Update: hands-on video at engadget.
It's common in our Micro Four Thirds world to use third party lenses on MFT camera via the use of adapters. But what about using MFT lenses on other cameras? Polaroid just did that, a new mirrorless camera that is compatible with MFT lenses with the use of an adapter. I am wondering why they didn't make it with native MFT mount. There is little info about the camera now:
18 megapixel, 1080p video, Android OS, 3.5 inch display, pop-up flashand $399 price with a 10-30mm lens included.
49 Responses
Interesting!
Yeah, I wonder why too. Must have a smaller sensor. Could even be a 1″ sensor??
The lenses 10-30 & 30-110 are like Nikon 1. So 1″ sensor sounds about right
Pick up your PS and start making calculations: http://gizmodo.com/5973676/polaroid-im1836-this-interchangeable+lens-android-camera-is-too-good-to-be-true
Pick up your PS and start making calculations: http://gizmodo.com/5973676/polaroid-im1836-this-interchangeable+lens-android-camera-is-too-good-to-be-true
Pick up your brain, go out, shoot and learn…
The sensor looks too small to be 4/3. It also looks smaller than 1″.
Electronic contacts are there, I wonder if they will do AF on m43 lenses…
Blow me!
It’s not a sensor. Those contacts are for lens to camera communication. The sensor will be in the lens. :O
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSINyC7zQ7c
There is something that doesn’t quite add up here… :O
If the sensor is in the lens, how can it be compatible with m43 lenses?
I cant seem to figure out if it is an electrical connection… If so…sweet.
(Wish they went native MFT)
But will it focus as fast?
Oooh! toys. .
micro 4/3 is a consistently fun system to be involved in. I’m very happy I made the choice of m43 as my system.
It would need an electrical connection surely. Otherwise you could only use the lens at max aperture, as there is no manual aperture control on the lens. . .
Focus is electronic too
seems like Nikon J1/J2
It’s an Android camera based on a Nikon 1 J2, according to PhotoRumors:
http://photorumors.com/2012/12/17/polaroid-to-announce-an-android-based-mirrorless-interchangeable-lens-camera/
So yeah, it has a 1″ sensor. I wonder if that adapter would also work on Nikon 1s or of Nikon would take any measures against that.
This camera is identical to a Nikon 1, 1″ sensor.
So what does this mean? Does it provide aperture control? If not, it hardly counts. Does it provide AF? I kind of doubt it.
Interesting. The more runners, the faster field and greater competition. Good for all.
It’s quite obviously a 1″ sensor based on the lens focal length. Which is too bad because we now know it’s going to have poor IQ and be even less relevant than the Nikon 1.
@Andrew
All the big review sites clearly mention that the Nikon 1 is on a par with the 12mp mFT models ,which probably makes up the vast bulk of all mFT in use , considering how many 12mp mFT cameras there have been.
DPReview conclusions page : “Good image quality (comparable to 12MP Micro Four Thirds sensor output)”
So I guess that there are a lot of poor IQ mFT cameras around , at least the Nikon will focus on moving objects lol
Top selling interchangeable lenses Japan , the 12mp mFT models are still the best sellers
http://dslrphoto.com/dslr/space.php?do=jranking
This Polaroid cam has 18 MP, though.
It is a Polaroid and runs Android – how relevant did you think it was going to be?
The cam is running Android 4.1 – they say so on engadget…
the 20 1.7 would be quite nice on this.
Engadget are reporting that the sensor is part of the lens itself and pictures seem to back this up – though looking inside the body it looks like there was going be a 1/2.3″ sensor in there. So it looks like it is a Nikon J1 and Ricoh GXR hybrid to me. So the m43’s compatibility is probably a mount module with m43’s sensor, a bit like the GXR’s M-Mount module, except maybe with electrical connections.
Standard lens seems to be 10-30mm indicating 1″ sensor in that module – But who knows! Polaroid sure as hell don’t seem to! Even their mockups some say f3.0-5.6 and other f3.8-5.6…
Mdb says:
“Engadget are reporting that the sensor is part of the lens itself…”
Huh?
“So the m43′s compatibility is probably a mount module with m43′s sensor…”
Huh??
Conjecture at best, more likely just confusion.
This is probably a J1 mimic, with a too small sensor, and a too rare mount.
Huh? How complicated can my explanation be – if there is no sensor in the body and it is in the lens modules instead ala Ricoh GXR, then the ‘adapter’ for m43’s has the sensor in the adapter – surely this isn’t rocket science!
It says “Sensor cooporated to the lens”.
http://www.viddler.com/v/b35654e9?secret=39225654
One of the engadget pics show the boby without a lense, and there is a sensor, but it’s look like a tiny sensor, like the Pentax Q.
That isn’t a sensor, certainly not a real one. There is also no rear opening in the lens to let light through to this supposed ‘sensor’, the rear of the lens is sealed. Last piece of evidence – the lens is a 10-30mm kit lens, which would be a pretty useless standard lens with a 5.6x crop factor.
