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Photokina 2016: Fujifilm Interview

07 Oct

Toshihisa Iida, Fujifilm’s General Manager of the Sales and Marketing Group, pictured at Photokina 2016.

Fujifilm chose last month’s Photokina tradeshow as the venue to launch its new flagship mirrorless camera, the medium-format GFX 50S. At the show, we sat down with Toshihisa Iida, Fujifilm’s General Manager of the Sales and Marketing Group and Toru Takahashi, Director, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fujifilm’s Optical Device & Electronic Imaging Products Divisonto talk about the 50S, and why Fujifilm chose to skip full-frame.

Please note that the following interview has been edited slightly for clarity and flow. Our questions are in bold.

Why did Fujifilm decide to move straight from APS-C to medium-format?

Soon after we introduced the X-Pro 1 many people started asking when we would be introducing full-frame mirrorless. We said at the time we were 100% committed to the APS-C format. We thought this was the best format from the point of view of image quality, and size and portability. We started with [only] three lenses, so we needed to focus on one format, to accelerate the lens lineup. As the years went by we started thinking maybe we could start looking at a bigger format, because we had a good lens lineup, and the technologies [in our APS-C line] were maturing.

Our next move was to decide what format we should move to. And soon after Mr Takahashi came into our division we made a decision. The difference between APS-C and full-frame is too marginal, so there was no point. So we decided to go for a bigger sensor format, to show a clear differentiation from APS-C.

APS-C is more speed, more portability – that’s our X-series. And our medium-format is for ultimate image quality. But still, you know – they have the same DNA. Design, operability, color management and so on. APS-C and medium-format can co-exist and complement each other.

The new Fujifilm GFX 50S offers a 50MP medium-format sensor in an impressively small, lightweight body.

What did your X-series users tell you that they wanted from a larger-format camera?

Firstly, they said that with the X-series they could cover around 70% of their requirements. But they needed a bigger format, for example for outdoor billboards. And sometimes they needed to crop. So they required higher resolution. The other thing is we asked about usability. Our X-series is quite unique in terms of its user interface. Because our new camera is more geared to commercial applications, we asked whether the same dials were necessary. We had a lot of conversations about this with professional photographers. The conclusion was they all asked us to keep the dial operation.

The sensor at the heart of the GFX 50S looks very familiar. Is it the same sensor that we’ve seen in other medium-format digital cameras?

First, this is a brand-new mount. Based on our experience with the X-series, we wanted to make the flange-back distance smaller, to allow the lenses to be made more compact. The challenge is how to get the light hit the sensor evenly – in the center and also at the corners. In order to achieve that we customized the microlenses. The microlenses on this sensor are optimized for the short flange-back distance of the new mount, to ensure good corner illumination. Also we optimized the silicon process. We spent a lot of time and resources on this kind of customization.

What was the logic behind not including an X-Trans filter array in this system?

The sensor format is large enough that even without X-Trans, the image quality is very good. X-Trans is good, but it’s a complex filter array. Sometimes Bayer is more straightforward, and it makes Raw processing easier.

Did you include video in the 50S just because you could, or because your customers wanted it?

It’s not 4K, of course, it’s HD. But we know that more and more photographers are shooting video and we like to offer a unique proposition. Shallow depth of field, because of the bigger format – it will be interesting to see what kind of videos [photographers capture].

What are the challenges of introducing 4K video?

Many cameras can record 4K video, but the question is what kind of 4K video. The challenges for every manufacturer are power and heat. And there are two ways minimize their impact. One way is to make the camera bigger. The second way is to make the video file smaller, by recording video from a cropped area of the frame.

We think that it’s important to pursue the ultimate in quality, so on the X-T2 for example we tried to minimize the crop factor. Some manufacturers are offering crops of 1.5 X or 1.7X. This doesn’t help photographers at all. This is a new challenge for digital cameras that integrate stills and video features.

Do you have any figures for dynamic range of this sensor, compared to APS-C?

We do, but we’re still fine-tuning.

Some of the F2 and F2.8 lenses you’ve announced will give similar depth of field to F1.4 lenses on full-frame. At that point, what advantage is there to medium-format imaging?

By the numbers, depth of field might be similar, but we think that the actual images look different. And it’s not just about depth of field. There’s wider dynamic range, and greater resolution and so on. Overall there’s a lot of benefit from using a medium-format sensor.

The GFX lens lineup will feature three lenses when the 50S hits the market in spring, with six optics in the initial roadmap.

And presumably a larger sensor doesn’t stress the resolution of the lenses as much as a similar resolution would on APS-C?

Correct. We designed these new lenses to be future-proof. The potential resolution of these new lenses is much higher than 50MP. Our benchmark is 4700 line pairs. So the lenses can resolve at least 100MP.

How do you see the mirrorless and DSLR markets evolving within the next 2-3 years?

Probably, in 2 years time, the size of the mirrorless market will exceed the market for DSLRs, globally. Already in some asian countries the mirrorless market is bigger than DSLR.

With the launch of the EOS M5, do you think it’s a good thing that Canon is finally taking mirrorless seriously?

We always welcome competition. Because the more competition, the faster the market will realize that mirrorless is the future.

Have you seen a change in the the kinds of people who are buying mirrorless cameras?

It depends on which category. When we introduced the X-Pro1, we were attracting photographers who were more likely to be street photographers. With the X-T1, and lenses like the 10-24mm zoom we started to capture landscape photographers. And the 56mm F1.2 was attractive to portrait photographers. If you look at our XA series, its a lot of young female photographers, who buy the camera as a companion to their smartphones. So different categories attract different kinds of photographers with different requirements.

One thing we’ve noticed is that at the end of the day, all photographers are looking for the best image quality and color reproduction.

The selfie-friendly Fujifilm XA lineup is apparently very popular with female customers, particularly in Asia.

Do you expect that the majority of people who will buy a GFX 50S will be existing X-series users?

That’s a difficult question. In our experience, in our showroom in Tokyo, the ratio of new customers to existing Fujifilm users who came in to look at the X-T2 for example was around 2:1. The ratio of new customers was much higher. And I expect that the same will be true of the GFX 50S.

How important is smart device integration in your product development?

