Pogue's Teaser

David Pogue, the multitalented and endlessly accomplished Technology columnist for the New York Times (I sometimes say that David Pogue has more energy in any given day than I have in the average year), last evening blogged a post called "What Pogue Actually Bought," detailing his choices of computer, phone, software, etc.—and what cameras he owns. In the Cameras section, there's this:

So what does this refer to? Beats the heck out of me. But my ears are as perked as Lulu's when she hears one of the dogs down the alley bark, brother.

Mike
(Thanks to Debbie Poulin)

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

[Jeff Kott]

Sony DSC-RX100

I bet he wrote this before the larger sensor Sony compact was announced.

[WeeDram]

Apple.

[Mfng]

Almost positive he's referring to the recently announced Sony RX100.

[Gary O'Callaghan]

Could it be the new Sony RX100? Although I have to wonder at his statement that the Canon S100 had the largest sensor when the Fuji X10 was larger.

[Jason Brown]

My bet: the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100. 1" sensor, f/2.8 lens at the wide end.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/06/06/Sony-announces-DSC-RX100-large-sensor-compact

[Martin Rolph]

My guess? The new Sony RX-100. For a while I was concerned that to get my ideal compact camera (wide, fast lens and big sensor) I might have had to buy it with a phone attached, in the form of the Nokia Pureview 808, but the Sony has a bigger sensor, a faster lens and much more manual control.

[Blake]

Maybe he's talking about the new Sony with the 1" sensor?

[Mike Johnston]

"Sony DSC-RX100 I bet he wrote this before the larger sensor Sony compact was announced."

No, I don't think so--his post was dated yesterday evening and as of now is still the top post on his blog, and the RX100 was previewed on dpreview on Wednesday. If he meant the RX100, there's no reason he couldn't just name it.

Mike

[Kurt]

Perhaps the Sony DSC-RX100? In any case, every week I wait for the next best thing is a week I get to keep using my trusty old equipment and another week my money stays in my bank account.

[Another Mike]

I won't hold my breath. Anyone who indicates the S100 has the "biggest sensor on the market", can't be too reliable.

[Greg]

Another vote for Apple.

[Mike Johnston]

"Anyone who indicates the S100 has the 'biggest sensor on the market,' can't be too reliable."

I assume he meant of pocket digicams, as of the time he bought it. He did give a link to his article about it; you could check out his rationale there.

Mike

[Lars]

Maybe the rumored Canon mirrorless expected this month?

[John Camp]

"No, I don't think so--his post was dated yesterday evening and as of now is still the top post on his blog"

Maybe he's going to GET it in two weeks, and then review it.

[John Camp]

"David Pogue, the multitalented and endlessly accomplished Technology columnist for the New York Times (I sometimes say that David Pogue has more energy in any given day than I have in the average year)"

By the way, did you know that pogue is a derogatory military term for a slacker, i.e. somebody who has no energy? Alternatively, somebody who shirks, or somebody who hides in the rear while the grunts do the work up front?

[Simon]

I'd love to give my opinion but the previous 6 people all beat me to it :(

I do hope they are wrong though - I really enjoy seeing new innovative products announced that blow my mind and would change the way i work, if my wife would let me buy them that is...

[Mike Johnston]

"By the way, did you know that pogue is a derogatory military term for a slacker, i.e. somebody who has no energy? "

Right, cf. the Irish-English '80s rock band the Pogues, whom I had the misfortune of seeing in concert (the lead singer was falling-down drunk for the whole show, and couldn't even speak much less sing).

However, Pogue is no pogue.

Mike

[Speed]

Perhaps it's Canon's serious entry into the mirrorless market. The perfect body for the 40mm pancake.

Surely they've given Pogue a pre-release peek.

[mani]

There've been rumors about an Apple camera for a while now. Pogue is a long-time Mac expert, so this may be it...?

[John Krumm]

Has to be the Sony, unless he really likes the just released Olympus Tough TG-1 with F2 lens. Very likely the Sony, since it is just about the same size as the S100, and has the same type of lens ring for quick adjustments.

[Chris]

Another vote for the Sony RX100.

