17mm lens ships in Germany (Cashback in France and 35-100mm X firmware and Lightroom update).

Our reader Klaus sent me the picture of the new Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens he just got from a store in Hamburg! And French readers should be even more happier because they got a 50 Euro cashback on that lens (read at lepidi).

And we have some small news:
1) Olympus Japan announced the availability of the 17mm acceccories and E-PL5 water housing (both sceduled for a December 21 release).
2) Panasonic Japan released the new firmware update for the 35-100mm X lens. The update enhances the AF (auto focus) performance with the sensor drive at 240 fps for use with DMC-GH3.
3) New Lightroom 4.3 update brings support of the E-PL5, E-PM2, XZ-2 and GH3.

There is still no store showing the 17mm as in Stock. You can save this Slidoo search to get notified when it will be on eBay (login to change country of reference). Preorders at at Adorama, BHphoto and Amazon DE.