The PEN F with a relatively huge 100mm f3.5 lens. This camera takes standard 35mm film but only uses half of a frame for each exposure. |
Many photographers use the manual focus primes for video preferring the shallow depth of field and the wonderful analog lens controls. |
That's the shutter. It is a unique rotary titanium design. Pretty cool for 1963! |
The three shutters are almost the same size. The mirror box on the Canon is quite a bit bigger than the actual sensor. |
Here is the NEX 3 and PEN F combo with a quarter for scale. Even with a lens hood the set is tiny given the capabilities of the camera. Bonus: it does HD video. |
Sony announced the NEX 7 body that is more oriented towards advanced amateurs. It looks like a good spec, but I'll wait for tweaks and for prices to come down.
There is good news and bad news about the PEN F system. The good news is that these lenses will never be thrown away or repurposed for art. The bad news is that demand is high between the desires of NEX and Panasonic/Olympus 4/3 system users. Prices are up, but these vintage lenses are still cheaper than their current autofocus counterparts.