On our rumor sites we talk a lot about DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. But will these cameras still be here in future? Kirk Tuck and Petapixel posted two interesting article about an ongoing paradigm shift in the camera industry. Kir writes that the younger generation isn’t bound to the past film camera history. They think differently and they are not going to use DSLR or Mirrorless system cameras:

They are living the golden age of photography from their perspective, and their heroes in the field are names we don’t even know. This is a generation that values a personal vision that arrives as quickly as a phone call and has a much shorter half life than the one we experienced for our work, but then again, what doesn’t move faster these days?

Allen from Petapixel writes:

The future isn’t the Nikon Df, the Olympus OM-D EM-1 or the Fuji X100s. The future isn’t the Sony QX-100, which awkwardly attaches to my phone. The future for photographers willing to carry around a dedicated camera adopts paradigms from the phone.
WiFi, GPS and a touch screen are built-in, and its open source software allows me to launch Instagram (or whatever app is the soup du jour) and have the camera automatically pair with my phone so I don’t have to do everything twice.

SAR’s note: Predicting the future is almost impossible. Even big marketing guys failed in that and they will keep failing in future. So this is just my pure instinct talking. In my opinion there will be always a big enough market for System Cameras. But these cameras will not look like old Film Cameras anymore and also act very differently and have completely different and new features. A couple of these new tech details will be discussed in future posts on SAR

The new Deo Tech Mark 2 Contax G to NEX adapter is shipping on eBay at MXcamera (Click here) and MXcameraEU (Click here). As you know you can use it to get full AF support and it works fine on your A7-A7r too.

And I got the following note from MXcamera about the two new adapters for the Sony A7-A7r (and all other mirrorless cameras):

In our production plan, we will release the brand new 3nd gen. of DEO (Canon EF to NEX) Full frame adapter in Dec., it will also carry “Bluetooth” inside which will be used for framework update.

To sum up all the upper information, since December DEO will still have two adapter models:

1. DEO (Contax G to NEX) Full frame supported adapter (Mark 2), Named Eagle;
2. DEO (Canon EF to NEX) Full frame supported adapter (Mark 3), Named Falcon;

The highlight features of Falcon (EF > NEX)
1. “Bluetooth” inside for framework update in the future.
2. “Full frame support”, Sony A7 and A7r for sure.

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Here is the list of great G lenses with links to eBay price:
Hologon 16mm; 1:8 on eBay (Click here).
Biogon T* 21 mm; 1:2,8 on eBay (Click here).
Biogon T* 28 mm; 1:2,8 on eBay (Click here).
Planar T* 35 mm; 1:2,0 on eBay (Click here).
Planar T* 45 mm; 1:2,0 on eBay (Click here).
Sonnar T* 90 mm; 1:2,8 on eBay (Click here).
Vario-Sonnar T* 35 – 70 mm; 1:3,5-5,6 on eBay (Click here).

Samyang just released a new lens that will be available for both, A and E-mount camera owners. It’s the 10mm f/2.8 “ED AS NCS CS” lens. It covers the APS-C sensor area and is priced at around $400. It will ship from end January. Image samples can be seen at Samyangs website (Click here).

Samyang press release:

Prototype version of Samyang 10mm f/2.8 lens has been presented to the public on Photokina 2012 fairs. Samyang has stepped its gear and introduced a focused development program to obtain the highest possible optical parameters and reduce the product’s size at the same time. These efforts resulted in the latest version of Samyang 10 1:2.8 ED AS NCS CS lens featuring parameters and capabilities comparable to the best wide-angle prime and zoom lenses on the market.

Samyang 10mm 1:2.8 ED AS NCS CS is an ideal tool for indoor, architecture and landscape shooting. It provides an exceptionally wide field of view of up to 109.5 degrees and rectilinear image mapping function. Owing to a fast f/2.8 lens speed you can also use the lens in low light conditions. This is why it turns out a useful tool for sport photography and photojournalism purposes. The product’s optics comprises 14 elements divided into 10 groups, this includes 2 aspherical AS lenses and one lens made of extra-low dispersion glass. During development works on the prototype version the lens was fitted with an embedded lens hood which ensures more compact size of the lens and reduces its weight by approximately 160 grams*. * – applicable to a version with Canon E mount

NCS (Nano Coating System)

Samyang 10mm 1:2.8 ED AS NCS CS is the first Samyang Optics lens featuring a nano crystal anti-reflection coating system. This technology provides lower reflection factor than (U)MC system as the coating is now applied more evenly on the surface of the lens. Benefits brought by the nano crystal layer include better light transmission, increased resistance to reflections and higher contrast, and all of this translates into supreme optical resolution of the lens.

Imaging Resource posted a Q&A session with Sony. These are some of the most important info:

- Sony’s spirit is to create something new which never existed before. We (Sony) will keep on working to create that kind of product in the future, with that spirit.
- Every single RX1 lens-sensor gets adjusted with an accuracy less than one micron.
- There will be cheaper RX1 alike cameras
- Why are FE zooms that slow? Sony says “f/2.8 isn’t very reasonable, but f/4 is reasonable for every consumer in terms of pricing point, and also the size.”
- Sony is selling more QX cameras than expected
- The RX10 processor has less power consumption than the RX100MII. And therefore less overheating issues.

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Thanks Mistral for sharing the link!

Right now Sony-Zeiss-Samyang-Sigma-Voigtlander are probably using their best “minds” to figure out what FE lens they should add to their roadmap:

1) Sony already said they have three new FE lenses in 2014
- One Zeiss fast prime lens in 2014 (hurray!)
- One Zeiss f/4.0 wide angle zoom
- One G macro lens
- By end of 2015 a total of 15 lenses will be released (today’s five announced lenses included).

2) Zeiss also confirmed they will launch manual focusing lenses with electronic support

3) Samyang,Voigtlander and Sigma could launch proper FE designed lens (and not DSLR designed and FE adapted lenses)

But now it’s the SAR reader turn to come up with prime and zoom lens suggestions. Please comment this post with a short list of lenses that Sony,Zeiss or other manufacturers should make for the FE system. As usual please try to come up with lens specs that are realistic and be aware that you have to pay for quality and super specs

This for example would be my suggestion list:
Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 lens
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8
Zeiss 35mm f/1.4
Sony 35mm f/3.5 pancake
Zeiss 50mm f/1.2
Zeiss 85mm f/1.4
Sony 135mm f/2.0 G lens

I will sum up your suggestions and launch a POLL next week to see what lens is needed most!!!