X-T1 in stock check: [shopcountry 21553]

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FR-reader vortsg sent me the following article of Michael Reichmann over at luminous landscape here. Since I like unpopular statements, I’ll start by quoting the following one:

“It’s clear to everyone in the industry that the future lies in mirrorless technology.”

And here is what Michael Reichmann from luminous landscape says, among the others, about Fujifilm:

“Fuji seems to have been “thinking-out-loud” for the past few years, experimenting with novel designs and trying new technologies. Some are misses, and some are hits, but they certainly appear to have the cojones to try something new.

[…] Fuji, always a great lens maker, are also bringing out new X mount lenses at a fairly rapid clip, and offering the high-end market some interesting primes as well as bread-and-butter zooms. When combined with their innovative cameras this makes for a compelling sell, at least compared with some others.

One area where Fuji shows that they “get it” better than possibly any other camera maker in Asia, is with regard to firmware updates. Not only do they release regular updates for current models, to fix bugs and add features, but they even do it for older discontinued models. Some camera makers don’t even bother with bug fixes, and if they do, it is often months after these are well known before they become available. Nicely done Fujifilm!”

But Michael has comments to make on many other brands out there. The [shoplink 21555]Nikon DF[/shoplink] is called “Frankenstein“, the Hasselblad “a joke“, he talks about Sony’s “lens mount fiasco“… and what about Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Canon, Pentax and more? Read it here at luminous landscape.

And as always, feel free to make your own considerations in the comments. Is mirrorless really the future?

I don’t know what the future is, but the present isn’t looking good at all. Here are the figures of the CIPA (the Camera & Imaging Products Association) summarized in a nice infographic by lensvid here. Smartphones, the global crisis and the fact that Americans and Europeans still don’t like mirrorless cameras make of 2013 “the worst year for the photography industry in a long long time (maybe even decades).” (via Canonwatch)

image courtey: lensvid

The new firmware for the Zeiss 12mm and 32mm is available here. It adds compatibility with Phase Detection AF.

On the FR-facebook wall Mike shared his first impression of the new firmware: “I have both lenses. For 2.8/12，AF speed is already moderately fast before update. It is a bit faster after update, but not remarkably faster. For 1.8/32，AF speed is a bit slow before update. It is now noticeably faster!”

At BHphoto, AmazonUS and Adorama the Zeiss lenses are still available at the discounted price of $720 for the 32/1.8 and $999 for the 12/2.8

The permanent price drop could indicate that the Touit lenses for Fuji X-mount are not selling well. I’ve heard that Zeiss will focus to produce lenses for FF CSC and DSLRs in the next time… so we shouldn’t be holding our breaths on any new Touit lenses in the near future (except for the 50mm 1:1 macro coming this spring).

and thanks for telling me via FR-facebook of the new firmware, Stefan and Mike.

Zeiss Touit 12mm [shopcountry 13645] Zeiss Touit 32mm [shopcountry 13646]

have a great day,
facebook, google+ and twitter

[UDPATE: FR-reader Matt placed his XF 56mm pre-order on the first day. He told me that BHphoto is now ready to ship the lens.]

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XF 56mm f/1.2: USA AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / DigitalRev / eBay / – EUROPE: wexUK / wexDE / PCHstore / DigitalRev / eBay /

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[UDPATE 2: Out of stock again at wexDE and wexUK] Finally, the XF 56mm left Japan and is now in stock in Europe, at wexDE and wexUK. For a short time it was in stock also in Holland, at fotohanskeuzekamp… but as to expect it run quickly out of stock again.

It’s available also DigitalRev, but, at the moment, it would cost you some extra bucks to grab it now. Check it out here.

P.S.: The X-T1 is out of stock at BHphoto, Adorama and AmazonUS… but the US store Pictureline has still both combinations in stock now (body / kit). The body is availabe also at top rated ebayUS reseller [shoplink 22415 ebay]kenmorecamera[/shoplink] and the kit at [shoplink 22417 ebay]cameraspot[/shoplink].

X-T1 body only ($1,299): USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / Pictureline / eBay / DigitalRev / EU: wexDE / wexUK / PCHstore / eBay / DigitalRev /
X-T1 with 18-55 ($1,699): USA: AmazonUS / BHphoto / Adorama / Pictureline / eBay / DigitalRev / EU: wexDE / wexUK / PCHstore / eBay / DigitalRev /

XF lens deals + how to order from Europe
(great deals also if you pre-order from Europe. Read more here.)

BHphoto: New Benefits for International Customers: PayPal now open to all countries!

Here is how it goes according to the German FR-reader Oleg, who bought the 27mm for €223: “The price is 199$, the delivery is 44$. Once you choose Germany as country of delivery, on check-out on B&H to deal with duties, you you pick one of two. 1. You can check “pay duties now” and that would be 100$ and you need not go to customs office (Zollamt), since you have basically paid all in full (btw, ebay sellers offer such option as well). So, it will make 343$, or 250 Euro. You pay 343 to B&H. And hopefully nothing else. 2. You can check “pay on delivery” and all you pay is 243$, or 178 Euro to B&H. Since I am not sure about the first option (more precisely, that I will not have to pay even more custom duties) and custom office is close to Cologne, I chose the second option “pay on delivery.”

XF 14mm: $200 off (price $700) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 18mm: $200 off (price $400) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 23mm: $150 off (price $750) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 27mm: $250 off (price $200) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 35mm: $150 off (price $450) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 60mm: $250 off (price $400) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline
XF 55-200: $200 off (price $500) at BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / Pictureline

More X-camera deals

X-E2: save $100 on the kit ($1,299) and also on the body ($899) at AmazonUS, BHphoto (4% reward), Adorama (4% reward) and Pictureline.
X-E1: get the kit for $799 at AmazonUS, BHphoto (4% reward) at and Adorama (6% reward). The body comes for just $599 at AmazonUS, BHphoto (4% reward) and Adorama (4%reward).
X-M1: Save $200 (price $599) on the kit and $200 on the body (price $499) at AmazonUS, BHphoto and Adorama.
X-A1: get it for $449 with kit lens (save $150) at AmazonUS, BHphoto and Adorama.
X-PRO1: get the body for $999!! (save $200) at AmazonUS,  Adorama (+4%reward) and BHphoto (+4%reward).

Fujifilm launched the new micro-site fuji-server.com/signature here. You can now change the “skin” of your X. The service is available in the UK for the following cameras: X10, X20, X100, X-PRO1 and X-E1

Check out all the combination and colors here.

via ephotozine