Amarcord: The PEN F

[shoplink 37006 ebay]

[/shoplink] Olympus PEN history is very long and plenty of nice cameras have been created. And let’s check what kind of design could be used for the future PEN models. And if you dream of a digital PEN with integrated viewfinder than you cannot avoid to talk about the superbly made [shoplink 37006 ebay]Olympus PEN-F (here on eBay)[/shoplink]!
And the viewfinder isn’t juts a “normal” viewfinder. Camerapedia writes: “The Pen F is a quite compact camera with a porro prism viewfinder, which completely avoids the traditional SLR prism bulge because the reflex mirror flips sideways, resulting in a compact viewfinder arrangement.” You can see the back of the PEN-F here. Another unique feature was the rotary focal-plane shutter that has the advantage that you can sync with the electronic flash at all shutter speeds.

But overall the camera shines because of the clean and extremely elegant design. Maybe its just me, but I would love to see the same design on a future PEN with integrated viewfinder! And with the same [shoplink 37005 ebay]cult lens cap (they are here on eBay)[/shoplink].

More about the camera at Cameraquest and Camerapedia. PEN-F acutions on [shoplink 37006 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

So let me know…

...would you like a digital PEN-F designed camera?

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GH3 outscores SLRs in Consumer Reports’ lab tests! And in Stock at Adorama and Samys.

Last week we hit hard on Panasonic because of the two small issues with the 12-35mmX long exposures steady shot problem and the unreliable Intervalometer of the GH3. But today we can reports some very good news for Panasonic and I hope this will bring them to love me back again :)

The usually very sever Consumerreports website (Click here) just posted an extremely positive report about the GH3! They write: “We recently tested a number of new SLR-like (mirrorless) cameras, and we were surprised to find that one, thePanasonic Lumix DMC-GH3, scored higher than all the SLRs tested in this group.” and also  “So if you’re in the market for an advanced camera, you’re not restricted to models with mirrors in them—SLRs, that is. The age of mirrorless SLR-likes appears to have arrived.

And for US readers: Finally the GH3 is in Stock at Samys (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Full Panasonic GH3 review at CameraLabs.

Gordon Laing just publsihed his Panasonic GH3 review on CameraLabs (Click here). The camera got an overall score of 88% and Gordon writes: ” While many manufacturers are still looking to miniaturise their compact system camera offerings, with the GH3 Panasonic appears to be pursuing a different goal which is to produce a mirrorless camera every bit as functional, capable and robust as a professional DSLR. The Lumix GH3 is evidence that they are succeeding and is more than deserving of Cameralabs Highly Recommended award. Micro Four Thirds goes from strength to strength.

US readers stills truggle finding the camera in Stock somewhere. Today a very limited number of cameras is in Stock at Adorama (Click here) and via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here).

Reminder: more than ten refurbished E-M5 cameras with 12-50mm kit lens are for sale for 1,029$ on [shoplink 36867ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].

LX7 gets DxOmarked (and price down to $299).

The LX7 just got DxOmarked (Click here). The performance is way better than the “older” LX5 but still far behind the best in class the Sony RX100 (66 points). But witht he recent huge LX7 price drops the Panaosnic is also $350 cheaper than the Sony RX100! Now let’s see how the new Olympus high end compact camera will be (coming second half of the year).

Panasonic LX7 now sells for $299 only at Amazon (via third party), Adorama, BHphoto and Samys!

And all Older PEN cameras got a price drop of up to $100:
E-PM1 with kit lens from $399 down to $299 at Adorama, Amazon and at BHphoto.
E-PL3 with kit lens now $399 at Adorama, Amazon and at BHphoto.
E-P3 with kit lens for $449 at Adorama and Amazon.

GH3 Intervalometer is not exact as it should be?

Panasonic GH3 Intervalometer Problem from time on Vimeo.

A couple of days ago we posted an article about the little 12-35mm X lens issue that causes  a “shimmer” effect on long exposure videos (article here).Today we have a seocnd issue to report: The website TimeLaps.org tested the GH3 Intervalometer and discovered that it doesn’t work as perfect as it should. The tester Rob told to me that: “it NEVER fires at the interval set.  Always fires early or late, and by not by any set amount.“. Hopefully Panasonic can fix this via firmware upgrade.

GH3 gets DxOmarked! Is on par with the E-M5.

The Panasonic GH3 sensor finally got “DxOmarked”! You can read the full test at dxomark.com. As you can see from the image on top the GH3 is basically on par with the other 16 Megapixel Olympus cameras. No surprise here. The real killer feature of the GH3 is his video quality which DxOmark doesn’t measure. DxOmark writes: “The Panasonic Lumix DMC GH3 is a very good camera, among the best tested by DxO Mark in this format. It is small and light and will make an excellent camera to travel with and fulfils all of the requirements that a serious enthusiast is likely to have. However, it is pricey for a hybrid and it has competition from several directions.

Meantime the GH3 is still sold out in US and will ship from February 28th only according to BHphoto (Click here). By the way, there is a $30 price drop on the Panasonic GH3 battery grip at Shop Panasonic.