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Assuming that the 28-80 range isn't equivalent-speak, this mirrorless lens patent could point to a Nikon full-frame interchangeable lens system. And, assuming that Nikon will make a serious mirrorless camera, many of us would rejoice.
Thanks Mirrorless Rumors
While now a month old, Michael The Mentor's painstaking review which pits Canon's top grip-less FF dSLR VS Nikon's latest D750, is fresh. Why it matters is that it is a user, not a benchmark review promoting external software, or performance-by-the-numbers journalism. He even describes why he pits cameras of two generations against each other.
Covered are the usual suspects: stills, video, ISO, dynamic range, etc., but rather than stopping at the numbers, Michael shows how each impacts the end user. His AF tests aren't simple statements, but practiced, gruelling metrics covered by modus operandi. And, inasmuch as his conclusions are drawn by a flawed species of mammal, they are as unbiased as I've seen. You certainly won't find their like at ohm. And While they've been around forever, yours truly has just discovered them.
To enthusiasts, the selfie is a sign of decline, of self-indulgence. Digital camera sales are in decline. They have been for 5 years, the peak occurring between 2009 and 2011. And just what killed those sales? The smartphone.
That despite Nikon giving us the D5000 with a selfie-friendly swivel screen. That despite mirrorless cameras being lighter and smaller, and easier to ratchet into selfie position. Thumb on the trigger! Say Cheese! That despite smartphone-controlled remote releases, a rainbow of cute (dare I say, self-indulgent) colours. That despite myriad attempts by camera makers to tap into the self market.
Enthusiasts could be right: the selfie may be the camera world's anti-Christ. Or, it may be the next logical step in the evolution of 'me'. The first artist-AWOL family portrait was invented with the invention of the camera. Paint brushes and chalk replaced the chisel, which in their turn, replaced the smudge of blood-and-shit on the wall.
Handprints and impressionist splotch is no match for the mirror. We want us. We want it now. And we always have.
The smartphone has replaced the stranger-in-your-American-dream taking your Christmas family portrait. It has replaced the stranger-snapping-you-in-front-of-Niagara. The pole-mounted smartphone, the GoPro, and the glasshole wink more than make up for someone else's fingerprints on your life.
And today, one resource in endless supply, made up by smiles, winks, duck-pursed lips: our face, is really all we care to see. It has always been so. The artist painted canvas, spackled cave, printed to paper in order to be remembered. The first self-portrait came hand in hand with the mirror.
We haven't' changed. Selfie culture didn't evolve, it was made radically simple by a modern piece of technology. Since the dawn of self-awareness, humanity has groaned for for the smartphone and the internet. Camera makers never understood this. They thought we wanted to be artists. They thought we wanted to be warriors. They thought we wanted their throwaway shit.
They were wrong.
We wanted us, in 4:3, or 3:2, or square, on film, or in a Twitter feed, faux-retro effects and all. And thanks to technology, we no longer need a dedicated camera to do it. Phones take pictures that hold up under great scrutiny even at respectable print sizes.
One day, our kids will seethe at a new technology. The smartphone, the foundational smartphone will be supplanted by the Mario-Kart flying selfie cam, or home-cloned Zelda pixies snapping away at us, typing our thoughts, placing orders for more house-building foam.
And camera makers will still be sending faxes, trying to figure out how non-camera makers ran away with the us.
Another salient essay from Thom Hogan about the non-growth of the mirrorless market when looked at from outside the market for interchangeable lens cameras.
“Back when I started this site three years ago, I thought that mirrorless would grow faster than it has. In one way it has: there are more products and more players stuffed into the mirrorless market then I thought it could support, even with strong growth. But right now the growth isn’t really there. Mirrorless makers that are growing are stealing share from someone else. ”
Thom is more of a level-headed gear guy than I am. I'm the guy looking for soul and a long-lasting reason to invest in a single mount. So far, I see none. Even Fujifilm's X mount, as sexy as it may appear on the outside, doesn't harbour the soul of an analogue camera. So far, it is just a pretty face.
Not that either soul (or face) is necessary for success. But the missing pieces that brought Japanese cameras into dominance in the 20th century: price/performance, reliability, and mass market dominance, aren't there on the mirrorless side. Those pieces are being picked up by the smartphone market.
Which begs the question: for whom is the current mirrorless camera designed?
Source: The Economics Problem
Incredible performance from this Nikon super wide angle. Great photos, too. Worth the read.
Source: Nikon 20mm f/1.8G ED lens review
Disclaimer: I have no respect for this sort of rosy cheeked, embarrassed, sweet-thing anime, nor for the people that draw/write or read/watch it. If you detect vitriol between the lines, you're not imagining things.
Whilst browsing kakaku.com for the latest price drops on the latest Japanese gadgets, I came across this X100T thread, that linked to this twitter post showing a screen shot of the above rosy-cheeked sexual fantasies/targets of middle-age men.
By the way, the X100T has dropped in Japan by over 200$ since launch.
It's not just end users that are picking up on mirrorless. It's optical companies, like Zeiss, that are capitalising on the possibilities afforded by still-youthful mirrorless mounts that don't already have legions of long-time users.
Background Blur have a great writeup comparing the Sony 35/2,8, a Panasonic 20/1,7, and the Loxia 35/2. While I disagree with them regarding the Panasonic 20/1,7's OOF rendering (they call it 'distracting' and 'harsh'), I do agree that Loxia is a powerful alternative.
I'd like to see high-quality native manual focus lenses with electronic coupling come to more mounts.
Background Blur: Zeiss Loxia 2/35 First Impressions
Charlie Sorrel puts up a good one for the camera in the iPhone 6. The regular camera he uses? The Fujifilm X100S. Most amazingly, iPhone 6 jpegs hold up very well to post-processing.
“The JPGs from both cameras take this abuse rather well. Even zoomed in to 100%, and with the red and orange sliders slammed all the way over to the right, there are no troublesome artifacts.”
The entire article is worth a read.
It looks as if, even old Mr. Canon himself, has picked a lil' something something to fill the tap between his pocket camera, and his Canon 5D. And he loves his X100s:
“I own and adore the year-old X100S. The T update brings face detection, Wi-Fi, the silent electronic shutter, and a few other improvements, but not enough for me to consider upgrading. This is a great camera.”
For those of you in the not-know, John Gruber is a design and interface blogging guru. If a thing is broken, he rails on it. In his short post, he praised the X100s. Had he more time, would he have railed on Fujifilm's breaking of half and third-stops from the exposure and aperture dials to unlabelled rear dials?
or:
Does is his critical eye limited to computer software and hardware? Today's Daring Fireball post is in response to Ken Rockwell's glowing X100T review.
Amid all the clamour and hubbub at DPReview's Fujifilm X's equivalence forum, a saner thread emerges. Telemarketing-Roger-Moore- lookalike, Robert Betchel, whipped out his Nikon D750 and Fujifilm X-T1 cameras and equivalent portraits lenses and photographed his mug in front of a bit of holiday green to settle the age old question: which do you prefer, cateyes, or onions?
Source: Comparing Nikon D750 and Nikon 85 1.8 to Fuji X-T1 and Fuji 56
NOTE: the above images were taken from page 2 of the above thread. They are heavily cropped from the 1:1 samples Robert uploaded to DPReview. The image on top is from the XF 56/1,2; the image on bottom is from the 85/1,8 AFS.
Tsukuba, Japan