It’s very, very important. The smartphone is not the enemy, it’s a complement to a camera. And how to enable connectivity between a smart device and our cameras is very important. We will focus on making it faster, smoother. Especially in Asian countries, girls are buying our cameras to take selfies, and straight afterwards they’re sending it to their friends from their phones.

Do you have a medium-format market share target in mind for the GFX 50S?

It’s difficult to say, because we’re really targeting high-resolution 35mm DSLRs with this product. The current medium-format space is full of cameras that are too expensive, too heavy and too bulky. The current medium-format market is small. People are buying 35mm full-frame cameras [instead]. So maybe our solution will revitalize the category.

Speaking of which, one of the most active new market segments is VR imaging. Are you looking that market?

I think that VR is mainly for industrial purposes. It can be applied to the consumer market but it’s very niche. So if we’re talking about consumer imaging, I don’t think that 360 cameras have a big audience.

Editor’s note:

Fujifilm has been heavily hinting that a medium-format mirrorless camera was in the works for some time, and it’s a relief to finally be able to see – and touch – an actual product. In my opinion, Fujifilm’s decision to side-step (or rather leap-frog) the full-frame camera market makes a lot of sense. It’s much easier for the company to differentiate (and capture a larger portion of the latent interest) when it’s not competing against the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony in an increasingly crowded field. The GFX 50S will unquestionably offer superior image quality to any of the current crop of full-frame cameras, and critically speaking, it will of course be streets ahead of the company’s X-series, which is optimized for speed and versatility.

Fujifilm’s decision to ditch X-Trans in the 50S is interesting, but not surprising. It is undoubtedly true that the benefits of X-Trans are proportionally greater on the smaller APS-C format than they would be on a medium-format sensor, and I suspect that the additional cost and complexity of using this proprietary array in the GFX 50S might also have been a factor. In addition, Fujifilm is well aware of the criticism leveled against it from some professionals that the X-Trans array makes file handling more difficult, thanks to limited support from third-party Raw converters. And Fujifilm will need the file handling process to be as smooth as possible if it wants to appeal to studio photographers with an established workflow.

The fact that Fujifilm apparently has no particular medium-format market share in mind for the 50S is very revealing. For now at least, it seems the company won’t measure the success of this camera by how many sales it steals away from Pentax, Hasselblad, Phase One and their ilk. What Fujifilm wants is for someone considering buying a Canon EOS 5DSR or a Sony a7R II or a Nikon D810 to buy a GFX 50S instead. Especially if that person is a commercial or landscape photographer who just wants the pixels. As such, at ‘well under $ 10,000’ with a 63mm prime lens, the 50S is priced to compete against these top-flight 35mm-style cameras.

Meanwhile, well-heeled X-series photographers (and of course the many professionals who have adopted the X-series over the past few years alongside full-frame gear from other brands) now have a true flagship camera to aspire to. A camera which is capable of higher resolution and better image quality, from a brand that they trust. And unlike traditional medium-format cameras, it doesn’t weigh a ton and it doesn’t cost the earth. I can’t wait to see what it can do.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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PhotoPlus Expo 2016: What to expect at the show

29 Sep

Every October, the PhotoPlus Expo is held in New York. The biggest photography trade-show in the US, PPE is the first chance a lot of photographers get to see for themselves the latest cameras, lenses and accessories. And this year will be no different with major new releases from all of the major manufacturers.

Covering four days, and multiple stages, there’s a lot to see at PPE, and as usual, DPReview will be at the show to report on the latest products and speak to photographers and attendees. In this article we’ve put together a quick guide to some of the standout gear – and speakers – you can expect to see at the show. So if you’re planning on visiting PPE this year (or just intending to lurk online, reading our show coverage) take a look at what you can expect to see.

New Gear

You can expect to see all of the major Photokina announcements ‘in the flesh’ at PhotoPlus Expo, including the forthcoming medium-format Fujifilm GFX 50S.

2016 is a Photokina year, so many of the major late summer announcements were made last week in Germany. But because of the disruption caused by the Kyushu earthquake in Japan earlier this year, several of the hottest new cameras were announced as developments – not shipping products. Although we’ve handled prototypes of the Fujifilm GFX 50S, Olympus OM-D E-M1 II and Sony a99 II, we’re hoping that PPE will also provide an opportunity to take a better look at the forthcoming Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH5. We suspect that Panasonic’s new 1-inch sensor zoom compacts will be a big hit with enthusiast photographers, too.

Other new gear which should make an appearance at PPE includes Canon’s latest mirrorless offering, the EOS M5, and the 30MP EOS 5D IV. Nikon will be showing off its range of KeyMission action cameras, and a new entry-level DSLR, the D3400. As well as cameras, PPE should provide a chance to get your hands on several new lenses, including high-end zooms and primes from Nikon, Sigma and Tamron.

Check out our full Photokina coverage

Keynote Speakers

Life isn’t just about gear (despite what you might think from reading comments on DPReview). One of the reasons we enjoy going to PPE every year is to meet, speak to and listen to some of the world’s most influential and inspiring photographers.

Musician and photographers Graham Nash and Mark Seliger will be delivering a keynote on October 20th at PPE.

On Thursday the 20th of October, two legends of rock and roll – musician Graham Nash and renowned photographer and musician Mark Seliger – will discuss their mutual love of photography and music. On Friday, three of VII Photo agency’s photojournalists – Jessica Dimmock, Ron Haviv and Ashley Gilbertson will deliver a keynote, ‘Why we Shoot’, in which they’ll speak about what it means to be a visual storyteller in today’s media landscape. Closing out the show on Saturday are National Geographic photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, who will speak about their global initiative to protect the world’s oceans. If any of these keynotes sounds interesting to you, be sure to sign up soon.

Presentations, prints and demos

There are always lots of things to see at PPE, including some of the best in contemporary photography.

In addition to the keynotes, PPE attendees will also get the chance to see demos and presentations from professional photographers across the entire show floor. Most large booths have a schedule of presentations, prints and video slideshows, and in traditional trade-show fashion, there are sure to be plenty of strange dioramas, gymnasts and preternaturally patient costumed models scattered around the show for attendees to take pictures of. We’re expecting 360 imaging and virtual reality to be a major theme of this year’s show too, so be sure to try out a VR headset if you’ve never experienced one before.

