Kodak’s Micro Four Thirds camera coming very soon, other curiosities on the way
posted Monday, March 24, 2014 at 1:32 PM EDT
The last time Kodak released a new camera was in 2012, and the last time anybody got excited about a new Kodak camera was years before that. But the brand still carries some gravitas, apparently, and some players are willing to give Kodak another moment.
Kodak proper emerged from bankruptcy last fall as a commercial services company, but continues to license its brand name to a few firms, including China-based JK Imaging. They’d announced a few models of note, though their website has been filled with the kind of charmless point-and-shoots that tanked the brand in the first place—they even look like late-period Easyshare cameras.
But over the weekend, DPReview and ePhotozine got a closer look at JK Imaging’s portfolio of Kodak-branded cameras, and hey—there’s actually some interesting stuff to see.
The most interesting camera in the bunch is the S-1, a Micro Four Thirds camera in the vein of the latter day Panasonic GF series, or the Olympus Pen Lite models. It’s built around a 16-megapixel sensor (no word on which iteration, whether it’s Panasonic, Sony, or something else entirely) and comes with a collapsing 12-45mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. This model had been teased in early 2013, but will apparently be launching very soon. Two other lenses will be available, including a 42.5-160mm f/3.5-5.9 tele-zoom and a 400mm telephoto lens with a fixed f/6.7 aperture. That last one could be a curiosity for some MFT shooters out there, though there’s no confirmed price yet.
Other models include a superzoom with a 65x lens, an action camcorder, a concept camera that can shoot a 360-degree view (sort of like the Ricoh Theta), smart lenses (like the Sony QX oddities) and a portable projector. For now, JK Imaging only plans to sell these cameras at stores in Asia, though international buyers will be able to shop for them online, according to ePhotozine. The question is, does anybody want a camera with the Kodak name on it anymore?
(Via DPReview, ePhotozine)