Sans Mirror  

This page is a "living one" in that it will updated with new information as it becomes available. The latest products to be announced are at the top. Everything on this page was introduced prior to or at the CP+ trade show (February 27 to March 2), the largest photography show in Japan each year. (Should you understand Japanese, the online schedule of CP+ presentations is available here. OMDS and Sony have extensive online presentations planned. Nikon's presentations will be streamed via the Nikon CP+ site.)

Commentary on the below items is either in separate articles (e.g. OM-3) or at bottom of this page.

• Feb 27 — Just a note: a lot of these "displayed/announced" lenses don't yet have full details available. When they do, I'll add them to the relevant databases and update links. Particularly with the Asia lens makers, they tend to announce, later articulate details, and these don't get translated into English for a bit, as the Asian market is their primary target.
• Feb 27 — Sirui — three new Prime 1 cine lenses (RF, L, Z, FE)
• Feb 27 — DxO — PureRAW 5 announced (new noise reduction, better Fujifilm X-Trans support)
• Feb 27 — DxO — Photographer's Storm Cape (protective jacket for both photographer and gear)
• Feb 27 — Fujifilm — Maintenance firmware updates for X100VI, X-T5, X-T50, X-H2, X-H2S, X-M5, GFX100, GFX100S
• Feb 27 — Viltrox — 25mm f/1.7 Air (XF, Z, E), 35mm f/1.2 Lab (FE), 50mm f/2 (Z, FE), 85mm f/1.4 Pro (Z, FE)
• Feb 27 — Laowa — 35mm f/2.8 tilt/shift (RF, L, Z, FE, GFX, XCD), 15mm f/4.5 (RF, L, Z, E), 8-15mm f/2.8 fisheye (RF, L, Z, E), plus some cinema lenses
• Feb 27 — 7Artisans — 24mm f/1.8 (L, Z, FE), 35mm f/2.8, 25mm f/1.8, 35mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.8 (last three APS-C)
• Feb 27 — Samyang (Schneider/Kreuznach) — displayed a 14-24mm f/2.8 lens for Sony FE
• Show now open
• Feb 26 — Sony — 16mm f/1.8G, 400-800mm f/6.3-8.0G — two new significant lenses for FE mount
• Feb 26 — Nikon Z6III and Z8 — new firmware with significant video updates
• Feb 25 — Voigtlander — 75mm f/1.8 manual focus lens (FE mount) with bokeh control ring
• Feb 25 — Zeiss — 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 Otus ML manual focus lenses (RF, Z, FE mounts)
• Feb 25 — Panasonic — S1RII full frame camera (44mp)
• Feb 25 — Voigtlander — 28mm f/2, 35mm f/1.2, 40mm f/1.2, and 50mm f/1.2 for Leica M-mount
• Feb 24 — Sigma — BF camera, 16-300mm f/3.5-6.7 OS Contemporary lens, 300-600mm f/4 OS Sports lens, discontinuation of DSLR lens development
• Feb 24 — Thypoch 75mm f/1.4 lens — Another small manual focus lens for the Leica M-mount
• Feb 19 — Canon Powershot V1 — not mirrorless, but this vlogging oriented camera takes on some mirrorless models.
• Feb 18 — Nikon Zf firmware update to include Nikon Imaging Cloud — not out yet, but pre-announced.
• Feb 14 — Voigtlander 35mm f/3.5 lens — A new, small, light manual focus lens for the Leica VM mount.
• Feb 14 — Tokina 11-18mm f/2.8 lens — A return of an autofocus wide-angle zoom lens, for the Fujifilm XF mount.
• Feb 12 — Nikon 28-135mm f/4 PZ lens — Nikon's first full frame video-targeted lens is a mid-range power zoom.
• Feb 6 — OMDS OM-3 — A retro-styled camera based upon the OM-1 Mark II.
• Feb 6 — OMDS 17mm f/1.8 lens — A weatherproof and new branding update of the original Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens.
• Feb 6 — OMDS 25mm f/1.8 lens — A weatherproof and new branding update of the original Olympus 25mm f/1.8 lens.
• Feb 6 — OMDS 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens — A weatherproof and new branding update of the original Olympus 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens.
• Feb 6 — Nikon 35mm f/1.2 S lens — This is the third lens in Nikon's fast f/1.2 pro series of prime lenses.