DPReview will be at PPE all week, so if you see one of us walking around the show floor, come up and say hello. Hopefully we’ll see a few of you there.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Photokina 2016 highlights: What we saw (and what we didn’t)

29 Sep

Photokina 2016: What we got, what we wanted

The anticipation and excitement of Photokina makes it a lot like the camera nerd’s Christmas. And not unlike Christmas, you don’t always get exactly what you want. Sure, we got plenty of shiny toys like the Fujifilm GFX 50S, and things we weren’t expecting like the YI M1, but a few things on our wish lists didn’t turn up.

Read on as DPR staff offer their own personal takes on the show as a whole, what they were pleasantly surprised by and what they’re still wishing for.

Dale: Innovation, big and small

To me, the really interesting products at Photokina 2016 were of the large and small sensor variety. Fujifilm’s new medium-format system is particularly exciting. If you had asked me a few years ago about the future of medium-format, I would have been pessimistic. Now we have two new medium-format systems (Fujifilm’s and Hasselblad’s X1D) in just a few months, and both should be reasonably approachable for most photographers thanks to their (relatively) compact size and similarity to existing mirrorless camera systems.

At the other end of the spectrum we saw great innovation in the Micro Four Thirds space, starting with the Olympus E-M1 Mark II. It wins the ‘How much performance can you cram into a small camera and not blow it up?’ award. It’s a performance tour de force. We also got our first glimpse of the Panasonic GH5. Panasonic has long been on the cutting edge when it comes to video; the GH4 is still a class leading camera over two years into its life cycle. The GH5 looks poised to pick up where the GH4 left off, with 4K/60p capability, 4:2:2 10-bit 4K video, 6K photo mode, and an optional hot-shoe mounted I/O unit for pro-level audio.

But wait, there’s more! As if that weren’t enough, there’s also the YI M1. We know from our initial testing that the M1 has room to grow, but what’s really exciting is that we have a new manufacturer entering the market, and one that is joining a strong Micro Four Thirds ecosystem of products. Plus, the YI’s smartphone style user interface may be the best thing out there to entice mobile phone users to migrate back in the direction of a dedicated camera.

What did I miss at Photokina? While everyone was standing around the Fujifilm booth, mouths agape and drooling on the GFX 50S, I kept wishing for an updated X100 series camera with a 24MP X-trans sensor, Acros film simulation, and maybe even a new lens. #stillwaiting

Dale Baskin

Dan: What’s the big DL?

Dear Nikon, your Photokina presence was disappointing. Yes I know, you launched the D5 and D500 earlier this year (in time for the summer Olympics), so I guess you deserve some sort of break. But to think that the only product launches you had at the world’s biggest photography trade show were an action camera and a lifestyle/POV camera is pretty lame. Of course it would be one thing if the KeyMission 170 was ground-breaking in any way. It’s not. Sure its a competitive: 4k-capable, waterproof without a case, but in the presence of the GoPro HERO5 and Sony X3000 (which offers optically-stabilized 4K), the KeyMission 170 is just another 4K-capable action cam.

Which brings me back to my initial point, what’s the big DL? I am of course referring to the the Nikon DL line of premium compacts, announced around CP+ time in late February and than quietly delayed. Do they exist (or are they delayed indefinitely)? I saw plastic mock-ups back in January (and my colleagues again saw real mock-ups in Japan). I know the DL’s are available for pre-order (though no date is indicated as to when they’ll ship). Simply put, all I wanted from Photokina from Nikon was an announcement/some sort of concrete proof that DL’s will be in consumers’ hands before the year ends. I did not get that. All I got were some stinkin’ action cams.

Dan Bracaglia

Sam: Where are all the (cheap) mirrorless lenses?

This year was a vintage year for expensive new equipment at Photokina – very, very expensive equipment.

For example, the flagship Olympus body now costs nearly $ 2,000. They also made a fancy new 25mm F1.2 that costs over $ 1,000. There’s plenty of fuss over the new Fujifilm, which should be ‘less than ten grand.’ We finally got the long-awaited Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art, which has become the most expensive prime of the Art lineup. But what about the little guy? What about enthusiasts who can’t afford a lens that costs more than a thousand bucks?

Well, for the cash-strapped consumer, not much happened this time around… we got a couple refreshed models, the Nikon D3400 and the Olympus E-PL8, but neither of those brought any significant improvements to either camera, or that market segment. I guess as a consolation prize the Nikon has a new silently focusing kit lens…

There was the Yi M1, but fiddling with our pre-production sample left me with no praise and a thousand snarky comments. They’ve got some scrambling to do if they’re going to make that autofocus remotely usable before shipping.

We did see some less pricey things from Canon, like the new 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 IS II USM, with the super quick Nano USM tech inside. They also showed us their brand-new mirrorless camera. I like the new Canon M5, although it’s not necessarily priced to be an entry level bargain. Plus, much like the rest of the APS-C mirrorless world (except Fuji), we’re just left wanting more lenses.

That’s what I was hoping we’d see more of this Photokina: mirrorless lenses. Now that there’s a desirable mirrorless Canon, I can think of two systems that are in desperate need of good, affordable primes. I was hoping to see Sigma’s excellent DN line of primes expand to fill this gap, but we didn’t see anything at the show.

At least the Micro Four Thirds continues to grow both on the high end and low end of things. While we did get two very expensive new lenses from Olympus, we also got a very good little 30mm macro lens that was built with cost and quality in mind — a mix that seems to favor the latter too much and forgets the former more often than not.

Sam Spencer

Chris: Where’s my D810 update?

Photokina was well, a bit interesting this year. Olympus and Fujifilm both made huge announcements with respect to flagship cameras that they are developing, but I was honestly a bit disappointed by the announcements from Nikon and Sony. There have been rumors flying for some time now about replacements for Nikon’s D810 and in Sony’s case the a7R II. There was even some talk of the release of a long fabled Sony mirrorless flagship, which fans of rumor sites are calling the a9. Instead, Nikon released their Keymission series of action cams and Sony released the SLT-a99 II.

