More creative potential with Wifi

The camera makers are fighting a battle against smart phones: People want to be able to share their pictures on social media, and this is very easy with the smart phone camera.

To increase the connectivity of cameras, Wifi has become a must have feature. And it does make it more easy to share your pictures with a connected device.

But Wifi also allows you to remotely control the camera, which is a very cool feature. Here is an example where I used it to take close up pictures of birds.

I used the Lumix GH4 with the Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 fisheye lens (click for my reviews).

To avoid getting dirt on the camera, I covered it with a transparent plastic bag:

I later experienced that transparent plastic appears to scare off the birds. So I was much better off using a green coloured, non-transparent bag.

I then placed it on the ground near some pigeons, and threw some bread crumbs in front of the lens to attract them. When using the smart phone app, you can see what the camera sees, and can remote control the shutter. It looks like this on the phone:

Product news

We've had the CP+ trade show in Yokohama, and the major camera brands have been showing their new stuff. Here is a short summary of mirrorless camera news.

Olympus

The big news from Olympus is the new OM-D E-M5 II. It looks a lot like the the predecessor, but has some improvements to the ergonomics, including a fully articulated touch LCD screen.

The new feature which is going to sell the camera, though, is the new sensor shift high resolution mode. It works by taking eight consecutive images, while offsetting the sensor. First, four exposures offset by one pixel in the two directions, designed to overcome the limitations of the Bayer sensor.

Mirrorless camera statistics from Japan

BCN ranking is a source for Japanese camera sales statistics. Looking at historic statistics from BCN, I have compiled this chart of the market shares of mirrorless cameras.

For the years 2009-2011, it is based on the 20 most selling camera models in Japan, including DSLR cameras. For 2012-2013, it is based on the 20 most selling mirrorless cameras. For 2014, it is, apparently, based on all mirrorless camera models. I skipped 2008, since it only contains one single mirrorless camera, the Lumix G1, giving a 100% Panasonic market share.