to find its distortion (including quite heavy barrel distortion fully zoomed in) distracting. Reports of shooting with the AW1 have also reported problems from condensation to water leakage which might give some early adopters some pause. Hopefully, any issues are just with early productions and limited in number, as shedding bulky housing for waterproof cameras makes for much lighter packing.

Leading into the Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung pre-announced some new devices—the updated Android (Jelly Bean) based Galaxy 2 and their new flagship mirrorless camera, the NX 30. A few hands-on reviews are already available which have be positive of the NX30, with better handling (including …

Nikon's touted pricey prime, the 58mm F1.4 has made its rounds in the usual reviews, and the results have been fairly consistent. The lens is soft wide-open, but gets sharp when stopped down a couple stops (to F4 on full-frame); where the lens excels is in controlling chromatic aberrations and lare across the field of view, as well as smooth bokeh.