The announcement of the a99 II was a bit unexpected, but I wasn’t completely surprised that Sony decided to revitalize the a-mount with an updated version of the a99. The action-cams from Nikon on the other hand, were a bit of shock, not so much from the perspective that Nikon wanted in on the action-cam market, but more so that they ended up being Nikon’s only major announcement at Photokina.

In a year when Canon announced the 5D Mk IV only a few months ago, Fujifilm announced the GFX 50S and Olympus announced the development of the E-M1 II, it was a bit surprising that Nikon didn’t deliver a brand new or even an updated version of a full-frame camera. Sure, they recently released the D5, but it’s an expensive, niche product. Perhaps a D820 was planned but stymied by the knock-on effects of the earthquake in Japan earlier this year?

Regardless, I’m really hoping that we won’t have to wait until the next Photokina to see a brand new or even an updated camera from Nikon or Sony to replace the aging D810 and a7R II, respectively, but I’m not holding my breath.

Chris Williams

Allison: Long live instant photography

It was a good Photokina for tech innovations, but it was also a good year for lo-fi photography: thanks to Fujifilm and Leica, instant photography enjoyed a moment at the show. Fujifilm introduced monochrome film for its mini Instax format in addition to plans for a square format camera and film, and Leica introduced their own instant camera – well, sort of. Heck, we even got an updated Polaroid instant camera.

Okay, so the Sofort may only be a re-badged Instax Mini 90, but it does mean that Leica is sitting up and taking notice of Fujifilm’s success with instant film, which has been pretty darn successful. And when brands with as much recognition and clout as Leica get interested in a medium, I can’t help but feel better about its chances. If selling a re-badged camera and film helps keep the momentum going for Instax then I’m all for it. Just pass me some of that monochrome film when you find it – I don’t care if it says Fujifilm or Leica on the package.

Allison Johnson

Carey: A big show for lenses

If there’s one thing I think everyone is missing about Photokina this year, it’s the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-100mm F4 Pro stabilized lens. Okay, everyone is aware that the lens was announced, but no one seems to be talking about the main thing I would use it for – run and gun video capture.

You see, that’s how I spent most of my Photokina experience (and how I spend a good deal of time at any trade show or conference). When I’m hopping from meeting to meeting and booth to booth, hauling around extra gear – like a tripod – definitely gets in the way. So having 6.5 stops of combined stabilization with the E-M1 Mark II is a godsend, and honestly, the extra depth of field offered by the smaller sensor size will be more help than hindrance. Shooting at F4 on the full-frame setup we use can be handy for isolating a subject, sure, but it does mean it’s easier to miss focus if you’re not careful. Finally, when you combine all of this with truly excellent 4K video capture, you have a pretty formidable package (even if I’m going to shoot in 1080p most of the time anyway to save on editing time).

The only problem? Olympus’ swap from a tilting screen to a fully-articulating one. When you flip the screen out to the side to use the camera from a low or high angle, it interferes with the side ports for headphones and a microphone. Sure, I could get better quality audio by running a separate device, but as a one-man crew, I’m always looking to simplify.

The other standouts for me? The Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art looks amazing, but it’s huge. The Nikon 105mm F1.4 also looks amazing, and it’s also huge. The Olympus 25mm F1.2 Pro offers great results, but for the system, it is – no surprise – huge. One of the reasons I love my old Nikon AF-D lenses is their relatively compact size, which goes a fair way towards offsetting the relative bulk of a full-frame DSLR. Canon’s got a pretty neat package with the EOS M5 and the EF-M 22mm F2, but come on – let’s have some more! Bring on the pancake lenses!

Carey Rose

Richard: The element of surprise

The thing I liked most about Photokina was the surprise of the first day. Between the Sony a99 II, Fujifilm’s medium-format camera and Olympus’s E-M1 Mark II, there were a range of interesting products that hadn’t already been leaked, discussed then criticized to death before the show.

This gave the whole show a bit of a buzz that I felt it had lacked in recent years. Canon is probably kicking itself for launching the EOS M5 so far in advance.

In terms of the cameras themselves, it’s the M5 and Panasonic’s LX10/LX15 that I found most interesting. The flagship cameras are all well and good and give a great insight into what’s going to be possible, but they’re not the cameras that many people will get an opportunity to use. By contrast, I suspect both the Canon and the little Panasonic will find their ways into a lot of people’s hands.

The appeal of the M5 isn’t immediately apparent from the spec sheet but is the moment you pick it up and try to use it. The LX10 is almost the opposite, based on my experience so far: the touchscreen works well but the dials are oddly set up, so it’s the specifications of the lens and video capability, along with the price that keep it interesting.

Sadly, Nikon’s continued silence on the DLs was deafening. With the arrival of the LX15 and FZ2000/FZ2500, whenever they do finally surface it may only be the wide-angle 18-50 model that isn’t entering an overcrowded market.

That said, there were plenty of products (Sigma 12-24mm, Fujifilm GFX 50S, Hasselblad X1D 50c…) that it’ll be great to get a chance to test and use. The photo industry may not be in the best of health, but Photokina showed there are a lot of people working hard to produce exciting products.

Richard Butler

Jeff: Flagships and Superzooms

It was hard to top the big announcements from Photokina 2014, which saw the announcements of the Nikon D750, Canon EOS 7D II and Samsung NX1, but the 2016 show may have done it. This year’s show has, in my opinion, at least eight blockbuster announcements, from the medium format Fujifilm GFX 50S to the Sony a99 II to the Panasonic GH5. And that’s not including some very exciting new lenses. Two cameras that I didn’t just mention that stood out to me were the long-awaited Olympus E-M1 Mark II and Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FZ2500/FZ2000.

The E-M1 II isn’t something that’s only excited those who’ve already bought into the Micro Four Thirds system. As a Canon EOS 5D III owner I find the size and design of the E-M1 II as well as the MFT system’s still-growing selection of lenses (hello, 12-100 F4) quite appealing. The built-in image stabilizer already offers 5.5 stops of shake reduction (and can pull off another stop with select lenses) and the AF system sounds impressive based on reports from my colleagues. Oh, and the high bit rate (236Mbps) 4K video doesn’t hurt either.

