Links and Musings: Sony's Mirrorless EVIL System

This morning the internet is awash with news about Sony's official announcement to join in the fold of large-sensor compact cameras with interchangeable lenses. The system is dubbed EVIL (bad taste!), standing for the self-explanatory term Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens.

This development is no surprise at all. If you walk on a busy street here in Hong Kong, a fair bet is that you'll come across a dozen of young and lady photographers carrying a GF-1 within half an hour. These compact cameras have increasingly captured the market of young and lady photographers, a.k.a the future market (that's why the EVIL cameras are so colourful; hey, will it have a black body version?). So, it's also a fair bet that Cannon will slip in when the market is more developed (more dizzily jam-packed?) to slice off a lion's share with its versions (certainly for the China's market with the zillion of Cannon fans in the country).

Only mock-ups (ugly down pat!) were shown at Sony's press conference. The new system is believed to hit the store shelves this year (Sony's shy of a timetable). The camera will use a new Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, which is probably to be fitted in the successor to the Sony A700 (Who will want the A700 when the A850 is not expensive at all and the EVIL uses the same sensor?). The sensor will be bigger than the MFT's (but by how much, Sony?). Whether this will give Sony's EVIL system better image quality and high ISO performance is remained to be seen. And how about the focusing speed, which is still somewhat an issue for these compact interchangeable-lens cameras?

But one thing is sure, prices will drop as the competition turns keen. Oh, another thing which is sure too: the EVIL system will come in pink sooner or later (please don't!)

More photos about the EVIL system here. To follow up the rumours, click here.

Comments

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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