Good read on Sony NEX-6

Kirk Tuck got Sony NEX-6 recently and wrote a very interesting opinion on the camera. He uses both m4/3 and NEX mirrorless cameras, and he is a professional photographer. Want to know how Sigma 30mm F2.8 EX behaves on Sony NEX-6? Read his blog :) BTW, the lens is priced at ~$150 on Amazon. I wish Sigma would make 30mm macro for X mount :-)

NEX-6 in Oz

Sony NEX-6 is available for pre-order in Photo Continental. Body only is priced at 1,100AUD (in B&H it is 850USD). So, Australian price is more than 30% higher. It was expected. Kit with new pancake zoom lens is not available yet but NEX-6 with 18-55mm lens can be pre-ordered for 1,300AUD. Nikon tends to have a similar discrepancy in prices. That is why shops like Kogan are so popular in Australia. And kudos to Fujifilm for equal pricing of their products.

The full-frame compact camera, Sony DSC-RX1, can be pre-ordered for 3,000AUD which is very surprising: GST in Australia is 10%, so difference in price is more than reasonable.

More info on Fuji X-E1

According to photo rumors the enthusiast mirrorless camera from Fuji, X-E1, will be announced on September 5, before Photokina (and hopefully available before Christmas). Also, according to this site, the major improvement of autofocus on the X-E1 will be on new lenses equipped with new "liner" motor such as XF 18-55mm F2.8-F4.0. Considering that Sony is just about to release a new mirrorless camera, NEX-6, with hybrid autofocus (phase and contrast detection) it is also possible that Fuji may use new Sony sensor but frankly the chances of that are rather slim. It seems that Fuji had addressed one of the main negative points of the X-Pro1. I added link to the essay of Thom Hogan on "bests" and "worsts"cameras, which I found interesting.

If rumoured specs of Fuji X-E1 are real, the camera will compete with Olympus E-M5 and rumoured Sony NEX-6 (16MP, build-in hi-res viewfinder, hybrid autofocus, tiltable screen, full HD 60p movie). The rumoured price of Fuji X-E1 (body only) is in the same range but new zoom lens can be expensive. The X-E1 kits probably will be priced significantly below 2000$ but above current E-M5 price.

Fuji designed X system for specific subset of photographers who would not mind to pay premium for good cameras. Just check their lens roadmap.

Will we see a linear motor in Fuji X200? It would be logical step, and probably create another hit camera.