Speaking of 4K, another camera that impressed me is Panasonic’s FZ2500 (read our preview). While stills-related updates are fairly minor compared to the FZ1000, the 2500’s longer lens, built-in variable ND filter and larger EVF are most welcome. The FZ2500 continues to use Panasonic’s frankly awesome DFD focus system. Video is where it’s at, though, with DCI *and* UHD 4K capture at up to 100Mbps, 120 fps Full HD recording and an insane amount of tools (there are even SMPTE color bars.) The lens can zoom super slowly and the camera’s LCD made it really easy to rack focus. Something that irked me is Panasonic’s $ 99 charge for V-Log L support – come on guys, it’s a $ 1200 camera!

Jeff Keller

Barney: Delays and surprises

Photokina is the most important event in the photographic calendar, and as such it’s the show where we tend to see major announcements from the biggest manufacturers. This year, a large spanner was thrown into the works by the Kyushu earthquake, which hit Japan in spring and badly disrupted Sony’s sensor manufacturing plant.

This is a problem not only for Sony, because Sony supplies imaging chips to virtually every camera maker. The Kyushu earthquake is the reason why Fujifilm, Olympus, Sony and Panasonic had to be content with only announcing the ‘development’ of new flagship cameras at Photokina, and may also be a contributing reason for the continued no-show of Nikon’s DL-series compact cameras (originally announced back in February). Maybe Nikon had originally planned a replacement for the D750, D820 or D610 at Photokina. Maybe Sony had planned to show off a successor to the a7 II – we don’t know.

Although we’ve yet to see a ‘final’ sample, my standout camera of this year’s Photokina is Fujifilm’s GFX 50S. If the 50S turns out being as good as it looks, and if it really does come in at ‘well under $ 10,000’ with a 63mm prime, I suspect that they could be backordered for quite some time.

At the other end of the spectrum is the 4K-capable Olympus OM-D E-M1 II. Small, light (relatively speaking) and blazingly fast, Olympus has pulled out all of the stops with its new Micro Four Thirds flagship. Sony’s new a99 II came as a bit of a surprise, but also offers a range of attractive high-speed stills and video modes, and full-frame 4K video capture.

Meanwhile, although we don’t have all the details yet, Panasonic’s GH5 raises the video bar even further with the ability to capture 6K footage.

Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, this year’s Photokina actually ended up being pretty exciting, and I’m really looking forward to some of these ‘development announcements’ turning into shipping products in the coming months. Thanks for reading!

Barnaby Britton

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Photokina 2016 interview: Victor Hasselblad would be proud

28 Sep

Ove Bengtsson looks relaxed despite the scrum taking place around him on the Hasselblad booth. Photo enthusiasts jostle to see the company’s latest products while a professional photographer demonstrates various techniques and, no doubt, advantages of the Hasselblad system to a growing crowd, but he seems content to stand back and watch, the hint of a smile on his face.

‘The reception and the amount of people asking about the X1D is fantastic,’ he says: ‘There have been no negative comments, everyone seems so impressed.’

‘Of course not everyone here is going to be buying an X1D but they all seem to like the camera, like the way it feels. It’s hard to really demonstrate the image quality but when we say it can produce the same image quality as our H6D-50c, they are astounded. It uses the same sensor, the same image processing system and the lenses are equally good. It’s professional quality medium-format in a very small package.’

‘We had a projection for how many we’d sell in the first year and we’d passed that number in the first ten days.’

It’s been a similar story when photographers have had the chance to shoot with it, he says: ‘We have had a few photographers amazed at how small the camera is, how amazing the image quality is and how well the AF works, when you see it, not a lot of people have been able to use it properly, yet, but there are a number of cameras out there now and all the reaction has been very positive.’

And the reaction goes beyond passing compliments: ‘Already at the launch event we were already starting to take orders. We had a projection for how many we’d sell in the first year and we’d passed that number in the first ten days.’

Ove Bengtsson, shot using a pre-production X1D under the rather challenging, unflattering lights of the Photokina exhibition hall. 90mm lens, hand held at 1/100th sec, ISO 3200, F4.5. Manual focus. Processed through Phocus software at default settings, one dust spot removed.

In the hand, the X1D is an impressively dense, solid-feeling camera, even in comparison to professional DSLRs: ‘The body is made in three parts, all machined from a block of aluminium,’ Bengtsson explains. And this sureness in the hand is one aspect of making the camera easy to shoot with: ‘Due to the fact we don’t have any moving parts and we use an in-lens shutter, there’s nothing to introduce vibration. One of the photographers shooting with the camera to prepare for the launch event produced images shot at 1/8^th of a second with a 45mm lens. That’s with good technique, of course, but I was very impressed by how good it looked.’

But the construction of the camera has a further advantage, Bengtsson says: ‘As well as the way it feels, it’s also good for transferring heat from the sensor. We have a tight connection between parts, which also helps transfer heat away from the processor – it’s an efficient way of minimizing problems with internal heat.’

‘Of course, when a product gets warm it uses a lot of energy. It drains the battery faster. Because of the amount of data we’re dealing with, the processors can become very warm. We have a thermal shut-off if the internal temperature gets to 70C, both to protect the sensor and to avoid the additional noise it would produce, but it’s mainly to protect the components.’

‘We had some experience of dealing with this sort of issue in past generations of our H series cameras. We used a fan in the H3D but were able to move to a passive system of thermal management in newer models that actually worked better, so we had some experience we were able to use. We knew what to do and also what not to do.’

‘It looks like [Fujifilm] has done some very good things, but I think their camera is very different from ours.’

Bengtsson goes to some lengths to stress that this X1D is the product of the company’s in-house expertise: ‘There have not been collaborations on this camera: we’ve developed the whole camera in Sweden, including the electronics. In terms of lenses, we have worked with a Japanese company. We design all the lenses but they do the actual manufacturing. To our specifications, of course.’

Interestingly, he’s happy to name that company. ‘It’s a company called Nittoh. They don’t sell lenses under their own brand but they make a lot of lenses for a lot of companies. We have a long history of working with them. The X-Pan, for instance, was Hasselblad’s first collaboration with Fujifilm but it was actually made by Nittoh, so we knew they’re really good. They are really good and we were extremely happy to get them.’

