There is a new large Stock of refurbished Olympus camera and lens auction at Olympusmarket. As you know only EU countries can participate. The stuff is refurbished which means that it comes with full guarantee. If you are lucky you can save a lot money by buying these instead of new cameras. I already bought five PEN cameras trough them

Her eis a slected list of the most interesting stuff (newest auctions on top):
45mm f/1.8 lens
Black E-P3 with kit lens
Silver E-M5 body
Silver E-PL3 with double lens kit
Black E-M5 body
Brown E-PM1 with kit lens
Lila E-PM1 with kit lens
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens
Black E-PM1 with kit lens
Black E-PM1 with kit lens
Black E-PM1 with kit lens
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens
White E-PL3 with double lens kit
Black E-PL3 with double lens kit
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens
HLD-6 vertical grip for PEN and OMD
E-5 Four Thirds body
14-150mm lens
White E-PL3 with kit lens
Black E-PM1 with double lens kit
Silver E-PM1 with double lens kit
White E-PM1 with double lens kit
45mm f/1.8 lens
40-150mmmm lens
Black E-P3 with kit lens
Silver E-M5 body
VF-2 viewfinder
VF-3 viewfinder
Brown E-PM1 with 14-150mm kit lens
Black E-M5 body
White E-P3 with kit lens
12-50mm lens
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens

Wish you good luck!

A couple of 43rumors readers noticed that Olympus Store marked the E-5 as “Out of Stock“. While it’s certainly a bit unusual that Olympus has no more E-5 left I want to make it clear that accoridng to some of my sources the E-5 replacement is certainly not coming now. It is due for a late 2013 release only.

A trusted source told me to trust him (LOL) when he says that a native Four Thirds camera is going to be announced this year. He is 100% sure that this is not a hybrid MFT and FT camera but simply a new E-7 FT. He also told me the camera is also ready to go into final production and all specs are defined (alreayd since end of last year). The camera will be on amrket the second half of this year. Good news for all those folks using top class Zuiko FT lenses

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The two superb Zuiko f/2.0 zooms:
14-35mm f/2.0 on eBay (Click here) and via Slidoo eBay.
35-100mm f/2.0 on eBay (Click here) and via Slidoo eBay.

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Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct

In response to yesterdays article from Sponichi Annex (translation here) today Olympus officially denied that they are going to reduce their DSLR (aka Four Thirds) business (Source: DC.watch). And they underlined that their DSLR plans will remain “unchanged”. And regarding the compact camera business they said that they are now “focusing management resources on higher-priced models”.

Editor’s note: With no new Four Thirds lens released in three years and just one Four Thirds camera (the E-5) there is no need to read a press release to see that their DSLR investments and product strategy has been “reduced”. No matter what Olympus says. Of course, Olympus may could restart to push the Olympus FT system. But I don’t think this is ever going to happen (just my personal opinion).

In summary what to expect in 2013: Rumors are unreliable and unproven stories but they tell us that there will be a new PEN in June, new OMD in September, new MFT zooms and indeed a high end premium compact camera with fixed lens. It is also rumored that there will be a camera with a 100% lens support for Four Thirds lenses. But whether this will be a high OMD with phase detection AF pixels or an E-7 has yet to be seen.

The Japanese news site Sponichi Annex (translation here) just published story about Olympus:

They report that Olympus will soon announce a new strategy for the digital camera business. And in short they will heavily reduce their investments in DSLR and compact camera development and focus their efforts on Mirrorless products. The exact word used by the Japanese news site is “reduce” investments. How far Olympus will “reduce” the DSLR business has yet to be seen. Olympus also had to lower the earnings forecast. The overall camera sales were down 28% in one year.

It’s really nothing earthshaking. The DSLR lineup have not see a new Four Thirds lens for years now. The only new camera we had in two years was the E-5. And the compact camera market is something shrinking for all camera makers. It will be interesting to see the Olympus report in Spring where they will disclose their general strategy and we may will learn more about the Olympus-Sony development.

via Digicaminfo.