That’s not the sensor. It’s just a null mirror placemarker. The sensor is in the lens! :O
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSINyC7zQ7c&feature=player_embedded
Indeed, the lens has a built-in sensor.
See this report: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/polaroids-interchangeable-lens-cameras-hands-on-video/
and in particular this picture: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/dsc03226.jpg
It could also be a huge body with a 1 inch sensor.
We won’t know until they either release complete specs, or a hands on from some site.
One of the photos shows the back of the lens, and it doesn’t have glass. This gives credence to that theory.
This is a re badged Nikon 1.
There was talk of this some weeks ago. I wonder why Nikon did this?
Maybe a buyout is in Polaroids near future.
If this is a rebadged Nikon 1 that suggests that the MFT adapter is usable on a Nikon 1.
That… is intriguing.
There are more interesting announcements from CES than this. For example, new SH-50 iHS has 5-axis IS, but has no hump! So, it’s possible to put in a smaller humpless 😉 body. Besides, it has HDR, low light stitching mode, mode that combines an image with flash and without it. Sign of things to come for m4/3?
SH-50 doesn’t have EVF.
http://www.camerawest.com/cwblog/2012/09/20/inside-look-at-the-olympus-om-d-e-m5/
Also with tiny sensor IBIS mechanism is no doubt considerably smaller and less robust.
Then the P5 should get it then, with a viewfinder. It takes time to make a little smaller and lower cost but they did apparently.
Maybe the next OM will get phase focus, as Fuji seem to put it on a small sensor for the x20 and x100s, so maybe Olympus can also.
Panasonic had a 5 axis system in some of their camcorders before the O-MD came along
Admin, RSS and comments are still broken.
If it looks like Nikon, if it walks like Nikon, if it quacks like Nikon…
M4/3 is a universal mount right now. Nearly every camera mount in the world has an adapter to M4/3. And many lens companies has an M4/3 mount manual focus lens, for example; SLR Magic, Voigtlander.
So it is easier to do M4/3 to this mount, instead of producing a new adapeter for every mount to this polaroid mirrorless mount.
So for me, there is not going to has anything like electric connection. This is making for manual focus lens.
My guess is that next Olympus camera needs to have on sensor pdaf to compete with new bodies.
There is no doubt that it will have. They work with sony now and they already announce a solution to 43 legacy glass problem.
5 axis ibis in a compact camera is also very interesting. I guess because of the small sensor they have more room for sensor than in tightly packed PEN cameras.
Interesting times ahead. There is not much Oly cameras lack for my full happiness. pdaf for tracking situations, one stop better ISO focus peaking and a few software tweak added features, would be all I ask from my future camera.
Comparing the nikon lens mount to the polaroid lens mount I would have to say the polaroid sensor isn’t 1″ sadly. But I’m also wondering why that black camera looks totally different to the white one. Could still be a fun camera but looks like iq will be more pentax q than nikon 1. Also that lens isn’t going to be very wide if the sensor isn’t 1″
Imagine what I could do with my 75-300 and a 1″ sensor!!
A Nikon 1 style camera running Android? Really strange. And strangest of all, they make no mention of supporting Nikon 1 mount lenses!
This thing basically has a multiplier of 3, so your Micro Four Thirds lenses would become on it e.g.:
12mm f/2 (24mm f/4 equiv) -> 36mm f/5.6 equiv
25mm f/1.4 (50mm f/2.8 equiv) -> 75mm f/4 equiv
45mm f/1.8 (90mm f/3.6 equiv) -> 135mm f/5 equiv
75mm f/1.8 (150mm f/3.6 equiv) -> 225mm f/5 equiv
It’s marginally interesting with telephoto lenses where you might already want more reach *if* it has the Nikon 1 hybrid AF. Otherwise you might as well just crop…
Indeed, the lens has a built-in sensor.
See this report: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/polaroids-interchangeable-lens-cameras-hands-on-video/
and in particular this picture: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/01/dsc03226.jpg
What’s shown in the Engadget stills, the video, and what the rep says in the video don’t add up.
It’s claimed the sensor is built into the lens on the grounds the rear of the lens is blocked off. Yet it must have an incredibly short back flange distance. What’s more if the lens is actually derived from a Nikon 1, how has it been adapted to a sensor in such a radically different position. Look again and imagine if that small circle is really just a blocked off rear lens exit. Then what looks like a tiny sensor in the camera starts to make sense.
Absolutely the only question is whether it’s a Nikon 1 clone based on the internals, or whether it’s externals are meant to vaguely resemble the Nikon 1 series, whilst actually housing internals which have nothing to do with it?
m43 glass is so reliant on electronic compensation, I really don’t know how this would work. Imagine the Pana 14mm with zero correction… ouch!