On the subject of Fujfilm, Bengtsson seems sanguine about the company’s sometime partner creating a mirrorless medium-format rival: ‘It looks like they’ve done some very good things but I think their camera is very different from ours.’

‘I think when looking at these cameras, they’re actually very different. The X1D is much, much smaller. It doesn’t perhaps have all the features – I suspect they’ll bring a lot of technologies across from their X-T cameras – but theirs is bigger.’

‘I think they’ll appeal to different people. If you’re looking for specs and features, the Fuji might be a good choice. But if you want something that feels good, maybe this is the one you buy. They use the same sensor, so they’ll probably come pretty close in terms of image quality but maybe our quality will be a bit better.’

The XCD 30mm F3.5, the third lens for the X1D camera, was on show at Photokina. This is a 28mm F2.8 equivalent in ‘full frame’ terms.

‘The best thing about having two cameras is that it gets more people talking about medium-format. When medium-format went digital it became so expensive. It was out of the reach of most people, it was on a different planet.’

‘We already have a certain reach to particular customers, particularly those who already use our system, but having competition will make the whole segment bigger.’

There’s a clear benefit for existing Hasselblad users, he explains: ‘H system camera users can buy an adapter to use all our other lenses, currently without autofocus. That’s something that might come later, but no promises. This means there are sixteen lenses, including the three native ones, that can be used.’

‘We don’t expect people to buy H system lenses to use with this camera, but we think some existing H system users will use it as a second camera.’

There’s no prospect of being able to adapt Fujifilm GF lenses, though. ‘Our camera doesn’t have a shutter mechanism, the shutter is in our lenses.’ But it’s unlikely that many people will be looking to adapt lenses to the X1D, he suggests: ‘I fully understand the appeal if you have a small camera of putting on cool other lenses, but there are very few that will cover the full sensor of this camera.’

In addition to the X1D, Hasselblad is showing its concept of a modern modular camera. ‘It is just a concept at this stage,’ Bengtsson is at pains to stress: ‘We involved our design team and made sure it’s possible, but what you see on the show floor is a model made by a company that specializes in making models.’

The V1D concept harks back to the company’s famous V series cameras but for now is purely a design study aimed at gauging interest.

‘We often hear the old cameras, the V system, were fantastic. We wanted to see if we could do something more modern. The thing people liked about the V-system was that it was modular, that is wasn’t a fixed camera. We wanted to see if we could do something more modern in that direction, modeled with a similar sort of modular design’

‘The modularity is in the screen and the EVF. You can move the screen, you can replace it with an electronic viewfinder instead. There’s a grip that you can mount on either side and aperture and shutter speed dials you can mount on either side. You don’t have to have both – you can choose.’

‘You will also be able to buy extra modules,’ he says, before he recognizes that his enthusiasm is running away from him: ‘Well, if we do it.’

‘We’d start with something very basic, just one screen and an aperture dial, for instance.’

‘As technology evolves, you can update to get a better display or perhaps a faster or more flexible EVF. That’s the nice thing, you’re not locked-in to current technology. That was the heart of the appeal of the V system, you can even now put a digital back on a camera from 1957 and make it digital.’

‘If you really love photography it can be better to have a slower camera. It makes you think about each photograph’

‘The response to this has been really good too. I’ve heard a few people say it’s the biggest thing a Photokina.’

‘One thing I think people are understanding is that if you really love photography it can be better to have a slower camera. It makes you think about each photograph and stops you taking 400 photos every time.’

Bengtsson is fully aware that positive comments don’t always turn into sales: ‘The tricky question is: would you buy it for €12-15,000? Some people will say yes but we’ll have to look at how big the market would really be. After the show we’ll start to summarize what the sales people have heard, but the general response is that it’s really cool. Photokina is a good place to find a lot of input.’

Like the original V series cameras, the V1D concept would be modular, and would allow users to add only the features they wanted.

The reaction from the crowds is very different from the bemusement being expressed four years ago, when Hasselblad displayed the first fruits of a collaboration with Sony. ‘I remember it very well. It’s not something we’re very proud of. I wasn’t involved very closely – it was controlled by the management at that time. It was mainly the work of an Italian design company and Hasselblad in Sweden wasn’t very involved in the process.’

‘The idea of trying to find a product that appeals to a wider audience was a good one, but the product wasn’t anything near Hasselblad: it lacked authenticity and any connection to the brand.’

‘We were in a position where we were buying a camera from Sony at a high price then taking it apart and adding things like exotic wood or carbon fibre but we didn’t change anything in its characteristics. It’s still the same NEX-7 controls and image quality and, of course, all of our customers saw that.’

‘We had a divided stand that year, Lunar on one side and our medium-format products on the other. We were also launching the H5D but many people didn’t really notice that. The first few days we weren’t allowing the people on our stand to talk about that it was a Sony, it was ridiculous.’

‘It wasn’t us and we had to pay a high price
to realise it was a mistake.’

‘We reached a much lower number than we’d anticipated. The later model, the Stellar, had a more reasonable price and didn’t look so extreme so that actually sold quite well.’

‘It wasn’t us and we had to pay a high price to realise it was a mistake. It shows that you should always be honest with what you do and never try to fool people.’

‘I think Victor Hasselblad would have been rotating in his grave.’ But that’s not the case now, Bengtsson says: ‘I think he’d certainly approve of the X1D. It’s a small camera with excellent image quality. It’s exactly what he would have wanted. Just as the V series was exactly the camera he wanted to make – he was a bird and landscape photographer – I think he’d be proud of the X1D.’

And Bengtsson believes the new products will help perpetuate that legacy: ‘we could have ended that history, the direction we were going, I think these products will lift us again.’

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Photokina 2016 interview: Ricoh aims for visual revolution

28 Sep

The Pentax 645Z might be large compared to the mirrorless medium format cameras announced at the show, but look at the effect of that viewfinder on Carey’s face.

‘Visual Revolution’ is the concept that links Ricoh’s Theta 360 degree camera to its Pentax K-1 DSLR and the arrival of competition only serves to grow the market, the company says.

We spoke to Kazunobu Saiki, Senior Management and Group Leader, Marketing Section, Visual Revolution Business Development and Yutaka Takada, General Manager, Business Management Department, Global Sales and Marketing Division. Saiki started by explaining the company’s philosophy when it comes to imaging.

