Image courtesy Photozone.

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Photozone is busy testing new MFT lenses and just posted the next review: The Olympus 12-50mm lens (Click here to read it). And the conclusion isn’t great:

“Unfortunately we didn’t really fall in love with the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 ED EZ. The zoom range is surely very attractive but performance-wise it has its issues.”

It’s definitely time for Olympus to release the long rumored high quality f/2.8 zoom!

Photozone is known for their test on lenses but this is the first time they did a review on a Lens Cap! They have just published their test results of the Olympus Lens Cap 15mm f/8 (Click here to read the article). So what about the image quality? They say:

“In pure technical terms it is one of the worst ‘lenses’ that we ever tested. That said – the center performance is actually surprisingly good. However, the real problem is that the quality drops dramatically reaching barely acceptable results in the mid field and a blurred outer image region.”

Obviusly image quality was not the goal of this lens. Size and fun is what matters! The lens (or cap lens) is now available at [shopcountry 39619].

And after the Lens Cap they also tested the “regular” 17mm f/1.8 lens (Click here to read it). And also his feeling about the lens performance are “mixed”:

“Now is it worth the comparatively high price tag ? Well, it depends. Some argue that there’s no substitution for speed than more speed and the M.Zuiko is about as fast as it gets in this lens class within the micro-four-thirds system. Its nearest competitor, the Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 ASPH is slightly cheaper but not quite as ‘sexy’ in terms of build quality and field-of-view. Performance-wise the Panasonic lens may be slightly sharper whereas the M.Zuiko has a better bokeh.”

Lens store search links at [shopcountry 34914].

If we are lucky than by end of this week the E-P5 will ship to our homes (according to Amazon US release date info). And now you can see some image samples taken with the production version of the camera:

Imaging Resource posted the full E-P5 studio shots. You can now use their comparometer to see how good or bad the nee camera performs.

Ming Thei tested the final production E-P5 and had also the ability to evaluate the RAW file quality and writes: “I still think they’re still a hair better than the OM-D in terms of color and tonality, and possibly the best I’ve straight-from-camera output I’ve seen”

Sounds good! Now let’s hope Amazon doens’t mess with the release date…:)

Links to all newly announced Olympus stuff:
E-P5 Black at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys. In Europe at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK and at Wex UK.
E-P5 White at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys. In Europe at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK and at Wex UK.
E-P5 Silver at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys. In Europe at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK and at Wex UK.
E-P5 Black with 17mm f/1.8 lens and VF-4 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys. In Europe at Amazon UK.
E-P5 Silver with 17mm f/1.8 lens and VF-4 at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys. In Europe at Amazon UK.
E-P5 White with 17mm f/1.8 lens and VF-4 at Amazon UK.
E-P5 Black with 14-42mm lens at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK and Wex UK.
E-P5 White with 14-42mm lens at Amazon Germany and Amazon UK.
E-P5 Silver with 14-42mm lens at Amazon Germany, Amazon UK and at Wex UK.
17mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys.
45mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys. In Europe at Amazon Germany.
75mm f/1.8 Black at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys.
VF-4 viewfinder at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Samys.

DxOmark (Click here) posted the full GF6 sensor test. The GF6 scores exactly like the GX1 (that has the same sensor) but it under performs compared to the best Sony and Olympus compacts. DxO writes: “As an entry-level camera the GF6 has some promising features but the imaging performance is sadly lacking, at least when compared with rival offerings adopting much newer and more capable sensors. If sharing (or even remote camera control) using the built-in WiFi feature is high on your list of priorities the GF6 appeals but based on sensor performance alone there are better choices available.”

Panasonic announced two new cameras this year but between the GF6 and the G6 I would definitely go for the latter if you do not care about the bigger camera size. And now let’s  hope Panasonic can catch up with the best mirrorless cameras with the new GX7!

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Panasonic GF6 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Technikdirekt, Wex UK,
Panasonic G6 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here).

Gordon Laing from CameraLabs (Click here) published the Lumix G6 review which is the most detailed to date – it’s 20,000 words long, which would be about 30 pages on most magazines or websites! So take a coffea and sit down when reading this :)

In very short this is his conclusion: “I’ll cut to the chase and say the Panasonic Lumix G6 is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying cameras I’ve used, sporting a powerful feature-set that’s the envy of rivals and great image quality that’s essentially as good as any of Canon’s 18 Megapixel APS-C models. I used this camera extensively during a driving trip around Europe and there’s little if anything more I could ask from it. Indeed I’d say it’s one of the best cameras at this price point whether you’re shopping for mirrorless or DSLR.”

Panasonic GF6 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Technikdirekt, Wex UK,
Panasonic G6 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here).
Panasonic 14-140mm lens at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here).

There is a Micro Four Thirds camera you will never see in stores outside Japan. it is the Olympus E-PL6! Yes, it will sell in Japane only and if you want to read a review than you have to click over at DC.watch (google translated). If you really really but really want the camera you can buy it through [shoplink 39299 ebay]Japanese eBay sellers (Click here)[/shoplink]. They do ship worldwide!
But I woudl rather wait for the E-PL7…

Vivid Pocket from John Brawley Tests on Vimeo.

John Brawley posted that new video and a new post on his blog (Click here to read): “I shot mainly at ISO 1600, but the first few clips were shot at 800. Lens wise I had the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 (first few shots) and the Panasonic 20mm F1.7 (second lot of shots before the ferry travelling left to right) then I was principally on the Olympus 45mm F1.8 but I also had the 12mm SLR Magic T1.6 and the SLR magic 25mm T0.96”

It’s an imrpessive camera for little money. But there is still a long way to go before it starts shipping (End of July according to BHphoto).

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema preorders in USA at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and in Germany at Technikdirekt, in France at pbs-video. In Sweden at macoteket, scandinavianphoto, protel.jetshop, webhallen.