I always tend to think of Leica as the Ferrari of cameras. Back in the small Italian town where I lived as a child, we had a neighbour with a great collection of Ferraris in his garage. He used to pick one out every Sunday morning and drive to the local kiosk to buy a newspaper. I made the connection a few years ago when I visited a family friend’s cottage and saw his huge collection of photographic equipment. Naturally, there was an abundance of Leica models and rarities only a collector would buy. It was fascinating to see, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but think: when was the last time these wonderful cameras were used?
Mirrorless News
The Last Roll of Kodachrome by Steve McCurry, now a documentary by National Geographic
If you love photography, you will enjoy watching this 30 minute documentary about the last roll of Kodachrome ever developed.
Back in 2009, Kodak announced that its production of Kodachrome film would end, after 74 years (it started in 1935). Steve McCurry, a legendary photographer for National Geographic, asked Kodak if they would allow him to use the final roll ever produced. As he says in the documentary:
“I wanted to have the last chapter in the book of Kodachrome.”
Given his fame, Kodak accepted with great enthusiasm.
The Pentax Q10 in every colour of the rainbow
I will admit that my artistic side was tickled pink when I first saw the news on ConsumerReport.org that Pentax would be re-releasing the Q10 mirrorless camera in 100 different customisable colour combinations.
To choose your colours, all you have to do is head over to the official Pentax website, click on the two colours you desire using a simple flash tool on the site, and place your order.
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Sigma DP3 Merill: professional quality in a compact body
The Sigma DP series is a unique system among mirrorless and compact cameras. The DP3, announced a few days ago, completes the spectrum, standing along side the DP1 and DP2.
The first unusual aspect of the DP series is that each model has a different fixed lens attached. While the DP1 has been designed for wide angle shots and the DP2 for standard range shots, the DP3 completes the podium with a 50mm f/2.8 lens that is equivalent to 75mm on a 23.5×15.7mm sensor (compared to standard 35mm format). The lens also has macro functionalities.
This sensor is the second very important aspect of this series: it is a Foveon X3 sensor with 46 megapixel resolution (3 times more than the DP1/2), which is huge for a compact camera! The Nikon D800 has 36 megapixels, the Leica s2 has 37 megapixels and a lot of medium format sensors doesn’t reach 40.
But what makes this sensor so unique?
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New Polaroid mirrorless camera: What we know so far
When I hear the name Polaroid, a flood of antique camera models from my childhood come to mind. I loved watching my relatives take pictures with those little black boxes, and seeing the result emerge slowly from a blank canvas – it was as if they’d performed a magic trick right before my eyes.
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