‘We don’t see the Pentax business and products like the Theta as separate concepts, we group them together under a business group called ‘Visual Revolution.’ We believe the K-1 is a visual revolution within the frame, whether this is in terms of high resolution, the really nice hand feeling or Pixel Shift Resolution.

The Pentax K-1 has been receiving positive feedback both from established Pentax users and photographers who aren’t invested in the K-mount.

Another visual revolution could be beyond the frame. Both are different but both can help users to enjoy some new creativity. That’s why Ricoh governs both areas as one business group.’

Mr. Saiki seems to be in a bullish mood, buoyed by the market response to the K-1. ‘The reaction to the K-1 has been beyond our expectations,’ he says: ‘not only in terms of sales but also in the words we’re hearing from users. We believe we can revive Pentax as the leading company for DSLRs. We’ve had lots of feedback from non Pentax users, who wanted to be able to enjoy our FA Limited lenses. That’s nice feedback to have.’

“We believe we can revive Pentax as the leading company for DSLRs”

This response validates the company’s commitment to the system, he says: ‘In terms of developing the system, we have a lens roadmap and we plan to release some single focal length D-FA lenses. We know some users want to have D-FA Limited lenses and we’re listening to their voices.’

But the Visual Revolution business isn’t just focused on established technologies. Ricoh hopes to capitalize on its early entry into the market for 360 degree capture devices. ‘We believe we are a pioneer of 360,’ says Saiki: ‘If we compare to two years ago, the move to the Theta S has seen business grow to something like triple. Now in 2016 we have several new entrants to the market, but we’re really happy to get competition. That will grow the market itself.’

They’re already starting to see the impact of this increased interest in 360 content: ‘The VR market has really started now, and the Theta is a one-shot VR camera. At the moment, the majority of people enjoy the content that’s provided for them, but with the Theta they can create their own content with one shot. It’s in good harmony with VR development and we expect rapid growth for 360 market, including Theta.’

The Theta, now on its third iteration, faces increased competition but its capability and form-factor remain unique.

The company is confident that the Theta is the right product for the market: ‘When we’ve done our evaluations, we’re told one of the top features is the form factor. It’s very different from all competitors models including newly released ones or any of the earlier released ones we’ve seen. It has the advantage of being small, so it’s always with the user. It can also create a 360 image in a single shot, so it’s quick and simple. Because of this, we’ve applied the same form factor to the first, second and now third generation, the Theta S.’

The current Theta model offers both stills and video but its users are already demanding more: ‘we’ve been listening to the customers voice and after Theta S they’re telling us they want 4K video, HDR and easy live streaming. In today’s form factor this is difficult but this is what they want. They want to enjoy video and high resolution images, too. Most likely we need to develop our product to catch up, technologically.’

‘The Theta S’s still image is more than 4K but the video is 1080 for the entire 360 degree scene. For video customers they require more quality.’ But this is hard, Saiki says: ‘The technology for compression and data transfer have not caught up to allow end users to capture VR in 4K. We need to develop 4K and beyond. This means processing a huge data and this requires heating management in a small and slim body of this form factor. But we want to be the leader in the industry so we’re very busy trying to reply to these needs.’

As well as responding to customer demands, the company says it’s also been trying expand what can be done with the content its devices produce. ‘In order to enjoy and share 360 images/videos, we had needed to have a lot of platforms. Thanking to Google, FaceBook, YouTube, Instagram and others, Theta users can enjoy instant sharing of their works. Also we provide the applications Theta + and Theta + Video for editing and posting on FaceBook, Instagram and so on.’

“We think the challenge is not just connectivity but the management and storage, too”

This isn’t Ricoh’s only work in the area of content sharing, though. ‘One of the key issues is the number of pictures our audience takes. It’s only getting bigger and the size of their images are getting bigger,’ says Saiki.

‘These days we need instant action. Before we had to wait maybe one week to get our prints back. Now it’s maybe a couple of seconds. We think the challenge is not just the connectivity but the management and storage (probably in the cloud), is very important, too.’

‘The cloud side can play a role. These two [connectivity and the cloud] can provide a new era of visuals. Ricoh acquired Eye-Fi’s cloud service, and this is one step to creating new solutions of communication and storage. Not just from the point of view of taking pictures but from the back end as well.’

The 645Z’s weather sealing and lens options (both current and planned) are part of its appeal, the company says.

The 360 market isn’t the only area in which Ricoh faces new rivals. Photokina saw the announcement that Fujifilm will introduce a digital medium format system and for many it was also the first opportunity to see Hasselblad’s X1D camera. Yutaka Takada doesn’t seem too worried, though: ‘We could enjoy success in the medium format market,’ he says: ‘Fujifilm coming to our market shows that it still has potential to grow. Like the Theta, having competition is a great chance to develop the medium format market as a whole. Our advantage is that we have plenty of lenses in our lineup and on our roadmap, which helps convince customers to join medium format. 645Z has great image quality but it’s also weather sealed. People can use it in outside situations. This is very much the DNA of Pentax cameras.’

“Having competition is a great chance to develop the medium format market as a whole”

‘All these are under one business unit to provide visual innovation. We want to give surprise and astonish with innovation.’

And, having discussed the Pentax K-1, 645Z and Theta, we wanted to check whether the company still has time for models such as the GR. Absolutely, says Saiki: ‘Ricoh GR is one of our most important premium cameras. We want to reassure our GR lovers that the series will continue.’

Might that extend to GRs with other focal lengths? ‘It depends,’ says Saiki: ‘we know we really appeal. We have so many GR lovers, it’s a very emotional attachment. That’s why we need to listen to customers about where we should go.’

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Video: Photokina 2016 wrap-up

27 Sep

Photokina is without question the biggest photography show in the world, and as such, the venue at which manufacturers routinely showcase their biggest and most exciting releases. We were on the ground in Cologne, Germany before the show even began to bring you the most in-depth content we could write on the most important innovations we could find.

But now that Photokina has come and gone, we’ve had some time to reminisce over everything we saw in and among the development announcements, tech briefings and even just while wandering the halls of the Koelnmesse. So in case you just can’t get enough of Photokina content, come join Richard Butler, Barney Britton, and even cameraman Carey Rose for a few pints and a few thoughts on how this year’s show went.

Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find in the video:

Our favorite new cameras we got to try
A discussion on the problem of heat dissipation (which Richard has claimed, quite wrongly, to be the nerdiest thing he’s ever said)
Small sensors versus large sensors
No-compromise third-party lenses
And of course, some continuity errors regarding the quantity of beer glasses moving about on the table

Thanks for following our Photokina 2016 coverage this year! We can’t wait to see what Photokina 2018 will bring.

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Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

25 Sep

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

The star of Hasselblad’s booth at Photokina is the X1D – a compact, mirrorless medium-format camera with a 50MP sensor. Announced earlier this year, the X1D has yet to to start shipping, and the Swedish company’s booth was thronged with photographers eager to get their hands on the new camera.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

Weighing just 750g without a lens, one of the main selling points of the X1D is its small size and weight compared to traditional medium-format digital products. The X1D (and Fujifilm’s just-announced GFX 50S) dispenses with a conventional mirror box, which allows the camera to be slimmer, and much lighter than DSLRs with equivalent-sized sensors.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

The X1D is beautifully designed, with relatively few external controls. It’s a bit strange to see a mid-range DSLR-style exposure mode dial on a $ 10,000 camera, but in use, it’s very convenient. A neat ‘pop up to use, pop down to lock’ design means that the dial can be kept flush with the camera’s top-plate until you need to change exposure mode.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

We’re seeing more and more cameras being designed with a smartphone style ‘app tile’ interface, and the X1D makes good use of its large, 920k-dot rear touch-screen. The screen is nice and responsive, but this kind of resolution is low compared to the screens found on (for example) the Nikon D5 and D500, which boast 2.3 million dots and look sharper.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

The X1D’s relatively low-resolution rear screen is partially mitigated by its excellent 2.36-million dot electronic viewfinder. This view also gives you a good idea of just how slim the X1D is, despite its large sensor. The hotshoe is compatible with Nikon flashguns.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

Here’s that large 50MP sensor, in all its glory. Hasselblad is calling this new lens-mount ‘XCD’ and as well as a new range of XCD lenses, the company is also offering an H lens adapter, which extends support to Hasselblad’s existing H lens system with full autofocus operation.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

The X1D is a luxurious, pricey piece of equipment but as we’d expect from Hasselblad, its standard of construction and finish is exemplary. We’re looking forward to testing a shipping sample as soon as one becomes available.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

Hasselblad is also showing off an upcoming lens. The XCD 30mm F3.5 offers the same field of view as a 24mm on full-frame, and can focus down to 0.4M. No pricing or availability information has yet been given.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

If there’s one thing Hasselblad likes to do, it’s make special limited editions. This is the 4116 edition of the X1D, in matte black. We actually prefer the way this one looks, compared to the more traditional two-tone finish but at $ 12,995 with a 45mm lens, it’s a bit rich for our blood.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

It does look nice though…

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

As well as the X1D, Hasselblad is also showing off a concept camera – the 75MP V1D 4116 Concept. There’s no word on whether or not this concept will ever become a reality, but it’s certainly a very attractive mockup.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Hasselblad X1D

The V1D 4116 Concept is built around a (presumably hypothetical) 75MP square-format sensor, and like the classic Hasselblad SLRs of old, it features a modular design.

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Photokina 2016: 360 and VR Capture Roundup Video

25 Sep

In hall nine, which encompasses Photokina 2016’s ‘Futurezone,’ there are dozens of 360 and VR capture devices on display for attendees to ogle. There’s also plenty of people wearing VR headsets and appearing vaguely zombified to ogle, as well. So whether you think VR and 360 capture represent a future that’s dazzlingly bright or frighteningly dim, companies all over the world are jumping in with their own capture solutions. Heck, even Nikon’s joining the VR race.

Thankfully, DPReview contributor Lars Rehm has been making the rounds and has selected a handful of the most interesting devices on display in the Futurezone. Check them out in our roundup video.

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Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

25 Sep

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

Venus Optics is showing off two brand new lenses at Photokina – the Laowa 15mm F2 FE for Sony E-mount and 7.5mm F2 MFT for Micro Four Thirds.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

The 15mm F2 is being billed as the world’s widest F2 lens, and Venus Optics claims that it is virtually distortion-free. Designed for Sony’s full-frame FE-mount A7-series, the new 15mm could prove very attractive to videographers, as well as stills photographers.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

The mount is fully mechanical, so don’t expect to get automatic aperture indexing or focal length reporting. As such, metering is limited to the stop-down method. Videographers will be used to this way of working.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

Here’s the 15mm F2 attached to a Sony A7R II. As you can see, it’s not a small lens, but actually balances very nicely with the camera. At 500g in weight (~1.1lb) it is substantial without being too heavy, in normal use.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

The minimum focusing distance of the 15mm F2 is around 6 inches, which equates to a maximum reproduction ratio of 0.25X. Pricing has yet to be announced but the lens should become available in early 2017.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

Next up is the 7.5mm F2 MFT, for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras. Designed to appeal especially to drone photographers this lens is absolutely tiny. Offering an equivalent focal length of 15mm, it weighs 170g (~0.4lb).

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

Again, this is a fully mechanical mount with no electrical contact between camera and lens.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

Interestingly, despite its ultra-wide focal length, the 7.5mm F2 can be used with screw-in filters (49mm) which could prove very handy to videographers who want to work with ND filters.

Photokina 2016: Hands-on with Laowa 15mm F2 FE and 7.5mm F2 MFT

As with the 15mm F2, the 7.5mm F2 will be available in early 2017, and no pricing information has yet been released.

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Photokina 2016: Olympus E-M1 Mark II overview video

23 Sep

With the Mark II version, Olympus’ new flagship comes with some big improvements despite remaining relatively compact. Between its impressive speed, autofocus system and video capabilities, almost every core specification has been bumped up a notch (or three). We sat down with Olympus’ Eric Gensel to go through some of those changes in more detail, from continuous shooting (and what its mechanical shutter sounds like at 15 fps) to just how effective Olympus’ image stabilization has become.

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