We're now in the week where most of the CP+ related announcements occur, so if you're interested in the rumors/leaks prior to the actual announcements for the show, here's some of what we're tracking:

• Meike — 35mm f/1.8 Pro (unknown mounts, probably Z, FE), 85mm f/1.8 Pro (XF)
• MonsterAdapter — Nikon F-mount to Z-mount adapter (LA-FZ1) with screwdriver motor support
• Viltrox — 25mm f/1.7 Air (XF, Z, E), 35mm f/1.2 Lab (FE), 50mm f/2 (Z, FE), 85mm f/1.4 Pro (Z, FE)

As these and other products get announced, we'll update the database pages elsewhere on this site and the bullet lists on this page.

Commentary: Wednesday produced two very different sets of announcements. First, Sony extended their lens set to 78 lenses by introducing the 16mm f/1.8G and 400-800mm f/6.3-8G optics. This extends the G prime series to its widest focal length so far, plus pushes Sony's telephoto offerings higher, finally offering an 800mm choice without teleconverter. Both are reasonably priced lenses—the telephoto zoom is US$2900—so are likely to prove so popular that we'll quickly get into backorder situations with both. I'd say if you want one for spring/summer, you'd better get in line now. Meanwhile, Nikon continued its "improvement via firmware" progression with updates for the Z6III and Z8 that mostly help them work with the 28-135mm f/4 power zoom lens Nikon introduced earlier in the month. The big thing to note, though, is that the Z6III's video quality has improved, as Nikon has addressed the noise jitter that many of us found as we boosted ISO values. 

Tuesday started with Panasonic and Zeiss announcements. From Panasonic we get a new S1RII body, replete with a new 44.3mp image sensor and a handheld 177mp pixel-shift capability. But much of the action here seems to focus on the video specs of the camera, which include 8K/30P, 6.4K open gate, and a bunch of other nice touches for a hybrid camera (e.g. 32-bit float audio). At US$3300, this body is taking on Sony A7R Mark V's and Nikon Z8's. This site's exclusive advertise, B&H, has a panel introduction/discussion of the S1RII scheduled for noon (ET) if you want to know more.

Zeiss, meanwhile, has risen from a deep sleep to introduce two new Otus lenses, this time for Canon RF, Nikon Z, and Sony FE full frame mirrorless cameras. As before, the new 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 Otus lenses are manual focus, though with completely new optical designs, some slimming/lightening, and (only ;~) US$2500 and US$3000 prices respectively. 

Monday kicked off with Sigma being the big announcement maker. Surprisingly, we got a new L-mount camera, the bf which I see as basically a re-imagining of the original fp, as it uses the same 24mp image sensor and tries to be a simple, small unit. The difference this time is that Sigma has definitely doubled down on the "simple." Minimal controls, only a USB-C port, no card slot (230GB internal memory). We did get a new autofocus system, which the fp really needed. The camera grew slightly in width and depth and added a touch of weight, but it's still absolutely on the "small" side. Suffice it to say that the Sigma camera engineers are still marching to a different Taiko beat. 

On the lens side, the 16-300mm f/3.5-6.7 OS lens eclipses the Tamron 18-300mm as the largest zoom ratio APS-C mirrorless lens. Available in Canon RF, Fujifilm XF, L-mount, and Sony E mounts at US$700 in April even has near macro-level capabilities (1:2 at 70mm). Not that I particularly am interested in it myself, but I have to wonder why Sigma is now embracing Canon RF and avoiding Nikon Z. I also have a question: why are crop sensor lenses being introduced in the L-mount? No crop-sensor L-mount camera is currently being produced. 

The best of Sigma's announcements from my viewpoint is the US$6000 300-600mm f/4 OS, available in L-mount and Sony FE-mount. This is a big, ambitious lens that is going to make a lot of Sony Alpha owners have to make some choices about how they want to cover the longer telephoto focal lengths (Sigma already has a 500mm f/5.6 OS lens for the FE-mount). Coupled with Sony's expected 400-800mm f/6.3-8G lens announcement later this week, Alpha owners are finally getting a wide variety of choices for telephoto work, something that Nikon has concentrated on in the Z-mount (coupled with Tamron) for awhile now.