"As longtime readers are painfully aware, I’m obsessed with big-sensor cameras. Or, rather, with big-sensor cameras that are, themselves, small." http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/a-bigger-sensor-for-a-coat-pocket-camera/

His obsession goes far enough to occasionally derail his critical faculties: I remember a m43 to Nex comparison in which he complained about the close end of a stick pointing towards the m43 lens being out of focus but not in a vaguely similarly framed shot with a Nex. Cough, minimum focal distance, cough!

I'd be very surprised if he hasn't just seen the RX100 announcement, decided on the basis of his tiny camera, big sensor obsession that he's going to just love it, learnt that he's going to get his copy in two weeks and is just telling his readers to wait for his review of the camera. He's not going to want to dilute his readers' interest by pointing them to other websites.

When the RX100 was announced is irrelevant, because at this point only camera gear fans know about it. Pogue is writing for a very general audience interested in a wide range of gadgets. His RX100 review would be the first most of his readers would know of it.

[toto]

Must be the nano-4/3 from Panasonic.

[M-J]

While I'd love the Apple guesses to be right, I am sure Pogue knows enough about how Cupertino works to know that breathing even a syllable about a new Apple product before launch would assure he'd never get another sniff at the company or its products ever.

[Benjamin R. George]

Except for the timing, it really does sound like he's talking about the RX100. Maybe an LX7 or XZ2 is in the works?

[Anthony Sawers]

I know, I know, 30mm square sensor, retro styling, Canon mount (so that it then takes all lenses via adapters), SLR with optical prism and SMALL!!!

[odaiwai]

"Right, cf. the Irish-English '80s rock band the Pogues, whom I had the misfortune of seeing in concert (the lead singer was falling-down drunk for the whole show, and couldn't even speak much less sing)."

The name of that band doesn't come from military slang, though. They were originally named "The Pogue Mahones", which is based on the Irish phrase "póg mo thóin" (kiss my ass), but they changed it to get radio airplay on the BBC. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pogues

[Mickld]

Mike - you had the honour of seeing the Pogues in concert? The lead singer, Shane McGowan, is a horribly sick alcoholic yet one of the greatest lyricist/poets of our age (says me). I grew up on the punk/Irish-trad of the Pogues and Shane is a bit of a tragic hero of mine. But an acquired taste, for sure.

http://www.pogues.com/

[Jay]

If an Apple camera is coming out, that would be phenomenal but somehow I doubt it. Apple is understandably focused on putting the best small camera in the iPhone.

Panasonic and Olympus are both rumored to be coming out with fixed lens 1" sensor cameras - to replace LX5 and XZ1 respectively. If one of them has a built in EVF, it could be an exciting camera.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

It's the Sony RX100.

[Steve Biro]

I don't believe for a second that Pogue is talking about the Sony RX100. There's already a full review of the camera from a respected photo Web site. While the RX100 gets solid grades, its imaging doesn't appear to be "astounding."

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony-rx100/sony-rx100A.HTM

Of course, Pogue may think otherwise and that's fine.

[pepeye]

I saw the Pogues in Baltimore back in the mid 80's. MacGowan was certainly wasted, but the rest of the band was not far behind. But, them being Irish and all, ithat seemed to work OK.

As for Mr. Pogue's comment, I, for one, grow weary over this obsession over the next great WonderCam that will save us all. 500px is already overflowing with beautiful pictures of nothing (except, of corse, beautiful naked women).

[MarkB]

Oh yeah, it's a Sony RX1... wha?

Prolly a Canon that is doing the Pentax K-01 thing (APS-C, EF-mount), but smaller, better, cheaper, and faster. Isn't that kind of "flattery" how everyone else used to beat Apple when it came to computers?

[S.J. Yokel]

It has to be Apple. Note Steve Jobs' interest in Lytro, Instagram as a social media home run and decent mass market component economics.

Camera makers have been scratching the future with "corrective" software lately but an old wizard gave us a better glimpse of the future some time ago.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2011/01/tablet-view-camera.html

[John Igel]

Umm, Mike, he drives a Prius!

[Maggie Osterberg]

It'll be that 41 MP Nokia supercameraphone thingy with the Zeiss lens, the 808.

It will give him an entire year of columns where he can rave about how fantastic it is, find a fault in the OS, complain and then suddenly fall back in love with it again and again and again.

Or, maybe he'll just get a Fujifilm X100 and do the same thing, like the rest of us.

