Review of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera Micro Four Thirds from Philip Bloom Reviews & Tutorials on Vimeo.

The Blackmagic MFT camera has been announced six months ago but still isn’t shipping at BHphoto (Click here). There is only one in [shoplink 37583 ebay]Stock in Australia (via eBay)[/shoplink].While you are waiting the postman to deliver your preorder you may check out the latest review written by Philip Bloom (Click here). The video review can be sen here on top.
Philip recommends the MFT version over the EF version because: “the flange distance makes way more sense for that sensor size and the image of the Blackmagic MFT with my Voigtlander glass is just damn gorgeous as it’s using more of less the whole lens.”

P.S.: Save this Slidoo eBay search to get notified when new Blackmagic auction will be online.

That is the ranking of the sever testers form the German “Stiftung Warentest“. As you see the Panasonic Gh3 ranked as current best DSLR+Mirrorless System Camera. Also the compact cameras from Panasonic and Olympus are on top of the list. Quite an astonishing result! That said there is no such thing as a perfect ranking and testing. It all depends from what you need :)

P.S.: In Germany a lower score = better quality.

And finally we have some clue when the GH3 will ship at Amazon US (Click here). On Sunday March 31!

Smartphones are eating up the low end compact camera market. And the High End compact camera with fixed lens market is one the last niche left where companies cans till make some money. Olympus will soon announce their High End compact and let’s hope it can be as successful as they were with the [shoplink 37225 ebay]Olympus XA 35mm film compact camera (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. Cameraquest writes that this was a “groundbreaker“. it is the smallest full frame 35 with a built in Rangefinder!!! It had an Albada finder with parallax correction marks, automatic exposure, super smooth electromagnetic shutter release, self timer, a battery check, and tripod mount. yep all that stuff in a super small camera (see it on youtube here).

Guru Blogger Ken Rockwell writes about the XA: “Not only are the images wonderful, but the design and styling of these cameras are a joy to behold.”

It may doens’t look particularly great but it does all what we need and all in the smallest package possible. Let’s see what the new digital Premium compact Olympus will copy from it. I would like to see the clamshell! :)

Olympus XA auctions on [shoplink 37225 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Is the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens good or not? Watch the video to hear Kai’s answer :)

A more “technical” review has been also posted by SLRgear. They write: “Olympus has produced a very nice lens here – it feels very solid, and produces some nice images. In comparison to its fellows, it isn’t quite as sharp or resistant to chromatic aberration, especially at the larger focal lengths, but its unique focusing technology might make up for that, and make it easier to use in the field.”

Yep, some like and some do not like the lens. May Olympus come out with a high quality 17mm f/1.4 lens too? That would be nice for all MFT owners asking for an extra super high quality 17mm lens!

Olympus 17mm lens price check at [shopcountry 34914].

The world of Micro Four Thirds adapters is growing and sometimes it surprises you with new products from companies you never heard of it before. The German company Mirex launched a new Micro Four Thirds Tilt Shift Adapter. The adapter is not yet listed on their webpage, but it is available and 43rumors reader Florian owns it. You can read his report and see more pics at Floriansphotos.com.

Current T/S adpaters or lenses for MFT are:
[shoplink 37413 ebay]Arsat Arax Photex 35mm f/2.8 (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 37414 ebay]MC 2.8/20mm TILT/SHIFT lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 37415 ebay]Minolta Tilt adapter (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 37416 ebay]Kipon Nikon F mount Lens to Micro 4/3 Tilt & Shift Adapter (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

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The 12-35mm X lens just got DxOmarked (Click here to read the test). And they write: “The Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f2.8 ASPH Power O.I.S is the best lens of it’s type by quite a long way, but at a price that would buy better equipment if you are not wedded to the Micro 4:3 system.”

The 12-35mm X zoom beats the rest of the MFT lenses and comes very close to the Olympus 12mm and 45mm prime lens performance. Now we have to see if the upcoming new Olympus f/2.8 zoom can match or even beat the Panasonic X performance!

DxOmark writes that the X zoom is expensive but you can find some deals in US and Europe:
Panacam sells the lens for $985 via Amazon US (Click here).
Five demo lenses are for sale in [shoplink 37404 ebay]Germany (Click here)[/shoplink] for 829 Euro.

That is what Admiringlight writes: “Overall, I think the 17mm f/1.8 is an extremely good lens for environmental portraiture and street shooting, as its image qualities shine in these situations, and the autofocus is blazingly fast.  If you are after this lens as a high quality landscape lens, it’s probably not worth your money, as you can get similar quality from your kit zoom at 17mm stopped down.”

And that is Digitalcamerareview’s conclusion: “The 17mm f/1.8 lens is the kind of lens I want to use almost all the time. I won’t butcher the fabulous Olympus OM-D E-M5 by gluing this lens to it, but Olympus is going to have to send some very tough repo men to wrestle this lens back from me.”

So both like the lens and if the rumors I got are correct than we will get a Black version of this lens soon too!

Olympus 17mm lens price check at [shopcountry 34914].