Starting tomorrow tuesday September 16th, I will be covering the Photokina fair in Cologne (Germany) which is the biggest camera fair in the world and takes place every other year. As mentioned in my introduction, I will be focusing mainly on “serious compact cameras” and hybrid cameras, meaning mostly camera devices with a sensor ranging from 1 inch through APS size.
As always, most cameras will be officially announced between the period ranging from a few weeks before through the day before the show actually start.
There has been several announcements and “leaks” so far but in the categories mentioned above, the most exciting news seem to come from Panasonic, Canon and Samsung in that order.
What we know so far
Panasonic
Last year have seen in my opinion a very logical and welcome simplification of their camera line. The GH4 is a successful hybrid for those who need serious video capabilities, the GX7 is the well-thought out upgrade to their “rangefinder style” expert camera and the GM1 the small (maybe too small) pocket camera to take advantage of the reduced m4/3 format. Each of these cameras manage to target a very different clientele while maintaining the same lens mount.
Earlier this summer, Panasonic also introduced the FMZ-1000 a bridge with impressive still and video features that made it the only alternative to the Sony RX-10 in the “expert bridge” category.
Canon
In addition to a new DSLR, Canon will also be introducing the G7X, a compact camera for serious users featuring a mid size1″ sensor and a bright 24-100mm equivalent zoom.
Samsung
The Korean manufacturer has just announced its new flagship hybrid camera, the NX1, with a supposedly exciting new 28MP APS sensor and some brand new lenses including an impressive 50-150mm zoom lens with a constant 2.8 maximum aperture.
Nikon
For Nikon, Photokina show seems to gravitate around the introduction of one, if not two , brand new DSLR’s (Nikon D750 and possibly a long- awaited successor to the D300s).
Nikon will also be introducing a new lens for the Nikon 1 line.
Fuji
Fuji will bring new products for two of its X-lines. First an X30 which, I predict, will not gather huge crowds as it mostly a refresh of a X20 with a better finder but same zoom and same sensor.
Fuji is also updating its X100 line. After the X100s comes the X100T with also an improved finder as its main new feature.
Ricoh-Pentax
Ricoh-Pentax will be pretty dead in this midsize sensor categories as Pentax is presenting on one side of the scale a rather modest, if not downright boring, update of its tiny Q model and on the other size a 50 MP version of its very effective and aggressively priced medium-format camera. On the Ricoh front, nothing except a video waterproof shockproof camera, a competitor to the go pro camera maybe. It is worth mentioning that Ricoh never introduces major camera products at Photokina, though.
For those of you (I should write those of us) hoping for a newer version of Ricoh G Series, we will have to wait at least until early 2015 it seems.
Olympus
Nothing major to expect, an EPL7 which will bring a OMD-10 like without the EVF hump and a software upgrade for EM-1 owners.
Sony
Once again, Sony will be “on all fronts” from lens attachments for their smartphones to newly developed 35 mm zoom lenses for their recent FE – line.
Stay tuned
As I am planning to cover the fair for 4 full days, I will be also able to report on smaller companies for printing, tripods and other photo accessories. You can check this blog everyday this week as I will publishing new articles and reports from the show daily.