[Rick D]

Since we're playing "guess the Dave" I'm voting for either the XZ1 or LX5 replacement.

Credit where credit's due, Pogue was the first "MSM" writer who I saw articulate what µ4/3 was and why it was such a breakthrough for the industry. I don't often find him being distracted by shiny things (which, to some extent, I find the new Sony to be).

[Dave Fultz]

It's gonna be a mini-Red. (Pink?)

Dave

[Jason in Hawaii]

Jonny Ive was quoted about a month ago saying that the project he's working on now is more exciting than either the iPhone or the iPad....WWDC is occurring this next week, and new product announcements are expected. If it is true that it's an Apple camera, it would have to be pretty darned good to make it worth dropping the iPhone 4S as a take-everywhere-you-go, "good-enough" camera.

[Harold GLIT]

I would think this is the new Canon mirorless with the 1.5X sensor

[Andy]

Its WWDC on Monday and Apple is rumoured to be updating most of their ranges of laptops and computers, could they also be launching a compact camera. I doubt it and I concur with the others who think he is refering to the new Sony compact

[Richard Parkin]

Probably the Nokia Lumia PureView phone which certainly has the biggest sensor (near one inch and 41 megapixels) in the smallest package and is just available in India and on pre-order from Amazon.

[Dan]

I assumed he was talking about the new iPhone 5, due to be announced officially in a few weeks ...

[Don]

Never heard of him. An Apple geek who drives a Prius. I need to know nothing more.

[misha]

"Right, cf. the Irish-English '80s rock band the Pogues, whom I had the misfortune of seeing in concert (the lead singer was falling-down drunk for the whole show, and couldn't even speak much less sing)."

"The lead singer, Shane McGowan, is a horribly sick alcoholic yet one of the greatest lyricist/poets of our age (says me)."

When I was in college, Eric Clapton came to Buffalo, and walked onto the stage drunk.

He is a recovered alcoholic. Alcoholism is a disease, and should be treated as such. They deserve our compassion, not our contempt. Drug abuse is a public health issue, not a criminal one.

I myself became addicted to Xanax, and withdrawal was misery.

[Gert-Jan]

Why is the new sony considered to have an interesting new "large"1inch sensor?
It is 13.2x8.8mm in size, exactly the same as the Cx sensor of the Nikon J1/V1.
And when those Nikon cameras came out, the sensor was considered by many as too small...
Note also that the sony and the nikons are equally compact; basically the same size and weight.

[Lars]

Somehow I don't see Apple releasing a standalone camera. It wouldn't fit their product portfolio. If at all, I would expect them to build something Lytro like or similar into the iPhone. But not a standalone camera, that wouldn't fit their strategy as a content provider and gatekeeper. Ok, they could have apps for it, etc. But wouldn't that be like... an iPod Touch or an iPhone?

[Mani Sitaraman]

Bah, humbug!

[Ger lawlor]

All I want is a small camera with a sensible price and big optical viewfinder. Is that too much to ask for????

[ronin]

"Astonishing results" is a very high bar. Very recent product announcements and rumors sound evolutionary, and along the lines of what is to be expected. But not "Astonishing."

[Nigel]

Almost certainly the Nokia, I think

[Earl Dunbar]

"If it is true that it's an Apple camera, it would have to be pretty darned good to make it worth dropping the iPhone 4S as a take-everywhere-you-go, "good-enough" camera."

Those are two different products and markets. I (along with many, many others, I suspect,) can easily carry a iPhone 4S (I don't own one, btw,) and a small larger-sensor camera. Two different thangs. Especially if the camera wouldn't have a voice plan capability.

[tex andrews]

I am very surprised at all this Pogue love. I think at best he is a so-so generalist tech writer---some good insights but some serious lapses in the details. I think his tech writing is on a par with the writing in the NYT's Sunday Style section----but not on the NYT's best reporting by a long shot. What he does that is difficult is writing about ALL consumer tech. But he seems to be the true case of "jack of all trades, master of none". His writing about photography tech in detail is seriously flawed.

So, whatever this announcement turns out to be, I for one will wait until we get some more credible reviews of it. Just sayin'....

[Mike Johnston]

"He is a recovered alcoholic. Alcoholism is a disease, and should be treated as such."

Misha,
I'm a recover(ing) alcoholic too. That doesn't mean the concert was a good one, or that that band didn't rip off my ticket money with a show that just plain sucked.

Mike

[Robin P]

It's all very well us accepting non-camera makers names such as Sony, Samsung & Panasonic on our cameras but Apple!? - that's just taking things too far.....perish the thought.

[Carl S. Berg]

well, I think it is a Sigma DP1M or DP2M:

http://sigma-dp.com/DP-Merrill/

a bit larger than the original DPs but still pretty light-weight and small (330g incl lens).

I still use my DP2s a lot, and will probably get
a DP2m.

[JohnMFlores]

The two weeks suggests that he's already handled the camera but is embargoed from saying anything...

Can't be Canon - he's "switching allegiance"
Can't be Sony RX100 - already announced
Can't be Apple - WWDC is next week, not in two weeks
Can't be Micro Four-Thirds - not tiny enough
Can't be Olympus XZ1 or Panasonic LX5 successor - won't trump the Sony
Can't be Nikon - 1 is already out, not "astonishing"
Can't be any APS-C - not tiny enough when lenses considered

By the process of elimination, that leaves ..... Ricoh/Pentax!

[Andrew Molitor]

I'm placing my money on painting lessons. 20"x24" sensor! Astonishing colors! COMPLETE control over the color palette, the tonal placement! After the fact recomposition capabilities!

It's TRULY INCREDIBLE!

The ISOs is a little on low side, but that will probably get fixed in the next release.

[Dave Kee]

I was surprised the RX100 does not have an external flash shoe. No off camera lighting capability from a supposedly advanced amateur camera. David Hobby will not be happy.

[dsn]

apple camera? never
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_QuickTake

[Jeff]

"The first digital cameras for the consumer-level market that worked with a home computer via a serial cable were the Apple QuickTake 100 camera (February 17 , 1994), the Kodak DC40 camera (March 28, 1995), the Casio QV-11 (with LCD monitor, late 1995), and Sony's Cyber-Shot Digital Still Camera (1996)." (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldigitalcamera.htm)

Apple has revisited old ideas before so it is not impossible. I think it is highly unlikely, but not impossible.

[hugh crawford]

I'm betting it's the Nokia PureView

"The Finnish phone company, which earlier delayed the launch of its massive 41 MP camera phone, has finally set its eyes on June 13 as the official launch day of Nokia 808 PureView"

http://zeenews.india.com/business/gadgets/gadgets-news/nokia-808-pureview-countdown-clock-ticks-again-to-hit-stores-next-week_53304.html

[Dave Levingston]

I'm more than happy to wait a couple weeks and see what he announces. I'll have to trust you, Mike, to let us know, since I don't read Pogue.

On the other hand, I am a big fan of the Pogues and especially Shane McGowan - as musicians, not as human beings. But I'd never, ever even entertain the thought of going to one of their concerts. I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy that experience. But that doesn't stop me for enjoying their excellent music.

That attitude easily applies to photographers and their work. I had breakfast with W. Eugene Smith at a conference many years ago. I love his work. I've always admired the drive and passion to make a better world that is reflected in his photographs. But after breakfast with the man I knew I could never admire, or even respect, him as a human being. Not someone I'd care to spend any amount of time with...but that has nothing to do with the monumental quality of his photographs.

[Enche Tjin]

Definitely sony RX100, it is very close resemblance to Canon S100

[Mark]

My bet is something to do with that 3D-ish Lytro modified focus camera. In cooperation with Apple?

[Mark]

To follow up - This from a couple months ago in Business Week:

"When Ren Ng unveiled his Lytro camera last year, he got the kind of response entrepreneurs dream of: breathless write-ups from the press and, more important, an invitation from Steve Jobs to demo the device at his Palo Alto home. “It was really inspiring,” says Ng, who considered Apple (AAPL) a role model while he was secretly developing the Lytro from 2006 to 2011. “He was so clear-thinking.”

“The big end-game play for this company is broadly licensing and near ubiquity in high-end smartphones,” says Peter Gotcher, chairman of Dolby Laboratories (DLB) and a Lytro board member."

[Miemo]

Looks like it *is* Sony RX100 after all (how boring) :
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/what-pogue-actually-bought/?comments#permid=132